Ask Here.

Internet is out at home, so I'm at the library today. Hence the clever title.

We usually forget it, but the gf and I are extremely lucky to have such a badass library two block away. It got renovated a couple of years ago, now. I never stepped foot near it before we both got cards here, almost a year ago. It's actually nothing like a dungeon, which is I suppose for the good, though a bit disappointing. Wireless 'net access all over the place, usually plenty of empty tables and desks.

And Wheel of Time books.

I haven't regularly visited a library since high school--which is seriously weird, given how much I like to read. Since getting started on the Wheel of Time series, though, I've been by at least once a month to get the next volume. I'm not reading as much as back in high school--I usually only break open a book right before bed or if I'm taking the bus for some reason--but I wonder if there are any other ways to get good use of this place. Like research for my Nobilis game(s). Or a quiet place where I'm unlikely less likely to bust out some World of Warcraft.

Yeah, I can even play that here. Good thing my server is down, or you might not have heard from me.

~j

Lunchtime.

Hallos!

I'm on my break at the restaurant, and I got the urge to put down a few words about a few disparate topics.

The Champaign County Young Republicans came in for lunch today. They asked for a table for ten. Forty minutes later, there's still only 4 people here, and just one who could accurately be described as "young." Now you know everything you need to know about Republican voting in Illinois.

Bank lobbies open at 9 in the morning, and close at 5. I'd hate to have to go to one during the normal lunch hour. Fortunately, I'm usually here during that time.

It struck me how much I like 4th edition D&D as opposed to alternative systems. I'd rather not try to adopt it for Nobilis, but re-skin the powers and allow for more flexible selection, and it'd be a great super-hero game. With emphasis on the limited selection of abilities, it'd be a good system for a horror game. And for D&D...well, at the climax of 3rd edition, characters had spells (powers), skill tricks (skill powers), feats (some of which were basically powers), multiple attacks (powerspowers), wildshapes (pow-rawrs), invocations (see spells)...this list goes on. Put those together with discrete rolls to help players do what they thought classes should be doing anyway--certain classes were thought of as "tanks," even without any real mechanics to help them fulfill those expectations, while there weren't many flavors of "healer" around. Third edition unified the d20 die roll for the conflict resolution of the game, but the miscellany sort of...exploded. Forth edition picked up there, unifying the miscellany, though many classes still have class abilities that don't quite fit the power mold. With a broad selection of classes, character creation is really, really simple once you know what you want to do--and there are basic, useful rules for editing your character if you change your mind.

I've been trying to ramp up my general "web presence" recently. Besides this, and Matt Underwood's blog about being Death, I've been trying to be more active on Facebook, and on Google's Buzz service. I've also added a Twitter account (linked to Buzz), a Picasa account (linked to Buzz), and have dusted off my YouTube account (linked to Buzz). I'm using StumbleUpon to find neat things to share. It sounds like work, but I don't know that I've ever enjoyed relating this much before. It must be the blinking lights.

Time to get back to work. Until next time!

~j

Sad (Stories) Say So Much.

It turns out my game can be a bit of a downer, some sessions.

Yes, I'm referring to Nobilis, again. Time and again, Suriel (the PCs' Angelic Imperator) has lost something. He's lost Atlantis (his home) and his Familia (the PCs starting the game), near the beginning. When he got that back, it wasn't long before he lost face with his brother angels for hiding one of their own from Creation. And then he got kicked out of the Coucil of the Metatron (think elder Angels) for hiding perhaps the most feared and dangerous of the Fallen in a similar way. He stood up for the Grigori. He's lost a few more Nobles since. And now it turns out he was actually killed over 7000 years ago and transformed into an what was supposed to be an enemy of Creation. Fortunately, he's the Angel of Loyalty, and still has a job to do. After that's done, though...

I'm in my third year of running my Nobilis game, my third year with Suriel. I've known it wasn't a happy tale from the get-go--the subtitle, "Legacy," implies it, if you think. The game started with a handful of PC Nobles who were destined to lose. I told each the players to have an Anchor--a more human, more limited character--handy to play sessions with different scope than the typical Nobilis game. And then I told each player individually that their starting Noble characters weren't really their main characters--that they'd switch to their Anchors full-time at some point. And halfway through the summer, I killed the whole group, and their Anchors got their jobs as the Powers of Waves, Rock and Roll, Loyalty, the Subconscious, Discovery and Masks.

I could go on listing the losses the players have suffered, but it would take a while, and it's not the point. I like the heroism spurred on by this sort of tragedy, and the PCs have risen to meet the challenge. I love the heroes who have every reason to give up, to cut their losses or to at least get hung up on them, but don't. They go on anyway, even though they know it's going to hurt even more before they are done.

My girlfriend and I are playing in a Changeling game together as a brother and sister who were kidnapped by the Fae as children--our brother at age 4, her character at age 5 and mine at age 8--one night after another. The growing horrible knowledge that these things aren't your brother and sister, and that something GOT them in the night, and that your all-knowing parents couldn't tell the difference...it's just too much fun. And to come back physically a 11-year old after a handful of years (maybe) in captivity to find that around 30 years passed, and that those things took your life from you...now that is a hero's origin story if I've ever heard one.

I've been kicking around an idea about D&D clerics and paladins, especially the later. It seems most concepts for those classes involve a great deal of education--they imply well-to-do if not noble families. Heck, the paladin class isn't complete without the Knowledge (nobility and royalty) skill. What of the peasant who shows up to the Temple with his jaw set, telling people he wants to be a paladin--that he knows he's been chosen? He's tested, or course--even if they aren't normally, he would be. Senior paladins and/or clerics react with at best patronizing looks and helpful advice (that they're all sure he needs), to at worst outright scorn (because he's taken a child's game too far), but he knows it's real. He passes the tests his way--technically legal, but with unexpected twists and use of a commoner's strength, perseverance and wisdom. His peers think he's doomed, or a blight on the order, or a little brother they should protect from the real evils of the world. That'd be an interesting paladin to me.

Start from the mud. Maybe even fall in it a few times, just so you know which way is up.

~j

Mage: the Awakening and Hubris

I just found out that at least three of the PC's in the nWoD Mage game I'm in have the same Vice: Pride.

It seems like a natural choice. Each of the nWoD critter types have an additional way to degenerate: Perfectly Normal Human Beings (PNHBs) have Humanity, but Mages have Humanity and Wisdom. And Wisdom, as it happens, can be lowered by committing "sins of Hubris"--mostly by using Awakened magic to do things ranging from everyday tasks (for those with high Wisdom) to atrocities (for those with low Wisdom).

So pride as a vice is part-and-parcel to being a Mage. Players who choose it as a Vice as well probably envision their characters as having a particular problem with Hubris, and therefore as having a lower Wisdom score--at least, eventually.

It's interesting, though, that a game about being an Awakened human--about being potentially great--doesn't have any game effects or mention of the flip side of pride. Pride, as a virtue, is the acknowledgement that one is great in some way. Mage is one of the few games in nWoD that seems to really be about holding out against degeneration and horror--the new setting and game really feel like they are focused on hope, that they can win against the bad guys, or help humanity, or what have you. Sure--most mages do fall short, but they all have the potential for greatness. So, why no mention of the satisfaction they feel in their accomplishments?

But maybe that's just my character speaking through me. Haughtily.

~j

A Multiverse of Options.

Conundrum!

My girlfriend is talking seriously about trying to run a Planescape game using 3.5 rules. We'll all basically be a detective agency. And there is too much to choose from.

Planescape itself has too many cool things going for it. Planar or Prime? Insert weird race here! Faction, sect, religion...it's all so huge. Then add 3.5, in all it's glory (and kobolds). ECL! Prestige classes!

I'm beginning to think that I should play a very "Jason character," and let things flow from there. Dark magic! Smart! Maybe something vaguely Egyptian! The whole concept for "Hygelak" came from a time when I was toying around with Planescape in 2nd Ed, though he's gone through alot of drift over the years. Hyge was a necromancer with Dustman ties that dreamed of gaining power and influence with the Baatezu--the devils. She's not gonna let him be LE, though. :D

There's True Name magic, from the Tome of Magic. I've never tried it out, and always wanted to. Magic is skill checks that get harder if you use the same one more than once a day. Another personal favorite is the Binder class--sharing your body with a lost or dead...thing...to gain power.

Did I mention I like the creep-factor in my characters?

Also, if people who read this (HA!) know of a good, free, online battle-map dodad, let me know. The proposed game will be over the 'net to connect to some out-of-state friends, so we're gonna need to know where we stand.

Ah! Time to throw stuff together for work.

~j