Willow & Tara: WitchCraft RPG

I thought it would be nice on the Eve of Beltane to discuss my two favorite witches in my favorite witch rpg.

Back in the Spring/Summer of 2001 I started up a new game.  I had just purchased the WitchCraft RPG core about 16 months prior and I was looking for something new.  That something came to me in the guise of Willow and Tara.  I had been watching Buffy for a bit and I really enjoyed the character of Willow.  When she got together with fellow witch Tara I thought they were perfect.  I had become very involved in the online Willow/Tara fandom so I created a game, focusing on just them.

The game would focus on just these two, no one else from the show (which I would soon become an ex-fan of, but that is a different story).  Plus it gave me something to try out in a modern setting, something I have not done since my days with Chill.

The trickiest part of developing game stats of any fictional character that belongs to someone else is knowing how to strike a balance between the game's rules and the fictional pottrayal. A lot of "artisitc" license needs to be used in order to get a good fit. For example, how do you determine what some one's strength is when there is little to no on screen evidence? What spells would the girls have?

In the end I decided to play it a little loose, but I love where these stats ended up.  In many ways this is who Willow and Tara are to me, not the characters on TV or comics, but the ones that were my characters since that day back in May 2001 that I decided they needed their own chance to shine.

After this I went on to work on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.  It should be no suprise then that the Willow and Tara stats that appear there are not that much different than my own.  I can be quite vocal in play tests.

Of course the show took a turn into suck, but game remained.  It was converted over to the Buffy system, and then eventually the Ghosts of Albion system.  Willow and Tara are as much a part of Ghosts of Albion as William and Tamara.
This work also allowed me to meet, work with and remain friends with Christopher Golden and Amber Benson.

No too bad for a little game focusing on two girls that happen to be witches and in love with each other.

Since that time I have also tried to convert the girls to a number of systems, each in hope to see how they manifest and how well does that system do to match my style of modern supernatural horror role-playing.  I will detail all that in future posts. Each one advances the girls through the various campaigns / seasons they have gone through.  "The Dragon and the Phoenix", where Tara is returned to life and a central figure in the season long arc in an alternate Season 7.  "Season of the Witch", where Willow, Tara and Tara's father must solve a 25 year old mystery that effects everyone's future and "Generation HEX" where the next generation is raised after the Earth-changing events of SotW.

Until then here are the WitchCraft versions.  These represent the girls while they are still on the show.

Willow Rosenberg
Wicce Seeker of Knowledge/Student
Gifted

Age: 20 (circa 2000/2001), Ht: 5'3", Hair: Red, Eyes: Green

Attributes: Str 1 Dex 2 Con 2 Int 5 Per 2 Wil 3
Life Points 28
Endurance 23
Speed 8
Essence 20

Channeling Level: 8

Qualities & Drawbacks: Gifted (+5), Essence Channeling (+4), Addiction, Magic (-2), Attractiveness (+1), Covetous (-1, Ambitious), Emotional Dependency (-1), Fear of Rejection (-1), Hard to Kill (+1), Honorable (-1), Minority, Lesbian (-1), Minority, Witch (-1)(though it should be noted that Willow does not view herself as a minority in either case.), Resources (-2, Hurting).

Skills: Computers (4), Computer Hacking (4), Computer Programming (3), Electronics (1), Engineering, Robotics (2), Humanities, Psychology (1), Magic Theory (1), Instruction (1), Medicine, General (1), Occult Knowledge (2), Research (3), Rituals, Wicce (2), Trance (1).

Powers: Flame (3), Farsee (2), Search Person (2)* (4 if that person is Tara), Physical Shield (2), Create Ward (3), Soulfire Blast (3), Float (2), Sending (2), Mindtalk, Strength and Art (3), Mindhands, Strength and Art (2), Mindfire strength (3), art (1), Visual Illusion (2).

Possessions: Laptop, books on magic, spell components, Doll's Eye Crystal focus (adds 1 to Channeling).

Tara Maclay
Wicce Student Gifted
Age: 20 (circa 2000/2001), Ht: 5'5", Hair: Blonde, Eyes: Blue


Attributes: Str 2 Dex 2 Con 2 Int 3 Per 3 Wil 4
Life Points 28
Endurance 23
Speed 8
Essence 40


Channeling Level: 4

Qualities & Drawbacks: Gifted (+5), Essence Channeling (+2), Increased Essence Pool (+5), Artistic Talent (3), Cowardly (-1)*, Emotional Dependency (-2), Fear of Rejection (-2), Hard to Kill (+1), Honorable (-2), Minority, Lesbian (-1), Minority, Witch (-1)(though it should be noted that Tara does not view herself as a minority in either case.), Resources (-2, Hurting).

Skills:Cooking (2), Craft, Candle Making (2), Craft, Simple Crafts (2), Humanities, Art History (2), Humanities, Psychology (1), Magic Bolt (3), Magic Theory (3), Myth and Legend, Folk Magic (1), Occult Knowledge (2), Research (3), Rituals, Wicce (2), Singing (2), Survival, Urban (2), Trance (2), Dancing (2)

Powers: Influence Emtional State (1), Blessing of Protection (2), One with the Land (2), Flame (2), Search Person (2)* (4 if that person is Willow), Percieve True Nature (2), Visual Illusion (4), Create Ward (3), Float (2), Sending (1).

Possessions: Books on magic, spell compontents, crystal ball.

*I do want to point out that I don't consider Tara a coward here, it is just she knows she has strengths and picking up an axe and swinging it at a demon is not one of them. (that comes later).

I started each character out with the number of points aloted to starting Gifted characters. Then to figure out how they advanced through Episode 100, The Gift, I gave them 1 point per episode. I thought that it would be a good average to use. I also gave Tara the benefit of the doubt of having more points. She did come in to play until episode 66, Hush, but we know that she has been a witch longer than Willow and may have had some formal training from her mother or grandmother. Plus Tara has been living on her own for much of her adult life.

I used this same logic in playtests and in determining other characters for other Unisystem games.

Everything has a start and mine was right here.

This was the genesis of nearly 10 years of gaming, playtesting and frankly a lot of text generated by myself. In a very real sense my freelancing career began with these two.  My game writing began with other witches, but these two helped me to get published.

Liches in Classic Unisystem

“I want to tell you a story.”

That was how she began our conversation so many years ago. I was annoyed, I wasn’t looking for a story, I was looking for answers. For years I had been searching obscure occult tomes for a shred of proof that there was something else out there; something no longer human and unbelievably ancient.

“Do you know of Immortals?” she asked, knowing full well I did. I would not have spent 10 years and travelled to length and breadth of the Earth if I had not heard of something. I would not now be sitting here in this small cottage in France if I had not actually seen some proof.

She was old, that was certain, but how old I could not begin to fathom. I had learned of her just few months ago. I attempted many times to contact her, but she had no phone, let alone email, and her address was not even known by the local post. So I travelled here and searched this pastoral countryside till I found her. She would not receive me and sent me away many times. Finally, after weeks, she allowed me a visit. My French was halting, but I was surprised (though I don’t know why) to discover she spoke English. She invited me to her home. Again I was surprised, no, I was dumfounded. In her possession were occult tomes and texts that many scholars search a life-time for only to discover one such artefact and consider themselves successful. Here tomes of unbelievable worth and antiquity were lying about as if they were a copy of the morning news or some tacky romance novel. There was a nervousness in the air, like I walked into a surreal alien world. Everything looked normal; normal that is, if this were a hundred years ago. Several clues were apparent to me then, but in my haste to learn what she knew I ignored them, or simply did not recognize them for what they were.

“Essence” she continued “is not just the key to life, but life itself. Do you agree?” I nodded affirmative. My throat was dry from my journey here and she had not offered me a drink. Unheading, or just uncaring for my discomfort she carried on. “Then is it any surprise that there are those whose lives are unnaturally long due to essence?” Again I indicated I agreed. I began to re-evaluate how old she really was.

“Essence then extends life.” She said and as a means of illustrating she drew out a long thread. She was treating me as if I were a child, but yet something held my tongue back. “It can lengthen life, but at cost. Most agree, the Wicce in particular, that the cost is too high. Others begin to feel that inventible pull towards Geburah, a wariness of the soul that no mortal sleep can cure, they slip away quietly, hardly a whisper.” She paused.

“There are others. Very, very few. Who never hear the call, never feel the wariness of the soul and they continue.” She turned and handed me an old tome, our fingertips briefly brushed and I felt a cold so profound, so aching, that I feared I would never be warm again.

“You may have this. But I doubt you will like what you read.”

I practically ran back to the hotel room. I was drained, exhausted beyond anything I could remember. I wanted to read that book, but when I got back I fell to bed.

I read that horrible tome, the ancient German difficult, but I struggled on. After a couple hundred or so pages sleep conquered me.

I awoke two days later to the hotel manager banging on my door, swearing at me in French. The book was gone. I went back to that small home but found nothing and no sign of life. As quickly as I could I began copy what I could remember from memory. Some images were blurry, on the edge of consciousness, others had burned themselves so deeply into my psyche that I doubt I will ever be the same.

Along with the nightmares I had been given the answers I sought.

I had spoken to a lich.

Lich
15-point Supernatural Quality

Prerequisites: The Gift, Intelligence or Will of 6 or greater, construction of a phylactery and potion. Must be a living human (no bast, vampyres, ghost, etc.)

There are those that are born immortal or gain unnaturally long lives due to Essence. There are those that covet this, or fear death so much that they seek out fell arcane means to extend their lives. These rare creatures are known as Liches.

Lich comes from the old middle English word Lyche, which means corpse. Indeed the lich is often very corpse like. A mere husk of a human form, the lich is most often a skeleton with dried leather like flesh drawn tightly over the bones. Its eyes are gone, replaced by pin points of malevolent red light. Some hair remains, in thin wispy strands and its hands have curved into talons with long yellowed fingernails. Liches can also appear as human, they are still powerful magicians and can alter their appearance.

The path to lichdom is fraught with peril. To begin the prospective lich must have a strong will or intellect to pursue this path. A strong constitution is favorable, but not required. Only Human Gifted may become liches. Other undead cannot transform into a lich; though it should be noted that there has been a rumor of vampyric liches. There is also some debate on whether other supernatural creatures, such as Bast or Ferals, or immortals can become liches.

The first step is to locate a book or tome with the knowledge. This book includes the rituals and incantations needed, the ingredients of the potion and directions for making the phylactery or soul object to house the lich’s soul. One such tome is known to exist, Das Buch des Leiche. Written in the early 14th century in a crude form of old High German, it is difficult to read and understand. A more common translation, The Book of Liches, is full of errors and will more likely kill the user outright. There are other tomes certainly, but they are only rumored to contain the necessary ritual, potions or materials. Once the proper tome is discovered most occult scholars agree it contains three important pieces of knowledge; construction and empowerment of the lich’s phylactery, the brewing of the poisonous draught, and the ritual of transformation.

The Phylactery
The Soul Cage or Phylactery is a small box or otherwise hollow object about the size of a fist. All reported cases have been made of lead. Lead is used for it’s dark, energy absorbing color and most likely for its malleability.
The would be lich needs to construct this himself or have one made for this purpose.
The Phylactery requires a Consecration Invocation to create the vessel and restrict it only to that caster. The magician must then atune the phylactery by the use of the Soul Projection Invocation and project his soul into the phylactery. This ritual is a perversion of Atlantean Arcana for empowering and energy crystal.
The would be lich must pour all of his Essence (except for 1-5 points) into the Phylactery. He must then regain all of this lost Essence normally before proceeding.

The Potion
On the lunar month before transformation the would be lich needs to brew the poison that will actually kill him. The poison consists of arsenic, belladonna, the venom of a poisonous snake or spider, the blood of a vampyre and the blood of a human whose life has been extended due to essence, or a true immortal or manifested demonic creature. Rendered down in this vile alchemical concoction are the silks of 13 Death’s Head moths (sp. Acherontia styx styx; Acherontia atropos styx). The potion then must ferment for 27 days in an air-tight container and never be exposed to light. Even the light of a single candle will be enough to render it useless. It is still quite toxic, just not suitable for use in the ritual.

The Ritual
The ritual of transformation is what binds the would be lich’s body to this world and his soul to the Phylactery hereafter.
The ritual though is largely unknown. One must discover it in one of the few books known to contain the proper ritual, and not one one of the many books that contain the false ritual. There are many faulty copies and some outright forgeries.
An Occultism check with 10 Success Levels is enough to determine if the ritual is legitimate, but not enough to determine why it might be wrong.
The ritual itself requires at least level 5 in one of the Necromancies listed in the WitchCraft core, but Death Mastery is the most common.
The ritual takes 24 hours to cast and the would be Lich looses 5 points of Essences permanently. If they are interrupted at any point they must start over anew. This includes brew a new potion and loosing another 5 points of Essence.
At the end of the casting the prospective lich drinks the potion and dies. If everything was performed correctly then they will rise as a Lich in three days. If not then they are dead.

Once the new Lich awakens they have the following:

Immortal, Nerves of steel, Photographic Memmory, Acute Senses (hearing and vision), Chill of the Grave (GoA)* (3), Ghostly Fear (GoA)*, Enhanced Vision Darkvision, Hard to Kill (3)
Intelligence +1, Will +2, Occultism/Occult Knowledge skill +2

Disabled senses (taste and smell), Delusions of Granduer, Obsessions (accumulate more knowledge), Unattractive, Inhuman form, Essence Dependence

*These qualities are found in the Ghosts of Albion Roleplaying Game. They are Cinematic but can be used in a Classic Unisystem game with no issues. They cost the listed Quality Points in either Quality or Metaphysics. Either costs 1 Essence point to use.

Like a Vampyre a Lich cannot replace their own Essence. They must spend an Essence point each day to retain their ability to mimic life and any Metaphysics they perform also deplete their Essense. Unlike Vampyres a Lich can absorb ambient Essence, but no more than 5 points per day. This is often why a Lich can be found in Essence rich areas. As long as they are pursuing more mundane research a Lich can persist unchanged and never requiring Essence for years.

Liches then can be played as sort of intelligent Zombies, taking any Quality or Drawback that a Zombie can including those regarding feeding. Liches normally do not feed on flesh but rare conditions (or badly translated rituals) do happen. Liches may also take appropriate Qualities, Drawbacks and Powers that are open to Vampyres or Ghosts.

Like Ghosts, Liches can “see” emotional states. Due to their gifted background they can also see magic and lines of magical force.

Reducing a Lich to 0 Life Points does not kill it, but it does force it’s life force back into their Phylactery. Reducing the Lich to zero Essence Points forces it back to it’s Phylactery as well, but then it must slowly rebuild their Essence at the rate of 1 per day till they reach their maximum. A lich can then re-enter their body and re-animate it. If their body has been destroyed then they enter any corpse within 100 yards of their Phylactery.

If a Lich is somehow reduced all the way to -10 Life Points then their body must make a Survival Test. Failure results in the body being destroyed.

To destroy a Lich one must reduce it to zero Life or Essence points, find and destroy their Phylactery and destroy the body. For this reason Liches often keep a false Phylactery while their real one is safely hidden and surrounded by corpses and animated dead to guard it.

A Lich may regenerate 1 Life Point per Con score per day. This costs the Lich 1 extra Essence Point.

For Classic Unisystem.  WitchCraft RPG, All Flesh Must Be Eaten, or Armageddon. 

D&D 4 Kids. Monster Slayers: The Heroes of Hesiod

Monster Slayers: The Heroes of Hesiod is a new type of D&D (4th edition nominally, but it is so stripped down it could be from any edition of D&D) adventure designed for younger kids.  They say ages 6 and up.

The adventure is free, http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/monsterslayers and all you need to play is some people (kids), dice and some pencils.  There are character cards, monster cards, tokens and a map that can be printed out.  Any printer is fine, color or b/w.  You can use a d20 and d6. If you are so new to D&D that you don't have a d20 then you can still do this with 3d6 (that would be 3 six-sided dice).

The plot is simple.  Fight some monsters.
There is no real threat since characters can be healed by an NPC (have YOU ever killed the character of a 6 year old?  Well until you do you can't complain about this being too easy.)

The game time is 30 minutes and it is for one DM and 5 players.
Players need to work together to get through this, but there are no guidelines telling you how they need to do this.

What do I think?  Well I can attack this from three fronts, as a parent, as a curriculum design specialist and as a D&D player.  Here we go.

Tim the Parent
I love what they are trying to do here.  D&D looks fun to little guys (and girls!), but the rules (and lets be fair here, especially 4e) can be daunting.  Character sheets, even when everything is explained require a lot of reading and higher level comprehension.  Something the 12+ crowd can do, but maybe not the ones still playing Pokemon.   This adventure solves that problem easy.
IF I had one suggestion on this it would be to make it so you can subdue the monsters.  Think of the new movie "How to Train your Dragon" basically this is the same thing.  But the little red dragon here is so cute that I know my boys will want it as a pet.  Yeah a pet Bullette or Beholder is a bit of a stretch.  This is not coming out of any attempt of being PC; I like to kill monsters as much as the next guy and anyone that thinks kids don't have never been around kids.  It would be more of a challenge in some ways.  Plus years of Pokemon have taught me 2 things.  1. Kids like to collect the monsters they "kill".  2. You can say "knocked out" or "benched" all you like, my kids still tell me how they "killed" my Haunter or Ghastly (I like psychic Pokemon).

Tim the Curriculum Specialist

In my day job (and night time Ph.D. stuff) I am a Curriculum specialist.  Yeah I don't talk about it much here because they get for 13+ hours every day.  But I love what I am seeing here.  The potential for learning is fantastic.  For starters there is the working together aspect.  The players will need to work out how they are going to kill these little beasties.  And how they are going to protect their party.
There are the simple things like math, rolling the dice, comparing numbers and addition and subtraction.  Let's not over do it by talking probabilities here yet, but we can do fractions.
What is missing here though is a page on how the teacher-as-DM can do all of these things and meet some stated outcomes or goals.  It don't fault the authors in not including this.  That was not part of their design goal.  Maybe I can come up with something.

Let's see. Quickly this can be used to teach role-playing (something that is used in all levels up to MBAs), basic probability (what is the chance you will hit the monster?), computation skills (basic, you rolled a 3 and 2 and a 4, how much is that? does it hit?) team work (who has the most hitpoints?  Who can last in a fight better, who can hit the monster from far away?  How can you work together to bring down a bigger foe?), narrative storetelling (why is your wizard fighting the monsters?  You tell me what you think he/she is thinking),  and even simple cause and effect.  Wrap it all up in a nice Deweyian setting and get the kids to learn by doing.   I do it now with my kids and it has worked out really nice.
If something like this can get the kids to read the new Monster Slayer books from Wizards, then its a win-win.  Wizards gets another sale and kids read.  My son already loves his A Practical Guide to Monsters and A Practical Guide to Dragons so much we bought the Dragon Codex books.  If the adventures are aimed at the 6+ crowd then I hope the books are not too much above that.

Tim the 30+ Year D&D Player
Oh yeah. Killing monsters is great.  Putting them in a room and telling me to have at them, that is even better.
Sure these rules are not going to challenge me, or even hold my attention for too long.  They were never supposed too.  They do however do one thing really, really well.  They play just like D&D.  The only thing missing are some orcs and some treasure.
If you have a little guy or girl and they want to learn how to play, then this is a great starting place.
Call the characters "-1 level", after this they have worked their way up to 0 or maybe even 1st level of the D&D of your choice.

I like what Wizards is doing here and they should be applauded.  The fact they let it out for free is even cooler.  I would like to see more of these.

There are some discussions about this on Facebook, ENWorld and RPG.net.

How do you "cure" a vampire?

Tossing this out to the universe.

How do you cure a Vampire?

I my games (mostly D&D, but also Unisystem ones) there is no cure per se other than the final one, death.

But a situation has come up in game and I would like to find a cure for a vampire.  I'll give you some background specifics, but I want to find something that is more or less universal.

I have a vampire, and she has killed and taken blood.  Lets also assume she has lived past her normal life span.  So for a human she would be well over 100 years old by now, even if she still looks like she is in her 20s.

I would like it to be some sort of ritual.  Something to renew her mind, body and soul.  And preferably involving water somewhere (because of it's "purity") and sunlight.

Assume system-neutral. So high fantasy D&D, anime BESM or modern supernatural Unisystem; it should work regardless of magic levels in the game.

Ideas?

Pathfinder + Hero Lab

I have been playing in two separate Pathfinder games recently and I really like the system.  But the one thing that I didn't have that 4e gave me was a kick-ass character builder program.

I love character builder programs,   I think I have tried them all over the years.  I had the Core Rules CD-Rom, I had the character builder from Wizards for 3.0 and back in the day my DM and I built one for our Tandy Color Computers.  And I love DDi.  I know some people complain about it and others even claim that Wizard's or Hasbro are looking for more ways to make money.  To that I say how dare they give me an awesome product that does exactly what I want it to do for a fair and reasonable price! ;)  Seriously what is up with people.  Don't like the DDI, then don't pay for it.  I happen to love it.  I can play around with it and try out different characters, multi-classes and hybrids.  Yes I can do that with paper and pencil and books, but I don't alway have my books with me, say at work on my lunch break or relaxing in front the TV on the couch, or at the airport waiting for a plane.  The DDi is fantastic.

It's just too bad that I can't use it with Pathfinder.
I can't use it with Unisystem either, but that is not the point.

So I went out and I tried Hero Lab, from Lone Wolf development.  I remember getting a free CD from them one Gen Con and I couldn't find it anywhere, so I just downloaded it and tried it out.

Here is what I liked:
- I like that there are multiple games for this product.  Currently I use DDi, Uniforge, Simpson's M&M sheet, and Metacreator installed on my computer.  I like flexible systems.
- The interface is nice.  Not fantastic, but nice.
- Using it is rather easy after a few times.

Here is what I didn't like:
- Not 100% sold on the pricing structure here.  I think the d20 SRD derived content should be cheaper.
- I would like more systems, Unisystem is the top of my list.
- The interface, while nice, is old looking.

Comparing this to DDi though is not really fair.  They are designed to do similar, but different things.  Comparing it to Metacreator though is a better choice.

The pricing structure is about the same.  Metacreator though only charged 15.00 per module download, Hero Lab charges 20.00.  The core product is also priced similar with Hero Lab at about 30.00 (with a module) and Metacreator at the same with one module.
Both have the d20 SRD, Savage Worlds, and Call of Cthulhu.   Metacreator has Unisystem as well some others.  Hero Lab has WoD and Cortex.
Despite my nit-picking on the interface, Hero Lab is slightly better than Metacreator.  Both though look like "older" technology.  Metacreator in fact looks like something for Windows 95.
Both produce very function character sheets for printing or PDF.  Metacreator gets a not here since it produces sheets that look like the ones from the game itself.
Hero Lab is easier to navigate and the tabs are very nice.

In the end it depends I guess on what game you want to play.  If you play World of Darkness, Cortex, Ars Magica, Unisystem or Fudge then your choices are made for you.

Same with D&D4.  Yes, Hero Lab can do D&D4, but you need a DDi account to get the updates and if you are  going to do then just the D&D Character Builder.

Both have sizable fan-related content and forums.

So I broke down I bought Hero Lab because I wanted Pathfinder support.
I have to admit that some of the concerns I first had about Hero Lab changed after I bought it.  Now that could be because I had been playing around with more and knew the program better.

Side by side Hero Builder does actually compare nicely to the DDi Character Builder.
Here is a screen shot of my new Pathfinder Paladin and his D&D 4 alter-ego.  (big screenshot).

Having access to the new Pathfinder classes is nice too.
What would totally sell me on this of course is Unisystem support.  I would love to be able to put my Ghosts of Albion characters into something like this.
Chance are good I'll be getting the Cortex and maybe the SavageWorlds one in the future.  If/When I do I'll review them here.

As a GM I don't like to kill characters, but...

But I have.

Details in a bit, but first more on character death and the great battle, the Shadow War.

Many notable and non-notable personages made the ultimate sacrifice in the war against the demons.  Skie Iskatarian, who claimed to be the great-great-granddaughter of Kas the Destroyer, died on the field of battle.  She was given a heroes funeral by the Queen she would have rather seen dead, not visa versa.  She was found next to a man that by all accounts she hated more than anyone, Kiev Scorpious.  They were found back to back, fighting off the hordes that stormed the walls of the city.

Kurt, the affable monk that everyone seemed to like, had also been found.  The great warrior Jar Tearn. Not felled by any weapon, his great age was his doom and he died on the field when his heart failed him.  His wife Victoria, rushed to his side, but never quite made it.  Kara Foke, King of the neighboring country offered his son to aid Glantri, and lost that son.  Leaving his second oldest betrothed to the Queen.  She was 9 he was 8.

Some speak of the great dark warrior Absom Sark how he was never seen again after the war.  Others speak of Arachnia, the drow female warrior that roamed the lands prior to the war, but never after.  They have statues as well, even if their bodies were not found.  (they ran off together after the war. sometimes love is more important than honor).

But the greatest loss some say was the King's son, Johan III.  Lost, and he had disgraced his family and the faith by bedding not just a common girl, but a supernatural one (she was a psychic...and something else), he had returned from the Nightmare Lands (Ravenloft) in his country's darkest hour.  But the girl that was his undoing in life was his undoing in death....

--
The cool thing about being a tech-head was this great little program that my then DM and I had written for the Tandy Color Computer.  It was a combat simulator.  We could load ten characters and ten monsters in it at once and they would go after each other till all of one side was dead.  I used that and in some cases, I also rolled up the combats on my own.  Something to pass the time to be sure.

So, lots of people died so that the new generations, Quenn Celene and her future Husband Kara Werper could take center stage.  And they will, or rather would have, had it not been for that troublesome girl.

Morgan.

Morgan began in my game with only her nick-name, Raven, though she did have other names.  Raven Ebonflame, Raven the Hunter of the Dead, Raven the Daughter of Death (her father was nicknamed "Death Blade").
She was psychic, which was a strict taboo in my game world.  Sure magic is fine, because the mage schools and guilds control that. Random psychic power?  Bad juju.

So what does this girl do?  She gets herself hired in the mercenaries guild and eventually hooks up with John the 3rd, future king of the land, and gets pregnant.  When I was coming up with ideas to start my war, I decided that she ran off to have the kid rather than cause her lover any more grief.  Trouble was Johan loved her too.  Had he married her things might have been fine, but he ran off after her only to get pulled into Ravenloft.  She thought he didn't care and gave birth to their daughter.

There is one other thing about Morgan.  Something I decided on her first outing as a character back 1985 or so.  Morgan was a killer of Vampires.  She killed one at 1st level.  And then proceeded to go after more.
Morgan, Raven Ebonflame, was the very first Slayer.

And then I killed her.

She was in the war and played a minor part.  I remember being out on my bike one day thinking about what she might have done.  Then it came to me.  Morgan fought Yoln Shadowreaper, the general of the Armies of Hell.  She fought him and killed him.  By herself, single-handed, the girl that everyone in the game hated, changed the course of the War.  She gave them victory.  But it cost her her life.

Her lover, Johan went crazy and was soon killed in battle, not before taking out several dozen demons.  The priest said he could not raise her, her soul was gone.  A pact was made by the three most powerful remaining characters, the guild master (her father), the advisor (her teacher) and the King (father of her lover).  Her father went to Hell to find her soul.  In the 3rd Edition years, I worked that into the great Reckoning of Hell.

Her death was the most powerful scene I played up to that point.  But years later I so regretted killing her. I thought it was a waste (and I had more personal reasons too).

Then I began The Dragon and the Phoenix.

This was a Willow and Tara centric season for the Buffy game.  In the fifth episode, Heaven Bleeds, Willow, Tara, and Buffy travel back in time to this battle.  There they meet Willow and Tara's past lives, and all three witness Morgan's battle with Yoln.  I did retcon her into a Slayer, but it was not much of a change.

Now I redid the scene of her death as before, this time using the Cinematic Unisystem rules.  And this time Buffy was there to help.  I had players that played Tara, Willow, and Buffy, but I still played Morgan out. She still defeated Yoln, this time with her sister Slayer's help.  But she still died.  Somethings can't be changed I guess no matter how much you try.

As Morgan dies, she touches Tara and asks her to remember her.  Morgan's soul does not go to Hell as everyone thought, but instead, it is in Tara.  When the season ends she lets go of Morgan's soul to her final rest.  I have a scene in later games, Season of the Witch, to be exact, where Morgan's father meets up with Tara and is given peace.

As a DM I don't like to kill characters.  People invest way too much of themselves into their personas.
Kurt, Skie. Kiev, Jar, Victoria, Sebastian, Fjalar, Johan II and Johan III.  They all had memorable deaths and that had meaning.

But Morgan, Raven Ebonflame, the Daughter of Death, Hunter of the Dead, had the most important death of all.  Her's changed two worlds. Set things into motion that I am still using in my games. And changed how I think about characters and how I write this stuff I do.
And hers was the hardest to do and deal with and the one I have always and will always regret the most.

To pull out my comics metaphors, she is though more of my Barry Allen than Tora Olfsdotter or even Tara herself.  She died and saved the world and to bring her back now would give the character less meaning.  She died well and now deserves her well earned rest.  Tora and Tara died too (and came back) but their deaths were meaningless and meant to shock people and ultimately empty.  Mark Waid, who wrote the issues in which Tora died has since admitted it was a huge mistake as a typical and clichéd Women in Refrigerators moment.  Too bad Whedon has not had the same insight and maturity as Waid.  But I took care of that on my own.

So GMs/DMs/Directors/Story Tellers?
Do you kill characters?  Do you try to save them even if the dice fall on the side of the Reaper?

Yes...yes I can already here the Call of Cthulhu Keepers out there.  I know your point and I know there are worse things than death.

iPad for gaming. Not yet for me.

I have blogged about my love for tech in the past. I raved about my HP laptop till it died on me recently. So today I get to try something new. An iPad.

It it about the size of the old TRS-80 palm top. Which is kind of cool really. The screen is really nice and typing is not too bad. typing got faster towards the end. Logging in to blogger was easy.

But...well the rich-text/HTML editor is flaky, same as my phone. Logging into DrivethruRPG was a pain and I could not download any books. Oh and I had to completely mess with my router to even do this little.

Without network it is little more than a big iPod with no music.

I was really excited about this thing too, but right now I can't recommend it at all. At least not right now. There are not a lot of reasons to bring this to game table.

I guess I'll need to wait for the Google tablet.