Willow & Tara: FUDGE

FUDGE

Fudge is a “Universal” RPG, designed to emulate any world, any genre and put the focus back onto characters and story rather than rules or rolls of the dice.

To me Fudge, and it’s younger sibling Fate, were just another one of those “games without a soul”. By that I don’t mean it is a soulless monster, but rather if you held it up to a mirror it wouldn’t reflect anything. At least not to me.
This puts it, in my opinion with GURPS, Action! and Fuzion.  They all do what they do well, and a lot of things good, but maybe not "great".  All these games have some similarities, and even similarities to d20 and Unisystem, but what I feel they all lack is a cohesive theme or look and feel. Tri-Stat in BESM is very much “Anime” flavored, as Unisystem is modern horror. Action! is a little bit better, but True 20, GURPS, Fudge, and Fuzion seem to lack a theme element. 

Because of this I never cared much for these games. That is until I looked into a Fudge based game called “Now Playing”.

I liked it.
I then looked into other Fudge/Fate games and I’ll detail what I found in them later.
In particular I'll talk about Fate when I do a big long review on The Dresden Files RPG.

About Fudge
Fudge used to be known as FUDGE, the Freeform, Universal, Do-it-yourself Gaming Engine. Created by Steffan O'Sullivan, back in 1992 it is notable as being one of the first game systems to be released for free on the internet. It even had an open licensing agreement (though not as open as the current OGL which Fudge now uses) which is interesting since it was released in a climate when most game companies were still trying to figure how to use the internet and control their IP.

Reading the basic (and free) Fudge rules is better than reading the d20 SRD. It is reminiscent of another “universal” game, GURPS. While the SRD is not d20 nor is it D&D, Basic Fudge is a fully playable (if soulless) game. This is where games like Now Playing and Heart Quest can shine. Like Unisystem (there’s that Universal thing again…) what really makes it work are the settings. While I am fan of most Unisystem games, I do have my favorites (namely WitchCraft, Ghosts of Albion), Fudge is the same way. I should note that there is a Fudge SRD as well, it reads like Basic Fudge but is twice as long.

Heart Quest
I mentioned Heart Quest when I discussed Anime RPGs a while back. It is still a good choice and it's different tenor plays off well with Now Playing to create the series I want.  More on that in a bit.

Now Playing
Now Playing is a Fudge based RPG that claims it can emulate any TV show or style with their simple ruleset and guidelines. They might be right. While the Buffy RPG is the Gold Standard when emulating a supernatural drama television show, Now Playing handles everything else rather well. Action shows, Sitcoms, Reality TV, cops shows, lawyer shows, Sci-Fi, and yes Supernatural Drama are all covered in this book.  There is a newer version out now called "The Unexplained" and it looks very similar, but maybe a touch darker.  I don't have it and I have spent all I can on my RPG budget. I would love to have a look at it in detail, until then I'll stick with Now Playing.

Since I want to focus on this game as my premier Fudge game, I’ll turn back to mechanics.

Attributes
This one is so simple that it barely is worth mentioning, but I will just to illustrate the point.

Now Playing/ The Unexplained/          (Fudge)	Unisystem
Brawn	Strength
Agility	Dexterity
Stamina	Constitution
Reasoning	Intelligence
Perception	Perception
Will	Willpower

Follow these up with the level conversions above and a Brawn of Fair is Strength 3. You almost don’t even need a new sheet. This illustrates Fudge conversion abilities well and Now Playing’s ability to emulate most TV shows and TV show games.

Luck Points vs. Drama Points
The mechanic differs slightly, but the intent is the same, allow the player a chance to “re-write” the scene. In general for conversions sake, 5 Drama Points = 1 Luck Point. Of course there is a higher level of danger in a Horror Drama than a Situational Comedy, so it might be about the same realy.

Skills
As mentioned before Fudge is flexible when it comes to Skill lists. Now Playing offers something that looks like a cross between Cinematic and Realistic skills. Now Playing has 91 some odd skills to chose from compared to Buffy’s 18. Yikes! Skills can be bought the exact same way, though some start out as Poor or Non-Existent. Anyone can try a skill with a level of Poor, but you need training to use a Non-Existent skill. Training is reflected in the 30 points given to characters to improve skills. Without getting too deep into the math this about equal between the games, with the edge going to Now Playing characters. Skills though can be grouped together.

Skill Conversions
For a truly cinematic game my advice to Now Playing characters is to take the 91 Now Playing Skills and group them into Buffy’s 18 skills as Skill Groups per the Fudge rules.
Buffy skills are listed first, with Now Playing Skills in parentheses. For example, does anyone really care which type of Kung-Fu Kim Possible or Batman uses (they both know many kinds), no, just that they can kick some butt.
Buffy players can use these groups to specialize in one or more areas.

Acrobatics (Acrobatics, Balance, Jump)
Art (Perform, Photography)
Computers (Computer Use)
Crime (Breaking & Entering, Escape Artist, Forgery, Gamble, Haggle, Hide Traces, Pick Lock, Pick Pocket, Shadow, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Streetsmarts, Surveillance)
Doctor (Autopsy, Diagnose, First Aid, Surgery)
Driving (Drive , Pilot , Ride Animal )
Getting Medieval (Weapon )
Gun Fu (Weapon )
Influence (Bluff, Hypnosis, Interrogate, Intimidate, Oratory, Pantomime, Persuade, Seduce, Tall Tales, Uplift Spirits)
Knowledge (Area Knowledge, Business Sense, Culture , Etiquette, Gather Information, Knowledge , Nature Lore, Primitive Tools, Profile, Psychology, Religion , Research)
Kung Fu (Brawl, Martial Art )
Languages (Decipher Script, Innuendo, Interpret Language, Language , Read Lips, Write)
Mr. Fix-It (Craft , Demolitions, Disable Device , Engineering , Repair Device )
Notice (Direction Sense, Navigate, Notice, Sense Motive)
Occultism (Cryptozoology, Occult Knowledge, Parapsychology, Ritual , UFOlogy)
Science (Science )
Sports (Climb, Fish, Run, Sail, Swim, Throw )
Wild Card - anything

There are others that didn’t quite fit. Some are dependent on the situation used. For example Appraise in NP would part of Art if it is used to appraise a piece of art, but part of Occultism if used to appraise an ancient occult artifact. Animal Care could be a Wild Card, or part of Influence. There is a whole “animal” axis of skills as well as some social skills that could be covered by Unisystem qualities.

Directors of either game will have to re-parse out Skill points to accommodate for the reduced or increased number of skills.
When converting characters have a Now Playing character take the max or average of the skills in a skill group to represent their Buffy skill and for Buffy characters they should record their Buffy skill level in each of the Now Playing subskills, re-distributed based on character concept. No Now Playing skill should be higher than its Buffy skill counterpart.

Skills in Fudge work differently than Unisystem. In Unisystem a “Skill roll” is the skill + an attribute. In Fudge it is just the skill. All Unisystem skills start at 0. Fudge skills have different starting levels, some can’t be used untrained others can, but at the lowest possible level.

Qualities and Gifts
Qualities convert to Gifts and Drawbacks to Faults like outlined above. I am happy to note that Resources converts to Income very nicely. In fact Buffy players should look into Now Playing’s income ticket mechanic for purchasing items based on income/resource level as opposed to actual money. A good model of “TV Economics”.

Magic
Now Playing adopts, mostly, Fudge’s magic system. To me this is where it falls flat. There is a Magical Aptitude Power (roughly equal to The Gift, Sorcery or Magic Qualities) and a skill roll (again, roughly equal to Occultism). Already I see two separate checks to see if the magical power can be gathered and then used. This doesn’t really work for me. Let’s look at some magical TV shows. I don’t recall Piper, Phoebe or Paige needing to go through all of this. A “Power of Three” spell (their most powerful) does require a ritual (grasping hands and reciting the spell) and sometimes it does not work (Cole was able to break free at one point), but no gathering of mana. And I don’t believe that Samantha or Sabrina even did that much. So a simpler mechanic is really needed to mimic the Cinematic Unisystem magic system better.

Now I’ll be honest. The magic system in WitchCraft is the best I have ever used or read. The magic system in Buffy and Ghosts of Albion runs a very close second. So in my mind anything else is going to need work. Hell, I think the Buffy RPG does a FAR better job of explaining magic and how it works than the Buffy TV show. That being said here is a way to convert Buffy magic to Now Playing.

Magical Aptitude is a Power with the default level of Terrible. It effectively combines the old Magical Aptitude and Handle Mana Skill. It can be taken in levels (Terrible to Legendary) just like a skill or attribute. In order to cast a spell the character needs to match the level of the spell cast (also Terrible to Legendary). Some things can adversely effect this, such as concentration during combat (usually -1 to -4), stress, fatigue, or other factors. Other things can help such times and places of power (as described in either book).
So to cast a Legendary spell or a simple spell with Legendary effects, one must have Legendary Magical Aptitude, or at least be able to roll up to that. The same rules apply to critical failures and success. To convert a Buffy Spell take it’s Power Level and use the conversion matrix above. So a starting character with MA of Terrible (0 in Unisystem terms) only has the appitude, they can’t cast a Poor level spell (1 in Unisystem terms) unless they roll at least 1 +.

Putting it all Together

I used the Now Playing rules, with some cues from Heart Quest, Shoujo Anime and other Fudge games to create a new Series than can be run under Fudge or Unisystem. As usual I will stick with something I know well.

Using the Now Playing guidelines on spin-offs I created a Buffy-spin-off, or actually a spin-off of my spin-off. “Willow and Tara: Generation HEX” is a spin off set around 2006 or 2018 with the two lead characters Willow and Tara.  I did this with "The Dragon and the Phoenix" and "Season of the Witch", but this one has a bunch of new rules. 


I have often wondered what a supernatural/horror series would be like in the hands of Television master David E. Kelley (“Boston Legal”, “The Practice”, “Ally McBeal”, “Picket Fences”…). So in DEK tradition, I moved the Series to Boston (something I was doing anyway for a variety of reasons, but this works well) and  made it less about two witches fighting the supernatural and more about two women, who happen to witches, trying to lead a normal life while also dealing with the supernatural.  Also, given the events of "Season of the Witch", Tara was pregnant.   I did say it was going to be a new series.  I debated on whether to do it right after Season of the Witch or later when the kids were teens.  I ran part of it using Mutants & Masterminds and it was right after.  The Now Playing stuff was written with 2018 in mind.  Still don't know where to go on that yet.  

Demons have been over-done, so I focused instead on other types of supernatural creatures: ghosts, spirits, faeries and the like. Heart Quest has quite a bit of guidelines for dealing with these types, Now Playing deals with your typical Cryptozoological beasties (much like Conspiracy X or Dark Matter) as well as faeries and spirits. Between the two there are plenty of creatures, threats and distractions so I never have to use a vampire or a demon. After all the point of a spin-off is to establish it’s own identity. 

Let’s borrow another page (or two) from Heart Quest and set the series in school, maybe a school of girls, but certainly a school where magical things are happening. This would work well with the Magical Girl and Teen Romance options. Tara has been offered a job as a teacher and youth councilor (Girls Councilor if the school is co-ed). We can extend the DEK metaphor more and use “Boston Public” as a guide. 

This type of setting allows more play than just a “girls fighting monsters”. My players tend to like social issues, so I’ll take a dramatic turn then. Dealing with the supernatural has become easy, almost cliché really. If it’s evil  then kill it or send it back where it came from. What do you do if your character is sued by parent because their daughter claims the Cast Member made unwanted sexual advances at her? It’s not true, but it still a problem and you can’t just kill the student or parent. Now let’s say your character is a lesbian. How does that play out? How do you fight that battle? Certainly a courtroom showdown will be in order, complete with an impassioned monologue from the cast and their defense attorney. 

Life though is not just drama, sometimes it is mundane. Sure we can do episodes of Willow recalculating her mortgage or Tara working in the garden, just like real life, but that would not make a fun game. Though the other moments in life are equally important and worthy of games. Life is funny, sad, calm, hectic, reflective, sedate, often loving, sometimes pornographic, but all in all much richer than what is on TV (or even should be shown on TV) but a game can reflect all of those facets.

Willow Rosenberg

Leading Character
Brawn: Mediocre Reasoning: Superb
Agility: Mediocre Perception: Great
Stamina: Fair Will: Superb

Luck: 3 Income: Great* (Willow sold her security firm for 7 figures).

Skills: Acrobatics (Fair), Brawling (Poor), Business Knowledge (Good), Computer Use (Legendary), Craft, electronics (Great), Crime, general (Poor), Cryptozoology (Great), Dechipher Script (Good), Engineering, electrical (Great), Engineering, mechanical (Good), First Aid (Mediocre), Handle Mana (Legendary), Influence (Fair), Knowledge, general (Legendary), Languages (English, French, Latin, Greek), Magical Rituals, most (Legendary), Melee Combat (Mediocre), Notice (Good), Occult Knowledge (Legendary), Parapsychology (Legendary), Religion, Jewish (Good), Science, general (Great)

Gifts: Ambidexterity, Attractive, Wealthy

Faults: Ambitious, Enemy, Minority (Lesbian, Jewish, Wicca)

Powers: Awakened, Anamchara, Magical Aptitude

Props: Brownstone House, Bike, Computers (servers and laptops), Subaru Outback (special hybrid converted model), Doll’s Eye Crystal.

Real Name: Willow D. Rosenberg
DOB: August 1, 1981 (Age 24 in 2006)
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Part time computer instructor; Private Computer Security Systems Analyst; Witch
Height 5’3”, Weight 110lbs, Eyes Green, Hair Red


Tara A. Maclay

Leading Character
Brawn: Mediocre Reasoning: Great
Agility:Mediocre Perception: Superb
Stamina: Fair Will: Superb

Luck: 3 Income: Great

Skills: Acrobatics (Fair), Art, creative writing (Good), Art, painting (Good), Art History (Great), Brawling (Poor), Computer Use (Good), Crime, general (Poor), Cryptozoology (Good), Dechipher Script (Fair), Diplomancy (Mediocre), Driving (Fair), Handle Mana (Legendary), Influence (Good), Knowledge, general (Great), Languages (English, Japanese, Latin, Greek), Magical Rituals, most (Legendary), Melee Combat (Poor), Notice (Good), Occult Knowledge (Legendary), Parapsychology (Legendary), Perform, dance (good), Perform, singing (Good), Profile (Good), Psychology (Great), Religion, Wicca (Good), Science, general (Great)

Gifts: Attractive, Wealthy

Faults: Code of Behavior, Enemy, Minority (Lesbian, Wicca), Soft Hearted

Powers: Awakened, Anamchara, Healing Touch, Magical Aptitude, Sense of Empathy

Props: Brownstone house, Bike, Occult Library (includes the White Codex, Journal of Tamara Swift and The Journal of Megan Maclay).

Real Name: Tara A. Maclay
DOB: 11/07/1980 (25 in 2006)
Identity: Public, but unknown as a witch
Occupation: Youth Counselor and Art instructor; Witch
Height 5’5”, Weight 125lbs, Eyes Blue, Hair Blond

Depending on when this is set they also have their daughter Brianna who is either 1 or almost 13 (depending when I decide to set this; gotta find some new players first).

Notes: As usual, I am going with “The Dragon and the Phoenix” versions of these characters.
Briefly: Tara is back from the dead, Season 7 never happened, they defeated the mad god Leviathan. This would be the start of my Series 3 with Willow and Tara.  I used the Now Playing rules as the dominant feature in these conversions, but converting to Heart Quest (or any other Fudge game) should be easy.

I write like...

I write like Vonnegut?

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Not sure if I agree, but I like it all the same.
Currently going around Facebook and the Blogs.

Featured Reviewer and PDFs

Well I am now a featured Reviewer over at DriveThruRPG.com.

This basically means that I buy a lot of PDFs but now I will also be reviewing them more.
Currently I have 62 reviews up. So if you want to know what I think of a game, then you can swing on by.

I like PDFs.  I can carry dozens of books with me if I want and when I want to print something, I can just do the sections I need.

If I get something interesting I'll pass it along here.

The Hex Girls Season 2 for Cartoon Action Hour Season 2

It is very surprising to me, but one of my most visited pages around here is my page for the Hex Girls. I am not sure why that is, but it is above beyond the most popular page I have here save for my one on Xena and Gabrielle.  In any case it got me thinking that the next "Season" of the Hex Girls should be powered by Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2.
BTW: I want to thank all the people at the CAH-Fans Yahoo Group that helped me with this.

The Hex Girls: World Tour (Season 2)

So using the Series Sheet to the left I came up with the following series for the Hex Girls.
Series Name: Hex Girls, Season 2 (the World Tour)
Tagline: "We're gonna put a spell on you!"
Goals: Tour the world, stop Lord Salem
Message:  Each episode ends with information on being a better "eco-citizen" because "Together we can make it happen!"

Premise: The Hex Girls (after their groundbreaking North American tour) are now touring the world and fighting off the worst monsters that Europe and Asia have to offer.  Flash Cameron was sent to a mental institution, but the threat now comes from the ghost of an old puritan witch hunter, Lord Salem.  Salem, along with his two bumbling henchmen Riff and Raff (they were not raised from the dead properly and are more like zombies than ghosts) attempt to stop the Hex Girls at any cost.  Not to just expose them, but to take them back the Neither World's Court for trail and sentencing.   Everyone is back; Thorn, Luna, Dusk and even Jasper.

Stats for Cartoon Action Hour 2
If you want more background for these characters, and stats for Cinematic Unisystem and Witchgirls Adventures then please check my previous Hex Girls posting.  Again, these stats below are not strict conversions, but more of a re-stating of the characters based on their concept in CAH:S2.

Thorn

Name: Thorn ("Sally McKinght")
Series: The Hex Girls
Group: The Hex Girls
Appearance: Attractive 20-something woman with dark hair and red highlights.

Factoids
- Is a great singer and guitar player
- Is a witch and can do magic
- Eco-Goth / Very environmentally conscious
- Wants to learn more about her family's magical roots
- Reads her horoscope daily (and talks about it)
- Always looks into the myths and legends of wherever they are going to be on tour.

Subplots
- Superstitious
- Secret: Is a witch
- Curious, what to find out all she can about magic and her place in the cosmos.

Traits
Charismatic, AF 2 (above and beyond the other Hex Girls)
Good Looking 2
Great Singer, AF 3
Monster Hunter 1
Occult Scholar 2
Perceptive 1
Singer/Guitarist 4 (this is for instruments and general lifestyle)
Witch (spell caster cluster) 4 (10 points, 12 -2)
- Sonic Attack (can "sing" an attack, think Black Canary or Banshee) (attack) (needs to be able to use voice)
- Shield (defend) (needs to be able to use hands)
- Teleport (manipulation)
- Magical Sight (can see magical creatures, magical forces in the earth) (misc.)

Curious x1
Eco-Goth x2

Base Oomph 4
Threshold 12
Battle Rating 4

Luna

Name: Luna ("Kim Moss")
Series: The Hex Girls
Group: The Hex Girls
Appearance: Attractive 20-something woman with red hair.

Factoids
- Is a musician
- Is a witch and can do magic
- Eco-Goth / Very environmentally conscious
- Wants to be in a number 1 band
- Can play almost any instrument.
- Is the best song and spell writer of the group
- Embraces her bi-racial heritage; considers that she got the best of both worlds

Subplots
- Tad obsessed with success
- Secret: Is a witch
- Has an ex that is more successful than she is

Traits
Good Looking 2
Monster Hunter 1
Occult Scholar 1
Perceptive 2
Musician 5, AF (for her ability to play any musical instruments)
Witch (spell caster cluster) 4 (10 points, 12 -2)
- Sonic Attack (can "play" an attack using any instrument) (attack) (needs to be able to use and instrument or something that can be "played")
- Shield (defend) (needs to be able to use hands)
- Astral Projection (manipulation)
- Magical Sight (can see magical creatures, magical forces in the earth) (misc.)

Obsessions: Be in a number 1 band  x1
Eco-Goth x1

Base Oomph 4
Threshold 12
Battle Rating 4

Dusk

Name: Dusk ("Muffy St. James")
Series: The Hex Girls
Group: The Hex Girls
Appearance: Attractive 20-something woman with blonde, sometimes green, hair. Wears more goth makeup and clothes than the others.

Factoids
- Is a Rock-star
- Is a witch and can do magic
- Eco-Goth / environmentally conscious (less so than the others)
- Wants to be where the party is

Subplots
- Threatens to quit the band often
- Secret: Is a witch
- can't read music and only plays the drums so she can hit things.
- Is the daughter of stinking rich yuppie parents.

Traits
Good Looking 1
Monster Hunter 2
Rich 3 (tries to keep it secret)
Rock and Roller 4 (this is for drums and general lifestyle), AF
Witch (spell caster cluster) 4 (10 points, 12 -2)
- Sonic Attack (can "scream" an attack) (attack) (needs to be able to use voice)
- Shield (defend) (needs to be able to use hands)
- Telekinesis (manipulation)
- Magical Sight (can see magical creatures, magical forces in the earth) (misc.)

Party Girl x1
Anger issues x2

Base Oomph 4
Threshold 12
Battle Rating 5 (extra point from Monster hunter. She likes to fight)

Lord Salem
New Season and a New Bad Guy.  This one-ups the ante from Flash Cameron.  He doesn't want to just expose the Hex Girls, he wants to put them on trial and then when he gets the guilty verdict he knows he will get, hang them.

Quick Bio: A puritan witch hunter is back from the dead, Lord Salem, and he is after the "wicked witches".  He was raised from the dead when the Hex Girls played a pre-world tour concert in their home town of Oakhaven, MA.  While their music played, he rose from the local graveyard.
He has two assistants, Riff and Raff,  but their resurrection was not as complete as his own so they are somewhat stupid.

Lord Salem hates witches. Good, evil, young, old, they are all the same to him.  And witches must be stopped.  Salem wants to drag the Hex Girls to the Neither World's Courts where he will try them on charges of Witchcraft and violating the Natural Order of Things.  To do that he must be able to capture all three doing magic in public.  He follows and along the way he summons up all sorts of supernatural threats to get the girls to expose themselves.

Appearance: Lord Salem appears much as he did in the 17th Century.  He has a scar down his face that he claims was made by an evil witch. He does not carry weapons, saying that Righteousness is his only weapon, but Riff and Raff carry swords, knives and guns as needed.  If he is forced into fighting he will produce a fine, thin sword.
Factoids: "Completely obsessed with exposing witches", "unstoppable", "speaks in a low quiet voice", "completely convinced he is right".
Subplots: Mental hangup destroy all witches, and the Hex Girls in particular
Traits: Can Call out Supernatural beings to do his bidding 7 (AF), Immune to Magic 6, Lawyer (knows the legal system of Earth and the Neither World) 6, Stealthy 3, Strong 3, Swordmaster 5, Tracker 5, Will 5
Stats: Threshold 12, Battle Ratting 5

Lord Salem typically will call out the local supernatural creature to attack or otherwise expose the Hex Girls.  Each being would have to be stated up normally.

Obviously, I still need to do stats for Riff and Raff (they are the same really) and Jasper Ridgeway.

Links
The Hex Girls at Scoobypedia http://scoobydoo.wikia.com/wiki/Hex_Girls
An anti-Hex Girls site http://forgenerations.net/main/enemy-tactics/hollywoods-deception/scooby-doo-hex-girls (link removed because site now points to virus infected site)  (gave me ideas for Lord Salem. He loves comments.)
Hex Girl Coven, tons of content.  http://www.angelfire.com/goth2/thehexgirlscoven.com/

Buy
Cartoon Action Hour - Season Two at Noble Knight Games
Cartoon Action Hour - Season Two at DriveThruRPG

DC Adventures from Green Ronin Pre-Order

I am very geeked about this.

DC Adventures is now up for Pre-order at Green Ronin's website.

And if you pre-order at their website, or at your FLGS you can get a code to buy the PDF for 5 bucks.

That's not too bad really.
I have seen some of the changes they have made to the system and while I was hoping to see it evolve more towards True20, I am very curious to see how it all works out.

Looking forward to this one and it is one of just a small handful of books on my Gen Con must buy list

I Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."
- Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in: Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1676

The giant in this case was Descartes.  Later the same quote would be used to describe Newton himself by Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. Each generation builds on the work of the last.

Giants are not revered for their size, but because of their ability to see further.

I take a lot of praise for my work and because I am human I enjoy it. Because of who I am I also take it with a bit of surprise.  Afterall I like to write stuff that I like, it amazes me that others might enjoy it too.  But I understand that nothing I, or anyone else does, exists in a vacuum.

Ghosts of Albion would not exist at all had it not been obviously for the creative talents of Christopher Golden and Amber Benson.  It is their world, they define it, shape it and tell us how the characters live in it.  The rules for the game exist because of C.J. Carella.  Not only did he write the Cinematic Unisystem game that Ghosts uses, it was his Classic Unisystem game WitchCraft that inspired me to want write for Eden in the first place. Will Ghosts sell better than WitchCraft? I have no idea. Will people like it more? I know some do, others feel WitchCraft is still the superior game and I will not fault them for that.
Even taking all that into consideration I had help of editors, playtesters and general advice.

My various Witch books are the same way. As are my academic and professional lives.

Standing on the shoulder of giants is not about reverence of people, but rather acknowledgement of their work, of their contributions and why that work has helped make our lives a bit better.

We stand on the shoulders of giants so that one day others may stand on ours.

D&D4 Essentials

So I don't know much yet about this whole D&D Essentials line from Wizards.

At some level it is a marketing ploy.  Getting people to buy more materials.  I can live with that really.  Wizards is a company and they need to make money.  If they can come up ways to make more money I will not fault them. I don't have to buy the product either.  That is the benefit of a free market.

But I like the idea of the new "Basic Set". I am going to be running my two boys through D&D4 soon and they have been playing D&D 3.x for a while now.  They are playing in a Pathfinder game too, so they are not what you would call newbies anymore; but there is a bit of newness about them and this box appeals to me.

I am am concerned about power creep and too many changes from the books I already have.  Will a D&D Essentials Cleric be really different than the one I have in my PHB?  I don't know and neither it seems do others, but the initial posts I am reading seems to confirm that the cleric in either book will be roughly the same, give or take some flavor.

According the the blog Points of Light, I might not need to worry and in fact it looks like some of the changes being made to characters will provide more ways to differentiate the characters more than the same basic power template all characters have.

So, it almost sounds like that we are getting kits (from 2e) for D&D 4.  Something I have always thought would work for the Heroic tier for a while.

Will I be buying all of the D&D4 Essentials line?  Probably not.  I will pick up the starter set (still don't know what the art on that one looks yet) because boxed sets are cool.

4e Purchases

I picked up some new 4e books this weekend that are not due out till July 20th.
Benefits of living near a huge game store.

First Up, Demonicon

An interesting book and I have always liked demons as the ultimate foes in D&D.  Of course I dislike the name, but it has been with us since Module S4 so it's a little late to part with now.  At least it is better than the 2nd Ed era wimp out "Fiendonomicon".  Gah.
The cover, to me anyway, brings up images of Eldritch Wizardry, the first D&D book to feature demons.  The blonde on her back in obvious sacrifice.  These are not misunderstood monsters, these are demons and they are evil.
Lots of demons. Lots of history on the Abyss.
I like the way they have tied in Tharizdun to whole mythos now.  So this will be great when I run S4-WG4 for my kids and they actually find a copy of the Demonomicon of Iggwilv.  I like that Demogorgon, Orcus and Baphomet were once Primordials.  Something I was doing anyway.  I like that there is more for Tharizdun, even though I can see he will also soon get on my nerves if he keeps popping up.    But I always liked him since reading about him the "Gord the Rogue" books by Gary.
There are some cool demonic lairs that can be used on their own or as part of a larger campaign in the Abyss.
Now see this is where not having the PDFs of the books is a real pain.  I would have loved to have had a PDF of this to print out and put in a binder with all the information on the Abyss from The Plane Below and Manual of the Planes, all the information from various Dragon and Dungeon articles, and all the demons from the Monster Manuals all in one place.  Made a complete Demonomicon if you like.  I had started this exact idea for 3.x, though rather late in the game and never got everything printed out.
I dislike the whole "Asmodeus is at the center of all evil plots" idea that has pervaded the last two editions of D&D, but with some of the new information in this book, I have some ideas.  All in all, I like this book, but I expected that I would.  I do have one quibble.  They do list Malcanthet as a demon lord.  Well, she was demon lord of the Succubi in the last edition.  Succubi are no longer demons...

Tomb of Horrors

There are very, very few adventures as notorious as the Tomb of Horrors.  It is also held up to some unrealistic standard for modules that it must be a "good thing" to kill off characters.
Well I am reasonably certain that Tomb of Horrors for 4e will get cries of "blasphemy" and "sacrilege" from certain quarters; but I am also reasonably certain that those quarters were never going to buy this book anyway.
The new adventure is not just one, but 4 Tombs scattered all over the new D&D4 cosmology.  Clever really if you are wanting to introduce what is cool in this new world to players that pick this up remembering the original ToH.
Speaking of the Original Tomb, it is here, in it's abandoned form.  Note: WOTC Guys,  you copied the original Tomb map perfectly, too perfectly in fact.  The scale of the original map was one square = 10 feet.  Scale on the new map is the more common for 4e 1 square = 5 feet.  So our entry hallway is now 10 feet wide instead of 20 feet wide.  Minor quibble, I can explain it away in any number of ways, but still.
There are rules and notes in here about how to play the Tomb just like the old days, but they explain why they didn't design the module like that to start.  All in all it is a neat module and adventure.  It is still a killer module, as in it will kill characters if they are stupid.
I am not going to try to blow any sunshine up your ass, if you love "Tomb of Horrors" and hate D&D 4 you will hate this. If you liked ToH and like D&D 4 then this is nice little "Return to the Return of the Tomb of Horrors".
What I like about it is it assumes that the characters do not live in a vacuum.  The Tomb of Horrors is legendary to players and characters. This module assumes it was cleared out in the 70's and 80's and now the next gen is here to see what is new.  It's the exact same thing I doing with "B3 Palace of the Silver Princess" and the same thing I did with the whole "Road Stories" arc of "Season of the Witch" for my Willow & Tara game.

While reading through them both I can see elements that I will use in my big D&D 4e campaign against Orcus.    Acererak could be allied with Orcus, or more likely Tharizdun.  Though I had not considered Tharizdun to be a huge player in this game.  He is chained up after all.  In fact it has helped me solidify a few ideas.

There is an OSR debate?

So without linking or getting into any details I guess there is some sort of OSR debate going on.  Again.

See here is the thing about this kind of flare-ups.  If you don't hear about it it's like they are not even real.

Here is the OSR news I know and care about.
- I have my copy of "Palace of the Vampire Queen" now.  One more thing off my D&D-bucket list.
- OSR products are getting into some Borders. (by a company that also produces a ton of 4e products)
- I am going to run my kids through "Palace of the Silver Princess" orange version sometime in the next couple of weeks.
- There are some Ennie noms for some OSR-related products.  Good on them!
- There is a "homage/retro-clone" of 2nd Ed coming out.
- Tomb of Horrors for 4th ed is out now at my FLGS.  I am sure that is making someone out there foaming at the mouth in nerd rage.

Outside of that you don't hear anything about this in the stores (in fact you hear nothing) and most players (the ones that buy the products) don't care.

Arguing about it just makes the whole thing seem like an "us vs. them" and usually I find myself on the side of the people making the less noise. Or the ones that irritate me the less.

Personally, I am probably not part of the OSR.  Sure, I play old games, I also play the newest ones and indie games too.  I write for older games...and newer ones and small press. But I also have never bought into the "one-true-way" idea anyway and really neither do most game authors.

In the immortal words of Gary, "shut the fuck up and play." Oh wait, that was my old DM, not Gary.
Might as well burn my OSR membership card now and forget the secret handshake.

Arioch! Arioch! Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!

Mongoose, a company that I have mixed emotions about (love some of the things they do, abhor others) has put another check in the "love" column for me by re-releasing the Elric!/Stormbringer RPG.  Or rather, releasing it for the first time on PDF.

Like a lot of gamers I read Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon, Count Brass and even the Jerry Cornelius books. I know of the impact Moorcock made on the early days of our hobby.  I loved the RPG books and I always felt it was fitting that they used the same system as Call of Cthulhu rather than D&D.  The odd thing was I never really got to play that much Elric.  Maybe I can change that.

Anyway, here are books.  If you have never played or even read them they are great.  Thank you Mongoose from bringing these back to us.

Michael Moorcock's Elric!

This is the one I have in good ole' dead tree format at home.  This is the one that had the magic system different from the previous editions.














Stormbringer is the version most people played. Mongoose is offering us both the 1st Edition (which is mostly the same as the 2nd and 3rd editions) and the 4th Edition.

This of course makes me wonder if there is a new Elric/Stormbringer game on the horizon.  That would be cool, I just hope it is not like "Dragon Lords of Melniboné".

Oh Dresden Files...

Why must you tempt me so?

HEX

A quick one while I work on new material.  Plus it helps set up some things I want post in the future.
HEX is a supernatural chiller from the UK taht aired for two seasons on SkyOne back in 2004-2005.

   The story centers on Cassie Hughes, a shy and unassuming student at Medenham Hall, a 6th form College, with a mysterious past.  Cassie longs to “dumb and popular” rather than shy and smart.  She doesn’t know her father, her mother is in a mental hospital and the only one that truly loves her is her roommate and best friend Thelma.

   Soon, with the discovery of an old artifact, Cassie learns the world is far different than she expected, and far more dangerous.

   Cassie is begins to develop strange new powers. She can move things with her mind, she starts fires, she can see people that no one else can, and a strange man is stalking her.  She reveals all of this to Thelma and thinks she is going crazy.

   Cassie learns, in time, that her real name is Cassie McBain, and she a direct descendent of Rachel McBain, the former Mistress of the Medenham Estate.  Rachel was obsessed with the religion of the African slaves on her estate. So with the sacrifice of her maid Jenny in 1743, she summoned Azazel, leader of the Nephilim to teach her witchcraft as he did in the days of old.  Of course Azazeal, a 6,000 year old fallen angel, has his own plans, ones that now Cassie might be able to carry out.  Cassie is a Medenham Witch.

   Azazeal kidnaps Thelma after Thelma divulges her love for Cassie.  Cassie confronts Azazeal, where he tells her he needs a new sacrifice, but it must be willing and it must be one of love.  Cassie refuses to let Thelma be killed so she offers herself. Thelma rushes to save Cassie, but is killed in the process.  As Thelma dies in Cassie’s arms, we see Azazeal take on his full fallen angel form.

   At Thelma’s funeral, Cassie is devastated.  It is called it a suicide, but only Cassie and Azazeal, who is watching in the distance, know the truth.  Cassie is joined at the end by Thelma who comments about how everyone is getting off on her being dead and how she slept with the female minister presiding over the funeral.

Thelma (at her own funeral): They're bloody loving this, “Don't be a dyke or you’ll end up topping yourself.”
− Hex, Series 1, Episode 1

   Thelma, now a ghost, and Cassie, a witch, are the only ones that know about Azazeal, though they don’t know of his plans or what to do about him. Yet.

Cassie (to Azazeal): You’re going to fuck me up aren’t you?
Azazeal (kissing her neck): Probably.
− Hex, Series 1, Episode 4

HEX was actually rather good.  I'll go through Series (Season 1) here and hopefully get an update to Season 2 up soon.

   Cassie sees ghosts that are links to her own past, but like Spider−man, just because she has powers she does not immediately know what to do.  Also borrowing from Spider−man Cassie starts off by abusing her powers, moving things with mind because she can, getting back at guys that pissed her off.  It is not until Thelma is killed, much like Uncle Ben, that Cassie learns that she has to stop Azazeal because she is the only that can.

  Of course HEX would be rather pale if not for Thelma.  Thelma is one of the few genuine characters in the show.  While her death could have been a big cliché (I know I am for one tired of seeing lesbians getting killed in every show), the writers make it work.  Thelma of course can’t touch anyone, but she makes up for it by invading the dreams of Cassie and some of the other girls.  And she does find a nice ghost from the 1920’s to get cozy with, but Thelma is more than a comic element, she is Cassie’s guiding spirit, figuratively and literally.  In the last episode of Series 1, Thelma doesn’t even tell Cassie that her actions, which are good for the world, will also cause Thelma to be permanently dead, because Thelma knows what must be done.

   Some people watching the show on the net have complained that it moves a bit slow, and yes while it is slower than the BANG−BANG−BANG rapid fire of American fare, it moves at the pace it needs to.  There is a mystery unfolding here, one that has to be played out.  Plus there is real interaction between the characters.  It actually feels like they could be going through the things they are.  The dialog is real, not just some pop cultural references that so many use in place of intelligent writing. And that is a key element, while Hex takes place in 2004, it could easily be set any time with no change to the story, that is because the themantic elements are timeless; good and evil, love, desire and lust. When Thelma and Cassie have their first fight over their relationship, you honestly emphasize with Thelma.  You want to like Cassie then, but it is too easy to see that Thelma is right and Cassie had been using her.

HEX in Your Game
   To me, HEX just screams Unisystem. But which one?  I had considered using Classic Unisystem since everything depicted on the show can be found in Armageddon, but there are some subtle differences.  The Nephelim of HEX are the fallen 200 angels that fell in love with human women. In Armageddon the Nephilim are the children of the same angels. A minor quibble to be sure. Azazeal appears in Armageddon as Azazel, the High Archangel and leader of the Watchers.

   Cassie could be a Gifted or Lesser Gifted, but in any case she has not come into her full powers yet, nor has she performed anything like an invocation. Thelma would work fine as a WitchCraft/Armageddon ghost.

   In the end though I opted to go with Cinematic Unisystem.  Cassie can have the “Witch” quality, and there are “Ghost” qualities (the new Cinematic Unisystem game “Ghosts of Albion” will deal with Ghosts, and the English, in greater detail).  That leaves only Azazeal.  For him I imported the Nephilim quality from Armageddon and kept it the same, much how I lifted the Kerubim quality to make the Cinematic Keribum (note the spelling differences) quality.  In HEX they use the spelling “Nephelim”, so I’ll adopt that as the quality name for Cinematic Unisystem.

   There is also the logic that as a television program, HEX would fit with the system used to mimic the non−reality reality of a TV show.  HEX is a little more broader in it’s scope that some other TV shows, but it still follows a general established form.  The combat and the tossing of flashy magics is on the light side, but Unisystem is great for cerebral style play as well.

   HEX can be added to most games with little effort.  Perhaps on a trip to England a wildly dressed ghost realizes that you can see her.  She introduces you to her friend, Cassie, a bright young girl who is unfortunately loosing her mind.  There is a cause of course, and maybe the Cast can help her.

HEX in Ghosts of Albion

   HEX and Ghosts have quite a lot in common really.  The ghosts of both shows seem to follow the same rules (they can touch inanimate object and each other, but not living things, only magically inclined people can see them), they are both English, so there is a shared mythology and feel.  Amber Benson describes “Ghosts” as a supernatural mystery with horror added in. Hex creators Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy describe their show as a high concept supernatural chiller.  This also ties in nice with Eden’s games.

   There is a depth of history hinted at in HEX, not only at Medenham Hall, but dating back to ancient Egypt.  What was Azazeal doing during the time of the Swifts?  After all, the Protectors of Albion would certainly be interested in the machinations of a fallen angel in their lands.  How would the Protectors react to the Medenham witches?  Are they good or evil? A threat or potential ally?  These are questions that you would have to decide.

   Hex is a good choice for anyone gaming that has ever thought, “wow there are a lot of demons here, where are all the angels?”  I also brings up some really interesting plot points, one for example is the conflict of who is more evil, a demon or a fallen angel.  Especially a fallen angel that feels he is still doing the will of God.  HEX has the darker side of Good, not just evil people trying to “redeem” themselves, or good people committing horrific acts.  The differences are subtle and therein lies the potential for new games.

Cassie Hughes/McBain

Thelma: You have a rough deal Cassie McBain. Your dad has disappeared. Your mom’s a nutter.
Cassie: My best friend is a lesbian ghost.
Thelma: Life sucks.
Cassie: Oh and there was one other thing. Apparently I am a witch.
Thelma: Well I could have told you that.
− Hex, Series 1, Episode 3

Drama Points 20
Life Points 30

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

Useful Information
Initiative: 1d10 + 3
Perception: 1d10 + 6
Additional Actions: 1
Fear Modifier: 8
Survival: 7

Qualities
Artist
Attractiveness 3
Psychic Visions
Psychometry
Witch 2 (includes TK and PK at level 2)

Drawbacks
Addiction, Minor, Smoking
Adversary (Azazeal) 3
Cruelty, Minor
Dependent (Mother) 1
Haunted
Love, Platonic, Tragic (Thelma)
Love, Romantic (Troy) or at least in lust with him
Magical Family
Misfit
Potential Mental Problems (0 point Drawback)
Secret (witch, secretly smokes, mother is crazy, had an abortion) 1

Skills 
Acrobatics 1
Art 4
Computers 2
Crime 0
Doctor 1
Driving 1
Getting Medieval 1
Gun Fu 0
Influence 1
Knowledge 3
Kung Fu 0
Languages 2
Mr. Fix−It 0
Notice 2
Occultism 3
Science 2
Sports 1
Wild Card

Combat
Maneuver    Bonus    Base Damage    Notes
Punch        +4    4        Bash
Kick        +3    6        Bash
Dodge        +4    —        Defense action
Grapple    +6    —        Resisted by Dodge
Telekinesis    +6
Pyrokinesis    +6    4xSL        Will x SL + Fire damage

Age: 17
Gender: Female
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Blue
Mother: Lilith Hughes
Father: David McBain
Allies: Thelma, Jo Watkins (teacher), David Tyrel (Head Master)
Loves: Troy, Thelma
Enemies: Azazeal, ghosts of the Medenham witches/sacrifices

Cassie Hughes is the latest in a line of witches descended from Rachel McBain.  This gives her some magical powers, namely telekinesis and pyrokinesis, but it also makes her rather prone to madness.  It also makes her a perfect vessel for the son of a fallen angel, something Azazeal has in mind.

Shy and introverted, until she is possessed by Azazeal then she becomes a “slutier version of Brittney Spears”, Cassie longs to be popular, longs to Troy’s girlfriend and just wishes her life could go back to normal.

As a Medenham Witch Cassie gets a number of ‘benfits’. First she can use telekinesis or pyrokinesis as she chooses.  She also gets psychic flashes of memory and can read psychic impressions. These also have a tendency to drive the witch mad.

Roleplaying Cassie
Just because she can see things and has magic does not mean Cassie knows what is going on or how to stop it.  She is only beginning to explore her powers and she is bound to make some mistakes.

Thelma Bates

Thelma: Beneath this fluffy exterior beats the heart of a bull dyke.
− Hex, Series 1, Episode 1

Drama Points 20
Life Points 30

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


Useful Information
Initiative: 1d10 + 2
Perception: 1d10 + 7
Additional Actions: +1
Fear Modifier: 10


Qualities
Artist
Attractiveness 1
Ghost*
Dreamer** 3


Drawabacks
Adversary (Azazeal) 2
Covetous, Lecherous
Love Tragic (Cassie)
Minority, Lesbian
Misfit


Skills
Acrobatics 1
Art 3
Computers 2
Crime 2 (always nicking crisps)
Doctor 1
Driving 1
Getting Medieval 2
Gun Fu 0
Influence 3
Knowledge 3
Kung Fu 1
Languages 2
Mr. Fix−It 3
Notice 4
Occultism 4 (a lot of Thelma’s new experience is considered Occult knowledge)
Science 1
Sports 2
Wild Card (Lucid Dreaming)** 3


Combat***
Maneuver    Bonus    Base Damage    Notes
Punch        +3    4        Bash
Kick        +2    6        Bash
Dodge        +3    —        Defense action
Grapple    +5    —        Resisted by Dodge


Age: 17
Gender: Female
Hair: Brunette
Eyes: Hazel
Allies: Cassie, Peggy (another ghost)
Loves: Cassie
Enemies: Azazeal, ghosts of the Medenham witches


* Ghost quality is based on the Ghost qualities from Ghosts of Albion and the WitchCraft Mystery Codex

** The MindDream Metaphysics and Lucid Dreamer skill are from the WitchCraft Book of Hod.  Here they are considered to be part of a new Quality (Dreamer), that grants powers similar per level to an equal level of Mind Dream, Art and Mind Dream, Strength.

*** Physical combat only against other Ghosts and select supernatural creatures.

Thelma, when alive, was so completely herself. She didn’t care if she was popular, or even liked for that matter, she knew who she was and what she wanted.  The trouble was, she wanted Cassie. It was not some mere infatuation because Cassie was her roommate, Thelma knew Cassie loved her.  But she never got the chance to find out. Thelma, because she loved Cassie, was sacrificed by Azazeal to give him more life on Earth.

Now Thelma is a ghost. Wearing the same clothes she had on the night she died, she tries to provide Cassie a sense of reason.  Well that, stealing potato chips and entering (and manipulating) the dreams of her former female classmates.   It is Thelma that discovers Cassie’s secrets, even the ones Cassie herself does not know about and it is Thelma (along with Peggy and ghost from the 1920’s) that discovers Azazeal’s plans.

Roleplaying Thelma
More than anything, Thelma loves Cassie, and she believes that Cassie loves her as well.  This is not a delusion on her part, Cassie does love her.  Thelma will do anything for Cassie, although watching her with Troy makes her very uncomfortable, she respects that it is what Cassie wants.

Thelma is little lecherous, she is not above watching Cassie shower or invading dreams of her former classmates, but this is harmless fun for her.

Azazeal
Cassie: Don’t you ever get bored?
Azazeal: What?
Cassie: Same game with different women over 300 years?
Azazeal: I find ways to amuse myself.
− Hex, Series 1, Episode 4

Drama Points 10
Life Points 30

Attributes
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 3
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 9
Perception: 4
Willpower: 8

Useful Information
Initiative: 1d10 + 3
Perception: 1d10 +11
Additional Actions: +1
Fear Modifier: 16


Qualities
Age 60 (6,000+ years old)
Attractiveness 3
Charisma
Nephilim****
Resources 6


Drawabacks
Addiction, Minor, Drinking
Addiction, Minor, Sex
Addiction, Minor, Smoking
Adversary (Cassie) 2
Love, Tragic (Hella (first wife), Rachel McBain, Ester McBain)
Love (Cassie, Lilith Hughes)
Mental Problems, Lecherous
Mental Problems, Covetous
Mental Problems, Obsession (have a son)

Skills
Acrobatics 2
Art 1
Computers 0
Crime 4
Doctor 2
Driving 0
Getting Medieval 6
Gun Fu 0
Influence 9
Knowledge 10
Kung Fu 6
Languages 10 (he could know even more)
Mr. Fix−It 3
Notice 7
Occultism 10
Science 2
Sports 6
Wild Card

Combat
Maneuver    Bonus    Base Damage    Notes
Punch        +9    8        Bash
Kick        +8    10        Bash
Dodge        +9    —        Defense action
Grapple    +11    —        Resisted by Dodge


Age: 6,000+
Gender: Male
Hair: Brunette
Eyes: Blue
Allies: The 200 fallen Nephelim
Loves: Cassie
Enemies: Cassie, God


****Nephelim quality is derived from the Nephilim quality from Armageddon.

Azazeal was once one of the pride of the Heavenly Host. He was sent to Earth to watch over the humans. The trouble was that Azazeal, or Azazel as he is sometimes known, fell in love with a human woman.  The “Watchers” as they were described in the Book of Enoch then taught their human lovers the art of witchcraft and taught their lovers’ husbands the art of war.  Enraged, God, cast them to the Abyss where they were to remain till the final days.

In 1743 however, Rachel McBain discovered a way to release Azazeal.  In thanks he taught her witchcraft and then drove her insane.  He then preyed on Ehster McBain attempting to conceive a child with her that would allow the rest of the Nephelim to be released from the Abyss.  She was killed by angry villagers that believed (and rightly so in this case) that she was a witch.

In 2004 Azazeal returned, but weakened. He needed a new sacrifice so that he may conceive a child with the McBain witches heir, Cassie.  Thelma, in an attempt to prevent Cassie from being killed, sacrificed herself.

Azazeal, returned to full power intends on finishing his quest.

Roleplaying Azazeal
The thing to remember is Azazeal is ancient. He has seen everything and is never (or rarely) surprised.  He plans ahead, not because he is some megalomaniacal genius, he might be but that is beside the point, but because he has had centuries to plan this out. He has seen it all and knows what and who to manipulate when. Everyone is normally two or three steps behind him if they are any good, most others are usually much further behind.

If Azazeal has a weakness, it is he has become too human.  All the vices of humanity are temptation to him. Despite the level of his addiction his Willpower is always considered to be 2 lower when dealing with any addictive vice.  He can be found drinking and smoking in seedy downtown London sex−clubs, that is when he is not sleeping with 17 year olds or their mothers and teachers.

Azazeal’s Powers
Azazeal has a true form, something like that of a twisted angel, or even a demon, but only witches like Cassie or ghosts like Thelma can see it, and then only when he desires it.  His physical stats remain unchanged.  It is possible that this is the form is always in and the ‘human’ one is nothing more than a Glamour.

Azazeal can also possess others to do his will or to lower their inhibitions. Victims are allowed a contested Will check.  People possessed by Azazeal can be noticed on a Difficult Perception check by the blood pooling in the whites of their eyes.

Would you like an "A" or 100 XP?, Part 2

So my son indeed got home tonight and we sat in the game room. He had his notebook, all my D&D books, including 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions of the Dragonomicon, and he wrote a history for me on why is character wanted a life of adventure.

Here are some excerpts:

Teragon is a Blue Dragonborn Sorcerer.   His dad was famous for killing Tiamat, the Queen of Dragons. Now Teragon wants to be an adventurer just like his dad and so does his brother, Sligon, the Black Dragonborn Paladin. 

When Teragon was 11 his dad died of a disease called "dragonitis". 

Teragon found a magic dagger and a scroll with a spell that made his dragon breath into blue fire. 

Ok, so it won't win any Ennies, but it is still awesome.  I like the part about how his character wants to be like his dad (win!) but not so much about the part where his dad dies of Dragonitis! There was a lot more, thngs about a dragon's cave and how he adventures with his brother.

So for his efforts, Teragon has blue fire dragon breath that does extra damage (thanks to a feat he had to choose at 1st level anyway) and he has a +1 dagger.  Oh and Liam for his efforts was given 500 XP.

Tomorrow night I hope to hear about Sligon and why he decided to be a Paladin.

New Look

Playing around with some of the layout here.

What do you think?

Return to the Palace of Silver Princess

Like a lot of gamers my age I am familiar with the module B3: Palace of the Silver Princess, and like most of those gamers my experience is with the "Green" cover version.  Well I had heard about the infamous "Orange" cover version of course, but never hoped I would see it.  Well Wizards of the Coast had changed that when they released the banned Orange version a few years back along with the story of why it was banned/deemed inappropriate.   An interesting bit of game history, but really I think nearly everyone feels that the edited Green version is the better module.

Reading the Orange version with knowledge of the Green is an interesting experience and one that almost always leaves the Orange one coming up a bit short.  Not that the Green version, with edits by Basic Game guru Tom Moldvay, is a stellar module, it does have it's moments.

B3 holds a special place for me since it is the first module I ever bought specifically to run and not play in.  There was a lot for a neophyte DM like myself in 1981 to like.  The programmed adventure in the beginning was a nice touch to kid just learning how to also program the computers in Jr. High.  Arik of the Hundred Eyes was an awesome sounding bad guy and one I had hoped would make another appearance one day. And it was easy for me to place this all in Glantri from the Expert Set, it seemed to fit well with other things I had going on at the time.

Reading over the Wizard's site this past weekend got me thinking.  I have wanted to use B3 in my kids' game for a while now.  Thanks to the maps (linked below) from the Vaults of Pandius and the update to D&D 3.0 version of the monsters and encounters I could run this is as-is for them now.  Of course I'll want to bump the encounters up a bit to make them more challenging.   Course the maps are for the Green version and 3.0 update is for the Orange version. 

I think I'll take a suggestion from Wizards and run this as "Return to the Palace of the Silver Princess".  The events of the "green" cover happened many years ago, but something went wrong that lead to the events of "orange" cover.  The Eye of Arik wasn't destroyed properly and soon the entire area became cursed.  Ellis the Strong (The Silver Warrior) became the the cause in the minds of the locals.  While the evil energies pouring out of the fragmented eye caused mutations in all living things in the castle.  Plants became vampire roses and archer bushes, the staff became Ubues (gotta explain them somehow), Aliegha, Catharandamus and the dwarves Boron and Xyzom were adventurers that came here previously and are now coming under the affects of the Eye.  Catharandamus is going insane, thinking he can summon Arik, Aliegh is turning into a wolf (or bear or a bear-wolf crossbred-thingy) and the dwarves are slowly becoming orcs.  I do plan on using Candella and Duchess, as randomish NPCs, but they had just gotten there and have not started to mutate yet. I just liked that picture of the two of them being caught by surprise. 

I doubt I will drop any hints here to the upcoming 4e adventures or even the on going Dragonslayer's plot.  So Arik is not really another name for Tharizdun, and I doubt I'll make the Eye of Arik a part of the summoning ritual they need for Tiamat.  Just a little side adventure to amuse me and them while I build them up to the big finale.  Though the Knights of the White Drakes from the Green version allays interested me.  Maybe once the adventure is over I'll have the Knights send them their thanks and offer them a great gift, a Drake (a riding dragon) for them to use in their battle against Tiamat.  My son would LOVE that.  Of course that only works if the the guy on the dragon that everyone thinks is evil is actually good and the characters help clear his name.  I do like that idea.

Links

- Wizard's page for the Orange version, http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20020121x7 

- Grognardia reflects on B3, http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/11/retrospective-palace-of-silver-princess.html

- As does Emerald Lich, http://www.emeraldlich.com/post.php?post_id=1162

- Acaeum overview, http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/b3.html

- Cool maps from the Mystara uber-site, Vaults of Pandius, http://pandius.com/maps.html

- d20/3.0 conversion at ENWorld, http://www.enworld.org/cc/downloads/files/palace_of_the_silver_princess.rtf

Would you like an "A" or 100 XP?

So rarely do my roles as father, educator and gamer collide as well as they have this night.

I have been working with my sons all summer long on doing extra reading, math and writing.  Yes this is what it is like when you are a teacher's kid.

I know motivation is low for school work, especially in the summer and especially when it comes to writing.  But tonight I offered my boys a deal.

For every paragraph they write about their characters they will get 100 XP.  If they do a whole page then they get 500 XP.  If they can write a good story and tell me something about their character then we consider it "true" , even if that means he gets a new magic item.

We will see how it will go.

RPGNet Review for Cartoon Action Hour is up

My review for Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2 is up at RPG Net.

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14855.phtml

You can also discuss it on their forums: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=524162

Comments are not showing up

Comments are not showing up for my blog.

I can see the comments via my email, but they are not on the screen.
This might be true for all of Blogger or just me.

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

Just so you all know.

The module, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is today's featured article on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

I worked a bit on this article back when the deletionists were trying to get all D&D related content removed from Wikipedia.  Some of them seemed to be on a crusade of one sort or another.

This is a great honor for any page.  Wikipedia has over 3 million articles and only 365 of them can be a featured page in a year.  There is even a Facebook page to celebrate.

So celebrate this classic module.  How?  Oh I don't know.  Mix some sci-fi in with your old school games.  I might need to run this one for my kids one day.  It is a lot of fun.

I remember buying this module in Springfield, IL at White Oaks Mall.  I sat on the floor of my parents van (yes kids on the floor with NO seat belts) reading this as we drove to some diner or something. I can't recall where we were going, just that I had this module and I ate it up.  Great memories of this one.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

It's Independence Day here in the States.

Which is a excuse for Americans to play with fire all weekend, but that is cool.

It's odd we celebrate our independence from a country that is arguably one of our biggest friends and ally today.

Well I am celebrating all the same and so should you!

Revised Plan; Generational Mega Plots, Part 2

So.  I started to put my plan into action for the first major campaign arc I have planed out from square 1 and ran since the Dragon and Phoenix. My boys are excited, my wife will buy me adventures (how cool is that?!) and we will get going.

I told the boys that they can play two characters.  A character and a companion character via the 4e rules.  We need the extra characters because they wont survive otherwise.  So far we are going to have a Dragonborn Paladin, a Dragonborn Sorcerer, a Ranger with some thief skills and a "sword guy".  I am thinking the "Sword guy" will be a Warlord to get at the Leader role.  But we certainly need a Cleric if for nothing else than for undead battling.  Given that this is 4E I do want the roles to be covered.  So I have a defender and a couple of strikers, I need a controller and a leader.  The "Sword Guy" would work, but I am going to look into all the Leaders we have so far and see what would fit the best.  He would love a Swordmage, but that is a defender. Bard is a good choice, but I would really prefer a Cleric I think.  I like the Inovker as a potential controller too.

I am going to start to lay the seeds in my current game for this new one.  The 4e characters are the descendants of the 3.x characters.  So yeah I am likely to give 1st level characters a magic item each.  I  know some of you old-schoolers are cringing at the thought.  So some clues will be laid out about Tharizdun, the Raven Queen and Orcus.  I will have the Raven Queen kill Nerull sometime before the 4e game starts.  The result will be massive amounts of undead roaming the lands due to the "backlash of necrotic energies".  The Raven Queen is getting them under control, but this backlash has not escaped the attentions of Orcus and Vecna.  Orcus wants to use this time to kill the Raven Queen and put himself in her place.  She is still just a "godling" in age, but controls vast amounts of power.  Vecna wants her power pure and simple.  I can begin the 4e adventure with a story on how one horrible day all the dead got up and attacked.  There was a mini-Rekoning (ala WitchCraft RPG) and magic went crazy and now everything is new again.  Better than ramming a planet into my world.   If that is the case then I might want to run CM2 Death's Ride for the current 3.x group, build up to that.  Plus Death's Ride has something else I want, some great NPCs for the characters to fight as an arch nemesis.

The Raven Queen is going to be a combination of Death from The Endless, the Raven Queen of D&D world and the Morrigan of Celtic Myth.  So less like Xena becoming Death and more like Teen Titans' Raven becoming Death.  Or some combination.  I like the idea of the world's most powerful god being a teenage goth chick.  With her being younger it would help my kids relate to her more.

Some things to consider while I look over my adventures and books some more.

Revised Plan; Generational Mega Plots

I plan to come back to Cartoon Action Hour here in a bit, but I have something I want to get organized first.

So a while back I posted a plan for the adventures I wanted to run with my family using 4E.

Well since that time, some gaming has happened, some looking over various adventures and some tests on my part has brought me to the conclusion that I can't run some of those old school modules under 4E after all.  Certainly I am still working on my current 3.x adventures with my kids.

Now mind you, this is not a bad thing nor is it reflective of the modules, 4e or "Old School".
But it has forced me to change my plans.

So for the "Dragon Slayers" game I am running I'll add some of those classic modules.  The characters are all right around 13th level now, with one just on the verge of 10th.  The ultimate goal of this game is to defeat Tiamat in the "Graveyard of Dragons". What can I say, my kids like the old D&D cartoon.    The rules are under 3.x edition, which has an odd mix of D&D 3.0, with some 3.5, minor bits from Pathfinder, BESM d20 and Star Wars d20 (the revised one that came out after Attack of the Clones).

Also some of these modules are going to be played by me under Pathfinder in either my "Big Kids Group" or the "Little Kids Group".  Currently the LKG is going through "B2 The Keep on the Borderlands".  I have already used bits of "X1 Ilse of the Dread" and "B4 The Lost City".  I know that in the one of the Pathfinder groups we will go through the GDQ series at some point, most likely the Little Kids Group.  I will be running "C2 Ghost Tower" under the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space game.

After that those characters will retire and their descendants will complete a new Quest.  The defeat of Orcus.
I'll run this one under D&D 4E and I do plan on it taking many years.

I am not 100% certain how the adventures will pan out, but I do want to use the D&D4 ones for ease.

• H1 Keep on the Shadowfell
• H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth
• H3 Pyramid of Shadows
• P1 King of the Trollhaunt Warrens
• P2 Demon Queen's Enclave
• P3 Assault on Nightwrymn Fortress
• E1 Death's Reach
• E2 Kingdom of the Ghouls
• E3 Prince of Undeath

Part of this is my desire to have them battle Orcus at the end. Plus I like to overall plot of involving the Raven Queen vs Orcus and Orcus getting a hold of some ancient artifact of Tharizdûn.

Those modules will get them from 1st to 30th level.  But I might want to add a couple here and there.  Not sure yet since I have not read them all in detail.   I also know some people have had issues with these modules, both in terms of how they fit together, plot and playability.  So I want to get things that are out now, and then tweak them as I need.  Afterall, if this is about fighting Orcus who gets an artifact from ancient Tharizdûn then I can lay some ground work in my 3.x game now for that.

So after all that I have some modules left over.

• B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, levels 1-3 (using bits from both the "Green" and "Orange" versions).
• L1 The Secret of Bone Hill, levels 2-4
• X2 Castle Amber, levels 3-6 (place it in the Shadowfell, which is the new Ravenloft anyway)
• I6 Ravenloft, levels 5-7. That is if I don't use it as a convert Ghosts of Albion adventure. Use some of the Ravenloft campaign/world setting stuff here too.
• S2 White Plume Mountain, levels 5-10
• I10 Ravenloft II, House on Gryphon Hill, levels 8-10.
• S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (with some of the info from the 3.5 update), levels 6-10
• WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, levels 5-10
• S1 Tomb of Horrors, levels 10-14 (though I might just wait for the new D&D4 version)
• S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, levels 8-12
• CM2 Death's Ride, levels 15-20. 

Then there are these modules:

• H1 Bloodstone Pass, levels 15+
• H2 The Mines of Bloodstone, levels 16-18
• H3 The Bloodstone Wars, levels 17-20
• H4 The Throne of Bloodstone, levels 18-100

Like the E series for D&D4, these send you to Orcus's layer to defeat him.   Of the lot, H4 would be the best one to use, maybe as a buffer between E2 and E3.   The others seem more suited for the Dragon Slayer's Pathfinder game.    Of course, I could convert the H1-H4 Bloodstone series to feature Tiamat instead of Orcus.   S4 and WG4 are linked and deal with Iggwilv, her Demonomicon and Tharizdûn.  They are good to set up the history of Orcus and Tharizdûn.  They can happen in either game. In the 4th Ed game I'd stick it in between H and P.  CM2 Death's Ride has some cool stuff in it. Good to set up the whole Orcus wants to be a God thing in the 3.x game.  Plus it would give me a good arch-nemesis for the characters to fight throughout.

The Ravenloft ones would be great for the Sunsword (a good weapon against the undead) but there is the Board Game coming out and I want it.  Plus I'd rather run Ravenloft these days under True20.  So I might have to find something similar.  If I use the new Tomb of Horrors then I could place a good aligned sword there.  There is a D&D4

There is a lot to do and figure out here.  But I see this as a good thing. Look at all the time I have.  I can plan out a mult-year arc of adventuring that would take my kids all the way to college.  Wouldn't have died to have done something like that?

Though I do need to figure out a way to get more dragons into the 4th Ed game for my oldest.

Now this is my attempt to bring Old Schoolers and New Schoolers together.

NEW SCHOOLERS:  What things should I be aware of when running the HPE series?

OLD SCHOOLERS: What classic, epic modules are a "must run" for a group of kids that were not even alive when Clinton was in office, let alone Carter.  What memory of "D&D" is a must have?  Barrier Peeks?  Tomb of Horrors?

Clarifications on Games being Played
- "Dragon Slayers" is a 3.x game that I play with my two sons and sometimes my wife joins us. The goal of this game is to defeat Tiamat.
- "Big Kids Game/Group" is a Pathfinder game where I play a Paladin.  In this group are my kids and the DM's kids (6 players, 1 DM)
- "Little Kids Game/Group" is a Pathfinder game where I play a Witch (same witch as I do in Dragon Slayers).  This is the group with the Problem Player.
Both Pathfinder games have the same DM.
- "Untitled 4th Ed Game" is a 4e game where the players are the same as Dragon Slayers, but the characters are their children or descendants. The goal of this game is to defeat Orcus.

Orcus is mine!!

So I got my Gargantuan Orcus today! And I am ready to sick him on some players.

There is Orcus next to Aspect of Orcus and the figure I use for my paladin.  It is very cool.
I already stated up Orcus for Unisystem, and I was comparing his 3.x stats with the newer 4.0 stats and it looks like he got weaker, 3.x had less hitpoints, but more hit dice than 4.0 does.    Anyone notice this?

Anyway there was something else I noticed while taking the pictures.

Left to right: Destroyah, a little Destroyah, Aspect of Orcus, Orcus.
The sizes are just about exactly the same.  I can have a Destroyah and an Aspect of Destroyah in a game.  I think if I did that I'd go with the idea that Destroyah is female.  Orcus' mate maybe?  More like a rival demon.

BTW that 6.5 Destroyah lists for 12 bucks.  We got it for 6 at Toys R' Us.  The little Destroyah came in a pack of a bunch of Godzilla monsters.

My fellow Eden Fan, Majin Gojira, has done up Angel/Ghosts of Albion stats for Destroyah (and others) over at the Eden boards.  I have also seen 3.5 d20 stats for Destroyah, but I think these are a tad high, though in line if she was an Elder God and not a demon.  She does seem to be more in line power with the likes of Cthulhu.

Of course as I am writing this my two boys are trying figure out what they need to fight both of them.

I remember being a young munchkin too!