Second Verse, Same As The First... Plus Bonus Material...

Ran the second session of Feng Shui this Thursday passed... Once again, it was a lot of fun... We enjoyed it a great deal.

It is going well enough that I am setting up a second campaign of it, but I am waiting to start it until the final PDF for the revision is ready before I do so. It has been indicated that the file should be ready by the end of the month, and I for one am almost giddy...

I really dig this game, and it is one of those little-known gems in the RPG section of our hobby that folks don't seem to pay much attention to.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the table...

The last run of my Chicago-based "Collapsed Timelines" Champions game went fairly well. We were down a couple of players, but those that were there did alright. They fought a group of hyper-powered assassins called the Hired Guns. In the end, the still as-yet-named group of heroes captured two of the four culprits, and lived to fight another day.

The run went well enough that I am working on bringing back another thing I used to do for my Champions games back in the late 80s/early 90s. I am hoping to find some space that will host PDF files that is fairly easy to us, as I would love to make a campaign site that my players could use and the rest of y'all could dig through.

Toodles for now... =)

peace... GopherDave

More Progress... the Asylum

After a delay of a day due to some shenanigans at the store which interrupted a night off, I have finished the game mechanic bits for the Asylum. Next up are a group overview and backgrounds for the individual members, plus all the fiddly bits like quotes, appearance descriptions, etc.

Depending on what happens later on today, I should be able to finish the backgrounds for at least one of the characters, if not two. Given the group, they are a mixed bag of nuts, but they can be scary because they have a purpose and a mission.

I almost forgot that I have some gaps to fill in from an earlier post...

• the Orderly -- A goon that drugs folks by shoving a veritable cornucopia of pharmaceuticals into the mouths of the unwilling. Barring being able to turn people into vegetables with pills, the Orderly is just as willing to beat a person into a mental lima bean.
• Rubber Room -- What stretches through cracks? Chokes necks and breaks back? It would be the one they refer to as Rubber Room. That said, the pliant one shows a softer side at times, shielding innocent witnesses to the brutality that the Asylum practices on a routine basis.
• Lobotomy -- Two drills, no waiting... Lobotomy is the tactician of the group, and is a highly skilled fighter with a mean streak a mile wide. His favorite trick is to grab a victim around the neck from behind and drill. Mess ensues...
• E.S.T. -- The name is short for Electro-Shock Therapy, but the only folks getting short-circuited are his targets. Be prepared for pain and the smell of ozone when this guy hits the proverbial dance floor.
• Dr. X -- All minds are pliant under to auspices of the "good doctor". Whether it's conjuring up nightmares or lulling victims off into hypnotic slumber, Dr. X seems to always have the right prescription on hand.

Once I get the background bits done and into the Hero Designer files, I will be more than willing to fire those files off to a few discernable folks for perusal. However, current players in my game need not apply for that job... =P

peace... GopherDave

Progress Update... the Asylum

Currently working on the Sixth Edition HERO System mechanics for the Asylum, a group of villains I've been throwing against players since third edition. Three of them are done from a game mechanics standpoint. Two more to put together, and then I will need to do various background details that involve actual writing. In that regard, I have been taking notes (both mental and electronic) on both individual histories, as well as a group history. Progress is slow, but it is progress.

From the art standpoint, I have been talking to a couple of folks, but I am not going to put out any sort of art direction until I get some more details worked out with game system licensing (which is in the VERY PRELIMINARY stages).

As it goes, in the group we have...

• the Orderly -- A goon that drugs folks by shoving a veritable cornucopia of pharmaceuticals into the mouths of the unwilling. Barring being able to turn people into vegetables with pills, the Orderly is just as willing to beat a person into a mental lima bean.
• Rubber Room -- What stretches through cracks? Chokes necks and breaks back? It would be the one they refer to as Rubber Room. That said, the pliant one shows a softer side at times, shielding innocent witnesses to the brutality that the Asylum practices on a routine basis.
• Lobotomy -- Two drills, no waiting... Lobotomy is the tactician of the group, and is a highly skilled fighter with a mean streak a mile wide. His favorite trick is to grab a victim around the neck from behind and drill. Mess ensues...
• E.S.T. -- (mechanics in progress)
• Dr. X -- (mechanics in progress)

When I hit a wall with character work, I fire up Adobe InDesign and tool around with the look of the packaging. I've done one version of things in that regard thus far, but I am not real happy with it. So I'm going back to the drawing board.

I am also still looking for a project name. I've got a couple of ideas, but I'm not truly enamored with either of them. One references the police agency in the world in charge of keeping super-powered folks in check ("the H.U.R.T. Files" or "the H.U.R.T. Locker"), while the other refers to the main "super-prison" in the world ("the MESA Mandates"). Again, not my favorites, and I am still looking.

peace... GopherDave

Stay On Target...

I hate my phone camera... I had to doctor this shot up to get even close to colors I was actually wearing today... =P

Okay... This is going out to all, I dunno, ten of you who actually read this thing. I am officially putting out the call for artistic types who can work in a superhero style/medium to do simple character portraits for a number of NPCs I'll be putting together over the next few weeks. The pay isn't great (in fact it'll be lousy), but it may get better with time.

See? Not only am I thinking about doing these things for personal satisfaction. I am seriously considering going through the motions of actually publishing (PDF only) these things for a modicum of payment. Some license stuff has to be worked out first, and I actually need to put some of these character stories that are in my head onto "paper", but I am slowly cementing a plan of action on how to get all of this done. They say it never hurts to have goals, and in regard to my being actually published in the game industry, I think this is it. I attempted this once before about twenty years ago, but the timing was absolutely wrong.

Now, while I'm not certain that the timing is right, it's at least better. Plus, I've been kind of inspired as of late...

My first projects...

the Asylum -- The approach to what the Asylum does is horrifying, sickening, and brutal, but what they are actually doing (and to whom) will present a serious moral challenge to the heroes they face. The subject matter around this group is dark, adult, and borderline explicit. Five characters, each with their own motivations, untied by a common thread.

Gateway Guardians -- A team of NPC Superheroes based in St. Louis (Arcflight, Big Muddy, Cardinal Red, Echo, and Jetstreak), meant to give a game world more flavor and help any overworked and/or novice GMs populate their game with good characters outside of their own PCs.

(Solo Villain Collection #X) -- It seems like this project needs some sort of cool "product name", but I really don't have one for it, yet. I'm thinking six to ten villainous characters for each "volume", possibly united by some sort of theme as well. Or maybe just a collection of whatever goobers I happen to bash out on the keyboard that month.

(Heroic NPC Collection) -- A smattering (five to eight) of heroic (and anti-heroic) types meant to add flavor and drama to a GM's game world. The characters presented here won't be tied to a geographical location, and so they can dropped in just about any place the GM puts their campaign.

I'm off, now... to go create "folks" and send off e-mails to potentially get this project up and running from a commercial standpoint...

Laterz... GopherDave

Constructive Revalations...

I'm slowly learning how to use the phone camera... BLEH...

Another day, ummm... another day?

Seriously though... I *BELIEVE* things are beginning to get better internally. I still have not grieved for my friend in my usual ways, but I began to think about things a bit, and I may be grieving without realizing it.

My friend, Josh, was/is a gamer. He did a great deal of his work in the Pathfinder realm, including being the layout guru for AdventureAWeek.com for a long time. Josh was a large reason why they put out their first "deluxe" product this past year at GenCon. Rise of the Drow is a gorgeous book, and the AAW guys should be proud of what they accomplished.

Anyway, to get back on track, Josh also did a bit of design work. Again, mostly in Pathfinder, but one of his last projects was a line of supervillain write-ups for Mutants & Masterminds 3E called the Theta Files. Josh only got three of them completed before his health deteriorated to the point where he could no longer work. In an effort to honor Josh, I contacted Rogue Genius Games in order to see if Josh had left any incomplete Theta Files in their possession, with the intent to finish them. When RGG got back to me, it was to indicate that they had nothing left unfinished from Josh. I was more than a little bummed...

Then, I found myself turning toward the plethora of villain write-ups I need to do for my Champions campaign, and actually *WANTING* to do them. Thinking about it more, I realized that, perhaps subconsciously, this is how I'm dealing with my grief... in a constructive way. Hence, my idea for an idea for a series of "Enemies"-style PDF publications for some villains that I have used in *MANY* Champions games, and a few that have never been more than a concept in my head and a "name" on a page.

Now, and here's my largest obstacle with this, I am *NOT* an artist. In fact, it is a crime in at least eleven states and three other countries for me to even attempt art. Thus, if you know of any artistic folks who can do comic-style art poses for *MEGA-CHEAP*, drop me a line and let me know...

peace... GopherDave

Uncle...

Found a new way to take pictures with my phone that is easier than before... Shame they look like crap... The sweater is dark green, the tie is gold, and the shirt is blue in reality.

Yeah, the hits just keep on coming this year. Had a good friend pass a couple of weeks ago. The funeral and memorial services have all passed, and everyone is getting on with their lives. Me? I haven't grieved yet. I expect it to come at the most inopportune time. That's the way the year has gone.

Game-wise, things are decent. Most of my recent issues stem from the morass of depression that I cannot seem to get myself out of...

Side note... I've seen Guardians of the Galaxy seven times now... I have a problem... Also, if you haven't seen it, do so... NOW!

Back to games... Tai'eres is in a good place story-wise, though I am about ready to "publish" another revision. I need to figure out where that will fall, as I don't like to change rules on players too much in mid-campaign, and this is looking like a significant update/change.

The Champions game has gone through yet another reboot. This time around, I've given it more structure from my end. There is still one more character to introduce (his player has been out of town on business for a bit), but things are looking better than they were. I am also looking at taking my villain write-ups and collecting them up in a "Enemies"-style sourcebook. That would take me a lot of work on my end, as many of the backgrounds are lost to old file formats and the physical copies were most likely tossed in one of our many moves over the years. I started on this a bit, and created a nice "government file" format that looks good on the screen. Unfortunately, it looks like crap printed out, so I may just chuck the whole government aesthetic of what I am doing and put it together in something that is basic, readable, and appealing. The basic idea is to do booklets that cover a villain team of four to seven bad guys, and perhaps compilations of solo villains with five to ten in each. This is still in the working stages...

Tootles for now...

-- GopherDave

Testing HTML With Bunnymaster...

Bunnymaster
Val Char Points Total Roll Notes 15 STR 5 15 12- HTH Damage 3d6 END [1] 21 DEX 22 21 13- 15 CON 5 15 12- 10 BODY 0 10 13 INT 3 13 12- PER Roll 12-/16- 12 EGO 2 12 11- 15 PRE 5 15 12- PRE Attack: 3d6 6 OCV 15 6 6 DCV 15 6 3 OMCV 0 3 4 DMCV 3 4 6 PD 4 6/18 6/18 PD (0/6 rPD) 3 ED 1 3/15 3/15 ED (0/6 rED) 5 SPD 30 5 Phases: 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 8 REC 4 8 35 END 3 35 30 STUN 5 30 12" Running 0 12m 4" Swimming 0 4m 4" Leaping 0 24m Total Characteristics Cost: 122
Cost Powers END 10 Aluminum Bunny Feet: Hand-To-Hand Attack +3d6, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (22 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Restrainable (-1/2), Hand-To-Hand Attack (-1/4) 0 6 Aluminum Bunny Feet: Leaping +20m (24m forward, 12m upward), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (12 Active Points); OIF (-1/2), Restrainable (-1/2) 1 14 Armored Vest: (Total: 30 Active Cost, 14 Real Cost) +6 PD (6 Active Points); Requires A Roll (12- roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4), OIF (-1/2) (Real Cost: 3) plus +6 ED (6 Active Points); Requires A Roll (12- roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4), OIF (-1/2) (Real Cost: 3) plus Resistant Protection (6 PD/6 ED) (18 Active Points); Requires A Roll (12- roll; Must be made each Phase/use; -3/4), OIF (-1/2) (Real Cost: 8) 0 8 Rabbit Ears: +4 PER with Hearing Group 0 3 Rabbit Ears: Ultrasonic Perception (Hearing Group) 0 5 Mental Defense (5 points total) 0 4 Savate Block: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort 4 Low Kick: 1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 7d6 Strike 5 Side Kick: 1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 9d6 Strike 4 Hook: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +0 DCV, 7d6 Strike 4 Savate Disarm: 1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, +1 DCV, Disarm; 35 STR to Disarm 5 Jab/Cross: 1/2 Phase, +1 OCV, +3 DCV, 5d6 Strike 3 Footsweep: 1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -1 DCV, 6d6 Strike, Target Falls 8 +2 HTH Damage Class(es)   Skills 3 Acrobatics 13- 3 Breakfall 13- 3 Climbing 13- 3 Persuasion 12- 3 Stealth 13- 3 Streetwise 12- 1 Tactics 8- 1 Teamwork 8- 50 +5 with All Attacks
Total Powers & Skills Cost: 153
Total Cost: 275
275+ Disadvantages 10 Distinctive Features: Huge Rabbit Ears (Concealable; Noticed and Recognizable; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 20 Enraged: When Taunted About Ears (Common), go 8-, recover 8-
Total Disadvantages Points: 30

This is a test of exporting characters from HERO Designer into a HTML file and posting it in Blogger. I had to make a few modifications, but it seemed to go smoothly. Expect more of this in the future, complete with actual background and stuff...

peace... GopherDave

Not Dead Yet... ...But It Came Close...

This last Saturday was another attempt to reboot my long-suffering Champions game. It didn't go badly, but smooth it was not...

Out of six players, five made it. One couldn't do it due to work reasons that took him WAY out of town, and that was expected, so that was no big deal. Out of the five folks that showed, one player kept the character he's been playing for a bit, another two players reverted back to other characters they had played previously that were not their current characters, and the last two players gave me brand-new never seen-before-by-me characters right about game time.

So much for hitting the ground running...

After much character consternation, and a LOT of side tangents (which is something of a sticking point with this group), things get rolling with four characters. The fifth one never showed up as the player changed his mind about wanting to play him and decided to come up with a different concept. So it goes...

After a great cosmic event (called "the Collapse") in which several alternate timelines get shoved into one, returning hero, Ace, is transplanted to Chicago. Being connected to the U.S. Government in a fashion that no one truly understands, Ace is directed/persuaded/has-the-idea-planted-in-his-head to form a new team for the city as the old one is lost to the eons via the Collapse.

Meanwhile, in Lake Michigan, alien transplant Prince Dormin (fish-man extraordinaire) encounters a being creating sheets of ice along the surface of the lake. Prince Dormin goes to say "hello", and ends up freaking the poor guy out, so much so that he runs off to call his friend so they can turn in this alien to the government or the Tabloids, whoever will pay more. Ace, in an effort to gather like-minded supers to his cause, has heard reports a mysterious fish-man in the city.

Long expository story made shorter... Ace meets Prince Dormin on the shore of Lake Michigan. While there, they get spotted by Torque, who just happened to be cruising by on his motorcycle at the time. Torque calls his friend Jury-Rig. While waiting for Jury-Rig to show up, the fearful ice-making guy has returned with his friends to capture Prince Dormin. Hence, the newly-forming team is confronted by the (not-so) super-villain team known as Core Dump.

CORE DUMP

Iceberg -- A pretty bog-standard Iceman-like energy projector.
Sunstreak -- A speedster who can generate moderate beams of heat from his hand.
Grenade -- A limited energy projector who can explode at the end of his leaps.
Thug -- A flying strongman who's pretty much about two letters short of an IQ.

- and -

Bunnymaster -- Core Dump's dastardly leader who has enhanced hearing (big rabbit ears) and wears larger, spun-cast aluminum bunny feet. Plus, he's pretty good at Savate.

The teams clash, and in the end, Thug and Iceberg are captured while Sunstreak, Bunnymaster, and Grenade all high-tail out of Dodge once they quickly realize just how far in over their heads they were against the PCs.

Overall, not bad, but the game was sidetracked for the first couple of hours with the character issues and the *MANY* conversation tangents this group tends to take. While I myself am guilty of some of them, there was enough non-game related conversation that after being interrupted by such in my first sentence of trying to actually start the game on THREE SEPARATE INSTANCES, I almost just packed up my notes and killed the game right then and there.

I am glad that I didn't, and that I found the patience to continue, but a conversation needs to be had with a number of folks, because it is affecting at least one player's enjoyment of the game...

...and one game master's...

peace... GopherDave

Groundpounder [CHAMPIONS 6E NPC]

GROUNDPOUNDER

Val   Char    Cost
50    STR     40
18    DEX    16
25    CON   15
20    BODY 10
5      INT      -5
10    EGO     0
20    PRE     10

8      OCV    25
8      DCV    25
3      OMCV  0
3      DMCV  0
30    PD        -2
20    ED        -2
4      SPD     20
15    REC     11
60    END      8
60    STUN  20

15m   RUN      3
0m     SWIM   -2
39m   LEAP     3
Characteristics Cost: 195

Cost Power
14 Contagious Stupidity: Drain INT 1 1/2d6, Area Of Effect (4m Radius; +1/4), Personal Immunity (+1/4), Persistent (+1/4), Constant (+1/2), Uncontrolled (+1/2), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2) (49 Active Points); No Conscious Control (-2), No Range (-1/2)
30 Steel-Hard Skin: Resistant Protection (20 ED)
45 Steel-Hard Skin: Resistant Protection (30 PD)
50 Strength Tricks: Multipower, 50-point reserve
4f 1)  Knockback Resistance -50m (50 Active Points); Costs Half Endurance (-1/4)
5f 2)  Leaping +29m (39m forward, 19 1/2m upward) (x64 Noncombat), Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points)
5f 3)  Tunneling 11m through 12 PD material, x4 Noncombat, Reduced Endurance (1/2 END; +1/4) (50 Active Points)
Powers Cost: 153

Cost Martial Arts Maneuver
4 Charge:  1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, -2 DCV, 12d6 +v/10 Strike, FMove
4 Crush:  1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +0 DCV, 14d6 Crush, Must Follow Grab
4 Martial Block:  1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, +2 DCV, Block, Abort
3 Martial Grab:  1/2 Phase, -1 OCV, -1 DCV, Grab Two Limbs, 60 STR for holding on
4 Martial Strike:  1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 12d6 Strike
5 Offensive Strike:  1/2 Phase, -2 OCV, +1 DCV, 14d6 Strike
Martial Arts Cost: 24

Cost Skill
16 +2 with HTH Combat
3 Breakfall 13-
3 Climbing 13-
3 KS: Janitorial Arts 10-
3 Streetwise 13-
Skills Cost: 28

Total Character Cost: 400

Pts. Disadvantage
15 Hunted:  Police Frequently (Less Pow; PC has a Public ID or is otherwise very easy to find; Harshly Punish)
5 Negative Reputation:  Not Very Bright, Frequently (Known Only To A Small Group)
15 Psychological Complication:  Coward (Common; Strong)
15 Psychological Complication:  Bully (Common; Strong)
15 Social Complication:  Public Identity Frequently, Major
10 Unluck: 2d6

Disadvantage Points: 75
Base Points: 400
Experience Required: 0
Total Experience Available: 0
Experience Unspent: 0

Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 286 pounds/130 kg
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown

Background/History: Ashmoore Whitlock was once a simple thug who had problems spelling his own name, let alone successfully committing crimes without the help of others. During a routine heist, Ashmoore was instructed to break into a chemical warehouse and open the valves on two specific tanks. Amazingly, Ashmoore did this successfully. What he didn't do was don any sort of protective gear before the dumped the contents of the two tanks onto the warehouse floor. The resultant mixture of the two substances created fumes that interacted with Ashmoore's physiology and brain chemistry, granting him his abilities of immense strength and his "stupidity field".

Not surprisingly, it turns out that Ashmoore's break in was set to be a distraction while his "friends" robbed a jewelry exchange and made off with a small fortune in uncut gems.

Since then Ashmoore/Groundpounder has been in and out of prison numerous times. How he escapes prison typically falls into one of three categories... Someone is breaking him out because their plan needs a strong, dumb guy... There is a breakout by someone else, and Groundpounder just sort of finds himself in the outward flow of things... or eventually, the guards and other prison personnel forget about his secondary ability and he just strolls out because they forgot to lock the doors behind them.

Personality/Motivation: Groundpounder is your stereotypical "dumb thug". He just happens to come with the added bonus of being able to bring those around him (friend or foe) down to his intellectual level without much effort. His general personality is that of a bully and a coward. If Groundpounder has the upper hand on someone, he'll gladly keep pounding on them until something or someone else draws his attention elsewhere. When faced with a straight-up fight he cannot easily win, Groundpounder will simply claim that he's bored and leap away.

Quote: "I'mma make you stupid!"

Powers/Tactics: Hit it until it stops moving. If it made you mad while it was moving, hit it a couple more times, just because. (GM Note: Keep in mind that his stupidity field just simply exists. Groundpounder has *ZERO* control over it and it is always on... ...even when he is unconscious.)

Campaign Use: Groundpounder is the guy who gets used by and thrown under the bus by everyone who hires him out or claims to be his friend. If a team needs a "big dumb guy" slot filled, or (more usually) needs someone to be a distraction for the heroes while the real crime is being committed, GP fits the bill nicely.

Appearance: Large. Moderately tall. Moderately wide. Pretty non-descript. Groundpounder doesn't typically wear a mask as he has been caught so many times, his identity is more than public. Plus, even if he *HAD* a secret identity, it wouldn't be a secret for long as Ashton would just probably leave his mask at home or forget to put it on, even if he had it with him in the first place.

Not Dead Yet...

Mostly, I'm speaking of my Circle City Champions campaign. You know... the one I almost shot dead in the face by taking it into decidedly non-heroic, X-rated territory for some odd reason even I haven't fathomed yet, and I'm the one who took it that direction...

Well, after last session, I can say that the patient has made an almost complete recovery!

I have one player who is not thrilled by the turn of events, but he is a hard core character plumber that really has no experience with comic-book genre conventions. The other players and I are trying to convert him and get him to realize that what is happening to *ALL* of the characters is, in fact, a normal trope of the superhero genre, but it will take time. He's stubborn like that...

As for what happened... well, I'll leave it to one of my players who posts here regularly to update all of that. I kind of want to hear things from their angle, anyway...

peace...

-- GopherDave

Back on Track..?

I ran my Champions: Circle City game this past Saturday, and things were different than usual...

If anyone has actually read previous posts, they will recall that this is the game I took to a really dark, and adult, place. A place much darker than a superhero game should ever go. It went to place so dark that a player deemed his character unplayable. While the player in question did try to assuage my guilt over the situation, I rightfully felt like an ass. I can honestly say that it was the lowest point in my thirty-six year history of game mastering. I was not certain I would be able to recover the campaign and bring it back to a point where it could be fun again, let alone would be.

Saturday... well, Saturday was probably the most fun I had GM-ing a game session in a couple of years. While the players were confused, and a touch frustrated, they had fun dealing with the situation I had been handing them, and by the end of the session (which ended on a cliffhanger) we, as a group, were smiling.

There is a chunk of work I have to do on the back end that I hope to have completed by the next session that will aid to where the story leads. If I don't get it done, it won't be the end of the world, but it might delay the climax of things by a session... perhaps, two.

For now, I have a Tai'eres campaign to get ready for. One that I have been perpetually frustrated in dealing with due to mapping software and mental block issues. Stuff for that needs to run this Thursday, and I have a *CHUNK* of work to get done for it...

...if I can get past the blockages...

-- GopherDave

Coming Out Of Hibernation...

Okay... I've been away for a while. My apologies for that, but all the drama bombs I had spoken about previously pretty much paled in comparison to what has been happening lately... A great deal has happened as of late, much of which has had my guts tied up in knots.

I wish I could put things in nutshells to explain, but most of them are not short stories... Here are some highlights, though...

• Mostly due to the two of us being very much alike, I almost completely destroyed my relationship with my son. It is on the mend now, but it is not out of the woods, yet...
• We have another game store joining us in the confines of C-U. It is a franchise of a chain not known to be amiable to their competition. In this case I know one of the franchisees on a cursory basis, and we welcome healthy, friendly competition, as it makes the scene better as a whole. This does give us three game stores in the area, and I've never known the local scene to support that many for too terribly long. We shall see...
• In addition to trying to fix my Champions game, I am gearing up to run yet another set of games in my home-brew fantasy setting, Tai'eres. Yeah, because I have TONS of spare time lying around for that...
• One of my ex-roommates passed away in his sleep at the age of 52. We haven't been close for a while, but his passing was a blunt reminder of my own mortality. Stupid mortality...

In the middle of everything, I have become a big ball of stress, which makes me very prone to a heart attack. I have had heart issues all my life, and I can pretty much recognize when my heart is prime to start giving me problems. I am not where I was roughly fifteen years ago, but I am at a close enough stage where I could will myself into a heart attack should I desired to.

I did that a couple of times as an adolescent, with one time requiring defibrillation. I can say this with the certainty that comes from personal experience... Avoid being defibrillated at all costs. It sucks the high, hard one. Basically, every muscle in your body is electrically forced to contract simultaneously at the moment of shock, and let me tell you... That. Shit. Hurts.

So, as I have typed this, and writing has become catharsis, I have come to the resolution to care about only what I can control, which is the direction I take socially with my family and friends, how I react to adverse situations that require my attention, and the direction our business takes. Beyond that, well...

...it just isn't worth the stress and the energy...

peace... GopherDave

Checking In...

Another day, another thing full of stress... but it's minor stress, so  it's okay.

I spoke with the player whom was most affected by the darkness I instigated in the Champions game this past Saturday. While I have a way to return him an untainted version of the character, he still has reservation about it, so he would like to bring a new character. It's totally understandable to me, and this is a mistake I will learn from. The idea I had, though, can be modified to bring in his new character *AND* lighten up the tone of the current campaign, so, it's still viable, and is going to be used.

Tomorrow will mark the 22nd anniversary of my marriage to the lovely, Loquacious one. We've been through a lot of things in our lives together, both good and bad, but I cannot think of another person I'd rather weather those storms or bask in the sunshine with. Loquacious is a large part of what made me who I am today, and I am all the better for it. Love you, sweetness... now and always.

-- GopherDave (a.k.a. The Dude)

Did That Just Really Happen..?

Okay... Last night was the second run of the Circle City Champions game I started a couple of weeks back. My general take on it was that if I had to take ANY game session back in my 35 years as a game master, last night's was it.

From what I gathered, no one was mad, and there very few (if any) hurt feelings over what happened during the session. So what went wrong? Based on a game situation, I took what is/was supposed to be a lighthearted game/genre and sent it to a *VERY* dark place. How dark? Take Law & Order: SVU and add a couple more shades of dark. As a result, for the first time ever, I rendered a character unplayable to his creator, and it resulted in PC suicide. The player (based on what he indicated) *IS* bringing in a different character.

I am not proud of where I took the game, as it added a layer of depression to what is supposed to be a fun activity. After the session, the players and I spoke about things a bit. Like I said, there are no hard feeling between the player and I, though I do feel a big heap of guilt. Anyway, speaking about things, knowing what I know about the villain in question, it made sense from what happened to have happened, and the players agreed with it to some degree. To be honest, the players pointed out that what has happened really gives the remaining PCs a reason to *HATE* the villain in question, once they discover who it is.

Still, all of this has me thinking about things a bit more in regard to the games I run. I'm finding more and more that as a GM (and a player) that I need to push the boundaries of what others find comfortable to explore characters and drama in a way that is interesting to me. Anymore, if my campaigns were to be made into a television series, they would be on Showtime or Cinemax because I will take things into dark and very adult subjects and situations.

For some games, that's not so bad, but for Champions/Superheroes it really creates a bummer vibe...

Drama Bombs...

Remember when I said last post that no news equals no drama? Yeah? Well, feh... There's another life theory shot all to hell...

Basically, the last few weeks have been filled with all kinds of drama ranging from financial to family, and it looks like more might be on the way. In between it all, I *DID* manage to start a Champions campaign...

The drama, I will not delve deeply into as it involves more than me, and several parties have said they are uncomfortable with me just blurting things out to the net even though I typically change names to protect, well, everybody but me. I understand it, and am trying to comply with it. I will say that the drama did involve Skribl and I making a 1100-mile round trip in about 19 hours to solve one of the issues in question.

As for the Champions campaign, that is fair game to discuss.

The Place

Indianapolis (a.k.a., the Circle City)

The Group

• The Fro - Smooth-talking 70's-based Black Sampson, except his hair grants him healing powers instead of strength.
• A.C.E. - The world's first extranormal, the Advanced Combat Entity is a cowboy-themed immortal, energy blaster.
• Torque - A bike-wrenching gearhead with the ability to be his own hydraulic lift.
• AKA - A hoodie and hockey mask-wearing mentalist that tries to stay out of direct battle and affect things from the fringes.
• Fahrenheit - Half-Jewish, half-Japanese temperature-based energy projector.

The Villains

• Groundpounder - A strongman so imbecilic his stupidity rubs off on those around him.
• Wraith - A ghostly assassin whose abilities let her affect the living.
• Slumber - An "energy projector" whose main abilities include draining people to exhaustion.
• Sledge - Another "energy projector" who flies and and fires chunks of "psionic concrete".
• Nameless Goons - Six, oddly armed regular goons who were hired for a job.

The Setting

A small pedestrian mall in the Broad Ripple area of town. One that has a coffee house, a comic-book shop, and a bank in it. It has other places as well, but we don't care about those.

Since this was the first run, I figured I'd just throw a basic fight at the group to sort of see what their combined abilities could do. The villains they faced were not very well coordinated, and pretty much operate as "lone gunman" and hired goons much of the time.

As it stood, the Goons tried to rob the bank while The Fro, Fahrenheit, and ACE were off getting coffee and AKA was working in his secret ID at the comic book store. Once alarms start going off, our intrepid heroes (and comic shop worker) go investigate. They find a group of normal, ski-mask wearing guys packing auto-fire "blasters" robbing the bank. As the fight begins, and normal goons begin going down, support arrives in the forms of Wraith, Groundpounder, and Slumber. Meanwhile, some near distance away, Torque spies Sledge going through the air in the direction of the fight (he's running late for his bit (stupid Unluck)). Soon, Sledge and Torque join the battle and it's on kind of like Donkey Kong.

I don't remember a ton of details, but I do remember that Slumber, Groundpounder, and Sledge got captured. All of the goons also got captured, but many more are heading to the hospital than to jail. There was a bit of interrogation with Slumber, who quickly ascertained that the hero group does not possess a detective among them. The heroes came to the conclusion that all of this (including the mix of villains) seemed somewhat random but didn't really understand why. Slumber theorized, and offered up this theory, that if one considered oneself a master villain and there was a new group of vigilantes in town than what better way to see what you are up against than to hire some random thugs to confront them.

That is where left it for the evening. Tonight, I will hopefully have time to plan Saturday's run. I have some ideas in mind and some missives to fire off to various players in the next day or so in order to set some things up.

-- GopherDave

No News Is No Drama...

Things are plugging along at the ol' Gopher hole... Sales are slower than I'd like, but that is just kind of what summer is like in retail in what is essentially a large college town.

Work proceeds apace on the Champions game. Once I post this, I have to fire off some e-mails, and then work on a couple of things. Now that I have some background from a few of the characters, I can start piecing some things together in regard to history. I have some things in mind that will be "public knowledge" and some things rattling around in my head that won't be. Whether or not the player's discover the hidden knowledge is entirely up to what direction we take the campaign.

Beyond that, life proceeds... I don't have much to say at the moment, but that's not all bad. It means the drama level is down...

-- GopherDave

Woof...

One... I know it's been a bit since I posted a picture, but it's been a nasty combination of hot and humid here the last couple of weeks, so I've been slumming it. Two, looking at this picture, I am beginning to realize that this is one of my favorite shirt/tie/sweater combinations. I wear it a lot compared to others. I'll have to watch that...

It's been a bit since I posted, so I thought I'd update some folks...

The Champions game is supposed to start tomorrow/later tonight (it is late as I'm writing this), but I have one player who still needs to build/finish his character. The player has a solid concept of what he wants to do, but he's new to the game system, and Champions Complete, for all it purports to be, is really kind of lacking in several areas (most notably examples). I will watch the store for the early part of the day, then try and sit down with him and get the mechanics for what he's trying to do knocked out.

I also am down yet another player. This brings the game to four. I originally wanted six players for the game, but given the experiment I was undertaking, having one guy drop out to bring the group to five was kind of a blessing. Now we are down to four. I have players waiting in the wings, but there is at least one of them that is not getting anywhere near my table again.

This player had played in one of my previous games and it was all I could do not to strangle him. On a personal level, this individual is not a bad person. Far from it, in fact. In game, though, this individual is the worst metagamer I have EVER encountered in 36+ years of role-playing. Frequently, there would be scenes that his character would have ZERO clue to know about and literally ZERO reason to be even be involved in, but this player would try to storm the scene with some bullshit reason and literally force the character FOR WHOM THE SCENE WAS WRITTEN/PLOTTED FOR out of the picture. I tried talking to him nicely... then firmly... then... I just gave up the game because he sucked the fun out for everybody else at the table, me included.

This is where being the store owner puts me in a precarious position. I do not want to alienate *ANYONE* from my store for any reason if I can help it. Blowing up at a person over a game tends to do that if one is in the position I am in. Thus, instead of tearing into the person like I would normally do (because subtlety and tact are not things I'm good at), I just sort of quietly put games on hiatus. It kind of sucks, but what can I do?

Like I said earlier, the player in question is not a bad person, just a frustrating player to have at a table. I have had many a great conversations with him outside of games, and honestly would love to keep doing so. In fact, he is trying to start up his own game, and if I were not participating in another game already, I'd probably play. Why, you might ask? Well, simply put, some of the things that make him frustrating to deal with as a player are actually pretty good qualities for a GM. I honestly think he would pretty damn good at the head of the table.

Anyway, I need to get going and finish some things for later. Part of me wishes I weren't running the store in the morning, but someone has to... C'est la vie... =P

-- GopherDave

Preliminaries...

Okay...

Got together with the play group on Saturday night to begin hashing out characters and setting/world info for the upcoming Champions campaign I'll be running.

The game will be set in modern-day Indianapolis, Indiana. Not the the first big city you think of, but definitely something I can work with. In addition to the various industries that we'll be creating for the game, Indianapolis is also the real-world home to Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals and Dow AgroSciences, as well as a few others. Just those two companies alone already have got me coming up with some cool ideas.

Mechanically, one of the characters is fully done, and another needs to finish disadvantages/complications. The other three are under construction, with two of them being done by players fairly well-versed in HERO System, and the other being a complete newbie, but more than willing to read and learn.

I'm off to go work on stuff... have fun...

-- GopherDave  

Choices, Choices...

Once again, not much is happening at the store today. I do have some important business that will take me away from here later on, but I am debating on if I am coming back to the Gopher afterward.

Why would I come back? Simple, I would really like to play some Warmachine, and we just put it back on the schedule last week. We'll have a Journeyman league starting next week, and part of me cannot wait. I just hope I will be able to participate on a regular basis.

However, if I come back to push little metal/plastic dudes around, then no work will get done on the upcoming Champions game, and I am seeing work I could be doing at this point. Why I didn't see it before is something that boggles me, but it's there.

Warmachine may have to wait until next week, but my Menites will not stay down forever. It's been some time since they burned the flesh of heretics, and they are hungry for the sight of the Flame of the Creator once again...

-- GopherDave

Nervous Anticipation...

It's another lovely day here at the Gopher. Skribl is inputting some new items into inventory (like I taught him) while I tap away here at the keyboard. There's actually a bunch to do, so this will be short.

"Non-work" proceeds on the Champions game. While I am not really doing much in the way of pre-planning, I am starting to template things in like general social support staff (mayor, cops, media, and such). Not entirely certain what the prevailing social attitudes will quite be yet, as that is, in part, to be determined by the backgrounds that the players hand me. More of that will also be determined by the meeting this upcoming Saturday where we hammer out character concepts and builds. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

The approach I am taking with this game, though,  is *VERY* foreign to me. Usually, by this time, I have at least a skeletal timeline and world history typed our, potentially important NPCs sketched out, and major villains of the world completely done in terms of stats, personality, and motivation. Currently, I don't even know exactly where the game will be set other than in a major city on modern-day Earth. While I stated above that I am looking forward to it (I am), the whole idea of having practically nothing really put together ahead of time has got me in a state of anxious apoplexy.

It kind of makes the whole thing seem exciting...

-- GopherDave