I Freaking LOVE the Duel of Wits

I do not care what others say. You can tell me that Burning Wheel is a byzantine mess of rules, which have weird and random applications. You can tell me that there are far too many skills that are totally unnecessary to run the game. You can say all those things, and it's legitimate to feel that way. But you're wrong, because the Duel of Wits exists and no other game has come even close to replicating the stories it's produced at my table. And, while the other BWHQ systems approach this level of emotional wringing, I think the Duel of Wits is the best at it, and may be BWHQ's star achievement.

First off there's the interaction table itself, which is one of the most intimidating things I've ever seen, seemingly second only to the Fight! table. On playthrough, however, Duel of Wits is the least complicated of the three extended conflicts. You pick out your actions, play it out against the other guy's stuff, and resolve it. It's rather straightforward. But the interplay with roleplay is what makes it stand apart from Fight! and Range and Cover. Emotion enters this unpredictable table, and because the emotion is so direct it means you're taking on this emotional roller coaster as well. When you enter a Duel of Wits you go to a place that is, to my experience, unique to the BWHQ games. Your arguments, your very soul, are subject to this whirlwind of a system. 

Once you're done with the rollercoaster the Duel of Wits then throws the possibly of Compromises at you. This means that, if you won (and are thus on an emotional high) you'll have to come down a bit. That's directly contrasted with the satisfaction of the loser, because they get something for their trouble! The emotional states of the players flip and you have to deal with this sudden reversal. However you came out in the wash you then have to do something to appease the other player, which helps with some particularly nasty Duel of Wits conflicts I've seen. Everyone can walk away at least mollified by the harrowing experience of arguing over the fate of the world, win or lose.

And, as if that's not good enough, there's the option to attempt to murder the dude who just beat you fairly! It's a dastardly move, and when it's used there's always this smirk that the player who invokes the rule has on his face: "I know you beat me, but I'm going to cheat. So there!" The release valve is now in a moment of pitched violence, as the two players struggle to see who will actually walk away from the argument. It's cheap, dastardly, and so very much fun. 

I dunno. I think there's so many good things about this game it's hard to list them, and I always find myself at a loss for how to describe my experiences playing this game. The Duel of Wits is a huge part of that experience for me. Next to the Trait Vote (which I think every game should have a variant of, just like Duel of Wits) I think it's one of my favorite mechanics in all of gaming, to the point that I don't really want to play in a game without it!

ADDENDUM: Of course Andy had to show me this:
I apologize for not making anything half so awesome.

Sabina's Castle: Session Eighteen

Anneli: the female elven main character, played by Andy. She's now with the humans from the remnants of the Argentum Empire. Commander Aloysius, the leader of the base, promised her that they would kill Nomi, as partners.

Nomi: Anneli's older sister, who has become a dark elf, serving the orc god of anger Rahbarl. She stole the key to the Island of Eternal Youth, a little toy sword, from Anneli a few sessions ago.

Octavian: Aloysius' aide, who has been acting as Anneli's guide.

Salomo: a soldier under extra duty hours for killing a prostitute. He had tried to become friends with Anneli, who shunned him after being told by Octavian what he had done. He's pretty bitter about that.

Anneli was back in Argentum Prime. She heard Nomi call for help. She ran towards her sister, but began to sink into the land as it were water.  The more she struggled the more she sank. There was a thrumming sound, going through the earth she was stuck in. An elf with non-ebony skin walked up to her, asking if she wanted to get out of the ground. Anneli told him she didn't know if she did or not. The pale elf laughed and said it had been a long time since he'd met someone so honest, and that he found refreshing. He knelt down, next to Anneli's head, and smacked her on the side of the head, hard.

Anneli was out of bed, wrapped in her blankets so tightly that she could barely move. There were no elves that were not ebony-skinned in her day and age, which must have meant she was dreaming of Liekki, the God Who had reclaimed their planet from the Khen-Zai, the Masters of Old. He had originally come as an elf, only to be betrayed by them and thrown off a cliff. That was long, long before Liekkin Mah, their kingdom continent from of old, had risen up into the air to become the Ring of Tears. Elves were pale-skinned in those days, before the radiation of the sun had darkened their skin and bleached their hair. But she also could have been dreaming of The Pilgrim, an elf from the elder days who now traveled through elven dreams. There were other ancient elves, those who had not darkened, who it could have been, but none that she knew of that visited the elves in dreams.

Someone was knocking at the door. After getting unwrapped from her bedclothes and getting dressed Anneli answered the door. It was Octavian and Salomo, who had come to get her for a meeting with Aloysius. She asked them what her place in their was, but Octavian declined to answer, given that was Aloysius' decision, not his.

All eyes fell on Anneli the instant they left the house. The whispers started a second later. Most of them didn't say anything that upset Anneli terribly, right up until someone called her "coal-face". That made her stop and s tare out into the crowd, phasing out just a moment as she processed that. One of the soldiers thought she was staring at him, so he came up and started to flirt with Anneli. snapping out of her reverie she tried to play along with his flirting. She was interrupted by Octavian, who put the soldier back in his place and sent him packing. He then upbraided Anneli for encouraging the soldier, and that earning respect wasn't going to happen that way.

In her meeting with Aloysius her place on the base was finally revealed: she had no place in the hierarchy itself, beyond reporting to Aloysius and his personal representatives.  Out of the base, alone, they were equals. But on the base Anneli needed to follow his lead. Anneli surmised it was so that there would be no confusion for his soldiers, which Aloysius readily agreed to.

Aloysius then told Anneli had a job for her. He needed her to lead an expedition into Argentum Prime, to go after Nomi, who had been seen traveling around there, openly. Salomo was assigned to Anneli as a personal aide. They went into a smaller house, where a group of dirty and loud special forces stood. They didn't behave like the other soldiers; they mocked Aloysius and talked while he gave his brief, which he seemed to think funny and endearing. Anneli tried to play along with them, to awkward results. Grabbing Salomo, she went outside and asked what she was doing wrong. She gave Salomo permission to speak, freely even! Salomo tore into her for thinking he would help her now; he was done reaching out and trying help her. He didn't think Anneli fit to lead and thought she'd get everyone killed.

Anneli walked back into the house and told the unit to shut up and get ready, cause they were heading out at dawn tomorrow. She had a role. She'd fulfill it.

May the Power Protect You: Trini Kwan (MMPR Yellow)

Because,

now that I know it's a dude in the Japanese footage,

I can't unsee it.

Trini is the second-most demanding character in the base set. She is essentially the jack-of-all-trades: part buffer, part sweeper, part trickster, and part raw damage, she fills in whatever is missing in the core five. She's tough, powerful, and has the most similar feel to Jason (I'MSTILLSHIPPINGTHEMSHUTUP).

THIS IS STILL MY HEADCANNON,

YOU MONSTROUS WRITERS!

...excuse me. There's an onion nearby.

Alright, got rid of the onion. 

Where were we?

Oh, right, I'm supposed to be doing a post about Trini in Heroes of the Grid. Right. I can do this. I must do this. Let's go.

Double Strike is, for my money, the best character ability in the core set. You awful awful people, they were a perfect p- Yup, the best. Double Strike, I mean. Yeah, Double Strike. No, seriously, Double Strike is amazing. You can use it to double up on any card, long as it has the same name. This means that Trini can jump in and do something really big, in practically any direction she wants, however big of a kick she likes. Or not. This makes her extremely flexible, allowing her do whatever is necessary, right then and there. It is hard to overstate how useful this is. The Trini players I've seen can shift their role at almost any point thanks to Double Strike. Need serious energy generation, which also gets Trini back on her feet? Check. Hit the crap out of an opponent? Yup! Spread damage around like a shotgun? Definitely! Trini does it all with Double Strike.

My favorite card for Trini is her Twin-Fang Teamwork. Being able to just lay out an extra damage on top of another attack is perfect. Those dice can be extremely fickle and this one little card lets you even out the odds in a very satisfying way. If you can double them up you can turn a soft hit into a solid hit or even a KO. Half the time whenever Trini is out I'm asking "Do you have Twin-Fang Teamwork dude?" It's usually answered with a laugh and I shake my head ruefully. But hey, Trini has to have other moves, right?

Well, I don't think so. This one's pretty darned perfect.

Precise Strike cannot be underestimated. Capable of killing most minion cards on its own, it can be a real terror when paired with Double Strike, which then becomes capable of knocking out monster and boss cards, especially with proper support. Trini is generally pretty self-sufficient, but if you pair her with Jason - like the writer should have kept doing, you piece of- you'll find some of the more satisfying combos in the core set.

I personally do not like the Sabretooth Tiger Zord. It can be useful at times, but I find that my deck's usually in such a state of disrepair that drawing cards is just going to hurt what's already a fraught situation. Now, in the situations when the zord is helpful it is an absolute lifesaver. I have run into times where I can't play anymore cards because of energy limits, or I just run out of cards, and in those points in time the Sabretooth Tiger Zord is an amazing thing to have. But I'm almost always near the bottom of the pile, so I'm selfishly not going to say that I like it very much.

But seriously, what the hell, Mr. Parrot??

A special thanks to Jonathan Ying, who clarified not a few rules and gave some advice that made the next playthroughs on Trini a genuine joy.

Moréna: Session Five

The Umbaran/Boros: The Wanderer character, played by both Lena and I. He's just discovered that his beloved sword  Moréna had been tricking him since the beginning, but without it his undead form will crumble away. He has gone East, toward a massive darkness in the Blue Mountains.

Somewhere in the Blue Mountains a great shadow flowed out from a cave. The Umbaran found this place by periodically putting down Moréna, which allowed him to see the darkness. Sticking his head into the darkness, The Umbaran found that, if he stuck his head in the entrance way, he could see. Without Moréna The Umbaran could see etchings on the walls, in various styles, haphazrdly placed, with the words "The Devourer", with drawings of mouths and teeth liberally sprinkled across the walls. Picking Moréna up The Umbaran entered.

As he rounded the corner The Umbaran heard a noise, something decidedly not eight-legged. The Umbaran drew Mairon. Out of the shadows came two enormous wolves. The Umbaran dropped Moréna, but the wolves continued to exist, and they charged him. The Umbaran swung at one and killed it, but the other wolf bit his arm and clamped down. The Umbaran bashed the wolf against a wall, grabbed its snout with his other hand, and began to push with his arm and hand, trying to break the wolf's jaw. But he slipped, and the wolf bit his right hand off. Pinning the wolf to him with his bloody stump, The Umbaran grabbed the wolf's head with his remaining hand and broke its neck.

All that remained of Moréna began to glow, and the blade's fragments disintegrated, leaving only the hilt. All of The Umbaran's wounds began to hurt, and with each step he took the pain increased.  His human senses began to return, and he found seeing to be more difficult in the gloom.

The tunnel opened up a bit, and the crystals in his pocket began to glow strongly. He took one out, and found that the entirety of the small room he was in had, carved all over its walls, the following:

The loss of infinity creates a need for it. Therefore, we will consume infinitely. Ungoliant is the only answer. She must devour. We are Ungoliant."

There was only one exit, a small tunnel at the bottom of the opposite wall, that stunk of corpses. He dropped Moréna, but nothing changed. Wrinkling his nose, The Umbaran crawled through.

The next room was enormous, and the crystal he held blazed. There was a still pool of dark ichor nearby. There was no shrine, no mother eating a child, nothing else but  the pool. At the back of the room was a crack, with black ichor oozing out of it.

"You've come a very long way" chuckled a familiar female voice.

"Well, they took everything from me".

Her voice rang with laughter. "You've come all this way, just to kill Lona Erehd. Well, here it is!" Barely visible, she pointed at the black pool. "It's been in front of you this whole time. This thing, it itself is Lona Erehd. And your family never died! You really came all this way because you thought they were dead?"

"They are, I saw them die!" He walked up to the pool, took out one of the blazing crystals, and dropped it into the liquid darkness.

The crystal dissolved.

She laughed even harder. "Then you really are a fool. If you want to destroy Lona Erehd then you will need that hilt of yours. Whatever it's worth now, that is".

The Umbaran shrugged, walked up to the pool of ichor, and threw Moréna's hilt in. He heard a chuckle, but ignored it. The crack before him opened up, and Boros walked through it.

There was a large pool of dark ichor in the next room, which began to move as he entered. It formed into a new Umbaran, an exact replica of Boros at the height of his undeath. Walking up to him, Boros eyed him up and down "Who're you?"

"I'm me," mocked The Umbaran. "Who're you?"

The crystal began to blaze, brighter and brighter.

"You're my copy", The Umbaran told Boros. "I sent you out to kill the enemies of Our Lady, so that way nobody could stop her when she went West to suck the light out of the world."

"I will reclaim you" declared Boros. "You're not real."

"Ha!  The copy thinks he's not real!" The Umbaran laughed at him.

Boros drew Mairon, and charged The Umbaran, who pulled a fully restored Moréna out of the pool, and the two began to fight. Eventually Boros backed The Umbaran up, and then swung his blade at  The Umbaran's neck; it went straight through. The Umbaran laughed. Mairon turned into black ichor, and Boros dropped it in shock. The Umbaran caught it.

He ran Boros through with both Moréna and Mairon.

The remaining crystal screamed, a sound which resembled the tearing apart of a soul. "She did it!" The Umbaran crowed "Light has been destroyed! The trees and their light will never return!" Boros slumped on the blades that had run him through.

The crystal roared back to life, brighter than it had ever shone before. Brighter and brighter it shone, until Boros' eyes, which were streaming with tears, could no longer keep the light out, even with shut eyes. Clutching the crystal tightly he thrust it into The Umbaran. "I'll never bow to the darkness, never again!" Boros shouted.

The Umbaran exploded and the light blazed. Boros could no longer see it, because he was now blind.

To be concluded...

Sabina's Castle: Session Seventeen

Anneli: A female elf and the main character, played by Andy. She had been given a toy sword that would give her access to the Island of Eternal Youth, where one can make a wish for whatever they want. She lost it to Nomi, her older sister, whom she hates.

Nomi: Anneli's older sister. She had sold her soul to Rahbarl, the orc god of anger, for power. Last session she had taken the toy sword from Anneli for Rahbarl, but refused to kill her little sister, who she seems to love a great deal, despite everything.

Lore: Andy and I realized today that all elves in this setting look kinda like drow from DnD, due to their increased exposure to the sun. They have ebony skin and platinum blonde to blonde hair, with a slight halo of light about them.

Anneli went north. About five miles north of the city she saw the human fort, wall looming in the distance. When she got within three miles of it she saw two men riding toward her. One was in a darker red-lined tunic, the other in an orange-lined tunic. Bot were in reinforced leather. The orange-lined officer, Octavian, greeted Anneli and asked her what her business was. Anneli told him that nobody in this area had good and pleasant business. Octavian smiled. He requested Anneli's weapons, as the Base Commander had to verify her trustworthiness first.

The fort was about three square miles wide, with a wood wall, a moat, and an earthen bridge. Everyone stared at her ebony skin and fair hair, but she ignored them and walked on. The whole base was in a constant state of building and idleness. Octavian asked if Anneli needed food, which she confirmed. Salomo, who had been holding her weapons, seemed grumpy about it. Anneli thought he was spooked by the differences of the elven weaponry. Salmo reacted well, perking up visibly. Octavian confronted Anneli about talking to Salomo. He told her that Salomo had killed a "camp follower", and that he was going to probably be killed after serving his extra duty with Octavian; Salomo didn't deserve her kindness. Octavian then went inside the mess hall to get them both food.

Salomo tried to talk to Anneli, but she ignored him. Salomo got angry with her, but Anneli ignored him. Salomo kept trying to talk with her, but she kept trying to ignore him. Salomo got angry and one of his off-duty superiors, Saulus, came over to try to calm down Salomo. Octavian came out with the food, rebuked Salomo, and gave food to Anneli. Salomo asked if he was getting food, and Octavian told him no, he would eat later. The food was fine, far as Anneli was concerned.

They went into the center of the base, where there was a three story building. They climbed up to the top, to see a gigantic troll of a man, Commander Aloysius. He told Salomo he had a half hour; Salomo was gone in a flash. Anneli told Commander Aloysius her story, and that she needed to keep going north. Aloysius told her everything was fine i nthe rest of the empire, which Anneli could tell  was a lie. She called him out - what did he have to offer her, if she stayed?

Aloysius kicked Octavian out of the room, who locked the door behind him. Aloysius knocked over his desk, making more room. He grabbed Anneli's spear and tossed it to her. As she caught it Aloysius charged her with her own sword. Barely dodging to the side, Anneli only just smacked him in the head with the butt of her spear. It was close, far far too close for Anneli's liking. Aloysius laughed; she was a great fighter, equal to him, and together they could get strong enough to get Anneli in a room, alone, with Nomi, who had been a real terror to Aloysius' forces over the last two years. Together they would manage it. Anneli agreed.

Miseries and Misfortunes Read-Through Impressions

I've said before that games are vehicles for conversation, and that the best games are those that enable the best conversations. Some games enable this conversation by giving gentle nudges and then getting out of the way, with the players supplying the rest. But some games are not about "getting out of the way". They have more tools for the conversation and can become the focus of it, to varying degrees. There are moving parts in the design that start moving depending upon triggers in the game, and sometimes require a lot of finagling outside of the game's fiction to figure out. BWHQ games are on this side of the spectrum, to varying degrees. Miseries and Misfortunes is a game unlike the other BWHQ games, in that it uses a different engine from the rest of its brethren.

Miseries and Misfortunes (henceforth known as MnM) is the second of Luke Crane's attempt to adapt Basic Dungeons and Dragons (BDnD) to 17th century France.

Yes, that's odd. No, I don't get why he did tried to merge 17th century France with BDnD. Tough. Move on.

The first time he did it was for a Zine. This is a more concerted effort on Crane's part to make a coherent game. The game now has a passing familiarity to BDnD but that's about as far as my memory goes, so we'll leave those comparisons here. Well, for the most part. We'll get there.

MnM does not have a core mechanic. A variety of dice and methods for using them are covered. As of the first reading I saw at least three different ways of resolving rolls, with mechanics attached to those differing roles. That means there's a lot more mental overhead than most games and I do question why on earth Crane kept all these disparate systems. I won't say I understand it, even now, but there is an intuitive logic to it. Skills roll dice from d6s, d8s, 10s, and then d20s, trying to equal or roll under the skill rating that the character possesses. Attack rolls and saves are to roll a d20 and then beat the target number. There are even some moments when you have to roll a d20 and roll under their stats. This is honestly what looks like the biggest hurdle to learning the system. Is it possible to streamline these myriad possibilities? I don't really want to say yet, because read-throughs only go so far. When I play it I'll write an actual review.

As mentioned before, MnM is a heavy game and boasts a number of sub-systems. If you don't like heavy games you will probably have a bad time here, because doing one thing can set off any number of these systems, all at once. But for me? This stuff is heaven. Of the many systems that are of note are the Mortal Coil, Duel of Wits, and the Obligations system.  Mortal Coil allows you to get rerolls, at the cost of spending years of life, which can then knock your character out of the narrative for months at a time. Once you've used up your Mortal Coil you really should retire your character... but you don't have to, per se. It just means that fate no longer protects you and it's possible for him to die at a moment's notice. Oh, and you're not allowed to know how much Mortal Coil you have. Each and every time you spend it you may very well run out. And that's awesome. Duel of Wits is the d20 version of  the Burning Wheel system, and it is every bit as awesome as what I was hoping it would be. Different approaches allow you to react as you wish to these arguments as you can, meaning that the people who are making the "attacks" have to be careful, because each move opens up a new set of possible consequences for the defender. And Obligations are the things that the world has heaped upon, usually unfairly, for just existing. There's too many. It's going to crush you. You can't just sit around, because the world is going to destroy you for just breathing. And I love it.

Like most BWHQ games I find myself at a loss to adequately desribe MnM. All of the systems add up to its own thing. No one mechanic can be said to be more important than the other; it's the sum of the parts that matters here. It's part of the reason why I refuse to give any sort of actual opinion about the game other than "It looks intriguing", cause it does! But I don't know how the parts add up yet. I'll let you know when I get to find out. I can't wait.

"Mighty Morphin's Too Weak"

When the first big box expansion came out a lot of people in the community began to say that Hyperforce, as a whole, was broken. And the same thing happened when we began to see Zeo cards. Now, after having played couple of games of both MMPR and Hyperforce themed teams, I've got a few practical thoughts on the matter, practical meaning that I've actually played it and seen how the games play out between the two teams, for the better and for the worse. For the purposes of this article I am going strictly with anything labeled MMPR for the MMPR team and anything labeled Hyperforce and Jen Scotts from Time Force; Lauren Shiba will not be counted here. She was added in later, and I've not seen her played enough to be able to give intelligent commentary on her playstyle.  The two teams are almost polar opposite of each other. MMPR has higher damage output and combo's more easily, but Hyperforce has better defenses and more tricks to finagle their way out of tough situations.

MMPR'S Really Frickin' Strong

MMPR's pool of characters is much larger. You have two versions of almost all the base five, not to mention the upcoming two versions of Green and White rangers. It's a much more varied team, with decks having multiple roles and able to do pretty much whatever the players need. Hyperforce, however, have less options overall. HF Red can only be played one way, MMPR Red can be played three different ways! The sheer variety in the MMPR team is subtle, but cannot be discounted here. And in that way they definitely win out over the Hyperforce team, and probably most teams, if you were going just for theme.

MMPR's overall energy generation and nova damage is a lot better as well. None of the signature weapons in their team do anything less than four dice, by and large, and the only three dice weapons (Power Axe and Dragon Dagger) have mitigating circumstances, making them some of the heaviest hitters in the set. And thanks to Jason and Kimberly it's very easy to generate energy and attack. Momentum is king in this game, and MMPR rules that roost. Hyperforce, while they have a higher energy gain numerically, do not get it as easily as the MMPR team. Yes, Overclock from Jen Scotts is amazing! I love that card! But you have to discard a card to get any use out of it, and it has to have high shields, which often measures the utility power of the card. So you're giving up something valuable to get that energy.

All of That Being Said....

Hyperforce's overall damage output is better, in no small part due to Chloe's Impulsive ability, Martin's Find Weakness maneuver, and cards like Headbutt, which allow for greater consistency and make the team more adaptable. You won't get the flash-bang-pop of MMPR, but Hyperforce certainly doesn't slack off in the damage department. You're managing a smaller, but more consistent, stream. Granted, there are times you really need to nova, and that's harder to do, but if you're doing a pretty consistent stream of damage then do you really need the nova to begin with? I mean, sometimes that's going to bite you, if you're playing all your damage boosts at all times you're going to get a very good string of damage. The existence of Hyperforce Black then allows you to get all the creatures that you didn't kill, mopping up the remainders.

Hyperforce's utility is a lot broader than than MMPR's. Each and every card is loaded down with little tricks that make the Hyperforce team a good deal more cerebral than MMPR. HF Blue in particular requires you to be more measured; you'll need to play a much longer game than MMPR. Bursting is really hard to do, but that's because you're not sprinting, but running a marathon. Do not look for the immediate kill in Hyperforce, or to not take hits, because you will, it's why the characters have so many defensive abilities. Your entire strategy has to be different. Hyperforce can take the hits. Let them.

Do not, I repeat, do not measure the success of Hyperforce by MMPR standards, and vice versa. They're very different teams, do very different things, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Yes, Hyperforce's cards are much more flashy than MMPR's and yes, in isolation they look a lot stronger. But none of these cards are in isolation, and Hyperforce has some significant weaknesses where MMPR is stronger, and vice versa. The game didn't break with Hyperforce. I highly doubt it'll break with Zeo.

The Giggling Dark: Session Twenty One

Sir Xellous: the fourteen year old main character, a Celestial Knight played by Ryan. He's currently holding onto Pyra, his wife's incredibly destructive bow, some gauntlets that make him a really good brawler, and a ring that gives him knowledge of khen-zai tech.

Kora: Sir Xellous' wife, who had been kidnapped and memory wiped by the khen-zai. She's since married Komas, the Assistant Prime Minister. She's got her baby, who was the result of being raped by her father.

Ikuinen Lampo: the star who is Sir Xellous' patron. She is currently inhabiting the body of Sir Xellous' dead sister, Genevieve. She had done this incredibly awkward thing so she could rescue Sir Xellous from a very bad situation he had gotten himself into earlier. She almost died last session, and is still recovering. Technically she could leave the body whenever she wants.

Telos: A hero from another place, another time. Man, when am I finally going to start doing more with this dude???

Three months passed. Sir Xellous and Ikuinen Lampo has stayed in the general infirmary during this time, recovering from their respective wounds. There were no further attacks from the khen-zai, not even a rumor. During this time King Varlur began preparations  for Sir Xellous' fiefdom. People hurried in and out to talk with him about what he wanted when it came to setting up the castle and what his preferences were. Sir Xellous mostly put up with these visits and the bureaucratic nonsense they brought along with them, learning a lot about social graces, but sometimes his temper got the better of him and the delegates had to scurry out of the room.

But it wasn't all official business. Sir Xellous and Ikuinen Lampo had plenty of time to get to know each other. Lampo was quiet but thoughtful. She loved reading and had lots of books brought to her and she read to Sir Xellous, who had never learned. She read him fables and histories of all kind, not that Sir Xellous retained any of it, but Ikuinen Lampo was so happy when reading and it was amazing for Sir Xellous to see.

Kora also visited, always with baby (who adored Sir Xellous), usually daily. Komas had become Prime Minister and barely came home. Kora had asked Sir Xellous about her forgotten past and how he knew her. He told her they were childhood friends, while telling her little bits of their background. Ikuinen Lampo always got annoyed when Kora came in to visit with Sir Xellous, but she tried to conceal it. Sir Xellous noticed, but wisely kept his mouth shut. 

At the end of the three months Sir Xellous posed a question to Ikuinen Lampo: was it possible to get her a power source that allowed her to "permanently" stay in Option A form, also known as Epiphany form? Lampo said that the khen-zai probably had something, but she had never seen anything like it nor had she really heard any more than that. Calling upon the power of his ring Sir Xellous discovered that the khen-zai indeed had such a device: a fusion generator. Making one was far beyond the knowledge of the ring, but it was a start. Kora came in and overheard them talking about this generator. She asked Lampo how the energy outputs of dormant stars worked. Lampo explained that she, as a star was not actually dead, but was no longer generating energy at a large level, but whose passive energy signature sanctified the ground. While Lampo was explaining this Sir Xellous scanned Kora's aura to see if she was being watched or manipulated. But her aura was clean; the khen-zai had vanished.

Telos came in and was brought up to speed on their conversation. He said that actually dovetailed nicely with what he had finally remembered: he was from another planet.

Everyone else's jaw dropped.

Telos explained that there was a rot zone on his planet, centered on the former Herculaen Empire. Rot zones could act as as portals to other rot zones. Meeria had trapped him in one of those zones, years before.Yes, Meeria had been to other planets before. Once he had realized this Telos had found a little fife the elves of his planet had given him. He didn't explain how he got this fife, given that he had first appeared on this planet naked. Ikuinen Lampo's face lit up at the mention of the elves. She had heard of the elves from her time in the sky, and knew they would be able to find a fusion generator.  It was uncomfortable being in Genevieve's body, and she desperately wanted out. Sir Xellous caught the embarrassed glanced she threw his way. So did Kora. Telos told them that they would go out to call upon the elves at midnight. 

An announcer came in to announce Sir Xellous was expected by the King the next day. Sir Xellous told him he'd be there.

At midnight they all met up outside of town. Kora brought her baby, who was sleeping in a sling. Komas was still in council with the King and wouldn't be coming back that night, and she wanted to see the elves! Sir Xellous asked Telos if it was possible to call off the council with the King in the morning. Telos, alarmed, asked why on earth he'd cancel. Sir Xellous asked if they were leaving with the elves that night. Telos laughed: the elves would have to do reconnaissance work first. And, as kind as the elves were, they could not do this for free. They would need to negotiate a price of some sort. Sir Xellous said he expected as much. 

Telos blew a note on his fife that was so high no one else could hear it. About fifteen minutes later a gondola with a sail came down from the sky. Sir Xellous gaped at the ship, whispering loudly that he wanted to make one. Lampo and and Kora chuckled. Lampo told him that she would make sure he got the chance, while Kora asked if she could fly in it with him. 

Three elves (two male and one female) nimbly hopped to the ground. The female began to tie the ship to the ground with an anchor. Sir Xellous and Kora gaped: only Ikuinen Lampo was more beautiful! The elves bowed to Telos and Ikuinen Lampo and talked with them in a language that felt like music. Oneo f the elves walked up to Sir Xellous and asked about payment in the form of enchanting an item. Many more worlds out there were in a far worse state than Sir Xellous' and they needed payment to justify not helping those worlds, what with there being only a dozen or so elves flying the skies at that point. The elf told Sir Xellous about a planet, almost unimaginably far away, was a dump planet for the khen-zai. This was where the khen-zai put anything they didn't want, including people. A generator was probably there. But to get there and retrieve it they needed Lampo to be in her Epiphany form, which the elves could help recharge with their songs. Sir Xellous asked if he could talk with Lampo about it. 

The two withdrew. Lampo explained that the journey was incredibly long and required her to help them get there fast enough. Sir Xellous protested that they couldn't heal her in her Epiphany form if something went wrong. Lampo declared that nothing would go wrong. She pointed out that Kora needed to come with them. The khen-zai would surely come for Kora and it would be harder for them to find her if she wasn't on the planet to begin with. Besides, Lampo really needed to stop using using Genevieve's body; it complicated matters. That made Sir Xellous laugh.

Sabina's Castle: Session Sixteen

Anneli: The main character, a female elf played by Andy. She's just recovered from a two year long convalescence after running into a fallen nymph. She has a toy sword that will grant access to the Island of Eternal Youth, which a lot of very bad people wanted. The organization Those that Sailed are currently protecting her as she finishes recovery.

Nomi: Anneli's big sister, a dark elf who sided with the demon king of orcs Rahbarl. Anneli really hates her, mostly because of the small issue of Nomi betraying her two years ago.

Those That Sailed: An organization of mostly humans who have gone to the Island of Eternal Youth and gained immortality so that way they can protect the planet against her enemies. Currently Telos and Marian are with Anneli, keeping up a protective enchantment so that way no one can find Anneli. It's an exhausting job. They're either resting from keeping the enchantment up or focusing on the enchantment.

Salt: a female dwarf that is looking for her father, the former main character Spar. She's being chased by Herminus, who has become a revenant, looking for revenge for Salt abandoning her father. She's helping Those that Sailed by doing foraging and guarding the entrance of the little cave they're all living in. She's also done some work to expand the cave, along with Pyrite.

Pyrite: a dwarf who had been a friend of Spar's. He's there to help forage and guard the entrance of the cave. He's also helped doing some of the digging. 

Once Anneli realized that the others were stuck in this excavated cave because of her she resolved to leave. Right after Salt left to forage for food Anneli gathered some food (not too much) and walked up to Pyrite, who was watching the sole entrance to their cave. Anneli began to sign a happy little ditty she had learned. Anyone else singing would have meant nothing. But Anneli was an elf, and her singing meant more than anything. Pyrite couldn't resist it. He gazed into space, in wonderment. Still singing, Anneli walked past him. She didn't stop singing until she was out of earshot. 

The opening of the cave opened to the riverbed and ran Anneli stayed in it, running as fast as she could. But she heard the sounds of fighting, with a familiar female voice screaming in distress. Anneli crept up to the river bed's edge, only to have her fingers stepped on by Salt, as she backed away from Herminus the Revenant. Thinking that, as an evil creature, Herminus would be keyed into her toy sword, Anneli ran a short way away and focused on the toy sword, hoping that wishing on it would change Herminus' perception. But Herminus was a revenant; he didn't give a fig about anything else than killing Salt. Anneli ran back and impaled Herminus on her spear, just in time! She told Salt to run away. Salt refused, she wasn't going anywhere! But Anneli wasn't taking no for an answer, and finally forced Salt to leave. And just in time too, because Herminus finally got himself free of Anneli's spear and hit her on the side of the head, leaving an ugly bruise. With Salt safe Anneli took off. But Herminus caught up to her and swung his sword at Anneli's legs, trying to stop her. But Anneli was too quick for him and finally got away.

Anneli continued her way into the city, trying to stay hidden, only to bump into Nomi and a bunch of orcs. Nomi was happy to see Anneli, but that was definitely not mutual. Anneli began singing her happy little ditty. But as she did so Nomi began to sing a discordant song to disrupt Anneli, but her song failed in throat and she smiled as Anneli caused the orcs to pause in wonderment. Anneli drew her sword, still singing, and charged Nomi. The fight was short; Nomi hit Anneli's fading bruise, knocked her over, and took the toy sword. She apologized to Anneli, who spat in her face. Nomi and the orcs withdrew.

Nomi headed the other direction. She needed to get stronger, so she could get that toy sword back.

A Reflection Upon Psalm One

Holy Napkin, by myself, November 2018. Acrylic on board

1  Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners *
 and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful.

2  But his delight is in the law of the Lord *
 and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.

3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the water-side *
 that will bring forth his fruit in due season.

4  His leaf also shall not wither *
 and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper.

5  As for the ungodly, it is not so with them *
 but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.

6  Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgement *
 neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

7  But the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous *
 and the way of the ungodly shall perish.

I heard a story about a man who had a vision. In this vision there were two wolves: one light and one dark. They were fighting fiercely with one another, darting in and out, in and out, in and out, looking for the weaknesses in each other. But since they were so well matched it was impossible to see who was going to win. The man looked up and saw someone else standing near him. He asked the man "Which wolf will win?"

The answer was "Whichever you feed".

Inside of us Christians are two people: one of them is the New Man, who is in Christ. He has made us part of His Body, brought us into the life of the Trinity. We are bathed in God's rays, in His love, and if we focus on Him, on His Love, His Light, His Wisdom, we will not be moved. It is a union without confusion, God and man together. Nothing can shake us, if we keep our focus on God. Notice that the Psalm does not say that the tree planted will not suffer harm, or that it will have a calm and tranquil life. In fact, trees grow best when they are pruned! The Psalm says that the tree will not wither and it shall prosper. The tree will hold down the soil around it, put our oxygen for others to breathe, absorb their carbon dioxide so the planet doesn't get fried, and will soak in whatever is given to it to create more life. Enemies are forgiven.

 The other man who lives within us is the Old Man, the wicked one that Christ came to save. Make no mistake about it, we all have him living within us. His chief mark is instability, to be blown this way and that by the wind, like chaff. Chaff is the useless huskings off of grain, fit for nothing but to be abandoned. It has no weight, no ability to withstand the forces of the world. To be evil is to be shaken by the slightest provocation. It is to not be in control of oneself. It is weakness, moral and existential. The judgment referred to does not say that God will smite the wicked, but that the wicked man will not be able to stand up in the first place. This is the man who is tired of the world, weary, sore, old, decrepit. Nothing can be forgiven or let go of because there is no strength to do so.

The Psalm does not refer to two separate humans, but to the same heart. We Christians have two people, two different psyches, living within us, and it is up to us which one gets fed, and which one will prosper within us. One will be able to stand up to the cruelties and Hell of the self and others, and one will not. It is up to us to make this choice. As one lives the other will die. It is not a comfortable process. No compromises are possible, nor are they preferable. We do not have the strength to do it on our own, because becoming more than human is not a human action. But God does not ask us to accomplish the change, He only asks us to choose, the seeming consequences of the winds blowing around us be damned. And each choice we make, no matter how insignificant, no matter the consequence, will lead to one of the two getting stronger.

The mark of excellence is the forgiveness of enemies, which Christ showed us by forgiving us as we tortured Him to death, rising from the dead and intentionally changing our options even when we denied Him, and then ascending into Heaven, further glorifying us at the Father's right hand when we couldn't understand what He had done. That's our standard.  That will keep us from being blown away by the slightest provocation. Our first enemy is our self. We have to forgive the Old Man, and ask for God's mercy upon him, so that we may die and come back as the New Man.  We are leading ourselves to destruction, and only by forgiving ourselves and letting Christ's mercy come into our souls can we let the chaff fall off the wheat and become something new, for God can change even tares into wheat, as St. John Chrysostom put so eloquently. The human heart is divided, and it is of vital importance that we forgive our self for our weakness, letting the Light in so God may save us. We are not here to condemn the Old Man, but to let allow him to be helped, healed, and divinized.

But none of this is possible if we don't make that choice in the first place. Psalm One makes it clear what the consequences of what each way is. With God's mercy the way of the righteous can be accomplished, for God never forgets those who do not give up. The way of the righteous is defined as faith in God's providence, for Abraham believed and God counted it as righteousness. Fall a thousand times, it matters not. God will not let those who are righteous fall away; even an eye twitch in His direction is not missed. But if we choose to not believe in God's mercy upon the Old Man, thus the world, then we will not be able to stand for anything. Anything and everything will move us, and we will rot in the Hell that we have already made. God will not stop us from choosing either one. But He does demand that we choose, one way or another.

Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy upon me, the sinner! The Thee be glory and praise, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Floating in the Grid: Session Zero

No one knows why the world, time and space, broke apart and scattered. All that is known is that one day the world fell apart. Not exploded, not shattered (there was nothing explosive!), but fell apart, like a stick of butter melting onto a table. Somehow the city of Angel Grove survived this horror, and it floated on the rock beneath it. These are the stories of the city that floated, and of its defenders: the Power Rangers.

Yeah, that's pretty grim. That's how I roll, so tough. 

So I'll be starting a series based off of playthroughs in Heroes of the Grid. I'm going to start with the "base" Hyperforce group. No, I've not seen Hyperforce, and I've no real pressing need to do so.  I'm sure the show is just fine, but after trying to imagine the beginning of whatever the heck I'm writing I can't visualize it with the MMPR folks. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm going to do a bit of research to make sure I'm not writing the characters egregiously wrong, but most of my cues to their personalities will be based off of what their decks do.  So, um, if this goes wrong blame Jonathan Ying for not covering his bases?

Yeah, we'll go with that. I'll just blame him.

Nothing could go wrong doing that.

Anyway, most of the posts will revolve around gameplay. Actual characterization will be light and, unless I specifically mention otherwise, nothing from canon will be here. The setting is incredibly weird and different and I want to have the room to develop the characters as I see fit. If that weirds you out I'm not going to apologize, cause I need room to go where I think the narrative should go. I may write in-between posts to set up future rangers and threads, but I'm not going to promise anything until I'm in the thick of it.

There's going to be some opportunities for commenters  to shape how the games progress! Everyone can vote to see their favorite character show up in the next session. And yes, since I'll be posting to Facebook and Reddit, in multiple groups, you can tip the vote. I won't be doing more than just the barest of name checks to make sure y'all aren't cheating. Monsters can also be requested. If I do not own the monster then I'm obviously not going to be using him. I currently do not own the first Villain Pack or Cyclopsis. I plan on rectifying this at some point, but that's not going to be today.

At some point I will begin to homebrew my own stuff for the game, like scenarios and custom rules, as the narrative takes shape. I do not have anything in mind, although I am open to suggestions. If you have mechanics you want featured in the game comment here, Facebook, or Reddit and I will let you know if I will be using it. All games will use Assault Mode. This could get rough. Unless I specifically mention it these games will be solo. I will be playing three decks of six rangers in total. Losses will probably be because my brain is overloaded, although I will blame the dice every time. 

Anyway, that's it! We'll be releasing the first session next week! Vote! Stay tuned!

May the Power Protect You: Kimberly Ann Hart (MMPR Pink)

I've often found that people who are new to the game need permission to be awesome. There's a mental roadblock many folks have to doing the crazy, but amazing, thing. Since those sorts of actions are required to survive in this game I find that handing Kimberly to a new player is a good idea, as there is an immediate pay off that is flashy, explosive, and quite deadly to the target. Welcome to the single highest damage dealing character in the game! Kimberly is a force of nature. She rains hellfire on all who oppose her. ALL HAIL THE ALL MIGHTY BABA YAGA, KIMBERLY! Kimberly is, by far, the simplest character in the core set. She is incredibly useful for her energy generation and the ignoring of Guard.  She isn't the deepest character but she isn't meant to be. Point. Shoot. KILL.

Kimberly's ability to assign one damage anywhere she likes looks nice, and it feels nice, but it is definitely the hardest part of playing her character. There's this pause, as the player feels a bit overwhelmed. They want to throw it where it feels good, but dice are involved in the follow-up; they don't know if their guess will work out or not. And there are times when it feels like Kimberly's ability whiffs, because it is a set up for something down the line and it may not pan out. There's a surprising amount of skill required for this ability, as you have to size up the other players' hands and figure out where they're going to be playing cards and trying to hit the one card that needs the shove the most. It is also the one part of Kimberly's kit that gets hijacked the most by asshole quarterbackers... leaders. "Put that damage here or there or anywhere!" Don't let it happen! I know it does, because I'm generally the dude doing it, but please don't let idiots like me dictate your character's ability! You are a strong independent Pink Ranger and don't need NO QUARTERBACKERS!

Take Aim is a card that is to be played, immediately, all the time. There is literally no reason not to play the card if Kimberly is going to be attacking. Extra energy with a reroll? Yes PLEASE. The results from cards like Take Aim are often quite spectacular, particularly if you play Take Aim off of MMPR Red's Team Tactics. And, if you're particularly in need of energy, you can finish off the string of energy gains with Flying Kick, which means the hit may actually be pretty strong for two dice and you get the extra energy from it!

Kimberly's other asset is her ability to ignore the Guard ability. Now, I don't think this ability is as all that good with minions, mostly because of the minion cards are not all that worrisome. In fact we usually find ourselves deliberately taking hits from minions so that way we can get a better ramp up. So in minion fights Kimberly isn't as good as she looks. But in monster and boss fights? Boy, you can't go wrong with having Kimberly in your team. There are times when everyone else whiffs and you have nothing else... and Baba Yaga is all you have left. It may just be that one card that you can't kill, and the group needs a pick-me-up after a long run of failures. Out of all the characters in the base set I would bet you that Kimberly is the one who has the biggest chance of landing that last big, all-necessary, shot.

The Pterodactyl Zord is one of the most useful zords in the game. You just can't argue with two free energy, especially when you're trying to get a power weapon's combo going. And, depending on how your group spends energy, you'll find that the gift just keeps on giving, especially as your group banks the energy and passes it forward to the next battle. There's not a whole more to say about this zord. It's stupidly useful, no matter the situation.

Kimberly's simplicity is belied by her incredible capacity for damage. She runs in, generates energy, deals large amounts of damage to a target, and doesn't need all that much support to do it. Unlike Zack or Rocky, who both need substantial help to pull off their tricks, Kimberly can do her own thing and be alright. She's simple, deadly, and awesome. All hail Baba Yaga!

A kind thanks to Jonathan Ying for answering all my questions, comments, and concerns. He was very gracious.

Moréna: Session Four

The Umbaran: The main character, played by Lena and I. He is currently trying to get into the town hall of a destroyed elven village. He wields a zweihander called Moréna and just lost a short sword called Mairon.

Lona Ered: A mysterious dark force, that seems to take the form of a gigantic male spider. 

The Umbaran went into the building before him, into a great hall. Shadow webs clung to the everything, and the crystal began to flare up in a dying gasp. The Umbaran ignored the flaring up of the crystal. There were many web pods, hanging from the ceiling. The Umbaran cut open one of the pods, and out fell a male elf. He woke up and upbraided The Umbaran. He and the others were trying to become Lona Ered! The elf attacked The Umbaran, who cut him down with a sneer. There was a scuttering sound above him, and a familiar giant bulk hung above him. It was Lona Ered. A lone figure appeared before Lona Ered. The Umbaran pulled out the dying crystal and held it up. The elf before him was unfazed. Webs wrapped up The Umbaran, who could not reach Moréna (and who had thrown Mairon previously). 

Lona Ered dragged away The Umbaran into an adjoining room. The elf came in and, calling The Umbaran "Boros", grabbed the crystals from The Umbaran, cut him loose, and held it up against Lona Ered, who cowered into a corner. The Umbaran taunted Lona Ered, until an elf came running up to him and took  Moréna away from him. The world before him completely changed. Instead of someone holding a crystal with light, it was a ghost, shrouded in darkness. Instead of Lona Ered, it was an elf, with a shrinking aura of light. The Umbaran picked up Moréna and everything became as it was before. He dropped the sword and checked his pocket. The crystals were still in his pocket. Hands burning, he grabbed the crystals and shoved them at the shadowy figure, who screamed. Moréna began to float and pointed at The Umbaran, who held up one of the stones toward it. Moréna's blade split from its hilt and broke in half. The shadowy figure fell apart and the elf who radiated light died.

The Umbaran left the building, but the further he got away from Moréna the weaker he got, until he could barely move. Going back to Moréna The Umbaran became stronger. He picked up the hilt, and the dark webs and the corpse of the Umbaran reappeared. He wrapped up the hilt, but the webs didn't go away. The Umbaran walked back outside, stones in his pocket. He put down the hilt and a darkness appeared in the east. Picking up the hilt again, The Umbaran began his long walk.

The Giggling Dark: Session Twenty, Trait Vote the Second

This session in particular means a lot to me. As it turns out, the longest running Burning Wheel game I've ever run was nineteen sessions. The fact that I never got to do even close to a thirty session campaign was something I really wanted to correct, and this being  session twenty means I'm one step closer.

And Ryan had no idea what he wanted to do. Perfect.

I asked Ryan what he wanted to do, and he said he didn't have anything else he wanted to do with this point of the narrative. He only wanted one thing: to bring back Kora's memories. He told me that either meant one session or fifteen. Laughing, I told him to think fifteen. Ryan told me he expected as much. But after that he thought we should be done. Barring something unexpected I agreed with him. We're on the last act. If this goes according to plan it'll be the first Burning Wheel campaign I've run that wasn't cancelled prematurely. 

With that in mind, we took this Trait Vote very seriously. Sir Xellous' traits are as followed:

Character Traits

Single-Minded

Bereaved

Hard-Working

Blunt

Dice Traits

Prodigy

Chosen of Ikuinen Lampo

Call-On

Aura of Determination

This was a pretty short and sweet. I suggested that we turned Single-Minded to Tenacious (which makes it harder for him to lose a Duel of Wits by bringing him back once if he gets knocked out) and Bereaved to Tough as Nails (which lets him ignore Steel tests from pain and exhaustion). This was because Sir Xellous had pretty much proven to be an unstoppable juggernaut and, given how often he passed the Steel tests for these sorts of things anyway, I thought it would make sense to just make him one hard dude to kill. Ryan liked both these recommendations and made one of his own. Aura of Determination had never really been used, and he found that Commanding Aura (+1D to Command and the ability to help others with Steel tests) would probably be a better mechanical fit. I agreed.

Here's the new breakdown:

Character Traits

Hard-working

Blunt

Dice Traits

Prodigy

Chosen of Ikuinen Lampo

Commanding Aura

We then discussed the upcoming arc, as well as Ikuinen Lampo's role within it. Ryan asked for her to have a greater part in the story, preferably a bit of a love triangle, and I told him that Lampo would want to stop being in Genevieve's body. 

I then explained the difference between "Option A" and "Option B". Option A was a star creating their former body, all over again, and controlling it remotely, and is incredibly powerful. The downshot is that the body isn't actually human, and therefore cannot be healed by normal processes, so if something were to hurt the star's body very little could be done to help her. Option A would last about two to three months. It also required special stuff so that Ikuinen Lampo could recharge the form. Option B, on the other hand, was the reanimation of a human corpse, which is what happened with Genevieve. This form lasts longer, but there is no power that can be channeled. On the other hand, since the body is actually human it's easier to heal.

Ryan wanted Option B. Ikuinen wanted Option A. That would take a session to figure out. And that was before he even talked to the King about leaving his service. Yeah, good luck about that!

Moréna: Session Three

The Umbaran: The Wanderer character, controlled by Lena and I. He wield a zweihander name Moréna and a short sword named Mairon. Last time The Umbaran had killed a gigantic male spider named Lona Ered, who had turned into a shriveled male elven corpse.

The Woman: An apparition of questionable alignment and morality, who apparently is putting The Umbaran through a series of tests.

The Umbaran headed north, up the Gelion river, to where it joined with the Ascarr River. There were plains to the north, the Blue Mountains to the east, and a forest to the west. There was a multi-deck ship on the river, with piles of corpses littering the banks around it. The Umbaran smiled, and went onto the ship.

There was no one on the deck, but The Umbaran heard someone below deck. Unsheathing Mairon, The Umbaran went downstiars. He heard someone below, demanding that he not come down. Chuckling again, he walked down. The below deck was also piled high with corpses, and amidst them stood an elf standing over a human. The elf claimed that these humans served Lona Ered. The Umbaran was amused, because he had just killed Lona Ered! But Lona Ered was not just a gigantic spider; it was not possible to kill Lona Ered. The Umbaran laughed and walked up to the elf, telling him that he'd no idea what he was messing with. The elf panicked and killed the human and then tried to kill The Umbaran, who tanked every shot, laughed, and then killed the elf. He set fire to the ship and walked off, chuckling, into the woods.

The Umbaran cut through the thick underbrush of the woods After going down a hill The Umbaran found himself in a shrine, which was very similar to the one where he had killed Lona Ered. Standing on the opposite side of was a statue of The Woman, but with eight spidery legs. Her face had been messed with so it looked like it was eating the young child she was holding. There was a spring here as well, but it was filled with a black ichor that bubbled up from someplace foul, unlike the clean water that The Umbaran had used to kill the giant spider.  There was a malevolent presence in the grove, which The Umbaran taunted. No response. The Umbaran walked up to the statue and pulled out Moréna. He cut the statue in half and it fell to the ground with a crash. No response. The Umbaran puts his hand in the black ichor; the flow doesn't change, nor did it actually cover The Umbaran's hand. Shaking his head, The Umbaran went deeper into the forest.

A few miles later and The Umbaran stumbled into another shrine. This one had a properly beautiful mother statue, with uneaten child, along with a pure spring. The statue of mother and child glowed with a soft blue light, which The Umbaran found slightly painful. But he walked around, examining the area. He took out the stone. It shone extremely brightly, and The Umbaran put it away hurriedly. He found a corpse on the edge of the shrine. It was an elven woman, covered in black ichor, and she had a scroll in her hand. It read "The evil of Gelionunci has been released. Please let Elen Amille know time is of the essence." The Umbaran picked up the

A number of branches landed in front of The Umbaran. Eight legged shadows flitted from tree to tree around and above him. The Umbaran mocked the spiders for refusing to fight him. They dropped down around him in a circle; they were dead before they hit the ground, for Moréna was quicker than they. Some of the spiders got to the spring and belched a black ichor into it. The statue stopped glowing. The rest of the spiders fled. The Umbaran pulled out his stone; it barely shone now. He shrugged, and headed in the general direction the spiders went.

Even deeper into the woods stood a village. Slaughtered elves littered the walkways. Men, women, and children's blood darkened the fauna. Webs were everywhere. The Umbaran cut the webs away with growls of frustration. Walking through the silent village The Umbaran found the largest building, in the center of village. All of a sudden he was stopped: some force prevented The Umbaran from moving any closer to the building. He heard a voice telling him that he couldn't enter. The Umbaran told that voice to fuck off. The Umbaran saw The Woman not very far off, watching him. Hearing little voices begging him to help The Umbaran chucked Mairon at her, and she vanished. All of a sudden he could go nearer the building. Looking around and muttering, he entered the building.

Burning Wheel vs Torchbearer

I backed Torchbearer the instant I saw it. I'd just finished my first successful Burning Wheel campaign, Revenge of the Countess of Fire, and was hot for anything else that BWHQ was making. I played in one campaign, which was pretty fast and loose on the rules. A rapid series of events occurred over the next four years: enlistment, bootcamp, AIT, marriage, deployment, two kids, and leaving the Army. During that time I GM'd a number of successful (if shortened) Burning Wheel campaigns, but Torchbearer was packed away, and the brief one shots that I attempted ended in TPKs. Years passed, and with successful Burning Wheel campaigns and unsuccessful Torchbearer one-shots piling up I found myself wondering why on earth I'd ever play the game ever again. But finally it clicked. The differences between the two games are their focus on characters vs. the world.

For the past few years, whenever a campaign idea popped into my head it was a villain, or a collection of villains. I would get motivations and plans to recoup losses or accomplish victories over others. These personalities pop into my head, almost fully formed. The question then becomes how these characters accomplish those aims. The setting becomes the why the villain exists. I have a solar system where I house my games, with shared elements between those planets, but in the case of Burning Wheel I have one particular planet that I like to use, because the character dynamics that come from that setting really jive with the villains that pop into my head. Everything is secondary to the characters, including history, which for me is a pretty fuzzy thing. Character is primary in Burning Wheel.

But new ideas have begun to pop into my head. I'm no longer thinking of characters, per se, but of dilapidated buildings, of murals, of animals that have wandered into areas once thought sacred but so long abandoned that nothing remembers it was once important. I keep thinking of structures built like Zelda dungeons, built for their particular inhabitants. I see a world society that is so oppressive that the only place for sane people is to go to these places, where wonder and magic and intense danger are supreme. The physics of this world are in my head, something that I never thought of as interesting before. And Torchbearer is built to handle these sorts of things! The mechanics are set up to where you have to determine the history of the dungeon as you build it, characters have to manage their inventory, and character choices are limited more to immediate interaction with the world. And what's left of the Burning Wheel mechanics are explicitly made to be cause friction with the mechanics of the world.

I don't think these two games are in conflict with each other, because they focus on very different aspects of the fantasy experience. Burning Wheel focuses on the characters primarily, with the fantasy setting providing context for their struggle, but providing little else than that. Torchbearer, however, wants you to interact with the world in a direct manner, making the world itself the primary antagonist of the players. The setting becomes the direct avatar of the GM, something that he takes and forms directly. Both scratch different itches. And, honestly, I'm starting to move over, even just a tad, to where I'm beginning want to want both. Took me a couple of years, but here we are. It may be a hot minute before you see campaign journals on this site, but rest assured, I'm in the middle of prepping a Torchbearer game as we speak. We'll see where it goes from here!