From Basement Leader to Chill Master

As mentioned before, my oldest ran his friends through Numenera.  Not loved, So I suggested this....

Bought and played in '84.  Probably on the top 10 list of RPG's of all time.  It's on my top 5 for sure.

The players....Every now and then I'll tell them how the nice people from Pacesetter were disgruntled x-TSR employees, or that the system is highly regarded for it's Quality Results Matrix...but their eyes glaze over pretty much instantly.  Whatever.  They are unraveling a mystery set on July 4th 2015 in the small town of Gould, 30 miles south of Dixon Illinois.

Somebody is asking too many questions...  Ann is Jeb's second wife?  Why does she wear gloves?  And Frank, how does he figure into the mystery?  Is it a coincidence that Ann's old family house is abandoned? Stay tuned!

Mundo, Chum and Igor

...The road is well kept by the people who dwell here. Either they have a sense of true pride or officials from the city have harsh incentives to keep everything well tended. There is more traffic as you near the capital, larger and larger shadows of skycraft pass more often overhead and you have to step aside to let faster veyances pass on the hardened surface of the lane. Waiting is not wholly unpleasant, it gives you a moment to ignore the lurid advertisements flashing from your pocket orb to note the tidy, almost grid like arrangement of the various farm buildings and the rectangular proportion of nearly every garlic grove. The freshly yellowing nodules are pungent, hanging heavily from every twisting bough. Dapperly dressed peasant folk shake the trees and the ‘Lic falls into strategically placed baskets. Dumpmen use ‘Lic hooks to swing the baskets into automated feeders powered by draftpeds. The foul golden paste is scooped up from the end of the mastication process and troweled into sealed gourds. Everything here is efficient, it’s no wonder this land is so prosperous. Who would ever dreamed ‘Lic had so many uses, from moisturising cream to munitions? Only an open minded society peopled with hard workers could rise so high. Ah wealth! Even now your attention is dragged back to your pocket orb, A smiling wenchette beckons you to visit Bloorg’s accoutrement shoppe for half off all pleather ascotts. A land where even the lowliest of slaves wears Plowshine sandals while chewing Golden Chumley’s Liquidambar while chilling during an unwork break. Absent mindedly you look up and through a gap you see the city for the first time. It’s much larger than you imagined...it must be at least 15 hectasheets square! The road leads to the fabled Wall of Wonder (over a pit of Gargofiends) through a partially open gate. Beyond you can make out row upon row of buildings of every imaginable type. Smoke rises and swirls between sky craft tethered to minarets. There are hundreds, no thousands of denizens scurrying about, conducting who knows what business. The wealth of Fooburg awaits! Reprinted with permission from the Journals of Aurthurious Treacher, founder of Gruel and Drool. Moot of Fooglee

Type: Pictorial Monarchy Ruler: King Semiceedies the IV Cities: Fooburg, Fooham, 1 Mile Market, Fooville Symbol: 3 overlapped garlic cloves- the Igor, Chum and Mundo Description: The Moot is an a moderately civilized land of rolling hills and garlic groves. The inhabitants of this land cultivate Garlic trees in vast odoriferous groves. Within the Moot garlic is referred to simply as “Lic. The 'Lic is collected, crushed and made into sandwich spread, wine and weapons grade explosive. Three types of ‘lic are produced and are impossible by foreigners to tell apart. The Moot allows almost all travelers egress (Unlike most lands) . The huge capital city of Fooburg is an international hub of activity. There are huge granaries to store grain from Doi which is then transshipped to all lands of the Inner Sea. TMoF is ruled by the milues oldest living king. (There are rumors, however his daughter Lady Ruth 2nd Most High will take over soon). The capital is powered by schools of slave fish which turn a mammoth underwater rotor called the Churn. This powers an entire wurkshop district that produce vast quantities of cheap consumables. Fooburg is home to the most famous Inn in the multi-verse, the Gran Roach and also a hub of Lighter than Aire travel. You can book an airship and travel to almost any civilized spot on the globe. The Moot is a small but prosperous land.

Shiny, Sparkly and Oh So Cute!

Zwinkies
Racial Class: Enchanted
Height/Weight: 3d20 inches, .5 x height in inches for ulbs
Attribute Modifiers: MP: -6, FF: +1d6 and Nim: +1d3
Heal Rate per Day: 2d4
Average Life Span: 120 + 1d26 months
Movement: Ground: 10 walk/30 running, Flying: 0-60 feet per Nn (may hover)
Special Abilities: Has 1 Magical power (see below).  Because of their tiny size Zwinkies are -4 to be hit.  They may only use diminutivette sized weapons and tools (also see below).

Description:  Zwinkies are diminutive magical bipeds from the enchanted realm of Pewlon.   They have annoyingly chirpy voices, like sparkly things and are often seen playing silly games with Unitoads and Flufferoids.  All Zwinks have tiny insect like wings that allow them to flit around or hover in place.  They may only carry half their body weight when flying.  In addition, any winds over 9 miles a Gar-nuta will make flying difficult (the CL will determine checks and effects).  Because they have cute little doll sized hands, they may only employ diminutivette sized tools and weapons.  Diminutivette weapons are akin to children's toys and all types deliver a maximum 1d3 damage.  These include (but are not limited to), daggerettes ,dartettes, bowettes, arrowettes, clubettes, swordettes, macettes and sythettes.  All Zwinks like shiny ribbons, jingly bells and lip gloss with glitter in it.

Magical Powers-Roll a d8 during creation:

1: Amped Up Magic: Amplifies one other beings magic by 2d100% in a 30 foot radius.  Can be used once a PEOG.

2: Popper: Can instantly teletransport to any area seen up to a maximum of 100 feet away.  May be done once (roll a d10) 1-7 a day, 8 each Gn, 9 each Mn, 10 each Nn.

3: Emotional: Amplifies one others emotional state by 3d100% up to 30 feet.  Can be used once a PEOG.

4: Constructor: Causes all things in a 30 foot radius to become rebuilt.  Physical items are mended, physically damaged creatures are healed back up to 100% of their full PHP.  This magic will not affect the user, however.  Aw, sad face.

5: Destructor: As 4 (above), except Creatures sustain 1d100% of thier total PHP in damage.  (Yes, this may kill a creature out right.  Oh, happy face!)

6: Minor Wish.   Anytime another player muses some minor want out loud, the Zwinkie has the power once each PEOG to grant this minor wish.  Note, the desire cannot be directly asked of the Zwinkie and they cannot grant their own wishes.  This applies to in-character conversation and so called “meta gaming” (table talk).  It may be used on any creature, even a NCO.

7: Transmutation: The Zwinkie can transform instantly into another creature or object.  Once selected the Zwinkie can only change into this one thing, forever.   The creature/object must be negotiated with your CL.  The Zwinkie will be able to talk no matter which form is chosen (an inanimate object would have a face and mouth).  The user may use this power once each Mi-nuta and change back and forth as many times as they have grid factors.

8: You and your benevolent Crypt Lord may create your own.

 

Forest, City, Cave.

A lot of games were played at my house this weekend.  Caleb was Crypt Lord and ran what he called Forest, City, Cave:

He covered the basement windows with pillows to create ambiance.  It reminds me of the days when there were only 3 channels.  Here are the Crypt Openers (in no particular order):

Crypt Lords are not friendly.  Joey "the killer" is not 7th grid.

...upstairs two smaller humans played Minecraft...

...and three larger humans played Shogun.  Part of this came about in response to when I would ask colleagues if they were playing games.  Typically their answer is "too busy".  I figured since I was making games...I should play them!  More substantive updates soon.  Or not.  BTW, a new link has been added to the sidebar for Hack & Slash.  I have been slogging through a lot of RPG blogs and this one overall has the best game advice for those running and creating adventures.  The blog pages typically have junk about "D & D", skip past this stuff to: http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/p/index.html.  This the Index, read The Quantum Ogre and further down On the Importance of Agency (http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2012/10/on-importance-of-agency.html).  That is all.  Carry on.

Dry Paint Garners 7.0 From Judges

I have taken up the brush again.  I painted my first miniature in '77.  My character was the first female in the group.  There were no female adventure miniatures then, so I just re-purposed a Medusa:

More on her later.  I found some good stuff packed away.

Here's the new one, my second uploded to Cool Mini or Not.  I am happy with it, happy enough anyways. The pic makes it look better than it really is.  I thought this one would land at 6.5 on the CMoN scale, the fact it's a bit higher than that is nice.  This is Morland, a Devil's Shadow Mutineer.  This blister has three models.  I'm painting Zira....I stripped her once already.  Having a hard time with her neck.  I have had neck issues with larger models as well.  Ahem.

There has been a lot of gaming in my basement, three, no four games I think.  I ran my son and his friends a bit then turned the torch over to them.  In this pic my son is the nefarious Crypt Lord.  I think they are robbing a magic shop.

Another view.  Jackie Boy and Joey the Killer.  Some sort of excitement, I think.  Or the soda doing it's work.

Elthara Shadowalker and the Basement Leader.  My other son ran his friends through a Numenera adventure.  I love the book...upon reflection the rules seem a bit disorganized and creating "dungeons" for the players seems challenging.  I need another game like I need a hole in my head.  Speaking of which...

I created an inside leaf for my table (which I got at a church rummage sale for $5).  Now my table can be 4 x 6.  (Eagle eyed viewers may have spotted the Milton Bradley Crossfire game in the upper right corner).

Why would one need such a large table?  To play Blucher on, of course!  (More on that later).

I leave you with some new IP created by my son for his adventure.  More to come (I have an idea for some really cool arrows that travel backwards in time....)