Author: Scott

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Books

Rule 34 and Imago

Rule 34 is an interesting Charles Stross book set in a downward sliding Scotland, and a whole host of disinvestment and rot in public institutions after the great recession.

We’re guided though the worlds (physical and internet) with a few viewpoint characters. Liz is a cop, who mostly reviews the net side of crimes… with a slowly revealed backstory explaining how she got derailed from promotions and into her current role. The other half is anchored by Anwar, a scammer out on parole, trying to make some money and support his family in a very challenging world.

There are some interesting detours into pseudo-states and international crime, some characters from the main characters’ pasts come back to complicate their lives, and AI runs amuck. Solid, but not my favorite of his.

Imago was a good conclusion to the Xenogenesis trilogy. It doesn’t include the rough toddler POV that made the middle book harder to love. Jodhas is a very interesting adaptation to Earth; very human looking and male to begin, but with a fascinating development path.

We get to see the threads begun by Akin in the previous book flourish, though it’s not directly addressed or a main focus. The huge slide of the human settlements that we saw last book has slowed, but there are new settlements to find.

All in all, a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy… though Dawn is enough stronger than the other two that I’d recommend it as a stand alone to most… and just let them know that the other books exist if they want to see the whole sequence together.

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Books

Adulthood Rites and Picnic on Paradise

Octavia Butler’s Adulthood Rites is a sequel to Dawn. It’s a rough start, following a super baby – it definitely sets Akin apart from the children of our world, though it’s all weirdly plausible and consistent.

After the time jump forward, into adolescence, Akin feels less weird (though still intentionally very weird). There are interesting meditations and debates about what is inherent, genetically preloaded, and what things can and should be changed and cherished. The slow slide of Phoenix is fascinating and sad.

Adulthood Rites was a reread – probably my second read, and a couple of decades apart.

Picnic on Paradise was new to me. It’s a weird, stylish future, quickly reduced to a lengthy trek and squabbling through hardship. A few quirky and interesting characters, several that never really develop depth.

It’s well written, but not one I’m likely to read again.

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Books

Softwire and Dawn

The Softwire: Virus on Orbis 1 by P. J. Haarsma was hanging out in our library; I don’t think I’ve ever read it, so it likely came from Jax’s library. It’s compellingly written, and moves at a quick pace. It’s a well written exploration of a truly alien environment – without the separation and control that adults visiting in a ship would have.

It feels like good YA, but is willing to include a lot of subtler elements in the world building that don’t make it feel so straightforward that it’s just for kids. By the end, there was a foe and a straightforward conflict – but it took an intriguing path to get there. I started looking for the next book, but since it was published in 2006, it’s not actively stocked. I’ll have to keep it in mind when combing bookshops.

Dawn by Octavia Butler was a reread. It’s a fascinating study – the Oankali feel intriguingly different and alien, and the initial setup of Lilith as a rat in a maze, being examined and tested, is hard to take… it’s a rough setup, which primes her for the role that she’s reviled for.

The Oankali concept of trade being off kilter, and the anxieties of humans at being pieced together from isolation and forged into small bands feel all too authentic. We’re all mutts that would bite the hand that feeds us, if that hand was so alien.

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Books

Recent Reads

The Cold Between and Remnants of Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel

An interesting deep future, divided into three significant factions, and a number of colony worlds that think they’re more independent and self-sustaining than they really are.

It’s a tale of humanity divided – no on screen aliens, but some alien ruins do play a part. The three major factions are Central, PSI, and the syndicates.

We follow Commander Elena Shaw in both books; while we get other POV chapters and they’re often significant, they mostly round out Elena’s story. She serves aboard a Central Gov ship, which means that we’re mostly experiencing the universe from a Central POV.

PSI serves a big role in both books; local politics tangles the two groups together, and working their way through the accusations keeps Trey (our ex-PSI love interest) and Elena running together and sorting through decades of rumor and distance.

Central and PSI are both written as organizations of people as people, with factions and cross cutting interests, popular kids and those passed over and seething, keeping them from being one dimensional. [The third faction is mostly off screen and more inscrutable – the Syndicate – though they are foregrounded more in Remnants of Trust.]

The universe feels authentic, with lots of human touches — like all three factions existing largely to prop up colonies that constantly skate closer to collapse than their citizens can bear to understand; lots of wishful thinking and willful ignorance fills the colonies – but they’re not one-dimensional people sitting around waiting to be rescued either.

There’s also some love scenes; they begin early in The Cold Between, so you’ll quickly know if they’re to your taste, or more involved than you’re used to.

Becky Chambers is probably my favorite author, certainly my favorite that I’ve discovered within the last decade. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is the sequel to A Psalm for the Wild Built, and continues to inspire. Both books were “delicious” in a way that made me pick it up and start reading it again the night after I finished my first read through.

Prayer is very much a book about friendship and obligation; the interaction between Dex and Mosscap is rich and layered and a beautiful way to muse about what we want out of life and our relationships.

If you want action and adventure, this is not the series for you. This is a world descended from an era that faced tremendous challenges, accepted them, and realigned their life to live sustainably and harmoniously. Even their sharpest edges and gravest worries feel like small beer in the 21st century… but what a beautiful approach to utopia they’ve created.

Dead Space by Kari Wallace is set a few centuries from now, in a more plausible and certainly more selfish future – one that’s easy to imagine that modern corporations have set us on the path to build.

Hester is a wage-slave police investigator for a corporation that she’s indebted to. She winds up elbowing her way into investigating the murder of a friend… who has their own secrets and discoveries that come to light as the investigation progresses. There are lots of twists and revelations that keep revealing new layers of the onion…

Categories
Books

The Truth Machine

by James L. Halperin

In interesting book, written back in the era when you could talk about the future President Gore and look ahead to 2004.

It reminded me of the big idea books of old science fiction – mostly about a big new technology, and exploring its consequences. There are more women and more emotional engagement than in rockets and physics lecture sci-fi, but it’s consciously and intentionally uses a drier reporting style to avoid first person POV.

The cast of characters is interesting, though the main character, Pete, is a genius very much in the mold of older sci-fi. His two friends David and Diana are destined for greatness, much like Pete.

The core of the book, though is about the intersection of a society trapped in a rising tide of crime, and willing to make tremendous tradeoffs to solve the issue.

In the end, it’s an interesting thought experiment, and Pete is an appealing lens to examine just what we’d trade for safety — and the tremendous changes that society would undergo if lying became impossible.

Categories
Books

January Fifteenth by Rachel Swirsky

A low key, “everyday reality” kind of sci-fi book, where UBI (or “ooby”) is just another casually accepted element of reality a generation after passage. Very well written and often fascinating; the parallel storylines don’t cross, but do an excellent job of showing just how everyone has an opinion, rich or poor — even though most people shrug and take it for granted.

Categories
FATE Games Game Group Roleplaying

Diaspora Cluster

This cluster was generated at the Crazy Squirrel RPG Meetup in October 2010. Will, Brian, Bryan, and Scott participated, each creating two planets.

I didn’t drag home many notes, so this is incomplete. If you have additional information, particularly for the two worlds you created, please expand on them in the linked pages. (In fact, Sojurn and Xori are hazy recollections of the actual names–if I blew it, let’s fix them!)

Cluster Overview:

The cluster is in a 1950s style cold war, divided between the two slipstream faring powers, Creche and Wheeler.

Creche is the home of organized humanity, at least in this push since the last collapse; its corporate structure and viewpoint is stamped on all of space faring culture. The generally low tech levels in the cluster suggest that Creche and Wheeler attempt to retain their technological supremacy, and collude to keep technology out of the hands the other worlds. (This may be because of Wheeler’s successful breakaway/independence; they want no significant rivals.)

Access to anti-aging drugs on Xori is a major source of rivalry and competition between corporations, both on Creche and between Wheeler and Creche.

Worlds of the Cluster: Austeria, Boulders, Creche, Desolation, Pilgrim’s Rest, Sojurn, Wheeler, and Xori

An article about the session is here: http://www.gnomestew.com/specific-rpgs/diaspora-cluster-generation-in-action

Austeria

(T1,E2,R-1). Slipstreams to: Boulders and Creche
– Playground of the rich and famous

– Large Ag plantations

Boulders

(T-1,E-3,R2) Slipsteam links to: Austeria and Creche
– Life is hard and short; most who come here want to leave.
– Mining colonies are scattered across the system-wide asteroid fields.
– Many miners are prisoners from Creche, sentenced to hard labor.

The penal asteroids have a docking platform that ties into the original starting point of the mining operation. The first stage of building a penal mining facility is to create the tunnels and chambers that will make up the actual prison facility. This will contain administration, operations, and security. The chief administrator/warden is directly over the operations chief and security chief, who act as assistant wardens over those areas. Penal mines are placed only on the largest asteroids due to the stability and space required for such prisons. Mines that are played out can still be used as maximum security facilities or turned over to corporate council for a multitude of other purposes. It is rare for corporate to waste the facility once it has been established. All prisoners from Creche are implanted with a tracking/explosive device at the base of the neck. Once the prisoner reaches their assigned asteroid, the explosive device is activated. There is a grid of transmitters and relays across the prison facility. If a prisoner travels beyond 4 km from the grid, the explosive device will detonate and kill the prisoner. The devices can also be triggered by a Warden using a special code, but there must be exigent circumstances and the specifically input concurrence of the operations and security chief for summary execution to be carried out. These explosive charges are removed upon completion of sentence or parole. The tracking device remains during the parole period, after which it too is removed unless parole has been violated.

Creche

(T2,E-1,R-1) Slipsteam links to: Austeria, Boulders, Desolation, Pilgrim’s Rest, and Sojurn

– Corporate bureaucracy stifles everything.
– Struggling to maintain its colonial empire.
– The world is like a downtown; the place you go to work and make money, but not where you want to raise kids or retire.

Desolation

(T0,E-1,R-2) Slipsteam links to: Creche, Pilgrim’s Rest, and Wheeler
– The desert makes them strong
– They fight to earn what they lack
– The contract is king

Pilgrim’s Rest

(T-1,E1,R0) Slipsteam links to: Creche, Desolation, Sojurn
– The “quaint” first colony–nothing goes on here.
– Those with skills or ambition are drawn to Creche

Sojurn

(T-1,E3,R1) Slipstream links to: Creche, Pilgrim’s Rest, Wheeler, and Xori
– One gas giant is orbited by several lush moons
– It’s a balkanized neutral zone, with the moons divided between various corporations (including Wheeling)
– Temp World: Employees are only permitted to serve for four years before they’re shipped out
– It’s the gateway to Xori

Wheeler

(T2,E2,R3) Slipstream links to: Desolation and Sojurn
– Wheeler II is lush, ripe for exploitation; with factories concentrated in domed outposts on Wheeler I and III.
– “We’re close knit, cunning rebels, resisting Creche’s tyranny”
– Striving members of the Corporate Council

Wheeler is a large lush system with several worlds, dominated by the Wheeler Corp “family council”.  The system was discovered by Wheeler Corp after a “mis-jump” from Desolation . It has been quietly developed by Wheeler over almost a century since its discovery; a limited population and insular culture remain among the remaining challenges.

Despite abundant resources and habitable space on both Wheeler II (a beautiful shirtsleeve world) and Wheeler III (a world of domed encampments, to retain warmth and oxygen in human compatible concentrations), Wheeler Corp restricts immigration to limit subversion by the other corporations of Creche.

In style, Wheeler’s relation to Creche is something like the relations between Britain and the US throughout the 19th century, and limited proxy wars/scuffles with Creche’s corporations. In general, Wheeler Corp is larger than any of the individual Creche Corporations, but is dwarfed by the human resources the Creche Council can command as a whole.

Xori

(T-3,E-1,R1) Slipsteam link to: Sojurn
– We drive out men into the forest; only the strongest return
– Only the priestesses know how to refine the anti-aging drug
– The spice must flow
– It’s a matriarchy, led by ancient but physically youthful women, who practice the old ways.

Categories
DnD Game Group Roleplaying

Empire of Iron – Backdrop

Ancient History was created collaboratively, by the whole group via a Dawn of World game. (Alas, notes never typed up and lost to history.)

Recent History

Almost 150 years have passed since the end of the Second Age.

The dwarves of the Axe Reft Mountains emerged from their deep excavations with riches and madness.  They soon pushed east, pitting their iron forged axes against the peaceful gnomish settlements to their east.  Their advanced armors and sophisticated weaponry (for many years they were the only race to manufacture crossbows) forced the gnomes down the slopes of the mountain.  Soon the gnomish settlements hid around the foothills clustered behind the Flame Peaks and thick forests clustered around the southern bay. Rumor has it that the draconians (1, 2) suffered devastation in their homeland.  Magical experiments in the dead zone (or magic used in their war against their neighbors, the Giants) took on a life of its own.  Legend says the zone ripped, or that the planar rift the Tower of Clouds was built upon gave way.  All that is known is that many strange and twisted beasts are rumored to crawl forth from the foundations of the Cloud Tower… and the tower’s foundations run deep below the mountains. Legend says that it was in these days that nearby Draconians warped from the form most of us are familiar with (the Baaz) into new and strange forms. While the Draconians of Point Draco in the west (and, it is rumored, the Draconian Fort in the east) remained steadfast, the draconians of the dead zone were pushed from their mountain peaks. They scattered, largely to the south, into the great deserts of the midlands. Many, however, unified under a commander Skúli, who led them to the west. It is unknown how much was planned in advance; today too much of history and rumor are mixed. What is known is that 68 years ago, Commander Skúli led his draconians from the east, while the dwarven forces marched from the south. Petty dukes were turned against each other (they now claim by dark magic, rather than avarice) and client states knelt to the dwarven lords. Seven years of bloody battles were fought across the great farmlands and among the villages and keeps of the humans.  Draconian martial might and dark dwarven magics broke the resisting human towers and summoned the fallen to slay the few besieged defenders. For the last forty years, the great farmlands of northern have strained under the dwarven overlords and their draconian enforcers.

Quick Timeline: (years ago)

-130? Axe Reft Mountain dwarves begin calling upon evil for wealth and power

-110 Axe Reft Dwarves march on their south eastern neighbors, the gnomes, scattering them.  They use the dead to augment their forces.

-68 Dwarves and Draconians begin conquest of human lands to the north

-61 Dwarven victory essentially complete; they colonize the peaks to the north of the valley

-50s Dwarves build tribute roads across the human lands (and to their north colony), draconians enforce the occupation

– 44 Dwarves and Draconians march on the Silver Elves; their fierce assault and dark magics pierce the wall.

– 44 Human and Silver Elf bandits and gureillas of the rocky highlands hit dwarven supply trains, blunting the offensive

– 43 Bloody battles between the incredibly magically skilled Silver Elves against the the invaders utilize the most powerful known magic to date.  At terrible cost, the dwarves and draconians are pushed back

– 42 to 38 Battles fought to stalemate, dwarves unable to breach the wall again

-38 to -25 The forces thrown against the enemies of the dwarves shift, with more and more of the forces being composed of Clay Dwarves

Cultures and Countries

Gnomes, including the City of Felixis (the settlement where the game started)

Silverene [Elemental Elves]

Treelore and Vartains [Wood Elves of the forest and splinter group along the river]

Bosco [Humans of the Bosco plain]

Lost Ones [Humans from Sands of the Lost]

Kingdom of Arches [Cliff dwelling humans]

Axe Reft Dwarves

Draconians [Mercenary/Draconia] (1, 2)

Draconians [Fort Draconia and Port Draco]

Northern Dwarves

Languages of the West

Trade/Common– Enough language to barter with gestures or ask for milk, not enough to carry out complex discussions.  Works with essentially everyone, save wild beasts.

Gnomish– The traditional language of the gnomish people.

Silverene — The language of the Silver Elves of the western peninsula; rarely spoken beyond the borders of their homeland.

Elvish– The language of Treelore and Vartain. Rare to hear in the west.

Bosco– The language of the humans of the Bosco plains. Draconian bits of language keep getting mixed in.  Bosco has several regional variations for each of the city-states and petty principalities.

Archan– The language of the humans of the east, both the Sands of the Lost and the Kingdom of Arches.

Axian– The common language of the Dwarven Axe Haft empire, traditional language of the Stone Dwarves

Low Axian– The limited language/gruntspeak of the clay dwarves. Strong regional differences.

Deep Axian– The secret language of the dwarf king’s court; related to Infernal

Draconic– Language of the Draconians; rumored to be related to the language of Cloud Tower.

Giantish– Language of Giants and their subjects, poorly spoken by many trolls and ogres.

Common Names

Dwarves of the Dwarfcrown Mountains: Viking/Norse inspired (Males, Females)

Dwarves of the Icy North: (either Scottish or Norwegian, undetermined)

Humans (north of the Dwarf Crown Mountains, Milanose): Italian

Humans (Kingdom of Arches, east of the Red Desert): Byzantine

Humans (southwest of the Red Desert): Greek

Draconians (when they’ll talk to you): Draconic names

Gnomes: Arthurian (Welshlike)

Elves, Silver (Silverene, Elemental/Moon): Catalan

Elves, Bronze (Treelore, Wood/traditional): Celtic

Other Name Generators

Rumors Of Iron

Recent Rumors:

The Silver Elves have launched a successful assault from their enchanted walls.  Their combat magic proves deadly.

The silver elf assault wouldn’t have been half as successful if their agents hadn’t coordinated a “mindful fist” uprising at the same time.

The dwarven army fell apart when they were confronted with power mages.

There weren’t enough stone dwarves to stiffen the mostly clay dwarf army against the terrifying magical assault.

Axe Reft Dwarf Rumors:

Dwarven women can only produce a few Dwarves of Stone over their lifetime. After the stone in their blood is used up, their remaining children will be Clay Dwarves

Dwarven women are frequently found fightering alongside their men, because any woman who stays at home has to bear more dwarves for the army.

The dwarven hordes are so vast that the breadbasket of Boscoan Plains are exhausted supplying the dwarves, leaving little for the farmers.

Fiendish blood (and even half fiends) are common in the dwarf armies

The dwarves of the king’s clan have embraced the darkness and drawn upon madness

The dwarves have many warlocks in their ranks; their dark spears have been seen on many battlefields

Many clans serve out of fear and wish to choose a new king

Dwarves use demon allies in battle; some still roam the northlands

In the depths of the King’s complex is a portal to a plane of riches, the source of his people’s unending wealth

The Dwarves are preparing to mount an expedition to the Lost City, Sands of the Lost, to steal a mythical shield and adapt it to defend them against the Dead Zone (around the old Cloud Tower). — Jennifer

Clay Dwarves are treated like trash and kept apart from Stone Dwarves

Clay Dwarves are cowardly and will break and run if they aren’t led by Stone Dwarves

There are more Clay Dwarves than Stone Dwarves, and they continue to breed at an outrageous pace.

Stone Dwarves have difficulty telling the difference between Gnomes and Clay Dwarves, though Clay Dwarves are much harder to fool.

Other Rumors:

The Silver Elves invented “mindful fist” fighting (the monk class) as a complement (or side effect) of their magical studies

Silver Elves wander the conquered human lands, teaching humans “mindful fist” in secret to avoid the weaponry laws

Bronze Elves are rumored to have a tradition of Sword and Spell fighting (duskblades)

Ymsaril the 8th, leader of the true weres, lies on her deathbed. Her people seek out priests and mages to preserve her life.

The Merpeople are grumbling against the Goblin Pirates because they’re soiling the sea; suspiciously, the pirates have lost a few ships in the reefs recently. — Jennifer

Idea Prompts:

Kev, any rumors about the Draconians? Are they all cute and cuddly, or just the ones working for the dwarves? How about Draconia, the city they founded near the Mage Tower? What about the culture of the conquered humans from Lazor’s homeland?

Josh, anything the gnomes are particularly known for? They’ve been fighting the dwarves the longest… and their old kingdom is now a part of dwarven lands. Do any gnomes still remember the secret ways? Are the gnomes comitted to reconquering their homeland, or would they be content in their new land if the dwarves would stop fighting them? Are there factions or leaders among the gnomes?

Ben, anything about the culture of Silverene? Or Golden Citadel and the Mage Tower in its center? Perhaps about the mages– do they rule the society or participate in any way? Or are they reclusive and not a part of the main culture? Do they allow any other races inside their kingdom behind the wall? Any ambassadors to the world?

Character Creation Resources

D&D links page: For generators, links to resource sites, etc.

Setup: The basic rules for the game (house rules and modifications)

Skill Packages: The skill packages rules for our campaign, inspired by Iron Heroes

Acrobatics: Balance and tumble
Animals: Handle Animal and Ride
Athletics: formerly Climb, Jump, and Swim
Craft: All secondary crafts can be attempted at -5
Deceit: Bluff and Sense Motive
Devices: Search (traps), Disable Device, and Open Locks
Diplomacy: Includes intimidate and gather information
Disguise: includes forgery
Heal
Knowledge (Arcana): includes decipher script, dangerous knowledge to have
Knowledge (Court): knowing who is in favor, who is related, proper titles, etc.
Knowledge (Religion): knowledge of the church’s past, the actual power holders, etc.
Magic: Concentration, Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device
Notice: Spot, Listen, and Search (areas)
Profession: Includes the related craft skill
Sleight of Hand: includes Escape Artist and Rope Use
Sneak: Hide and Move Silently
Strategy: includes Tactics; used in confrontations to fight as a larger force
Survival: includes Rope Use
Alt Class Resources: A compilation of alternate class features and other customization available to PCs

People Of Iron

NPCs of Note

Town of Felixis:

Mayor Selwin (gnome)

Captain Salito (human, Captain of the city watch)

Wizard Kadel (gnome), appears level 3 or so; can scribe scolls of Invisibility, Protection from Arrows, and Knock

Smith Linnet (gnome); fine crafter of exquisite weapons and armor; recent supplier of the PCs per Mayor Selwin’s decree

Enemies

Commander Odvast is supposed to be the Fox Clan troop leader for this attack.

Great Leaders of History

Olnan gave the gift of shapeshifting to the beasts.

Ymsaril of the Weres led her people east hundreds of years ago

Eryuaad led the Draconians in their first great voyage, the founding of Port Draco.

Galro led the lizard people to trade with Vartain

Compass led the Archen to found the Sands of the Lost

Ymsaril the 8th created the Order of Infinite Plains, who closed the great eastern plains off to all non-weres.

Deities of Iron

Compass is the god of exploration, favored by the Humans of the East [Arches]– particularly those of the lost city [Sands of the Lost].

Latherion God of Swift Healing Liberation. Domains Celerity, Healing, Liberation, Courage

Favored Weapon : A +4 True Bane, Flaming, Spiked Chain.

One of the youngest gods, Latherion was a Half celestial human when the first invasion by the dwarves began, he had made a home and family in one of the first villages that was destroyed by the invading army. He returned home from his journey just two days after the massacre.  Upon finding his friends and family destroyed or enslaved, he swore to liberate all that he could. Over the next six months he was reported appearing in many places just after they had been captured or even during the battles to capture them, each time swaying the battle and wrecking havoc among the dwarves and draconians. His mere presence would bring renewed strength to the defenders and reinvigorate them, allowing them to keep fighting, swinging the tide of battle in their favor. Latherion himself was a terror to the invading forces, moving so quickly across the battle field that he was mostly a blur, and when he went into a mass of troops they quickly dispersed, both from fear and from his whirlwind of swinging chains bashing them and sending them flying.

Six months after the war started Latherion disappeared.  Rumors abound of his ambush by a pack of demons and their warlock minions, but shortly thereafter his worship began (in secret) among humans enslaved by the dwarves, and his worshipers received blessings.

Frangles God of City, Commerce, Community

Favored Weapon: +3 Mancatcher of Paralyzing

“A dead enemy is one less customer” Always one to play the merchant, Frangles is brings capitalism to a whole new level, assuming different identities to sell the same products to both sides in a conflict is normal for his followers. There is nothing they won’t sell to the right buyer for the right price.

Gaea Goddess of Life, Nature, Animal, Passion

Favored Weapon: +3 Quarterstaff of Clouting

An Elven Goddess.  Her worshipers protect the forests and other homelands of natural animals from destruction and abuse.

Bier’s God of War and Retribution (more including the real name to come)

Categories
DnD Game Group Roleplaying

Empire Of Iron

Here’s the main page for the new campaign. From here, we’ll link off to characters, record world setting stuff, and all the rest.

History, Cultures, Rumors, Random, Character Rules, People, Deities.

The heroes

Lazon, an escaped human slave. He has taken up war, wielding the spiked chain as his instrument of vengeance.

Human Fighter 2, Swordsage 4. Lazon is an escaped human slave who suffered terribly at the hands of his Draconian master.  He has taken up the war, wielding the spiked chain as his instrument of vengence.

Oxido is one of the reclusive Silverene Elves, a wizard without a spellbook. Silver Elf Wizard, Level 6

Oxido is a member of the reclusive Silverene Elf race. He joined a secret society and trained in the Golden Citadel, learning the art of being a wizard without a spellbook.

Shifting Sands (Sandy) is a wanderer from the east, bringing her knowledge of nature and dwarven weaknesses to bear in the new war. Human Mystic Ranger 6

Shifting Sands is a wanderer from the east, bringing knowledge of nature and study dwarven weaknesses to bear against her foes.  Her homeland is lost to myth; even Sandy doesn’t remember all of the barriers and wilderness she traversed on her journey west.

William is a mighty cleric who shares his faith and healing with the companions. Fighter 1, Rogue 1, Cleric 4

William was a mighty human priest at the gnomish court. When the heroes came to town at the request of the king, William offered to aid them against the Ogre raiders. So far, he’s led them to many victories… and has found valuable companions.

Talisin is an elven rogue who hung out in Felixis for the last few years. He has taken up arms in defense of his adoptive city. Wood Elf Rouge 4 / Warblade 2

Talisin is an elven rogue who journeyed from his homeland to the east a few years ago. His first stop was with the Vartains along the river. After staying with his cousins for a little over a year and a half he realized that the cultural gap between them was much stronger than he was lead to believe by his forest dwelling brothers. Although he felt some racial kinship with the Vars their existance was too tame and compromising for him. Unable to return to the forest, he has since set up residence in Felixis, and seems to enjoy socializing with everyone. When the crisis struck, he took up arms in defense of his adoptive city.

Denia Fasilro is a gnome Beguiler, long a native of Felixis. Denia took up arms in defense of her city, but is now retired to her people’s court. Denia has taken up arms in defense of her city, joining with the elves and humans to investigate the fall of Gleyn.

Gawain, a human Cleric and member of a secret resistance society, who journeyed north with the PCs on their first raid.

What has passed

Session One:

In the kickoff session, an exhausted gnome warrior reached Felixis and warned them that an army had sacked the encampment town of Gleyn to the north. The PCs picked up weapons and started to the north, scouting to ensure that the dwarves weren’t also marching on Felixis.

The encountered a skirmish party of clay dwarves and slaughtered them while they concentrated on shackling Sandy. They released the homing pigeon to warn the town of their encounter. They also seized the skirmish group’s whistle and blew it, drawing in a second heavier group, led by a stone dwarf. The battle was brief and decisive; while a few of the PCs picked up wounds, the fallen were all dwarves.

They asked a captured enemy mage (or warlock) about the attack. While he tried to lie, persistence paid off and his earlier estimate of 10 legions was revealed to be an exaggeration. With the sun setting, they moved away from the battle site and setup a cold camp nearby.

After a quiet night, they set off towards Gleyn in the morning. After an hour they encountered a detachment of about 25 dwarves and 10 gnomes in shackles felling lumber and building a wall. They circled around the work camp and continued to the north. Soon they were nearing Gleyn, when they were ambushed by a small squad of clay dwarves. When the full size of the group was revealed, the dwarves fell back and called for reinforcements.

A pack of dogs closed from the east; the two riders were shot and fell off their mounts, while the pack closed and started tearing at the companions. Though they picked up a few dog bites, but they remained fully functional. Unfortunately, by the time they finished with the dogs, the dwarves were marching down from the north. Since there were 20 dwarves, they decided discretion was the better part of valor.

Attack Plan

he die roll came up a 2, meaning disaster for the Crierwy group.  Next session will start off with some of the consequences…

Below is what was written when the attack plan was written out:

Here’s how the attack is going to play out next session.

Before next session, on this page, you’ll iron out the “if everything goes right” plan for each of the three forces. We’ll play through with the PCs like normal until the day before the battle, when we’ll roll a d10. The d10 roll will correspond to how well the plan goes; 1 means the plans only go about 10% right, while 10 means things work out almost exactly (100%) per the plan. Intermediate numbers reflect intermediate amounts of chaos and plan disruption due to unforseeable events.

Odd numbers mean problems are with group 1 (the by sea group), while even numbers mean problems with the attack from Crierwy (group 2).

Below I’m sketching out the timelines for the three attack groups as I understand them. Modify the plans for everyone as much or as little as you like to reflect your discussion with the mayor and captain. Whatever version of the plan is on the wiki Friday will be what you agreed to during the breakfast meeting, and is what everyone is expecting the plan to be.

Group 1: By Sea

Day 1: After breakfast the group of about 50 troops (mostly gnomes saved from slavery and equipped with dwarven arms and armor) board the ships and sail north

By evening, the troops disembark on the beach and setup camp

Day 2: The troops march east along the previously cut road. About 5 miles from Gleyn, they will circle north and bed down for the night, preparing for the next morning. (This should be an easy march for them.)

Day 3: Rise before dawn, march the last few miles in from the north west and strike around dawn.

Battle Goal: Harass and distract. If the enemy are still in their tents, Group 1 will try and get whoever they can while they’re sleep, but if the dwarves are alert, they’ll just harass them with light crossbow fire and skirmisher duels.

Group 2: From Crierwy

Day 1: The troops marching on the road should reach Crierwy by nightfall. A small party of mounted troops from Felixis, including a messenger and the town warpriest, will try to reach Crierwy with the attack orders agreed on at breakfast in Felixis.

Day 2: All of the troops from Crierwy (the 25+ Crierwy homeguard, the 50 troops sent from Felixis on the day of the attack on Gleyn, and the 50 or so troops who will arrive at the end of day 1, total about 125) will rise late and march west along the Gleyn/Crierwy path. About an hour east of Gleyn near the road, they’ll set up camp and prepare for battle in the morning.

Day 3: They’ll rise early (before dawn) and march on Gleyn shortly after sunrise.

Battle Goal: Harass and distract. If the enemy are still in their tents, Group 2 will try and get whoever they can while they’re sleep, but if the dwarves are alert, they’ll just harass them with ranged weapon fire and skirmisher duels.

Group 3: The PCs and Felixis’s Rangers (about 10)

Day 1: Finish strategizing over breakfast. Finalize equiping themselves, load up the horses and ride north to near the 2 walled fort where the rangers stayed when you returned to Felixis.

Day 2: The rangers gather up and join with the PCs, get briefed on the plan for tomorrow. Advance at an easy walk to about an hour south of town, settle in for the night.

Day 3: Rise early and sneak in to Gleyn while the troops are away fighting groups 1 and 2.

Battle Goal: Kill the leaders, free any prisoners in town.

Contingencies to consider (brought up by the Captain, if you don’t bring them up first):

What if the dwarves don’t bite– they just let their skirmishers fight our gnome/allies skirmishers and don’t try to reinforce them with troops from town?

What if the dwarves have already marched before day 3?

If a group can’t do what they are supposed to because they’re out of position, the boats sink halfway, whatever, is there a way to let others know?

(Kevin) My thought is that group one should be a distraction, harrassing force, start with a 10 man(gnome) group going in, getting spotted (on purpose) and then running, drawing forces out into the rest of the mass to be ambushed and cut down….once that stops working they should just focus on pining down what forces they can with crossbow fire. I’d recomend that they all carry as many crossbow bolts as they can. Force 2 should have the strength to assault fairly straight forwardly, especially once group one has drawn some troops off.

Categories
Game Group Roleplaying

Shadow Running

Here are the runners:

  • A former swat team magician, Naylor Stewart, who has been enhanced a bit with cyberware and a few body modifications. Very good at melting brains and knocking people out…
  • Daniel Whittaker is a kid with a gift for healing. Cut off from the corp that trained him, he’s trying to get by on the streets. Shadow running may not have been the wisest career move…
  • Skip, a rigger who delicately maneuvers containers by day and runs the Shadows at night. A whiz with electronics, Skip has a slaved group of Vespas that move through the city at his whim…
  • Black Widow: A stealthy elven recon woman, with cyberware to enhance her naturally impressive infiltration abilities. She has a penchant for toxic venoms and other nasty surprises.

Old Character Background questions.

Dont forget to check the Scream Sheets

Naylor Stewart

Naylor is a former Lone Star swat mage. His “talents” manifested early but his family had little money or desire to send him through mage college. A recruiter for Lone Star approached him in his sophomore year of high school and indicated that he would be able to reach his full potential much faster if he dropped out and let the mages of the company tutor him. Being impulsive and impatient he was able to talk his parents into allowing him to sign up, but they insisted that he would only be allowed to participate in Lone Star’s delayed entry program. This allowed him to finish high school.

Most of his high school magic teachers felt that he was wasting his talents on Lone Star, and the other magic students in his classes began to shun him, especially those who had already received offers from MIT & M or other colleges of magic. He soon found himself in limbo; torn between wanting acceptance that he never received and wanting to become a ”real mage” as soon as possible. Graduation from high school held little of the nostalgia or longing to stay that most others seemed to feel and he was glad to pack his bags and report to Lone Star.

As with most employees of Lone Star, Naylor was pushed hard and fast to reach his potential with little regard to formal magic schooling. His creative side (as opposed to his analytical side) made him wish that he had more grasp of ”how and why” spells worked rather than just being aware that if he used the rote formula x=jr@nr2B and pushed his mind out through his eyes he could accomplish x. He was also aware that, like high school, no one in Lone Star really wanted anything to do with him outside of work. He watched his few friends drift away as it became apparent that his magical talents tended toward the most destructive kind.

Naylor’s soon realized that it wasn’t just friends who were becoming distant. He found that he and his parents and sister had less and less in common and that, by mutual agreement, his visits home grew further and further apart. It has now been four years since his last trip home and he can’t even remember the last time his parents wrote. Rather than upsetting him, Naylor almost feels the distance as a relief. He is sure that his family would be even more distressed if they knew the real Naylor.

About the only thing that kept Naylor sane during his Lone Star days was his natural talent toward psychology. Even with no formal schooling Naylor found that what few friends he did have gravitated to him when they had a personal problem they couldn’t work out. He was also able to figure out what was bothering them and guide them toward possible solutions. Fortunately he was able to analyse his own reactions and thoughts to his rather violent nature and occupation and come up with ways to cope with his talents and his isolation. As a mater of fact he realized that he could usually justify, to himself, using the most violent spells to geek someone. (or multiple someones)

In the end it wasn’t any feeling of guilt nor was it fright that he was becoming more enamored with the use of destructive magic that caused him to turn away from Lone Star. It was a belief that, if he could just learn the “hows and whys” of his spells, he could subtily tweek or twist them to become different spells that would be less predictable and therefore less “counterable”. The whys weren’t a part of Lone Star’s magic teaching so, with the help of a lonely med tech, he was able to retrieve his blood and DNA from the vaults and substitute samples from a runner that he had splattered. With that Naylor left a suicide note and disappeared into the shadows. In an unusual moment of weakness and gratitude(or perhaps humanity?) he left the med tech alive.

Seeking out a tutor, Naylor discovered Wolfgang, another reclusive mage, who had specialized in mutating spells, and paid him to give Naylor the ability to see how the spells were actually constructed. In time Wolfgang sucombed to one too many dangerous runs, but not before emparting to Naylor the ability to see the basic structure of order necessary to craft spells. As a tribute to Wolfgang, Naylor adopted the street name of Amadeus and paid a number of different plastic surgeons to subtily change his looks little by little over time, until his funds finally ran out. Now, rather than the 6 foot 150 pounder found on his lone Star ID, Naylor is three inches shorter and almost 35 pounds heavier. His hair is a lighter color and has receeded so that it belies his age of 29.

The only tendency that could possibly expose Naylor is his distinctive mode of dress which is subtilly elegant with a flair for the unusual.

When he is clubbing He wears deep purple leathers tucked inside his knee length boots, and is never seen without a colorful, monocromatic silk shirt. During the cool or rainy season in Seattle he throws on a leather jacket that matches his pants. Over that he wears an armored raincoat and prefers a leather berret to an umbrella.

Naylor is known around the Seattle club scene but his introverted nature, as opposed to his dress, has the female clubbers rather confused and curious. Although he can usually be found with a different woman (or even a couple of them)at his table on any given night he is rather obviously uninterested in them romantically. At least that is the story circulating around the womens’ loo. On the other hand he is obviously not gay either. There have been a few women who considered Naylor a challange and although he has invited some back to his flat and even used his insignificant healing knowledge to give them really relaxing massages (often sans clothes)little else seems to have taken place. Quite often they awake in his bed with their clothes neatly hung in his wardrobe, but when they look for him, Naylor is usually asleep on the sofa or fixing breakfast in the kitchenette.

Nowdays women who want to club, but want little else, gravitate to his table near the end of the evening just as those who are looking for a nightly “pick-me-up” drift away to the crowded bar near closing time.

It has also been noted around the different clubs that, although Naylor drinks, no one has ever really seen him drunk. Some wonder if he uses rytethenol to keep his digestive system from absorbing alcohol. If so, it is also obvious that he never uses his being sober to take advantage of anyone in slightly less alert condition.

Most of the men, and a decided number of the women, consider Naylor a knowledgeable, entertaining conversationalist but, if pressed to tell you about the man himself, would fumble around before admitting that they know almost nothing about him. Most agree that he seems to fill the nitch associated with a slightly protective older brother and the wounded puppies of society just naturally seem to gravitate to him. His gentleness is reassuring and his genuine interest in his companions makes people look as they enter, to see if he is “in residence” at his ”usual” table on any given evening. This knightly galantry and his outdated tradition of insisting that all women be treated as virtuous maidens until they prove themselves otherwise will probably be his downfall in the end.

Daniel Whittaker

Q&A:

All about SINs

While not as racy as it sounds, Daniel does have SIN troubles. On his official SIN, he’s dead. He doesn’t have a good replacement for it… which is why certified credsticks are really the only choice for him. Right now his landlord doesn’t ask too many questions… but Daniel’s very good about paying on time. And he doesn’t have much to keep in the apartment.

Basically, Daniel’s just getting back on his feet after imprisonment, and hasn’t worked out all the kinks of Shadowrunning yet. It’ll be interesting to see what life teaches him…

Any Family still alive? Mother,Father, brothers/sisters, wife/husband, kids?

Daniel’s family is still alive, though he hasn’t revealed himself to them since his apparent death. Once he was indentured, he didn’t have much time to see them– and since, he’s reluctant to reveal himself and get their hopes up… then die on a run. Better they continue to think he’s dead.

His parents, Anna Louise and Kim Whittaker, are both biomedical researchers for ??? corp. His father came from Japan to the US shortly before it broke up.

His sisters are Amaya and Hoshi, named after his father’s grandmothers. Amaya is five years older, Hoshi is two.

Any vices? Love to gamble, smoke, drink, wenching?

Daniel loves life, and still feels like he’s on borrowed time. He loves an adrenaline rush, and has brawled drunk a few times just outside of clubs.

Any extreme intolerances?

Daniel’s almost fanatically anti-gang, after his experiences with the Axes. Still, a gang usually has the numbers, which means Daniel’s revenge tends to be subtler– slashed tires, not gunfights.

Anything you WON’T do?

Murder and Assassination are wrong; while he never swore the Hippocratic Oath, Daniel’s not callous about death yet.

Anything you REALLY want/like to do?

Sucker punching an Axe is about the top of Daniel’s list. He’s still finding his feet as a runner– he’s hoping to become a better rounded runner, not just a narrowly trained medic.

What do you look like? Dayglow mohawk with florescent tattoos across the body? 🙂

If he’d been older before Night of Rage, his half-breed status would have been cause for comment, but half-Japanese is common enough. He has dark hair and eyes, tough clothes fit for the street, wears black and red when he can.

His voice has a distinctive wobble near the top of its range… which is bad when you’re yelling and people just laugh.

Any distinctive style? Calling card? Catchphrase? Bad body odor? etc…. 🙂

He’s never managed to quick making whispering in sing-song as he heals. He’s been told that his hands glow purple when the healing begins, but his eyes are usually closed as he reaches deep for concentration and power.

History

  • Daniel Whittaker grew up a child of corp parents
    • Anna Louise and Kim Whittaker, biotech researchers for ??? Corp
  • His talent for magic was discovered early, especially his innate connection to healing
    • For a referral bonus and “to see Danny meet his potential”, his parents indentured him to DocWagon at 14.
  • DocWagon invested resources in getting Danny’s skills polished. He moved quickly from beauty regiments to trauma care.
  • At 17, Danny was moved to a Crisis Response Team
    • He did well for 15 missions, earning a reward and “talent of the month” for the Puyallup Branch
    • At the same time, he was the boy toy of Felicia Wilkens, a co-worker. Which upset her husband. Greg, the husband, got rid of his rival…
  • On this 19th CRT run, his partner Phillipe Bosemann, shot him with a Narcojet on the way. After blacking out… Daniel awoke when they cut off his DocWagon bracelet with rusty shears.
  • Over the next year, Daniel learned a lot about life on the street
    • The gang that had “traded for him” was the Tacoma Axes
    • The briefcase they locked and soldered to his wrist was filled with C4.
    • When they start shooting, get behind something solid
    • And many other lessons of the street.
  • When he got spare time, he picked up the rudiments of electronics, hoping to negate their C4 threat
  • In a running gun battle, he and the gang’s leader got cut off from the retreating Axes.
    • The gang leader fell with many bullets in him. Daniel hid until the battle moved by, then took the detonator off the fallen corpse. After that, he managed to get the case cut off…
  • After a few tentative inquiries, it’s clear that he’s legally dead. Going back to DocWagon is theoretically possible, but would involve a lot of awkward questions. If they got tricky with their arguments, his indenture would stretch out for a very long time.
  • So he’s hiring out as a Shadow Runner “health specialist”. Or healing monkey, as his first team called him…

Essentially the same thing, in paragraph form

Daniel Whittaker’s talent for magic was discovered early. His parents indentured him to Doc Wagon at 16 for training and education. He was adept at picking up healing spells, though he never did manifest the talents of a true mage. After a couple of years of training, he was promoted to a fast response team, where his talents could really shine. His rapid rise, cockiness, and an affair prompted betrayal…

Daniel was on a response team, streaming in to save clients who were under fire in a gun battle. Or that was the claim… half way there, the partner he’d betrayed shot him with a Narcojet– lights out.

Daniel awoke to pain as they cut off his Doc Wagon bracelet at the wrist with a pair of rusty shears. The gang turned over a burned body to take Daniel’s place… and cuffed and soldered shut a briefcase filled with C4 to his wrist.

Over the next year Daniel learned a lot about life on the street, rapid response, and keeping his head when gunfire broke out. Eventually he won free of his captors… but found out that his legal death complicated returning to the fold. {Plus, the penalties for a year of non-service (skipping out) were severe.} On the advice of a former friend, he gave up his old life, and started hiring onto Shadow Running teams.

Scream Sheets

Monthly Headlines of Screaming Interest!

Lone Star is still looking for witnessess to the mugging of a Dwarf a couple weeks ago, normally not something to mention but a ‘friend of a friend’ tells me this guy has worked as a ‘Johnson’ for various meta-human rights groups. Anyone done any work for him lately to piss off anyone? If so watch out. (Attached is a pic of the Dwarf, severly beaten and not easy for even his mother to recognize)

The EPA is still screaming to every judge they think might listen trying to force New Dawn Environics to tell them how the bloody hell they can take the sludge into their plant that they do and turn it into such crystal clear H2O the way they do. So far without any luck, but i’ve heard they are looking for some shadow folk to do some digging as well, might be worth some cred if you know anything.

The Troll Killers basically are extinct now, after a major firefight and subsequent fire at their little ‘hide-out’ near the lake. Seems they pushed someones buttons the wrong way, wondering minds are asking, who and how?

Apparently a ‘El- train’ full of commuters got an interesting show as it went by that new ‘soup kitchen and homeless shelter’ that the United Path was supposed to be opening up. Apparently it was a Humanis front, seems someone played with some fun dayglo pink paints inside during the ceremony and sent most everyone running, lots covered in pink paint. Wish I’d been there to snap some pics, those pointy hats and robes probably looked a lot more fun in dayglo pink 🙂 Hmm, police report on that dwarf up above mentions traces of pink paint on his body…..

So, three of these are known to us:
a) The El-train saw the results of our pink stink planting
b) The troll killers was our doing
c) The dwarf hired us to plant the pink stink bombs

The New Dawn Environics so far is a blank to me. Anyone have an idea?

Character Background Questions

WEEK TWO:

Now, since you have had a bit of time to get a ‘feel’ for your chars, lets toss out a few more tidbits for you to think about:

Do you have a real SIN (System Identification Number)http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/SIN

If yes, what is the name on it.

If no, do you have any fake SIN’s?

How many, and under what names? Keep in mind it does cost for each ID.

WEEK ONE:

A few things to think about in your backgrounds:

Any Family still alive? Mother,Father, brothers/sisters, wife/husband, kids?

Any vices? Love to gamble, smoke, drink, wenching?

Any extreme intolerances?

Anything you WONT do?

Anything you REALLY want/like to do?

What do you look like? Dayglow mohawk with florescent tattoos across the body? 🙂

Any distinctive style? Calling card? Catchphrase? Bad body odor? etc…. 🙂