Pada'lagh -- In the Kingdom of Life, the most popular drink and smoke come from the same plant. The Pada'lagh grows on a tree near the western foothills away from the sandy soil of the coast. The trees are tall and bushy, dark green leaves and large red fruit like pomegranates. The tree flowers all summer and the fruit grows in size throughout the winter. In late spring, they ripen splitting open, revealing small seedlings of pink & orange. The seedlings are highly sought for their narcotic nature and the most popular Pada Wine is made from it. The skins of the fruit themselves are harvested, dried and shredded into a weed smoked in pipes.
The groves of Pada'Lagh draw a creature left over from when the otherworldly creatures ruled & haunted the Kingdom of Life -- the panther like monster called the Displacer Beast. It eats the fruit, getting drunk on the seedlings for weeks at a time. Prides of the creatures will eat the contents of an entire grove. The worst thing are the weeks after they have eaten the fruit. Going through withdrawal they start prowling the lands of the Tupari, killing indiscriminately. Thus it is always in the best interest of the Pada'lagh pickers to get their fruit before the displacers show up.
The tupari used to hunt the displacers but in these times when good men are either taken for the armies of the Druids or just ... taken, the Tupari are forced to hire outsiders. Adventurers, mercenaries and sailors needing quick coin often do the work but even they are in short supply these days.
The first thing I have noticed in the (meta focused) creation of adventures for Zahara Blackthorne, TIefling Warlock seeking to eliminate the pact that was forced on her in childhood, is that I don't use any defined structure. 4E is too focused on the group to take the stock source material. Thus i use my old fallback of encounters which are vamped up. But that leaves a lot lacking, in the 4E world.
So I am endeavoring to create an adventure that follows some define parameters and uses techniques and concepts as laid out in actual rulesets.
I want to create a structured adventure tailored to her character without doing my usual 25% prep, 75% winging it. Part of the creation of this character for her has been the idea of learning the 4E ruleset. Part of doing so will have to be understanding how a standard adventure is created in 4E and then use people's solo gaming suggestions to alter set parameters. I guess the coming/recently arrived 4E DMG2 should assist.
Part the problem in any adventure creation, especially for a solo game, is having it both challenging and focused on the character's goals while also allowing for the DM to have some fun. I so often make the game about giving her some fun and often leave myself out. I need to have some enjoyment out of the game beyond the mere act of playing and established Mary Sue NPCs.
So, so far I need some structure and some DM related fun. The structure comes in a creation of a hook, a good beginning (something snappy that draws her in beyond the contract of the hook), a great climactic ending and interesting filler in between. Seems disingenuous to use the term filler but that is essentially what it is. I am required to provide a series of challenges -- combat, skill and roleplaying -- and each should move her on to the next goal. Mini-goals in each part of the adventure are a good idea. And rather than linear, stepping stones are a better format for an adventure. This is all very basic stuff but I have never been a basic stuff kind of guy.
Now, another thing I need to do is troll the interwebs for more material on solo gaming in 4E. There are some basic assumptions such as what character class is best, what monster roles are best against a single character and the good ol XP buy. Still seems far too crunchy to me, like having play guides for a video game. I want the more intangible material as well, such as balance and pacing. Hopefully someone will have thought about more than the numbers.
Hmm, so this meta talk is not going in the direction i want it to go. This is supposed to be the scratch pad online that will collect all my thoughts that i usually write down. I have to "think out loud" in order to think some things through. Its not meant to be structured as a proper blog post because its not about someone reads it or not. Its for me. But most of what i just said, didn't really need to be said. Not even to my by me.
Oh well, next post !!
Let's hope that it is a Druid doing this and i end up as a lizard man.
huh?
I am bringing back this blog to be the notepad for thoughts on D&D and RPG development, but unlike the the toasted Livejournal, it will be a scratch pad with no need for assembled thought. It will also be hidden from Marmy, the recipient of said games.
Something about the exclusive geek boy in me loves watching anime series that are in current run on Japanese TV. Strangely enough, I don't know the method of current runs in Japan. I heard somewhere that very few people in Japan have cable TV subscriptions. Does this mean that most people watch anime on broadcast TV? That seems so... pedestrian. Broadcast TV in Canada was always the poor kid's TV. Kids without cable TV got stuck watching nature shows on CBC or soap operas on CTV. Poor kids without cable TV would never get anime.... but then again, I believe it was 4pm post-elementary school CBC that gave me StarBlazers, which poor kids in Japan would have called Spaceship Yamamoto. And if it wasn't for that show, I would not have known that Japan had the coolest cartoons. Sorry about the dis, broadcast TV, I took you for granted.
This series, Darker Than Black, is on it's 16th episode, which is probably the end of first season. It's been an OK run but keeps on making me think about a comment that gKent made where it doesn't seem to live up to it's potential. He was talking about a post-apoca comic series that had a great background that it unfortunately left to supporting materials at the end of the comics. DTB has a great, if albeit familiar premise, of an event that damages Tokyo (called the Hellgate) and leaves some people in the world as powerful psychic/magic beings called Contractors. The Contractors, called so because they are forced to follow usually inane practices (such as eating cigarettes) after they use their powers, are controlled by various government and independant agencies for political or enigmatic purposes. With the Hellgate (and south american Heavensgate), the Contractors and their supporting "mediums" of Dolls (mostly empty psychics used as tools) and the utterly dangerous, out of control Contractors called Moratorium (sometimes I think the Japanese script writers just toss in words they like the sound of) you would think the stories could be robust, exciting and thrilling. Not so much.
It's a decent anime but not great. Chinese Contractor (makes him sound like a contruction worker) Hei (seen above) works with a couple of supporting team members: Yin -- a Doll used for tracking, Huang -- a norm usually complaining or shooting someone and Mao, the Contractor turned cat. What their purpose is and who exactly they work for is pretty shadowy and I wouldn't be surprised if it just isn't in the story bible... they are left purposely ambiguous. We know they kill other, usually murderous, Contractors and that Hei has a softspot for Dolls, which are usually considered nothing more than empty shells to be used. The fact that many form lives for themselves, or once had lives before the Gates, is of no importance to the angencies using Contractors and Dolls. We know that there was a south american war which was dominated by Contractors but not much else. So without the exploring of the world we are given, the stories are left to the melancholy of being an unemotional (though he fakes it pretty well) Contractor by night and exchange student by day, somehow getting his secret identity mixed up in all sorts of trouble.
I want more. I want to see more stories focus on the Hellgate, it's appearance and the impact it has on the world. Why is Tokyo putting a massive wall around it? What affect does it have on day to day citizens? Are there any japanese governmental Contractors? Are there any Contractors out there that are not power mad loons? Did the stars actually go away or has the planet been put into a bubble with artificial stars mapping the Contractors on a one to one basis? Soooo many questions that are left to the side so they can do a side story about a cut-rate detective ala Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop). If it wants to explore the angst of being a Doll, then explain the Dolls better not leaving everything to the viewers to come up with. Do more stories about the PANDORA institute on the edge of the Hellgate, as it explores what is going on in there. I LOVE the idea of the point of view of support staff working to keep things clean and going for the scientists.
So, I will keep on watching but not sure for how long.
Halloo. Tonight, as I sweat to the humidity behind me, I did something I had intended on doing for quite some time. I made a (first) list of the RPG products I have collected over the years and wish to now get rid of. Selling on eBay is silly as many are on there in vast numbers and seriously, I don't have the patience. So, they are available for a) the cost of sending them to you b) a gratuity (your choice but some suggestions are coffee, beer, gift certificates to the Silver Snail, etc.) or both a & b. It's first come first serve and considering the latest Gallup Poll showed that not many are reading here (well, i will crosspost to my Vox site as that is tres geek oriented... my site, not Vox) it should be a small small audience desiring such. Oh, and I have also sent the list to a small group of possibly interested parties.
Background? For over 30 years I have played RPGs, that is Pen & Paper RPGs. But within those 30 years I might have played consistently for 10. The inbetween years have left me amassing a vast amount of second hand (and some new) games from various systems that attracted me. But the last few years, they have become more dust collectors that collector's items not even being read for enjoyment. And there is that nagging voice for me to clean out my life. Once I have done a few of these lists (boxed sets were mostly ignored on this one), I will move into the D&D, AD&D and 3rd Ed. D&D. These last will be the hardest to part with as I have a great great, vast nay giganimous fondness for D&D in all it's various forms. It will be hard to convince myself to part with even the most cursory glanced at source books.
But these things have to be done. Leave a comment if you want the Word file for LIST 1.
I completed the first "article" in what hopefully will be the collections that make up Mohr Vesik. While I am not sure what it accomplished as an article, I am sure what it served in the writing. I am not one used to writing source material in wholes, I am used to writing dribs and drabs as they were needed for games, never finishing never formatting. So despite my misgivings, this is a unique element of my creativity... an end.
What was I not satisfied with, beyond my own dislike for my lack of voice as of late? I guess that is important, as I do mourn the lack of what I once liked about my writing style, when I once had a writing style. I guess I have spent so much time trying to convert my haphazard stream of consciousness but still connected to a thread feel for writing that I lost that which I enjoyed about the writing, the wordsmithing. I should have clung tenaciously to my pulp influences and enjoined them in my writing instead of purging. But it was not only that, as I can say honestly, the article was boring. The country of Hyrmdaal was a boring land and I did nothing to raise it above it's clean, friendly, productive nature. It lacks character and so does the writing. I write about the stuff of the land without really writing about the heart of the land. I describe elements of the country like a prose laundrylist. When I wanted to describe a land where hardworking farmers and noble folk work together to make a land that will someday rival the empires of the west and those in the legends of the Olde Worlde, I only describe building colours and the structure of the social strata. Oh those details have their place but they should be tempered with the things that make a land interesting, its oddities and colourful folk. There should have been more specifics, examples of people and places and events and locations.
But as I said, I am not too broke up about it for now we have the new article, the neighbour and rival -- Can'Manaar, the land of ninjas and poison and xenophobia but more cities in three hundred miles of high coastal cliffs than in the entire east. Can'Manaar's article will be the story of one elf's journey, an elf with hereditary ties to the land allowing him to go where most would be killed on site for doing. It is definately going to attempt to have a voice.
Koyuki is your typical japanese anime kid in junior highschool -- not popular, not very confident and oh so clumsy. We pick up in his life with him reconnecting with a childhood friend, a girl who is into indie rock "lives" or what we would call "gigs". But she is really only a plot device as she serves to introduce this kid, up to now only into the typical japanese pop idols, to live music performed by kids near his age in loud underground nightclubs, literally underground for the most part. She also knows Ryuusuke, recently returned from America, english speaking and the hottest thing on a guitar in the city's music scene. We also meet Ryuusuke's dog, Beck, for who the series is named and the weirdest (translate only) franken-dog I have ever seen in anime. Oh yeah, and Ryuusuke's sister, Maho. Hot sister.
Very quickly the story becomes about Koyuki getting together with Ryuusuke's new bandmates, as he abandons his and from the first episode during a dispute about who's the creative leader of the band. Ryuusuke takes the flea-esque bassist with him and puts together a new ensemble. Koyuki is on the periphery and is determined to become one of them. The next 20+ episodes are about their, but mainly Koyuki's rise to fame, in a bid to become "hit in America" as the title song goes. And to get together properly with Maho despite her idiot english speaking friends. We get the usual mixed cast of over the top weirdos (bizarrely pervy swimming/guitar teacher), antagonists (high school rock god's son) and villains (music producer from the states) but a surprisingly straight forward journey of learning to play music, discovering natural talent, playing lives, producing a first demo disk and finally, doing a tour of the US, to sold out shows in the college scene. It's a really nice view into another country's idea of what it is to be rockers, albeit one with obvious US Worship. The fact that rock was born in the US is not lost on these kids.
While enjoying it immensely I could not help but giggle by the english language worshipping and an unintended side-effect in the grand amounts of Engrish. Ryuusuke, who is supposed to speak perfect English for having lived in the US for long, stammers badly through basic sentences. Other characters, who were supposed to be native english speakers obviously were voice actors capable of faking an american accent but only understood english in passing. You will also have to forgive me for giggling at Koyuki's english singing but at least is forgiveable because he admits to knowing very little english. As for whether this would be typical of the reverse, I wouldn't know, because... well I couldn't tell well-spoke japanese from bad and have you heard an american TV actor speaking french lately? That is the point of it being used in the series -- it's considered cool to be speaking it no matter your accuracy. My favourite bit was the fact that the series sub-title, Mongolian Chop Squad (the kids' band name in the US) was Mongorian for a handfull of episodes. But my even more favouritish use of language in the series was by our loving fansubbers, who subtitled signage as if the script (in english) was attached to the signs in question. When we see the "fishing pond" sign from behind, the words in english, floating above the sign proper, are reversed, as if we could actually read them from within the anime.
Unlike many anime series that lose steam about 75% into their story, this one went well. There was typical aggravating (lack of) attention paid to the love-interest subplot but it was resolved in the end, as if their success at a band was paralleled by Koyuki's success in a love life. The poor kid always had a confidence problem but for when he was singing his heart out, singing love songs for her. Well, kind of love songs -- one was from Ryuusuke's point of view, not Koyuki's. It handled well, all the way through and despite being dated for the music choices (late 90s early 2000s???) it did a good job of being timeless in what it paid attention to -- working hard, practicing alot but understanding that your heart has to be in the music and it cannot just be about the popularity and money.
I have been editing the first (completed) article for a few minutes before bed every night, so not writing so much new material. It's amazing how much continuity I can lose between sections just because it's been a few days between writing. But I have continued to make notes in my bag book and in the bedside book, as ideas come to me. These notes are the epitome of fluff material when it comes to source material for my world. They are the sidebars and those shaded books so often seen in published game books.
For example, I envisioned a common Kopaak dining style popular in taverns and inns that service the hard working cotters and farmers of the countryside. It's such an old tradition that even without the need it has carried over into some city & town eating places, purely on popularity and nostalgia. Also, a family & farm version of it will happen at farmstead kitchens where a cookhouse will be near the gate entrance and working folk will mingle in as the work in the fields comes to a day's end.
The working folk come in at midday or at the end of a long day in the fields. They walk through the main door stopping by the big wicker baskets at the door. Inside are wooden spoons and forks, as well as bread & cheese. Each work grabs some utensils and the bread & cheese. They then make their way over to the fireplace or hearth which is dotted with pigeon holes either side of the fire itself. These shelves are open to the back of the hearth letting them be heated by ambient all day long heat. In each is an earthenware bowel with wooden handles and a cover. The worker grabs and pushes his way to a trestle table, elbowing in among familiar faces.
In each bowl is a simple meal, pre cooked and portioned into the bowl earlier. It could be a chicken leg with onions and root vegetables. It could be a stew of beef and seasonal vegetables. It could be a mash mixed with chicken & lamb. It will always be a hearty food that goes well with the bread & cheese and a small ale they can grab from a keg or bartender. At the end of the meal they bring up the utensils and bowl, and if it's a public place, then they pay their coin and be on their way.
This is the kind of fluff that I want to populate my world with. Sure I envision my world articles as gaming material but for the most part that will be incidental. There will be little crunch. There will be no prestige classes, no racial feats and no new spells. I might end up adding a new monster or two or mention new style weapons, but these will be more fluff oriented, added as flavour. That is the blessing of writing it for myself and for Marmy -- the crunch will happen when it has to happen.
I have also decided to take this philosophy with gaming 3.5 D&D as well. I was making another character to see if I could get over the feel of how much drudgery it is. The Old Skool feel of joy when putting together a character is just not there in this tradition. I always feel I am too uncomfortable with it. I always feel I have to look back at the beginning of the player's guide and see what I missed. I am always looking at the empty spots on character sheets and wondering if I want to fill them in. So, I am going to resurrect my personal D&D sheet and take cues from what I leave empty on a sheet after I consider him done. Leave that all out and I should have a fun and quickly put together sheet for making characters in my games.
I will leave my crunch to cookie baking.
We recently cancelled cable TV, to save some money, and hopefully eliminate some of the "staring at nothing" time wasting. It's amazing how much time you can spend just clicking between channels and not actually watching a show. Once thing about DLing what you are going to watch is the focus you end up with, no commercials and no channel to flick away to. And I love the fact I can have access to first run TV that is normally not available in Canada.
No, none of this is on the up and and up and if some agency sees fit, I have paved my path to incarceration. But I hope the enlightened types will see that I am also promoting that which I enjoy and think is worthy of talking about. I pay for (most) movies and still consider the theatre experience as the best way to see a flick. As for TV, it's about time that dinosaur changed it's ways.
What's going on? Mitch Yost (bruce greenwood, canadian staple actor) is a surfer, some well known god to surf fans, who dropped out due to a knee injury and has probably been nursing belligerence ever since. He has a druggie son, who was also a surfing god but probably lost it to the needle, a hot ex-wife (rebecca de mornay) and a possible second-coming grandson, and i mean more than the second coming of surfing. John, our namesake, seems autistic but gifted as he shows up, sprouts odd sayings (which everyone just accepts in stride, of course) and performs minor miracles. Why is he here? Is he responsible for the coincidental gathering that closes the episode? What is up with that floaty trick? Tonight's episode (should be out there by now) will tell some more.
Paprika is the latest anime movie from Satoshi Kon, possibly the only anime creator I am willing to remember the name of. He did Millenium Actress, Perfect Blue and my favourite (non-superhero, alien or magical) anime Tokyo Godfathers. He also did the mindfuck series, Paranoia Agent, which made my head ache. This movie borrows the incredible psychadelia from the series but actually has a tighter plot than most of Kon's mindfucks. It may be due to the plot being based on a novel. But I cannot help but feel like it was lacking, without the rubbing of the brow at the end.
What was going on? Atsuko Chiba is a psychologist working on a dream therapy device called the DC Mini which interfaces with their dream viewing computer. Simply said, the devices are stolen and are being used to manipulate the dream states of the public. This leads to dreams leaking out into reality with nasty consequences. The namesake is Dr. Chiba's alternate dream form, a lighthearted fearless redhead vs the doctor's serious, sober dark haired nature. Paprika is assisted by a police detective, who he was working with to explore his own issues via dreams, and they have to fight the dream states of not only the "terrorist" (anime loves to banter that phrase around) but the public dragged into the world of dreams.
It was just so fucking colourful !! The dream states were completely weird and disturbing but with a connectivity that you could understand. Backgrounds were as intricate in the real world as they were in dreamstate lending itself to the damage that could be caused. If you had boring dreams, I doubt you could be as dangerous. What I enjoyed the most is that the post-dreamwar world was truly damaged, not just "only in their heads." You could see re-construction going on as the movie ended which led to me wonder what the spin was on the big hole at the center of the city.
Reading the ENWorld Wiki reminded me of my favourite self-created campaign world -- Weffenruga. Weffenruga, or The Woven Rug was a rectangular world hanging from four chains of the heavens. Literally the land was woven from the threads of fate & destiny by the gods themselves that dwelled in the stars & sky above the rug. Two of the chains had suffered ill-fates with one rusting and having to be shortened by a single link, which caused the lands of that corner to slide together, creating massive mountain ranges, open volcanoes and a dangerous land in general. One chain had broken all together weighing down and spilling off the contents of one corner. This was an extremely dangerous area where the oceans and rivers around it flowed into a maelstrom and off the literal edge of the world. The other major aspect of the world was that it was divided into fabric patches, small squares with natural land mass dividers, each a distinct people. Crossing over the boundaries was not difficult but it did require an effort usually left to the hardy and the trader. Weffenruga was a mysterious and odd world.
Yes, I took a piece of graph paper and defined this as the world. It was a flat world, a world with an edge. You could literally walk or sail off the edge of the world. There was a sky above with a small sun that travelled the length of the world in a repeating metronome fashion. Those lands at the edges had strange repeating sunlit days while those nearer the center had long periods of night. The sun shone down on the land in a vertical pattern running north to south but appeared to those below as a ball of light. When the sun was not in the sky, the star pattern of the heavens was above. The gods lived above this pattern. Below the woven rug were the tatters and the mistakes of weaving and this was the underworld. Evil creatures clung in reverse gravity beneath the rug, in a tormented land of endless night. horrible mountain ranges, massive ravines, crevasses with no bottom, open lava pools and every other tormented geographic features made up the underside of the rug, as well as a few unique features that were considered unworthy of the light, such as the Crystal Range, a small mountain range of perfectly formed crystals with a massive glowing castle at it's center.
The campaign was very basic. The characters represented those interested in crossing the borders of the patches. They were curious folk, restless adventuring types all drawn together because they had heard rumours of changes in the land. Was another chain about to break? Was an area becoming thread bare and unravelling? Something was a stir and they were to travel from patch to patch gathering clues.
It came about because I tired of the typical "earth like" D&D world. This was early university and really, none of my worlds had gone beyound a massive world map and a few months of play. No campaign bible ever was created and all notes were in my head. I used to be a very spontaneously creative person able to adlib things endlessly. Or at least I was secure in my personal knowledge that I was good in it, instead of wrapped in self doubt. I never had a blank page like I am plagued with now. I didn't require notes because I created them as I went. I desperately would love that feel back but creating on word processor and paper is a good second. Every created D&D world took place on a ball of mud in space, on a planet a bit bigger or a bit smaller than earth. Usually one side of the planet would be covered by the maps with room for creation later in the age of the creation. Modern understanding of geography, climate, ocean activity, etc. would all apply creating a world with a "real feel". Unfortunately this does not lend itself very well to anything fantastical. There really isn't any land of open lava pools, scorched earth Mordor-style land masses on our earth -- at least not country-sized. It's fun to take liberties with science. This is what fantasy is all about.
