MET Werewolf: Silver and Gold

Disclaimer: MET Werewolf is a role-playing game whose setting is fictional. Any references to any real people, places, and things serves to heighten immersion and does NOT reflect reality. None of this actually happened.

Tom stands before the Sept trying to hold back his nervous energy. His expression becomes a smile. Fake it until you make it. After all, his first tale went alright, didn't it.

'Greetings. Tonight, I understand I have not told the tale of November's mission. However, since the insert your denominational holiday is nigh, some around these parts call Christmas, this tale is a little more seasonal. It's also warning. It's also the tale of a new face. as Jimmy worked hospital duty to address a medical emergency in Stevens Point.

 A new Glasswalker joined the motley pack.

Two galliards, an ahroun, a ragabash, and two philodixes gathered at the bawn. While discussing Jimmy's absence,we learned of body parts replacing belongings at a children's play, Elf, in Stevens Point. Example finger for a watch, toe for a wallet. People swear there belongings were fine when they left but changed upon arriving home.

Beta of Sept acquired help to replace Jimmy. Rocko the Glass Walker Galliard. We introduce ourselves. Molly, Sean, Gracie, Jenny, and Tom.

We arrive at Ben Franklin. Rocko activates his gift Wolf Senses, while Jenny uses her gift Sight of Hidden Places within the school. 200 humans packed into the auditorium to watch the play. Molly uses Wolf Senses smelling human scents. Puberty, Perfume, etc. Males produce pheromones with urge to mate with everything. Women the need. Nothing has occurred today. Too much cologne and perfume. Many are sick with illness. Or so she relays to us anyway...

Play begins. We sit scattered amongst the crowd. Molly sat near me I am not a pack member. Obviously neither is Rocko...

Gracie notices a fast shadowy figure darting amongst the humans then departs. Informs her packmates Sean, Jenny, and Molly. Jenny uses Sight of Hidden Places. She notices a small child - a bogart is the shadow - had already gone downstairs! Informs packmates. Molly tells Tom (I will refer to myself in the third person from now on...). Rocko learns courtesy of the Mindlink gift that Rocko enacted with Jenny. Sean asks 'only one?' Jenny 'yes, do you doubt my gift?'

Tom, Molly, and Sean head downstairs following signs posted. Jenny and Rocko joins us as well. Gracie remains with crowd. Molly upset cause she is in homid form.

Upon reaching downstairs, Jenny activates Sight of Hidden Places. A cave exists underneath near the boiler room. Boiler room has a hole in the wall leading to cave. We discover it is locked. Jenny attempts to pick the chain and deadbolt. Sees no cameras. Fails to pick it. Sean shifts to Crinos yanks on chain. Chain won't yield. Rocko tries and fails. Molly yanks and fails. Tom weakly pulls. Jenny fails too. Molly angrily claws the chain shattering it. Jenny scoops chain links into her bag. All of them. Door is still deadbolted.

Jenny asks us to look away and uses her Bastet gift to release the deadbolt and opens the door. Smells musty of black mold. Those of us with Awareness wonder how the boggart entered and exited thru the locked door. Smells of death and decay.

 Tom 'So Jenny what should we do?'

 Jenny 'there is something in there that needs to be stopped.'

Drain is clogged with water covering floor. Dark but faint illumination from red light on machinery pierces the darkness. Those with wolf senses smell from far side a pungent, earthy smell. On far side of boiler is an opening large enough for child to pass through. We all shift into lupus forms.

 Tunnel leads to a cavern. Tom's fox form can walk normally while Jenny's lynx form can walk duckingly. The wolves crawl.

After an hour traversing back and forth we reach a wider cavern after 3rd 'link'.

Don't smell death and decay here!

The chamber is high enough that the Wolves can move normally. Homid formwould bump heads on stalactites. Lupus form it is!

Underground river about thirty feet wide with rapid current bisects the path, splitting it into a ten foot path upon each side. Tom uses a point of spiritual energy, i.e. Gnosis, and activates Blur of the Milky Eye as does Rocko. The floor under our paws is slick from moisture. Those of us without wolf senses can see visually because the cavern glows from a green fluorescence. Tom impatiently chooses to remain on the right side. Jenny decides everyone stays on right side to stick with Tom. My choice allowed us to avoid crossing the river. We gaze up to the 20' high ceiling 20' and move around stalactites and stalagmites scattered about. Tom followed by Rocko by Jenny by Sean then Molly bringing up rear single file. Tom cautiously moves forward failing to notice  what Rocko does. Tom springs a trap unbeknownst to him. Tom stops once...

 Rocko goes 'shh'. 

Too late. Tom is hit by a bag covering him and Rocko in silver and gold glitter. Our Blur of the Milky Eye is foiled! Henceforth, this tale is call 'Silver and Gold'. *Tom winks and his smile curls mischievously.*

Meanwhile, Gracie spots the same creature dart about a different crowd. Sends her packmates the message.

Tom's Awareness notices a set of glowing eyes toward end of cavern.

Tom 'there is a pair of glowing eyes looking at me toward the end of cavern.'

 Jenny 'Rocko cannot hear you'.

Tom 'okay.... uh there are five more pairs of eyes... ' as Tom stops and sound booms in chamber.

Jemny shifts to bipedal form pulling out maglite out of bag switching it on. When the light shines on the eyes, we see nothing. When the light moves past, the eyes re-open. Eyes narrow with anger. Jenny angles her light downward. One set of eyes moves slowly until hiding behind stalagmites. We hear raspy breaths and Tom bumps back  into Rocko

Rocko 'hey, don't do that until you know me more'.

 We see the creature is armed with a sword slung on its back. Jenny and Molly activate Luna's Blessing spending a point of Gnosis. They notice the sword is silver.

Via pack speak Molly 'can I kill it now'

 Jenny 'if it wields, it is on'.

 They notice the others are armed with silver swords too. The creature in front mumbles words. Molly and Sean use Sense Balance spending a a gnosis. Sean and Molly redouble their efforts sensing the balance to notice the target is more Wyld and can use magic.

Sean in Spanish and English 'who are you?'.

Jenny and Molly decipher that the creatures are fae, e.g. changelings. Jenny recognizes one of this race from inside a container over in Just Like Spotted Cow.

In broken English 'know... little'.

Sean 'you know ours better than we yours'

him 'why here?'

 Sean 'they noticed things above'

fae 'we give gift'

 Sean 'not exactly the kind of gift humans appreciate'

 Fae 'no gift...we give token'

Rocko 'what are tokens for'

fae 'provide protection'

jenny 'from what'

fae 'future problem'

Rocko 'what kind of problem'

fae 'dead not dead'

 Sean 'winter is coming'

 fae 'no winter ended'

jenny with fae lore realizes slumber, e.g. winter ended and going back to old ways i.e. tokens, informing us of her knowledge.

 Rocko 'tokens are scaring humans and don't understand value'.

 Fae 'change tokens?'

Tom 'that would be a good idea'

Sean 'they have forgotten old ways'.

 Fae 'token disguises humans'

Jenny 'they smell the tokens and think the humans are like them'.

Tom 'so tokens make the humans smells like the dead. What else can smell like the dead?'

 Fae 'dead liquid? You die they put inside you'

 Rocko 'embalming fluid'

 jenny 'formaldehyde?'

 Fae 'not strong enough. They are not here yet but they are coming soon.'

Sean 'where are they coming from?'

Fae 'where you keep the dead. Powerful necromancer  is coming he bring dead with him. Maybe rotting food items. Compost. Save  home.'

Rocko 'good idea. Composting can save people. Hipsters be safe. Don't worry about what they are'.

 Tom 'city of Stevens Point has a composting program so that's a start.

 Discussing amongst ourselves we realize Elite and Underworld influences would aid us in spreading the message and enforcing the changes to ward off the Winter Dead. Hey, can't infringe on anyone's intellectual property by calling them the Winter Dead. *Another sly smile and a wink spreads across Tom's face. He resumes speaking*

Tom 'we will talk with the humans about them composting more without mentioning that it is for their projection.'

 Sean 'how will we achieve this?'

Tom 'city mandates composting'

jenny 'homes will smell of death due to compost'

When we start to leave we hear growling coming from passage from which we came. Torchlights flicker and shadows loom from the tunnel into the cavern.

Sean 'they might be more of these guys'

Tom 'no, they seemed to bothered by light'.

 Jenny 'friend or foe'

 fae 'enemy. To arms!' The others emerge and charge over stalactites toward an army of skeletons and quadriped skeletons armed with torches and weapons.

Jenny 'we should help them!'

Everyone shifts to their respective Hispo forms.

Jenny to Rocko 'be careful with your boomstick or else ceiling may fall on us'

Our rage heightens to the third stage once we join the fray against 7 humanoid skeletons and 5 animal skeletons.

Jenny using a Burst of Speed maneuver closes with a humanoid skeleton  biting. Sean bounds at the same skeleton using the same burst of speed maneuver and bites. Molly steps toward a different humanoid skeleton and bites. Tom with burst of speed runs up to that skeleton and his bite misses. Rocko activate Razor Claws spending gnosis, choosing to be more Accurate. Moves halfway.

Animal and human skeletons close with Rocko. Human swings baseball bat hitting as does the Animal's bite. Jenny's skeleton swings and misses her. As does another. Two humanoid skeletons attack Sean with baseball bats. They batter into his flesh. Molly is hit by a bat and a bite misses. Tom is beset by human skeleton and an animal skeleton whose attacks miss.

 Gracie watches play.

The remaining animal skeletons engage the fae.

Rage actions.

Jenny willfully bites a humanoid skeleton as her rage increases due to frustrations over her friends being beaten and bit. The skeleton is crushed by her jaws. Sean experiences the exact same thing. Molly bites the baseball bat wielding skeleton. Tom bites human skeleton on him. Rocko willfully bites animal skeleton to dust. His rage grows as well.

Jenny engages baseball bat skeleton on Rocko. Acquires a Seethe trait. Willfully dispatches it. Sean willfully misses a human skeleton on him acquiring two Seethe traits. Molly bites one of her skeleton's head off. Tom willfully misses the humanoid skeleton engaged with him. Rocko attacks animal skeleton on Tom and wills its destruction! Human skeleton swings its bat at Sean and misses. Jenny is missed by a baseball bat. Tom is bashed by a bat . Animal skeleton misses Molly.

Rage actions

Jenny runs toward Tom's skeleton, while the skeleton engaged with her pursues her. Acquires a second Seethe trait but wills herself to strike a fatal blow to the skeleton on Tom. Sean bites skeleton to pieces. Molly acquires a Seethe trait while willing the fatal blow to an animal skeleton.

 Only Jenny's skeleton remains. Its heels brought it to Tom. Tom despite his willpower misses it, acquiring to Seethe traits himself. Rocko slays it!

The boggarts kills the two remaining.

Rocko identifies three wolves and two dogs as the animal skeletons. Molly acquired 2nd Seethe trait upon learning. Every one else acquires a Seethe trait pushing Tom and Sean to 3.

Revert to breed form to lose Rage. Molly stuck in Crinos until she finally calms down. Rocko searches thru bones for floppy disks. Molly growls 'you are weird'.

As we return to top after Sean uses Circle of Cleansing on bones and Rocko seeks out floppies inside school. The play had finished and people began clearing out. Rocko greets Gracie and discovers the computer lab locked. Thru windows sees nothing. Goes to nearby storage closet. Unlocks door and finds a box of dusty floppy disks.

Gracie loved the play and boggart doing his thing. Return to Caern.

Thus ends the Saga of Silver and Gold.

Next time.

Halloween '19: The Haunting of Little Rose Orphanage

The following is a work of fiction. A product of a live-action role-playing group playing a game Minds Eye Theater: Werewolf the Apocalypse. Any references to real world people or places is coincidental.

Tom approaches the Sept Leadership: 

*cough* *cough* Here is my accounting of the most recent venture. I will do my best to tell the story to the best of my abilities. (Tom has a zero rating in Performance)

The intrepid and experienced pack returned to the caern just after my meeting with all of you. I had arrived at this place of utmost import because a ghost and my jaggling fox spirit companion told me I should seek it out. First member of the pack I greeted was a lynx by shaking her paw. We gave informal introductions. One of them says 'Are you related to Huckelberry' 

'nope'.

 Everyone gives formal introductions Joe (sept leader, Japanese kitsune) and master of rite mention Little Rose. We were to investigate and deduce how to cleanse.

Jimmy drives avoiding Stratford toward Little Rose going through Marshfield stopping at Thad Chicken in Arpin. The lynx offers a treat to me. It's cat food. 'Uh, no.' Jimmy reaches over while driving grabbing a handful.  While driving through Marshfield the pack doesn't detect anything out of place...  The day has become night by the time we leave Marshfield. Between during Marshfield and Little Rose, we see  a sole house which has a white picket fence on both sides of the house. In fact, the white picket fence is perpendicular to the street and exists on both sides of the road too. No lights. No one outside. The lynx asks Tom, yes I am speaking of myself in the third person and will continue to do so henceforth,  what he thinks.

'Not as experienced as you all so I leave it you?'

 Jimmy continues driving.

We reach a crossroads in Little Rose.
Abandoned Building lit up with sign ' misspelled Academy Orphanage'. Across street field and forest. Across other street is a gas station. 'Just like Spotted Cow' neon purple inside widow of 2 story building. Across is abandoned lot. *Tom's faces scrunches up in recollection* I had seen three separate groups of ghosts by the abandoned orphanage.

'there is a lot of dead people there'

jimmy ' you see dead people?'

 'Maybe... there's 4 or 5 kids, 4 or 5 teenagers, and an old hag'.

Around this time I recollected who the members of the pack are:
 Brad the  black fury cliath galliard is a loremaster
 Jimmy fostern theurge.
Jenny the lynx is adren.
 Then there is Sean Moore.

Upon learning none of them can see the ghosts themselves, Tom mentions a tincture with which group can see ghosts.

Jimmy and Tom go speak with the ghosts. Kids front yard. Teenagers  2nd floor thru windows. Old hag atop roof glowers at me. Speak to the kids in English. No response until they speak to Tom. He doesn't understand. The appearance of the kids little boy slacks, dress shoes, combed over slick black hair. Formal dress code.

 Jimmy '60s or sooner'.

 2 girls wear long dresses with long straight hair. Black and brown hair.
 Jimmy 'hmm 40s to 60s'.

Old hag chiselled nun face. All their clothes are in tatters. 5 kids are happy. Jimmy recalls there was a fire based on research and dilapidated look. Tom sees flashes how it used to look
 Mouths moving. Can't hear words but laughing. We do charades eventually learning can't enter because of the kids. Can't hear the hag due to kids.

I mention at this point that the Tincture requires consecrated grave dirt. Brad mentions cemetary with abandoned catholic cemetary on hwy 153 between Little Rose and Stratford. We ride there. We maintain there graves. Jimmy the horticulturalist identifies weeds which we rip up and toss onto road. Clean plants off graves. Acquire consecrated grave dirt after hour and a half. Need rosemary and ashen bark (which we get from charring bark from an ash tree).

 Tom performs the special Kitsune rite. Create 6 vials of drinkable tincture.

 Everyone else drinks.

 Jimmy doesn't take 1 point of damage from the toxic properties due to his tendency to drink moonshine, i.e. bone gnawer. Everyone heals the damage. Got extra vial. Jenny hacking as we arrive.

 They see dead people.

 Jenny 'she is as mean looking as you claim'.

 Jimmy, Jenny, and Sean with Airt Perception see a haunted castle on path. Don't see kids nor teenagers. Resemble Wicked Witch of West. Skin rotting away. She is holding a book with a cross on it. All 3 of them notices a cross switches direction. Skin darkens grows purple when spin downward. A lightning storm causes flips. Jimmy relays what they saw within the Umbra.

Sean the Get 'I want to take on the guy with the big knife!' Upon hearing Silent Hill references.

 Jenny 'we need to stop her'. But then realizes the ghost children are the problem.

 Tom guesses words phonetically and enters into Google translate. Italian. Eureka we deduce they are Italian immigrants.

The translation  is 'What a bunch of idiots maybe we should kill them,

Tom 'uh oh,'

Translation 'and consume their souls'

 Tom's face grows pale.

  Jimmy Google 'fire kills ghosts'

We realize we must destroy their  bones!

 Jimmy 'should we scout around and see if any graves around?'

Tom digs where lone boy whose acting less than others are. With jenny's aid, dig a foot. The boy retaliates by draining a willpower from Tom. A white energy goes to him and become more solid. Jenny shifts into crinos to defend tom. Jimmy succeeds in using his gift activate major owl spirit. Gracie uses cane to hurl sorcerous fire at the ghost boy, burning the ghost. Sean and brad stand there. Brad tug of wyld to speak with owl spirit. Tom back away from hole while google translate a phrase in Italian. Boy moved toward Tom. The ghost boy repeats his attack on and Tom fails.

Our rage increases.

Jenny 'hey!' Withering Gaze boy. Jimmy commands the owl spirit 'go find the bones for the kid'. Pecks at spot Tom was digging. Moves by boy and owl spirit next to hole. Gracie blasts to the ghost almost to the point of nothingness!

 Sean heads to gas station to get gas... no pumps. Shifts to Crinos. Tears it off. 6' down pool of gas.  Investigates for a siphon and finds a 10' hose and bucket.

 Brad shifts to crinos moves by hole and digs. 3' deep. Tom hops in and haplessly moves dirt.

Our rage increase...

Crinos Brad burn rage to dig faster hits rock. Digs a foot. Jimmy rage digs 6". Jenny hops in digging. Down a foot. Gracie fire blasts and dissipates the ghost. White orb returns to Tom regaining willpower. Jimmy digs and tells owl spirit to keep watch. Removes final 6". Covered in dust. Brad huffs puffs and blows dust away.  Blows dust away but slips and breaks one the bones in his left leg bone! Spurting blood all over. Sean brings gas bucket over to whole. Sighs. Tom sort dust and can't find the bones because of Brad's blood.

Our rage increases...

Jimmy asks Gracie to eat Brad's rage. Jenny searches for bones. Jimmy searches for, finds, and digs out the bone! Gracie eats Brad's rage with Calm the Heart. Consume 2 rage from Brad. Sean grabs bone from Jimmy, sets the bone inside bucket, and sets  ghost's bone ablaze.

Ghost boy doesn't return and those with Airt Perception notices the castle and storm gone. Kids smile and depart. Witch becomes normal. Book becomes bible.

Jimmy offers gnosis chiminage to the owl spirit.

The experienced pack discovers the Orphanage land is for sale. Jenny buys property intent to set up a pet therapy for troubled kids nonprofit.

I hope you find my tale to your liking and serve as a record of the deeds of this esteemed pack. Much thanks for I have much to learn from them.

*End tale and in-character.

I felt my first LARP session in a couple years was perfect Halloween tale even for Werewolf: The Apocalypse as it had all the trappings of an excellent ghost story. This time I decided to strip out the game mechanics although I might include them next time.

Halloween  is four days away!

Happy Gaming and next time!

Halloween 2019: OneBookShelf Jack O'Lanterns Freebies

As I alluded to on Wednesday, it's October.  Halloween blogging season. Unlike years past, no lofty promises this year. If I write a Halloween-themed post, cool. If not, oh well. We'll see how many I churn out. What better way to begin my Halloween blogging than listing my haul from OneBookShelf's (DriveThru RPG, DriveThru Comics, DriveThru Fiction, DM's Guild, Storyteller's Vault) Jack O'Lantern Scavenger Hunt where one on browses thru the site clicking on Halloween themed icons in order to score a freebie?

Note for first time blog visitors: I have taken advantage of OBS's Jack O'Lantern freebies for years now. I've racked up quite the haul, which I rarely if ever read or use. As such, no deep dives. I didn't search through every nook and cranny. Four or five items was my stopping point.  Also, only the icon and the order in which I discovered the freebie will be listed.

On with the listing.

DriveThru RPG -

Witch hat:  Castles & Crusades: Night of Spirits. I got to hand it to Troll Lord Games. When they go in on a promotion, they go all in. This Halloween themed module using the Castles & Crusades rules retails for around $8. Reading the boilerplate makes me want to read and possibly run it.

Jack o'lantern: 5E Halloween Mini Dungeon: Horror of Ochre Grove. A D&D 5E module that's apparently Halloween-themed...

2nd jack o lantern: SEERS & Roebuck Dust Buster of Holding - the fantasy equivalent of the old Sears & Roebuck catalogs, which in this instance features one particular item.

3rd jack o'lantern:  Doomtown Reloaded: Print & Play Demo - The description reads like a card game. I hate when they mix categories...

4th jack o'lantern:  Mothership Players Survival Guide - Did you like the Aliens movies with Xenomorphs and Sigourney Weaver? Well, this rpg emulates it!


DriveThru Comics

Witch hat: Kids on Bikes House On Polar Court

Ghost: Unstoppable Origins #1

Jack o'lantern:  God the Dyslexic Dog v1 (apparently I already own a copy...)

Candy: Death Vigil #1

2nd jack o lantern: vs Stranger Stuff Send in the Clowns Special Edition


DriveThru Fiction

Witch hat: Weird Fiction Megapack 25 Stories From Weird Tales. Can't go wrong with a collection of stories from the old Weird Tales magazine/pulp. The mag that brought us Conan!

Jack o' lantern: Outbreak Undead 2nd edition  Intro Manual. Another cross category offering...

2nd Jack o Lantern: Cabaret of the Grotesque

Ghost: Book of Apex vol 1 of Apex Magazine  (already have). I swear this given away every year...

3rd Jack o Lantern Achtung! Cthulhu Fiction The Trellborg Monstrosities. Like H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos? Well, here's Cthulhu Mythos stories set across the pond in the UK!


DMs Guild

Ghost: Songs of Aedragad

Jack o'lantern: Curse of the Gumdrop Ooze Revised and Expanded

2nd Ghost: Circle of the Feydark 5e

2nd Jack o Lantern: Dread Domain A Cleric Archetype

Since much of my D&D 5E gaming is Adventurers League, I am unlikely to use any of this. Sigh...


Storyteller's Vault

Bat - Death Vigil #1 (repeat of the DriveThru Comics freebie)

Jack o'lantern -  God Dyslexic Dog volume 1 repeat of the DriveThru Comics Freebie

I really dislike how neither of these pertain to White Wolf Intellectual Property. The DM's Guild freebies seemed to be all D&D-related at least.

Ghost: Bygone Bestiary. Want to use fantastic creatures such as dragons in your World of Darkness game? Well, now you can! I've owned a deadtree version since White Wolf's $6.66 sale. I've been meaning to acquire an ebook copy for years so I could part with my physical copy. Mission accomplished!

Bat - Legacy of Lies a  V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart. Vampire Dark Ages is one of my favorite WOD Vampire settings.

Overall, I'd say I was pleased with this year's offerings.

Next time.

Halloween 2017: All Hallows' Eve

Might as well cut to the chase:


Happy Halloween!


Must confess I didn't do too much Halloween-related today. Not trick-or-treating. Didn't eat any candy. Was going to read the DC House of Horror one-shot after watching tonight's episode of DC's Legends of Tomorrow set during Halloween but after fast-forwarding through the episode (yeah, I know shouldn't do that) I discovered next week's episode is set during the Victorian era and may feature vampires. So I figured I will watch that episode later.


As for the DC comic, I may read it tomorrow. Speaking of comics, while I didn't attend Halloween Comicfest, I did pick up some of the comics when I played Shadowrun Missions yesterday. They are: The Friendly Ghost Casper, Donald Duck's Halloween Scream, Shiver, Ghostbusters: Happy Halloween, and Hellboy and the BPRD 1953 The Witch Tree and Rawhead and Bloody Bones. With any luck, I'll be able to spend a huge chunk of Halloween day 2 (ie All Saints Day) reading comics!


What I did do was take advantage of One Book Shelf's Halloween sales and bundles. Discovered that the Barovia modules for Adventurers League (AL04) were cheaper via the bundle (@ 40% off) and thus the better option. While I was at it, I picked up the Mummy: the Curse (nWOD) bundle and a Monster comics bundle (has the Doctor Mirage trade from Valiant). Then I realized I could pick up the core book and all five supplements for Palladium Book's Dead Reign much cheaper than normal. For those unfamiliar with Dead Reign, it is Palladium Book's post-zombie apocalypse setting. While I already own a copy of the core book, I don't have easy access to it and watching The Walking Dead puts me in a zombie apocalypse mood. Don't know if I would ever run it though.


Then I check out some Halloween-related links:


The pumpkin genome has been sequenced.


Here's a quick history of pumpkins. Fun fact: Europeans had never seen them before coming to North America.


The pumpkin produces a compound that is a natural disinfectant!


I must confess I haven't seen the newest version of the movie IT. Here's how Stephen King's work such IT parallel the Cthhulhu Mythos.


Viking zombies and the means of dispatching them can be read about here.


Now, I think I am going to watch some Halloween movies!


Next time.

Stranger Things, Adventurers League, and New Players

Recently, I discovered the joy of the Netflix series, Stranger Things. In addition to being an eighties movie pastiche, Stranger Things is celebration of 80's pop culture, fads, and trends. Among them is a game of particular fondness of this blog, Dungeons & Dragons. While I am not quite old enough to have played the Red Box bought from a toy store, I am old enough to have seen the advertisements. As I lamented previously, I don't recall ever seeing any of those D&D games in stores although I kind of looked...


Trip down memory lane over. Back on topic. Anyway the kid group plays D&D, which winds up playing a major role in Stranger Things. I may quibble about accuracy; but how consistently were the rules played from group to group back in those days. Especially among kids. I mean look at Monopoly. How many people actually read those rules? May not have had the disdain I held against board games for as long as I did if we had... In any case, the Dungeons & Dragons play in Stranger Things does reflect play accurately among kids of that age group. Whatever that age group is as I am not sure how old they actually are...


As an aside, the Upside-Down is a smashingly great idea that WotC should capitalize on. Sure, there's echoes of it here and there but it was never a cornerstone of any D&D game I ever participated in. When the 'Demogorgon' hops from plane to plane is very reminiscent of monsters travelling to and from the Ethereal Plane. Sure, there's the Plane of Shadow but that didn't really become into its own until 4th Edition. The Upside-Down could serve as fodder for really nasty Umbral realm or a post-apocalypse Penumbra in World of Darkness games.


So watching Stranger Things does really inspire me to play D&D. Particularly simpler D&D. Since there isn't any nearby OD&D, B/X, BECMI, or retro clone games occurring in the area, fifth edition is probably as close as I'll get. Wouldn't you know my local FLGCS runs Adventurers League games.


Recently I sat at an Adventurers League table hosted by my FLGCS and other than the adults, such as myself, playing and DMing I'd swear it was like watching the cast of Stranger Things (okay maybe younger...) game! There was same intense passion, excitement, and energy. Tactical combat? We don't need no stinking tactical combat was the mantra. Combat happened. They went full bore. In short, the one encounter adventuring day.


Adventurers League doesn't do the one encounter day. AL doesn't do 'OMG it's Demogorgon!' day. It does three encounters although the final encounter does include a boss like 'Demogorgon', ie Big Bad. Adventurers League is designed for the convention audience in mind. The serious player who wants to be challenged each encounter until final battle when they just have their weapons and cantrips against the Big Bad.


Except unlike the days of the RPGA, AL mods can be run at home or at game stores. Unlike the days of Red Box or pre-4th edition D&D (although 4th wasn't that expensive), I can't imagine young players as young or younger than the Stranger Things group plunking down $150 for the core set to play D&D. So they aren't going to play at home. They will probably play at a store. So instead of gaming among each other they'll be gaming with teens and adults. Participating in D&D play that doesn't necessarily fit their natural 'all spells at once' style.


Don't get me wrong that can be fun for a 2 hour 1 - 4 level mod that doesn't follow the typical mode of tough, tough, very tough with maybe a short rest allowed in between. Otherwise, it falls on the adults to shoulder the way through the mod while ensuring the new, young players have fun. Which is all fun and games until an adult's PC dies. Character death is one thing but no one wants to cycle through characters when they otherwise wouldn't.


Yet there's gold in them hills. Stranger Things does and has inspired a new crop of young players to try a game beloved to many gamers, Dungeons & Dragons. Adventurers League at FLCGS serve as the vehicle to try the hobby that it table-top role-playing. It would be folly not to compose modules suited to those young players play style. If not one 'Demogorgon!' encounter, but a trio of meh, meh, 'Oh, no the 'Demogorgon'! Furthermore, such a style reflects D&D's natural play style. It was only when I started playing organized play game did I encounter the tough, tough, and tough style of module. Gaming sessions wavered from the trivial to the epic. Not only would younger, newer players enjoy that style, more experienced, older players would as well.


I know I would.


So here's a call for some simpler two hour and four hour modules that new, young and older, experienced  players who just want to emulate the D&D we see in Stranger Things courtesy of Adventurers League.


Next Time,


Happy Gaming

RPG Rule/Sourcebook Reading Epiphany

Talk about back-to-back epiphanies! Yesterday, I blogged about my epiphany in accepting $3.99 comics. Well, earlier today I had another concerning reading table-top role-playing game rule books and source books.


Back during my Golden Age of Table-top RPG gaming, I would avidly buy and borrow tomes of gaming lore for a variety of game systems and settings to peruse the contents within. Didn't matter if was actively playing the game or not. If fact, not was more often the case, and like a gaming Prometheus I would, occasionally like Sisyphus try to, introduce those new games and settings to various gaming groups. Admittedly, much of my success hinged on how well I learned the rules and settings and whether or not it fit that particular group's tastes...


Then came the Dark Age when I barely gamed at all. My RPG purchases became more sporadic and impulsive not to mention, following the trend of the industry, more digital. While I have embraced digital, I am at heart a lover of physical books so I don't pore over the digital tomes as much as I did the ink-and-paper variety. Furthermore, as I gamed very infrequently, I read infrequently too.


Then I started gaming again.


First, it was Dungeons & Dragons 5E. I bought the three core books and the Ravenloft-related one. Other than quick glances at the DMG and Monstrous Manual and skimming Curse of Strahd, the only book I have read was the Player's Handbook. What reading I've done has been utilitarian at best. Reading only the most pertinent of subjects. My most recent play experience I decided to play my Cleric instead of my Paladin because my cleric was the one I was most up-to-date on! So yeah, I haven't read all of the 5E Player's Handbook. I read more of 4E's version...


Second, I LARP'd Werewolf: The Apocalypse again. Granted, it was only once. But once was enough to get me to not go 'oh larp is this weekend, oh, okay, I won't be there.' Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to LARP again but it has been enough to get me to buy By Night Studios new MET: Werewolf The Apocalypse. Did a quick once over too. Alas, since I haven't actually made a firm commitment to play, I haven't perused the new rules further. Let alone created a character.


Third, Shadowrun entered my life once more. Shadowrun 5th edition core was a book I picked up on a whim. Did a quick once over yet didn't start reading it until I started play Shadowrun as part of Shadowrun Missions. Here's where the epiphany comes in...


Before each session I would read a little of the Shadowrun book and then read another section afterwards. Much of the time I'd peruse the same section in order to gain familiarity. Mostly, SR5 would receive the most usage, not counting at game, within the week after a game. Specific rule elements that cropped up during a session would induce interest such that I would seek greater familiarity and knowledge. Then, there was a period of about two months during which no Shadowrun was played. I barely cracked open the book. Going into the session, I couldn't even muster the desire to skim the book the freshen up my rule knowledge.


After the session, the Shadowrun 5th edition core rulebook practically became my favorite book. I found a little time each day to do a little reading. Whether it was fluff, simple mechanics, or areas of the rules that we hadn't encountered until then, I poured over said tome in search of answers to questions and immerse myself within the setting once more.


So I have come to the conclusion that what once I would do leisurely, I now do utilitarian. I realize now that only read what immediately relates to my gaming experience. Whether or not it's more of a symptom of my long gaming drought and such narrow focus will eventually be expanded to games and settings that I am currently not playing remains to be discovered. What I understand now is that in order read game rulebooks and settings, I must game.


Till next time, happy gaming.

My Thoughts on Comic Book and Misc News of January 2017 Part One

My look at how quickly time flies. Was the beginning of the month since I last blogged. Plus I never did write my final installment of my 12ish Days of Blogging! As usual, life and burnout happens. After a couple days past the sixth, I decided my official final chapter just wasn't to be. Fret not the promised review is still forthcoming. In the meantime, I decided to get back in the swing of things with commentary on various news tidbits in the world of comic books and maybe some genre and RPG stuff too.


Sworn into office holding Captain America's shield - An elected official sworn into office holding Captain America's shield! Very, very cool. Politics can be quite heavy so some levity is always nice one in awhile.


Actual X-Men in upcoming X-Men Show - If there was one disappointing strike against Marvel's Agents of SHIELD show was that appearances from the characters that appeared in the movies turned out be much, much rarer than many expected. So kudos to those behind the upcoming X-men television series from FOX announcing actual X-Men will appear in the show. They're just coy about whom. Okay, fine. As long as the show doesn't wait until Episode 6 for Maggot to appear...


Avengers Project - Upcoming Marvel games courtesy of Square Ennix? Cool. I'd comment more but I, er, couldn't get the video to load...


Did Princess Leia's mission change? - Must confess I was too busy fan-boying at Leia's appearance in Rogue One to be bothered by the inconsistency in her mission. Here's the reason for the change or if you want to take the long path the novelization explains as well.


Uh, oh Game of Thrones cast getting into trouble - While filming for seventh season of Game of Thrones, the cast and crew got into trouble for not having any off-road permits for filming in Iceland. Who says there isn't bureaucracy north of the Wall?


MET: Werewolf Errata - By Night Studios released a shiny version of Werewolf for Live-Action Role-play. As is the case in the gaming industry nowadays, here's the errata. Did pick up a copy of the ebook recently so I'll comment more on that and the recent errata once I get around to writing a review...


Starlin has earned more in royalties for KGBeast?! - Recently, comics creator Jim Starlin, creator of Thanos, Drax, and Gamora, announced he's earned more on royalties from KGBeast than his Marvel creations. Say what?! KGBeast was in Batman vs Superman?! Guess, it was a minor appearance in his civilian identity. Don't recall it being a big part so that says much about how much in royalties Marvel pays creators from its films. Maybe they'll cut Starlin a bigger check seeing how several upcoming movies (GotG 2 and the two Avengers Infinity War films) owe a huge debt to him...


More GoT cast pics - More Game of Thrones cast pics along with cast sightings while filming in Iceland. Awesome.




Well, eight links/news stories is enough for one installment. Since January isn't over yet, there'll be a Part Two. January 2017 Part Two will include my commentary on DC's pricing changes for Rebirth. That may or may not be lengthy and veer and the ranting side. Time and my mood will tell.


Till next time.

Halloween '16 OBS Trick or Treat and End of Mongoose 2000AD RPGs

Today's topics have one central tie: OneBookShelf Publishing (ie DriveThru RPG, DriveThru Comics, DriveThru Fiction) and the topics are Halloween-related and the end of a licensing era.


Going to start off with Halloween. Sure, OBS has a sale. I'm not talking about that. No, it's more important than that. The annual Trick or Treat search-a-thon has begun! Okay, like last year, it seems more treat than trick; but I haven't checked any of the offerings. For those not in the know, one searches through the site looking for a Halloween-themed icon. Until this year, it was just jack o' lanterns but they must've decided to spice things up this year. Ghosts, witches hat, candies, and bats are additional icons. As I have participated a number of times, I didn't perform a pain-staking search. Six or seven treats (?) were all I was able to find at each of the storefronts. Yep, each storefront has it's own offering although I'd hazard to guess RPGNow mirrors DriveThru RPG. In years past, there were generally eight goodies but I stopped after the above number. While I plan on providing a list of each the treats*, I won't reveal the location. Why ruin half the fun? It is a scavenger hunt after all! Scavenger hunts do seem odd for Halloween but perhaps that's the trick. Oh, if you find more than what I found, thumbs up!


DriveThru Comics - The Sting of Death: A Savage Worlds Superhero Adventure (yeah, the RPG/Comic/Fiction aren't a hard split), The Mad Mummy #1, The Valiant Volume One (if there was a trick this would be my guess...), Unstoppable Comics Character Guide #1, Think Tank: Fun with PTSD (gallows humor/horror?), and Channel Evil issue 1.


DriveThruFiction - The Ghost Story Megapack: 25 Classic Tales by Masters, Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer, The Black Spot, Predator & Prey Book 1: Vampire , Hard Times in Dragon City, and Apex Magazine -- Issue 25.


DriveThru RPG- Horror at Gravehollow Hill: A Short Adventure Module, vs. Ghosts, ICONS: Devil's Night, Pixel Dungeon: Zombies!, Haunted Locales, Haunted Locales, and Swashbuckling Adventures Core Rulebook (might be a trick...)


Now, for the other topic. Just learned that in a way Halloween marks the end of an era as Mongoose publishing's license for 2000 AD (Judge Dredd, Slaine, Strontium Dog) expires at the end of the month. Mongoose was an important RPG publisher for me back during the days of the OGL heyday. Loved their Conan RPG. Their Mongoose Runequest (now Legend) and Traveller lines intrigued me. The 2000 AD lines called to me, Slaine with its celtic tone particularly. Included a link to Mongoose's home page on this very blog! Unfortunately, my gaming group soon reached its zenith as far as RPGs were concerned so new gaming systems such as Runequest were out. Licenses require some interest on the part of the players and my gaming group weren't huge 2000 AD fans. Well, I didn't know if they were... So... We were going to try Traveller but that simply wasn't meant to be. As a result, I never picked up any of the 2000AD RPG books in physical form and very little reason to pick up digital. Must confess I stopped visiting Mongoose's site years ago. So I didn't know the license was ending until today via an announcement from OBS - along with a 75% discount. Needless to say, I stocked up on all the Strontium Dog and Slaine books available while picking up the majority of the Traveller version of Judge Dredd. I picked up the OGL D20 version of the Judge Dredd core book for curiosity's sake. Perhaps, one day I'll provide a review. Certainly, I can count it as part of my Year of 2000 AD/ celebration of 2000 issues.


well happy gaming

Halloween 2016: Exorcist: The Series - First 4 Episodes Highlights

Time for another installment of TV Round up. Oh wait, I am only discussing one series. In addition, several weeks of the 2016 - 2017 television series passed us by already. Rather than write one massive round up, I'm splitting my coverage, highlights really, into categories. Furthermore, know what's right around the corner? Why, Halloween. Instead of writing about Halloween all the way into November, my Halloween blogging starts now. What new series from the 2016 -  2017 season fits that bill? Why, Exorcist the Series does like a glove. Here's my thoughts on the first four episodes. Er, helps that only four have aired so far...


Each episode will have spoilers. I also provide what my thoughts were at each particular moment. Some episodes have greater detail than others. Unlike last season, I took notes this time around.




Premiere - never did write down the actual title...

• Father Tomas sees someone shouting yet hears no sound...
• It appears Father Tomas has a bit of an, ahem, illicit relationship with a single mother parishioner of his...
• One priest pulls a gun on another priest! Later on Father Tomas witnesses Father Marcus performing an exorcism as if what I'd assume is some form of astral projection or a dream vision.
• The church where Father Tomas works on, and in all likelihood within the main setting of the series, is run down.
• Actress Geena Davis portrays the mother of a family whom appears haunted. I suspect the father has dementia. When he's having one of his spells he mentions a Father Marcus.
• Some nasty bit of fore-boding as a raven crashes through a window part way.
• We learn the priest performing the exorcism that drew a gun is Father Marcus. Once again, Father Tomas has one of his 'trips' and sees the exorcism fail badly as the boy breaks free and snaps his own neck.
• When Father Tomas visits the haunted family, we discover that the possessed daughter isn't the older daughter whom the episode leads us to believe it is. Instead, it's the younger daughter Casey (Cassie? - next review I should probably check out Wikipedia so I get the name right...).

Lupus in Fabula

• Episode opens with a flashback of a young boy performing an exorcism.
• The possessed daughter doesn't seem aware of things... yet her possessor does as it talks about the mom watching them...
• Father Marcus picks a lock!
• This series would be excellent fodder for horror RPG inspiration! World of Darkness with mortal characters as well as Beyond the Supernatural.
• Pope Sebastian a stand in for Pope Francis?
• The family sees a swarm of centipedes under a pillow.
• While playing a sport, Casey sees a strange man. After getting knocked down, she glares at her attacker whose leg snaps!
• Father Marcus meets up with Father Tomas and informs him he should break it off with the single mother whose name is Jessica.
• As it turns out, the dad of the haunted family suffered head trauma not dementia.
• Holy water drinking bottle!
• After a homeless man says Casey is special, Father Marcus experiences a flashback upon touching him. He's the boy from the opening flashback.
• All demons recognize and are aware of Father Marcus. His attempt to compel one possessing an elderly lady only results in him being laughed and shrugged off.
• After Casey drinks the holy water, she vomits foot long centipedes!
• Afterwards, her father sees her talking to herself. She's talking to the strange man from the game...
• A group of nine homeless individuals stab several people and harvest organs.

Let 'em In

• The episode opens with a flashback to when the older daughter Kat is involved in the accident that killed her friend Julia. They were professing their attraction to each other.
• The Pope's prefect is the man Father Marcus drew a gun on in the premiere!
• The strange man/demon urges Casey to steal an expensive dress.
• While the Pope's retinue, or is it advance retinue, meets in an upscale building in a well-to-do neighborhood of Chicago. A man combusts outside.
• When Marcus and Tomas confront Casey, the demon speaks Aramaic!
• Casey burns herself at the demons urging...
• While on a bus her father passes out. A frat boy comes on very aggressively. After the demon/strange man, ahem, interacts with her, she claws at the frat boys chest rending it into a bloody ruin while frightened passengers gaze on.
• Marcus is excommunicated and sent on a bus trip out of Chicago with a list of names on tickets provided by the Prelate. Could it be people who can help?

The Moveable Feast

• Possessed people while in full-on possession kind act like the zombies from The Walking Dead but that could just be me.
• We discover that Casey is now actively resisting the demon.
• One of the names on the back of the ticket leads to a Mother Bernadette at a convent.
• Nun exorcism circle!
• Marcus meets a couple on a haunted bus tour who seem aware of something nasty is coming. They know of the ritual of Ash which uses harvested organs to summon a demon.
• Mother Bernadette states that while Marcus has been using a method that uses compulsion hers uses patience and forgiveness.
• Marcus tries that approach! Appears to work...
• By threatening the life of a nurse at the hospital that Casey is confined to after the attack on the bus, the demon convinces her to consent to control...
• Her family gets her released.
• However, Marcus has returned and both him and Tomas, whose doing so covertly, prepare family's attic for exorcism.

Overall, Exorcist has been a great series so far. The series has provided justification for continuation passed the initial possession as there are more possessed individuals other there as well as strange groups and other dark forebodings. A fairly superb horror series for broadcast network faire.

A Glass Walker Calls Out a Black Dragon...

Three years. That's how many years have passed since I last LARP'd (Live Action Role-Play). For over half a decade, LARPing was among my regular activities. The setting of choice was White Wolf's Old World of Darkness. Vampire, Mage, Changeling, and Werewolf were the settings of choice. While Vampire was the first setting that I LARP'd, Werewolf has become the dominant setting and the one that I have now played the longest. Werewolf via interconnected chronicle (the WOD term for campaign) networks and the lack of rebooting is also the setting for my longest played character. A Glass Walker Theurge is my longest played character in both LARP and entirety of gaming experience. Said Glass Walker has been played on and off sporadically since 2004...


Until about three years ago, I'd occasionally play that Glass Walker at the very least once a year. So for three years, I didn't play that character,  didn't LARP, nor read/played/thought about the Old World of Darkness.


Yep, real life does intrude on one's gaming life.


Recently, my schedule and circumstances enable me to revisit that Glass Walker Theurge, my longest played character. I'm emphasizing that latter point precisely because that realization just hit as I type!


In any case, I was LARP and OWOD (oh wait, NWOD is referred to as Chronicles of Darkness so I can use the old acronym!) rusty. Fortunately, the session was light on improvisational theater and character quest was more along the lines of follow-the-leader. Besides, one quirk of the character was that he never achieved a rank above foster (rank 2) so the character didn't have too much power or responsibility that my rustiness was too much of an issue.


The pack's goal was to defeat an evil spirit within an umbral (spirit) realm. Within that specific realm, the pack discovered that the spirit had taken the form of a black dragon. The 'black dragon' despite being within line of sight was too far away for the characters to engage. Didn't help that was in the middle of a lake. As a Theurge, the character can command spirits. So ala Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, the Glass Walker Theurge commanded the spirit in the form of black dragon to 'get over here!'. He succeeded. The spirit than used a power that effectively removed my character from the fight. Fortunately, the PC's not so nullified were able to defeat the spirit/black dragon.


Thus, a glass walker called out a black dragon. One of the unique perks of Werewolf: the Apocalypse that I missed indeed. Hopefully, this session marks my return to LARPing and playing in the World of Darkness. If not regularly, I hope the forays are at least annually. Not an island within a sea of years.

Thanksgiving 2015

Since I did a series of Halloween posts, its only fitting that I blog about Thanksgiving. Unlike my ode to Halloween, this will be only commentary on several Thanksgiving-related shows. Helps that there were no Thanksgiving comics that I was aware of. Fret not, I did have some RPG-related ideas!


Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Ever since I was a child, I'd watch the Macy's parade keeping an eye out for the Spider-Man balloon or any other comics-related float. Didn't see Spidey in this year's parade. Did see a Pikachu balloon though. That was rather neat. There was the obligatory Snoopy balloon although this particular balloon depicted Snoopy flying through the air Superman style. Absolutely loved the 50 year anniversary homage float to A Charlie Brown Christmas!


SNL Thanksgiving - a collection of Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving skits. While I found many of skits to be a chuckle at best there were a few gems. Loved Eddie Murphy in Mister Robinson's Neighborhood. Don Cheadle's (War Machine in the MCU) Ladies Man was a hoot. Akroyd-Belushi-Murray were amusing in an absurd manner. While I was familiar with Martin Short's character solely from a Saturday Morning cartoon from years ago, that was hilarious. In contrast, The Bears fans and crystal clear gravy invoked nostalgia chuckles - as did the Jordon Gordon-Levitt (third installment of the Nolan Batman trilogy and hopefully producer of the Sandman film) skit.


In contrast I found the Scream Queens Thanksgiving episode an absolute laugh riot. Watched a recording on Thanksgiving Day; and I was thankful for the smile it brought to my face. Scream Queens was a casualty of comic book show Tuesday; however, I found this episode to be fairly accessible despite not having watched in quite some time. An excellent Thanksgiving-oriented episode. A shame that shows rarely do Thanksgiving episode much nowadays - that I am aware of.  Hope they do release Screams Queens on DVD some day. Not everyone has Netflix.


Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - don't recall why I didn't watch Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown but I took advantage of the lax television schedule to watch this gem. Charlie Brown Thanksgiving still has its magical charm after all these years. Finally occurred to me how disturbing it is seeing Woodstock eating turkey. Woodstock must be a big fan of bush meat... The subsequent telling of the pilgrim story albeit Peanuts-style is a nice attempt. Probably the major achievement is that it includes Lucy in a Thanksgiving special and uses her fairly well. Gets the Miles Standish bit wrong which anyone who has seen the following show will know...


The Pilgrims: American Experience - Miles Standish was the hired muscle. The requisite fighter-type in almost any RPG. Miles Standish aside, The Pilgrims: American Experience is an outstanding documentary! I learned more about the Pilgrims than I ever did in any history class. Some interesting tidbits were the pilgrims digging through Indian graves, propping the dying up on trees with musket in hand to fool the nearby Indians, and planting corn atop the recent dead - although the latter two are more historical conjecture. I heartily recommend this documentary for any GM that runs either a historical campaign or campaign influenced heavily by history. Vampire, Wraith, Werewolf, and Call of the Cthulhu gamers may find this of particular interest. Heck, I can imagine players of the Solomon Kane setting for Savage Worlds could get some mileage out of the history of the pilgrims. On a more somber note: this was among Roger Rees's last roles. He played the Sheriff in Mel Brook's Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Rees does an excellent job portraying William Bradford's various soliloquy - based on Bradford's writings.


Secrets of the Dead: Jamestown's Dark Winter - Another excellent documentary. Whereas the Pilgrims were a success story, Jamestown was a place where one hoped they survived the experience. It became more of a charnel house during its dark winter when the surrounding Indians laid siege to the colonialist trapping them inside the walls of the fort as disease and famine runs rampant. That's just the background to the documentary! What it the documentary examines is the fate of a young girl and why her remains were found in the state they were. Quite simply, it was like a reverse zombie-ism! Instead of the dead rising to eat the living, the living grave dug to feast. Yep, a confirmed case, albeit one or three, of a cannibalism at Jamestown. I can imagine quite the RPG scenarios that a GM can devise from this! Certainly, New World of Darkness Gamers could use this an example of Morality rules. Various games such as Call of the Cthulhu could use this an example of insanity caused by more mortal hands. The old World of Darkness fan in me envisions hordes of wraiths and banes swirling around the area where the fort once stood.

3 Weeks Off, 3+ Weeks on Gaming

Haven't posted much recently. Some of that has to do with my schedule. Some of its motivation as I haven't been in a blogging mood. Some of its content. Due to scheduling conflicts, I have not been able to attend the Tuesday night gaming group. What makes me happy is that my schedule allows me to attend the next three weeks worth of sessions. Possibly more.

The group has decided to play Star Wars Saga Edition and Vampire the Masquerade on alternating Tuesdays. I have come up with two bare bones concepts for both games. For Star Wars, I am thinking about playing a human soldier type whose a rifleman. For the Vampire the Masquerade game, I am playing 13th generation Ventrue whom was (is?) a director at a local hospital. He appears to be middle-aged and was a former surgeon before his promotion to management. Notable Disciplines: Dominate. A neonate only recently released from his sire's stewardship. I no longer remember the proper terminology.

Speculation on the shortage of area LARPers

Over on Mike's blog, he laments on the lack of LARP'ers. For ease of reference, here's the link.

http://mikelrysk.blogspot.com/2009/01/wod-where-did-you-go.html



I understand where Mike's coming from. Having played and ran LARPs I know firsthand how hard it is to recruit new players for a LARP. However, Mike omits one crucial detail. He's really complaining about recruiting players for the currently on hiatus Werewolf LARP. That's important because there's two layers, both a macro and a micro, to the problem.

I'll cover the micro layer first. First, central wisconsin has low population than other areas that have LARPs. In other words, the population may not be large enough to have the needed diversity. Culture requires diversity and without it fringe cultures such as gaming have a hard time thriving. LARPs require both a more diverse and larger population that other types of gaming. I'm not saying Stevens Point doesn't have such a culture, but a lot of that comes from the university. However, reliance on students is a catch-22.

The worrying fact about central wisconsin, and to extent other places in the country, is the lack of quality game stores. Its sad when I have to go to a book store to see a diverse product mix. So even if the old stuff were still readily available I'm not sure one could actually acquire a copy in this area without ordering it. Which still means one has to become both aware and accept LARP. I knew about LARPs because I read about it in a tabletop book.

Macro layer

Even though I knew about LARP I was still leery about. If it wasn't for a group that came across as both normal and accessible I would never have participated in LARPs as much as I did. That's right, if the people who introduced me to LARPing came across as strange and couldn't communicate well, I would be one of those gamers who refer to their LARP experience with scorn. Granted, as time went by, I discovered that they were as eccentric as any other gamer. However, my first impressions of them were that they normal people who could articulate all the intangibles of LARPing clearly to me.

Another reason is that gamer culture is a fragmented bunch. There are card gamers, tabletop role-players, LARPers. Granted, there are gamers that do two or all three things but the point remains a separation exist. I can go on but that could be its own post/entry.

More commentary later. Although it might be more general in nature. Not so much focusing on why gamers aren't LARPers but LARP and WOD (both new and old). Heck, I have been planning on discussing gaming in general since I started this blog. So my comments may take time.