Sabina's Castle: Session Fifteen, Trait Vote the Second

So Andy and I convened for the fifteenth session... and talked ourselves into a trait vote. After three sessions. Granted, there was an almost three year time skip, but man! I've never done a trait vote after three. Here's what we came up with.

Andy put forward a character trait, Wrath of the Fallen. Given that elves in this setting live in a floating ring called the Ring of Tears they view being on the ground as "being stuck".  Andy suggested that an elf marooned on the surface normally became morose and irritable, if not outright irrational after awhile.

I didn't even bother drafting my own trait to vote on.

The next thing we worked out was an affiliation with the mysterious group "The Ones Who Sailed". This elusive group is comprised of six humans, who made it to The Island of Eternal Youth and became immortal. They are led by Telos, who has lived for the past thousand years in defense of the planet as a whole. Whenever one of these individuals tires of immortality they give a token they had carried with them to the island to the next person who is destined to take their place. They then go up to the Ring of Tears and are never seen again.

So not only is Anneli unique in that she is an elf who was given one of these trinkets, but Marian, the one who gave her the trinket in the first place, is still here. It is not known why she did not leave after giving up her keepsake. At any rate, Anneli is in a unique position. She now wants to become worthy of her role.

Why would she think that she's not strong enough?

Well.... let's just say her recovery tests did not go so well. She failed her Mortal Wound test, which dropped her Perception cap to 6, she now has Shaky Hands (-2 Agility, Agility cap of 7), and is now Slightly Clumsy (-1 Speed, Speed cap of 7). All of her physical stats are B4s, so she has lost a good amount of strength.

Join us next time, as Anneli goes monster hunting! With a two year time skip the forces of Rahbarl, Golau, and the remnants of the Argentum Empire have secured their own footholds inside of this ancient city. They all want differing things, but they all have one thing in common: if they could but get Anneli's little toy sword and make it to the Island of Eternal Youth most of their troubles would be over.

May the Power Protect You: Zachary Taylor (MMPR Black)

I have never played Zack.

SIT.

DOWN. 

But I have seen Zack in almost every single game of Power Rangers I've played since the beginning, by multiple people. Zack has probably seen more action in all the games I've played than any other ranger (keep in mind that I'm staying with core as of the writing of this post). And it's not hard to see why! The damage flows like water when he's present. He is the primary multi-target character in the core set, not to mention the Kickstarter exclusives. And this means that he is essential to the game, at least by perception. Now, I'm going to be honest with anyone reading this blog: I am an Adam Park (MMPR Black) player, so I've got a bit against Zack for stealing his thunder at my table. Some of my friends tried Adam, didn't think him flashy enough, and jumped to Zack.

I have not gotten over it. Yes, that is the perfectly adult thing to do.

Hip-Hop Kido is the beginning of a beautiful string of explosions that occur whenever Zack is around. This puts Zack right up at the front, trying to go for the kill all the time. Zack has to overplay, he has to push, he has to want to kill. You push and push and push and everyone needs to make sure you don't fall flat on your face while you're doing it. A lot of the time when Zack is playing the other players' resources are poured into his actions, meaning that everyone has to take a backseat to his antics. Hip-Hop Kido is one of those few times when that isn't happening, where Zack doesn't actually pay to do splash damage! It's a nice thing! Don't get used to it, cause it's the only real time it's going to happen!

Sweeping Strike is the bread and butter of Zack's repertoire. It also costs energy, which goes back to the need to support Zack. And, so long as the energy is provided, Zack can start throwing Sweeping Strike in with Hip-Hop Kido to, if not kill minions, significantly damage them. Smooth Moves can help off-set Zack's constant need for energy, but I'd be remiss if I didn't, once again, point out that Zack needs a lot of standing up to really deliver. But when you have people willing and able to support, like any form of red ranger or Time Force Pink, Zack just becomes an epic powerhouse. You can do all sorts of crazy stuff if you have MMPR or Samurai Red throwing rerolls and setting up with Team Tactics and whatnot.

The Power Axe is possibly the most used power weapon in the base set. The sheer damage potential of this one card, in conjunction with Hip-Hop Kido, means that you can take out up to four cards, if not more! It is the showstopper at our table, full stop. Whiffing it hurts, but even a mediocre shot from a Power Axe is more than enough to make life bearable. I think, out of all the cards that we've used in the game, this may be the one that makes for the largest amount of high fives and "YES!" incidents. And, as much as I love Adam, I have to admit that he has no flashy moment even close to Zack's use of the Power Axe. But that's not saying much.

This usually means that Zack isn't taking the one taking damage on behalf of the group and others have to work hard to make sure he doesn't go down. In fact I think it's accurate to say that Zack is average, to almost unplayable, without backup. Yeah, his Power Axe is amazing, but its truly awesome moments are only when Zack is being buffed by others, particularly by the Tyrannosaurs Zord and, if you have access to it, the Dragonzord makes Zack a force to be reckoned with. Combining those two zords with Zack makes for some of the flashiest moments in the game, but they are just that: moments. You trade consistency for bursts of power that fade into nothing a moment later. If your group can capitalize off those moments you will find Zack to be the MVP of the night, every night. The high fives will flow, even without Bulk and Skull!

A special thanks to Jonathan Ying for answering my myriad questions. He was very gracious.

Sabina's Castle: Session Fourteen

Anneli: The voidmaster of the ship the Sidreal Companion. She had crash-landed on Argentum Prime and lost her companions, including her sister Nomi, who had betrayed her.

Salt: Spar's daughter, who was rescued by Anneli and her companions. She is the only one still with Anneli as of right now.

Herminus: The former head of security of Sabina's Castle, who become one of Spar's employees before he had vanished.

The Lady in Red: The one who had given Anneli a little toy sword, which was the only way to find the Island of Eternal Youth. She hasn't been seen since by Anneli.

Pyrite: One of Spar's compatriots in his nog smuggling ring.

As the light began to fade Anneli and Salt began to get ready for the night. Anneli took the first watch. As Salt began to get ready to sleep Anneli asked her what the area was like and what Salt knew about it. Salt said she had lived in Argentum Prime since she was a little girl, and barely remembered the dwarven tunnels and halls. She asked Anneli if she really grew up in the Ring of Tears, and if anyone really did live up there. Anneli looked up at the sky, longingly, and said there was nothing like flying amongst the stars. Salt shuddered, but she surmised she'd not much room to talk: Argentum Prime had become a living hell. Six months ago something that looked like a dragon had flown out of Sabina's Castle and destroyed the city with a dark flame. Salt didn't think it could be a dragon, however. It was a being made of shadows and even dragons had flesh and  bone. There were survivors still in the city, but they could talk about that tomorrow. Salt went to sleep.

A few hours later something monstrous walked up to Anneli. Its eyes shone with a fell purple light, with a malice only possible from an Anti-Flame "life-form". The undead was so frightening that Anneli froze. The undead charged the sleeping Salt and bit her throat. Anneli charged with her sword and knocked the undead back into a wall. The undead counter-charged and knocked Anneli over, bruising the back of her head. He politely asked her to let him kill Salt, that nobody else needed to die. Salt hit the undead on the back of the head and Anneli threw him off. The undead withdrew; Salt collapsed, gurgling in her own blood.

Anneli put Salt on her shoulder and, after being told in between gurgles that the other survivors were at the bend of the river, began to run. As she got within sight of the bend the mist thickened, and out came what could have been a shriveled elven woman. She was naked, and awful beyond imagination. Anneli fell over, mortally wounded, from a sudden shock to her nervous system. Whatever had happened upon looking at the elven woman had almost killed her.

She woke up, underground, with a male dwarf (who introduced himself as Pyrite) standing over her. The lady in red, Marian, came over. She explained that it was two years later, and that thanks to her Anneli's sword they had been safe that whole time. Anneli asked what had happened, and Marian told her that she had met a fallen nymph, who had been killed by the dragon coming out of Sabina's Castle. Salt came over and greeted Anneli, happy to see her up and awake again. Marian went around a bend and Anneli overheard her talking to a "Telos" talking about how only their continued efforts and the toy sword held back their enemies. They could keep back Rahbarl, the others, and particularly Herminus from Salt a little while longer...

The Giggling Dark: Session Nineteen

Sir Xellous: The fourteen year old main character, played by Kurlak. Sir Xellous just killed his 10 year old brother-in-law, Michael, who had become a revenant. He passed out in the attempt.

Kora: Sir Xellous' wife. She'd been kidnapped by the Khen-zai while pregnant. She's since given birth to her son. Her memory was wiped by the Khen-zai, so she has no memory of Sir Xelllous at all. After Sir Xellous had killed Michael she had brought him to the infirmary.

Telos: A hero from another place, another time. He had been held in a prison of sorts for a very, very long time.

Rules clarification: Last session Kurlak and I came up with a new use for Aura Manipulation, that of the sorcerer being able to give some of his life-force to stabilize someone. The obstacle is the equal to the type of wound being stabilized. Before the roll is made the sorcerer takes a Midi wound, usually shown as neurological shock, bursting of blood vessels, etc. 

Twelve hours passed. Sir Xellous awoke in pain. He didn't feel as badly as he had a few hours earlier, but he definitely wasn't back up to 100%. Kora lay next to him on a cot, the baby snuggled up to her. They were in the castle infirmary. Telos was sitting on a nearby stool. The infirmary was full from the battles with the Cursed of Xalmantra.

Sir Xellous learned from Telos that King Varlur had been injured, but the finest doctors weren't with him; they were with Ikuinen Lampo, and had been for over twelve hours. When last Elos had heard, the doctors had been cautiously optimistic. Something about that concerned Sir Xellous. He got up. Kora was asleep for the moment and he didn't want to wake her. Not yet. He asked Telos to show him where Ikuinen Lampo was being operated on. As Sir Xellous and Telos walked they discussed Michael; his remained had been burned. Sir Xellous winced, but he admitted it was probably for the best. He and Telos discussed his feelings of guilt about Michael's death, which Telos told him was unjustified.

They got to the operating room and Sir Xellous saw how close Ikuinen Lampo was to death. He looked over at Telos and asked wryly if this was what the doctors had meant by cautiously optimistic. The head surgeon Artur's aura had been messed with by the Khen-zai; he had been sabotaging the operation the last twelve hours, but not so much that  the other surgeon, Severus, would notice. Sir Xellous reached out and purified the head surgeon's aura. He then explained to the confused surgeons what had been going on. Sir Xellous then reached out to Ikuinen Lampo's aura with his own. This caused his system to overload, and he sweated blood. With Lampo stabilized Artur, Severus, and Sir Xellous collapsed.  New surgeons were called in, while Artur and Severus tended to Sir Xellous, helping his system overcome some of its shock.

Ikuinen Lampo would pull through.

Moréna: Session Two

The Umbaran: The Wanderer character, rotated between Lena and I. He's come from the land of Rhun with a zweihander by the name of Moréna, which glows red from time to time. He's looking for someone called Lona Ered.

The Umbaran was standing outside the tower when he heard a scream from the forest. Out came a wounded man, running and screaming at the top of his lungs. "Lona Ered is in there! Help me!" He fell at The Umbaran's impassive feet. "What are you waiting for? Please help me!" The Umbaran looked down at him with scorn, put his weapon in ready stance, and waited. The man died; The Umbaran kicked him off, filled with disgust.

The Umbaran turned around and tried to walk into the town of Gelionunci, but found himself stopped by an invisible force. Shaking his head and cursing, he tried again. He couldn't walk anywhere nearer the town. He cursed again.

The Woman appeared behind him. "You won't be able to get in that way. Lona Ered's power won't let you."

"What, you think he's that powerful?" The Umbaran sneered.

"I know he is. And he's waiting for you in there" she pointed back into the forest.

"And how do you know that's where he is? What makes you think he wishes to face me at all?"

The Woman pointed at Moréna: "What does your sword tell you?"

"What do you know of my sword?"

"Only as much as you do."

The Umbaran cursed and walked past The Woman. "Not because you tell me to. I just want to check it out." The Woman smiled as he walked back into the forest.

The forest he chose to walk back into was crowded with underbrush. Moréna was used to hack it down, and The Umbaran continued to push his way through. He found himself in a clear with many rope-thick webs. Dark shadows began to jump around him, and a spider the size of a dog jumped down on The Umbaran, who hewed it down. A web attached to his foot and Moréna. The Umbaran pulled the web loose from his sword, but the web attached to his foot went taut and he flew into the air. A branch went through his torso and The Umbaran hung upon it, sword still in hand. Coughing on the black fluid that was once his blood he croaked "Is this the best that Lona Ered can do to me?" He spat black ichor. Quick as a wink he was pulled off the branch and dragged bodily acrost the forest.

The spiders let go; The Umbaran flew in the air a good ways, hit a tree, and rolled through underbrush, coming to rest in a clearing at the bottom of the hill. He stood up slowly and looked around. He was in an area with a bubbling fountain and the statue of a female elf with a child. What little light there was vanished. The Umbaran looked up: down came a spider the size of a large temple. The Umbaran almost didn't get out of the way in time, as Lona Ered came crashing down onto the ground. Some of the water from the fountain fell on Lona Ered and burns appeared on him. He jumped back, out of range of the fountain, and then chuckled. "Back for more, are we? Weren't you satisfied with what happened the last time?"

"No, not remotely" said The Umbaran.

"I did kill your family. And you" hissed the Lona Ered. "You want to do it all over again?"

"I'd much rather just kill you this time around." The Umbaran brandished Moréna.

"I don't believe you." Lona Ered lunged at the The Umbaran and knocked Moréna from his hands. The gentle bubbling of the fountain could still be heard and The Umbaran felt calmer looking at it. He jumped for Moréna instead. The blade's dull red glowed turned into a bright scarlet, which fed into The Umbaran, making him stronger.

The Umbaran jumped forward and cut deeply into Lona Ered, killing him in one stroke. The gigantic spider shriveled into a mass of shadows. At the center was a male elf. Moréna stopped glowing. "Heh, that's a lot to do for a good night" said the Umbaran. As he walked away his blade began to glow again. The small crystal he had became a little dimmer.

Back under the banks all the web cocoons began to shudder. And then break open. Little, soft voices whispered "We're free" simultaneously.

The Woman, who was nearby, smiled. "The first test is complete."

Sabina's Castle: Session Thirteen

Anneli: The voidmaster of the crashed ship Sidereal Companion. Her sister Nomi just betrayed her in front of a whole group of very, very, very bad folks, including two goblins, a troll, and a great wolf.

Nomi: Anneli's older sister. Apparently she serves the orc god of anger, Rahbarl.

Fingar: The shipmaster of the Sidereal Companion. He's cornered, right along with Anneli and the female dwarf.

The female dwarf: She had been found by Anneli and co. as she was about to killed by said goblins, troll, and great wolf.

Thungal: The conflict mediator of the Sidereal Companion. She was just knocked out by Nomi and fell a good two stories to the streets below.

Salt: The plucky daughter of Spar, who had branded him as an oathbreaker.

Nomi apologized to Anneli for the deception, who told her she didn't know who her sister was anymore. Nomi pleaded for the little toy sword that Anneli had. Rahbarl, the orc god of anger, wanted the sword, and if Nomi and the others got it from Anneli she, Fingar, Thungal, and the female dwarf could walke away, scott free. Anneli told Nomi that was never going to happen.  She lunged forward, cut Nomi with her sword, and pushed her down the stairs, on top of the great wolf who had been sneaking up the stairs to ambush Anneli and co. The great wolf fell over, onto the goblin who had been riding him, and Anneli heard a sickening snap. The troll, who had been standing just outside the window, tried to hit Anneli and Fingar. Anneli, Fingar, and the dwarf dodged to the side and then smashed through the wall, landing in the street below. The great wolf gave chase.

The dwarf was the weak link in the chain, far as the chase was concerned; she was injured and shorter than Anneli and Fingar, not to mention stupidly slower than the wolf. Anneli yelled at the dwarf that she wouldn't die here, that she needed to run! She kept cajoling the dwarf, helping her push harder than she ever had in her life. Fingar just plain old grabbed the dwarf and pulled her along. They managed to to outrace the great wolf. After getting out sight the female dwarf took off her shirt and tossed it in the opposite direction they ran, into a nearby building. The great wolf, already behind, was thrown off by the additional scent as he rounded the corner. After a short search he found the shirt, but it was too late. They were far away.

As soon as they slowed down Anneli felt a crushing sensation. All of a sudden she was down down down down DOWN, crushed under the earth. There was a Darkness Anneli found herself in it was a living force complete unto itself it was all around her and was reaching for- Fingar finally snapped Anneli out of it. She had collapsed, screaming in a high guttural voice that was unearthly. The dwarf asked her what happened. Anneli described  what happened to her and the dwarf blanched: that was a visitation  from Leviathan. Anneli was the third person in recorded dwarven history to survive the experience; the other two went crazy! No one else had ever met Leviathan and stayed sane.

As they discussed the incident Fingar started, yelling Thungal's name. He immediately started to head back. He told Anneli and the dwarf (who now had Fingar's shirt on) that time was of the essence and that principles demanded they go get Thungal, immediately.

"I didn't forget about Thungal", Anneli clarified. "I had to decide who to save and couldn't bring back everyone. And we need to get our bearings before going back."

"No, nobody should have been left behind! That's ridiculous, we're not waiting."

"You're not thinking tactically. Have you ready of Highlord Myra's works on it? We can't use our emotions in this."

"I didn't know she had written anything on tactics. Highlord Myra was a master chef, her book on flan is amazing!"

"How do you..." Anneli shook her head.  "You're not being smart about this."

"I'm not being smart about this? The smart thing to do is to leave now, because the longer we wait the more certain we are of losing Thungal. We need to move now!"

"Jumping in half-cocked doesn't work as often as you-"

Fingar exploded. "You sound nice, but what sort of sense does a person who thinks to check the mast of a void ship for sabotage actually have?" Anneil tried to get in another word. "No, no, you're done here" Fingar insisted. "You don't care about Thungal at all."

"No, that's not true! I don't want to rush in like an idiot; that doesn't mean I don't care!"

Fingar threw up his hands "Right up until they move Thungal. And when that happens we'll lose her. You can't do that. We need to move now."

"Fingar, look around. We're nowhere near home. We don't know anything about where we are."

"That's not an excuse, that's more of a reason! We need to move now, while we know the ground. They'll meet up with their friends and we'll have an even harder time."

"Um, yeah, there's a lot more of them" The Dwarf commented.

"All the more reason to go now!" Fingar insisted. "Ah, I've had enough talking with you about this. I'm leaving." And Fingar stalked off. Anneli and The Dwarf didn't move.

Anneli and the dwarf found a nearby building and sat down, wearily. Anneli remarked that all her friends where gone. The Dwarf said they would be return. Anneli asked how she could be so sure. Salt told her that she had abandoned her father before the dragon had showed up. She was still looking for him. But she would find him. And Anneli would find her friends.

The Burner Codex Review

This review has a preamble, which can be found here. I recommend reading that first. Hopefully it will provide context that I think crucial to reading this review. This game has a deeply personal meaning to me. We criticize the things we love the hardest.

So you're new to Burning Wheel and have the first book! Congrats! You're probably going through the book and either loving and understanding it, or loving it and trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't too long ago when most of us Burning Wheel folks were in your situation. I know that, when I first started, that I was overwhelmed by the game. There was a lot to process and understand and (in my case) to teach. If it wasn't for the Adventure Burner I doubt I'd be where I am today in regards to this game. This had less to do with the game itself than I had a hard time just... adapting. If you are in this boat (and even if you aren't) the Burning Wheel Codex is incredibly useful. If you wanted more racial options, this book definitely has that as well! There's trolls, wolves, roden, and dark elves, all of whom add a lot of depth to your setting. There's also magical items and a bunch of new magical systems, some of which are add-ons to the already existing Sorcery systems. But the book isn't perfect. We'll get to that later.

So, the Adventure Burner and Commentary advice is the best I've ever read. Period. I don't care what roleplaying game you are playing, if it has a GM role then the advice in this section needs to be read.  You can pick up the book and find everything you could possibly want to and read up on it. My favorite parts of this book are the Adventure Burner proper, as well as the writing on Antagonists, which should be read by all people who want to play in an RPG. The advice is not only universally applicable but the examples given are enough to give me chills that I've read it, over the course of seven years.There is advice on every. Single. Mechanic. In Burning Wheel. And, even if you aren't playing this game, its mechanical advice is so good that it's useful to almost any game you play in.

The Magic Burner's essays continue the breakdown of not just the game, but the genre and types of magical protagonists and antagonists as a whole. There's so much in these essays that, again, if someone needed a general breakdown of the fantasy genre I'd just go and give them this book and they would get a lot out of it. Most d20 games I've read say something to the extent of: "Go ahead and steal for your game!". This book says "Go ahead and steal for your entire GMing career!"The rest of the Magic Burner section has a collection of artifacts, to give a general idea of how to hack your own. They range from the tongue-in-cheek (the Ring of Power) to the awesome (snake armor! Who could say no??) Also included are a bunch of lifepaths for Magical Colleges, magical children who scare the crap out of everyone around them because of their raw power, necromancers, summoners, etc. etc.

And then there's the new stocks. Well, mostly new. Trolls, wolves, and roden are introduced to the game. Trolls are your classical large smelly brutes. They're incredibly strong and ridiculously stupid, but they have a charm to them that makes them interesting protagonists. Great Wolves come straight out of the Jungle Book and Princess Mononoke, complete with their own mythology. Roden, however, take the cake for an other-human culture. The race is divided in half: the good-natured (if slightly odd) Field Roden, whose faith brings the best out of the race, and Those Below, whose faith was corrupted on a sociological level. Dark elves are an add on to elves, showing how low they can stoop.

For my money this book is not a nice option to Burning Wheel, but a vital extension of the core rules. It explains the rules, has some of the best commentary on the fantasy genre I've ever read, adds more stuff, and makes it possible to run just about anything you'd like to, in a system that was already very open to begin with. Don't pass it up!