Opinions or Thoughts Anyone?

Alright, so here’s the deal. It would appear that “The Eternal Wars” was a much cooler idea in theory than in practice. To be honest politics and manipulation of armies doesn’t make for that fun of an RPG, at least not the way I was running it. So I would like to dub “The Eternal Wars” to be an officially failed experiment. I still think that it was worth the effort, but to be honest it just wasn’t working. Thanks for your patience on this matter, and all of you effort to keep it working.

That being said, I still can Game Master something on this site, if there is any call for me to do so. Here are the games that I have run before, and have been met with positive feedback. However, if you feel that there are already enough games going, that works too, I have no preference either way.

Amber: An infinite number of worlds, with two centers of power at opposite ends of the universe. Betraying family members, constantly changing rules of reality, the possibilities are literally endless. Based on “The Chronicles of Amber” series of books, this diceless role-playing game allows one to live out his wildest fantasies, fight his greatest nightmares, and to play for the ultimate prize: to be named next in line for the throne of Amber, the one true city. Will you be a vicious warrior, a cunning sorcerer, a friend, an enemy? Will you chose the powers of chaos or order, which Amberites will you ally yourself with?

Ravenloft: A land of mists, of curses, of imprisoned, doomed lords of darkness. Elementals made of blood, vampires of more breeds than there are races of humanoids, you do not fight in Ravenloft to bring forth the candle of goodness, you fight to keep the darkness at bay, if only briefly. Ravenloft is the land where a child’s fears become incarnate, where your evil deeds can grant you great power, for a price. Nothing is free in Ravenloft, it is not for nothing that it is called The Demiplane of Dread.

Masque of The Red Death: 1890s, Gothic Earth. Pretty much like how our world was back then, with a few changes. Frankenstein was a real man, and his creation still plagues this earth, James Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes manage their respective sides of the law, and you never know where a monster might be. Magic is rare on Gothic Earth, and hard to eek out of the web of power that it comes from. In Gothic Earth, one cannot simply kill his opponents, claiming that he was a werewolf or a vampire. This is the civilized times, when such nonsense has been put behind any decent society. That is, of course, until the moon turns full, and creatures haunt the night, unhindered by mortal laws. Certainly a change of pace from the normal middle-ages style of game play.

I am also familiar with the “Stormbringer” game, though I have never used it before, and do not consider myself proficient with it. I can also probably pick up any system or game style presented to me. So, has there been anything that you’ve been itching to play lately? If so, feel free to bring it up here.

Family Matters

Varian stepped off of the express and gave the first smile that had not originated in vice since arriving in Sigil. He let the desert sun beat against his face, savoring the feel of the sand under his boots. Eventually, he stepped towards the stone city, taking in the smells that he had missed so much. After sampling a variety of delicacies being hawked by the street vendors, Varian set out on his task.

It took Varian a while to track down his father. The family estate had been sold at auction to cover his debts. The new occupants neither knew nor cared what had befallen the previous ones. The neighbors wouldn't talk about anyone so disgraced.

The courts had records of the proceedings. A modest bribe got a clerk to look them up for Varian. Varian's father, Clarion, had been convicted of insolvency, and his debt had been purchased by a nearby debt farm. Varian hired a coach and rode out to find the man.

He was working in a field, bent over a hoe, shin deep in manure. Shameful.

“Nice place.” Varian said, with more than a hint of sarcasm. He gave a little swish of his velvet cape and nudged a lump of manure farther from his polished boot with his cane, hoping to leave an impression of the small fortune that he had amassed. “How’s it going out here?” Varian asked, obviously not caring. “I’m making a comeback father. I need your signet ring. Where is it? Did you hide it, keep it, was it taken like everything else?”

"You little bastard. You abandoned your mother and me to this," he gestured around himself, taking in the manured field of the debtors' farm. "We had a little misunderstanding and you bailed. We needed you. Where have you been the last four years? And now you show up asking, no demanding, to be given our signet ring? You're asking to be declared head of the family, and you know it."

"I've been at school, father. I only recently had any resources with which to help you. Now I am in a position to elevate our family back to the status it once held, and I want that fact recognized."

Clarion knew that Varian could bring him to court and demand his rights. Their plutocracy would easily side with the rich scion rather than the debtor who had been too poor to pay the bribes to escape his flogging for slave dealing.

"Fine, you can have it. Don't even ask where I had to conceal it to keep it from being sold along with the rest of our holdings. I'll tell you where it's hidden when you've paid my debts and gotten me out of this hellhole."

"What about mom?"

"What about her? She got out of here a month after our debts were bought. One of the district judges re-examined our case and reapportioned our debt. I, it seems, owed much more than she did. He bought her's, and now she works off her debt, and probably her gratitude, in his household. I think he calls her a maid, or something. Judge Beltisammo, if you want to look up the faithless wench. So she's out of the family anyway, and good riddance.

"So, do we have a deal?"

Half the Man He Used to Be

Loannae and Ionjae are eating lunch together, at her insistence. Not surprisingly, the cafeteria food is only mediocre.

"I met a guy the other day."

"Oh? I thought you weren't having anything to do with men since you had that vision about the last one."

"No, I don't mean it like that. You have to go talk to him."

"Why? I have homework. Already."

"It's about Aberdal. Greedo doesn't know who he is, but he told me something that I think we need to check out. Go talk to him."

"The professors couldn't find anything. Is this for real?"

"My skills say yes."

"All right. Where do I find this Greedo?"

"He usually hangs out in a bar called the Sign of the Fallen Obelisk. It's in Sigil."

This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed

"Welcome back, Canas," Sven, the dwarven bookseller says. "I have something you might be interested in."

"What is it? Any books matching my requests?"

"No, nothing on those books. Not a book at all, actually. I don't normally carry this sort of thing, but I was sure you'd be interested." He leads Canas through the stacks and to a table littered with loose sheets of paper and smudged broadsheets. "Behold!"

Canas stares. "What is it?"

"I have no idea. The modron who sold it to me wouldn't say. Do you want it?"

Super Cool

So I was looking at this, and I've decided that steampunk is the coolest thing ever. Not precisely connected to any game, although I'll be seeing where I can incorporate more steampunk elements into Sigil and its environs, but I thought you all might be interested. Check out the new link in the sidebar.

Intro to the Study of Magic: An Introductory Lecture

If I may go back a few days chronologically, I would like to present, for your edification and enjoyment, Professor Bleak of the School of Enchantment.

"Magic is many things, but even you all know that. You're here to learn things you don't know, not thinks you do.

"Sorry. Bad start. Let's try again.

"This brief introductory talk will give you an overview of what you'll be working on for the rest of the term with your work groups. Basically, I'm going to expand on a few points in the syllabus.

"Magic can be broken down into three broad categories, and several sub-categories.

"First, is innate magic. It's written right there on your syllabus, so you know it's real. Many creatures have some innate ability to preform magical feats. A basilisk can turn you to stone, a phase spider can shift it's planar position. Things like that are very interesting, but not terribly useful. You can't do them, at least not the way they can. It's not innate for you. We'll be studying a bit of that, partly to familiarize you with some of the more interesting or dangerous creatures you hopefully haven't yet encountered in the wild, and partly to get you started thinking how you could overcome the failings of your limited natures and achieve these feats despite yourselves. Just for a few weeks though; we have more important things to do.

"Next, we'll cover spells. Technical term, that. I know lots of people talk about spells, like that's what wizards do, but it isn't. The chances are, you'll never create a new spell no matter how long you live. Spells are universal magic. A spell is a great work, a massive achievement. Most of them started off as state secrets, but once they're out, they don't stay secret long. Case in point: the common tongue. Common isn't actually a language at all. No one speaks Common. Bet you didn't know that. Some great wizard, so long ago that we don't know his name, or even what race he was, developed a spell to be able to understand what other folks were saying. Now, rather than just do it each time, he made it a real full blown spell, probably so he could let his king's spies do it. Of course, by now, everyone knows it so fully that no one even knows they know it. You all do it; it's that little pop in your ears and gulp in your throat. Some languages are immune now, but that's magic too. Mostly, you just hear accents. Incredible. You'll never be that good, but read up about it. Never hurts to know what magic is available to the whole universe. Couple of weeks there too.

"Finally, the bulk of what wizards actually do. We'll do a flying overview of the sort of effects you can manage with the different schools of magic. Not too much detail, since that's also the subject matter of the rest of your time at this academy, but you've got to start somewhere, right? We'll do a bit of basic theory, like talking about the Astral and Ethereal Planes. Hint, they're where magic comes from and how it gets places. Actually, more theory than practice, since, like I said, the rest of it is the rest of all your classes. Theory will bore you out of your skulls, unless you're one of the four or five students a year that actually gets off on that stuff. If so, come talk to me and I'll get you into my seminar next term.

"So there you go. That's what's going to eat up most of your first term. Do well though; this is what the separate schools look at when considering you for admission. No specialization means no upper level classes, and that means you'll be crippled in the actual practice of magic when you get out of here. Good luck."