#RPGaDay 2018 Day 31: Why Do I Take Part in #RPGaDay?

We wrap up the 2018 #RPGaDay with a sensible question:

"Why the heck do you participate in this crazy thing?"

Back in mid-August 2014, I fell upon the inaugural RPGaDay list.  With no chance to catch up in the month itself, I reserved the 31 questions for December, a month with historically fewer posts by me.  It supplanted a #12Days program I had set up that was a Q&A session with my readers.

The original #RPGaDay

In subsequent years, I've blocked out my schedule in August for this and it's been a blast.  The questions celebrate RPGs, I pick up some diverse offerings from other participants (and follow a few more blogs), and I get to promote some the stranger fare I've learned to love.

And although I always have a wrap-up post on September 1st, I will say that I can't wait for the sixth year of RPGaDay in August 2019 and hope they return to some of the original questions with a then/now angle.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 30: Something I Learned About Playing My Character

And welcome to Day 30 of #RPGaDay!

"Something I Learned About Playing My Character"

You know, I've had no great revelation while I've played my PCs.   I have, however, run a ton of campaigns, and if I've learned something from playing tons of NPCs, it's one thing.

Evil is never black and white.

Thirty years of running bad guys means thirty years of looking into the psyche of the villains.  My conclusion?   Most GMs, storytellers, writers, and even players rely on the classic tropes and stereotypes. 

If we focus on cultural, ethnic, and racial stereotypes for the sliver of possible truth that is wildly and negatively exaggerated, we miss out on the other 99.9% of the awesomeness those groups can impact on our lives.   The same is true for villains. 

Evil comes in so many shades and directions that it's insulting to make every villain in your Modern RPG a classic Bond villain... but with a single twist that everyone forgets about thirty minutes after the big reveal.

To put it into a modern political bent, even Nazis are not cookie cutter villains.  Sure, certain types of NPCs should be.  You may hate them, it's certainly justified, but lumping every one of these bad guys with the same ideas and plots is actually very shortsighted.   If there wasn't some significant variation, we wouldn't have some people as ultimate evil-doers and some as just misunderstood anti-heroes.

Because the Swastika cookie cutter I found on a Google search is waaaay too distasteful.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 29: A Friendship I Have Because of RPGs

Welcome to Day 29 of #RPGaDay 2018!

"A Friendship I Have Because of RPGs"

So I bring to you, an Ode to Scott.

My friend Scott is one of the original members of what we uninspired called "Our High School Gaming Group." (Well before the Society of Neffs).  I don't remember sharing more than a class or two with the man, so if it were not for his previous gaming with Charles, we probably would not have realized our mutual hobbies and became friends until much later.

Scott filled in the classic role of Metalhead Gamer.  His Drunken Warrior and Stupid Ranger anchored the core of our AD&D group that ripped through the Temple of Elemental Evil.  And thanks to him, anytime my mother hears about me gaming, she asks if I have a big 'ol bag of plain M&M's.

With the recent heat wave and non-air conditioned schools dismissing early, fellow alumni reminice fondly of the day during our Junior year when a water main break closed the high school at 9:30am.  Half the school seemed to be at various impromptu parties by 11am.... and shut down by the cops by 1:30pm.

Scott and myself?  We were playing an all-day D&D session with Charles, Wooly, George, and Crazy Darryl.  There may have been pizza.

In a semester or two of community college that I attended, he was the vanguard who introduced me to a motley assortment of characters outside my home zip code... and a wacky evening Alternative radio program, "The Rusty Nail and Tetanus Show."  Those DJs were EPIC!

Despite living only a few blocks away, we've wandered in and out of gaming together (especially since Wooly's basement was Battletech HQ for quite awhile.)  He did a lot more LARPing and White Wolf with some zany individuals than I wanted to.  He did jump into my "Army Game" that I ran for my Reservist buddies and had significant impact in the "College Game"  (Now referred to as Ballad of the Pigeon God), even if he got eaten my a smaller sized Dune sandworm.   He even participated in some of the epic road trips to Buffalo for UBCon.  I won't mention any of the shenanigans he got himself into up there...

Not the UBCon Scott got hit in the groin with a belt...  or maybe it was....

Moving into the 00's, he managed some time between school and work to jump into the epic Hackmaster Burning Trogs Rule! campaign, including bringing his then-girlfriend, soon-to-be first wife Kelley to the group.

Then both of us pretended to grow up and be responsible adults.  A few games here and there.  An occasional game at SATLOF.   A fun little game of Battletech at my birthday party. Even a  big game of Risus-IOU where his current wife, Bridget,  dove into all the zaniness of a ViscountEric production.

Dude.  It's been awhile. We really need to do something... and we have enough kids between us to make up an adventuring party... or a Clan Star for Battletech.

The 90s were not kind to Scott..... and I think this was a decade later....

Ballad of the Pigeon God #73: Whatever Happened to the Pigeon God of Tomorrow?

The Battle of Apotheosis, as sages who weren't there would call it, cut a scar across the landscape of eastern Crosedes, as well as upsetting the political landscape of the continent for generations to come.

First there were the funerals for MacKay, Beourn, Markuus, Velandro, and even Mellandria, Talis, and Ozark.  

Emperor Rurik IV was very generous to the adventurers he and his group considered friendly foes just weeks before.  

Of course, there was an awards ceremony for all the survivors which took place at the end of the his coronation week.  Plaques, medals, and rewards beyond their comprehension were bestowed upon them.  

Some, like kobold priest Dag di Velandro, took his riches and built a permanent monastery dedicated to kobolds wishing to worship, Akana the God of Law and Order.  

Others, like Ashe and Binkley Winnebago, retreated back into the woods of Agenmoor and away from the horrors of mankind.  

Rolf and his new tribe of tattooed warrior-barbarians proved to be a thorn in the side of law and chaos, roaming throughout the land, correcting those who were wronging others, be it brigand or government official, and taking a substantial cut of the loot as their payment.  

Norm had gained a few minute alone with Rurik IV, and garnered the Imperial Duchy of Mercadia, a number of miles south of Eding.  He proved to be a far more effective Duke than mushroom farmer.

Thorrin could be seen tagging along with Norm, acting as the Duchal armorer.

The Chateau d'Echelon was rebuilt, stone by stone, by "Baron" Felix to the dreams of its former owners.  All of the heroes and their families were always offered a hot meal and a place to lay their head.  When he passed in 1090, Babette de Hydicnall purchased the grounds. Her sons, Yuri and Darius, and their families run estate.  There has been no change to the invitation.  

Zoe the housekeeper still works there, although her son Luke, was the only child to get bit by the wanderlust.  He became a trusted courier throughout the land, getting ensnared in numerous adventures, and rumored to have a certain special lady in every town.  His father Maloran, and Uncle Talis, would be proud.  

Even young Sigard, maimed by the battle, found a place within Eding,  he eschewed the warrior values of being a paladin of Akana and turned into a simple priest, responsible for constructing the first Temple of Akana in Eding in decades.  

But not everyone gets the happy ever after they deserve.   Echelon's mentor Mohammad, had been found in the ruins of the Chateau, completely catatonic.  Despite all the finest healers and magic, he would live his final eight years being moved by his friend Kane, between the second floor broom closet, and once a week to a large windowbox seat down the hall, to watch some of the adventuring family arrive for a communal dinner.  He never responded to anyone.    

Echelon's faithful wolf companion, Pathfinder, suffered a similar fate.  The battering he took during the apocalypse was permanent, both mentally and physically.  When Echelon moved into Maless Manor outside Omsjik, he took the pain-stricken wolf with him.   He would spend his days near the hearth in the great hall in the winter or in the observatory during the summer.  His psychic connection with Echelon grew stronger the more Pathfinder was in pain, reaching such a point, that the cleric needed to use Wave to put his poor friend out of his misery.   After the tragic loss of his companion, Echelon would disappear for months at a time, only to return for quick streaks of time, before going off in a different direction.

But I entice the noble reader to look further ahead into the future than this writing has already peaked at.  The party is back en force at the Chateau d'Echelon, celebrating a great feast. Most of the heroes are there, even Rolf and Ashe, along with a grown Baron Timmy and his wife and children, and their children as well.   At the head of the table is Echelon himself, much, much older, but still recognizable.  It is his last meal with his friend as his god as told him it's time to take up his duties as God of the Sea... and Pigeons. There is much rejoicing at the table from everyone. 

But as the camera pans out, it gets blurry, refocusing the vision to a dingy tavern in a village that's barely the size of their dot on the map. A group of small children are surrounding a scruffy middle-aged man telling a story. He reeked of alcohol and depression. A tall muscular man covered in furs, his face a mixture of age, scars and tattoos, walks into the tavern and towards the crowd.

"That's it for now, lads. When you can scrounge up a couple more coppers to quench Talis' thirst, I'll tell you about what happened after we went down the rapids from Silver Valley."

"But Talis, you already told us that story."

"yeah, i want to know how came back to life!"

"But I didn't die, I was rescued!"

"No, you weren't. you said you fell into the mud and the group left you for dead!"

"Enough now kids," barked the tall man, "get outta here"

The kids scattered, and the tall man slumped down in the chair besides Talis. Talis took one last swig of backwashed grog from his flagon, and asked, "Rolf, the farmers will be in here any moment, ya wanna go their homes and screw their wives again?"

Rolf was not amused, "Talis, you really want to spend the rest of your pitiful life screwing the fat old wives of farmers and making kids steal money to hear bullshit stories of things that we never did? They think we're actual heros, for Akana's sake! And here you are, deluding them with your imaginary tale."

Talis paused for a moment from staring blankly at the table and said, "Rolf, it is an imaginary tale, which may or may not be true. It's a story about a bunch of young guys who came to a small village to seek their fortune. By luck and by talent they made a name for themselves and had the chance to travel to exotic lands, met fantastic people, and became heroes because of it. They met the forces of evil head on, and despite all their gallantry, some of their friends fell. Not all of them made it to the happy ending, but they all tried to make in happen, dammit. They brought hope to the people, and just like them, these kids today need hope. We may have died inside years ago, but there's no way these kids need to know that. Of course it's an imaginary story.... aren't they all?"

*fade to black*

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 28: Gaming Excellence That I'm Grateful For....

Down the final stretch, we are in the Week of Sharing for #RPGaDay 2018.

Day 28:  "Share Whose Gaming Excellence That I'm Grateful For"

I have been blessed by some stellar GameMasters and Players over the years that have each gleaned a little wisdom unto me.

So today I'll give thanks to Russ and Todd, The TORG Guys.

When I was in high school, the premier local gaming organization for the Lehigh Valley Gamer's Association (LVGA).  They ran Lehicon, a convention that attracted players from all the surrounding states and beyond.  I attended Lehicon III as a player, IV as a GM, and then *poof* the LVGA vanished.

One of the former members of the LVGA, Mike Griffith then began running a one-day con at an American Legion Hall in Wind Gap, Pennsylvania, called Bogglecon.  Bogglecon was a yeoman effort for his minimal staff of volunteers but brought in over 100 gamers (and a few dealers) from eastern PA.

It was there that I met Russ and Todd, The TORG Guys.

For a D&D-centric con in the days of the early Magic: The Gathering boom, the idea of a stand-up easel with a custom movie poster promoting the game was a head turner.  The boombox playing appropriate theme music kept us interested.  The two GM-method made us watch, and (compared to us post-d20) the idea of stand-up paper characters on a professional board was unheard off.

You know what else was unheard of, if not for these two men?  TORG: The Possibility Wars.

TORG was a "cinematic multi-genre role-playing game" where the Earth was overtaken by other-worldly other-dimensional forces that physically altered the landscape.  Most of North America was overrun with lizard men and dinosaurs,  England was a fantasy realm,  Egypt returned to its former glory as the New Nile Empire, with a healthy dose of Pulp, and Japan become an uber-capitalist technocracy with all the tropes of Japanese culture liberally applied and exploited.   Characters from these other "cosms" could travel between them, but could be subject to the rules of each realm.   A tech guy from Nippon might not fair as well with failing equipment in the Living Land of Dinosaurs, while the Dinosaur shamans  might have wildly differing power in the magic-heavy Aysle or wacky Pulp Egypt.

The flexibility of the rules and settings allowed the TORG Guys to run different games at each con, in a different cosm, with their own movie poster, music, and new maps and figures.   Throughout the 90's, the TORG games were the premier jewel of Bogglecon... and a few reborn Lehicons.  Games were sold out at pre-reg, with plenty of people camping out to grab a chair of a no-show.  These weren't games being run, they were EVENTS!

I can't confirm the Chicken or the Egg of this story, but it can be believed that after honing and polishing these games locally, Russ and Todd went on the road.... to GenCon (Milwaukee) and the same throngs of fans for a few years.

Now, a few years later, Russ left co-GMing arrangement, probably for none of my damn business.  Todd continued on, scaling a few things back a bit and returning to a few classics that had been previously run.  But with the end of Bogglecons and the transition to the early Mepacons, Todd and his TORG game were no longer there.

As I was a GM, volunteer, or even a dealer at most of the cons, I didn't get to play in their games, although I did have the pleasure of getting invited to Todd's house with a few friends to play a New Nile Empire-themed game that was a hoot.   But a subdued "home edition" sense of magic from the con games was still there.

I honestly don't know where Russ went off to do.  Todd was a player in our friend Eric's Star Wars d6 campaign eons ago, and now appears to be a big fan of running Unknown Armies  (which an equally excitable fanbase, if not bigger, than the old TORG fans.)

The only picture I can find of Todd (front), circa 2014 from Blasphemous Tomes

While I don't use the pizzazz angle much in my con games (I am running My Little Pony games for easily excitable kids), I'm grateful for witnessing true "professional GMing and presentation," and know what standards to strive for.

Fun extra fact:  These games were my base inspiration for the Masterbook (West End's name for the generic TORG game engine) game I pondered running in my homebrew fantasy setting of Georic.  Cooler heads prevailed and everyone approved of the game we went with (Hackmaster) but going through with the stand-up paper minis (mounted on Games Workshop bases) would have created an interesting dynamic.  

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 27: Share a Great Stream/Actual Play

Getting back to likes/dislikes and less theory with Day 27 of #RPGaDay:  "Share a Great Stream/Actual Play"

I know most people will select a few hugely popular games, but I'll defer to just a wildly popular one: The Campaign Podcast

Kat Kuhl leads a zany cast of characters through Fantasy Flight's Star Wars Edge of the Empire. Bacta, Leenik, Tryst, and the rest of the crew of the Mynock traverse the galaxy in a way that would give George Lucas a stroke.

In other words, just like every other group in a Star Wars RPG.

There are 99 episodes available, plus tons of bonus podcasts. Plus don't forget the Star Wars d20 episodes over at the One Shot Podcast (starting with episode #25) set the tone for the FFG.

The biggest compliment I can give to this actual play? Thanks to them mucking around learning the the FFG rules, I now own a copy of the game plus the funky dice you need to play.  If it wasn't for them, I would still ignorantly mock the system.

Yes, Kat has left the network, and I'm confident James and the revised crew will do well with their new campaign, but the episodes on file are worth a listen through (or in my case finishing up a third listen-though.)

School's Back in Summer!

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 26: My Gaming Ambition for 2019

Day 26 of #RPGaDay opens up a world of possibilities:

"My Gaming Ambition for 2019"

For once, I'm not going to add any pipe dreams onto my gaming plans.  Everything I'm going to mention has been played over the last twelve months, save two.

• 5e D&D - World of Andaras:  My only game as a player, I wait for combats and to  chop things up with my battle axe, and I'm okay with that. We'll get to the some campaign depth and development once the other characters get their acts together.
• Basic D&D - Adventures in Gulluvia:  My online game set in a remote and backwoods barony has about eight sessions into to before the regularly scheduled game returned and we couldn't get another open time for the group.  \

• My Little Pony - I get tables full of fun at conventions.  I'd just to to get something regular with the girls (and possibly their friends).  If not, I'll continue to focus on...
• Savage Worlds - Pulp Egypt:  I'll be finishing up season three of the campaign within 2018, and my only worry is that this is the only minis-heavy game I run and the adventures for Season Four look to require a lot of painting.
• Risus: Illuminati University: Dammit, this is why you can't always finish the entire list early.  I managed to run the second half of  "The Culligan Man" last Monday.  I've got a bunch of actual plays to type up, and no real direction for this....

"Bottled Water is the Great Evil!"

• Call of Cthulhu: Post-Masks of Nylarathotep:  We've been on a sizable hiatus, but I'd like to return to our campaign, circa 1926.  Lots of plot lines to expand, explore, and implode.
• Call of Cthulhu - The Curse of Nevoz....  A campaign concept from years ago seems to have found an opening during a filler session this Summer.    If we go this direction, Medicine Hat College in 1994 Alberta, Canada will never be the same.

• Hackmaster 4th Edition Online:  The Burning Trogs Redux:  Trying to restart a campaign from 15 years ago to finish up a revenge plot line has been slow and tedious, but it deserves to be on the list. 

(Kickstarter) The Return of Cleopatra from Dark Fable Miniatures

Dark Fable Miniatures has launch their third Kickstarter campaign, this time to expand their Ancient Egypt line with the Return of Cleopatra.

This time it's a more historical Cleopatra and servants to offset the Elizabeth Taylor-inspired one already in the line. 

To be honest, I'm tempted to jump in for a few minis, just to get a lion rug as an add-on:

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 25: Name an RPG That Impacted Me Last Year

We are officially on the last week of #RPGaDay, and I'm taking today's questions, twisting it around, and making shameless plugs for some of my Actual Plays.

"Name an RPG That Impacted Me Last Year"

I've already mentioned my love for Risus, my infatuation with Star Wars: Edge of the Empire and Apocalypse World hacks, my 5e online game of which I'm a *gasp* player, and even My Little Pony, but nothing has tweaked my work on the blog and future considerations more that 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

*Warning* Lots of shameless links to previous projects lay ahead.*Warning*

Almost a year and a half ago, my college roommate Steve arrived at a gaming session with an unusual long-lost artifact:  the player journal for my 2nd Edition AD&D campaign I ran in college over 1999-2000.

Now, I had nearly perfected the player journal years later in my two Hackmaster campaigns, The Journey of Mutumbo and The Buring Trogs Rule! and I enjoy the write-ups in my more current Call of Cthulhu campaign, but the idea of writing up anything prior to those was lost in the aether.  Seventeen years separated the end of the campaign and modern day, and the player's journal was rife with omissions, plus the journal itself ended prior to a quest to White Plume Mountain for the weapons needed to prevent Armageddon.

It's been a arduous project, keeping track of up to a dozen PCs, tons of "camp followers," plus the regular cast of NPCs, all the while rattling former players brains for any memories that were missing from the journal or my memory.

This past Tuesday, the main storyline of the campaign, Ballad of the Pigeon God, reached it's climax with episode #72 "Ascension."    There are four more weekly episodes after that covering clean-up, analysis, an index of characters, and even a  "Where are they Now" episode.  After that, my Tuesdays are open for posting as of October.

Or maybe not.

As Cthulhu is on a long hiatus, I'm not running anything of great substance.  I do have a few sessions of my Adventures in Gulluvia BECMI D&D game under my belt, but I'd like some more sessions (and a more consistent schedule) before posting those.

So, I'm reaching back well into the past and am creating a bit of an Actual Play/Prose series, covering the adventures I ran in my homebrew World of Georic ever since a drunken warrior, stupid ranger, busty mage, and know-it-all elf  first wandered down the streets of Hommlet in June of 1990.. still using 1st Edition AD&D (for a few sessions).

My memory from an extra decade ago is even more shady than the Pigeon God, so I'm enlisting the help of a certain Elsderth Millbottom to send correspondence to the Viscount of Verbobonc, detailing his journeys and uncanny knack to arrive in areas the old PCs had left some undetermined time ago.

After a bit more research, The Lost Dispatches of Feraso should allow me to solidify my original campaign adventures and tighten up the politics and geography of Ras-Prythax.  It will also allow me to go into further games: the ones I ran during Basic Training in the army, the campaigns I ran to teach kids D&D for the game store I worked at, and of course, the game I ran with a group of high school friends and army buddies that forged the background for the Kingdom of Crosedes and Village of Eding that focused so prominently in the Pigeon God.

There are a ton of projects that could delay the October premiere of Lost Dispatches, but when this project is complete, I should have 15 years of fantasy role-playing chronicled on my blog, with work to begin on Gulluvia and possibly an extended Burning Trogs Redux, covering the remaining 10 years of campaigns (real time) as the timeline keeps going.  

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 24: What RPG Deserves Greater Recognition

Day 24 of #RPGaDay wracked my brain a bit, but I needed to slap my forehead in disgust when the answer is so obvious.

"What RPG Deserves Greater Recognition?"

The My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria Storytelling Game

My regular readers can vouch for me, I'm not some uber-expert Brony.  I'm just a guy who sat through episodes in the 80's with my younger sister, and father of two little girls who powered through the first few seasons of MLP: Friendship is Magic (and a few of those weird Equestria Girls episodes *shakes head*)

I'm also a frequent GM at a con, and this style RPG is exactly what we need to get more people gaming.

Lemme tell ya, a table with five kids in the middle of a convention ballroom will overpower the room in a way the same table playing D&D can not.

I will admit, my sessions are only two hours long, and although they're scheduled for the kids track, anyone is welcome.  To be honest, I've had a few favorite players (a few of those are returning players), but my most memorable were the two college bros with two hours to kill and a polite attitude coming to table.

Before character creation was done, the dudes were feeding off the fun and energy off the kids, and by the time the final scene was drawn, they had embrace the fun of the game, and openly encouraged the kids to be the the true heroes, throwing all their Tokens of Friendship at them (think Bennies from Savage Worlds that you obviously should share).  With all the Tokens exhausted and one last roll needed to achieve victory, the kid with the last pony in the fight rolled just enough to succeed, the dudes erupted like very few have at a con, hootin' and hollerin', high-fivin' the kids, the parents, me, and even the some players at adjacent table who were distracted by our drama.

If we do have "Gatekeepers" in our hobby, I want those guys to be them.  Flexible, accommodating, and enthusiastic to the younger generation.

"You want to come into our group?  Let's be awesome.  I might even help if you think you need it."

I've already written a review of the core book.  The Curse of the Statuettes Boxed Set and Festival Lights module are adventures that are on-par with, if not superior to, content from Wizards or Paizo  I'm a bit behind on the rest of the catalog, but I'd be confident to say they're probably quality books as well.

Of course, I'll let my secret out.  We haven't used any of the published adventures because a) I'd like my daughter to get a few more friends together to play (the more players, the more Tokens of Friendship everyone gets) and b) it's so easy for us to roll some Rory's Story Cubes and set up a plot at the table. 

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 23: Which Game Do I Wish to Play Again?

We inch closer and closer to the completion of #RPGaDay!

Day #23 - "Which Game Do I Wish to Play Again?"

RECON by Palladium Games (Deluxe Revised Recon, technically)

Yes, I've gone on about needing to play Call of Cthulhu and Hackmaster in previous posts, but when I go through the archive of games I've played (yes, I have one), the one thing that shot off like a rocket was this RPG set primarily in the Vietnam War.

At it's heart, Recon is still a wargame (the original wargaming rules used in the 1st Edition are still included in this latest printing.)   Skills are limited to what the US Military could train you in, and there's very little room for character "fluff". Outside the traditional Palladium alignment system, the non-Megaverse rules system is quite unforgiving to a bunch of civilian players who think their soldiers and Marines who just landed in 'Nam are unstoppable war machines.

The last time I had the chance to play Recon was running an African bush campaign almost 25 years ago.  Getting out of the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam actually allowed for (slightly) more survivable play with non-military players and actually begged for a bit more on the social skill bracket. 

It would be fun to try that out again...  and maybe give me an excuse to grab some of 28mm Vietnam or Rhodesian figures from Eureka Miniatures. 

(Kickstarter) Chaos Space Dwarves by Old School Miniatures

My quest for Space Dwarves/Squats/Gnomish Space Marines has been a long, slow process.  A few bikes, a few figs off of eBay, a few jetbikes, and a low altitude gunship are all scattered in boxes on my painting bench. 

Old School Miniatures (whom I mentioned in their Alpine Gnome and Alpine Dwarf Kickstarters) has caught my attention with Chaos Spaces Dwarves (and a Goat).

While I'm not totally sold on the figures (pricing is ok), the stretch goals, including heavy weapons and exo armor pique my interest.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 22: Which Non-Dice System Appeals to Me?

Day 22 of #RPGaDay 2018 was a bit of a stumper.  Dice and the many ways we use them are an appealing part of why I game. Is there some system, some in-game mechanic that I love that doesn't rely on dice.

Yep, Danger Points in Scavengers.

Scavengers, by Metal Weave Games is a futuristic sci-fi game where humans have expanded an empire across the stars, and subsequently fell apart into five warring, very cliched, factions.  The PCs are all part of the six factions: the scavengers looking to get rich by looting the wrecked ships.

Every time something dangerous *duh!* occurs that may affect your character, you check off one of ten Danger Point boxes on the character sheet.  At the end of the scenario, you "clear" your sheet of Danger Points.  You roll a six-sided die, and any results of 2-6, you erase the marks on that specific Danger Point box.  On a one, you fill in the box and you have one less Danger Point to use on your next scenario, one step closer to suffering that fatal accident in space.  Have all ten boxes filled in, and the situation that cause cause that is the cause of your demise.

I like the concept, but I like a more compact system for some of my kid's RPGs, like Octonauts.

In Octonauts storylines, our heroes are thrown into storylines and might suffer great indignity, forcing the other Octonauts to risk life or limb to save them.  Cut this down to three or four Danger Points, and one person will become trapped or captured, and the others are forced to figure out how to save them.  Certain tasks will attract a certain type of character... or the other characters might just be unlucky.

Ballad of the Pigeon God #72 Ascension

For a breakdown of what's transpired, check out the Ballad of the Pigeon God Page.  The "Apocalypse" starts with Episode #64.

Dusk on the 2nd of DecDec 1072
The Ruins of Chateau d'Echleon, Outside the Village of Eding
The Gods, both good and evil, were destroyed, the evil king was vanquished, the armies of evil and darkness that were overwhelming this small, rural corner of the kingdom appeared to have scattered to the four winds in disarray, probably to the foul holes from whence they came.

And as our heroes were licking their wounds, gasping for air, a new threat had appeared atop a nearby hill.  At least fifty heavy cavalry, or worse yet, knights, stared down the ruins of the chateau with their full array of lances, flags, and pennants blowing in the wind.

Our heroes, Rolf, Echelon, Ashe, Kane, and even a badly wounded Norm stood together to stare them down.  Their allies like Brutus, Ariel, and "Baron" Felix, and Mayor Corkbarrel stood behind and beside them.

The cavalry began a slow trot down the hill.  As the heraldry on the shields began to be visible, Felix spoke up.

"These are the Knights of Feraso, the largest knightly order in Ras-Prythax.  We're either saved after the fact, or completely screwed."

Mere feet from the heroes, the trot of the horse was brought to a walk and the knights parted their line around them, barely acknowledging them.  Twenty feet, the line was made whole and stopped, save their leader.

The lead knight of this troupe rode up directly to Rurik, still wielding the blue-glowing Blood-Brand 

"Boy, I am Sir Gunter Riekhoff, Duke of Ostverk, and High Commander of the Knights of Feraso.  How is it that you claim the ancestral sword of the Bloodblades?"

"Umm.... my name is Rurik Bloodblade?"

And with that, Sir Gunter dismounted from his steed, stared Rurik up and down, until finally taking a knee in front of him.  His fellow knights followed suit.

Rurik stumbled a bit back from the knights, until feeling the hand of Fiame in the small of his back.

"Fiame, I-I-I-I-I can't be Emperor.... I-I don't want to be Emperor."

"Rurik," the petite cleric whispered into his ear, "The sword chose you.  My suggestion is start to acting like one..."

Rurik stepped forward, his hand pointing The Blood-Brand to the ground.

"Echelon, Norm, you are your friends..." he continued, moving his hand back to point out the others, "have sacrificed greatly to keep evil at bay.  I could imagine some peasant many leagues away would willingly knell upon knowledge of my title, but I can not make any of you knell before me."

Echelon chuckled to himself, "Rurik, your emmenence, your highness, o' wielder of that magic sword...

He began to kneel.

"I kneel first because, like you, we are all exhausted, and second, I wish these Knights off this property, so we can visit Eding and survey the damage there.  Keep your humility like you are trying today, and someday, I will be happy to kneel as a courtesy of the office."

Echelon gave a look to his compatriots, and everyone, even the Galmar Barbarians under Rolf Wolfsblood rose from their bedrolls to grant Rurik the new found respect he was supposedly deserving.

Fiame took a knee beside him, and while everyone's heads were down, grabbed his left hand.

With that, everyone rejoiced over their survival, and Rurik's prophetic luck, and all the survivors journeyed to Eding.

The village stunk of death ten times as bad as the Chateau did, with bodies of dead orcs, goblins, and other creatures getting stacked like cordwood to be put to the torch later.  In the twilight hour of the second of Decdec, the party saw terrible carnage, but a resolute group of survivors who overcame a tremendous odds, just trying to get by.

They met with Lady Iris, Torm Touchberry, and Jenny d'Echelon near the baronial manor.  Despite all the damage, Torm assured everyone, "It was far worse during the Goblin Invasion of 1062.  They were caught unawares and it took the last ten years to rebuild.  This time we were prepared to fight, and it will be a much quicker affair to recover, plus I won't get three dozen lashings."  The elf laughed, but no one else took solace in his own dark self-deprecating humor.

"Mother!"  A voice shouted before the light of the fire.  "Who are you talking to and why aren't they helping?  They seem able-bodi..... Echelon!  Norm!  You're alive."

A young boy came running into the light.  He has heavily bandaged from numerous wounds, and wore a small suit of chain mail soaked with someone else's blood.   It was Baron Timmy, or just Timmy to his friends, the now ten-year old former orphan and urchin, who ascended to become baron .
The boy finished hugging his friends, and looked over at Rurik and Fiame.

"Rurik?  Fiame? What do I earn the pleasure of your company.... you look famished, perhaps we should find some rations in the manor hou..."

"Baron Timoth, your brave grace, we arrived with William and everyone else to see the reveal of Apotheosis, only to be swallowed up in the betrayal of evil.   We have fought alongside your friends at the Chateau.  William and the others were all killed, unfortunately, but these men to my right are the so-called Knight of Feraso. "

He pulled out the Blood-Brand.  "They claim that by wielding this sword, I am to be granted the title of Emperor of Feraso.  I guess we just wanted to let you know," he finished, still a little unsure of the situation.

"Well congratulations Rurik, but I've been forced to study all the pomp and procedure of nobility, and you can not be Emperor until a proper coronation can be granted." The young baron paused, as if waiting for a response.

It took a few moments for the viking to compose his thoughts, "That is all right and good, you grace.  While we assemble that coronation post-haste, what can you use these big, burly knights for?"

5 DecDec 1072 - The Public Common, Village of Eding
It was cold, with spitting snow on the public grounds.  Over the previous two days, the village center had been cleaned, bodies burned or buried, and a few structures had begun repairs to beat the real oncoming winter.  But now was the time for a celebration, Rurik's coronation as Emperor of Feraso, a nation that had not existed for the last 250 years.  News of the discovery of The Blood-Brand and the new emperor was leaving with the Knights of Feraso in two groups, one to Feraso City, where the coronation would take place, and one to Hydincal, to also let the Archbishop know about the death of King Cervinal, in addition to his coronation duties.

But following Baron Timmy's forced studies of heraldry and courtly affairs, the only true requirements for a coronation, was a royal decree OR having a vassal loyal to the office in question conduct the ceremony.

So the "Emperor of the World" was to be given a his official role and duties in the Public Common in battle-torn Village of Eding, by ten-year old Baron Timoth "Timmy" d'Echelon.

Given their documented heroics the days before, the few Knights of Feraso staying for the ceremony were not going to question the low-theatrics on a baronial service.

But first, one other ceremony needed to be conducted.  For you see, Timmy in his recollection of his studies relevant to the neophyte Rurik's peculiar situation, discovered numerous procedural issues, namely a bachelor Emperor would be forced to marry for political convenience to a short list of eligible maidens in a ceremony blessed by Akana. 

So, twenty minutes before the coronation, the entire village of Eding, and all local guests of acclaim were invited to wedding of Fiame Runyon and Rurik Bloodblade, to avoid the whole courting process.

Conducting the ceremony was the closest thing to a Priest of Akana they could find that wasn't in the ceremony.  Fiame was a cleric of Akana, scheduled to helm the new church being built in her stead, but the closest approved alternate was Sigard of Slate Gap, a still injured paladin from the battle.  The young man was gravely wounded in the hobgoblin assault and crawled to the hidden safety of part of the collapsed Chateau and was found barely breathing just the day before.  Luckily, healing magics restored him to be well enough to conduct both ceremonies with the use of a just a crutch.

Both ceremonies were short and bit more raucous than other previously recorded imperial coronations.  But Emperor Rurik IV and his Empress, Fiame (the Second) began the day united in marriage, with a formidable task of uniting the countries together under the banner of Feraso.

The "official" ceremony to all the countries involved, with all the pomp and circumstance would take place in the Royal Palace in Feraso City, Ras-Prythax on the 1st of QuadDec 1073, but in all the official documentation.  Rurik and Fiame were gifted their duties as Emperor and Empress by Baron Timoth d'Echelon of Eding, with Sigard Slategap officiating in stead of the Archbishop of Hydincall, Adolphus.

And despite many questions left unanswered, like who was behind this apocalyptic charade, who would become the King of Crosedes, subservient to the new Emperor, and why the hordes of monsters finally stopped,  Rurik IV began his rule, and the Kingdom of Crosedes had new legends for bards to write legends of....

**FLASHBACK**
2 DecDec 1072  (Near Sunset)  Crypts of the Kings, Lake Apotheosis, Kingdom of Crosedes
Thick acrid smoke and and the stench of sulfur began wafting into the crypts of the former emperors of Feraso.  While no being of good nor ill inclination had tried to ferry themselves across the lake over to the cliff-face entrance, only one member of the Cult of Apotheosis stood guard of the dead and their treasures, Theodard 'The Historian.' 

He had a direct view of the appearance of the God of Goodness and Light.  He could make the wincing visage of the half-orc who backstabbed the god from the top of the cliff above.  He regretted the vantage point as the pure sight of their god turned into the foul arachnid form of Baraxus the Destroyer. 

For the entire battle, he acted as a lone sentry, loaded crossbow in one hand, and a heavy mace right beside him.  Even the explosive battle between the mysterious mage and Baraxus netted no attention to the tombs, once the clouds of destruction abated.  But it was later, with siege engines, and piles of burning flesh that forced the Historian to venture further into the crypts.  Running low on good air, Theodard risked going down an unstable passage the emptied upriver a few hundred feet into the Nightwood Forest.

But as he made the turn towards the concealed passage that led to his safety, he worked his way past the sarcophagus of Leif VII.  Sitting in an inlaid cut on the lid of the sarcophagus was a large dagger, the Dagger of Mymindosa.  He had received it as a find from an elderly cleric up among the halfling villages, and despite a command to put it in storage, he felt it better suited in a slot specifically carved for it.

With the orange smoke overtaking what little good air was left in the tomb, Theodard regretted his historically sound decision of just a few months ago.

He grabbed the dagger from the slot, and with his breath held, staggered towards the storage area, where he found the protective box that had contained the dagger upon its delivery.  Putting the dagger inside its box, he made one last look down the path that might offer him salvation, and turned further into the stone, box in hand, gasping for air.

He arrived at a long-untended part of the crypt.  The bones of many a hero of the 1st Ferasean Empire lay inter-mixed among themselves.  It had been picked clean of any sort of magic or treasure during the lean years of the Galmar Barbarian incursions, and had been left as a cursed dumping grounds, long forgotten.

Nearly succumbed to the poisonous gas, Theodard put the box behind his back and crawled under the ancient bones.  With two or three layers of the former heroes of the land, Theodard the Historian took his last small breath, expiring into anonymity, while hiding the dangerous cursed weapon away from immediately prying hands.

No one knows of the sacrifice Theodard made that day.  But those that survived should thank him everyday.

DM Notes: And there you have it, folks, the formal completion of what happened within the Ballad of the Pigeon God, at least everything that happened in my campaign that I centered at East Stroudsburg University from 1999-2000.

There are more episodes coming:  at least one to cover the "Where are they know" of all the surviving PCs and NPCs, with a few connections to the Journey of Mutumbo, set sixty years later.

One note about managing all the PCs/NPCs, and special guest stars for the long finale.  Sigard, a character whose real name and class was lost to history, was run by Albert, a teenage regular at the store I ran.  There was little recollected from any of the other players, and I doubted he would remember anything from half his lifetime ago. But I did have one important note early on as I assembled the "apocalypse's" timeline.

His character lived.

Then I realized I completely omitted his death (or survival) in episode #71.  It's much more logical and fitting to have him help with the coronation instead of Fiame or some unnamed cleric of Akana that lived to tell the tell.

He also fits an empty part of the backstory that I'll fill in more next week.  Sigard will renounce with Paladin warrior ways, revert back to a simple priest and oversee the construction of the Church of Akana in Eding, completed in 1078.

Next: #73 An Epilogue of Sorts....

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 21: Which Dice Mechanic Appeals to Me?

Three weeks of #RPGaDay are now in the bag.  We move onto a simple question for Day 21:  "Which Dice Mechanic Appeals to Me?"

Don't care what your type or pool size is, make them exploding, and I'll ponder the concept.

The basic concept of Exploding Dice are simple:  Roll the max number on the die, roll again.  Continue until you don't roll max and the add the rolls together.

In Savage Worlds, where base success is a 4 and a "raise" is 8 (multiple raises would be increments of 4), this is how a lowly d4 or d6 can become devastating for a roll.

In Hackmaster, exploding dice are used in only damage, and each roll past the inital is the die-1 (Example d4 dagger, roll a 4, roll a second 4, and finally a 3 = 4+3+2=9)

Both create situations not normally anticipated in the session.  Coupled with the critical hit system in the game, the lowly but lucky goblin is still a threat to a mid-level wizard and the heroes might have a chance against a much larger monster.

(Kickstarter) The Village of Witches by Midlam Miniatures

Midlam Miniatures is launched their craziest Kickstarter yet,  The Village of Witches.

Cause, witches, man.... they be crazy.  Particularly 16 of them!

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 20: Which Game Mechanic Inspires My Play?

Day 20 of #RPGaDay is upon us, and it begs the question:

"Which Game Mechanic Inspires My Play?"

The Fantasy Flight Games funky Star Wars dice.

Fantasy Flight seemed to have taken Fudge Dice and selectively bred them with traditional polyhedrons to create a multi-level resolution mechanic.

Most of the symbols still boggle my mind, but after multiple listen-throughs of the Campaign Podcast and their Star Wars Edge of the Empire game, I grown to appreciate the dice as much as I have the mechanics of a Powered by the Apocalypse game.

Depending on the action involved, modified by bonuses and penalties, you can chuck a bunch of funky dice with different series of symbols.  Like the plus/minus Fudge/Fate dice, certain symbols cancel others out.

Once everything that's cancelled out is removed, you have three levels of success.

Success/Failure - Exactly what you think.  Multiple successes or failure dice after everything is checked means greater success or failure.

Advantage/Threat - Regardless of what the main result was, something positive or negative happens on top of that.  You fail accessing the blast door, but the R2 unit finds a map of the base, or perhaps, a different, possibly more difficult route is found.    Or, the blast doors are opened, but trigger an alert to send out a patrol to check out the odd computer error.

Triumph/Despair-  These don't cancel out, per se.  Triumphs count as a standard success plus an extra boon onto the group.  Despairs count as failures plus an unfortunate consequence.

These dice force the players and GM to work together to resolve some of these results.  Sure, sometimes giving an extra bonus (blue) die to another player is a default result, but I feel this gives some great actions in the classic Saturday Morning serial feel that Star Wars evokes. 

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 19: What Music Enhances My Game

And welcome to Day 19 of  #RPGaDay .  A simple one: "What Music Enhances My Game?"

I don't use music in my games.

Oh, I've tried.  But leaving Carmen Burina on constant, almost forgotten repeat during a campaign finale, produces derision from the players rather than enhancing the experience.

And leaving Jelly Roll Morton playing in the background of Dead Man Stomp was more a distraction.

And as much as I wanted specific selections of Darkest of the Hillside Thickets for my Cthulhu game, it added nothing.

For a con session, I've seen an Indiana Jones or Lord of the Rings soudtrack add to the flow of the game, but in regular play it sometimes becomes insufferable far earlier than it would sync with game flow.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 18: What Art Inspires My Game?

We're getting a line of softball questions to answer for #RPGaDay:

Day 18:  "What Art Inspires My Game?"

I'll be honest, I loved me some Elmore back in the day, but nowadays?

Art, created by an artist, a painter, an illustrator, a professional interpretive goat dance?  It really doesn't hit me like it used to.

It might be that in this age of social media, everybody and their uncle posts their world for our world to see, and so much of it is so... mediocre and uninspiring to say the least.  Now I'm not saying that the person who created the art or their fellow players wouldn't be inspired by the work that was completed.  I'm just saying that, I come from a era where the few black and white drawings in the book were all we had to work on.  We mined those illustrations for as much as we could get out of them.  I just don't feel the same inspiration from either Twitter pics or the 300-page full-color professional books.

And it doesn't even have to be pretty, just competently done.  I've been inspired by plenty o' stick figures in my day.

(Painting) OGRE Minatures Infantry

So with all this Role-Playing stuff, people claim I forgot about minis.

I sorta did, too.  But truth be told, there's paint largely on unfinished figures.

These are some infantry stands for the OGRE Minis Set 1.

These guys are 8mm tall, and despite some of the cool paint schemes I found, they're just too small for anything I can do beyond dab and wash. 

Compared to a GHP Microarmor Marine Recovery Vehicle. 

 This batch gets the paint scheme of my Transnitrian Scientific Republic.  Half of the equipment on Set 1 will be done in the TSR green, and I'll be fiddling around with the rest, still sitting on my painting bench.

Oops, wrong game.... same result.

Plastic Infantry vs a Metal Howitzer.

NEXT:  If the water in the basement stays manageable/non-existent, I'll be pumping out a little more 6mm love, slowly putting more paint on two Pulp-related units, and dabbling into Terrain Crate.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 17: The Best Compliment I Had While Gaming

As we begin to build a head of steam through the second half of #RPGaDay, Day 17 is another easy one for me:

"The Best Compliment I Had While Gaming."

Sure, the easiest one, would be "Thanks for being the guy who actually runs games."  Everybody's hungry, but someone needs to be willing to cook the stuff.

No, the best compliment was wisely surmised by my friend, Hoyce (and paraphrased by me):

"You're able to keep everything connected in your campaign... even if it never affects the PCs."

I'm near obsessive/compulsive when it comes to the events of the campaign, large and small. Now, this doesn't mean that if the PCs stiff a waitress for the bill that the waitress becomes the big evil at the end of the campaign, but I will try to work through the repercussions of the actions until the ripples fade away.

Helped NPCs hopefully improve themselves or others, empty dungeons usually abhor a vacuum, Kings and Queens get older and either get wiser or senile.

When the party returns from their adventure/journey/shenanigans I always have them come back to the inn or tavern and catch up on the world's events.  Just because there nowhere near the Grand Duchy of Celsior, it doesn't mean that news of his wife having twins, or him barring the Riffalin Elves from entering the city, won't eventually affect them.  But as the campaign progresses, the erratic behavior of the Duke could be chalked up to sleepless night (even with paid help), or perhaps the elf ban spreads to other towns.  I would hope that all of us in our real lives pick up bits and pieces from around the globe

Remember the Buddhas of Bamiyan?  They were destroyed in March 2001 by a little-known, ruthless theocracy known as the Taliban.  Outside of some awesome intelligence analysts, no one's characters in a modern game could possibly imagine acknowledged US forces in the country less than a year later.  This is what I do on a smaller, and hopefully, less heinous scale in my own campaigns.. the constant cause and effect, not helping start a War on Terror. 

One of my dream campaigns is "getting the Hackmaster band together again," and continuing their storylines roughly 15 years later.  For my addiction to continuity, it's a gleeful blessing and a painful curse at the same time.

If we ever begin play, I will eventually have some player go over their ancient notes and inquire "Why didn't the Senate of Danaan help us with the endeavor years ago?"  and I'm going to need to either have the answer right there in black and white, or rattle my brain for the why, when, and how of the action and the effect of such an action within the sphere of influence.

... and to be honest, if it doesn't involve bribes or getting the plutocrats rich, the Senate of Danaan couldn't help themselves to an all-you-can-eat buffet, much less pressing lawmaking.  That was an easy one.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 16: Describe My Plans for My Next Game

Day 16 of #RPGaDay does not help those who try to finish these up before the August 1st launch:

"Describe My Plans for My Next Game"

Vague enough to ask for clarification.  Is this as a player?  As a GM?  Is this "next game" as next session for next campaign?

(PLAYER) 5e D&D Online Game.  Falgor the Mighty has tagged around with this group of adventurers with ulterior motives and plotlines, traveled to other dimensions, and might be trying to save the world.  But all the poor elf barbarian has wanted is a legitimate target to rage on... followed by a nice nap. Stuck in some odd gravity dimension with skyships, Falgor's developed a love-hate relationship with giant locust-esque creatures that overwhelm the realm.

Falgor's getting antzy

(GM - Next Session with the Guys) Basic D&D Adventures in Gulluvia.  The party got their butts handed to them, and had a falling out with the craven wizard in the group.  But things have been smoothed over and with ex-caravan guards Leroy and Jenkins, they plan on re-entering the ancient temple which is home to fire-breathing dog-boys (kobolds!)

I might be a little behind on all the Goodman Games offerings.

(GM - Next Session with the Kids) The Pulp Egypt game has been a lot of bad guy vs bad guy action this season.  With the next episode, we travel to where the old heroes are relaxing.  One known for peaceful landscapes and ninjas:  Sweden!

(GM - Next Campaign) I've run two filler Call of Cthulhu online sessions that involved 90's Canadian college students uncovering strange occurrences in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.  I've already "replaced" one student, schooled younger players on the sizes of floppy disks, and demonstrated the escalated military preparedness of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  We had a few cancellations of the 5e Online Game this time last year, so I could possibly fill in some more sessions of my "Curse of Nevoz" campaign.

#RPGaDay 2018 Day 15: Describe a Tricky RPG Experience I Enjoyed

If the great failure that turned out to be amazing wasn't tough enough, Day 15 of #RPGaDay made my head spin:  "Describe a Tricky RPG Experience I Enjoyed."

I would like to think that I'm quick on my feet and even I can take an honest swing at the wackiest of curve balls thrown by my players.  I try to stick with my initial decision, be it a "Yes and..." , " No, But...", or "Yes, but..." situation.  Sure, I may scramble between session to tie everything together with at least the basic semblance of logic, but we will all try to figure out the result at the table, together.

So I guess the one of the more trickier situations was finishing up Masks of Nyarlathotep. 

I started my Call of Cthulhu campaign over a decade ago, in a response to the intermittent schedule of our gaming group.  Sometimes we gamed once a month, sometimes twice, sometimes we missed a few months between sessions.

Not the schedule conducive to fantasy RPGs, but the one-shot capability of CoC, mixed with the inherent fear of going mad/getting eaten, seemed to keep the group engaged, no matter what they encountered.

I essentially gave most of the players an avatar character of themselves, adjusted for the 1920's.  Some lived, some died, some got blown up, or eaten by the "Minotaur," but, for the most part, I ran scenarios that used their strengths and improved their skills, so I felt confident they could go through Masks.

***Spoilers***

I won't attempt to tell the trials and ridiculousness they went through during Masks (that's for the actual play link above), but eventually,  the investigators made it to Shanghai, found the person of interest, plus learned of an opportunity to attack a cult base.

First problem?  The latest patron in this endeavor was the Imperial Navy of Japan.

Second?  They disabled/destroyed a lot of the weird tech on the island base before Japanese marines could reach the site.

Third? With the help of an equally deranged Japanese officer/translator, they convinced the Captain of Japanese cruiser they were using on this mission to open fire on a yacht, allegedly belonging to the cultists.

The direct hit created an odd explosion, and a giant radium cloud that killed tens of thousands in the city, and obviously created an international incident.

Needless to say, the Empire of Japan did not appreciate the circumstances the investigators put them in and decided to detain the three surviving Americans for a "debriefing."

At this point it was time to leave and after some wrap-up and Q&A, we called the campaign a success.

Except there were too many unanswered questions on all sides.  So, for the first time in my gaming career, I tried Play-by-eMail to fill in the gaps of the story and possibly get everyone home to the East Coast of the United States.

The trickiest part lay when I separated the investigators in game and sent individual emails with the players. Without working together, each one stuck to their guns "I wish to speak to a representative of the United States Embassy in Japan."

The Japanese played a delaying game, even providing small gifts and creature comforts for information.  The investigators barely flinched.  Finally some meetings were established, the true nature of the radium poisoning accident in Shanghai were made public, and the Japanese finally acquiesced to their secondary demands.   For physicist Steven O'Hara, it was proper medical treatment for his radium exposure. for, author David Kavida, it was contact with The New Yorker, and their demand for a story, pronto.

And for history professor Dr Bob Wintermute? It was a simple telegram to a powerful New York Industrialist, Mr Ambrose Mogens.

Mogens was a BIG bad guy in the game.  The group had foiled his plans and burned down with mansion in Queens, but the near-immortal Ambrose could use these bumbling fools for his own, and had struck up an interesting arrangement with them.

Within days, there were new conversations, Kavida had submitted a manuscript about he chaos in Shanghai, and the group had individually boarded the same steamer back to America.

The mention of Mogens provided me an interesting escape.  He had admitted to some of the players that he worshiped the same dark god as the other cultists they were encountering, just not as deadly and violent.  Stopping these cults was a good business decision.

Mogens successfully negotiated their freedom and had the US Ambassador to Japan killed for his insolence (Between the Mogens telegram and my discovery that the Ambassador actually did die while the Investigators were detained made me absolutely giddy.)

Of course this set up a huge  "You owe me..." while setting up everyone's return trip home. 

If we never get a chance to play with these characters again, I closed a chapter with some terrifying personal horror of dealing with Mogens. 

And if we do get to play, I would gleefully appreciate the attention to detail the big bad guy has while dealing with our heroes. 

I'd jump back into that campaign in a heartbeat, if I was given the opportunity.

Ballad of the Pigeon God #71 The Stand

For a breakdown of what's transpired, check out the Ballad of the Pigeon God Page.  The "Apocalypse" starts with Episode #64.

The Mid-Afternoon of the 2nd of DecDec 1072
The Chateau d'Echleon, Outside the Village of Eding

Fiame Runyon had been a simple farm girl from the village of Agtir in Crosedes.  She was ardent follower of Akana, becoming a cleric in her nineteenth year.  With her faith, skill, and years of networking, even the most conservative clergy knew she might one day become the first female Bishop of the Duchy of Draloite, but first she fell in with Prince William. 

She disliked being relegated to a "healing check" in a party full of warriors, but she performed her role, and most of those inconsiderate bastards were dead.  She was still here. 

But now, her best friends and the last line of defense for the realm was face to face against the Cabal of Anon-Maxis, the twelve most ruthless, most powerful mages on the continent.  Defended by one hundred of their Iron Guardsmen, they had just disintegrated what appeared to be an avatar of the rumored God of Goodness and Light, and now only needed to push the remaining heroes mere feet to fall down a steep cliff and out of the battle.   

Laying on the ground before her was the body of King William.  His coronation did nothing to serve his wanderlust... or improve his administrative powers, but the group had helped him obtain The Blood-Brand from White Plume Mountain.  Despite overwhelming odds, he had rallied many to maintain a thin line between the monster hordes and the rest of humanity.  But now he was dead.

They were all dead from the party, save the viking Rurik from the fjords of Wyrmnal.  He was impetuous, but he might have been the only fellow party member who was inherently good.

The duo stood with the last members of the estate owned by the "Pigeon Baron" Echelon.  He was a deranged man with mysticism from the far off eastern lands with a disturbing interest in pigeons.  And his whole party had been simply horrible at the adventuring lifestyle.  William's party had earned the most coin cleaning up half-finished adventures from Echelon and company.  Heck, they had managed to acquire the two ancient weapons, Wave and Overwhelm, and left an open path for William to obtain The Blood-Brand and become Emperor of the World, as per the prophecy.

His friend, Kane was also of eastern origin, and somehow manipulated water, but after nearly a full day of fighting the armies of evil, he had tapped all his abilities, using his staff more to hold himself up than for defense.

A dwarf, not the quirky one with the accent, but a stoic dwarf named Thorrin stood alongside these two, wielding Overwhelm, a flying boomerang battle axe.  It had belong to the other dwarf, Norm, but he was lying motionless on the battlefield.

Lingering near the entrance to the barn besides them was a red-headed bard with a bow named Ariel, and a wolf, Pathfinder, whose wolf looked dark-red with the caked blood and gore.  Both were past exhaustion, both hoping for a miraculous change, or a swift and honorable death.

That was everyone who was left...  and in a few moments they'd all be dead and this cabal of mages would move on to decimate the innocents in the nearby village of Eding.  From there, who knew....

As the mages began the somatic components of the spells to destroy these remaining interlopers, a divine strike from the ruins of the estate arced right into the center of the mages.

"Mohammad's alive!"  Fiame could hear Echelon say in great relief.  She didn't know who this Mohammad was, but any miracles were gladly accepted.

As the mages and the surrounding Iron Guardsmen recovered from the blast, a tall and lanky elf rode in on a war horse, he dove off the horse right into the dozen spellcasters, only mace in hand.

Fiame and heroes stood flat-footed, simply amazed at the relief coming from all directions.  The remaining hobgoblins behind the mages encountered Ashe and his lost Winnebago tribe of elves.

Rolf Wolfsblood, a vicious tattooed barbarian, and his other heathens from Galmar met the Iron Guardsmen's right flank.  And on the left, a kobold with blood soaked vestments of Akana, Dag di Velandro led his remaining kobold acolytes harassed as best they could.

The heroes moved forward, but the Iron Guardsmen seemed to take inhuman amounts of punishment, and with the help of one of the surviving mages, they pushed out into the encircling attackers.

Once again, everyone was pushed to the brink.  The Guardsmen merely toyed with the hero, even once disarming Rurik of his longsword.  The viking fumbled around the ground for another weapon and pulled out the sword under the body of Norm Dingleberry.

It was The Blood-Brand.  And unlike all other interactions, the sword glowed bright blue in Rurik's hands.

The mere sight of the blue glowing runes on the black made made the three surviving members of the cabal to instantly flee, one by flight, one by teleport, another by gate.

More aid came over the eastern hill, near the old vineyard.  Dozens of halflings on war ponies, led by Mayor A. Warren Corkbarrel, charged down the hill and into the fray!

The halfling cavalry from the nearby villages and Rurik wielding the Blood-Brand with an effect completely opposite of how it was in William's was just enough to save the day.

With the death of the Iron Guardsmen, and the ultimate rout of the hobgoblins and other lingering creatures, the monster races seemed to almost vanish instantly.  Pockets of resistance could be found, but most could be seen fleeing the area at full speed.

The heroes all reunited at the barn to rejoice at the apparent (and largely unexplained) collapse of the forces of evil.  Echelon, Thorrin, and Kane searched for their friends among the casualties, and to the relief of all, Norm, Felix, and Brutus were all still alive, but just barely.  Markuus, the large elf, had died a heroic, if foolhardy death.

Thorrin returned Overwhelm to Norm once they took him inside the barn for medical attention.

Fiame and Rurik were still dumbstruck by what had transpired.  The Blood-Brand was still glowing a light blue.  The pair simply collapsed from where they were standing, each putting their head on the other's shoulder.

For the others, Rolf, Ashe, Binklen, and Dag, it was a time to catch up on lost time, and tell some tales as their followers secured a perimeter.

But it wasn't a big enough perimeter.  The eastern hill had assumed secured with the halfling cavalry, but Rolf spotted a large mass coming over the hill.

Lots of cavalry, unknown markings, and worst of all, they appeared fresh to fight.

The day was not over yet....

RIP: Markuus Brighthelm

Next:  #72 Ascension