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Thursday 31 December 2020

Books & Stuff (NS, No 9) - Reading in Dec 2020

 Finished Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist

In which our heroes Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (strangely) transfer from the fantasy world of Newhon to the (equally fantastic) Ancient Near East.
Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Mythos Horror in the 1950s

A series of seven 1950s-set Call of Cthulhu scenarios.  Most are based in the United States (the one exception follows a US Army tank crew in the Korean War) and tackle 1950s bugbears: - communist villains, nuclear power, juvenile delinquency,  rock and/or roll and Stuff from Outer Space.

It's always hard knowing a scenario just from reading it, but these seem an interesting, if mixed, bunch.  There's also a brief over-view of the 1950s (in the US) and how one might set mythos RPGs there.  

I read some very mixed reviews online, but at the moment it's in warehouse clearance for UK buyers, and worth the £7.34 they're asking for softback copy and pdf.  But you'll need the pdf - the reproduction of the (not great) artwork in the hardcopy isn't very good.

Currently Reading


Fritz Leiber, Swords Against Wizardry

After a tedious mountain-climbing story with a shaggy-dog of a climax (and which I was surprised to see was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1966), the heroes get down to some proper Swords and Sorcery adventures.

MR James, Collected Ghost Stories

What would the period between Christmas and New Year be without the genius of Montague Rhodes James?  Dull, that's what.

Gaming in Dec 2020

  • 2 Dec 2020 - Blackmoor(ish) (OSE) - On-line 
  • 9 Dec 2020 - Blackmoor(ish) (OSE) - On-line 
  • 20 Dec 2020 - Wasters (OSE) - On-line
  • 23 Dec 2020 - Grimbo Grotto (Christmas on-off) - On-line
  • 30 Dec 2020 - Blackmoor(ish) (OSE) - On-line

Blackmoor (OSE)

As mentioned in last month's round-up, our regular GM is taking a break from his duties, so we're having rotating GMs.  We're maintaining continuity of characters, but the setting is not strictly the same as Dave's Blackmoor hack.

This month it was my turn as GM (my PCs having gone to 'Shroomfest).
  • 2 Dec
All they have to do is keep
Gwendolyn safe from harm...

The party rescued a damsel in distress and were taken home to meet 'her mother'.  They seemed to expect her to turn into a wolf at any minute, so didn't enjoy the tea, cake and lashings of ginger-beer as much as they might have.  But they agreed to accompany the young witch apothecary's apprentice on a foraging trip (on the basis that she is guiding them to an unlooted tomb of a Dwarven warrior).  What could possibly go wrong?
  • 9 Dec
Death by heraldic beastie...

The group came across a group of Goatmen dragging a Halfling and a Dwarf along as prisoners.  After a rescue, the two were accepted into the party (they were PCs).  This was a decidedly bad idea.  The Halfling (Alignment: Chaotic Stupid) decided that it would be cool if he could creep up on two dozing Wyverns and tie their tales together.  Result: three PCs dead (in addition to one Retainer killed in the earlier encounter) and the rest scattered to the winds.
  • 30 Dec
"Look's like goat's back on the menu boys!"

After our Christmas excursus (see below) we returned to the mission towards the Dwarven Tomb.  Giant vampire bats disposed of, the party came across a couple of Goatmen marking their territory*.  They put a well-crafted plan into action, killing the one with the paint-pot and toupee**, and capturing the other.  He was subsequently traumatised by the sight of the Halfling (literally) butchering his workmate and proved very helpful.

*Am I strange in that when I read on a random table of two Goatmen 'marking territory', I immediately see one with a pot and brush painting stones white, while the other loafs with a woodbine hanging from his mouth telling him what to do?
** Oh, I love random tables!

They took up position within striking distance of the Tomb (which they now knew to be the Goatmen's new base), only for an orc raiding party to pass by their camp.  The Dwarf's sense for treasure was all a-tingle, so rather than letting them go, they attacked.  At the cost of a dead Halfling, they now have almost as much*** treasure as their mule can carry.  They are thinking of abandoning their (vague) mission and missing friends, and heading home.
***Randomly rolled.

Wasters

We took on a job to go and steal a muscle car from one of the gangs in The Wastes, but got nowhere near completing it.  Our first attempt lead to a masacre, with only one party-member surviving.  On the second, we were ultra-cautious, and only covered half the ground necessary.  But we made the Big Score, finding a stash of loot that was so hefty that we couldn't carry it all away.

Grimbo Grotto
  • 23 Dec

As a Christmas treat we played this "Christmas Farcial Horror Aventure" written by Goblin's Henchman, and had an absolute blast.

The funniest thing was when the party (having captured a Gnome) asked if there was anything dangerous in the next room.  I had to say in my (Scouse) Gnome voice "Well, there's a Giant Putrid Gravy-Spewing Undead Turkey.").  It took me three attempts to say that without cracking up and (foolishly) they didn't believe him.

The scenario is Pay What You Want on DriveThru RPG.  I was worried how this might go down, but it proved to be the highlight of the month's gaming!

Sunday 20 December 2020

Wasters No 2: "A Quick, Clean Job"

Played 21 Nov 2020 (On-line) 

This was the first session I’d played of ‘Wasters’, a cyberpunk hack of Old School Essentials.  I’ve written a short outline of the setting here.


Seph 

Games Master 

 

Me 

“Two-Brains” - Level 1 Analyst  

Retainer - “Yellow Dog” Level 2 Analyst 

 

Simon 

Wispa – Level 1 Infiltrator.  A 12-year-old psychopath. 

 

Retainer – Wilber, Level 1 Sentinel  

 

Rodrigo 

Jax – Level 1 Infiltrator 

 

subsequently 

Damon – Level 1 Sentinel 

 

Retainer – “Meatshield”, Level 1 Sentinel. 

 

Swiper 

Rezzer – Level 1 Infiltrator 

 

 

 

We were misfits from our broken society, those who had chosen to leave the dystopian slums and to go into The Wastes, scavenging for whatever we could find.   

Club Lavender
The watering-hole and meeting-place for such misfits is Club Lavender in the Safe Zone.  It was there that we picked up our job: to go and retrieve maps and surveying tech that was in the admin buildings of a long-neglected park.  The reward was to be a data chip containing useful (and therefore valuable) information that we could trade for hard cash. 

Before we set out, we managed to hire a mixed bunch of retainers.  In addition, Wispa bought some tech – an amour that the vendor promised would be worthwhile.  At the last minute though, she decided that it was too risky to trust it on a mission without it being tested first. 

As Wispa had the most experience in The Wastes, she led us through the ruins, managing to avoid gang territories.  At first travel was uneventful: we saw gang tags and heard shots, but weren’t interfered with.  Towards mid-afternoon, however, we were approached by a group of nine strangers, apparently armed with knives.  Warnings and threats didn’t deter them, so Wispa took a pot-shot, killing one.  After that they scattered.  An examination of the body found no gang marks and only meagre possessions: they were probably Muggers. 

Artwork by James Chadderton

After an uneventful night’s rest, we set out on our eastward journey.  We encountered wild boar rummaging around in the ruins of a burn-out fast-food joint, but were able to avoid them easily.  It was with some surprise at our good luck so far that we then entered into the Park.  The rest of the day was spent scouting the block and turning over the ruins of the admin block.   

Having successfully discovered the maps and surveying tools, all that remained for us to do was to return to the Safe Zone.  We determined that, given the number of wild animals roaming freely, the Park wasn’t a safe place to spend the night.  Therefore, we moved into an adjoining block as, despite it being deeper into the Wastes, we could see that it was unclaimed territory. 


We settled down in a deserted office building for the night, but during Wispa and Wilber’s watch they heard animal noises in the street outside.  All, apart from Two-Brain's retainer went out (she earned the tag “Yellow Dog” as a result), only to be attacked by a pack of feral hounds.  In the ensuing melee Jax was savaged and killed.  Meatshield insisted that it was a proper tribute to cook and eat the defeated hounds. 

The next day, rather than returning to Club Lavender, we decided to scout this new block and to see if there was any other loot worth taking.  We came across one building of interest, a relatively intact warehouse which seemed to still have power. 


Unfortunately, both our Infiltrators were unable to break in without setting an alarm.  It was immediately clear that we had broken into a very dangerous building indeed.  Not least because in the corner was a naked, bound and gagged prisoner, chained to a chair and nodding his head wildly.  Wilber took off the gag only to hear “The whole place is rigged to blow!”.  As we tried to leave, the gang members erupted from the back room.  Wispa and Meatshield hurried the prisoner along, but he attempted to set off the booby-trap in order to delay the axe-wielding gangstas.  This was mainly futile, only managing to wound one and himself.  Meatshield’s attempts to save him were unsuccessful, and the prisoner was hacked to pieces before he even managed to tell us his name*.  Meatshield sacrificed himself, holding the rear and allowing the rest of us to retreat to a safe distance.  When it became clear to the axemen that they weren’t going to be able to bring us to melee before we picked them off with our carbines, they stopped the pursuit. 

*This was in fact Rodrigo's replacement character, Damon.  After his death, Meatshield was promoted to PC, albeit briefly.

After such a bruising encounter, we made our way as directly as possible into the Safe Zone, keeping a low profile.  We took a diversion to avoid a Police patrol and, later, had to dump our rations to distract some marauding boars. 

On returning to Club Lavender we received the data chip.  Once decrypted by Two-Brains, it contained intel on gang movements, with a street value of $5,000 in the Safe Zone or perhaps twice or three times that in The Wastes.  We opted for the quick payment. 

Thursday 17 December 2020

Kickstarter Watch: Pig-Faced Goblins and Dog-Faced Kobolds

Now, as many of you will know, I'm old-fashioned (comfortably so - it's to do with my age).  I likes me Orcs to be pig-faced and Kobolds to be doggy rather than lizardly.


Those of a similar bent might like the Kickstarter by RBJ Game Co for Yippers and Squealers - pig-faced Goblins and dog-faced Kobolds*.  It's already well over target with a fortnight to go.

*They did pig-faced Orcs in a previous Kickstarter.

To be honest, the schnauzer-like Yippers are probably a little too cute to be successful Kobolds, but frankly they are such nice things, they're probably worth having on their own account.

International postage being what it is, I won't be backing this one.  Had it been based on this side of the Atlantic, I think I probably would have some of those doggos.


Monday 30 November 2020

Books & Stuff (NS, No 8) - Reading in Nov 2020

Finished Reading

Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

A very good book: a beautiful book.  A book about isolation and being at peace with that: it’s perhaps fitting that I read it on the eve of 2nd Lockdown.  I liked it.  

A lot of fans of Jonthan Strange and Mr Norrell – who've been looking forward to this book for years - will be disappointed that it’s not set in their 'verse.  I think, from the hints about the subject matter that have emerged from time-to-time, that there was some expectation that it would be set on Strange’s Faerie Roads.  That's certainly what I expected.  It's refreshing to get something different.  If anything, it reminds me of books by David Mitchell: and that’s not a bad thing. 

I’d deliberately avoided reading any reviews or anything that might have given a synopsis; and I’m glad.  Not that I like to read reviews anyway (at least for fiction).  I’m not terribly interested in what other people think, preferring to form my own opinion on something as subjective as fiction.  Professional reviews are bad enough, but Goodreads is the worse.  I use it as a useful tool, but the reviews!  When they’re not just gushing fans, they’re people churning out half-remembered and never-fully-understood concepts from High School: talk of ‘poor characterisation’ and ‘crass diction’, etc. 

HP Lovecraft, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

A young scholar becomes obsessed with an ancestor who practiced the Dark Arts.  A newly-discovered portrait shows an uncanny likeness between the two.  What could possibly go wrong?

Despite everything about Lovecraft, it must be admitted that he writes well.  Although the reader has a pretty good idea of what's going on from the very beginning, tension is held as the protagonist gradually uncovers the dreadful truth.

Simon Harris, The Other Norfolk Admirals: MyngsNarbrough and Shovell

It took me a while to get into this (a couple of months on these round-ups!), but having done so, it was very interesting.  

It could have done with a stronger editorial hand, which surprised me as it was published by the excellent Helion & Co.  But though it's a strong piece, it doesn't pretend to be an academic work and, as a labour of love by an enthusiast a lot can be fogiven.

Bayt al Azif: A Magazine for Cthulhu Mythos Roleplaying Games, Issue 2 (Aug 2019)

Another thing (along with the Norfolk Admirals) which has been languishing by my bedside for months.  I decided to finish it off on finding out that Issue 3 is now out (in pdf  at least).  

I keep half-promising to do proper reviews of these: for now, I'll just say that if anyone is interested in Mythos Roleplaying they are must-reads.

Quintin Barry, From Solebay to the Texel: The Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-1674

A very good summary of the naval side of the Anglo-Dutch Wars - despite the title, almost the first half of the (short) book deals with the first two (which is fair enough, they can't be taken in isolation).

Purely narrative: don't come to it expecting any analysis.



Currently Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist

A collection of some of the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories, which are quickly becoming favorites of mine.

Sunday 29 November 2020

Gaming in Nov 2020

 

  • 12 Nov - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
  • 19 Nov - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
  • 21 Nov - Wasters (OSE) - on-line
  • 25 Nov - Blackmoor (OSE) - on-line
Blackmore (OSE)
  • 12 Nov
Art by W W Denslow

Our current three-session delve into the Under-Booh concluded.  We retreated safely after completing our mission for the Grand Wizard of Booh and got a little more entangled in Halfling politics before reporting to the G-Wiz himself, who decided that there were bigger fish to fry.

My Cleric of 'Shroom levelled-up to Lvl 3.
  • 19 Nov
Art by Vlad Voronchiukov

Following the events of the last session, the Grand Wizard wanted us to go to Vestfold to garner some intelligence.  As it happened he had a caravan (of giant snails) going in that direction which required guarding...  

We were ambushed by bandits (one of our long-standing PCs being killed) and encountered sprites in the Greenwood.
  • 25 Nov

The conclusion of our caravan-guard mission.  We wrangled the Snails through forest, over river and across swamp.  On the way we met some very strange folk, a trio of Hags, and Giant Leeches.  All nasty stuff, leading to two character deaths.

Our regular GM is standing back for a little while as he's changing jobs (a couple of hundred miles apart), so to ensure continuity of the game, we've decided to rotate the GM-ing.  From next week it'll be my turn...

Wasters (OSE)
Artist unkown to me

A new game for me, though with some of the guys I've been playing with from the Discord.  Basically, a play test of a Cyberpunk RPG that being developed for B/X systems (in this case OSE) rules.  I talked about the set-up here.

In this session at least, there wasn’t a lot of ‘cyber’ and it was more of a post-apoc scavenging set-up.  That suits me fine.  Anyway, we went out into the ‘Wastes’ with a seek-and-return mission.  In effect a Hex-Crawl, in which as we went on, we generated a map (and thus set the scene for future sessions).  We had several encounters or near encounters with inhabitants – animals, muggers, gang-member and cops.  One player lost four characters! 

Tuesday 24 November 2020

ALEC in Lockdown


As some of you know, I am supporting Movember, the annual effort to raise funds and awareness for men's health issues.  The focus is on prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues.

It's the latter which I've had issues with, and is the the reason I support Movember - particularly this year, when we're all feeling issues of isolation.

Movember have shared some notes on mental health and suicide prevention here.  What I'd like to flag is ALEC.

ALEC is a mnemonic which provides a model for 'talking to your mates about mental health'.  It's a handly primer for raising this difficult issue with anyone you might be concerned with

A - Ask.  Ask how they are feeling.  "You don't seem yourself lately - are you OK?"  Be prepared for the answer "I'm fine" and to bring up the reason you ask.  If you've noticed something in particular (they've been withdrawn, haven't been as active on social media, etc) it's worth mentioning.  

L - Listen.  Having asked the question, give the person the chance to answer and pay attention to the reply.  Odds are that you're not going to solve the problems that they raise, but it will help them to share them with someone else.  Ask follow-up questions that might help the person to focus on what's at the root of the issue.  "That's can't be easy.  How long have you felt that way?"

E - Encourage.   Encourage action.  Help them focus on things that might help.  Have they felt like this in the past?  If so, was there anything that helped then?  It might help to get back into a routine despite lockdown - patterns of sleep are particularly important.  Are there other people that they trust and who they can talk to?  Is it time to talk to a doctor?

C - Check-In.  Having had the initial conversation, keep in touch and follow-up with prompts if necessary.

And before anyone asks, "I'm fine".  I've found winter lockdown more difficult than the one earlier in the year (which, I must admit to quite enjoying), but my mental state is OK.  

I'm getting out of the house most days and am in contact with people through social media.  As those who follow the blog know, I'm getting quite a lot of on-line RPG gaming done.  Like a lot of gamers, I've really discovered the benefits of Discord, Zoom, et al this year.  I'm getting more oportunities for gaming now than ever before.  And as we all know, gaming is good for mental health.  Of course, I miss sitting down at a table and playing face-to-face, but I've made contact with a lot of new people and do really enjoy the sessions I take part in.

Thank you for reading this.  If anyone wants to contribute to my Movember fundraiser, you can do so here.