Future character, not named yet.

Character concept for Chris's Savage Worlds space game in one sentence:

Twisted mad scientist necro doctor.

Role:  Ship's "doctor" On a less than legal or some kind of shady top secret ship.

His appearance is something like current Marilyn Manson, sans makeup.  Thin, but with a bloated flaccid appearance, a round distended belly, spindly legs, weak chin.  Wispy thin black hair, often unwashed, clinging to his scalp, barely.  Not long, not short, just no-style, around collar length.  He often wears <depending on what's available in the setting> white shirts, dress style shirts, but always missing buttons, and stained.  Old stains, new stains, disturbing stains... Black pin striped dress pants, but faded, scorched, and just this side of tattered.  When he's in his office, he often wears a black rubber apron with less-than-sterile medical tools stashed in the pocket and elbow length chemical gloves.

He accepts a position on a ship, because the shipmates don't question him about his "hobbies" and he deigns to patch up his shipmates in time of need. He has an extensive knowledge of anatomy, and can effectively (if a little er, un-traditionally) heal them.  In his off time, he's forever splicing, cutting things open to "learn" about their interiors (dead or alive).  He's very good at the human body, but...he has his own methods of learning.

My inspiration for this character comes from many places, sort of many archetypes drawn together in one character.  First Qyburn from GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series.  He's kinda purely medical and necromantic, but I want this to be a little more weird science, so think of all the creepy doctors, and dentists, think of every medical phobia you may have surrounding the medical community, think of Victorian medicine, of independent study, stealing corpses, doing weird gene spicing with whatever animal this guy can catch and torture.  In space.

Still unnamed.

C:TL

The game went well, Saturday night. It was genuinely fun, we were rushed right into combat after following a rainbow because Tasha ate a magical skittle.  Chris kept everyone engaged, moving along, prompting the people that needed prompting, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot.

Alden's char was birthed from the sky, pretty much, and was met with mistrust, initially.  The story took weaving twists and turns, and Chris had a lot of witty things going on.  Loved it.  I wish every game we played was like this.  I think the chemistry was really there, and it came out because Chris tried hard to engage everyone.

I can appreciate a sandbox setting, I love it, but there's times it doesn't work. When you have a few people at the table who aren't used to interactive co-operative entertainment, those people wind up sitting in the center of the sandbox waiting for something to happen, and texting in the meantime.  That didn't happen this time, everything was well paced, and now I'm hyped up for our next session, on Nov 5.

Even more hyped up for the space game.

A List

A list of mostly fiction available to Luiz, for reading.  A (what I hope is) eclectic mix of authors and styles, mostly from the 20th century. This is to help him broaden his writer's vocabulary.  This is not a "best of", this is not some comprehensive master list, it's based on his personal tastes, mine, and what's on hand. My only authority here is that these are books I've already read, many of them, repeatedly.  They stand out, for many reasons, some I've explained below.  They're not my favorites.  But, they have all shaped my appreciation for the art of the written word.   This is simply a cross section of my own collection. Terse, wordy, floral, sparse.  Hardcore sex,  blood and guts, fairy tales and happy endings.  What if, what did, what will never happen. Shouting and whispering. Cheesy, rich, and velvety or a brisk, bitter slap in the face.

Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea- Short, perfectly composed. One of the greats. One of his razor-sharp finest examples. See also his short stories.

John Steinbeck

Cannery Row-THE textbook on perfect descriptive writing.

East of Eden- his magnum opus. “symbolic recreation of the biblical story of Cain and Abel woven into a history of California's Salinas Valley.” Huge in scope, and in message. It's rambling melodrama, but in a good way.

Eli Weisel

Night- Short, intense, emotional read from the perspective of a Holocaust survivor. Emotions captured in words.

Upton Sinclair

The Jungle- published in 1906. An American contemporary at the time of Crowley. Grisly, controversial, thoroughly bitter look at the “American Dream” through the eyes of an immigrant, in Chicago's meatpacking district. The writing is complex, but it's very visceral and cringeworthy. Lots of moral choices and struggling. Dark.

Stephen King

Insomnia- Difficult journey into dream-subconscious. Dream Logic.

The Talisman/The Black House- Two books that tie into the Dark Tower series. Alternate universe, horror/fantasy.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes, Skeleton Crew, Night Shift and 4 Past Midnight- Well crafted short stories, 4 past is more novellas, but still worthy reading.

Douglas Adams

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- See where Pratchett is coming from. Drily funny British sci-fi. A real classic, for a reason. Grazes over deep subjects with a light step, and with humor.

Terry Pratchett

Any Discworld novel- Fantasy, excellent story and worldcrafting, hilarity. Light reading, witty, clever.

Good Omens

Neil Gaiman

Smoke and Mirrors, and Fragile Things- Short Stories. He's as random and eclectic in his style as anyone I know. Think of the difference between Odin and Anansi. The feel of them both. He captures it in his short stories. Dark fantasy.

Ed Greenwood

Elminster the Making of a Mage- Ed created Forgotten Realms. This is one of his early books. The story is good, flawed, and it's a little deeper than many D&amp;D style fantasy. See the creation of one of the canonical legendary D&amp;D characters, from the ground up. Well written? Not as good as others on the list, but for what it is, yes. Lots of magic and intrigue.

R.A. Salvatore

Homeland- Again, see the creation of a legend. Good fantasy writing, without being cheesy. Young life of Drizzt. Both Ed and R.A. Are pertinent to what you're doing with Wizard's Wrath. To write fantasy, read fantasy. This is where “drow” or dark elves were invented, as a race. He fleshes out a whole world. Crisply black and white, good vs. evil. A little predictable.

Neal Stephenson

Snowcrash- Wordy in a good way, cyberpunk, urban sci fi. Really great characters, interesting story blending Sumerian myth, biological virus and data virus. Completely unique story. WAY ahead of its time, technology wise.

Anne Rice

The Vampire Lestat

Memnoch the Devil

Tale of the Body Thief

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty

Bram Stoker

Dracula- See gothic horror at it's finest. Started what Anne built upon. A more masculine version of what Chris describes as “purple prose”. Right there with your dreamy prose feel.

Thomas Harris

The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, The Red Dragon- Visceral, suspenseful, psychological horror. Gritty, realistic, scary, doesn't spare the readers. Exemplary in that kind of writing. Chronologically, it goes Red Dragon, Lambs, then Hannibal.

James Patterson

Along Came a Spider- the first of the famous Alex Cross novels. Maybe not the best, but a great snapshot into this style of mystery thriller, gritty, realistic, crime and suspense. Very terse, stripped down writing style. Short paragraphs, short sentences. The complete opposite of Anne Rice.

Diana Gabaldon

Outlander- Epic, sweeping, lush rich historical fiction. Time travel from WW2 England to 17^th century Scotland. A little scholarly in writing, prim, stiff, yet romantic and with lots of sex. British.

Lian Hern

Grass For His Pillow- Also epic and lush, historical fiction. Set in feudal Japan. Nice writing style, definitely a good voice. Example of an American writer sounding Japanese. Ninjas.

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Mists of Avalon

Jim Butcher

Dresden Files

George RR Martin

Fevre Dream, Dreamsongs, ASOIAF series.

Bennet's Babe

Bennet and his small troop of men were returning home from a long tour, fighting skirmishes all along the borders of a contested area.  They had been out for over a year, and were returning home to their families.  Following this particular path were a small group of men, living in Port Everlast, near Bennet.

As they approached a small shire they'd passed through before, they noticed something different.  The smoke wasn't curling cheerily from the chimneys of the stout little lodges, but rising from the roofs and fields.  The town center wasn't filled with knee high children, playing tag and weary mothers chatting at the well.  The town center appeared to be filled with rubble, at a distance.  

Instantly the men were alarmed.  They continued to the nameless town, to make camp, but they drew their weapons and moved with extra caution.  As they closed in, what they saw as a heap of rubble, was in fact signs of a dramatically one sided battle.  Halfling bodies strewn everywhere, men, women and children, adolescents cut down in their prime.  Bennet, a grizzled veteran, one accustomed to the hardships of battle, was completely overcome.  He dropped to one knee, and made some sound borne of grief mingled with shock.  Bodies...stomped, beaten, some impaled on spikes.  Clearly, this was the site of some terrible raid.  After the initial shock, the men quickly broke into teams and searched every abode for survivors.  They did a cursory search, coming up with abandoned homes, burned places, and bodies, even killed in their beds.  Whoever did this attacked with savage efficiency, this was not the work of a mere raiding party, but of born killers.  

Throughout the day, the men piled bodies in the center, on a makeshift pyre, sending blessings, and burning the dead.  As the day shifted to evening, they entered the place they were dreading to enter the most, the Inn.  Kithri's Rose, this charming little building was once called.  They feared the worst, avoiding the place, all day, knowing that the inn is where people tend to flee to, for protection in a small place like this.  They could see the door was bashed in, and just make out shapes in the gloom inside.  Upon entering the building, they were shocked to find no bodies at all, signs of a struggle, for sure, but no actual bodies.  In the last room Bennet entered, where he thought he'd probably crash and sleep for the night, as he was sliding into the tiny bed, he noticed a heap on the floor.  In the now almost darkness, he lit a candle, and found one small body.  It was a very young halfling woman, or older girl.  She had a long knife through her lower back.  Bennet, resigned with grief and exhaustion, slid her body gently onto his cloak, making ready to bring her to the pyre, when a small bundle of blankets spilled out of her hands.  In the bundle, there was a sniffle and a movement.  As if outraged from being disturbed, the bundle began wailing in outrage.  There was a baby, and by some miracle, the baby was quite alive!  Pulling the corner of the blanket aside, Bennet stared into the most piercing and alert sapphire blue eyes he'd ever seen.  Those eyes peered from under a shock of spiky cherry red hair, and Bennet knew immediately that he would kill to protect this child.  He fell asleep with her curled tenderly in the cook of his arm, and in doing so, he fell in love for life.  Kithri would ever be known as Bennet's babe.  

Random Loot Tables

Gold distribution:

3g per minion +1 for every level over the player's highest level.

Example: We killed three minions, we're level 2 and they were level 4. Each minion was worth 5 gold. Our party of five now has 15 gold to divide.

5g per basic monster +2 for every level over the player's highest level.

We killed three monsters, we're level 2 and they were level 4. Each monster was worth 6 gold. Our party of five now has 27 gold to divide.

10g per boss monster +3 for every level over the player's highest level AND a dice roll from the loot table, to see how many magical items. For a monster within 5 levels of the party, roll 1d4 to see how many items drop. For a monster MORE than 5 levels over the party, roll 2d4. These items are magical, depending on the characters level (lower level magic items for lower level characters)

THEN, once the number is decided, roll that number of d10 to establish what all was found, using the tables below.

1- magical potion

2- magical ammo (arrow, bolt, sling stones)

3- sharp weapon (dagger, short sword, long sword, great sword)

4- cloth armor

5- jewelery

6- leather armor

7-ranged weapon (sling, bow, crossbow, throwing weapon)

8-chain mail

9-blunt weapon (club, staff, mace, axe)

10- plate

Actual item to be determined by DM. Where items are held also determined by DM.

Example: Party kills Bluesnot the Vile, head kobold. The party is level 2 the boss is level 4. The party gets 16g to divide, and the DM rolls 1d4. The DM rolls a 4, so then the DM rolls 4d10 to see whatall they found. The DM rolls a 2, 7, 9, 6. So, that's some magical ammo, a ranged weapon, a blunt weapon, and some leather armor. The DM then consults the item guides to see what items to distribute (or, in a perfect world, the DM already has some idea about what said monster is holding...)

Seen in role playing: Brog the barbarian wrenches his axe from Bluesnot's soft belly, and Bluesnot crumples to a heap at Brog's feet. From off his head, you pull a softly glowing leather cap, which fit him poorly, but would fit Brog's enormous head just nicely. Also, as he falls, his club clatters to the ground, and any sign that it's been in battle disappears, and it looks somehow cleaner than it would be if it were brand new. Behind him you spy a well made, shining ebony shortbow, and a basket of brightly feathered arrows. Upon closely inspecting the bow, you see runes carved at strategic points, and the arrows seem to be already been used in battle, with fresh blood dripping from their tips, but it doesn't smear or run anywhere. When digging through his pockets, you find a heavy little pouch, containing 16 tarnished gold pieces.

Looting after a large fight

Example for our level two party of 5:

five level 2 minions

three level 3 monsters

one level 4 boss

Loot would look like this:

5x3 for the minions=15

3x5 +2x3 for the basic mobs = 21

10+6 for the boss=16

So, for the total fight=52

Divide by five party members=10.4

Roles

Kouri is a timid character, and I think I'm struggling with that, in a way.  Tasha, too, sort of skulks around, with lots of personality, but little decisive action, too.  I chose those two character styles, because I don't want to dominate the party.  Dawna is a strong female lead, Kithri would be too, if I played her.  Damona surely was.  I chose a childlike, more timid path with Kouri as a chance of pace.

I feel like, instead of role playing, at key moments, I flounder, and often fall silent.  I think I'm going to take Kouri in a more nurturing way. Yesterday, when Trigger was dying of poisoning, Kouri rushed to his side at her first chance, knelt, and poured healing into him, as a way of trying to keep him alive through the fight.  We wrapped up quickly after that, because Alden was kinda melting down, but I wanted to play that out, where Kouri pounded Trigger's back and administered a form of CPR, holding his head, while he vomited up the rest of the poisons.  I feel like she's going from "Young wide-eyed calf" to "battlefield nurse/group mom" fast, and I think I'd enjoy that role.  With level two, I gave her a feat for healing, and a daily for healing, and both are cementing her role in the group.    I just can't be some wallflower.

I'm conceptualizing a new character, too.  A surly shade bard named Satch, who goes around in long black robes, and gnomish goggles all day.  I never play classic "badboy" types, so it'll be a fun departure.  Creating him in 4th ed, but I might wind up playing him in Chris's future game, or as an NPC in my world, or something.  I really want the opportunity to play a char like this, for real, though, not as an NPC.  The concept has stuck in my mind like a fish hook.

I also kinda can't wait to play Kithri some.  She's a cunning bard, and an entirely different role playing/combat style.

It's a whole fucking hobby!

I just had an epiphany on gamers, and gaming.  We've been playing sometimes with non-gamers.  In fact, besides Chris, Luiz, and I, the C:TL game has been saddled with three non gamers.  Early on, I felt shy about talking about it at length with them in between sessions, or prattling on about things with the GM, but now I realize that this is fine and normal, for gamers.  I think that was one of the fundamental issues with that game, trying to turn non gamers, into gamers, and trying to move things around for them to entice them into it.  I really didn't get why things weren't taking off.  I understand now.

 I've been getting into the head of a lovely non gamer who's been trying to do it for the social aspect, and for her husband, who is our GM.  She said "I don't mind being there, at the table, I enjoy it.  When it comes to continuing a story, or remembering how I'm supposed to act from one time to the next, or when it comes to thinking about it in between, then I can't handle it. I lose interest."  There we have it, folks, the cry of a doting wife, trying to be a gamer.  It made everything super clear to me.   I feel pretty good, now I can relate to her reticence, I can understand now why our Seaside Point game drags.

Ian is running us through some pre-generated content.  It's great for getting to the table, and getting into action.  It's not at all story driven.  Very on the rails "Go to a town, find out a menace, go kill the menace, go back to town, plot twists...there's an even bigger menace using those little guys as catspaws".  Interacting with NPCs in town gives us some time to role play and develop our characters, but outside of that, it's basic dungeon crawling.  Which is GREAT.  What keeps it fresh is that in between times, we're constantly chatting about each other's characters, and making up stories about them, guessing about what comes next, conceptualizing, etc.  So, when we get to the table, we've already been playing it out in our head for a week or two, and we're rarin' to go.  Even if "go"  trotting (or charging, sneaking, stumbling, sauntering...) down some steps into the next room of the dungeon, kick down a door, kill a buncha monsters with panache, and loot them.

I explained it to Lee this way, "We're all actors in some great movie.  If we just showed up, read some lines, and went home to do other things for a month, till we were summoned in for our next lines...the movie would suck.  The best part of gaming happens behind the scenes, like movies.  There's tons of stuff happening around the actors, the director is planning, the scenery people are doing stuff, there's writing and editing happening.  Even actors research their roles, change their mannerisms.  Only THEN can actors walk into a full world and interact with it."  We're the cast and crew, the artists, the writers, the director, the actors.  We're building something.  We are not the audience.  Even playing from semi dry pre-printed material offers us a giant sand box to build castles, and sort out personalities.

So, with Seaside Point, half our crew is just showing up and sitting in the sand box waiting for a miracle.  Half of us are pondering, thinking preparing, storycrafting.  The rest, just kinda arrive expecting things to happen.  Which is ok, because they're not bit by the bug. They're not role players.  If we were to expect that of them, it would be forced, and unfair for them, they're not thinking on my level about that piece of paper in front of them.  Their sheet does not represent some amazing imaginary friend.  It's a reference sheet with a lot of confusing numbers and terms.  My mistake was this:  I chalked it up to being new.  It's totally not that at all.  Alden's new, but he's a gamer. He's forever talking about Dorn or Adrian, or now Nimbus (oh, holy god is he chewing my ear off about Nimbus...)  He sat  there browsing a website that sells precision dice last night for hours, exclaiming over the colors.  He's badgering me about painting his minis.  He's a gamer, no mistake, he just has to iron out his role playing skills.

Let's leave the non gamers to their movies, and their other non-interactive entertainment, and lets everyone be happy. Let me nerd it up, obsess about my character, and the minutia of storycrafting. Let me make tables of loot, tables of outcomes, percentage tables, and study the energy expenditure of razor edged dice as opposed to rounded edge dice.  Let me write my stories, and go on flights of fancy, because what I bring to the table is going to be excellent.  It'll be excellent because I've been thinking about it, in fact, last night, I probably went to sleep contemplating it.    I'm not going to pretend nonchalance, and try to water down the experience for people that aren't exactly interested in the hobby.  It's not acting.  It's not a casual social gathering.  The mistake is trying to make it out for less than it is.  RPG gaming, anything that requires core books, character sheets, and dice...that's a hobby, and an investment of time, and often money.  Many other games fall in to simpler "social event" categories like card games and board games.  This is role playing.  Showing up at a table and being led through every move by other players, is a farce.

That said, I am all for meeting once a month or so, for a casual gaming thing, that's not role playing.  I happen to love board games, card games, and all that, and I genuinely like hanging out with people.

Dawna Lionfang, Half-Elf Paladin

This will be the ongoing Dawna treatment.  Currently, this is not a background/past.  Here I'll be touching on the recent past, and the present, including mannerisms, style, and current events.  A few details from her past, including schooling and parentage will be present.

...............................................

Dawna is average height and curvy, muscular build, for a half elf.  She is voluptuous, with a rounded face, fuller cheeks, pointy chin and ears.   Her skin is fair and ivory, moving towards flushed and even ruddy when she's exerting herself.  Her eyes are a luminous bright summery leaf green.  Of all her features her large luminous almond shaped eyes and daintily pointed ears point at her mother's elven heritage.  Her hair wavy and a rich fiery auburn.  When she was on active duty, she kept it in a tidy short bob, just below her earlobes. During her mercenary days, she let it grow into soft, unkempt shoulder length waves.  During her time at the Inn, she has allowed it to grow long and thick, to the middle of her back, as befitting a lady, and keeps it pulled back in elaborate, elegant, and practical braids.  If she's spending an evening tending the inn, she'll braid precious stones, copper or gold chains, into her braid.

Her clothing is often feminine, well made, and practical.  She favors pale colors like off white, and dove grey, sometimes wearing dark greens, when she's getting dressed up.  She wears no jewelry, her only vanity is her elaborate braided hair, which she does adorn sometimes with chains and stones.  Her gowns are demure and plain.  She favors high cut necklines, often with square necks, or off the shoulder, with long skirts, slitted very high up her legs, on both sides. In cold weather, she layers soft wool gowns over a white linen chemise.  Many people think she just favors plain fashion, but the secret is that all her dresses and robes are tailored for practicality.  She's able to quickly buckle her breastplate on, and don the rest of her armor, without removing her dress, and without little details like ruffles, silly ribbons, and flaps getting in the way.  When she's not dressing for the inn, she wears men's riding clothes.  Soft, chocolate brown buckskin breechs, high boots, and a plain off white linen man's shirt, belted.  Mostly, she wears dresses, though.

She's never far from her double bladed axe.  It's a two handed weapon, with a short, stout handle.  The lower half of the handle is wrapped in grey leather.  Dawna keeps the blade razor sharp, and immaculate. She is particular about keeping the grey leather wrapping clean, supple, and in perfect condition.  She carries extra lengths of this soft, dyed leather, so she can re-wrap her axe, when it gets dingy.  She makes a point of doing this re-wrapping in a private place, away from prying eyes.  Under the wrapping, where her hands lay on the axe, there are elaborate runes carved.  She keeps them hidden from sight, and they are the key to many of her powers.  When going into battle, she connects with them, and chants their incantation, they come alive under her hands only.  When maintaining her beloved weapon, she rededicates herself to it, by tracing a bit of her own blood along some of these runes in the lower part of the handle, and whispering the ancient prayers.  This is essentially the only dogma she shows to some kind of perceived religion.  Her weapon is her religion, and she wields the ancient, symbolic, archaic thing with the same pride and reverence borne of centuries of axe wielding sheildmaidens.    

Mannerism:

Her demeanor at first seems regal and aloof.  She doesn't fall into conversation as easily as her more outgoing and bubbly half sister Kithri.  She is genuinely warm and pleasant, but has a hard time getting close to people.  In uncomfortable situations, she seems to rely on her militaristic bearing, so she becomes stiff backed and professional.  Rather, what she thinks is professional, most people find the behavior rude.  She lived a sheltered ascetic early life, and isn't exactly comfortable in large crowds, or with any kind of unnecessary attention.  When she's not patrolling the streets, working at the inn, or working side jobs, she leads a quiet comfortable life, either reading or practicing her maneuvers in her apartments, or sitting at her corner table, in the inn.  She does enjoy being around people, even though she isn't terribly outgoing.  Her training also causes her to be alert, leaning towards suspicious of people she doesn't know, especially in these trying times.  She's always wary of the criminal element.   She can take the measure of a person with a long look, and is often correct in her initial judgement.

Kouri Hotwind

Kouri comes off as quiet, antisocial, and standoffish.  She doesn't often allow people to get close to her.  She is most mistrustful of large crowds, where there's raucous men, and close quarters. She feel's most comfortable outdoors, and has a hard time sleeping or functioning within close confines, although she can adapt to most situations with time.  She is extremely shy, many judge her by her impressive size first, thinking her a fearsome creature, or those who are more familiar with minotaurs think she's proud, barbarous, and fast tempered.  None of these can be further from the truth. She is truly a child, at heart, a real late bloomer.  Kouri goes about with the mistrust and wonder of a child. Not immature, but not quite sure of her place in the world, either.

Her traveling companions are a mystery to everyone that observes.  She clings closest to a hot headed little bi-polar dwarf with a speech impediment, known only as Henry Senior, and a young scamp they call Trigger.  She alternately looks to Henry for guidance (however misguided that may be) and often tries to help steer him out of trouble.  Along with a recent companion, Dorn, they manage to avert most major fiascoes, both by soothing the dwarf, and acting as much needed public relations, and soothing the general population.  They have help in that matter from a mage named Videro.  Kouri mistrusts Videro, still, and can't help but notice that while he seems to show up to avert trouble, trouble often happens when he shows up.  She can't make heads of tails of his motives yet, but she observes.

Kouri was raised in one of the larger minotaur tribes.  Her father's family name was Blazehorn of the Thundering tribe.  Kouri's full name should have been Kouri kinBlazehorn, as her father's daughter, but well before she was born, the other males renamed him "Hotwind"  So, instead of Ahiga soBlazehorn, he was rebranded Ahiga Hotwind.  He was a great liar, and always told tall tales, from childhood.  He often boasted and spoke loudly about being the first  into battle, and of his own prowess.  The way the story goes, he died with boasts and lies on his lips.  When Kouri was very young, there was a raid on their encampment, and Hotwind turned and fled from the battle.  His hooves got tangled in his spear, and he fell upon it, killing himself in his cowardice.  Kouri's family name was forever shamed, and every where she turned throughout her whole childhood, men laughed loudly, and talked poorly about her father.  Women just stared.  Her mother, Olathe, was shown pity, and not driven from the tribe, instead she was stripped of all title and finery, and made to work as the tribe's washerwoman and latrine digger, a life of servitude.

Kouri and her mother lived on the outskirts of the encampment in a small, poor, tent, often exposed to the elements, and with little to eat, but what they could scrabble for.  Her mother was once considered a great beauty, although her mane is beginning to grey, and she has a careworn look to her.  That doesn't keep the tribe elders from raping and abusing her, like chattel.  Kouri grew up to hate and distrust men.  Her mother protected and sheltered her the best she could, but the daughter sees and hears.  Kouri came to avoid any gatherings and especially the tribe's gathering place, the longhouse.  It always terrified her, with it's hot, smoky confines, and loud noises.  Often her mother would have to go there, and pour ale for the men, and she always came back to their little tent abused, and crying.

To make matters worse, Kouri was born albino, and thought by the tribe to be god-shunned.  She was born without the rich tawny, gold, and black colors that the Thundering were famous for.  Instead, her skin is pale and translucent, her mane is pure white, and her horns are a pale coral color.  Her eyes, instead of the deep soulful brown of her tribe, are a pale washed out blue.  Her mother always told her that she was god-chosen, because she shone in the night like a star.  In her tribe's tongue, Kouri means "star reflected in the ocean".  But, her name, to the rest of the tribe was just one more thing to mock.  As she got older, and grew into her womanhood, the tribal elder's eyes began to turn to her.  Men started making comments about her body, and her mother was terrified that Kouri would be treated the same as she was.  The only thing keeping Kouri safe was that she was considered freakish, and to touch her was surely a curse.

Once, when Kouri was about 14 years old, her mother encountered an ancient elven druid, tending a grove close to where the camp had just settled for the spring hunt.  Olathe was cleaning bedclothes in a stream, beating them against a rock, when a fish swam up, and changed into a lithe, beautiful elf right in front of her eyes.  The elf knew Olathe was good, and offered her a chance.  She told her to have the tribe pick up and go somewhere else, because this grove and all creatures in it were under her care.  The elven woman who's name was Genna, wouldn't allow the Thundering to harm her children.  Olathe ran back to the tribe and relayed that information, and she was naturally laughed at.  She went back to the druid, in despair. Genna raged.  To thank Olathe for trying her best, Genna offered Olathe and Kouri a forever home with her, in her grove.  Olathe jumped at the chance to escape her difficult life, and offered herself in servitude to the noble elf.  That's how Kouri and Olathe came to live with Genna.  The spring hunt began, and tribe crashed through Genna's forest, slaying young deer, and trampling the tender shoots to the ground.  True to her word, at the first new moon, she changed into a panther, slipped into the camp, and ravaged the tribe.  She slayed Eldest, and his children, and the greatest Thundering hunters.  The remains of the tribe packed up and left shortly thereafter, leaving Olathe and Kouri behind, to what they thought was certain death.

Olathe lived out her last years in peace, helping Genna keep the grove, and her household.  In return, Genna taught Kouri everything she knew about tending the grove, and drawing primal power through herself, channeling nature's energy to help restore and preserve balance.  She befriended a wolf named Faolan, and life became peaceful and good, surrounded with the riches of the forest and loved ones, she wanted for nothing else.  Olathe passed away peacefully one night, and soon after, Kouri became restless. Genna sent her out into the world, to explore, travel, gather and "hunt" although instead of hunting innocent creatures, she began hunting knowledge, wisdom, herb lore from all cultures, and trying to find her place in society.  She's slowly learning that there's a huge world beyond her tribe, and Genna's peaceful grove.  

Kouri finds comfort in Henry Senior, because in some primal early childhood way, he reminds him of her own father, loud, brash, and in her mind, brave.  Her father was never a coward, in her eyes.  She's also happy with Trigger as a companion, because he's silent, and in many ways, a child himself.

The Creation Myth of Archanon, the World of Wizard's Wrath

In the primordial chaos before all notion of existence, there was nothing. Suddenly this No-thing opened its eye and became self-aware thus creating a Universe unto itself. The burden of One single mind was too much to bear so this One God, for now it was aware of its role, had an idea. It proceeded to divide it's consciousness and create fellowship as a lone madman might evoke the voices in his head for an interesting chat. It's many personalities were distinct gods themselves and as usually the case with crowds there were disagreements due to inherent dualities and paradoxes. It seemed that every god wanted the universe to be molded by their individual will, often clashing with others in countless inconsistencies. A compromise was made and many parallel universes were born out of a single supernal realm. A god by the name Gan created a series of universes bound together by a tower, another god created worlds ruled by magic where its denizens built portals by which they conquered other worlds. Some older worlds even allowed mortals enough ingenuity to sail across galaxies.

The gods were archetypes, each recognized by different names in all the myriads of universes and free to interact with all sentient life. Unlike incarnated beings, they could consciously exist in multiple universes, free from the constraints of time, space and linear thought, such are the perks of godhood. One particular universe was the creation of Johvan and his wife Gaia. He was an old god of war and patriarchy, she the cunning and discreet nature goddess. They populated it with many other intelligences in descending scale, gods, angels, elementals and demons. They created the world of Archanon where sentient organic life could stand in the middle of such hierarchy, with the capacity for good and evil. Sages and mystics have chronicled specifics about what gods created which races, but they all came from the first two who birthed the universe. With the constant meddling of the gods in mortal affairs there were aeons of numerous holy wars, each more destructive than the last. Gaia's natural balance of life, destruction and redemption was tipping towards an irreversible extinction. Johvan seemed to be losing grip of his dual aspect as nurturer and destroyer and Gaia noticed the first signs of his future madness. He reveled in decadent violence and sought to crush the free will of all mortal races under tyranny.

While her husband slept, Gaia's tears created the vast forest which now bears her name, it also became her refuge amongst mortals. In the forest she lured a man through whom she born a mortal son. She hid the human baby amongst the Fey who took up residence there and let them raise the boy in the ways of magic. As the boy whom the Fey named Aleph grew into a man, she made herself known to him, and taught him in the ways of divine magic. By this act, she defied Johvan's decree and opened the way for magic to be taught to all mortals as means to self preservation. Knowing that this would not be enough, she gathered the essence of the gods into a grail and crystallized the liquid mana into a solid luminescent stone. With the power of the gods gathered in the stone, her human son could one day make a stand against her sadistic husband. In that moment Johvan confronted her saying that he'd known of her deceit all along. He struck her and the grail-stone fell upon the highest peaks of Archanon, shattering it into 6 pieces scattered across the globe. He revealed himself as the boy's father in human disguise and claims that even if he grew to the level of a god, such power would corrupt, turning the boy into his servant instead. He then proceeded to murder her in the only way a god could be killed, by destroying all her temples, killing her priestesses, banishing the Fey who conspired with her and eradicating all form of worship to her. The gods witnessed this case of domestic abuse in silence, powerless to step in and intervene for their own mother. He extinguished her existence upon his universe.

Aleph watched his world decline into pandemonium, but once he learned of its source, and his mother's fate at the hands of the old god, he sought to reunite the grailstone from its fragments. Upon channeling the power of the grailstone he ascended towards the astral realm of the gods, where he had shed his mortal humanity and became a god, for this reason myth has remembered him as Wraith. The new god Aleph Wraith issued a challenge to all other gods, if any should defeat him in wits or battle Archanon's universe would be theirs to toy with. However, should he defeat them, they were to leave that universe never to return. Many gods, remembering the murder of their mother, secretly sided with Wraith and challenged him with the purpose of making him more powerful with every duel. Most challenged him in wits so that he gradually came to know each god as extensions of his own consciousness. As a man with amnesia rediscovers and reassembles his memories into a whole, so did each god serve as part of the puzzle, fitting into the whole of Wraith's being - the greater the consciousness, the greater the god. “Know thyself” he would mutter to himself in the supernal speech.

Soon there was no one left to duel but Johvan himself. The all-father god tried to corrupt Wraith appealing to the last vestiges of his human ego but failed. Enraged, he lunged at his own son in furious battle, stars clashed, constellations fell from the sky and the god-realm was turned asunder until both of them exploded in a divine supernova. Father and son canceled each other, resolving the previous imbalance in the kosmos. With both gone, the other gods honored Wraith's challenge and left the affair of mortals. While they could roam other worlds they could affect the world no more than a dreamer can touch reality, so long as Wraith and Johvan were no more. These events were witnessed and recorded by the god Daermes, whose last act of interaction with the mortals of Archanon was the spread this grand legend.

There are many theories about what really happens when a god dies. Some say they enter the dark realm, stripped of their former glory, others say that they incarnate as mortals in miserable circumstances ignorant of their true nature. Without any memory of their God-self they have no claim to such powers, thus they're considered dead. Some sages even claim that every sentient life-form is a sleeping god, all the mystic musings aside, no one really knows for sure.

Over a period of two thousand years the mortal races grew more independent of the gods, standing alone in their petty conflicts. The wrath of gods upon mortals became the wrath of mortals upon each-other, their old religions falling into the realm of irrelevant mythologies. Clerics and holy men, learned to tap into the the holy power within, wielding their own holy magic. As the old cults lingered starved from their deities, new humanist faiths and secular philosophy thrived -mortals were the measure of all things.

This ideological hubris fueled the research of magic wielders through the centuries, each rivaling conclave outdoing the other in a tireless race to some elusive mastery of the universe. Great wizards rose and faded following the path of the legendary Wraith, each obsessed with power and its promise of godhood. Two great wars were waged, known to most mortals as the War of Wizards or first and second Wizard's Wrath. All mortal races rose united against a single wizard who sough to become a tyrannical demi-god by reassembling the Grailstone. In spite of all the heroes of Archanon the battle was fought and won by magic. Though victorious, the Great Alliance was at the mercy of powerful men and women who banded together to form an elite nation. Situated at a major ley-line crossroad, The Ivory Citadel policed the world through its cultural, magical and diplomatic influence.

The 25 years of unparalleled peace did little to ease the general distrust and resentment commoners feel for magic and its practitioners. Prosperity has given way to greed and large financial institutions trample on peasant labor. In Lothaire, the largest of human empires, the crown has cut costs by replacing trained law enforcement with common thugs, letting organized crime and civil unrest run rampant. The rising sense of despair leaves mortals with no place to look beyond themselves for solutions. Whispers abound of growing cults turning to the old gods, perhaps hoping to awaken them.

Occult events have been set into motion and cannot be reversed. Your actions, though small at the moment, may someday decide the fate of Archanon. Your world may either be withering into eternal death or entering a new aeon where gods and mortals stand as twins before the vast universe.

The Craft of Gaming- Miniatures

One thing I find extremely satisfying about being in an ongoing campaign is the stuff to do between games.  Chris brought this back out in me, with the mere suggestion of miniatures.  He said "I'd like you to get a representation of your character, because we're going to start using minis."  That's all it took, I was off and running, with miniatures.  Back when Tom played Warhammer 40k, I helped him paint some of his armies. It was crude, at the time, we were using cheap paint and cheaper brushes, just to get them tabletop ready, but I remember deeply enjoying the process.  I'd forgotten all about that brief time, till recently.  Painting miniatures is a way to keep me thinking about my character, the game, the setting, and just game-oriented stuff, in those long spans of time between our monthly game.  I feel like I need it now more than ever, since our C:TL game has been put on seemingly indefinite hold.  If I could draw, I would be frantically drawing all manner of characters and scenarios.  Instead, I'm painting minis.  I really love it.  I think it was a gateway into this new feverish obsession with D&D.  That's for another post, though.  

The painting is appealing to me, on many levels.  I've been trying to wean myself off of playing cRPGs, and MMOs, because they're ultimately time consuming, and not very thinky.  They're lazy, and honestly, as a long time indepth role-player, they're not satisfying even on a "just for fun" level. I call MMOs the methadone to my real gaming addiction.  Painting fills those hours with creation, instead of clicking.  One mini takes 3-6 hours to paint, and it's great for my attention span.  I've also been weaning myself off of vapid internet sites.  I used to spend hours just flitting from tab to tab, without any direction, never reading anything more than a page long, and murdering my already weak little attention span.  With painting, it's such a thorough and intense attention to detail. It requires a zenlike calm, and steadiness of nerves and hands. I have to ground myself and really focus to do it right.  It's been extremely beneficial for me.

I painted for about four hours today.  I tried the other day, and I really didn't feel any mojo. I finished my armored soldier, the other day, then stared at my three WIPs, but that's as far as I got.  I had three minis in various stages of unfinishedness waiting for a bath in break cleaner.  They all had bad paint jobs, ill thought out color schemes, and one had good colors, but poorly mixed paint that went on in blotches.  I cleaned them all yesterday, so I was feeling inspired, today.  I also got my new sable brushes and wet palette in the mail today, so I was dying to try them out.

I grabbed the wizard and re-primed him, then instead of doing a basic blue or purple wizard, I went for a dramatic black and white with NMM gold trim. I couldn't be happier.  He's got a warm white cloak, black robes, and bright gold trim.  His beard and hair are reddish gold, like Irv's and I'm really looking forward to  picking him up tomorrow for finishing touches and basing.  Still trying to think of a color for the fur trim on the white cloak.  I might paint it red, and put some other tiny red accents, to tie it all together.  I should look at a color wheel.

The only two drawbacks to this mini fever are eye strain, and pocket strain.  It has the potential to be a cheap hobby.  Paint costs $3 a bottle, and a bottle can last for years. Minis cost between $4 and $6 and they're at least an afternoon of entertainment, often two days worth.  The startup cost has been a lot, though, with getting brushes, primers, sealers, basing materials, storage, etc.  It doesn't have to be, I'm just thorough.  I know I can do it just as easy with two brushes and a paper plate for a palette, I'd rather get an array of brushes and a good wet palette, which costs some money.  That's just how I embrace things, I guess.

Lawl Starcraft

For my first post on our gaming related blog, I must post this chat from a SC2 match that had me in stitches.

Starcraft 2 multiplayer game:

Randomsniper: Hi sexy
Luxmaximus (me): Hello
Randomsniper: u think u could let me win this round, just 1
Luxmaximus: Sure
Randomsniper: thx baby
Randomsniper: ok I'm starting to build up stuff sexy
Luxmaximus: :)

-By now I have a fleet of protoss spaceships-

Randomsniper: u live in america?
Luxmaximus: Yes
Randomsniper: state
Luxmaximus: NJ
Randomsniper: me too
Luxmaximus: Cool
Randomsniper: ;)
Randomsniper: where are you? (In the game map)
Luxmaximus: In the lower left side.
Randomsniper: k babe
Randomsniper: hay ok wat city
Luxmaximus: Union Beach
Randomsniper: omfg rlly!!! me too
Luxmaximus: I doubt that.
Randomsniper: holy crap!!!!! idk but thats fukign crazy
Luxmaximus: Ok, what street is Ader's bar in?
Randomsniper: wtf is that?

-I proceed to zap his entire ground infantry with laser beams-

Randomsniper: i thought you said youd lt me win!
Luxmaximus: Haha I lied :D

- I sweep his base clean-

Randomsniper: So am I sexy?
Luxmaximus: How the hell would I know that?
Randomsniper: lol
Luxmaximus: Good game though, I didn't expect that many marines.
Randomsniper: ...
Randomsniper: let me win plz
Luxmaximus: Haha no
Luxmaximus: I know, I'm a dick, right?
Randomsniper: .. o ya
Luxmaximus: That's what my girl tells me
Randomsniper: ur girl is also mine

*Luxmaximus wins, game over*

Parents, please be mindful of what your kids do on the internet.

Tasha comes to life! Sorta.

I finally broke down and did it.  I've always wanted an illustration of my character. Damona never got that treatment, though maybe one day.  I mean, she's fucking legendary!

I decided to commission Shelby to draw Tasha.  She's been drawing characters forever, back as far as I've been gaming with her big bro.  I mean, I've known her since she was 12, and she's been drawing this stuff since before  then, and she's gotten very good.  Her particular style is right what I want.  I'm getting a full body, full color, of Tasha's human mask, and a bust of her fae mien.  I paid in advance, and got a slot for May, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Here's Shelby's stuff.

http://bunnystick.deviantart.com/gallery/

Luiz agreed. He's not really into drawing chars.  He might doodle one, sorta while we're gaming, but it will never be exactly how I like it, and I can't ask him to seriously undertake it.  I know this.

Au Courant 2-12-11

ADD has gotten the best of me, lately, but that's for another blog.


February 12 was our last gaming night, and it was riotously funny.  In my gaming experience, I didn't often get side quests, or silliness with my old crew.  (A notorious exception would be Dinosaur Island, which still gives me the cold sweats if I think hard about it...).


We'd just finished up from a difficult fight, and this session started with collecting our rewards and sleeping off the trauma.  Jasper offered us a Pledge, wherein we danced by the light of the full moon at Simon Osprey park for free glamour.  10 minutes for each free point, that we could call upon once a week. If we did it 4 weeks in a row, than 40 minutes of nekkid dancing.  That's our first experience with a pledge, and it's amusing.  Tasha doesn't use much glamour, but she'll do the dancing so as to preserve the pledge...just in case!  Delphinia wasn't with us in the trucks when we returned the precious vampire cargo, having ran and hid.  She was left behind to discover that the biker 6 lived through the ordeal, and probably so did Bulldog, only 6 sucked up his soul and took off.  We didn't learn that till almost the end of the night, so I am getting way ahead of myself.


Upon meeting with Jasper for an enormous meal and accolades, he recognized that Rupert was very wounded and had him looked at by a doctor.  An enchanted bullet, days to live, a purple pill.  It was a very somber and potentially full of drama and emotion...but Rupert's player was "mmhmm"ing through the whole thing, and thumbing at his phone. 


SIDE RANT PAY NO ATTENTION:  Let's just get this right out in the open right now, then I can move on and never speak of it again... I seldom-if-ever shit talk my fellow gamers.  I have a policy about gaming, I'll game with anyone, as long as we get along in the setting.  I don't have to like a person.  They just have to be good gamers.  (I'm looking at you, mister schizophrenic pumpkinhead toilet paper thief.  Excellent gamer. Batshit loco.)  When your personality issues creep into my game and take me out of the setting, that's when I start getting antsy.  I was getting antsy.  I don't dislike the guy, but I felt his constant use of the phone was entirely disrespectful to GM.  He has lots of other habits that I stare at through the gaming sessions...which I ignore.  The phone thing rubs my fur right off my skin.  Also, I hate "mmhmm"  I hate it.  HATE IT.  Fucking at least act interested enough to concoct a syllabic reply.  Here's GM going out of his way to make you the center of this game, and you can't get out of your own narcissistic nerdiverse to look at the dude and acknowledge his story that he worked on...for you?  RRRrar.  Go play WoW.  The developers and other players won't be affected if you fuck around on your phone.  Tabletop gaming is a somewhat intimate experience, and only works if we're all committed.  I try not to bitch too much to GM, he's a hero, and it's not his job to sort out our personalities, or make rules or anything.  I will play, and smile, and contribute, and seriously, this is the last complaint about this phone thing anyone will ever hear from me.


EEeennyway...  So, we find out he's on his last days, and that the only possible cure is a blisterberry.  They're extinct...or are they?  The Goblin Market might have something.  I loved the Goblin Market, by the way, in the middle of Wal Mart.  It was a goofy bit of fun tooling around with these fantasy characters, in a Wal Mart, then the goblin in his little red vest.  Internally, I was in stitches about the whole thing.  Tatsuaki created some intentional friction with the goblin, but we managed to bargain for information about this blisterberry.  In a nutshell, the goblin needed bottled Deja Vu.  The head of the winter court, Nancy...something...Frost?  Well, she collected it, and long story short, she sent us on a wild odyssey to find the belly button lint of five black dogs, stolen onions, and enough earwax to sculpt the dog lint into a pig.  I sensed Luiz chafing at the goofy nature of it.  He hates side quests.  I love them, and he takes himself entirely too seriously sometimes.  The non combat interactions that followed, including charming people enough to play with their dogs, breaking into the Seaside Point SPCA and the ensuing run in with the cops, using real life larceny skills to shoplift onions, and bargaining with a homeless woman to harvest her earwax was a fine display of all that we, as a group, had to offer (except Rupert, who was like...thumbing at his phone through all this.  Sorry, sorry, said I wouldn't complain.  The truth is, though, he was notoriously not doing much for this whole evening.).  Lots of quick thinking on Del and Aurelia's parts, lots of stealing, running, hiding, stealing, for me.  Lot of griping and nearly getting into epic battles for Joe.  It was good fun, and loads of laughs for the humans.  Lots of hand motions and belly button jokes.  During the SPCA event, a cop showed up, and Tasha narrowly escaped with a tiny black chihuahua under her jacket.  She kept the pup, and his name is Sparky.  Which I love. I love that Tasha has a pet pooch now.  


We got everything collected, and Del had the highest expression, so she sculpted the pig with 6+ successes...and I love that about this game. The dice rolling for things like this can very effectively set the flavor of a moment.  She sculpted the HELL out of that piggy, producing the very bestest earwax and belly button lint pig in the history of the universe.  Pig and onions go back to creepy funeral home lady, where the pig was a birthday gift chewy treat for her ogregirl assistant, and the onions housed scarabs.  The deja vu came out of a dead man's mouth, and off to the goblin market we went, again.  Good stuff. Tasha traded for some dognip with a used q tip and some old dental floss.  Dognip for Sparky!  I love it. There was a notorious diner scene, where they unscrewed the lids off saltshakers and caused a bit of rage, and Rupert did cause chaos and hilarity trying to harvest rage from senior citizens at the prescription counter at Walmart.  He did contribute two great scenarios, so I can't be TOO hard on the guy.  


To get the blisterberry,we had to step through to the Hedge, and encountered a colorful NPC guarding the...there;s a word for it, that I forget, but guarding the area.  Very cool entryway, a broken lighthouse. Blisterberry found, Rupert the Ungrateful cured.    


I really loved seeing our characters shine, I felt like "the girls" had a handle on this session, as we're not fighters.  Rupert was all afktexting and Joe wanted to break or kill everything, which is shining, in his own savage way.  


It was a lighthearted night, one with lots of wit and laughs.  

Nuts and Bolts

In order to bore my self to sleep, I'm organizing gaming stuff.  The paperworks part.  Luiz and I have been sharing a few quick sheets, but there's still always skimming and looking for stuff.  I have been forgetting my kith's blessings and curses, and forgetting to apply my merits in combat.  This should help with that.

Also, I might bring my netbook next time, with all the book PDFs stored.  The machine is smaller than a hardcover book, and I'll have stuff like Rites of Spring and Second Sight at my fingertips, thus relying less on the ever patient and accomodating GM to find info for me, and hand write a contract.  What a saint.

Also, I looked through things, and spent my expees.  Tasha can now drive, by god, and she has Fleeting Autumn 3.

Au Courant

What's happened, till now:

Session One:  Our group, led by GM, with Delphinia, Rupert, Aurelia, Tatsuaki, who we only called "Joe" at the time, and Tasha.  Luiz's and my first time with the C:TL rules.  We spent a lot of time generating T & A's characters, hashing out particulars, discussing our characters, and we had a game session that involved a pretty cut and dried "I've gathered you all here together, because you're new here, and I need a favor" sort of quest.  It was light hearted, well thought out, plenty of twists and turns.  We were asked to find a Fae evil clown named Nicklesmart, who had come to Seaside to find a replacement for one of his escaped slaves.  Minx and Jinx used to be his captives, and they got away, to take up residence in Seaside Point and run a tattoo parlor.  He'd sewn Minx's mouth shut, and as long as she didn't utter a peep, everything would be fine. But she started talking, and now Nicklesmart is looking for not one, but three replacements for her.  He popped up in Seaside Point during the Clown Festival, losing himself among the masses, and trying to abduct children.  We found him, thwarted him, chased him down the boardwalk in a high-intensity chase scene, almost gave up, found him again, and had the final showdown in the haunted house ride.  Very cinematic, and it was a great time. Not too complicated or intense for the new players, yet still interesting and fun for the seasoned players.  Joe finally remembered his real name, Tatsuaki, only we still call him Joe (among other clever names)

Session Two:  We got together, still, and played a board game called Descent, just for a lighthearted kind of thing.  It was a lot of fun, and I could go for playing it again, for sure.  Not instead of C:TL, but also.

Session Three/Four  (I'm not sure if we played twice without Rupert and Aurelia, or once, but I'm rolling them together either way).  Two of the group couldn't make it, so we went on without them.  This time, the courts had changed over to Fall Court, and Jasper, an ogre, was the leader.  He was asked by a vampire to help intercept a truck shipment of tax free cigarettes, so that it didn't go to a biker gang, which was growing in power, but to deliver it back to the vampires.  Right-O boss, vampires, and this is about cigarettes?  I thought it was some huge weapon shipment, or something.  We tried snooping around the bar where the biker gang hung out, staying "low key" as TJ the vampire instructed us...but that ended with a firefight outside the back of the bar, and Joe killing one of their members.  He got bled all over, and his coat started acting all kinds of funny.  We did discover that there's more to these bikers than meets the eye, like the leader, Bulldog has a funny eye, and he can "see" us.  We stole a car, returned it, bought a car...that talks to us.  The coat talks too, but only to Joe.  Delphinia's hair was acting funny, too, it had changed into catnip, and she has mobs of cats following her around, which provided a lot of laughs.  Speaking of following, some dude in a late model car kept turning up at odd times.  Can't really get a bead on what that's all about, but I'm guessing he's with the vampires.  I feel like we really got *into* our characters and our game plot advancement stuff during this time.  Lots of detailed stuff,  "oh shit" moments, and laughs. A lot of weird happenings, that could only point to huger things down the line, which really got me excited about where this is going.

Recent session:  Rupert and Aurelia came back to the fold, and there was some brief filling in.  I like that we didn't spend the whole session replaying stuff, although I sensed it almost going that way.  We started by getting together, and doing more with the now definitely Haunted Coat.  Then we went to a bar, first to learn more stuff, but it wound up being closed.  The coat, which Joe left at home, met him at the bar, in a very creepy scene.  I jetted the fuck out of there.  We wound up hitting another bar, and causing a scene, on purpose, to generate glamour.  Hilarity ensued.  I wanted to go home after that, prepare for this truck heist, and get a good night's sleep to repair bashing damage and refill willpower pools, people had other ideas. We returned to the scene of where the heist would take place, unarmed and unready, only to find the deal going down right in front of us. Which was cool, and the whole thing wound up unfolding well.  My dice were against me, but it made for some great gaming moments.  I tried to sneak in and throw my only knife all stealth like at the biker gang leader's head, (and motivate everyone into action), but I failed spectacularly at the throwing.  Here's where GM is awesomely permissive.  Our old DM would have been like "you fail, they see you, and now you're fighting one on one with this biker gang leader, godspeed."  Then threw a handful of dice and rendered me into so many bits and gobs, spread out on the tarmac.  (although, he did wind up making me immortal, all the better to abuse my character, I'm sure).  GM, however, in the interest of being a peachy dude, let me back the fuck up, into the shadows, no harm, no foul.  I don't mind abuse, but this was a nice gift.  Joe blasted the head guy with lightning, missed, but stunned the group, and Rupert charged on in.  He's great for that, point him in a direction, and he runs in swinging. I can admire that in a party member, he took a LOT of hits.  It allowed us to do some footwork with the truck, and hopefully save the as-yet-uncovered cargo (which I'm thinking is still like some kind of high end contraband weapons or something).  I could sense Aurelia's human sort of losing focus, and Delphinia's human had wandered completely, to the point of GM just saying something along the lines of "ok, you ran into a corner and hid, that's cool"  And it is. I get that some people can't stay into it for a long time.  A clean break was good, in this case, to keep the game rolling for the rest of us.  We fought the rest of the bikers, and Aurelia, for whatever reason decided to light the cargo of the truck on fire.  Again, nice GM.  Old DM would have been like "well, you're fucked now, honey..."  He was all about collateral damage, but I digress. I was pretty much out of combat, and rather than join the fray as she originally planned, she decided to check out where the smoke was coming from, only to stand helplessly by, and watch the truck begin to go up.  My meta-side was like "NOOOO THAT"S FUCKING POINTLESS AND DESTRUCTIVE WHY WOULD YOU...why...agh..."  but it did make for some funny in game moments, so, of course, it's cool.  Everything happens for a reason, amirite?  Someone, Rupert, after beating the biker leader to a paste, I think, found a fire extinguisher, and started putting it out, I hopped in there to see what was what, and discovered four coffins!  Vampires!  Crazy, total surprise.  Joe scuffled on the ground with the last remaining biker, who was decidedly not human!  Not The Lost, either.  We jumped in to help him, as he was losing ground with this non-human, and I got to play a little cranium golf with a tire iron.  Aurelia inexplicably lit a carton of cigarettes and threw it at the guy.  Rupert was pretty fucked up, by then, but I think he actually shot 6.  Great ending.  We saddled up, and took the truck back to the vampires.

Here's what I wish I did. I wish that I eyeballed Bulldog, as he was a bloody pulp, on the ground. I checked over 6, the one that Joe was fighting, and it was inconclusive. I wish I'd checked out Bulldog's eye better.  I wish I'd grabbed up his gun, and went through his pockets, as well as the other bikers.  That would have been in character, but I could tell that everyone was getting tired and antsy, so I sort of fast forwarded, through delivering the truck back to the vampires.

It's my plan to at least do an entry like this after every game session, recapping it from Tasha's perspective.  This game is really taking on a life of its own, and I always kicked myself for not documenting other campaigns, so here's hoping I stick to this one.

Tasha the Con Artist vs. Lili the Player

So, first we have Luiz's character Tatsuaki "Joe", who's all "BANZAIIIII" getting into fights, and attracting loads of attention to us.  He's like "WHY YOU NO FIGHT MOAR! RAR!"  They understand each other in their own way, but it must frustrate Joe to no end, that Tasha is ever the "coward".  It's the kind of opposite playing styles that really creates stories within stories.  Not to continuously drag up old games, but Damona's brother was a hardcore fanatical hyper religious self righteous priest.  She was a berzerking dual wielding swashbuckling slut with a head for science, loose morals and a heart of gold.  It was an RP goldmine.  I can see that same fertile ground with these two characters.

If that were the only dichotomy to develop, then that would be a perfect setting.  Luiz is really coming into his own as a gamer, and needs very little encouragement.  I do sense when he gets tired, that he has to stare at his dice and numbers more, to make sense of things, but since it's second nature to me, I just glance it over, and call out numbers, for him.  This only really happens late at night, though.

The road blocks I'm running into come in when we analyze my human role in the group. Some of the other members of the group are new players, they're all enthusiastic, but differently engaged, some go through the world in a slightly puzzled sort of way, some have a hard time keeping interested at all.  My role in the group, I feel, is to kinda guess at where GM is going, gamewise, and help translate it to my fellow players, without strongly leading anywhere, but keeping things moving, all the same.  I play a different role than my intention, being flirty and funny to play off Delphinia, and keep her interested, and I have a lot of "HMMMMMMM, what do YOU think" kind of moments, trying to get everyone's gears turning and problem solving.  I'm really careful to not be aggressive, and all alpha gamer.  In my old crew, we spent a lot of time competing for attention, and it wasn't very polite, with everyone talking and moving and rolling dice, hopping up, shouting, swinging things, making diagrams with pretzel nuggets, that sort of thing.  Very much a change of pace, here, but I really like it.  I've been in on developing groups, many times, but this might be the first time I'm with a bunch of developing gamers, too.  I can only hope that everyone gains a love for it that I have, and I'm really trying to help create a great experience, as a fellow player.  I hope, soon, I can lay off the "Scooby Doo" narration, though, and get down to the more advanced gaming stuff.  Like fucking with the GM. :)

I feel like I have to rant a little.  This is not about changing anyone's playing, or forcing a group to be what constitutes as a "good group" in my eyes.  Everyone's different, and I'm now playing with three earnest non gamers, so take this rant for the jaded uppity bullshit that it is, and with many grains of salt. I just have to get it off my chest, though, then I'll be fine.

I hate when people don't pay attention.  I HATE IT.  You're at the table. There's nothing but you, some snackies, papers, and the other people.  You're all focused on the same goal, which is whatever's going on in the game.  Why do I have to explain fourteen times where I'm walking to, did we take the car or didn't we?  What time is that thing happening?  Are we in a parking lot?  It really sucks me dry to have to constantly re-explain the situation (not the rules, but simple things, like "we walked there? I thought we drove?  I want to sit on the car! The car's not there?  Where are we? Are we inside?"), or sit through the re-explanation of the setting.  I'm all into it, and then we have to go out of character to set things straight over and over, because people are listening to the ice cream truck music in their heads, or fooling with their phones.  People, it's like 2-3 hours a month,  let's try, ok?  But, again, I must temper this with understanding.  I get the sense that the two other women are there simply to make their SO's happy.  If I was forced to sit through some TV award show, or a shitty move, I'd be all "duhhhhhhhhhhhh" too.  So, it is what it is.  The hardcore gamer core of me goes "fuck, I wanna play a real game, sometimes. Is it too much to ask for only the people that wanna be here, be here?"  The social friendly part of me, who genuinely likes and adores these people goes "aww, it's nice to just have them around."  I bet other gamers go through it. Hell, I had this problem when Irv first started playing WoW.  It's an adjustment period.  He got into WoW and learned stuff all on his own, after a short time.  I'm patient.  I was frustrated at first, though.  Like now, only the frustration for this is minor compared to when Irv entered into "my world", so long ago.  I have had much worse gaming groups.  Ones that ended with our characters all killing each other, and the group fighting in real life.  Like, fantasy bullshit that ended with RL drama (the story of the clanking schizophrenic dwarf.  I might use this blog, sometime, to relate old memories, too.).  This is nothing, really.  Just a blip.

Tasha

So, my original concept with Tasha was this:  Sort of a streetwise kid, good with working people over for money, telling their "fortunes", relieving them of their purses, and doing anything to survive.  She likes to hang back, watch, listen, learn, and she uses knowledge as a currency.  I tried to pick contracts that reflected that kind of living.  Tasha isn't combative, if she can run, she will, or if she can make you think she's running away, she will, but she might come back and slice your hamstring while stealing your wallet.  She'd use the information in the wallet, names, addresses, account numbers, as well as she'd use the hard cash in it.  She's a survivalist from a long line of petty thieves, cutthroats and con artists.

Since I knew little about the Hedge, and the C:TL lore, when I made the char, I was focusing on how she could be now, leaving the Fae time as a blurry memory.  She was the daughter of a Lebanese family, posing as Gypsy fortune tellers on the boardwalk of Seaside point.  She was taken by the Fae at age 7, when wandering around, bored, in a crowd, unsupervised.  They put her to work in a Fae carnival, telling fortunes, almost mechanically, in the sideshow.  Think of a little kid trapped in one of those freaky Mme. Zoltan machines, sitting in one position all the time, staring into some magic crystal ball.  You look into that ball enough, and it will eventually start looking back at you.  God knows what it was made out of, out there in Fae.  Tasha's eyes still reflect the luminous magic she absorbed from the ball, and her arms and fingers grew long and reedy, from holding it.  To the humans, she keeps the rest of her appearance very low key, able to dress up or down, and blend into crowds, or stand out and get attention.  Her eyes are still very unusual, they've turned from big black doe eyes, to multi colored bright hazel, which looks somewhat unusual in her darker complexion.   She's very small and scrawny.  Her dark hair is super short, home cut by a cheap buzzer. For her fortune telling business, she often wraps flamboyant scarves around her head, and wears a cheap somewhat dingy costumey peasant shirt and flowing skirts, topped with lots of cheap baubles, which she never wears outside of her booth.  On her own time, it's generally dark colors, utility clothing.  Leather jacket, black jeans, soft black boots, or sneakers.  One would be hard pressed to connect the flamboyant, outspoken, jangling girl in the booth to the quiet, intense woman outside, unless of course, they see her eyes.  She aged normally, and now she's about 21, but her family has packed up and moved back to the home country, partially out of grief for losing their only child, and partially because the fortune telling business wasn't so hot.  Tasha returned back to where she was taken, not knowing where else to go, or what to do, half expecting to return to her family in some normal fashion.  Upon discovering that they took off back to Lebanon, she decided to stick around the boardwalk and see what life has to offer.  She has managed to reopen the stand, and make a go of it, living mostly from hand to mouth, and sleeping in a back room, where she bunks with Joe.  She has no idea where her family is, and has no way of contacting them.  She's kind of ok with that, for now.

I deleted what was here before

I feel like I have more to talk about, in gaming, than just trying to plan my own campaign.  I've moved my own private stuff over to a word file, and am using this somewhat public place to discuss stuff in general. I have lots to say about our monthly C:TL game, and I feel like it's unfair to our GM to unload everything on him, especially since some of it might come off as a rant, and whatever I have to maybe rant about is outside of his control.

Besides ranting, it's a nice place to take notes, recap, and plan for the next time, involving my character.  Right now, I'm playing a Wizened Oracle named Tasha, she belongs to the Autumn court.  I have big plans for her, as a character, and I'm trying to develop her in a certain way.  I'm finding a few minor roadblocks, but I think overall it's going where I like.  I might make that my first real entry here.