Friday, April 8, 2011

G is for Guardians

New Quality: Guardians of the Watchtowers for Classic and Cinematic Unisystem

Hail! Guardians of the Watchtower of the East, Powers of Air! from Calling the Guardians rite.
Guardians! Unite! - Wil Vandom, W.I.T.C.H.

I have used the idea of witch guardians before, both here and in my various games.

Guardian of the Watchtower
5 point Quality
Prerequisite: The Gift (Classic) or Sorcery (Cinematic).
Optional: Three other Witches to complete the circle.

The Guardians of the Watchtowers are special spiritual guardians that guard the four cardinal directions (North, East, South and West) and the four classical elements (Water, Air, Fire, Earth). To a human Guardian they grant certain boons when dealing with their preferred element or direction.

When facing their chosen direction, or casting spell (invocation) that deals with their chosen element the witch is at a +2 for all spell casting roles. If it is the opposing element or direction then the roll is -1 and if they surrounded on all sides by their opposing element the they cannot cast at all. Directors/Chroniclers with a sense for more exclusion can up this to -2 for the opposing element/direction and -1 for the other two, but then no surrounding element restriction.

For example, Bonnie from The Craft is the Guardian of the Watchtower of the South, her element is Fire. She gains +2 when facing south or when casting a fire based spell (but not both at the same time). She is at a -1 when facing north or using a Water based spell. If she were surrounded by water she couldnt cast at all.

If we were to extend this example to W.I.T.C.H., then when Cornelia casts a Earth based spell she gains a +2, but since that shows mythology/cosmology is more elemental based she would be at a -1 when using Water or Fire based magic and -2 when using Air based magic. She would not however be at a loss of magic when she is flying (surrounded by air).
This can be used as source of rumor for your games as well. An old superstition says that submerging a witch in water will rob her of her magic, which is true, for a fire-based Guardian of the Watchtower, but completely ineffective on the Water Guardian like Irma Lair from W.I.T.C.H.

Classic:
Essence Channeling: +2
Invocation: Willpower + invocation level + 2

Cinematic:
Willpower + occultism + sorcery + 2

Often to use this added power the witches need to engage in a minor ritual. For the Craft girls it was a night long ritual that gave them their power permanently. For the girls of W.I.T.C.H. it is minor one that must be repeated (at least once per episode).

The advantage comes when all four (five for the W.I.T.C.H. example, with Wills element as pure magical essence) use their magic together. All minuses are dropped, regardless of the direction facing or element used, and all may contribute their +2 to the group spell casting. In W.I.T.C.H. they augment this by each girl facing their cardinal direction with Will in the center. The Craft witches join in a circle.

This could be extended to other numbers of witches as well. The girls from Scholastics T*Witches could be seen as day and night for example; Camryn getting the benefit under the light of the sun and Alexandra during the moonlit hours. Great dramatic potential comes when they are able to cast together under a total solar eclipse.

Examples
Witch group Number   Notes
W.I.T.C.H. 5 As listed, elements plus raw magic.
The Craft Girls 4 Elements and Directions
Charmed  3 Special case, Charmed One Quality supercedes
T*Witches 2 Day and Night or Sun and Moon
Ghosts of Albion, William and Tamara    2 Special case, Protector Quality supercedes
Willow and Tara  2 Special case, Anamchara Quality supercedes

Why 5 points?
For your 5 Quality or Metaphysics points you get the equivalent of raising your Will 2 points, or your Sorcery 2 points, or an invocation and Essence channeling increase of 2 points each. The drawbacks of course are this power increase is limited to only a quarter of the total spells/invocations out there and there is an associated power loss. Plus it is dramatically pleasing to have other witches to complete the circle.
Like most qualities there is a significant roleplaying element that goes beyond the stats. Sure, W.I.T.C.H. might be interesting with just Will, we have seen many shows like that, but then it would be just W. I guess. The drama comes from the interaction of all the different elements. No pun intended.

Using Guardians in Your Game
This obviously works best, both game level and dramatically, when you have a few witches to compliment the powers. In most game this would work great with a small coven of guest stars with great powers despite their young age or naivety in other occult matters. Personally, Id refrain from using them as villains, they could become quite powerful together and you would miss your chance to have them explain to the Cast who and what they are.
It is also possible that they are short one member and a Cast member has the complimentary outlook/power.

In Classic Unisystem games, this quality is most common among the Wicce, although some small groups of Solitaries can sometimes band together and form an ersatz covenant based on their own personal outlooks.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Ghosts of Albion at Gen Con

I am going to be at Gen Con this year running Ghosts of Albion games again.

On tap is "Obsession (Revised)"  if you played Obsession in the past then this is the same game, but I am changing the beginning slightly.  The change is subtle, but I think it will change how the rest of the adventure plays out.

I am also going to run two games of "Dinosauria!".  The one during the day will be welcome for younger players (cause everyone loves dinosaurs) and the evening one will be geared more to the older crowd (tad more violent, but also things adults are more likely to get like an argument between Karl Marx and Charles Darwin. Yes they are NPCs).

Here are the locations and times.

RPG1120388 Obsession (Revised) Thu @ 7:00 PM 4 hrs
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Grand Central Blrm D :: 8 Cost: $4

RPG1120389 Dinosauria! Fri @ 1:00 PM 4 hrs
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Grand Central Blrm D :: 6 Cost: $4

RPG1120390 Dinosauria! Fri @ 7:00 PM 4 hrs
Location: Crowne Plaza :: Grand Central Blrm C :: 3 Cost: $4

I am leaving Thursday and Saturday during the day to play some old-school D&D and 4e D&D with my boys.

Links to Wisdom OSR Wiki

I updated the Links to Wisdom Wiki a bit today.

I added a bunch of material that I have posted here.
Included now are:

F is for Familiars

Familiars

Familiars are as ubiquitous to witches as are cauldrons, pointy hats and brooms.

Despite their outward appearances, familiars are not animals, but rather spirits in the shape of animals. They can talk and understand human speech but only their witch can understand them. This connection is a mental one, but it is often described as speech. This connection also allows the witch to communicate with animals of the same kind. With their familiar present they can talk to any animal and understand what is being said. Some familiars also have a chance to know another language, which the witch then will know.

A witch starts at 1st level with a familiar. This familiar will show up when she first becomes a witch. The nature and form of the familiar will often be dictated by the circumstances of her becoming a witch. She may add other familiars as she progresses in level. The maximum number of familiars a witch may have is equal to her number of Retainers based on CHA. She may also only call a new familiar once per year and a day (alternately this can be once per level). This is for an additional familiar or to replace one that had been killed (familiars do not die of old age like natural animals). So a witch with a CHA of 18 can have a max of 7 familiars at a time, but will take her a minimum of 7 years (or levels) and 7 days to obtain them all.

A familiar adds 1 spell level of a spell the witch can learn. So a witch with a familiar can learn an extra 1st level spell, a witch with three familiars can learn any combination of three spell levels, so 1 3rd level spell, 1 2nd and 1 1st level spell, or 3 1st level spells. If the familiar is killed then the witch looses those spells the familiar knows. If she has cast those spells already this day then she loses an equal numbers of levels.

As the witch gains level the familiar also grows in power by gaining 1 hit point per level the witch gains and their armor class improves by -1 per level.

Anytime a familiar is killed or if the witch releases it she much make a saving throw vs. death or lose a number of hit points equal to that of the familiar.
Summoning A Familiar
At 1st level the witch gains her first familiar automatically. Once she gains a level she can attempt to summon a new one.

Summoning a new familiar is not something that can be done lightly. The witch needs to spend a day in deep meditation and purification. The day must begin for sunrise with the witch participating in a ritual bath and cleansing that must be complete before the sun has clear the horizon. She will spend the morning preparing the area for a familiar to come; laying out small treats for the type of animal she wishes; cheese for a rat, cream for cat, meats for a dog or wolf, and so on. She then will spend time preparing items for each sense, something for touch, taste, smelling, hearing and seeing. Then she will also appeal to the four elements, plus the fifth element of magic, and for the mind, body and spirit. So in total the witch must procure 13 items that are outside of the treat for the familiar to appeal to magic. These items must have significance to the witch and will be unique for each casting and each witch. In total these materials will cost the witch up to 100 gp.

The witch has a base chance of obtaining a familiar equal to 65% + 3% per level up to 10th level. So even at 10th level the witch has 1% chance of there not being a familiar within the area.
Any roll of 100% (00) will result in a Special familiar.

Regardless of the result of the summoning, the witch will have spent the day in the ritual and will not have prepared any spells for that day. Any materials spent cannot be reused.

Special familiars are not in the shape of animals but are often creatures of the Faerie or even the other planes. Special familiars cans speak to anyone capable of understanding their language.

List of Familiars
(roll d%, this is not the same roll as discovering a familiar)
Rolls of 00 result in a Special Familiar.
Roll Familiar* Additional Powers to the Witch
1-3 Badger +2 to Constitution checks
4-6 Bat +2 to Dexterity checks
7-9 Beaver Double normal speed when swimming
10-12 Cat Night vision (night is treated like a light spell)
13-15 Coyote Surprised only on a roll of 1 on a d6
16-18 Crow +2 bonus to Magic Wand saves
19-21 Dog Surprised only on a roll of 1 on a d6
22-24 Eagle Improved vision
25-27 Ferret +1 to Dexterity checks, -1 to AC
28-30 Fox +1 to Intelligence and +1 to Wisdom checks
31-33 Frog +2 to Constitution checks,
34-36 Goat +2 to Constitution checks
37-39 Hawk Improved vision
40-42 Hyena +2 to Dexterity checks
43-45 Jackal +1 to Intelligence and +1 to Constitution checks
46-48 Lizard +1 to Intelligence and +1 to Dexterity checks
49-51 Lynx +2 to Dexterity checks
52-54 Mouse +2 to Dexterity checks
55-57 Owl +2 to Wisdom checks
58-60 Porcupine Improved AC, -2 bonus
61-63 Rabbit Surprised only on a roll of 1 on a d6
64-66 Raccoon Surprised only on a roll of 1 on a d6
67-69 Rat +2 bonus to Paralysis saves
70-72 Raven +2 bonus to Death saves, can speak to others
73-75 Scorpion +2 bonus to Poison saves
76-78 Snake +1 to Intelligence checks, +2 to Heal
79-81 Spider +2 bonus to Poison saves
82-84 Squirrel +2 to Dexterity checks
85-87 Swan +2 to Charisma checks
88-90 Toad Wide-angle vision, surprised only on a 1 on a d6
91-93 Turtle Improved AC -2 bonus
94-96 Weasel +2 bonus to Rods and Staff saves
97-99 Wolf +2 bonus to Spell saves

Special Familiars
Familiar Alignment Additional Powers to the Witch
Batling Lawful Improved hearing and +2 polymorph save bonus
Bear Neutral +2 to Strength to checks
Bendith ý mamau Neutral Improved hearing and a +2 wands save bonus
Blink dog Lawful Witch may dimension door once per day as the blink dog’s power.
Brownie Lawful +3 bonus to all Dexterity based rolls and effects
Butterfae Neutral +2 Wands saves and +2 to Spell saves
Cait Sidhe Neutral +4 to Wands saves
Celestial Animal Lawful Same as normal animal, +2 to Spell saves
Dire Animal Neutral Twice the bonus as a normal animal of it’s kind
Elemental, small Neutral Gain +5 to saves to the Elemental element
Fiendish Animal Chaos Same as normal animal, +2 to Poison saves
Imp Chaos Regenerate 1 hp per day
Mephit Chaos Gain +5 to saves to the Mephit’s element
Pseudodragon Lawful +3 to saves vs. Dragon Breath
Skitterwing Chaos Gain +5 to saves to charm and mind affecting magic
Sprite Lawful +2 bonus to all Dexterity based rolls (Reflex, AC)


Perform ritual. Roll d% to see if you summon a familiar, if yes roll a d% to see what you get.  A roll of 00 on either roll is an automatic special familiar.

More soon.
--
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.

"Witch's Familiars" Copyright ©2011, Timothy S. Brannan

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

E is for Elegy

An elegy is a poem of mourning.

It is also the title of a 2009-2010 story arc of Detective Comics featuring the new Batwoman. In many ways Elegy is Batwoman's origin story,  but it is also the origin story of her arch-enemy and the secret connection they have.

After reading "52" I became a big fan of the new Batwoman.  She was a different character than either Batman or Batgirl.  You knew what motivated them, what caused this new Batwoman to don the cape and cowl?   Elegy tells you what motivates Kate Kane, what drives her and why she has to do what she does.

I'll let you in on a little secret, I don't actually read a lot of comics.  I pick up a collection every now and again, read some things that were popular years ago, or a trade paper-back, but I don't actually follow anything.  I am a bigger DC fan than Marvel by a long shot and I tend to watch any super-hero cartoon, TV show or movie that I can, but monthly comics, I rarely if ever read those.

I picked up Elegy since I was a fan of Batwoman.
I am very glad I did.

Elegy is not a story that could be told with the Batman or even any of the Batgirls.  It had to be Batwoman.

Before I go on I have to mention the artwork.
J. H. Williams III had been lauded for his work on this book, but I am not sure that even those do him justice.
The art work here is another layer of story telling above and beyond the great story by Greg Rucka. There are parallels drawn between the two foes that make you think that we have a rivalry to well, rival that of Batman and the Joker.  But that is the easy stuff to sell because it is so good.  The look on Kate's face when she is dumped by her girlfriend is tangible.  She says she is ok, but her look says so much more.   That is something you never see in the Batman.  Both characters are full of sadness and loss. Kate's though is closer to the surface, not beat down like Bruce has done, or she thinks she has done.  Kate is more vulnerable; not because she is a woman, but because her pain is still real to her, her multiple losses, all the reversals of fate.  She just wants to do the right thing, the honest thing, the just thing, but each time reopens a wound.  Elegy rips her old wounds open and drowns them in salt.

Ok on to the story.  Caution, Spoilers Ahead.

The story is told in flashbacks while the Batwoman is working on a new case.  The Cult of Crime is back in town and the Batman is giving his approval for the Batwoman to take it on her own.  She investigates and only turns up a few clues.
She returns home to where we meet her father, a retired Army officer, is helping her out via two way radio ala Batman Beyond.  Frankly it's a great idea, two heads are better than one.  She works out and has to rush to a breakfast date, only to get the aforementioned dumping.   With the Cult of Crime in town though she can't dwell on that.

We get flashbacks to her life at Westpoint.  She was then an up and coming officer with high marks.  Just past "Ring weekend" the young Kate Kane is brought into the Commandant's office where she is told she is under suspicion of "homosexual activity" and is asked if she wants to deny it, reminded that if she doesn't she will be expelled. Kate recites the Cadet Code of Conduct about not lying nor allowing others to do so. She admits to being gay and is kicked out of the academy.


Let me go back to the art for a second.  Look at the sequence of Kate's face. She is sad, angry and then finally resolved because she knows there is only one right answer the answer is the Truth she can't deny who or what she is.  She is a Westpoint Cadet and they never lie. Neither will she.

For the first time (we think at this point) Kate has no where to go and nothing to do.  She returns home to tell her Army officer father what happened and he tells her he is proud that she stood by her honor and told the truth.  That's it.  Kate struggles a bit.  She doesn't care for her new step-mother at all (we find out her mother was killed, but that is it for now).  A chance meeting with a mugger in the streets though changes that.  She is actually about ready to beat the thug into a bit of pulp, shouting at him "think I'm some victim? I'm a soldier!" till she (or rather the mugger) is rescued by the Batman.

I want to come back to this later.  Rescued is such a loaded word here, but I use it on purpose.  I want to get to why later.

Kate then decides (between tattoo sessions I am guessing) that her new purpose in life is to be a vigilante.   That is till her father discovers.  He helps focus her attention. She trains with people he knows for the next couple of years.  He tells her if she is serious then she is going to war and in war you define your objectives and your winning strategies.  She comes back and her father has decked out their version of the "batcave" with state of the art surveillance, urban combat weapons (but the "Batman Rule" is always in effect) and a new costume done up in red and black, the colors of war in her Jewish faith (I have to take Rucka's word on that one, never heard it before, but it sounds right).  Though she is not happy with the heels on her boots.  In newer parts of the story we see they have been replaced with proper bad guy stomping red combat boots.



More details are discovered with the Cult of Crime.  But frankly at this point those details are only a means to an end.  That end is Alice.  Alice is the new High Madame of Crime and she has a very personal interest in Kate/Batwoman. She is also Joker-level crazy.  This gets to my one real issue with this.  WAY too many bad guys know all about her "Secret Identity" for a character that was introduced as a closeted, lipstick lesbian, everyone seems to know her secrets.  Alice in particular knows a lot of them.

We get up to the final confrontation.  Alice has kidnapped Kate's father and wants to us his knowledge to launch some missiles (I thought he was retired.  Maybe still active??).  So the ruse of fighting Batwoman was just to get to her father. Or was it.  Reading on it seems that was just a ruse to get at Batwoman.  Alice and Kate fight. Kate manages to stab Alice, Alice stabs Kate.  They are over the Gotham river and in a rare lucid moment Alice, no longer talking in 3rd person, tells Kate that "she has our father's eyes". She then falls to her death (seemingly).

Kate goes back to the HQ, her father begging her to stop along the way.  She takes two blood samples, hers and Alice's.  She gets them analyzed and Alice is her twin sister that she had assumed was dead for years.

In one more flashback we see Kate's life when she was a little girl living with her mom, dad and twin sister.  Briefly, she is kidnapped along with her mom and sister by terrorists.  Her father does get an army team in to save her, but shots are fired and her mother and sister are killed.
Kate dedicates her life to service to honor her Army Officer mother and twin.

When Kate gets the confirmation she goes to the Cult of Crime and tells them that if they come for her father again she is going to kill them all.
The story ends with Kate still not talking to her father.

--

There is so much happening here and I didn't even get into the relationship Kate has with mer step-mother, her dance with Maggie Sawyer, what happened with her and Renee Montoya,  or how Betty "Flamebird" Kane is her cousin.   It has been said before and it is true;  This is not a female Batman.  Kate's Batwoman is also propelled by loss and grief and anger, but they are different.  She built her entire life after her mother's death on the idea that she would be the best officer she could be and serve to honor them.  When that is removed she was lost in a way that Bruce Wayne never was.

When I said before that she was "rescued" I meant it.  She was never in danger of that mugger.  The mugger actually had more to fear from a very capable and very deadly opponent with no outlet what so ever for her aggression, anger  and sense of loss.  The Batman showing up saved her.  Not the man, but what the man stands for. The symbol.  That is why she is the Batwoman and not some other new costumed hero.

The parallels in the art in the book between Alice and Kate are amazing. I am rather disappointed in myself for not guess who Alice was sooner.

I mentioned also that Kate is more vulnerable than Batman is. Again, not because she is a woman, but  because her pain is still so fresh and her choices still weigh on her.  Because of that her heroic actions are greater.  We know she can fail, we know she hurts (and sometime physically given her chest wound from 52 is still not 100% healed) and yet she still goes out there, every night.  The Batman goes out every night because that is what he is.  Kate chooses her life, the ups and the many downs.

Elegy manages to be poignant yet not preachy. Kate certainly is not a perfect character.  She is still brash, has a chip on her shoulder and even with out the Batwoman gig she would still have troubles in her relationships (as seen with Renee). But she is trying and I think that is the reason why her series would do well.



Elegy is the best comic I have read in a very long time.  I like Kate, I like Batwoman and I want her to do well. It would make a great movie.  Maybe when Nolan is done with Batman he can turn his sights to a Batwoman.

You can read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batwoman:_Elegy
http://www.amazon.com/Batwoman-Elegy-Greg-Rucka/dp/1401226922/

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

D is for Dresden Files

When the Dresden Files RPG was announced I had a vague idea of the books. I had watched and enjoyed the series on Sci-Fi (back when they still were Sci-Fi and didn't show Wrestling). But I never gave the books much thought.  Over the course of the last couple years all the other books I was reading in the Modern Urban Supernatural genre kept bringing up the Dresden Files and Harry Dresden.

So I bought the game and I liked it a lot. It is cool and neat. And I quickly put it away!  The game is so full of spoilers for the books.  I had read the first book, Storm Front, and remembered it was a bit like the Sci-Fi channel movie.  But the game went so far beyond that. So I figured before I could properly read the game I needed to read the books.  So for the last six months I have been going through all the Dresden Files books.  I have been "reading" them on audio-book during my commute.  I have gotten them from my local library and I have gotten rather used to hearing James Marsters in my car.  By the way, I never really liked Spike as a character and never thought much of Marsters as an actor, but hearing him read these books has really changed my opinion of him.

Anyway I am almost done with Turn Coat now which as I understand it is the next to the last book so far.  There is a collection of short stories and a new book out soon.  I should be ready for it.  One thing I have enjoyed about listening to the book in my car is while I am driving through Chicago is every so often I'll hear of a place and immediately think of where that is in proximity to where I am at.  I once even drove by one of the grave yards mentioned in the book while it was being talked about.

Though as a Chicagoan (of sorts, moved here 17 years ago) its the Kennedy, not the JFK. It's DUI, not DWI. It's not Coke, it's Pepsi (ok that one is just me). Things that would be said if you grew up in Missouri (like Jim Butcher did, where it is the JFK and DWI).  Nor is it as easy to get a cab as Harry seems too, but then again he is a wizard.  There weer other minor issues (he drove from downtown to Deerfield in a few minutes?  The guy HAS to be a wizard for that!) but nothing that was a deal breaker for me.

Dresden Files the RPG is a different story.  I liked the background already; supernatural going ons in Chicago and the developer Fred Hicks once claimed that he loved the WitchCraft setting as a possible choice for the Dresden Files RPG.  I am just not a huge fan of Fate.  I do understand that they have taken it to new and wondrous places and that it is not very similar to FUDGE at all anymore, but I am still skeptical.  I will though review the game on it's own merits and not my pre-conceived notions of the system.

I have played in a Chicago-based Unisystem game that has some similar tropes of the Dresden books.  Though our Chicago is also 1 part Cine Unisystem, 1 part Ghosts of Albion, 1 part World of Darkness and 1 part just good old fashion knowledge of the area.

I'll certainly convert some characters sometime.  The issue though is the whole Wizards and Technology deal. Makes converting the Hex Girls difficult and Willow down right impossible.

More I guess when I am done reading the books and the game.  Maybe I'll re-watch the series too.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Woo Hoo. I leveled up!

According to Trey over at The Sorcerer's Skull I just leveled up to Level 7 Pundit!

Thanks all!

(file under: Silly)