Inspired by +Robert Ruthven and the Weekly Geeky Report on his blog, Way of the Zeppo, my goal is to post a summary every Monday about the previous week that focuses on games I've been running/playing, PbP development, art projects, Kickstarters, RPG products, and anything else interesting to write about that relates to gaming.
Hopefully this will help me stay consistent with the blog each week, at the very least, and give you all a breakdown of my gaming activity and an idea of what to expect in subsequent APs. Ultimately, this is, more or less, my version of a captain's log.
Without further ado, here's the premiere of This Geek's Week. It's a lengthy, first report, but subsequent reports will be shorter.
Hangouts and Live Gaming
On Thursday, I played ViewScream for the first time using the scenario Black Widow, Brown Recluse. ViewScream is a dark, GM-less VARP (video-augmented role-playing game) for four players that blends story game and LARP quite nicely and focuses on four officers stranded on a starship who face a plethora of problems, shaky relationships, and have hidden secrets which usually come out. Despite major technical difficulties during the first half-hour which forced us to take the game off-Air, we all got into it and finished off with one character dying. I had a really fun time playing it, and I believe everyone else did too. I won't go into any more detail, as I'll post the AP soon, which is chock full of spoilers, but I would definitely play this game again with a different scenario. If you like sci-fi, horror, and role-playing games with high character tension, I highly recommend checking out ViewScream by Rafael Chandler.
On Saturday, I ran Tales of the Arx Jericho - Season 1, Episode 12 for the ongoing Tears of a Machine game I've been directing since April. It was supposed to be the last episode of the season, but due to time constraints, it turned into a two-part season finale which we completed the next day. Saturday isn't our usual Hangout day, but this weekend was an exception due to scheduling conflicts with the players. I normally play in a Torchbearer game on Sundays with a different group of players, but our game was cancelled, so I was fortunate enough to gather the Tears players last minute to run Tales of the Arx Jericho - Season 1, Episode 13, which ended the season with a bang, literally!
I'll be posting detailed APs for the two-part, season finale, but in the meantime, I posted short summaries for Episode 12 and Episode 13 in the Tears of a Machine G+ community with the AP videos on my YouTube channel. If you've been keeping up with the APs, you'll know that Rick is on his way to piloting a Prophet, Sarah's the new team leader of Alpha Company, and Jason's technical expertise repeatedly helps save his teammates every episode.
In the season finale, Jason stops the CRC facility from self-destructing after the pilots discover a secret hangar belonging to Rafe Hunter, Rick's father, who turns out to be a hologram of a Mayzor General. All the evidence so far had led the pilots to believe Dr. Johnson was really an antagonist, but he proved to be an ally in the last three episodes, so they're really unsure of what to think. The Arx Jericho is still in lockdown by the military, following Episode 11, but the pilots have to get their SAInts to fight back a Mayzor invasion targeting the Arx itself. Rick, Serena, and Opsie fly the Prophets, or Super SAInts, as Jason likes to call them. Sarah, Jason, and Strudel, of Alpha Company, team up with their ex-company member, Billy, as well as Bravo Company's second-in-command, Joanne, to rescue their sequestered, fellow pilots from invading Locusts all around the Arx. The MetaTron exhibits static, supporting characters' SAInts are hacked into and frenzy, new, aerial type Locusts attempt to destroy the Arx's weapons, backup generators, and engines, and the veteran, throne ranked Magnas, Asmodeus arrives to wipe everyone out. Minus a ton of destruction to the Arx Jericho, the pilots manage to prevent any significant deaths or Mayzor kidnappings while miraculously defeating Asmodeus in an astonishing display of valiant teamwork and strategic firing.
I had a short chat with the players after the game, and everyone is on board for a second season which is thrilling news. I honestly admit, when I first decided to run Tears of a Machine, I expected to play test it for two or three episodes max; I never imagined the players would stick around long enough for the game to take off, but they did, and it's turned into one of the best campaigns I've ever run. After watching Knights of Sidonia on Netflix, the players are psyched to take the game into space, so Operation Blue Moon may very well come to fruition in season 2, and the Arx Jericho may be the first, airborne military base to take to space and orbit the Earth. +Russell Collins, author/creator of the game, suggested creating a new, larger SAInt type fit for space travel called the Crusader class. Operation Blue Moon focuses on invading the Mayzor and their mothership, Tartarus, directly, instead of waiting for them to invade earth, so I'm really excited to start planning the second season.
In the meantime, we decided to take a break from Tears for a few months, and +Robert Ruthven offered to run a season of Primetime Adventures. I backed the Kickstarter, but I haven't tried the game out yet and really want to. I'll write more on that development as soon as I have more news.
One last comment I have for Tears of a Machine is a prospective idea to release a PDF on DriveThruRPG featuring custom Locusts and Magnas. I've already posted the ones I created for Tales of the Arx Jericho in the ToaM G+ community, but I want to create more and possibly even illustrate them with a nice layout, perhaps as a Pay What You Want product. Since the game is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, I'm certain this is doable, but I'll definitely chat with Russell about it and get his advice before releasing anything. I've never published anything on DriveThruRPG before, so I certainly welcome any tips that people have to share.
GotEXP, Storium, and PbPs
While I've only recently started blogging somewhat consistently and posting APs for Hangout games, I haven't written much about the PbP (Play-by-Post) games I'm involved in.
Many of you might not know this, but I own a forum site dedicated to PbP gaming, or PbF (Play-by-Forum) if you prefer, called GotEXP. An old friend of mine and fellow gamer started it up back in 2005, and I've been its chief administrator and moderator ever since. Unfortunately, my friend wasn't able to keep ownership of the site anymore, so he relinquished it to me roughly a year ago, and I've been maintaining and improving it ever since while keeping up with the community there and the PbP games being run.
For more information, there's a GotEXP Wiki in the works, with a list of active games at the bottom, or you can visit the forums directly. Right now, the majority of the games are Dungeon World-based, though there is one active, Apocalypse World game and talks of starting up an Undying game.
Here on the blog, I'll mainly discuss the PbP games I'm running and playing in as opposed to all the games on the forum.
Sagas of Mahr-En (Dungeon World)
Sagas of Mahr-En (SoME) was the first Dungeon World game I started running on GotEXP over a year ago. You can read more about it on the forum or on the wiki, though the latter is still in the works and needs to be updated.
Many players have come and gone, though some PCs have stuck around since the beginning. In a nutshell, the PCs call themselves the Servants of Destiny. They initially accepted a quest to bring a mad wizard and alleged criminal to justice and accepted a strange, magical artifact known as the Bone Wand of Beshlanishutli or the Bone Wand of Beshi. The SoDs soon learned that Beshlanishutli went by several other titles, namely the King of Devils and Sultan of Death. The cursed bone wand glows whenever undead are nearby, but it also attracts them and can trap certain undead inside it to be released later. The wand is also indestructible and unable to be discarded and lost. The only way to secure it is by imprisoning it in a magic box deep within the Temple of the Underground in the Haunted Jungle of Beshi.
In the first session, A Grave Job at the Gorgeous Inn, the PCs accepted the quest of from a group of mercenaries known as the Hawks of Tyr-Ka and fought off a horde of undead that attacked the Gorgeous Inn, which they were staying at. Another PC joined toward the end, a Stolen Elf, whose background introduced the Underfolk - demon offspring of Beshlanishutli based on the Seemings from White Wolf's Changeling the Lost. The PC also traveled with a miniature, mechanical chimera, named Ekwa, who could locate the Temple of the Underground and the chamber with the magic box that the PCs needed to get to.
The second session is titled, Thieves, Ogres, and Underfolk Demons. The SoDs traveled across the Kibaraz Mountains, en route to the Kingdom of Behyrst, where Sut'vira, the prisoner, was to be taken. There, the SoDs encountered a tribe of hostile Ogres who later proved to be allies, when the PCs found out the Ogres were manipulated. The Grand Vizier of Behyrst hired the kingdom's thieves guild to steal the bone wand from the SoDs, and those same thieves tried to use the Ogres against them. The session culminated in a battle against one of the Underfolk, a colossal demon named Brulktehu, or Father of Ogres, who suddenly appeared out of a portal to take the bone wand for himself and the rest of the Underfolk. The PCs barely survived the encounter and heard another Underfolk through the portal, Charnelbokora, the Leech Wight and Demon of the Grave, before Ysolde, the Mage, closed it up so that the SoDs could make their escape.
In the third session, The Haunted Jungle and the Pygmy Village, the SoDs reached a military camp in the Haunted Jungle of Beshi that belonged to the 2nd Army of the Kingdom of Aelham, where the group's old Ranger, Lieutenant Pallory (no longer with the party), was originally from. The SoDs soon found out that a group of Aelham soldiers, including Lt. Pallory, went missing deep within the jungle. Though they were badly injured, the SoDs accepted Captain Valais's quest to find them and bring them back safely to camp. The Paladin of the party was approached by a half-orc named Thoren who was a member of The Scarlet Wheel, or Gypsy Assassins, and learned that the Grand Vizier sent a third group of rogue assassins to intercept the SoDs and take back the bone wand. The SoDs took Thoren along on their new, side quest, and ran into a strange, ghostly image of an archaic Lizardman (Kibizi) calling himself The Last Kibizi. He claimed to be an immortal servant of Beshlanishutli and a sorcerer who tried using less forceful tactics to get the PCs to hand the bone wand over to him. The SoDs were smarter than that and sought The Last Kibizi out in a hidden, pygmy village where the Aelham soldiers' trail led to. There, the Paladin tried to parley with the pygmy queen, but The Last Kibizi had the pygmies under a mind control spell and performed a ritual that summoned undead, blood cranes to war with the pygmies. The SoDs were caught in the middle of a violent battle but managed to put an end to The Last Kibizi and free Lt. Pallory, the only Aelham soldier who wasn't eaten (sacrificed) by the pygmies. The ritual and the battle caused the sky to blacken and the earth to split apart with magma erupting from the ground like a volcano. The Mage, who had transformed into a more specialized Star Mage, tried to escape through a set of portals and accidentally found himself atop the Monolith, another archaic structure in Beshi aside from the Temple of the Underground. Meanwhile, the other SoDs escaped through a portal that appeared over The Last Kibizi's corpse. At the Monolith, Ysolde witnessed a strange Fae-like wedding between two more of Beshlanishutli's childer: Persephthelene, the Fairest and Brightest Child, Mistress of Enchantments, and Demoness Queen of the Arcadian Realm of the Underfolk and Vasgae, the Wild Demon of Beasts, with Pharolquae, Elemental Demon Minister, Bringer of Tides, and Fiend of the Tempestras leading the ceremony.
The game is now on its fourth session, and the SoDs are currently split up, supposedly inside the Monolith which is powered by Fae (Underfolk) magic. The Star Mage believes he's currently a guest of Persephthelene and Vasgae, but the other PCs have no clue where they are. Unfortunately, the game has been in hiatus for almost a month due to lack of time/energy on my part, but I really hope to pick it up again soon so that the Servants of Destiny can at least finish their main quest and imprison the Bone Wand of Beshi once and for all.
Hopefully I didn't lose anyone in the summary, but I'll make sure to post more about the cast and their adventure in more detail as soon as I can.
226 - Story of the Year 3443 (Adventures on Dungeon Planet)
Adventures on Dungeon Planet is a pulp, sci-fi supplement to Dungeon World written by +Johnstone Metzger and features robots, aliens, spaceships, and four classes meant to replace the Paladin, Fighter, Druid, and Cleric. They are the Earthling, Engine of Destruction, Mutant, and Technician, respectfully.
226 originally began as Story of the Year 3436 with an entirely different cast who suffered a TPK in the second session. The name 226 alludes to the original cast which consisted of two organics (an Earthling and Mutant), two robots (an Engine of Destruction and android Technician), and a six-armed white ape Wizard that was native to Earth-3, the planet which the rest of the PCs crash landed on.
226 - SoY 3443 takes place seven years after the last game, and the current party made an emergency landing on Earth-3 after an accident aboard their ship forced them into the planet's orbit. Their main goal is to repair their damaged ship, and after obtaining a lead on parts at Blu Brothers' Gizmos, a business run by two, space gnome brothers and mechanics, the PCs found out that a gang of Grenba Orkos (Emerald Orcs), led by the notorious Jaxx, had trashed the place and stolen a plethora of the Blu Brothers' parts. Ni'blu said he'd help the PCs out with their ship in return for finding the stolen parts, so the PCs got a lead on Jaxx and his crew at a religious site north of Port Meluk, the city they were in, called the Open Stone Arena. A group of Grenba Orkos priests devoted to the Arena were held hostage there by hired mercenaries working for Jaxx. After the PCs took care of them and even recruited one to join their team, they found out that Jaxx had taken the stolen parts north into the Boko'ani Desert and was set to return to the Arena the next day. Instead of chasing them down, the PCs decided to lie in wait and set a trap for Jaxx and his crew upon their return. Meanwhile, the alien Mutant, human Shaman, human Mechanic, and beatboxing Robo Bard were joined by a robot Engine of Destruction, a human Technician, and soon-to-be a human Earthling.
Like SoME, this game underwent a temporary hiatus, but I recently started posting again, and now the Technician and Earthling are set to join the game. The game is in its second session, but I'll post more, in-depth details about it at a future date.
Aetheron and The Caverns of Baal-Harrir
These are two games I'm actually playing in, not running, but they, too, have been going on for a while, and there's far too much to describe that's best saved for more posts.
In short, Aetheron is about a group of PCs called the Seven who are trying to save the floating island/city of Aetheron from falling and crashing down into the world, amongst dozens of other side quests and adventures. I play an Ettin Wizard named ZornoshRaz (ZoR) with twin, male and female heads with extremely different personalities. To use TV Tropes, Zornosh is the male, Blue Oni side, whereas Raz is the female, Red Oni personality. I must admit, ZoR has been one of my all-time favorite PCs to play in any role-playing game. They're unlike any character I've ever played before, and Dungeon World is a perfect, loose enough game to include them in.
The Caverns of Baal-Harrir is a another Dungeon World game I'm playing in that's currently in hiatus. It uses the Number Appearing supplement, which lets you play monster races like Orcs, Goblins, Ogres, Ratkin, etc. as protagonists. Like the other PbPs, I'll post more about it in due time, but my character is an Orc Fighter named Nok who recently took over as Chief (compendium class) of the Orc Tribe. Most of the other PCs are in Chief Nok's Inner Circle, and they're currently infiltrating hostile Kobolds in the caverns who have sworn fealty to an antagonist Dragon.
Storium and Doctor Who: The SOS Files
Last, but not least, I helped fund the Storium Kickstarter a while back, but sadly, I haven't gotten much of a chance to play it yet.
Fortunately, +Robert Ruthven is planning to narrate a Storium set in the Whoniverse called Doctor Who: The SOS Files, which he talks about in his latest Weekly Geekly Report over on his blog.
I just re-watched seasons 5-7 of the show, as well as The Day of the Doctor and the Time of the Doctor, in preparation for the season 8 premiere in just 19 days, so I'm really psyched to play a Doctor Who-based Storium.
Art Projects
Cover Illustration for The Prophet
All of July, I worked on reviving my art skills that I'd neglected for several years, and halfway through the month, +Damian Jankowski commissioned me to do a cover illustration for his upcoming, Dungeon World playbook, The Prophet.
It took me just under two weeks to finish, which is longer than I expected, but I am just getting my skills up to par again and getting back to doing what I love. You can check out the progress from start to finish, but here's the final piece without the playbook title and credits which Damian is taking care of himself. I'll definitely be sure to post the DriveThru link to the final product when it's up.
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| Illustration by Misha Polonsky |
Mythical Map Competition
Over in The Library of Gaming Maps G+ community, I submitted an entry for the Mythical Map Competition, where the goal was to create a map that inspires or tells a story without using words, letters, or numbers. Community members can vote on their favorite(s) by way of a +1, though I don't remember how long they have to cast their vote.
To be fair to everyone else participating in the contest, I won't post the image or its title until the contest is over, but if you've read what I posted above regarding one of the PbPs I'm running, you'll certainly have a clue as to which one is mine.
I will admit that I waited until the last minute and stayed up all night prior to the submission date finishing it up, and I struggled a quite a bit staying up, but I'm really glad I worked through and finished it. Playing episodes of Star Trek: TNG in the background and drinking lots of coffee sure did help. It was a fun challenge, and I greatly thank +Gremlin Legions, the community's moderator, for posting the contest in the first place and inspiring us to challenge ourselves.
I also learned that I really do love drawing maps and should work on creating more of them, on top of all my other illustrations.
Kickstarter Rewards and Other Goodies
Finally, I want to end This Geek's Week by showing off some cool, gaming goodies that just arrived.
First, I received the Torchbearer GM screen over the weekend, which I preordered a little while ago from the Burning Wheel store. I even took a silly picture with my other Torchbearer gear, which I also posted to the Torchbearer G+ community.
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| Yes, that's an official, Torchbearer shirt I'm wearing. |
I also received a Kickstarter reward in the mail today for an RPG called Wield, "A Little Game about Ancient Powers," written and designed by Gillian Fraser and John Wick. I've had the PDF, but I wanted to wait until I got the physical book to read it, so once I do, I'll talk more about it. Basically, the game chronicles a vatcha, or weapon with almost limitless power, and the compromises it makes with its wielder. It seems like a really unique, interesting game, and I can't wait to finally read it!
Well, there you have it. Thanks for reading This Geek's Week, and I'll do my best to keep these post consistent every Monday and shorter!
Until next time!
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