Category: Musings (Page 4 of 9)

Last Words From Rodrigo Salvatore

June 19, 2017 / Robert Miklos

I write this for all of you now who may not believe that this old man once sailed on a sailing ship, felt the salt of the wind swept sea on his lips, and lived life on the raggedy edge. Now, in my old age, clothed in silk with Mitre in hand, that may be hard to believe. Once long ago I came to Caribdus from Earth, as many of your fathers and grandfathers had (although not too many of the Originals, as we call ourselves, remain). Almost immediately I fell in with a sailing crew, who God Almighty propelled on a sacred mission. We didn’t know it at the time, but we had been selected to challenge the Sea Hags, to stop the flood of this world. We fought many battles side by side, and in our final battle, at the Devil’s Cross, we finally defeated the hags, with the help of so many. With the help of Jomba Town and Tulago (now known as the Maori Federation). With the help of the Atani (now the Atanic Empire, full and glorious once again as it spread into many of the Receded Lands, lands that were reclaimed from the receding waters). From Admiral Duckworth (God rest his soul), and from the women of Asy Cay, including Annie Mason, (who you know as Madame Daxson).

I often find myself longing to sit on the deck of Liberator’s Wrath once again, to talk to my many friends who we lost long ago, and that thought brings a smile to my face. So as I write this, I raise a small glass of Scotch (who would deny me one small drink, after all, I am the Archbishop!) for my friends Crow, and Liam, and Daxson, Mordecai and Brachus. They are all gone now, having lost Captain Daxson in the final climactic battle when we defeated the Caribdus Inquisition naval forces off New Madrid. I leave this letter to you, Mi Abuela. As a Masaquani, your long life promises that you will outlive me. Just as well, for I miss my shipmates. I end this with a quote from one of my favorite English writers, Shakespeare:

“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”

Archbishop Rodrigo Salvatore, June 19, 1611 AD

Top Stuff I Want To Run Someday (2017 Edition)

March 30, 2017 / Stan Shinn

Been thinking about the ‘stuff I’m itching to run someday’ so thought I’d jot it down. Interesting how things evolve: see my post in 2016 and my post in 2014 of things I was itching to run in prior years.

Star Wars Campaigns

Rebel Military (WEG d6 or Rarescape RPG) — You are Alliance military during the era of Rebellion.
Rebel Privateers (WEG d6 or Rarescape RPG) — You play privateers (pirates) working for the Rebellion to harass and disrupt the Empire.

Hard Sci-Fi Campaigns

Blood & Steel (Imperium RPG, Traveller, or Rarescape) — After investigating a space anomaly, a group of fighter pilots find themselves on a starhopping quest to save humanity. (Think Battlestar Galactica)
Scientorium(Imperium RPG, Traveller, or Rarescape) — Hidden away by sheer distance and forever shrouded from the minds of the curious lies a mammoth artifact from the previous galactic age, the library of Scientorium. Its strange experience chambers offer passage to a million histories on a million worlds, secrets and technologies undreamed of. Now abandoned by all but its automated security systems and enigmatic caretakers, its workings are oddly twisted and jealous, meting out reward and punishment in equal measure. This is a classic science fiction saga, an epic journey across space and time in the vein of Niven or Heinlein!
Eris Beta-V(Imperium RPG, Traveller, or Rarescape) — A team of explorers investigates a magnificent ringed gas giant with its numerous moons. Ancient artifacts of enormous power can be found among the rings and asteroids. Every moon is a unique world to be explored. When the system’s valuable commerce is threatened by unscrupulous agencies, the team must root them out and put themselves at great risk on the icy fringes of interstellar space.
Eschaton: The Dark Star(Imperium RPG, Traveller, or Rarescape) — Interstellar explorers investigate a mind-boggling megastructure hidden in deep space. (Think Ringworld)

Fantasy Campaigns

World of Redmark: Caress of Steel (D&D 5e) – New sandbox D&D campaign based on the 80’s Rush albums ‘Caress of Steel’ and ‘Fly By Night’.
Middle-earth: Darkening of Mirkwood (Adventures in Middle-earth/5e) — The Necromancer may have been cast out of Dol Guldur, but a lingering darkness remains over Mirkwood, a shadow that will grow ever longer as the years draw on – unless a band of brave adventurers step forward and hold back the gloom.
Middle-earth: 4th Age Quest (Adventures in Middle-earth/5e) – Adventure in Middle-Earth a millennium before the Lord of the Rings. “Know this, people of Gondor: were it not for the selfless souls in Arnor who with flashing blades and spilled life-blood fought against the Witch-King and his foul blight in Angmar, our free lands would not have known peace, and our bright cities would long ago have crumbled into forgotten ruins.”

Mini-Campaigns (~ 6 sessions)

Firefly: Civil War (Firefly Cortex Plus or Rarescape RPG) — Epic mini-campaign conclusion to a Firefly campaign Todd, Mason and Stan were running a few years back.
Reich America: The Shadow Covenant (Rarescape RPG) — Resistance fighters uncover a terrifying secret about the Final Reich.
Solomon Kane (1600’s Fantasy/Horror/Monster-Hunters) — (Rarescape RPG) — Cut a righteous path in a world of evil! You have seen the path to redemption, a road paved in the blood and bones of the evil you must defeat to save the world from its unholy taint. Face that which preys on men’s dreams, their fears, and their very souls. Walk The Path of Kane. Your enemies span the globe, reaching out from every shadowy corner of all four continents. Men, magic, and monsters of the darkest hearts and basest desires threaten the very world you tread. Humanity is lost without the will and steel of good folk like you.

One One Eight Two Five

March 6, 2017 / Robert Miklos

11825, the Eleventh designation from the 825 batch, a distinguished batch of clockwork Mymidions, was a proud construct. Manufactured 1270 years earlier, 11825 had served both the Dragon Overlords and the nascent Gothic Imperial Court. He served with distinction, fighting and destroying many of the rebellious lizardmen. He aided the Gothic Imperial Court in their evacuation from the Lands. And he accepted his deactivation full well knowing he may never see another day.

But that day came 1120 years after deactivation, when new people that 11825 thought had come from the Gothic Imperial Court (for they spoke Gothic, who else could they be) reassembled him, and called him to service once again. The plasma ran through his circuits, and he knew that he would uphold the honorable 825 designation once more.

He fought the strange new lizard like creatures, smaller than Lizardmen but fierce nonetheless. He answered the many questions from the Gothic Courtiers. He refused to be called “Brobot”, whatever that meant. He opened doors. Finally, in the second fight with the little mini-dragons, the courtiers became indicisive. Some called for him to back up. Others, to attack. A few simply yelled “shut the door.” But 11825 was in the doorway, and requested clarification. All the while, the little Mini-dragons pelted him with fire bolts and spears. As his strength ebbed, and eternity beckoned, 11825 wondered, for a moment, what a breeze felt like. A laugh. A mountain flower looked like. Then he could take no more damage, and ceased to be. 11825 had served his 825 designation with honor, and was now at rest.

Towers of Mystery and Ley Lines

February 20, 2017 / Robert Miklos

Our colonists studied the mysteries of the Towers, trying to find a way to travel from point to point without allowing others to do the same. Eventually, the party went through the portal of the first tower, and came upon a large snake and a Kobold Shaman controlling that snake. The party battled, concetrating on the Shaman. Once the Shaman was defeated, the large snake became torpid and nuetral, and the party was able to navigate around it. Loud noises downstairs suggested the rest of the kobolds were bracing for a fight. Instead, the party simply figured out the placement stones of the Tower, and teleported to the third tower. Upon their arrival, a Clockwork Mymidion detached from the wall and defending the Tower. With an annoying metallic “Enemy” uttered everytime it fought one of the party members, a close fought battle went the party’s way. Defeated and deactivated, the party investigated the clockwork device. Part machine, party creature, the Clockwork device gave up a secret. That was, through its visor, the party could see that the Tower and a road to the south sat upon, and were energized, by electric blue Ley Lines. These Ley Lines were enfused by magical power, which the party decided to draw upon. As the tower was invested with a large kobold host (guarding the nearby Kobold King’s Demesne), the party used Calem’s magic missile wand to blow open the large double stone doors leading into the demesne (also taking out several kobold guards). Quickly recharging the wand on the Clockwork device’s wall charge, the party then rushed the now opened passge into the Demesne. After a battle with the remaining Kobold Guards, the party found themselves locked out from an interior door into the Demesne. But they had learned some sectrets about the Towers, and the Ley Lines. The New World seemed very old indeed, with questions answered only leading to more questions. Who layed the ley lines? What was their purpose. Who maintains them now?

Stan’s RPG Bucket List Updates

February 10, 2017 / Stan Shinn

I’ve been keeping tabs on my ‘RPG Bucket List’ for a few years. I just added two more items to the bucket list:

Play ‘The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen‘. Sort of a Fiasco, one-shot party game.
Play ‘Primetime Adventures‘. This is Fiasco-style story game with light mechanics. Would be great for a 1 or 2 hour campaign that would run as a pre-game for evening games or as a b-campaign.

Here are some videos describing the above:

I updated my bucket list to check off the following items which I’ve done in the last two years. Wow, I’m really making progress!

Develop and publish a GM toolkit (DONE).
Develop RPG Convention tournaments or contests (DONE).
Help with an RPG Convention (DONE).
Run a campaign that starts at level 1 and hits at least level 10 (DONE).
Play the same character for more than a year (haven’t done this since the 80’s) (DONE).
Run a licensed game campaign that made people go “This feels like playing the Show.” (DONE).
Run a Star Wars campaign (DONE).
Play or run a Middle Earth Lord of the Rings roleplaying campaign such as 1st or 2nd Edition MERP (Middle Earth Roleplaying, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_Role_Playing), or The One Ring (now in print, Cubicle 7 http://www.cubicle7.co.uk/our-games/the-one-ring/) or D&D 5e with custom backgrounds (DONE).
Design an interesting, original magic item (DONE, the clock-ticking-down demon sword in a 1st Age Redmark game).
Play or run classic D&D modules which I’ve never played starting with the UK series: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (DONE), When A Star Falls, Bone Hill (DONE) and Nights Dark Terror; then on to Dwellers of the Forbidden City, The Hidden Shrine of Tamochan, The Forgotten Temple of Tharzidun, Against the Cult of the Reptile God (DONE), Scourge of the Slave Lords (A1-4), The Lost City, Queen of Spiders (G1-3, D1-3, Q1), and just maybe (with a character I don’t mind losing) Tomb of Horrors (S1).

— Stan