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"[Tennessee Titans] Owner Bud Adams turned to Hall-of-Fame guard and offensive line coach Mike Munchak to take over as coach. Then the team shocked some by using the eighth overall selection in the draft on Washington quarterback Jake Locker. Adams, 88, has said many times he wants to win a Super Bowl before he dies. These moves may require Adams to invest in a time machine for that to happen."
Friday, August 26, 2011
Clone Wars Campaign: The Altered
The Altered are a race of genetically-engineered Arkanians, confined thousands of years ago to a remote colony deep within the Arkanian Nebula. Bio-modified to be brilliant and able to function without sleep, the colony quickly developed technology far in advance of anything else in the galaxy. Over time, The Altered developed a rigid society divided into various clans, called Steadfasts. The number of Steadfasts dwindled as The Altered dwindled due to low birth rates, as well as the lure of transhumanism represented by The Accelerated.
The PCs took the treacherous journey to the planet of The Altered in an attempt to rescue Tarn Tamarand from The Accelerated. While there, they successful engaged in manipulation and intrigue to overthrow the Speaker of The Altered and learn the secrets of their relationship to The Accelerated. Each Prime (leader) and Second (lieutenant) of the five remaining Steadfasts are detailed below, with notes on their main desires and fears that could be used as levers by the PCs. In the "Marks" category is how each is initially disposed towards the PCs, with zero being "neutral", and I kept track of how the PCs actions changed each ranking.
THE FIRST STEADFAST (SPEAKER)
Prime: Leisha Camdeni
Marks: Negative Four
Fears: Domination by Accelerated; Loss of More Residents (from over 60 Steadfasts to Five)
Interests: Triv, Stability, a Second
Will Defense: + 30, Hit Points: 40
Secret: Kronos is returned and will soon be be awakened
Second: (unofficially) Triv Camdeni
Wants: A Family, Leisha’s Success, To Prove Himself
Marks: Negative Four
Stealth: +15, Will Defense: + 15, Hit Points: + 25
THE SECOND STEADFAST (INTELLECTUAL)
Prime: Praxeus Domanidrus
Marks: Negative Three
Fears: Boredom, Rejection
Interests: New Technology, Acceleration?, Designs/Maintains Systems
Will Defense: +20, Use Computer/Knowledge Technology +35, Hit Points: 30
Secret: Has been in contact with Accelerated about entire steadfast ascending
Second: Iagos Aurellius
Marks: Negative Two
Wants: Praxeus to Accelerate so he will head the Steadfast
Fears: Status Quo
Secret: Sleeps with Sangla’ and shares info
Will Defense: +25, Hit Points: 60
THE THIRD STEADFAST (DREAMER)
Prime: Eron 14
A Thin, Weak-Looking Fellow With a Vapid Look On His Face and Visible Neural Implant Sites
Marks: Negative Three
Fears: Real Life, Responsibility & Decision Making (supports Leisha reflexively)
Interests: The Dream, and New Phenomenon for the Dream
Will Defense: + 15, A Likely Flake (forgetful), Hit Points: 30
Secret: Was hooked on addiction by Sangla’
Second: Eron 15
Marks: Negative Two
Wants: Escape (needs Leisha’s and Eron 14’s Permission)
Fears: Continued Seclusion
Will Defense: + 20, Hit Points: 55
Secret: Plans to sneak aboard the incoming vessel
THE FOURTH STEADFAST (PLEASURE)
Prime: Sangla’
A Sixtyish Woman Who Gives Kittenish Looks
Marks: Negative Two
Wants: Pleasure
Fears: Boredom, Rejection
Will Defense: + 25, Hit Points 45
Secret: Sleeps with Iagos Aurellius for info, hooked Eron 14 on dream
Second: Sangla’ Annex
A Strapping Young Man Whose Muscles Are Clearly Visible Through His BodySheathe
Marks: Negative Two
Wants: To Please Mistress
Fears: Displeasing Mistress
Will Defense: + 20, Hit Points: 125
Secret: Sometimes does away with those who reject his Mistress, Including Mazrim’s Son
THE FIFTH STEADFAST (AMBITION)
Prime: Mazrim
A Man With Steel-Gray Hair, cut short, in his early fifties with a Piercing Stare
Marks: Negative One
Wants: To Be Speaker
Fears: Exposure, Shame
Will Defense: + 35, Hit Points: 175
Secret: Actually Sleeps
Second: None (Son, Before Naming Day, Sent to Excess)
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Where Are They Now? [RPG]
I've posted a lot of RPG characters on this blog over the past few years shortly after character creation. But for the most part, I've failed to mention what happened to them in the actual game. So here goes the Jhaeman's Detritus version of VH-1's Where Are They Now?
Abu Joral, Desert Mystic helped defeat a cult operating in the sewers of Waterdeep during a three-session Fourth Edition D&D game, but has not yet discovered the Worldbreaker.
Alexious, the Self-Decapitating Bard isn't really in need of a status update. Dude accidentally decapitated himself during a bar fight. The end.
Alhambara, Arch-Vizier of Mulhoric appeared in three sessions of a Pathfinder game and was quite fun to role-play: domineering, senile, and powerful. He went through a satisfactory character arc, regaining his stolen memories at the end of the game.
Antoine Marenne, the Ringmaster helped put the kibosh on a super-villain named The Phoenix during a short Heroes Unlimited game.
Charlotte Queen, Private Investigator and Nathan Castle, True Crime Writer, back-up characters designed for a modern-day Call of Cthulhu adventure, have never yet managed to appear in a gaming session.
Gabriel Knight, Private Investigator is still trapped in cliffhanger-limbo at the bottom of a rapidly-filling grain silo.
John Wilbert Dill, Spiritualist still probably never appeared in an actual session.
Major Leaf, Canadian Super Icon appeared in a few sessions of a Heroes Unlimited game. Upright and bombastic, he was very much a caricature of what would happen if Superman and Captain America were thrown into a blender. He helped uncover the sinister plot of the evil SerpaCore, but unfortunately the planned big showdown against the mini-campaign's major super-villain never took place.
Neville Robideaux, Noble Impersonator appeared in My Worst Gaming Experience Ever and never did finish delivering an unnamed item necessary to deter an unnamed evil to "the Elves."
Nphreg & Stantusta are presumably still wandering around the Forgotten Realms somewhere, with the latter's one-handededness impeding his ability to use a spetum.
Roddy McCallister, Itinerate Gravedigger was exceedingly creepy and extremely good at cracking skulls in a never-completed modern-era Call of Cthulhu adventure, and his personality was so memorable that I brought him back as an NPC in a Depression-era game, wherein he was infected by mind-altering worms and succeeded in killing a PC by cracking the poor fellow over the head with his shovel.
Stiegg Salander, Finnish Secret Agent appeared in one session of a D20 modern game that started off with all the characters "burned" (their secret identities blown). Stiegg was approached to become a member of a secret, Freemason-like benevolent organization and, after some resistance, agreed to it. In his first mission, he proved somewhat useless in the assassination of a powerful drug dealer.
Tallossin Trailmarker and Sarabian Drowslayer unfortunately appeared in just one session of a Labyrinth Lord campaign, but they were a blast to play and both lived to fight another day, successfully killing some kobolds and giant rats.
Temeris Reginald Cottingswald III, Naive Explorer has quickly become one of my all-time favorite characters. He's appeared in fourteen sessions of adventures as part of the Royal Karameikan Fist Adventuring Company, and continues to get into all sorts of trouble with his high-spirited, naive ways. As of the most recent session, he's been turned to stone by a basilisk!
The Contessa appeared in just one session of a Doctor Who game, but stylishly prevented some sort of music-related disaster from destroying London.
Urtavius Belerophon was last seen in the foreboding mists of Ravenloft with a menagerie of summoned undead. He's a level four character, and I need a level four character now that Temeris is turned to stone . . . could this be fate?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Jhaeman's Library # 5
As the cover to this issue (# 5) indicates, # 4 didn't arrive on time to Legends and so #4 and #5 appeared as a double-issue. Wintrhop Worthington III vs. Mystery House--who will win the coveted spot as official mascot of Jhaeman's Library? (Travel back in time eight years and cast your votes now!) This somewhat sparse issue featured a review of Bats, Cats & Cadillacs and the second half of my Criminal Defence comic script--something I'll post one of these days if I can figure out a reasonable method of getting it from the printed page to this blog.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Hell Frozen Over: Chapter One (Part 1) [Buffy]
CHAPTER ONE: FOUR YEARS AGO
“No, absolutely not,” said Joyce Summers, hoping she said it with conviction. She poured herself another cup of coffee and waited for the inevitable to begin.
“But Mom,” Buffy continued, “this is our junior year of high school. Next year we’ll be seniors and then who knows what’s going to happen to us after graduation—Willow could go to M.I.T., Xander could go to . . . well, whatever school would take him. The point is that this may be the last chance we’ll have to really be together and bond, away from high school and this one-coffee-bar town. Don’t you remember what it was like when you were a teenager?”
“But that’s what I’m saying,” said Joyce, hoping her weakening resolve wasn’t showing. “Buffy, you’re not even seventeen. A trip halfway across the country, to a strange place, for a whole weekend. This isn’t like you’re going to a sleepover down the street.”
“C’mon Mom, I’m a big girl, remember? Willow and Xander will both be with me, so what could go wrong? And besides, Willow checked this place out on the Internet—she said it’s listed as like one of the safest ski resorts in the country.”
A small lie—Willow had checked out the ski resort on the Internet, but reported only that she had trouble finding much on it besides the gorgeous pictures on the resort’s own site. She kept talking, knowing that if she could keep it up just a little longer, her mother would cave.
“And really, how often do you win a free weekend of skiing, all expenses included?” Buffy had been surprised at her luck when her name came up at the Sunnydale High drawing. But it’s about damn time something good happened to me, she thought. Even better, Willow had won a ticket as well. The other two tickets were won by students they didn’t know very well, but that could be fixed.
“You’ve never even been skiing. I don’t think you’ve ever seen snow except on television. You might hate it,” said Joyce, with an abundance of parental concern. “Is there even going to be any snow this time of year?”
“It’s the mountains. It always snows, or they fake it, or something. I’m not really sure. But I’m sure it’ll be fun—kinda like ice skating, except different. And hey, if it’s boring, I’ll just sit in the warm lodge and ogle all the guys while sipping on hot cocoa.” They both smiled at this.
Joyce’s eyes sparkled—she had missed the obvious. “Well anyway honey, I know you really want to go, but of course I can’t let you miss two days of school. It’s simply impossible.”
“Got that covered,” Buffy replied, with a hint of triumph in her voice. She had found out about the resort yesterday, and had been strategizing since. Sixteen-plus years of practice was starting to pay off. “Friday is teacher in-service—only half a day of school. Monday is fall break, no school. We’ll leave at noon on Friday, spend Saturday and Sunday on the slopes, and Monday we’ll be back in plenty of time for school on Tuesday.”
Joyce chuckled to herself, realizing once again that her daughter had it all figured out. If only Buffy would join the debating club or something and put her skills to good use . . . Joyce still felt uneasy about letting her go. Spending a summer with her father was one thing—at least Joyce knew that she was being looked after. But a weekend without supervision, not even in the same state? I guess I’m just going to have to get used it, she thought to herself. Year after next she’ll leave for college, and then who knows what.
“Okay.”
“Great I’ll—“
“But I want to know who you’re going with, how you’re going to get there, and I want you to call me every night.”
No matter how old she got, Buffy would always be her little girl.
-------------------------------------------------------
“What’s the sitch?” asked Xander, as Buffy walked towards him and Willow. They were sitting on the bench out in front of Sunnydale High, where they always met before school. Around them, students milled about, dreading the first morning bell. The excitement of the first few weeks of a new school year had already worn off, and all that was left to look forward to were months of endless exams, quizzes, and assignments until winter vacation finally came.
“Mission accomplished,” replied Buffy.
“Did you have to pull out the stake and holy water?” teased Willow.
“Nope, just a lot of persuasion and maybe a little bit of guilt.”
“Guilt is good. Usually works with my parents too,” said Willow.
“Not for me,” Xander put in. “Then again, my folks disavow any responsibility for my existence.” His
thrift-store clothes and lopsided smile marked him out to other students as the prototypical slacker.
Willow and Buffy giggled.
Buffy looked at Xander. “And speaking of your continued existence, were you able to get your ticket?”
Although Willow and Buffy had won theirs in the contest, Xander would be left in Sunnydale unless he could convince one of the other two winners to sell or trade him their ticket.
Xander’s face showed an affected expression of wounded pride. “Well, of course. You’re talking to the Xan-Man, the knight of negotiation, the baron of bargaining, the prince of um . . .”
“Parley?” Willow said helpfully.
“Sure. Anyway, yes, of course I got the ticket. Josh Bailey will be spending yet another boring and/or life- threatening weekend in the Dead Zone, while I’ll be at beautiful Arctic Ridge, zooming down the slopes.” He fished the ticket out of his jeans pocket and read from the back of it. “Two full days and nights of skiing, free lift tickets, equipment rentals, and room reservations. Plus all the hot ski-bunnies a guy could ever ask for.”
“You never did tell me what you had to give him for it,” said Willow.
“Well, you see, there may have been a reason for that,” replied Xander. “I kind of had to promise him you would tutor him in trig for the rest of the semester.”
She leaned over and playfully punched him in the arm.
“Ow, what was that for?” said Xander, rubbing an imaginary bruise on his shoulder.
She punched him in the arm again harder and smiled. “And that one’s for asking.” She looked over at
Buffy and winked. “Everyone’s been saying I should be more assertive. I thought I’d start with Xander.”
Buffy smiled and looked at her watch. Another few minutes and classes would start.
“Great, then it’s all set,” she said. “This is going to be the best weekend ever. We’re just like the Three Musketeers, the Three Amigos, the
uh, the Marx Brothers.”
“Right,” said Willow, following up. “I’ll be Groucho, and Buffy can be Harpo.”
“Who does that leave me?” said Xander. “You get to be Karl,” said Willow, deadpan. Unfortunately, the crack flew right over both Buffy’s and
Xander’s heads.
Just then, Willow remembered the conversation she had had with her father the night before. Although the plan was that they would borrow her dad’s car for the trip, he refused because he thought it wasn’t the kind of car to handle mountain roads. This left them without transportation, and possibly stranded in Sunnydale. Just as she was explaining this to her friends, their conversation was interrupted by a familiar, if not grating, voice nearby.
Queen Cordelia was holding court nearby, gesticulating wildly while holding a small piece of paper in her hand. “And so then I said ‘My God, that shirt is like so Leave It To Beaver. And even the Partridge boys would have rejected those pants as out-of-date. Can you get more disgusting?’ And then I think I actually saw him start to tear up. So anyway, I told him that if he gave me his ticket, I wouldn’t tell everyone how he was such a big loser.”
“But Cordelia, you are telling everyone,” said one of her friends.
“Excuse me, interrupt much?” Cordelia snapped. “Anyone can tell just by looking at him that he’s an inhabitant of Dweebville. So now all we have to do is find out which other three losers have tickets, get them, and I’ll pick which of you get to go on a fabulous ski vacation with me. Plus, my father said I could borrow his new SUV for the trip.”
Her friends’ faces lit up, and they began to gossip and look around to see who had the other tickets.
“Well,” said Buffy, looking at Willow and Xander. “Willow, if your dad won’t let us borrow his car, we’ll going to have to find alternative means of transport.”
“I agree completely,” said Willow.
They both looked at Xander. He looked at them, not comprehending, before he realized what they wanted. “You want me to try and talk the Ice Queen herself into letting us ride along with her?”
“Well, you are the—what was that Willow said? ‘The Prince of Parley’? Anyway, Cordelia despises me and mocks Willow. I’m sure that if the ‘Xan-Man’ can’t do it, then nobody can,” Buffy finished.
Xander shook his head slowly. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m not exactly number one on her ‘I-want- to-spend-a-weekend-with’ list either.” Xander hoped he was being sufficiently convincing—if either Willow or Buffy found out that he and Cordelia had kissed, he would never live it down.
“Xander, as much as Cordelia may dislike you, she despises us even more. You’re our only chance.”
“Okay, I’ll do it. One for all and all for one and all that . . . But I won’t like it.”
“Courage under fire, that’s our Xander,” said Willow, smiling.
“I’ll need some courage myself,” said Buffy. “I still have one last obstacle in my path, one last encounter to deal with before I can leave for Arctic Ridge in good conscience.”
“Evil blood-sucking vampires?” said Willow. “
Nope.”
“Undead, brain-eating zombies?” said Xander.
“Nada.”
“Witches?” said Willow.
“Nope, Xander’s handling Cordelia,” joked Buffy. “No, my battle will be far worse. There is only one creature that can stand between me and a weekend of freedom from the Hellmouth. And its name is . . .” Buffy paused for effect.
“Giles.”
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Hell Frozen Over: Second Prologue
SECOND PROLOGUE: THE PRESENT
Small whirlwinds of snow circled Castillo as he jumped the few feet separating the helicopter from the barren plain of ice and snow below. He landed awkwardly and stumbled before regaining his feet. A dozen yards a away, a small group of men stood near a small, open pit. A large mining drill, now dangling icicles, and a few tents completed the scene. In the middle of winter, Greenland was cold. And here, far away from the few cities and military bases that spotted the land, it seemed like they were at the very tip of the world.
Castillo shouted to make himself heard over the waiting helicopter. “Where is it?”
“Right over here, sir,” one of the men said. His voice was muffled--everyone but Castillo was bundled up in thick winter clothing: snowsuits, boots, ski masks, and more. They stood at attention, but their eyes darted constantly toward the helicopter, their only escape from the freezing cold. “We didn’t touch it,” the man continued, “just like you said.”
Castillo walked over to the pit, limping slightly, and peered down into the darkness. He couldn’t see anything. “How far down?” he shouted. He did not shiver, nor did the air condense around him as he spoke.
“About twenty feet. We have ropes ready for you, sir.”
The men fitted Castillo securely into a harness and carefully lowered him down into the pit. When he reached the bottom of it, Castillo removed the harness and turned on a strong flashlight. He shone it around the pit, and the light came to rest on a small wooden chest, still partially buried in the snow and ice. Castillo brushed his fingers along the top of it and felt the ancient runes and symbols which had been carved into it.
Could this really be it? It seems so . . . simple . . . pathetic. But it must be. Everything is where Solasheyk said it would be.
He pulled the harness back on and cradled the chest carefully as he was being lifted up. The chest was light—it could have been empty, for all anyone knew. But Castillo knew differently. He smiled as he contemplated the chest’s contents. What was inside that chest would make up for the past four years of torment and torture.
It’s a pity, really, that she has suffered so much already, without my involvement. What I will do to her would be so much more painful if she were as happy as when I last saw her. But I’ve been awaiting this.
Preparing, observing. Soon it will all be over. And then I will finally return to where I was before I even heard the name Buffy Summers.
Friday, August 19, 2011
CFL vs. NFL
In the dark days of mid-summer 2011, all seemed lost: would the NFL's owners and players ever reach an accord? A year without Sunday afternoon and Monday night football seemed imminent, and despair strove some--myself included--to take desperate steps to appease the gnawing pigskin hunger within their souls: watching the Canadian Football League!
I watched the CFL's two weeks of preseason exhibition games and then the first six weeks of the regular season, giving up on the experiment once the first NFL preseason games debuted (it'd be foolish to try and watch all 64 NFL preseason games this year, but with the NFL Network and a DVR, I'm willing to try!). Here are some random thoughts on things I noticed during my experiment:
Twelve Men on the Field Per Team: Didn't seem particularly impactful. Yes, there's one more receiver, but then there's one more defender. Call it a wash.
A Wider Field Proved interesting--it was easier for quarterbacks to throw fade patterns and for running backs to turn the corner as they could use the extra room to take advantage of their speed advantage over defensive ends and linebackers.
Three Downs: More Passing, Less Running Probably the most well-known and significant difference between CFL and NFL football is that the former only allows three downs to get a first down, and it does make for a major difference in gameplay. As you might expect, the passing game is emphasized in the CFL to a much higher degree than in the NFL. It's not quite at Arena football levels, but I didn't see any teams rely on defense and a power running game to win games like some teams in the NFL. No CFL team regularly had more than one RB in the backfield, and much of the running came from a team with a sizable lead trying to run down the clock. There are some quality backs, however, and 1,000 rushing yard seasons aren't uncommon.
Three Downs: More Punting My perception watching the game, which some hasty & uncredible research online confirmed, is that there's a lot more punting in the CFL than in the NFL. It makes sense: the fewer chances a team has to get a first down, the more likely it is to have to punt. Overall scoring didn't seem noticeably different, but I definitely remember some CFL punt-fest snoozers. On the other hand, see the next entry.
More Exciting Punts! A punt in the NFL is sometimes returned, but just as often is fair caught or downed in the field of play by the punting team. These last two results aren't particularly exciting, and one of the interesting wrinkles of the CFL is that there are no fair catches and that the punter is eligible to recover his own punt and keep possession. This means that every punt must be returned by the defense, leading to a higher likelihood of something interesting happening on the return.
Points for Punts & Missed Field Goals? As weird as it seems, any time a kicked ball travels out the back of the end zone or is not returned out of the end zone, the kicking team gets a point. So, punters have to decide whether they want to try to get the ball to drop within the field of play and pin the returning team back, or get a point for their team. Field goal kickers often get some small consolation when they miss. I really don't know what to think of this rule difference.
Two Preseason Games, Eighteen Regular Season Games The CFL has been doing for years what the NFL has recently been considering doing. I understand why the players worry about additional injury and that some unknown players won't be able to prove themselves and make the roster, but, from a fan's perspective, there's nothing better than games that count.
Offensive Players Can Be in Motion at the Same Time and Be in Motion Toward the Line of Scrimmage Definitely makes the pre-snap more interesting, and one can imagine clever offensive coordinators coming up with some cool patterns. Of course, this would make it much harder for cornerbacks, as the wideout they're trying to cover is already running at full speed at the snap . . .
A Yard Wide Neutral Zone The defensive line can't line up within a yard of the ball. This seems like a little thing, but I think it hurts the game because nothing interesting ever happens on Third and 1 or First and Goal from the One. Each team just puts its back-up QB behind center (for safety reasons) and then runs a quarterback sneak. Barring a bobbled snap, it's guaranteed to get the first down or to get the ball into the endzone. Makes for less suspenseful short yardage situations.
75% of Teams Make the Play-Offs The CFL has two divisions of four teams each, and only the worst team in each division fails to make the playoffs. Teams that win their division get advantages like a first-round bye and home field advantage, but I still imagine (not having seen an entire season through) that this results in less exciting endings to many seasons.
Cumulative Penalties Something that makes perfect sense: there is no such thing as off-setting penalties when the offense and defense each commit an infraction, nor can only one penalty be accepted per side. If the Argos commit a 15 yard penalty, and the Lions commit a 5 yard penalty on the same play, then the net is a 10 yard penalty on the Argos. Similarly, if the Argos commit a 15 yard and a 10 yard penalty on the same play, they'll be going back 25 yards. Elegant in its simplicity.
Seeing Each Game One of the advantages of there only being eight teams, and thus only four games each weekend, is that the networks can show them all at different times. In other words, a fan with a lot of time to kill can watch all the games and not miss out on anything, which is kinda cool. Often on NFL Sundays, it's agonizing trying to pick which two Sunday afternoon games I'm going to watch, knowing that twelve or more others are happening at the same time.
Although I tease, the CFL showcased some quality professional football. Games were exciting and often came down to the wire, and there's never a sense that the players take it less seriously just because it's not the NFL. The CFL has actually existed far longer than the NFL, and some of its teams have storied histories. I didn't grow up with it and so don't feel the same connection to its teams or players, but if the NFL ever had a strike/lockout cancelled year, I could imagine watching some more CFL games.
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