May the Power Protect You: Aisha Campbell (MMPR Yellow)

I'm not sure why, but I found Aisha's differences from Trini particularly pronounced. She's a killer, through and through, bringing back energy almost as fast as she spends it. But you have to wait for others to set you up, which sometimes means you're having to play against the obvious style to keep the group going. Hang back, take some hits, wait, and then hit hard.

Soft advantages (read: not damage or healing or re-rolls) are usually a harder pitch for people. There's a reason why I recommend MMPR Pink (Kimberly or Kat) as a starting character for players: they're easy to understand, while being highly effective. The effects of damage are obvious and satisfying. I'm not denigrating people who keep playing those types of characters, because I'm definitely one of them, but some abilities are a little tougher to gauge. Aisha's ability to get an energy back by killing someone is easy to conflate with the soon-to-be-released Rocky's moves, but do not be fooled. Aisha is all about waiting to pounce, getting the kill, and moving on. Aisha doesn't need to intensely set up her ability, she need only wait. That makes her a sharp swiss-army knife.

With Aisha waiting around to hit it's a good idea to use Tenacity with her. Because Tenacity lets you shuffle cards back into your deck, no matter the shieldage, it means that Aisha can actively heal herself, while giving energy to the party. Don't get hung up on using a turn; MMPR yellow is the only character who can actively heal herself (so far) and that means that you can use less actions outside of combat, making Aisha ideal for running around and starting fights when others can't, because they had to recover. 

Sabretooth Strike looks nice, right? Right? Don't be fooled. It costs an energy and is only two dice. It's not a for sure thing. Go for Precision Strike instead if you don't have a for-sure way of ensuring the KO.  It's two for-sure damage and it doesn't cost you an energy. Only use Sabretooth Strike when someone else can help pile up the damage on the first hit, thus ensuring that the second hit comes out. But, unless you're sure that you can knock the dude out with Sabretooth Strike, use Precision Strike instead.

Aisha plays a bit of a different role than expected. She's a tank and a finisher. If you need someone to be taking the hits and making sure that the killing job gets done then she's perfect for the job. She can do a lot of burst damage, giving her the ability to turn the fight in your favor in seemingly impossible situations. And she helps keep your energy economy flowing while she does it! What's not to love?

Sabina's Castle: Session Twenty-Four, Trait Vote the Last With Musings

Andy and I convened, to talk about the game and the story and to do a trait vote. We were both very happy with this campaign and how it had gone. We were both surprised at how thematically coherent it had been, and I think it's the first time Andy had been part of a game I had actually run halfway decently? 

At any rate, these were the traits Anneli had:

Call of the Stars (Char)

Wrath of the Fallen (Char)

MW to the Head (DT)

Slightly Clumsy (DT)

Shaky Hands (DT)

Haunted (DT)

Driven (C-O)

We nixed Call of the Stars (the common Elven trait in my setting) and Wrath of the Fallen (elves who get stranded on the planet sometimes develop this trait). Neither of these things really applied to Anneli anymore, who was now unlike most elves by a good margin. Wrath of the Fallen, which Andy had invoked for a couple of times Anneli had acted a bit strangely, also didn't really apply, because she no longer felt the urge to sail among the stars.

But she does feel the pull of the Island, now. 

And so we changed Call of the Stars to Call of the Island.

For Wrath of the Fallen we just flat out removed it. Anneli had found a peace in the last session that just didn't fit with Wrath of the Fallen anymore. She's moved on from feeling stranded; she is on a journey. She's not only not stuck but she doesn't have the basic drive to do something that she can't do anymore: return to the sky.

We then thought about Anneli's ending speech about the ends not justifying the means, and how she had stuck to her principles to a degree that Spar had not, as well as most people in general. We settled upon the trait Righteous from the core book to describe what she had become, for better and for worse. She's become a person who will not tolerate evil, to a degree that others would find both very helpful and not. Not quite inflexible, but determined to only let the light in, and nothing else.

We then talked reputations. Andy had come up with an awesome reputation name for what Anneli had done, Starlight Rebel, but he only wanted it to be at 2D. I pushed back and said it was definitely a 3D reputation. Anneli had deposed the head of a major army and then told all the remaining major officers not only that she had done it, but why she had done it, and then she walked away from it. That was going to spread, and fast! 

So this is what Anneli's traits and Reputations look like:

Call of the Island (Char)
Righteous (Char)

MW to the Head (DT)

Slightly Clumsy (DT)

Shaky Hands (DT)

Haunted (DT)

Driven (C-O)

Starlight Rebel 3D

As far as my own recollections from this campaign, I've got to say that I grew a lot from it, both personally and technically. Unlike most games I didn't really start with a strong vision of what I wanted to communicate. I didn't really even know where the campaign was going. Most of the time when I try to think about that sort of thing I have a pretty good idea of what it is I want to do, but that was simply not the case here. Most sessions I'd come in without even the faintest clue of what I wanted to do, so we just made it up, then and there, and Andy started to push for it as hard as possible, with me following along and trying to figure out what I was doing. 

This game was a real challenge. But it was a crucible, which formed me and strengthened some parts of my GMing where I'm definitely weak. It has changed my approach to games where I do know where I want to say, where I walk in with my big ideas and metaphysical statements, which I've been ruminating for weeks at a time. I now throw it all out the window when session time comes, because something needs to get done, right there in that situation, and the big ideas will come in when its time. And not one freaking second before. The lessons learned from this game have transformed how I approached The Giggling Dark and The Undertow. What I learned from this game informed the formation of Hallucinations and I can't wait for my players to see the difference and to post about them here. 

This was also the first GM'd game in about seven years that I got to end on my terms. The Army made it impossible to schedule practically anything. Not to mention the fact that I kept trying to play with more than... one or two people. We're getting older. We have responsibilities. And that alone makes running games with a group practically impossible. So this has been a long time coming. I'm really thankful that I got to run this game with Andy, my best man, who has consistently put up with all sorts of nonsense from me and usually seems unflappable by even the biggest GMing gaffes. 

And, whoever you are that is currently reading this, I am grateful you chose to do so. Thanks for looking in, whoever you are. This game was a lot of fun and meant a lot to Andy and I. Hopefully these reports meant something to you, as well.

Hallucinations: Session Zero

The world was a mess. Star liches, undead stars, had fallen to the earth and defiled it. The dead rose. The living were subjugated. Some blamed it on their own sins and petitioned the gods, the Lords of Light and Darkness, for relief. Others blamed those who lived atop The Red Giants, who none had seen. And others killed themselves deliberately, so they could be part of the new world order. 

And then the living stars, beautiful beyond compare, crashed into the planet, and sacrificed themselves, spilling their ichor and flame into the desecrated earth. The star-liches' power was no match for the inherent goodness of this sacrifice. The living heralded them as the answer to their prayers from the gods. The dead screamed as they disintegrated.

A new kingdom, Mamye, was founded. It was not very large and it hugged the coast, but it was home. Those to the north, in the Yuzney Zuby Mountains, refused to comply. The mountains were too cold for anyone from Mamye to care. There were rumors of creatures calling themselves the shuyao and vinteralva even farther north, but even the barbarians who refused to join with Mamye knew very little of them. 

Things began to fall apart for Mamye. A question of religious orthodoxy (Were the stars themselves the gods? Were they to be worshipped? Were the Lords of Light and Dark even real?) was hijacked by the schemes of politicians, and two cities were founded to represent this broach: Bohspat, who worshiped the old gods (originally sponsored by the crossroads city Novstrech), and Yakravat (sponsored by the port town Krasay Dok), who worshipped the stars directly. Founded upon the Pairvents and Tretiy rivers, these two economic and religious bastions have effectively ousted the capital Rabayda from its position as the most important city in the realm of Mamye.

But Karel Ladislas, from the mountainous barbarian town of Preydiri, and Zilya, hailing from Novstrech, didn't really care about any of that. Karel had come south because he had heard of Mamye's riches and the glory that could be gained from them, and Zilya only kept saying that she wanted money, fast. They had met up at Aloysius's Plate, one of the inns of Novstrech. They discussed breaking into one of the forgotten structures of old and looting it for all it was worth. Karel was excited! Glory was to be had! But Zilya was watching this strange newcomer with apprehension. She was desperate, so she went along with it. But did that mean she could trust Karel?

And then the earth quaked and shook. 

A few miles outside of Novstrech rose a gigantic cubic structure, shining golden in the sunlight. A low hum emitted from it. It was actively distressful for the Novstrans. The members of the old and new faiths resolved to go into the golden cube and stop the noise. Glory and political gain was at stake!

But Karel and Zilya? They wanted to know if that cube was solid gold or not.

Burning Empires is Back on My Shelf

This is a story of love, struggle, and insanity. I should not have this book back on my shelf. Like, all logical and rational thought forbids it. But here we are. This is the craziest game I own, by just such a wide margin. But it's back. It ain't going nowhere.

The instant I saw the cover I fell in love. I know it's probably not obvious as to why, but just bear with me. The back cover is the same people all hurting each other and being hulled out by the worm. By just looking at the cover I knew everything I needed to know about the game: love, betrayal, sci-fi, and giant space frogs. And who couldn't have more space frogs?

There's a correct answer to that question. No, it was not rhetorical.

And then I played an actual game. It was a short campaign, just six sessions of actual play, but it was one of the most intense things I've ever played. And yeah, we completely screwed it up, multiple times over. And yes, the game is incredibly clunky. But it was just an amazing experience: the confluence of Burning Wheel's intense character development and the clashing of two different worlds, human and vaylen, made for a madhouse of the game. I adored it.

And then I didn't run it for the next seven years.

Now, in my defense, I joined the Army, deployed, and then left in five of those years. I could barely run a game because of the schedule, period. I guess I just kinda gave up on the idea of ever having the emotional energy to get a game together. And then all of a sudden I had two Burning Wheel games, soon to be three, and I just.. I don't know. I didn't think I could get another game running.

So I sold it.

Months went by, and I just couldn't get Burning Empires out of my head. I wanted the adrenaline rush again, of running a game of that scope. I never said it was a sane desire, but I couldn't... get it out of my head. One day I found myself returning back to the Half-Price Books I had sold it to, to find that the book was still there. 

So I re-bought it. Y'know, cause that's the sane thing to do.

I'm going to try to get my boardgaming group to try this game out. It's the most unique thing I've ever played, for better and for worse. Even if I can't, this game is some sort of a guiding light in my collection. It is everything that I want a story to be like: the personal and the epic, entwined together to where the two are one.

The Undertow: Session Eight

Mikansia: the main character, a female elf played by Lena. Last session the General had made plans for a last-ditch effort to get reinforcements. Mikansia had volunteered, but her commander, Akseli, had forbidden it. It was finally revealed that Mikansia's mother, Makirta, had been a dark elf, who had tricked Akseli. When he found out she had lied to him Akseli had abandoned her. She finally convinced Akseli and Yngvar to let her go on the mission.

Yngvar: Mikansia's firstsword. She had convinced him that she needed to be judged on her own merits, not on Makirta's, who had apparently tried to seduce him at one point. He's coming along on the mission on a misguided mistrust of her that he just couldn't shake.

The Lone Keep: A particularly vile cult of dark elves, dedicated to the Nameless, eldritch horrors from the beyond. Krakeru, Mikansia's evil father, is a member of this cult.

At dawn, twenty soldiers made a break for the southern dark elf battlement from Fort Elfwatch. Tyce was right; it was less guarded, but that didn't mean it was totally unguarded. Twenty was all the General could spare, four of them accomplished navigators. One of them, Elaine, was a prostitute who had taught herself orienteering to take her mind off her job. 

Ten died in the charge out of the fort, two of them navigators. Thirty of the dark elves gave chase. Elaine lagged behind. Mikansia dropped back. Only Yngvar noticed what she was doing, so he dropped back with her. Mikansia called out to one of the men, trying to get them to help Elaine, but they didn't stop. So Mikansia picked up the malnourished Elaine and booked it, being pushed along and encouraged by Yngvar. 

Somehow she outran the dark elves. when they all stopped running Yngvar said, sheepishly, that he would have happily have carried Elaine, if only Mikansia had asked. Mikansia chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, and told him she had it covered. Elaine joked that her ribs begged to differ. Yngvar looked at her a bit differently after that. Everyone began to began to discuss what they needed to do next. A few options were bandied about, from a last stand, in the hopes of killing them all before moving on, to hiding until the dark elves gave up.But the one everyone agreed to was five staying back to be a distraction, while the navigators were spirited away to Fort Priesdefair, where there were human reinforcements... five days away. It was a long shot but it was all they had. Yngvar and Mikansia volunteered, without hesitation.

They went a bit up the road they had been on, and buried themselves beneath the snow near the road. Ten dark elves came down the road. They were completely blindsided. Five dark elves died in the initial rush. the other five turned around and Mikansia squared up with one, sword and shield in hand. When Mikansia's opponent saw her he froze and said, in awe, "Yetekaida". Mikansia was a whirlwind of steel, stabbing the dark elf in the leg, defeating him in one hit. Two of the other dark elves were killed outright. They rest were captured as they gaped at Mikansia: "Yetekaida" they all said, one after another. Mikansia took out her knife and the others helped get the truth out: the dark elves didn't really care about the reinforcements, not really. They didn't want the reinforcements to come, but not because they were worried about the siege. The humans within would have been wiped clean by the time anyone could get back. But had they known that Yetekaida had been there, they would have stopped attacking. The Lone Keep was hers, after all.

Yngvar went pale. Mikansia took him aside and questioned him. Yngvar told her the Lone Keep expected a dark messiah of sorts, someone would be the chosen of the Nameless, who would help return the Ring of Tears back to the world, away from the Nameless.

But why the hell would Mikansia be "Yetekaida"?

Sabina's Castle: Session Twenty-Three

Anneli: the main character, a female elf played by Andy. She managed to get her hands on a Dagger of Betrayal, a foul piece of dark technology and sorcery made by the khen-zai, only to find out that her friend Aloysius had plans to use it for dark purposes. She and her friends Fingar and Thungal flat out refused to give Aloysius the Dagger. He's called in his soldiers to take it by force.

Herminus: in a former life he was the head of security of Sabina's Castle. A lovable buffoon, Herminus had helped Spar on many adventures... until Spar died. And Argentum Prime, the city they lived in, had been ravaged by a mysterious dragon. Herminus died, but came back as a revenant, a creature of shadow and vengeance, to kill Salt, Spar's daughter, who Herminus blamed for his death. He wants the Dagger of Betrayal to control the dragon.

The Dragon: a certain Dwarf, who had been a part of the cult of the Leviathan. Assigned to Spar as a handler, the Dwarf had given Spar a Dagger of Betrayal and tried to pressure him into using it. When Spar had died trying to follow his directive, the Dwarf had tried to use the Dagger on its intended target. But a Dagger of Betrayal only really works when you use it on someone you're close enough to actually betray. The darkness in the Dagger bounced back on the Dwarf, and he turned into a horrific dragon, which destroyed the city of Argentum Prime in its birth-throes.

As Anneli looked at the soldiers on the other end of the pikes she realized they were looking at Herminus with disgust. Gambling, she asked if this was really what they wanted to support. All the soldiers flinched at that. Anneli pulled out the Dagger of Betrayal again, saying that Aloysius was trying to use dark magic to bring back their empire. Was this really what they wanted, really and truly? Aloysius commanded them to stand firm. Anneli pointed at Herminus and said this was the empire that Aloysius wanted to build. Their oaths to the empire did not mean loyalty to Aloysius, who would build something none of them actually wanted. Their oaths did not mean loyalty to Aloysius. Fingar, whom the men respected, told them that things were always darkest before the dawn, but that letting Herminus use the depraved Dagger of Betrayal would only let the darkness be permanent. Thungal, also highly respected, begged them not to give into Aloyius's plans, but to hope for something better than he could give. Aloysius commanded them to hold fast to their oaths, which made him their commander; holding to their oaths meant holding to him.

Aloysius reminded his men of all he had done for them, so that the glory of the empire would not fail. All their training, all their effort, everything they'd all experienced together, bound the men to him, specifically. Anneli said that was all well and good, but what he wanted to do with the Dagger changed all that. Aloysius wasn't acting in the best interests of his men and the empire by toying with that darkness. That was darkly hilarious to Anneli, given that Aloysius couldn't stop talking about the light and glory of the empire. Aloysius insisted that that glory was best reflected in his soldiers, and insisted that Anneli was threatening his men and the glory they had. Anneli snapped that glory was directly endangered by toying with forces far too great and terrible for them, and that everything he was talking about would be invalidated by using the Dagger.

The soldiers formed up around Anneli, Fingar, and Thungal, against Herminus and Aloysius.

Anneli put the Dagger back into its cloth. She told Aloysius and Herminus they were free to go. Herminus promised her she hadn't seen the last of him. They were escorted out by the soldiers. Anneli asked Fingar, Thungal, and one of the soldiers who stayed behind to grab all the commanding officers and bring them to her.

When they were all present in the commanding room Anneli informed them  Aloysius had been relieved of duty, because he had tried to use a Dagger of Betrayal, which she produced. A lot of the officers flinched and murmured, but not enough of them to make Anneli comfortable. She explained she did not want an army, that the fate of their army was theirs to figure out, but that she had her own mission to carry out and that Aloysius and his like could not win their hearts and minds. The Argentum Empire would be rebuilt, the right way, without using dark and profane powers. Some of the ones who were loyal to Aloysius calmed, but not all of them.

It was up to them now. She had to trust they would make the right call.

Two men came running up to Anneli as she walked away: Brutus and Remus, the former head cook of Sabina's Castle. They wanted to go with her, wherever that was. Anneli told them in a low voice about the Island of Eternal Youth; she had no idea how wish-making worked, so if they wanted a wish she'd no idea if they would get it. They said it mattered little; they needed to try. They then met up with Fingar and Thungal. Thungal teased Anneli about taking on humans. Chuckling, Anneli told her she was getting used to them. Thungal agreed.

They left the fort, heading east, towards the coast. Marian caught up with them. She said she'd ambushed Herminus and turned him into ash, but not before getting the whole story out of them. She congratulated Anneli on how far she'd come. With tears in her eyes Marian thanked Anneli for sailing. She had one request: the Dagger. The Argentum Empire would be better off without the dragon and Herminus had divulged how to control the dragon using the Dagger. Besides, someone actually needed to help the dragon redeem itself, and that would be impossible without the Dagger.

Anneli unwrapped the Dagger and pressed it into Marian's hands, telling her that if anyone could handle the power and evil of the Dagger it was her. Marian's hand twitched in revulsion as she touched the Dagger. she whispered "Oh Thomas, how I wish to be with you again", so softly she didn't think Anneli could hear it.

But she did.

Anneli asked Marian to take care of Nomi. Marian promised she would do so. And she thanked Anneli for sailing, Once she did so Marian would be free to move on; Anneli would never see Marian in this life, ever again. Anneli bowed. Marian chuckled at the formality of elves and gave her a big hug.

It was time to go.

A Rebuttal of the Shut Up and Sit Down Marvel Champions Review

Let's get a few things out of the way. Caveats, y'know? I owe my love of board games to SUSD. My gaming white whales, Twilight Imperium and Gloomhaven, are due in part to their reviews. Heck, I own Arkham Horror because of those dudes. They're also the giants in the room, forget elephants! I highly doubt they'll take my critique seriously. They're in a position where they don't really need to, and that's fine. I'm a little blogger who posts incredibly dark and ridiculous RPG posts. I'm hardly even a presence in the Marvel Champions community, usually because I play the game in my off-time, as a way to de-stress from my own time playing ridiculously intense gaming sessions. This game is a bit of a meditative thing for me in a way that no other game is. So I don't pretend to be an objective or important figure in any way, shape, or form. I will continue to watch SUSD and enjoy them.

But that above review? There's some problems.

Well, one problem, really.

It's objectively wrong.

I do not have issue with them preferring Arkham Horror. At all.  I totally get it. I own both games. I'm still waiting on that stupid Miskatonic Museum pack to come back out so that way I can play the next chapter of The Dunwich Legacy. I don't even have issue with them saying they prefer Arkham Horror in this review. That's all fair.

But they get the game wrong. They actually miss something that is a basic component to the game. And that's not good. It makes the review objectively bad.

For those of you who were looking at this review to find out if they wanted to get the game, there is one part of this game SUSD completely missed. Any time you want to during your turn you can ask someone to play a card with the word "Action" in it. You can just turn to someone else and ask for them to play a card. People can ask you if they can play a card. And it produces some of the most hilarious moments I've seen in a game "PLEASE ASK ME TO PLAY A CARD. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE" is an exact quote from almost any game I've played in, as I bounced in my seat during other people's turns. Amused,  my little sister would pander to me and let me play a card. Or the other way around, although she was much less excited about it. Which is fair. I'm strange. She is too, but not quite in my way. This is incredible co-op play. We play with closed hands, as the game designers intended, and that is the honestly the best thing ever. "Ooh ooh ooh pick me!" is a key part of this game. It is no turn solitaire. It is some of the most interactive fun I've had in a game in my (admittedly very limited!) experience. The game rules allow for some genuinely awesome conversations. That's not a question of taste or feeling or anything else. It is a fact.

And that is the objective failing of the review. I can see some of their other issues with it and agree with them on some level, but this one thing? Where they call it turn solitaire? When there are rules that can create an environment that is completely the opposite of what they say it is? It's  misleading. And I take issue with that. Don't like one of my favorite games, that I use to de-stress? That's fine. But at least frickin' get it right.

I expected better of SUSD. I am not silly for doing so. And I am disappointed. They can do better. I hope they do.