Below is the rough draft of the journal for my character, Robert Cassidy. I enjoyed writing it up, and hope the inspiration clings. Some of this was backstory; the session began in mid-march trying to join the wagon train. Much of the writing prior to St. Louis was finding the character’s voice and explaining backgrounds and flaws. Hopefully, a lot of flavor came through.
Author: Scott
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Making Compels Sing
From Blue Collar Space, a look at how to encourage compels and prevent some of the defensive reflexes they sometimes bring out.
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Dresden Files: Baltimore Preview
Dresden Files: Preview of their sample city Baltimore. Lots of statted out NPCs as examples.
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Bridgehead with Nick
I’ve captioned the photos, so it should be reasonably easy to follow the battle’s progress.
Long story short, Atis devastated my foot soldiers. I compounded the error by dedicating my Wing Troops to Atis suppression; the dice were cold and her grims came out nigh untouched. She followed that up with some flamer blasts and my infantry was cut drastically.
A few tactical errors might have made it more of a match, but Nick built an excellent army and would have been tough even if I’d played flawlessly. Though I do look forward to a rematch come tourney time!
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To sprawl or not to sprawl
An interesting discussion/debate. This round was begun by a Kevin Drum comment on a Matt Yglesias post, but delving into his comments section shows a lot of experience with different areas making walkability work.
I particularly liked the following comment about Irvine from a city planner. It’s a good point about the limits of luring with amenities like walking trails and how much of walkability comes about because driving is difficult.
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Half a Crown by Jo Walton
The last book of the trilogy, and a solid conclusion to the series. The focus is tighter, with Elvira as this book’s female lead. Her relationship to Carmichael is much closer; they are intertwined from the start. And she’s not on the other side of Carmichael’s case, the way that the other books aligned things.
Elvira’s a little hard to take seriously. She’s an eighteen year old, written as a convincing eighteen, so she has a number of dangerous assumptions and holes in her knowledge that make her feel realistic.
Carmichael’s changes and experience with power are subtle but present. His good works, and the entire inner watch make sense as a continuation of his character from before. His relation with Normandy remains prickly and fraught, but there’s also a familiarity clear from the last ten years of working together.
All in all, an excellent end to the series. I like it and look forward to rereading the series in a few years.
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Ha’Penny by Jo Walton
The second story in the alternate post World War 2 book. Inspector Carmichael comes back for another turn, while the female lead is new. Our female lead this time is Viola Lark, an actress, formerly of a good family.
This was a good book, and stands alone. Unfortunately, despite standing alone just fine, it still felt somewhat like the middle book of a trilogy. I liked it, but the ending (with the MacBeth quotes) and distress seemed overwrought. Getting there, the book is much more solid; I liked the conspiracy and relations of conspirators, and the investigation arm. Carmichael continues to develop– not nicely, but the effects of the last book linger.
I liked it, and would read it again as part of rereading the trilogy. As a stand alone, I’d rarely pick it up.
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The King’s Peace by Jo Walton
This book is a fascinating twist on an Arthurian retelling, with a lot of adjustment for mixed gender knights. It’s set in the era immediately after Vincia [Rome] leaves the island, much like Hawk of May.
It was hard to evaluate, given that Hawk is so similar in setting and tale. In that way, it works well that crossing gender and mixing in politics changes the pacing and tale quite a bit.
In the end, I liked it. It’s a solid tale, after the tag end of Roman rule, but a different world and setting. The characters are all well drawn; Sulien is a great POV character, interesting and prickly, progressive in ways that appeal to a modern reader. Urdo and his knights are also well drawn; the other cultures are sketched and clearly different, with the differences slanted by Sulien’s POV.
All in all, an excellent retelling, even if it hasn’t toppled Hawk of May on first read. I look forward to reading the sequels.
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Aces and Eights: Characters
We just completed our character generation session, though we were a little short with Dad out sick. Here’s the skinny on the characters to date. [The dice were cold; Kev wound up having to generate 4 sets of stats to finally wind up with one decent set.]
Kev created Dr. Emerson Brown, a wealthy son of a doctor and landlord in New York City. He had a great upbringing, but wants to escape dad’s shadow. He just turned 21, and is headed out west with a few guns and a medical kit. He’s known for his doctoring and has a few other white collar skills. He’s impulsive, short tempered, and has high standards. He has bedside manner, and comes off completely dismissive. He could be interesting to be around.
Mike used his last character, a kid of 15, and just finished up allocating the new building points (for reputation) and buying more gear tonight. He has outdoors and riding skills, and is headed out west to start up a ranch, capture some wild mustangs, and turn a tidy profit. He’s terrible at lying.
I created a boy from rural Tennessee, Bob Cassidy, now 19. He’s got a lot of natural talent [high wisdom], good cooking/fishing/observation type skills, a lot of experience handling a wagon, and some good gossip and talking skills. He won’t say no to food, and can’t lie to save his life. If you hear rustling at midnight, it’s probably just Bob looking for a snack.
We’re going to start at noon on Saturday. We’ll start off in St. Louis and join a wagon train, supply up, and start off for the territories to homestead a town, or build up a struggling town with a lot of new talent.
Late last night, I was thinking about aides that would have streamlined character generation a little more. The core realization is based off of something Fred Hicks wrote about 4e; that the character sheet you use in play is a lot simpler than the character worksheet you use to derive those numbers. I used that insight to create an Aces and Eights character worksheet. It guides you through the process from stat rolls to finishing up skill points and buying gear.
Here’s my character, Bob Cassidy. Without all of the math in between, and by separating the combat and non-combat parts of the character, I think it’s pretty easy to get a feel for him.
Speaking of math, here’s a simple spreadsheet for spending.
Finally, the real easiest way to do it: use the character generator. It does the math for you, and will roll or allow you to input your rolls. If I hadn’t already done things several times, this would be the way I’d enter it all– for the math check if nothing else!
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Cooking Success Story: Carrot Soup w/ Ginger
Yesterday I made Carrot Soup with Ginger, from Wednesday’s soup recipe article by Joan Obra. It was delicious and simple; about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish, but each step was easy. You can start the onions and work on the carrots and ginger while they’re cooking, then start your water for the chicken broth when you toss in the carrots and ginger.
CREAM OF CARROT WITH GINGER SOUP
Makes 6 servings
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 pounds young carrots, peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
6 cups hot chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
3 teaspoons salt or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the garnishes:
Croutons fried in butter (see note)
Chopped cilantro leaves
In a pot, melt the butter over low heat, then add the onions and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 15 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-low, then add the carrots and ginger and cook, stirring frequently, until the carrots are softer, about 20 minutes.
Add the chicken broth to the pot, bring to a boil over medium heat, then cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and add the milk. Transfer to a blender and blend, in batches if necessary, until it forms a puree. Return the soup to the pot, add the half-and-half, season with the salt and pepper, and cook until very hot without letting it come to a boil. Serve hot with one of the garnishes.
Note: Cover the bottom of a large skillet with 1/16 inch of olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat for a few minutes, then add French bread cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Cook, stirring or tossing frequently, until the cubes of bread are golden brown, 5-7 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Optionally, you can add a crushed garlic clove to the heating oil and then remove and discard it before you add the bread.
-“The Best Soups in the World,” by Clifford A. Wright (John Wiley & Sons, $22.95)