May the Power Protect You: Lauren Shiba (SS Red) Part One

Forward. Forward. Foward. Lauren is the definition of a hard character. Almost everything she has is to either attack or to make attacking better. Looking at her stuff I'm reminded of people who say "We use every part of the buffalo",  'cause that seems to be the way she does stuff. She goes all out, all the time, and just goes all the way to empty, fills back up, and goes all the way back down again. I think her role is What??, not Frontman. She has some Frontman stuff, but Lauren's abilities seem much more centered around setting up huge freaking amounts of damage to a single target.. .right up until the second she's a Grenade. And then all of a sudden she can shift to Frontman?

Yeah, Lauren's weird.

Normally I would start with Lauren's character ability, True Focus. Normally how to interpret a character is pretty simple: look at the character's ability and view the deck through that lens. Normally everything falls into place looking at the character ability. Lauren's weird.Wanna know what Lauren's all about?

Look at Black Box.

What can we glean? First off, Black Box is expensive, at two energy. It's also extremely hard to recover, at three shields. There's only one in your deck so you need to be careful with it and not get rid of it. If it winds up in your discard pile prioritize getting it out, ASAP. With this one card Lauren's toolbox becomes the definition of an artillery: she doesn't care what she hits or why, because someone is going to suffer. Yes, the energy requirement is high. So that means you won't be able to play it all the time. But this is the card you should center your entire playstyle around, not to mention everyone else. Lauren is a tentpole, for better or worse.

True Focus, like I've said, is not the focus (ha!) of Lauren Shiba's deck. Oh not, not even close. It's an insurance policy. No matter how hard you push, you will always get an energy back. Always. So throw your energy to the wind! If someone's recovering energy don't take any unless you absolutely must. Drain it all, cause it's coming back. Forward forward FORWARD!

Yes, we're going to cover the zord now. I know, I usually do that last, but Lauren's weird! And it's necessary to understand how central the Bullzord is to Lauren's playstyle. This is not a zord for anyone else but Lauren, period. The Bullzord is not a group resource, people! Dump it onto Lauren ASAP, so that way she is able to deal large amounts of damage with less energy. You picked Lauren, that means everyone else needs to line up behind you and make sure your hits land.

Don't have Black Box? Get Hold the Line out as soon as you have a second so you can try and draw the Box. Hold the Line is one of the few cards in the game that lets everyone draw and you get an energy out of it. This also allows the group to eat a hit if they need to, by having a choice of what to put back atop the deck. It's the perfect card to compliment Lauren's otherwise straight-up offensive toolkit. It lets you get the card you want while making sure that defenses are high all around.

I know Discipline says that you can do a reroll on any ranger, but let's be honest with ourselves: you shouldn't. Use it on yourself for Strafe Burst and Burn Out. Notice how those two attacks are dependent upon specific results that you rolled? Want a specific result from either one, but can't seem to get it because the dice are evil? Why do you think Discipline is in Lauren's arsenal? It's for your own rolls! You can use this to cheat GUARD or possibly get some of the extra damage that would have been wasted on a KO elsewhere. Or, if you're willing to use Black Box on either of these attacks, you all of a sudden may be able to KO one target and still hit another one for pretty decent damage! The flexibility here is amazing!

But the piece de resistance is Spin Sword. Dump even two additional energy on it and you have a 5D attack... which isn't as good as the Power Bow, I know, or even the Bow of Darkness, but Lauren has enough tools to make this card the definitive tac nuke. First off, Black Box combined with practically anything in Lauren's toolbox is just ridiculous, and that goes double for even an unmodified Spin Sword. But the fact that you can throw in Discipline, which allows you to muck with the dice roll for even greater effect, means that you can, with just three dice, possibly get 12 damage out of the attack, 6 damage on average, which is the equal of Power Bow in terms of damage. However, if you put a bit more in... the results can be truly terrifying. Like all things post-core, it needs some set-up, but you get this whole combined with a Dragonzord or two? You're talking something of a power level that would make the Power Bow weep from the sheer amount of damage coming out. Yes, Power Bow allows you to ignore GUARD, and yes, MMPR Pink is a better single target tac nuke, but Lauren is not a tac nuke: her role is so flexible and so weird that, in a pinch, she can equal Kimberly's damage output to a single target, which is all that is required for this to be a legitimate part of Lauren's toolkit.

Lauren sits in the back, biding her time. When she strikes, she strikes once, wrecking all before her, whether it be one or many, with an accuracy that's as assured as it is deadly. With a single strike of her sword she either fells armies or the target nobody else seems to be able to get. And she walks away, perfectly balanced and replenished, ready for another round. Properly played, Lauren is deadly. Challenging. Exhilarating. 

For she is samurai. And samurais demand nothing less.

Yes, this is part one. I told you, Lauren's weird.

The True-Gold Forge: Review

So this is not the sorta thing I would normally want to use. Generally I view myself as pretty good at allowing for RP, and so I'd have skipped a mechanic like this. RP happens pretty regularly and it's generally pretty high caliber.

Yeah, I know that's bragging. Deal with it.

I mean, the sessions aren't perfect, particularly when trying to figure things out with Torchbearer. And honestly I found that a bit with the lighter Trophy Gold as well; doing deep and intensive role-playing is not something that most systems are designed to do, at least inherently. Others may disagree, but I find that Burning Wheel has spoiled me.

There's something to be said for just talking. y'know?

And that's what True-Gold Forge is. Talking.

During natural rest periods of the session everyone rolls two dice: a light and a dark. The GM has a table of topics, which he then references. Each player then has a prompt to expound upon.

And that's it.

Yeah, it's that simple. And it works! Players have to get a bit creative, but I've found that the prompts lead to any range of RP moments, with all sorts of tones. The openness of the system allows creative players to really shine. Players who may need some more meat may suffer for it, but I've found that a good strong helping GM hand can make the difference in setting up who goes when.

This was a very pleasant surprise. I'll definitely be open to more stuff like this in the future.

You can get True-Gold Forge in the Codex Gold magazine, which is part of the Codex Magazine, published by the ever-fine folks at the Gauntlet.

Marvel Champions: Green Goblin Review

The best Goblin story in Spider-Man history. Yup. I said it.

I grew up with the Green Goblin as the primary boogeyman of childhood. Norman Osborn is the flip side of everything that is Peter: ambitious, business-savvy, ruthless, petty, and almost careless with his time under the mask. Norman is Peter's nemesis precisely because everything Peter, by being himself, loses to Norman. He has to step it up, everytime. He has to lose his happy-go-lucky attitude and resolve to beat Norman right to the brink of death in order to stop the nightmare.

So yeah, you could say I have a bit of a personal interest in this pack.

The Green Goblin pack released months ago, I know. But there is a lot in the pack. And I've not played the game as much I've wanted to. Obviously that's going to change. But here's what we got: The Green Goblin pack has two major scenarios- Green Goblin proper and Norman Osborn - along with four side scenarios - Scorpion, Tombstone, Electro and Green Goblin. All six scenarios are excellent, covering a wide selection of situations. Each of them are challenging in their own right.

Mutagen Formula is the Green Goblin scenario proper, where our villain tries to infect the city with his goblin formula. Ole Gobby's gone full Goblin Nation, posing a proper Avenger's level threat. Green Goblin as a villain is always scheming: when he deals damage to the players his threat goes up. Mutagen Formula isn't as minion-happy as, say, Ultron, but it still has a fair number of little folks running out to screw up your day. All in all, Mutagen Formula has been one of the toughest scenarios released for the game so far. It's the Goblin at the top of his game.

Risky Business is my favorite scenario in the tin. Norman Osborn is trying to take over a section of Stark Industries and you have to stop him! I've heard people complain this one is too easy. I mean, it isn't the hardest scenario I've played, but there's some interesting levers to pull here. The villain here is a cross between Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. Norman Osborn can't attack, but cannot take damage, building a resource that lets him shrug off hits. If you do eat through his shield fast enough Norman switches to his Green Goblin half, who immediately deals everyone on the board unavoidable damage. The Green Goblin has a ticking time clock until he switches back to Norman (and thus stops taking damage). The clock ticks down whenever he would normally scheme, although there are other triggers that his deck contains. The thing is that Green Goblin's attack is higher than normal, so he can bruise you up so badly that you have to flip back to alter-ego... which is when the clock ticks. It doesn't take much. This particular scenario feels like the Norman Osborn from the comics: unstable, smart, and usually destroying himself in the end. Given my love for Norman Osborn this is the scenario I usually find myself defaulting to.

The four side scenarios are really cool. Goblin Gimmicks allows you to port the Goblin madness over to other villains (or maybe just beef up your Goblin!): regen, gliders, pumpkin bombs, the whole scheBANG is in here. Goblin Gimmicks makes your villain just that much more annoying. A Mess of Things introduces the villain Scorpion into the game. He likes to stun folks and then take advantage of stunning you, turning into a whirlwind of death. Running Interference features Tombstone, who mucks around with your alter-ego, sometimes making it impossible to change between the personas. Electro discards cards out of the encounter deck, sending out random bad things based upon what's discarded. And yeah, that gets you closer to the dreaded +1 Encounter Card a player situation. Sometimes those discards take out a huge chunk of the Encounter Deck. Playing against Electro with Thor in the mix would be terrifying...

Anyway.

I think this is a really good scenario pack. The Goblin schemes are extremely flavorful and a good mix of challenges. The side schemes add some interesting stuff to the mix, creating sub-plots that are memorable and challenging. It's not an excellent buy for 20 bucks. I still don't feel like I've gotten to the bottom of the pack.

And that's after six months. So let that speak for itself.

The Undertow: Session Twenty-Three

A year went by. Mikansia had wanted to go and save Akseli, but Marian had always been a step ahead, reminding Mikansia that the dahaka were not merciful to major breaches in the timeline. But that didn't stop Mikansia from trying, even if that meant abandoning the training she had undertaken to mend holes in Dream from her sword. The day Mikansia knew Akseli was doomed found her exhausted. She'd been training most of the night and couldn't sleep, unless she'd thoroughly worn herself out. That day was no different, even if she knew it was The Day.

A hurricane she'd not experienced in months presaged the arrival of Fish, the dark dragon. Off hopped Nomi, the redeemed dark elf. The last time Nomi had seen Mikansia their compound was being destroyed, hundreds of miles away. She hadn't time traveled, like Mikansia had. She had no idea what had happened in the last year. So she was surprised to see Mikansia there; her jaw dropped. "How... how did you get here so fast? You couldn't have gotten here before me. No one is faster than Fish."

Mikansia continued her drills.

"Hey, what the hell?? I know you can cut a portal and whatever, but even then, that's not instantaneous." Nomi  came up closer to Mikansia.

Mikansia wouldn't even look at Nomi. "Things just sometimes work out, don't they?"

Nomi stared at Mikansia a moment. "No, something happened to you. Did something happen? I deserve to know! They're... they're my people too."

"Ensio and the rest are in the building over there. So is Marian. She can catch you up." Mikansia continued her drill. She didn't look up, not even once.

Nomi opened her mouth. And shut it. After a minute she walked away. Mikansia kept at the drill. Over the last few months she'd trained her sword skills, and it showed. Her movements had achieved a grace that almost no one could track. But it wasn't enough. Krakeru had moved faster. Smoother. And until she was better Mikansia could not rest. She was missing... something. Whatever it was. She would find it.

After awhile Nomi walked out of the ramshackle building Mikansia called home and rounded the corner, out of sight. Marian came out the same door a few minutes later, making her way over to Mikansia, who sheathed her sword. "It's time", she declared to Marian.

Marian nodded. "So it is. What's your goal?"

"The Lone Keep needs to burn. It needed to yesterday. The year before."

"And you're the one to do it" confirmed Marian. "How can I help?"

"How do I find it?"

Marian chuckled. "That's the question, isn't it?" Mikansia stared impassively at Marian. "The Lone Keep orbits Heranyt, like the rest of the Ring of Tears. Find it without a functioning orbital map is impossible."

"So how do I find it? This map?"

"The maps are handed to their agents in the field, who keep them on their person at all times. They're trained to give up their lives rather than that map. I've tried to get one for the last few hundred years, but dark elf agents are trained for centuries  to read even the slightest twinge on someone, destroying their maps at even the slightest of false calls."

"Well, I've not tried it yet."

That made Marian chuckle some more. "Well, you'd have a better chance than I outright. Actually being an elf makes it a lot easier."

"Well, that still sounds difficult. Is there an easier way?"

"Clairvoyants have been known to locate the Lone Keep, but most don't want to look and it takes more to convince them than I find ethical."

"Well I don't want to find a clairvoyant then. I have a former dark elf. If she has a map it's probably not current, but Nomi will know where to get one."

Marian nodded. "See you when you get back then."

Mikansia found Nomi on the roof of the ramshackle, overlooking the slowly resurging human city of Argentum Reskartum. "So. You know about.. you know?"

Nomi nodded. "I'm sorry he went like that. Letting grief take you is never an option that's pleasant." She looked over at Mikansia, who kept her gaze on the city.

The humans had begun their afternoon hustle. They were always so busy.

"I never liked him. Akseli. He was such a goody-two-shoes and it drove me nuts. But he was reliable, which I could claim myself. I respected him for that" admitted Nomi.

Why were those humans in such a rush? Was it because their lives were so short? Mikansia caught herself envying that more than a little.

"Well, nothing makes one feel as good as a revenge murder tour. Want to go find the Lone Keep?" Nomi looked over, a strange smile on her face.

Mikansia's smile was almost exactly the same as Nomi's. "I thought you'd never ask."

"You'll be wanting an updated orbital map, which I don't have. But I know where to look. The Fer Kingdoms was always rife with Lone Keep agents. We should go north, up there."

Fish flew them north and over the Étranger Mountains. Mikansia had heard about the Fer Kingdoms in her briefs from the Sword Singers. The humans in the Fer Kingdoms were pale, unlike their more southerly cousins in the Argentum Empire. Mikansia had always found that strange. Ebony was the only color for skin! The Fer Kingdoms were also colder, with coniferous forests. A few weeks were spent in this darker and cooler clime, as Nomi helped Mikansia search out a dark elf agent.

They eventually found their way to a small and muddy ramshackle town. Sitting down at an inn's common room, Mikansia and Nomi kicked back a moment. Down plopped another elf, hand sliding down Mikansia's inner thigh. "Not too often one meets a former Yetekaida. Hello, gorgeous."

It wasn't as fast a draw as Krakeru's. Mikansia knew that. But nobody else would. The dark elf certainly couldn't. He was deader than a doornail, guts splattered acrost the human inhabitants of the common room. Unfazed by the gore she was covered in, Mikansia flicked the blood off her blade and resheathed in one silky movement. Nomi was laughing and clapping. A quick search produced the orbital map: it had eight days on it before it was no longer relevant.

Chairs scraped and human voices rang in the enclosed space. Nomi jumped out of her chair, sword out. But Mikansia held Jabez's sword aloft in a multivariated flash of light. "This is elf business! Back off, humans!" yelled Mikansia at the top of her lungs.

Everything went quiet; all eyes rested on the pulsating beauty of Jabez's sword. Even Nomi. She was slack-jawed. Stashing the orbital map and grabbing Nomi by the wrist, Mikansia ran out the front door, sheathing the sword. The humans poured our their doors like ants. Did they really think they could keep up? Both Mikansia and Nomi looked back and laughed at their pitiful attempts at running. "This... is.. the most fun... I've had... in a long time!!!" Nomi wheezed.

"Me... me too!" Mikansia said back.

A day's march later later and they were on Fish, riding the whirlwind south and east.

They came back to Argentum Reskartum to find a swarm of humans on the front doorstep, trying to beat down the door of their little ramshackle. "Bring out the half-breeds and that coal-fucker! Coal-fucker! Coal-fucker!" Fish's hurricane scattered the brown ants quite nicely. Ensio and his family hopped aboard as they scattered the humans in the updraft.

"Where the hell are Marian and Telos??" snapped Mikansia as they rushed into the air.

"They left earlier this morning, to deal with a southerly invasion by Golau!" yelled Ensio over the hurricane.

"We have a map to the Lone Keep! We need to set you down someplace and go, now! We don't have much time!"

"There's a family in Vigilance, in the northern Étranger Mountains! We could stay with them! Dale and I are coming with you two!" Ensio belted.

"Oh yeah we are! it's been awhile since I've had dark elf action!" yelled half-elven Dale. Who was sixteen. Yngvar, one of Mikansia's dead friends, had saved Dale from death  by infusing him with a part of his departed soul. Dale had gained Yngvar's expert sword-skills, not to mention some catchphrases and twitches.

Some of which he'd just shown.

Mikansia punched Dale as hard as she could while hanging onto Fish. The crack of Dale's jaw was drowned out by the roar of the wind. Ember's (Dale's wife) and Decima's (Dale's human mother) screams of shock were not. "DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN. EVER!! YOU STUPID HUMAN CHILD! YOU HAVEN'T EARNED IT! YOU NEVER WILL! SHUT UP! SHUT. UP!" roared Mikansia over the screams of the wind and loved ones.

She sat back as Dale nursed his jaw, glowering at her. Everyone else stared at her. Mikansia didn't care.

Slither: Session 4

Last time: Kiva and Jelle encountered Desarim, the sole survivor of a band of adventurers, who leads the way to the room where his party disappeared. Jelle becomes trapped burrowing into a tomb and meets an untimely demise at the wrong end of a Serpa’s axe. Desarim and Kiva are dragged into a pit by skeletal hands, where it’s discovered that at least one member of the Desarim’s party survived. A woman named Pella enters with a dramatic flair and lures a monster on top of Desarim and Kiva. (making it clear she has some questionable “history” with Desarim) yeah everyone is getting along splendidly.

 Kiva marches Pella towards the door exiting the chamber, continuing their verbal fight. As she pushes Pella a snake monster comes busting through the door. Kiva throws Pella in the path of the Trogdor but fails to account for Pella’s agility. She misses the Trogdor’s swing and states saucily “I’ve learned these moves in the club.”  Desarim and Kiva were also able to dodge the initial strikes by the Trogdor but the argument continues between Kiva and Pella. They are so distracted with their bickering that no one noticed when Trogdor came back until it landed a right hook, sending both of them sprawling back onto Jelle’s body. This attack comes with such a force, it takes out a support beam of the chamber in the process
Meanwhile Desarim stands by idly trying to come up with a solution to save them all. Despite the dangerous chaos of the situation, Kiva and Pella’s argument continues, this time fighting over who got the pleasure of looting Jelle’s body. “Who risked their neck to even get him down here safely, and was doing fine until you showed up? says Kiva heatedly. “Hey he was my brother! Back off hoe!” retorts Pella. They don’t let up fighting, even over the corpse of their former comrade, until they see Desarim trying to fight the Trogdor solo.
Pella teams up with Desarim at the last minute, using their magic to burn the Trogdor but only managing to  singe a scale or two. The Trogdor hisses “Did you really think that was going to work? Now I shall surely kill you all now, as I’m starving and   you look like a good meal.” While the Trogdor is being distracted by the flames and going off on a rant. Kiva ties a rope between it and the last remaining support pillar. She shouts “Run you Fools” after which they all run as fast as possible out of the chamber. As the creature attempts to chase them, it pulls the pillar and collapses the chamber.
 Running out as fast as their legs can carry them, they almost didn’t see the cliff shortly past the door; luckily, they stopped just in time. Taking a breather to glance around, they discover a rope bridge to cross to the other side. As they get about halfway across the bridge, Desarim spots two Goblins with his spyglass and readies his bow, the goblins spot them back about the same time. Luckily Desarim has his bow at the ready and as they begin to shoot, he shoots back. Meanwhile Pella grabs Kiva hiding behind her as a human shield.  This serves her well, as initial volley of arrows hit Kiva directly as the arrows deflected off her armor. Her breastplate is severely damaged beyond repair, yet she is luckily unharmed. Enraged, Kiva twists and forces herself to her knees, opening Pella up to take the next volley of arrows into her soft flesh. She drops to the ground with a thud. Desarim successfully shoots the goblins down and together he and Kiva loot the body of the fallen Pella. Afterwards Desarim pushes her body off the bridge so that no one would know they were ever there, stating “She was never my girlfriend anyway.”
They proceed down the bridge, and open a door into what appears to be an old armory. There are many abandoned shoddy weapons scattered around the room, pitchforks and brooms and the like. Kiva and Desarim each take a couple (“Backups never hurt anyone, especially in a dungeon!”) and continue exploring the room. In the far corner, they see another door, and a cage containing a haggard looking elf.
They ask him what his story is. The elf states that his name is Aram. He had been imprisoned here for several months, pointing to the markings on the wall where he had been keeping track of the days. He continues saying  that he had come here with  friends  but  that  they  had  all died, to which  Desarim mumbles  “Welcome to the  club  bro”,  and  states  that  most of them had  died at  the  hand of  the  Trogdor and  mentions  how  crazy  intense it was to fight it ( Kiva and Desarim nod in  agreement)  and  that  any  friends that survived the Trogdor attack were killed by the Goblins. 
They release Aram from his cage and Kiva throws him a pitch fork. Catching it, Aram tries to stab Kiva reflexively but due to his weak muscles and Kiva’s cat like reflexes he misses. Kiva glares at him, He quickly apologizes, explaining he had been tortured by the goblins his instinct just kicked in. Kiva shrugs it off but warns “Don’t let it happen again. They collect themselves and start to hear chanting from the next room.
Desarim bravely agrees to lead and opens the door first. He has just enough time to witness a crowd of goblins, all chanting and surrounding a crowned goblin on a throne. The goblins turn and Desarim is promptly shot in the face with a flaming arrow, dropping him right in front of the door. To stop the hail storm of flaming arrows Kiva and Aram quickly push Desarim’s body out of the doorway and shut the door before they are killed. Filled with fear Kiva and Aram plan for what their next move will be against this new threat.

The Shadow Proves the Sunshine

Once, in a time that gets further and further away with each passing second, a time so long ago that I would barely recognize myself, but still so near to me that its shadow is constantly in my heart, I was going to kill myself. I'd had enough. The whole entirety of my life felt like a gigantic bruise. At the time I couldn't even remember half the things I'd been through, but their shadows had voices. And they hadn't stopped screaming in a very very long time. And so I'd decided that enough was enough. A plan came to me. I knew what I needed to do.

But something in my head, a voice I'd not heard in a very long time, spoke with a force that made me pause. The awfulness that was in my head was not going to stop should I die. It would only get worse. My body was playing interference with the noise I was hearing at that point. It would only intensify after death. And, for whatever reason, I believed that. But that left me in a bind. Because the noise was still going on, right then, and I remembered asking why on earth I shouldn't just embrace it and let it hollow me out. It wasn't going to stop. I couldn't stop it.

The icon that I bumped into was not this one. But it had a similar facial configuration. The thing is that earlier icons of Christ were designed to have two halves: an angry, judgmental half, and a merciful soft one. And, as I stared at this icon, I found that the noise just got louder and louder and louder until I could almost hear it with my ears because my mind was trying to receive a thought and it didn't really want to so it was just cranking the noise so I could continue alongside my doomed course. But, somehow, it got through.

If all I've seen is wrath there must be mercy somewhere. And I want to find it.

And then the noise stopped. Merciful sweetness, it just stopped. I stood in utter interior silence. I could relax. I could breathe. I could just exist. I was free. It wasn't a lack of noise, it was peace. And I let myself just be in it. I never wanted to leave it. Even an instant of this peace, of this silence, which was definitely not coming from me, which had nothing to do with me, was enough of a reason to live.


And then I heard it.

The smallest of whispers.

Is everything alright now?
 
Small. Still. Like a child whispering a secret into your ear. But inconceivably more powerful. And anyone who has had a child whisper into your ear knows that is the most powerful thing in the world. To have a little voice in your hear, telling you the most earnest, the most deathly serious of their secrets, or just anything at all, really, will change your life, regardless of what is said. I have two of my own. I know.

This whisper outstripped it. There was a power behind that whisper that could have unmade me in a moment. I trembled with fear to hear it, from the sheer power of it. A choice had been made to preserve me, even while pressing down the pain, even if only for a moment. I responded with a joy that I did not understand. And still don't. "Yes, yes it's OK. There is still hope."

A few years passed and I began to forget. That's no crime, I suppose, but it  did make life a lot harder. And then, one day, the album Nothing is Sound was released, and this song was on it:


In the coming years, as the shadows in my mind continued to scream as loudly as they could, I would find random spots where I could listen to this song. I could feel the Silence behind it, that presence that reminded me that all it was going to take was a bit more pushing. Just keep going. I would find mercy soon enough. Even if that meant just listening to the song and waiting it out.

Boy, the Silence's definition of soon and my definition of soon do not line up at all. But push I did. Somehow the woman who interceded for me in the above moment, in a moment of Silence herself, decided that I was marriageable material. I certainly didn't argue. I still try not to. And so we keep on. So far two children have followed. Silence sits behind their eyes, and I only hope I can help them keep it.

I didn't know it, but I had a hard weekend. The perennial conversation about embracing the chaos or the Silence was very strong in my heart. I was barely aware of it, of course.  Until this morning, that is, when I stepped out  to go to work. I didn't know the darkness in my heart.

Until I heard a small voice behind me.

"Daddy have good day at work!"

I turned. I'd heard that with my ears.

And he was just standing there, waving.

Well, trying to anyway. He's two, so it was more like his hand just bopping all over the place. But gosh he was pumping that hand hard. I stopped and waved back. He was very serious. No smile. I wonder if he knew what was in my heart. I sure didn't, not at the time. But the hand kept pumping. I stopped. He stopped. I waved. He pumped his hand back. I couldn't stop looking at him. So I backed up to the car, waving. He stayed at the door, pumping that hand in every direction he could think to put it.

And then I came to work. Something had just happened, but I'd no idea. And the above song had just been uploaded by Switchfoot.

I'm sitting here on the edge of tears.

Fortunately not all tears are evil.

Just a little further.

May the Power Protect You: Tommy Oliver (Turbo Red)

I'm honestly a bit surprised by Tommy's Turbo Red form. I was surprised, by not terribly excited, to see that Tommy's Turbo form was getting covered this early, but I mean, get it all out of the way, y'know? I'm certainly one of those who thinks that Tommy is overrated, but that's not the cookie crumbled. But even I think that Turbo was not a good way to send the character out. Turbo was a disappointing season, all told.

So why is this character so freaking awesome???

Explain yourself, Mr. Ying.

Because I want the rest of the Turbo team now! And that's not nice! Not at all! How dare you!!

OK, need to be an adult. Need to write.

Turbo Tommy (yup, I'm sticking with that) is an energy-obsessed dude. The entirety of his character is about energy flow. And offense. So much offense. There's literally no defensive cards in Turbo Tommy's kit. It's glorious. Just out and out offense, all the time, let's go! Shift Into Turbo, Turbo Tommy's character ability, allows you to toss in an extra energy for free, effectively. And that happens to square up with about half of Turbo Tommy's deck: Auto Blaster, Turbo Lightning Sword, and Full Throttle all are "X" costed, allowing you to ease up the energy being thrown at these three cards. Or, y'know, go all out and take advantage of that extra +1. Whatever you think the group can handle at that point. You do have folks in tow with you, after all.

Auto Blaster is Blade Blaster's bigger, more bad-ass, brother. Most of the characters I've covered up until this point had a Blade Blaster, so I didn't really think about talking about the card. Auto Blaster, on a strict blaster to blaster comparison, looks better, until you realize that it can only target one particular card, as opposed to any number of targets. Sure, it ignores GUARD, but Turbo Tommy is so freaking offensive that he has to be able to ignore GUARD for survival's sake! Yeah, I doubt you're doing a full Turbo team right now either, but in order for Turbo Tommy to hold his own he needs to have the ability to ignore GUARD when necessary. Which this lets you do. So that's good.

Full Throttle is probably my favorite card in the kit. You can play it on yourself, but I find I prefer playing it on another player's attack, preferably a grenade who can take that extra dice and make everyone hurt. And the thing is that you can chain it with other "grant extra cards" to not only build up a bit of energy beforehand but also make sure that the person at the end of that combo chain is just going to destroy anything that gets in their way. This card alone is enough to get me to play Turbo Tommy.

Ironically enough Turbo Lightning Sword didn't really get me as excited. It's a perfectly good card, granting you two attacks, which allows you to circumvent GUARD by killing that card before you throw in your second attack, but I always found myself not playing it in favor of someone else's power weapon. I don't know if others have run into that, but that's certainly been my experience. It's just not jumped out at me as much as other attacks. Time will tell, I suppose.

Alright, folks, let's get this out of the way: Turbo Strike, which grants you energy, does not trip off Slipstream Charge, which only activates when another ranger gains energy. So no, you have to wait for another ranger to be able to use that card. That being said, Turbo Strike can be really helpful, particularly when you get a 2 hit result. It's a good and solid attack with a nice boost to it that, for whatever reason, I find myself rolling 2 hits for. Why my luck can't be better when doing literally anything else I don't know, but there you have it.

Redline Slash doesn't get that extra die as much as I thought it would. I mean, that's probably because my group is really paranoid about energy flow and will gladly take hits to get something back in the tank, but it is really nice to fall back on Redline Slash when we couldn't afford to do anything else. And considering that there are times you really need that 3D attack but don't have the energy for it? It's a wonderful fallback.

Lightning Cruiser allows you to beat out FAST, at the cost of losing your last turn. I'd make the trade, particularly if it's a boss fight. I'm kinda scratching my head at who wouldn't, given how evil some FAST cards really are.

Play Turbo Tommy is a really thrilling time. With all the energy generation he does, the constant riding of that energy tank on empty, and his total lack of defense, you'd have to either be crazy or smart to play Turbo Tommy. Well, both is probably preferable. But if I'd have to pick one I'd say smart. Because smart playing of Turbo Tommy will yield some truly spectacular results.

The Giggling Dark: Session Twenty-Seven

Xellous finally told his wife, Kora, the truth about her lost memories. Curious about the mother she could no longer remember, Kora asked to go back to her mother, Threen, who still lived at Xellous's childhood home, the farmhouse. But things got complicated. They've been running into random humans who all claim to be "Charles". The eldritch horrors known as the Nameless lie in wait between them and Threen. And they just killed 7-of-10, one of the most important members of the horrific race the khen-zai. Xellous passed out in the attempt. This could very well be the end.

The first question out of Xellous's mouth when he regained consciousness was how they were still alive. They were in the wagon, which was stationary. Kora told him they'd all been asking that question. The instant they'd gotten Xellous's unconscious body back into the wagon Telos had driven it with a will that seemed to be aimed at killing their horse; they'd cleared twenty miles in three hours, due south, until they'd almost lost the horse. Telos was still jittery. He said as much.

A lightbulb went off in Xellous's head. He asked Ikuinen Lampo why the khen-zai hadn't bombed the planet to ash. An orbital bombardment hadn't struck them after killing 7-of-10. Why not kill all life and start all over, just in general? Lampo said the khen-zai had never shared their logic for doing anything and this was no exception. They'd never razed any planet they'd returned to. No guesses had ever been held to over the millennia. But Xellous was right: the khen-zai were not going to rain fiery hell on the planet.

Xellous's next question was why the Nameless hadn't eaten all life already, as well as why they were on this planet in the first place. Lampo told him the Nameless normally didn't just "show up" at planets: they had to be summoned. The dark elves of the planet Heranyt were able to summon and channel the Nameless. Kora asked how any of the elves could survive such an experience. Lampo told her that the elves could withstand the the Music of the Nameless extremely well. This was because of how strong emotions, typically Grief, were a part of their very genetics. Elves sometimes turned to dust if they were overwhelmed enough by whatever emotion they had chosen to embrace! But because of this dedication to a single emotion elves could resist the Nameless like no other creature; they even hunted the Nameless from time to time, and their Sword Singers were feared acrost the solar system.

Xellous and Kora were curious. Could Lampo find out what had drawn the Nameless here? Lampo told them that being in Genevieve's body (she had taken the body of Xellous's dead sister, Genevieve, to travel with them) she could not find out. She was a descended star and thus had no innate contact with the heavens anymore. But she could get in contact with an ascended star, a star still up in the heavens. Provided that someone could provide the ascended star with good enough directions the truth would be revealed pretty quickly. Xellous volunteered. He had a lot more power than Lampo did in her limited form and he wanted to see for himself. Lampo warned him that no mortal had ever interfaced with a star the way Xellous was talking about. But then again, no one had ever learned Aura Manipulation as Xellous had. If any human could do it Xellous was the one to accomplish it. Walking up to him, Lampo apologized to Kora.

Ikuinen Lampo passionately kissed Xellous. And all of a sudden Xellous was way up in space, right next to a pulsating star. Music, soft, gentle, and overwhelmingly powerful pressed upon him. The sheer power was staggering, but Xellous found that he could withstand it if he applied all his strength to it. He could hear Lampo and the star singing to each other, harmonizing in a soft but quick cadence. And all of a sudden Xellous could hear a whispered voice, asking him where he wanted to look. Xellous asked the star to show him the planet Pyheeta, his planet. The star obliged. There was Pyheeta and the atlases that held up Xellous's continent standing upon it. On a certain continent there was a patch of nothing, confirmed by the star to be the presence of the Nameless. Xellous asked if it was possible to see that patch in its past. The star told him that since light was time yes, he could been shown what the "patch" looked like in the past, including at its very origin. At Xellous's request star "rewound" time  to nine months previous, shortly after Telos and Michael had left to find Xellous. The void was coming out Xellous's farm house. Alarmed, Xellous asked if they could go inside the house, if they could follow the light down. The star warned Xellous that would sap Xellous of his remaining strength, but Xellous pleaded so insistently the star relented with a gentle sigh.

They were looking at Threen, Kora's mother. She was weeping at being left behind by Telos, Michael, and Xellous. She was mourning how she had drowned her firstborn, Charles, and screeching that none of this was her fault. It was the khen-zai  who had influenced her and destroyed her family, not her! And now she was alone, left by those who she had loved most. The void opened up, she looked into it, and asked "Charles?"

The void swallowed her up.

Xellous fell over in the wagon and threw up, sobbing. Kora held him as he apologized, over and over and over. Finally he told Kora what had happened. Xellous had failed Threen! She was dead, the Nameless had defiled Charles's memory, and it was all his fault, for not taking her to find Kora in the first place. Kora wept with him, in shock. Lampo couldn't contain herself either. Kkora finally told Xellous, after finally drying her eyes, the he couldn't have known any of this would have happened. Lampo agreed: there'd only been one other time when she was ascended that a human had summoned the Nameless with no help. Xellous couldn't have known. Kora told Xellous that it was the khen-zai who'd done this. they had targeted Kora's family, killed Xellous's father, schemed for a planet they'd abandoned. And Kora swore: they would pay. She had a bow that could even hurt the gods, thank to Xellous. And she was going to use it.

After a moment Lampo spoke. The Nameless had swallowed her husband whole, millennia ago. She had come to Pyheeta to make something herself into something more than what she was, and she hadn't gone and sacrificed her eternity in the heavens for the Nameless to come and just wreck the planet. Or the khen-zai. It was time to fight. It was time for all of their foes to pay.

Xellous stood. He agreed. The khen-zai would pay. But first they needed to save their planet from the Nameless, without the khen-zai.

Telos came in from seeing to the horse, which had recovered enough to go at a slow trot. It was time to go, but they needed a plan.

Xellous said he had one. He'd met elves before. He remembered what their auras were like. He could change their human auras to mimic elven ones. Which meant that stupid Music wouldn't hurt them.

Something was different as Xellous began to reach out to everyone's auras. He was different. Stronger. Meeting the ascended star had changed Xellous somehow. And that change let Xellous reach deep within himself, within his friends and family, to find that grief that the elves had used to cloak themselves, and he pulled it out of all of them, to be as if they were elves. It would hurt him to do it, to finish the process, but that was a sacrifice Xellous was happy to make. And they could all the feel the difference at the end. Xellous sank onto a bench, exhausted. He'd done it. They could withstand the Nameless.

Telos hopped into the driver's seat, and Kora pulled Xellous into a close snuggle, helping him ground. They were going back north. Back to the farmhouse. They would drive out the Nameless with a bow that could hurt gods, mighty magic from another planet, and the bond that had become so strong betwixt them.

It was time to wage a war.

Marvel Champions: Black Widow Review

Black Widow has become one of my favorite Marvel heroes. Yeah, that's because of Winter Soldier and the Avengers. No, I've not bought any of her comics. I'm kinda afraid they'll be bad, as the core of what makes Black Widow interesting to me is too subtle for the vast majority of comic book writers, who generally have the subtlety of a crowbar to Robin's back. So I was pretty excited to see her pack coming out. This review covers playing Black Widow's deck straight out of the box and what my thoughts on playing that pack were. I'm not going to cover too terribly much what I thought of Black Widow's basic cards, nor am I going to get more specific than what it felt like to play this deck. I played this deck with my Spider-Man Protection deck, upgraded with some of the cards from this pack. I did not modify the Black Widow deck in any way, shape, or form. I played the duo against the Risky Business scenario. I got trounced.

So, Black Widow brings in a new mechanic: Preparations. You pay the cost as normal, and it stays on the board until the trigger on the card has been met, at which point you get the effect. Black Widow's character abilities work off of playing and triggering Preparations. While there are other cards in her base selection that allow Black Widow to be offensive, the vast majority of her cards are either Preparations or making it easier to play Preparations, which aren't usually that expensive to begin with.

The game with my Protection Spider-Man deck did not go well. Risky Business was a bad deck for Protection Spider-Man to begin with, given how relatively little of what's going on with Risky Business has to do with attacking itself. I probably should have gone with Thor, to help Black Widow get the time she needed to set up. I did not. And the game suffered on account of that. Black Widow as she comes out of the tin does not have the offensive power to balance out another defender.

That being said, Black Widow's deck is absolutely boss at handling threat. There's several preparations that help keep the threat level down, not to mention that Black Widow has alter-ego cards that allow her to manage threat as well. Threat was never really a question throughout the game.The problem was capitalizing on damage, and Black Widow's default deck doesn't allow for that to happen.

Now here's the kicker, far as I'm concerned: I wouldn't change too much of this deck, not yet. Black Widow's deck is built for Preparations, and there's not a whole lot of those in the game, not yet. So I'd keep Black Widow in her Justice aspect default for now. I really like her style of setting out traps which go off on a set of requirements, as well as her versatility. I don't think the pack allows you to really expand the character outside of the aspect she was packaged with, but time will tell on how much the designers play around with the concept of Preparations. Black Widow probably won't work too well without them.

I like Black Widow. She's got a clever mechanic  as well as a flexibility that hasn't been seen in any character up until this point. I don't think that flexibility works out to deck customization for her at this point, but her deck as it comes out of the box works more than good enough to where I'd be OK with just slightly modifying it, just for now.

It's all up to FFG now, isn't it?

The Undertow: Session Twenty-Two, Trait Vote the Second

A year passed. Mikansia sequestered herself away from Ensio and Decima and their family to train. She was tired of talking. She was tired of thinking. Of feeling. Once they caught up to the present she was going to burn the Lone Keep down, tearing each brick down with her hands if she needed to.

Lena and I decided that Compassionate Defender, the trait that had defined Mikansia for so long, was out. Something had broken in that conversation with Akseli. After putting our heads together we decided Compassionate Defender would be changed to Self-Loathing. Mikansia couldn't  stand herself anymore. She didn't want to be happy, she wanted to end the Lone Keep, but had no drive or wish for her own happiness. The death of Akseli had broken her.

We also added the character trait The Conversation, which is our version of the Haunted trait. Essentially "the conversation" with Akseli burns in Mikansia's memory, tormenting her. Any element of that conversation, no matter how minor, is as much as part of her as her arms, if not moreso. Each word of Akseli is remembered and treasured and dreaded. Each word of Mikansia despised and devoutly blocked... until it's not.

Due to Zaina's talks with the High King of Kotae Mah Mikansia has been branded as a public enemy to the elven people: her reputation as a Sword Singer Deserter has now been changed to Traitor to the High King.

So, y'know, happy times are ahead.

We're picking up one year later in the next session.

Strap yourselves in. It's gonna get bumpy.

Tenra Bansho Zero: Review

Always two there are.

  

Let's get the elephant out the room: Burning Wheel is my favorite game, of all time. It's not a close fight. Similar to Clannad, it is so high up on my list I almost don't include it in favorites lists in my head, because those lists default to everything but those things. Every. Single. Time. I read a game I measure it against Burning Wheel. I can't help it. And you, the person who is reading this review, deserve to know that.

But why is that? Why is Burning Wheel preferred? I mean, the simple answer is that it's practically everything about it, but that majorly rests upon the artha system: players set their priorities, are rewarded, and then recalibrate what they want to do, and plug back into the aggressive mechanics. It's a game that helps you learn how you want to play with a holistic series of supports and challenges. It's freaking amazing. I find the loop addictive.

Tenra's loop is shorter, punchier, and easier to get into, with a similar level of emotional reward.

This is the best intro role-playing game I've ever played.

Period.


It also happens to be one of the best role-playing games I've ever played. If not the best.

Period.

Let me explain. I tried this game with two friends who have never played an RPG before. I know that's a shocking concept, that I have friends who I hadn't yet gotten to try RPGS with, but they do exist! At any rate, we decided we wanted to try this game out. Now, for all the years this game has gathered dust on my shelf I'm ashamed to say I'd never played it. So I read the advice, gave them pre-gens (pregen, actually, as the game advises that playing the same pregen with different Fates is enough. They're right, by the way), and had them change the Fates on the characters (we'll get there, hang tight), and we began to play.

Now, the way this game works is you have Fates. Fates are the things that your character gravitates towards, like light towards a black hole of doom. These are the things that your character cannot seem to escape. These are public table knowledge. When you role-play to your Fates in a way that others like they can give you what's called an Aiki chit. Aiki chits can be used to boost the power of your rolls and a bunch of other things. They're nice. Useful.

But the thing is that, if you hoard them, Aiki becomes Kiai. Kiai works very similarly to Aiki in boosting the power of your rolls and game manipulation, but there's a lot more of it. Like, generally four to five times as much. Possibly seven times. So if you hold out you can get a ton of Kiai and become an unstoppable machine of death! But there's a catch. Unlike Aiki, Kiai spent must be logged by the player. Kiai spent eventually becomes Karma, which essentially measures how close you are to losing your freaking mind. Hit 108 Karma and your character becomes an Asura, a demon, who is then requisitioned by the GM. You've just lost your character because he wouldn't let go.

So Ben and Logan began to play with this framework in mind. They'd never played an RPG before, I promise! I swear it! And this amazing thing happened. Using this system, the Zero system as it's called, they learned how to role-play better in five minutes than I've seen any single other game I've ever played, Burning Wheel included. Within ten minutes they had thrown in more subtlety and nuance than I'd seen from people who had literal years of experience on them. These novice players discovered a style, a genre, that they wanted to emulate, and the Aiki chits coming from the rest of the table reinforced what the "audience" liked about that direction. Realizing what part of their ideas were clicking with the other players, they began to purposefully modulate their performances to the taste of the audience. We're talking crass dark comedy of the very best irony. Or heartfelt family tragedy, plaintive and painful.

In the same twenty minutes.

The game literally taught two complete novices how to role-play, with no advice beyond "just make believe and see what the system does". All the encouragement and tips that I find myself giving in other systems, Burning Wheel included, was completely unnecessary here. They just played. And they learned. The story soared, on its own

Tenra Bansho Zero is the best intro game I've ever played. Period.

That plays out in the advice the book gives, although not in how the twin volumes are laid out. The advice that I used? It's buried in the back, after a huge section on how to build characters, which the book advises to not do until you've really mastered the system. I'm really disappointed by this decision, as it muddies the waters and makes it difficult for people who are new to the hobby to figure out how to use the game. Which is a bit strange, considering how well laid out and explained the base rules are! And how good the advice content is, once you find it. That's a huge mark against the game and is part of why I hadn't touched in seven years: I found it intimidating, and was learning enough intimidating games that I didn't want to even look at another one.

But this game is not hard.

It is light as a bee.

And stings as hard, emotionally.

You'll notice I didn't talk about dice mechanics. I really don't think that's necessary, but here ya go: the game's core is the Zero system. If like what someone else is doing with their Fates hand them an Aiki chit. If you need to roll in the game gather a number of dice equal to your stat and roll, looking to generate successes. The higher your skill the better your chances of success are, as the skill modifies the success number on the dice itself. You generally need one success. Should you fail the game expects the GM to impose a twist that doesn't invalidate or make the character in question look like a buffoon. Combat is round based, but if you attack someone in melee expect to get counterattacked, as that is a normal part of the system. Wounds make you stronger. Which is awesome. It just feels fantastic. There are just enough mechanics to support players, but not so many as to get in the way of the Zero system, which is the real hero of the hour here.

There are very, very, very few games that I would just say outright "Go buy this, it is worth it." This is one of them. Yeah, I know, it's got a weird anime/manga theme that may put some people off, but once those Aiki chits start getting passed... just go get it. Try it. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.

Me? It's my premiere short-campaign/one-shot game now. I won't make that mistake again, believe me!