Snow Day

More posts once I get myself unburied from all this snow.

Allan Quatermain for Ghosts of Albion

Quick one today before we get hit by The Big Snowstorm of 2011.
I liked the character of Allan Quatermain (note the spelling) from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels and knew somewhat of his origins before that (though I have not completely blocked out that bad Richard Chamberlin movie).  Since I have been re-reading a lot of my Victorian era games of late I thought it would be good to bring him out for Ghosts of Albion.


Allan Quatermain
Before adventure went by the name Indiana Jones it was named Allan Quatermain.

Allan Quatermain, Adventurer
Character Type Journeyman

Portrayed by Heath Ledger (1840s) and Sean Connery (1890s and beyond)

Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 5
Constitution 3
Intelligence 3
Perception 6
Willpower 3

Qualities
Acute Senses (sight) 3
Charisma 2
Contacts (local African, 2; British Military, 2; British Government, 1)
Deadeye, (www.grey-elf.com/buffy/lxg.pdf)
Explorer
Hard to Kill 3
Fast Reaction Time
Nerves of Steel
Renown 1
Resources 4
Situational Awareness
Worldly

Drawbacks
Adversaries (various) 1
Honorable 1
Love (Tragic, Wife)
Mental Problem (Obsession with new, undiscovered lands) 2
Reputation 1

Useful Information
Initiative: 1d10 + 10
Additional Actions: +1 physical

Skills
Armed Mayhem 2
Art 0
Athletics 2
Crime 1
Driving/Riding 2
Engineering 1
Fisticuffs 3
Influence 2
Knowledge 2
Languages 2 (English, Swahili)
Marksmanship 5
Notice 3
Occultism 2
Physician 1
Science 1
Wild Card

Manoeuvre Bonus Base Damage Notes
Rifle (spiral bore) +10 22 +2 to damage for Deadeye
-Aiming +15 +1 to aim for Deadeye, +3 for Acute Senses; add SL to Rifle above
Dodge/Parry +7 Defence
Grapple +11 Resisted by dodge
Punch +9 4 Bash


Much has been written about the legendary marksman, hunter, tracker and adventurer Allan Quatermain. But at this point, none of those things have happened yet. He is not yet known as Macumazahn, the "Watcher-by-Night" by the African natives, he hasnt yet grown completely disillusioned with England, and he knows of no league of gentlemen, extraordinary or otherwise.

This is Quatermain at 24 years of age. He has seen some adventures and misadventures (he has already lost his first wife) and now is spending most of his time in Africa. He knows a little bit of the occult so the idea of a Protector is no surprise to him. His goal though is to protect the local population, not the interests of Mother England or her colonies.

It is English colonialism in Africa that awakens some foul beasts left sleeping since Mankind was still trying to survive in the trees. It is here that Quatermain crosses paths with the Protectors of Albion, and they discover that may not be on the same side of this battle. They battle, and realize they have a common foe and join forces to try and stop it.

Like Tamara Swift, Allan Quatermain has fairly progressive ideas for a Victorian Englishman. He is often seen in the books treating women and native Africans as equals and even admitting that they could be wiser than he is. Maybe these ideas began with his affairs with the Swifts. Speaking of which, it would be completely in character for Allan to have a brief but torrid affair with Tamara.

Druthers for Basic era FRPGs

Trying out some more Basic monsters. These are conversions of some d20 ones I have done in the past. Depending on which Basic game/retro-clone you use I have listed Armor Class as both descending (start at 9 and go down) and ascending (start at 10 and go up).

Here is one of my faves, the Druther.
You can also find this guy in my book, The Witch.

Druther

AC: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 9d8* (40 hp)
No. of Attacks: 2 Limbs (fists or constructed weapons)
Damage: 2d6 / 2d6
Special: Immune to piercing, water and cold-based attacks. Double damage from fire based attacks.
Movement:: 20 ft.
No. Appearing: 1 (1-3 in lair)
Saves: Fighter 9
Morale: 12
Treasure: None
Alignment:: Neutral
XP: 1,200

A Druther is a type of wood golem that can only be created by a witch. The name comes from an old piece of doggerel often muttered by witches,

“If I really had my druthers,
I’d have my wooden druthers too.”

A “Wooden Druther” is a corrupt form of “wouldn’t I’d rathers”, or something the witch doesn’t want. So the Wooden Druther performs tasks that the witch would rather not do herself.

The druther can understand simple command phrases of about 15 words each. Typically druthers are used for menial labor or to perform a task that the witch can not do or won’t do herself, like killing or scaring an enemy. Often a witch will have a few druthers protecting her home while disguised as trees (Wisdom check at -2 to notice).

A druther cannot communicate at all. Some witches have used woody reeds in the construction of their druthers. When the wind blows across the druther it sounds like a deep bassoon.
Druthers can appear in any form. Usually they are biped and always made of wood. The wood can be carved or a collection of sticks tied together. The appendages need to be attached separately if the druther is to move at all. They can be precisely carved to appear as anything the witch wants, but they typically look like walking bunches of sticks. Legend has it that there was a witch that had such beautifully carved druthers that they were often mistaken for wood nymphs.

Treants, dryads, and wood nymphs view a druther in the same manner a human views the undead or a flesh golem. Most will attempt to destroy them when they can. Some witches and wizards value the wood from an inanimate druther to use to make magical fires.

A druther is mindless in combat. It strikes with its wood fists with almost no regard to what else is going on.
As a construct a Druther is immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, disease, and similar effects. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.

Arrows or other piercing items, such as spears or thrust daggers, only do 1 point of damage per hit. Water based attacks have no effect on the druther whatsoever. Fire based attacks always do double damage. Cold based attacks do no damage.


Section 15 Copyright Notice

Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

System Reference Document Copyright 2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Bruce R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.

Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks is Copyright© 2003, Timothy S. Brannan and the Netbook of Witches Team.

Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2006-2008. Chris Gonnerman.

Labyrinth LordTM. Copyright © 2007, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.

"Druthers for Basic era FRPGs" Copyright ©2011, Timothy S. Brannan

Art is Copyright ©2001 Daniel Brannan and used here by permission.  Art is not open content.

Tarot Witch of the Black Rose for True20

So I have been doing some Tarot posts of late and playing around again with True20 so this should really be a no brainer.  Plus Tarot #66 is now out, so why not.

Now one would expect that her True20 stats should be somewhat similar to her M&M 2nd Ed stats.  But if I build her by the book she ends up a touch weaker.  These are her "by the book stats".  In comparison to her M&M counterpart, this Tarot lives in a more darkly supernatural world, say like that of most modern supernatural novels like The Dresden Files or even the urban fantasy of Kim Harrison.
As typical I am using the Adept's Handbook and the guide to Horror Role-Playing from the True20 Revised book.

I would see her as something like a member of an Occult Guard or a Witch Knight.  Her armor then would be more traditional and ornate, but I would not change the character one bit.

Tarot Witch of the Black Rose

Human
Adept 6 / Warrior 3

Abilities

STR:	0	INT:	+1
DEX:	+2	WIS:	+1
CON:	+1	CHA:	+3

Combat
Initiative: +2
Defense: +8
Base Attack bonus: +6  (Melee +8, Ranged +8)

Saving Throws
Toughness: +4
Fortitude: +3
Reflex: +5
Will: +8

Virtue: Compassionate
Vice: Impulsive
Calling (Blue Rose): Justice
Reputation: +3

Skills
Bluff +5, Climb -3 (armor), Concentration +8, Craft (Blacksmith) +3, Diplomacy +4, Disguise +3, Handle Animal +4, Intimidate +4, Jump -2, Knowledge (history) +5, Knowledge (Occult/Supernatural) +10,  Knowledge (theology and philosophy) +10,  Medicine +5, Notice +6, Perform (Ritual) +6, Research +6,  Search +6, Sense Motive +5, Sleight of Hand +3, Survival +5

Feats
The Talent, Imbue Item, Connected, Weapon Training (Sword), Armor Training (light), Attack Focus (Sword), Iron Will

Powers
Object Reading, Wind Walk, Heart Reading,  Elemental Blast, Elemental Resistance, Plane Shift, Ward

Other
Languages: Latin, English
Equipment: Sword of the Goddess, Armor

Conviction: 7

Starts out as an Adept and then picks up some levels in Warrior to cover her training.
Adept powers are based on Charisma.
Philosophy: Witchcraft.

So this Tarot is physically weaker than her M&M counterpart, but still rather powerful for the world she would be in.

Updates

Various updates to some hanging threads.

New Game Group
The Northlands Game group met over pizza.  We are going to be playing Pathfinder as I expected, which is good.  We are using variations of of our former Pathfinder characters (so yes, starting at 1st level AGAIN).  I am going to be playing Oisín, a Cavalier (not a Paladin).  All the characters are half-brothers; Dad got around a lot.  I need to read up on the Cavalier some more and decide what cause he takes up as his own.

Gen Con Updates
I will be going to Gen Con this year.  So far I think I am only going to run three games.  Dinosauria! (one for adults and one for younger people) and a revised Obsession. Obsession was a HUGE success in my mind, but every group wanted to kill the wrong guy from the start, which is fine, but not at all what I wanted to see happen, so the adventure is the same, the first Act will be slightly changed.  So if you played Obsession before, this will not be different enough to play again.  I do want to run a kids game, there are more families coming to Gen Con than ever before and I want to support that.

Sci-Fi game
I think the issue with me not finding a good sci-fi game is I tend to link Sci-Fi more to properties (Star Wars, Star Trek) more than I do Horror or Fantasy.  The closest thing I ever got was Star Frontiers.  I think, given what I am mostly likely to do with a Sci-Fi game, is stick with d20 3.x.  There are plenty of good sci-fi games that use d20, including some of my faves Star Wars and Star Frontiers (sort of d20-there are SF elements in d20 future).  I am going to have to give it a try sometime to see how it all works out.

Zatannurday: First submission!

Welcome back to Zatannurday everyone.  I am pleased to show off my new logo/graphic for the occasion.

I might make it a touch smaller, but I wanted to show it off too.

Zatannurday was barely s few hours old when I got my first submission!

Here is some original art by Eric Stettmeier aka Bubbashelby of the Toyriffic blog (where you can enjoy Harley Qwensday).  Look for his cool Zatanna post today too.

You can find the original here, http://bubbashelby.blogspot.com/2008/01/annataz-ward.html and a post on the DC Justice League Unlimited Zatanna here, http://toyriffic.blogspot.com/2009/04/abra-abra-cadabra.html.

Thanks so much for helping Zatannurday grow!

Season of the Witch: Episode 3

Episode 3: Strange Sort of Homecoming

Late Summer 2004
Willow & Tara go to Tara's home town in Alabama to attend the funeral of Robert Maclay, Tara's father. While there they discover more about Robert's past and how it is connected to Willow and Tara's future.

Synopsis
The girls return to Tara's hometown where they stay with her brother Donny, his new wife Leah and their new baby Megan (named after Tara's mother). Though without knowing Leah has set the girls up in seperate rooms as if they were "just friends". One of the themes of this episode was actually confronting the issues of homophobia as opposed to dancing around the issues. This was at the request of my player/testers who felt that the show never did a very good job of this.

The girls arrive in town. Go to the wake. Tara decides she needs a drink and heads to the local bar. She runs into a guy (Dan) that had a crush on her in high school who never quite understood she was gay. As well as cousin Beth. People in the bar begin to talk and whisper about Tara being back, and with a girlfriend no less.  To bust the tension of the moment my Tara player decides to break into a bit of dirty dancing with Willow to Prince's "Gett Off".  They of course get kicked out of the bar, much to Beth's delight.

During the funeral Tara and Donny get into a fight over the minister Donny chooses to speak. They get into a fight, Tara storms out, Beth comments on "Tara running away again".  Beth mentions that she cast a spell to set everyone against Tara for leaving her behind. Willow punches her.  Willow follows Tara, tells her about Beth's spell.  Discover that Beth did cast a spell, but it had no effect.    Next day things seem to be better, Donny apologizes. Beth has left town. Tara is given her mother's things including her journal that details this entire life she had working with her father as part of a covert ops group to take out supernatural threats.  Donny also gives the girls Robert's car, a blue 1967 Ford Thunderbird.  Tara, now feeling welcomed in her old home decides to head back to her new home.  On the drive back though the ghost of Robert McClay informs them they have work to do.

Notes: This was not an action packed episode, but rather one of interpersonal actions and reactions.  I wanted to delve deeper into Tara's past and her family life, plus fix some of the problems from the show (demons in female side of the family?? WTF?? yeah, I fix that too). Things learned in this episode:  Tara, her mother and grandmother are/were all power witches. Megan was a "Craft Worker" assigned to Robert's unit to aid his group in hunting the supernatural.  Her job was the "Cleaner", or the removal of spirits.  Robert didn't want to work with a witch, but orders are orders.  Now for their group I just used my old 1980's Chill game.  So Bob and Megan were part of S.A.V.E., but something happened back then and they never finished their mission and Bob and Megan left, never to talk about it again.  We also learn that Megan was from Sunnydale.  Donny is not an dick really, just a jerk that listened to his father's anti-demon, anti-witchcraft tirades a little too much.  He is after all Megan's child too, though he does not have any magic.  Beth though does have some magic, though hers never works.  Her role here is smaller than originally planned, but that is fine, she comes back in Web of Lies.

The big deal here of course is Bob, the Ghost.  He needs to lead Willow and Tara through his failed 1976-79 mission in order to find peace.  This mission is also tied to the what the girls are dealing with now and the Awakening.  They also are given Megan's journal which has the cut scenes of the action in the 70's. 

So you are a young gay woman on a road trip with your girlfriend in a cool convertible, what else could you want?  That's right the ghost of your ultra-conservative, way strict father hanging around.  That's got comedy gold written all over it!  Too bad that the trip is to discover what supernatural force might be taking over the world soon and may have had an impact on why your mother died and why your dad is such an asshole.

Now about Bob: Bob of course was on the show, but never given that name.  I named him that cause he looks like a Bob to me, plus it was a nod to a friend of mine author Robert Black.  Funny thing is Robert Black goes to the same church as does Steve Rankin who played Mr. Maclay in the episode "Family" (one of the highest rated Buffy episodes). This is my chance to try to redeem the character a bit instead of making him a two-dimensional cliche.  Since he played a number of military types on various shows (including multiple characters on various Star Treks) he is portrayed here as a Marine (he has played Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians, and as the infamous Col. Green, I think he can pull off a Marine too).  He was later convinced to work with SAVE after seeing something really scary.  In 1976, when he meets Megan O'Kelly he is in his late 20's

"Megan" was my Tara player's idea.  Originally she was named Deirdre (I had just read the Irish tale "Deirdre of the Sorrows" and thought that Bob should be much older than his wife), but in the end came to like Megan more.  Deirdre then became her grandmother.  Megan, who I figure was 22 in 1976 when she joined Bob's team was something of a California girl.  Long blonde hair, Led Zeppelin concert tee, and wearing hip hugger bell bottoms.  For Megan think of a young Eliza Roberts (Eric Robert's wife), though she does not make any appearnces here except in photos and flashbacks.
We learn that Bob had been in the military when he was younger, but left for an unknown reason.  He was getting followers and cards from people Tara had never heard of before from all around the globe.  Donny didn't even know them.

The town the Tara lived in had been her family home for years.  Her father's family had been her for generations.  People talked about how Tara left AND also how Bob had left when he was roughly the same age.  Both came back with a strange new woman from California in their lives (Willow and Megan respectively).  This was the start of building a lot of parallels between Bob/Megan and Willow/Tara.  Each generation did something that the other generation could relate too.

We also learn about Tara's first crush. Tara had been in Jr. High and her crush had been a red-headed high school girl that worked at the "Tastee Freeze" (no, there are no Tastee Freezes in AL). Tara would go there to buy a small vanilla ice cream cone just so she could see her, even if she never actually said anything to her. The girl found out, thought it was cute, and began dipping her cone in that strawberry stuff that freezes when it comes in contact with the ice cream. We called them dip-cones. Of course, the girl had a boyfriend, which broke Tara's heart, but her taste for red-headed women remained. Not sure about the strawberry dip-cones though.

Strange Sort of Homecoming was also the first of the "Road Stories" sub arc.  We had planned this as the first series even before Dragon and the Phoenix.  The 67 Ford Thunderbird was our nod to Thelma and Louise, though we already did that ending in Dragon.

We now had our cast whole.  Willow and Tara, our two witches. Bob the ghost and Cordy the Whitelighter.  It was good that the last two could move in and out at will since the Thunderbird can only seat two.

Next Time: Willow, Tara, Bob, and Cordy get caught up in the crossfire of a voodoo war, meet an unlikely ally, and find what may be the most haunted house in the entire Western Hemisphere in "Under a Cajun Moon".