Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Sentinel Tactics Now Being Kickstarted!

Sentinels of the Multiverse is one of my favorite games: a co-op, non-collectible card game of superheroes fighting supervillains in an unique multiverse that pays homage to DC and Marvel Comics. It's suitable for 3 to 5 players, but makes a perfectly adequate solo game if you've got an hour or so to kill.

The creators of SotM are now kickstarting their next game: a competitive, miniatures based, superheroes versus supervillains skirmish game. The kickstart rewards aren't amazing, but they're not terrible either: nearly a dozen super-hero figures at the $40 pledge level, shipping included.


The most interesting part of the Kickstarter is how well they're doing: 4 hours after they started the Kickstarter, they've raised $40K of the $50K they're aiming to get. I don't think they'll do as well as the original Reaper Bones kickstart, but there will be enough funds to release the game and at least a couple of additional figures.

I'm just hoping that GtG and Reaper team up: I'd love to see a Bones line of super hero related figures at an affordable cost. I used to buy Heroclix commons and repaint them, but some more variety would be great.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Actual Play: Lady Blackbird Session 1

My F2F group's current GM was unprepared today, so one of the backup GMs stepped up with one of his "random, experimental, rules-light, crazy narrative games." I'm generally not fond of these types of games, but I try to be a good sport because it's not like my back-up campaign is prepared right now. In this case, I'm glad I did.

We played Lady Blackbird, a fairly straightforward rules light game with pregenerated characters in a prepared adventure. It's also free, so you can click on that link and read it yourself.

Mechanics

Each PC has several Traits, and each Trait has several Tags associated it. Whenever a PC attempts something, the player chooses an applicable Trait (if possible) and any applicable Tags from that trait, and then rolls 1d6 + 1d6 per Trait or Tag. Each PC also starts with a pool of 7d6, which can be applied to any roll, but are lost when used successfully. Each die of 4+ counts as success, and 2-5 successes are required depending on the GM's assessment of the difficulty.

This is no by no means a sophisticated or complicated system, but it is a straightforward system and it seemed to work reasonably well. There aren't any modifiers as such, but the GM can increase or decrease the difficulty depending on what the players are doing, so that wasn't a problem (unlike some of these no-modifier indie games). One twist that our GM threw at us, that I don't think is in the rules but should be, was the idea that we could have separate targets depending on how we approached a task: we might need 5 successes to win a firefight without any damage if we took cover, but we'd only need 4 to win if we fought recklessly but we'd automatically take damage unless we had at least 7 successes. That worked out really well in play, and let us tailor our approaches depending on how likely we thought we were to succeed in a task and how much we needed to succeed.

Lady Blackbird also has a simple experience system: each PC has 3+ goals, and they get an experience point whenever they do something related to their goals. 5 experience points granted a raise, which could be used to buy a new Trait or Tag. Again, this was simple but worked well in play: the goals were clear and had general applicability, so I could easy hit my goal of "Make Plans and Be Commanding" and the guy playing the mechanic could "Spout Amusing Technobabble."

The system isn't without weaknesses. Like all Trait based games, some Traits are just better than others: it's usually better to have the trait Batman than the trait Janitor. The Traits on the pregenerated characters were generally equivalent and widely but not always applicable, but I did find myself using "Ex-Imperial Soldier" a whole lot more than any of the others. A lot of that had to do with the scenario: we started as prisoners on an Imperial Cruiser, so my character's experience with the Imperial Military was more useful than his abilities as a Smuggler. Next session, I expect being a Smuggler will be a lot more important.

What Happened

We only had four players, so after the GM quickly explained the game and passed out the characters, we talked briefly about who wanted to play what, made some decisions, and got started. I was the dashing smuggler captain Cyrus Vance; everyone else was represented but the mechanic and petty sorcerer Kale.

The scenario starts with the PCs captured and tossed in an Imperial Cruiser's brig. We quickly broke up, beating up the Imperial Marines, stealing their uniforms, and trying to bluff our way out. This failed miserably - we beat up a bunch of marines, but the ship went to a Yellow Alert and we were ambushed trying to leave the brig area. Fortunately, our goblin shapeshifter snuck through the vents and flanked the Imperials, so we managed to break out and hide in some unoccupied crew quarters.

We had a vague long-term plan of using my character's Forgery ability to create some release orders for ourselves and our ship, and then just leave. This was highly complicated by the Yellow Alert, so we realized we needed to calm the ship down. Realizing that Lady Blackbird could create illusions, we hatched a plan to make it look like we had fled into a life raft, which our engineer would rig to launch and then explode. He'd jump off the back of the raft, land on the hull of the Imperial Cruiser, and get retrieved by the rest of us. Thanks to some improbably lucky die rolls, high player skill at Bullshit GM, and similar nonsense, our crazy plan succeeded. We fast talked the Imperial investigators and soon the ship moved off yellow alert.

The next stage our plan was to get our ship refueled, and then we'd need to figure a way to get on it and get permission to leave. We didn't have a plan for the last two parts, but good plans are like jazz and have lots of improvisation, so we started forging the orders to get the parts done that we could get done. About this point, the sabotage attempts that the goblin mechanic had scheduled to go off in another two hours (when we planned to leave the ship) started going off two hours early. Our dice were not rolling as well as they had.

We quickly hatched a plan to bluff our way onto our ship as a bomb detection team, searching the ship under the Imperial XO's orders after he'd heard there was a bomb on our ship. This worked, but then the Imperial XO came down to find out what the hell was going on, accompanied by a couple dozen clockwork soldiers. The sorceress proceeded to use all her electrical sorcery powers to blow stuff up, and I teleported myself and the sorceress' crazy pit-fighter Imperial-hating bodyguard into the hangar control room, at which point violence ensued. We got through a couple more minor complications, took some damage to our ship, and escaped, leaving the Imperial Cruiser limping in our wake.

Summing Up

I've tried various rules light narrativist and semi-narrativist games, from Spirit of the Century to Apocalypse World to Donjon. I'm not generally fond of them: the rules aren't so much "light" as "incomplete", the mechanics are often horrible, and I'm usually not fond of the playstyle. Surprisingly, Lady Blackbird actually worked very well for me. Admittedly, the rules are so simple as to be nearly incomplete, but on the other the hand, they are very straightforward and don't have any special cases. I don't think the game would work nearly as well if we had to create characters, but for a fixed scenario with pregenerated characters, it was fun and relaxing. That's good enough.

College Ritual Book Magic

College Ritual Book (CRB) Magic is my alternate magic system for GURPS. For better or worse, it uses the concepts and spells from GURPS Magic, but substantially revises the difficulty of learning spells and the effectiveness of magical talents.

I've written up CRB as a series of posts, with justifications and musings and rants and design notes. Links to those posts are below. Beyond that, I have a consolidated post that clearly explains the CRB rules without all the game design thoughts.

College Ritual Book Magic

Spells are easy. College is very hard.

College Ritual Book Magic (CRBM) is a revision of the standard GURPS Magic system intended primarily for Dungeon Fantasy games. It can be used in any game that is willing to use the standard spell list and prefers that spell casters depend on grimoires to be effective.

Unless otherwise stated, assume the rules from GURPS Magic apply.

Learning Magic

Anyone can learn to cast magic, and all spells are Mental/Easy skills.

Serious practitioners prefer to learn a collection of spells as college, as defined in GURPS Magic. Each separate college is a Mental/Very Hard skill.

Beyond level 0, the Magery or Magic Talent advantage does not exist. Some spellcasters may have a Talent with certain colleges and related skills. These talents should be created using the normal rules for talent creation. As a guideline, for 5 points, the talent should apply to 2-3 college skills (and any individual spells in that college) and 4-3 other related skills. For 10 points, the talent should apply to 6-7 college skills and 6-5 other related skills.

Performing Magic

A character must either have the 5 point Magery 0 advantage or be in a High or Very High mana zone if they actually want to cast a spell.

Spells that were learned as individual skills are cast by taking the required Concentrate maneuvers and rolling under effective skill. The energy cost is not taken from the caster's HP or FP but is instead applied to their tally. The energy cost of the spell is reduced by 1 for every 5 points of MoS on the spellcasting roll.

Spells that are learned as part of a college are cast by taking the required Concentrate maneuvers and rolling under the effective skill based on the College. Spells learned from colleges have an additional default penalty equal to either
  • the prerequisite count, if the prerequisite count is 3 or less
  • 2 + 1/2 the prerequisite count, if the prerequisite count is 4 or more
A spellcaster who owns a grimoire that improves a specific spell can reduce that spell's default penalty by the grimoire's bonus for that spell. The default penalty cannot be reduced below 0 (grimoires do not provide bonuses) and the new skill level, before any other modifiers, cannot exceed the spellcaster's Thaumatology skill.

Rituals

Regardless of skill, there is no reduction of energy cost, and the default casting ritual requires spoken words and gestures with at least 1 hand. Any changes to ritual or energy provide a modifier to skill. Effective casting time is not automatically halved at high skill levels.

Penalties for reduced ritual requirements or casting times cannot lower base casting skill below 10. Blocking spells cannot gain bonuses from extra time or from more elaborate rituals; as instant acts of will, they are already cast 'no gestures' and 'no words' at no penalty. Some other spells specify that they can be cast without gestures (particularly the 'breath of' spells); these also do not accrue a penalty.

Casting Time

  • +2 to effective skill for taking twice base casting time in an emergency
  • +3 to effective skill for taking ten times base casting time in an emergency
  • +2 to effective skill for taking ten times base casting time when not in an emergency
  • -5 to effective skill for each halving the effective casting time.

Ritual Gestures

Spellcasters making Elaborate or Sweeping gestures can have a ritual item (wand, staff, rod, crystal ball, holy symbol, censor, tome, fetish, etc) in one hand and still have the hand considered "free." The other hand must be empty. Holding a staff in a single hand prevents two-handed parries while the caster is taking the Concentrate maneuver.
  • Elaborate Gestures: +2 to effective skill. Observers get +2 to any rolls to identify the spell being cast; the caster has an additional -4 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted. This requires both arms, both hands, and both legs to be free. The caster must be standing and have the space to move a yard in all directions.
  • Sweeping Gestures: +1 to effective skill. Observers get +1 to any rolls to identify the spell being cast; the caster has an additional -2 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted. This requires both arms and both hands free. The caster must be standing or sitting.
  • Firm Gestures: This is the standard. It requires at least one hand free. The caster cannot be prone.
  • Subtle Gestures: -1 to effective skill. Observers get -2 to any rolls to identify the spell being cast or to notice that a spell is being cast at all; the caster has an additional -2 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted. This requires one hand or both legs free. If both legs are free, the caster must have space to move a yard in all directions.
  • No Gestures: -2 to effective skill. Observers get -4 to any rolls to identify the spell being cast or notice that a spell is being cast at all (and if combined with No Words, may not roll!). The caster has an additional -4 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted.

Casting Volume

  • Shouted Words: +1 to effective skill. Observers get +1 to any rolls to identify the spell being cast; the caster has an additional -2 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted.The spellcaster can be heard from 16 yards away (100 db).
  • Loud Words: This is the standard.The spellcaster can be heard from 8 yards away (90 db).
  • Spoken Words: -1 to effective skill. Observers get -2 to any rolls to identify the spell being cast or to notice that a spell is being cast at all; the caster has an additional -2 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted. The spellcaster can be heard from 1 yard away (70 db).
  • Whispered Words: -2 to effective skill, or -3 with No Gestures. Observers get -4 to rolls to identify the spell being cast or notice that a spell is being cast at all (and, if combined with No Gestures, may not roll!). The caster has an additional -4 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted. The spellcaster is difficult to hear at a distance (50 db).
  • No Words: -4 to effective skill, or -5 with No Gestures. Observers get -6 to rolls to identify the spell being cast or notice that a spell is being cast at all (and, if combined with No Gestures, may not roll!). The caster has an additional -6 on Will rolls to maintain concentration if interrupted.
Most casting in combat is assumed to Subtle Gestures (to allow two-handed weapon use) and Shouted Words, for no net modifier. A caster who is Grappled may cast using Shouted Words and No Gestures for a total penalty of -3. If the caster is Pinned, there is an additional -4 penalty, for a total -7 to spell casting attempts.

Tally and Threshold

CRBM is a Threshold system. Characters without Magery have a Threshold of 0 and a Recovery Rate of 1, and should be very cautious about casting spells, even in High mana regions. Characters with Magery have a Threshold of 5 and a Recovery Rate of 5. The leveled Extra Magical Ability advantage costs 10 pts/lvl and each level increases Threshold by 10 and Recovery Rate by 15.

Casting a spell increases the Tally. If a spellcaster's Tally goes over his Threshold, he must make a Calamity check on the table below. Tally is reduced by Recovery Rate at dawn or midnight (player's choice at character creation).

Calamity Checks and the Calamity Table

To make a Calamity Check, roll 2d and add 1 for every full 5 points by which tally exceeds threshold after this casting. Calamities take effect immediately, but don’t normally cause the spell to fail.

RollEffect
2-8Nothing happens -- this time.
9-10Until the wizard's tally is reduced to 0, the base cost of casting that spell or ritual is doubled. Increase the multiple by 1 every time this result is rolled again.
11-12As 9, and the wizard has a -1 penalty to cast that spell until his tally is reduced to 0.
13As9, and the wizard has a -1 penalty to cast all spells in the same college until his tally is reduced to 0.
14Until the wizard's tally is reduced to 0, the base cost of casting all spells or rituals in the same college are doubled. Increase the multiple by 1 every time this result is rolled again. Also, the wizard has a -1 penalty to cast all spells in the same college until his tally is reduced to 0.
15As 14, but the casting penalty is -2.
16As 15, but the casting penalty is -3.
17As 16, and the wizard's Magery is reduced by 1 (recalculate threshold and recovery rate based on the new Magery rate). This effective is cumulative. 1 level of Magery is recovered every day that the wizard has a tally of 0, doesn't cast any spells at all, and makes a HT check.
18As 17, and as long as the wizard's Magery is reduced, he suffers from Nightmares with a control roll of 9 or less.
19As 18, and as long as the wizard's Magery is reduced, he suffers from the -10% version of Radically Unstable Magery (Thaumatology p 26).
20As 18, and as long as the wizard's Magery is reduced, he suffers from the -30% version of Radically Unstable Magery (Thaumatology p 26).
21As 20, and the wizard is in a Twisted Mana (Thaumatology p 60) zone that only affects him for the next d6 hours.
22As 20, and the wizard is in a Twisted Mana (Thaumatology p 60) zone that only affects him for the next d6 days.
23As 20, and the wizard is in a Twisted Mana (Thaumatology p 60) zone with a radius equal to his base Magery (minimum 1) for the next d6 days.
24As 20, and the wizard is in a Twisted Mana (Thaumatology p 60) zone with a radius equal to his current Magery (minimum 1) until is Magery completely recovers and for d6 days after that.
25-28As 20, and the wizard is also a Mana Dampener with the same radius of affect as the Twisted Mana zone.
29+The wizard takes (Calamity Modifier / 20)d of injury, reduced by half on a successful HT-6 check. If the wizard dies from this injury, their body explodes (reducing the wizard to -10xHP in the process) and doing the same damage as a cr ex centered on the wizard's hex. Should the wizard survive, also apply the effects of 25, above.

Changes to Missile, Melee, and Other Damaging Spells

Fast progression damaging spells (such as Lightning Bolt or Flame Jet) can do a base damage of Sw damage based on the caster's IQ+relevant magical talent by Concentrating on it for one turn (this may be modified by the spell's element, just as swung shortsword and a swung halberd do different damage). By enlarging it, the caster can increase the damage by +2 or +1/die, whichever is better.

Slow progression damaging spells (such as Rain of Fire or Explosive Lightning Bolt) can do a base damage of Thr damage based on the caster's IQ+relevant magical talent by Concentrating on it for one turn. The caster can spend additional turns concentrating to either increase the area of the spell's effect or increasing the damage by +4 or +2/die, whichever is better.

The Elements

Any damaging spell is built out of two components: the element that determines the college, damage type, special effects, and bonus damage of the spell, and the form that determines the range, area, and cost of the spell.


Lightning (Air): -1 damage per die. Treat as a Tight Beam Burning Innate Attack with Double Knockback, Arcing Surge, and Side Effect (Stun). Ranged Attacks are Acc 4, Range 50/100. Double knockback, in this case, lets it do knockback damage as though it were a crushing attack.
Thunder (Air, Sound): +3 damage per die. Treat as a Crushing Innate Attack with Armor Multiplier 5, Double Knockback, and Hearing Based Side Effect (Stun). Treat attacks against swarms or vaporous creatures as area effect attacks, even if the spell form is normally a single target spell. Ranged Attacks are Acc 3, Range 30/60.
Blight (Body): +0 damage per die. Treat as a Toxic Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Cosmic (Affects things with Immune to Metabolic Hazards), Accessibility (Only living or previously animals and humanoids; cannot target locations). Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50.  Deathtouch should affect zombies, but not stone golems or trees.
Deprivation (Body, Food): -1 damage per die. Treat as a Fatigue Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Hazard (Starvation or Thirst, chosen when the spell is learned), and Resistable (HT -4). Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 50/100.
Enervation (Body): +0 damage per die. Treat as a Fatigue Innate Attack with Armor Divisor 2. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 50/100.
Stone (Earth): +2 damage per die. Treat as a Crushing Innate Attack with Double Knockback linked to another Crushing Innate Attack with Double Knockback and No Wounding. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50. Essentially, calculate knockback based on quadruple the rolled damage. 
Fire (Fire): +1 damage per die. Treat as a Burning Innate Attack with Incendiary and Armor Divisor 2. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 50/100.
Poison (Food): +3 damage per die. Treat as Toxic Innate Attack with Blood Agent, Cyclic (3x10 seconds), Resistable by HT-5. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50.
Sun (Light): +1 damage per die. Treat as a Tight Beam Burning Innate Attack. Ranged Attacks are Acc 8, Range 100/200, and get +1 to hit. Sun attacks are laser beams, and should benefit from having a built-in laser sight.
Ruin (Making and Breaking): +0 damage per die. Treat as Toxic Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Cosmic (Affects things with Immune to Metabolic Hazards), Accessibility (Only never living inanimate objects; cannot target locations). Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50. Making and Breaking spells can't affect golems, zombies, or housecats, but they can destroy cars and furniture.
Force (Movement): -1 damage per die. Treat as a Cutting Innate Attack with Affects Insubstantial and Double Knockback. Ranged Attacks are Acc 3, Range 50/100.
Cessation (Necromantic): +3 damage per die. Treat as Toxic Innate Attack with Cosmic (Ignores DR), Cosmic (Affects things with Immune to Metabolic Hazards), Accessibility (Only zombies; cannot target locations). Targets that take damage have a 1 in 6 chance of being forced to flee out of sight of the caster for one day. Ranged Attacks are Acc 2, Range 25/50.
Sound (Sound): +2 damage per die. Treat as a Crushing Innate Attack with Side Effect (Stun). Ranged Attacks are Acc 3, Range 25/50.
Ice (Water): +0 damage per die. Treat as a Burning Innate Attack with No Incendiary and Armor Divisor 5. Ranged Attacks are Acc 3, Range 50/100.
Acid (Water): -1 damage per die. Treat as a Corrosive Innate Attack. Ranged Attacks are Acc 1, Range 25/50.

Obviously, a specific spell might use a variant of the elemental or form name, or even both. Lightning Storm sounds better than Explosive Lightning Ball; Sunbolt is better known than Sunball, and so on.

The Forms

Each form determines the physical description of the spell, including its range, area of effect if any, and energy cost.

(Element) Ball: Creates a single target Missile that does fast progression damage at the cost of 1 FP per 2d of base damage. Double the cost to enlarge the spell. Prerequisites are Magery 1 and Shape (Element) and Create (Element) or 6 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
Explosive (Element) Ball: Creates an area effect Missile that does full slow progression damage in up to Magery yards radius, at 1 FP per yard of radius. Enlarging the spell can either increase damage, at double cost, or increase the radius of effect by Magery yards, again at 1 FP yard of radius. At the caster's option, the attack is also explosive for 1 FP, with double cost if the spell damage was enlarged. Prerequisite is (Element) Ball.
(Element) Jet: Creates an elemental jet extending from the caster's fist. It can be used to attack using DX or Innate Attack with any normal Attack maneuver, and cannot be parried, nor can it parry. The jet does fast progression damage, cannot be enlarged, and costs 1 FP per 2 yards of reach (up to a maximum of 4). The jet has a duration of 1 second, but the duration doesn't begin until the caster has an opportunity to make the attack maneuver. Prerequisites are Magery 1 and Shape (Element) and Create (Element) or 6 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
(Element) Breath (VH): Allows the caster to breath out a cone of the element by taking an attack maneuver and rolling against DX or Innate Attack (Breath). The cone does slow progression damage and cannot be blocked or parried. The cone has a combined length and width in yards equal to the caster's magery, and the caster may enlarge the spell for more damage or for more length or width normally. The base cost of the spell is 1 FP per 2 yards of length or 4 yards of width, doubled if the damage is enlarged. Prerequisite is (Elemental) Jet.
(Element) Touch: Imbues the caster's hand with elemental energy, allowing him to transfer that energy to a foe with a touch. This is a Melee spell that does fast progression damage at the cost of 1 FP per 2d of base damage. Prerequisites are Magery 1 and Shape (Element) and Create (Element) or 6 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
(Element) Weapon: Imbues a melee weapon with elemental energy that does slow progression damage as a follow-up attack on any successful attack with the weapon. This spell takes 2 seconds and 4 FP to cast and has a duration of 60 seconds, with a maintenance cost of 2 FP. The weapon is not harmed by the elemental energy. Prerequisites are Magery 2 and Shape (Element), Resist (Element), Create (Element) or 9 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
(Element) Missiles: Imbues a missile weapon with elemental energy that does slow progression damage as a follow-up attack on any successful attack with the weapon. This spell takes 2 seconds and 4 FP to cast and has a duration of 60 seconds, with a maintenance cost of 2 FP. The weapon is not harmed by the elemental energy. Prerequisites are Magery 2 and Shape (Element), Resist (Element), Create (Element) or 9 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
(Element) Armor: Surrounds the subject with a sheathe of elemental energy. Anyone who attacks the subject with a melee weapon takes slow progression damage on a successful hit. Anyone who grapples the subject take fast progrssion damage upon securing the grapple and cancels the spell in the process. Elemental Armor takes 4 FP to cast, 2 FP to maintain, and has a duration of 1 minute. Prerequisites are Magery 2 and (Element) Jet, Resist (Element) or 9 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
Rain of (Element): This spell can only be cast outdoors, and creates a rain of elemental energy inside the target area. Anyone inside the target area at the end of his turn takes full damage; anyone who enters or starts in the area but moves out during his turn takes half damage. This spell does slow progression damage and is an Area spell with a base cost of 1 FP, the same maintenance cost, and a duration of 1 minute. Prerequisites are Magery 2 and Shape (Element), Create (Element) or 9 spells from the college, whichever spell count is easier to achieve.
(Element) Volley: Creates a missile that does fast progression damage to a single target with RoF 4 and Rcl 3. It can still be used for suppressive fire, walking fire, or to otherwise engage multiple targets using the normal RoF attack rules. It has a base cost of 4 FP per die of damage. Enlarging the spell can increase the damage at double FP cost, increase the RoF to 10 at double the FP cost, or both at triple FP cost. Prerequisites are Rain of (Element), Element (Ball), and Element (Breath).

Grimoires

Using Grimoires

A spellcaster must have reviewed a grimoire in the previous 24 hours in order to use its bonus when casting a spell. Reviewing a collection of grimoires takes 1 hour, and an additional hour for every total 100 points in bonuses that the grimoires provide. After having reviewed a grimoire, a spellcaster does not need to keep the grimoire on him to get its bonus when casting a spell.

Purchasing Grimoires

Grimoires come in three qualities, which basically represents paper weight and grade. Cheap grimoires are made from thick, heavy paper. Good and fine grimoires are made from thinner and stronger paper. Grimoires can come in any size, but are bought in blanks of 100 pages.

Grimoire
Quality
Cost ($)/
100 pages
Weight (Lbs)/
100 pges
Cheap102
Good801
Fine2000.1


Grimoires can also be Dwarven, as per manuals from Sages: immune to fire and water damage, double weight, +4 CF.

Many grimoires are associated with magical styles, and usually have a selection of spells grouped into one of the style's levels and sufficient to qualify for the next level in that style.

Spells per Grimoire

Each spell in a grimoire has a separate bonus, a cost to purchase the spell for the grimoire, and a number of pages that the spell requires. Delvers who want to scribe their own spells can instead pay $0.5/page for the calligraphy and an additional material cost for diagrams and rare inks if they have the required minimum skills in Writing, Teaching, Thaumatology, and effectively in the college including the prerequisite penalty for the spell.

BonusCost ($)PagesMaterial ($)Min Skill
+1101521014
+2152041015
+330301216
+475405017
+52006016018
+65008044019
+7100012090020
+82500160230021
+95000240450022
+1010000320900023

New and Revised Advantages and Disadvantages

Extra Magical Abilty [10/level]: Your ability to cast spells is improved, adn yo have +10 Threshold and +15 Recovery Rate for every level of this advantage.

Magery [5]: You can cast spells, as long as there is some mana available. You have a Threshold of 5 and a Recovery Rate of 5.

Magical Style Familiarity [1]: In CRBM, instead of being able to learn any of his school's public spells without needing instruction, a magical stylist improves the grimoire bonus by 1 for any of the style's grimoires, as long as he has also grimoires for any of the style's previous levels.

Disciplines of Faith (Arcane Rituals) [-10]: Your magic requires constant research into the tides of magic, the position of the stars, and stranger things. You must own a spellbook that contains your notes, observations, and calculations on how and when you can cast spells. This spellbook is grimoire with 5 pages per point in spells that you know. You must study from this spellbook for 1d hours every night - this is time taken away from sleep, being on watch, travelling, etc. You do not need the spellbook on you to cast a spell if you studied it the night before. On any day that you cast a spell, you consume $5 of reagents and spell ingredients - these are fetishes, fine spices, and powered gems that weigh almost nothing. If you ever find yourself without reagents or your spellbook, you are at -1 on all spell-casting rolls per day that you go without either, and -2 per day that you go without both. The penalty is reduced to 0 as soon as you study in your spellbook and have access to reagents again.

Disciplines of Faith (Tome Magic) [-15]: As Disciplines of Faith (Arcane Rituals), but your spellbook is a physical representation of your magical ability. This spellbook is grimoire with 10 pages per point in spells that you know. You cannot cast spells at all unless your spellbook is on your person (in your backpack counts, but not in extra-dimensional space such as a Hide-away pouch). You get a +2 on all rolls to cast spells while your book is physically in your hand.

Revised Summoner Templates

CRBM Demonologist

Replace Demonic Attument 3 [24] and 10 points in demonologist spells with Magery 0 [5], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], College of Demonology (VH) IQ [8]-15, and the Perk: Reader of the Black Grimoires [1]. Add additional levels of Extra Magical Ability to the general advantage list.

The Close to Hell talent no longer gives bonuses to Religious Ritual or Theology but gives bonuses to College of Demonology and College of Death instead. Reader of the Black Grimoires allows the substitution of Hidden Lore (Demons) for Thaumatology when using grimoires to cast College of Demonology spells (even if the grimoire was written for an entirely different magical tradition!)

CRBM General Elementalist

Replace Elemental Influence 3 (All Elements) [30] and 20 points in elementalist spells with Magery 0 [5], a suitable 5 point talent [5], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], the Perk: Elemental Understanding [1], and 19 points distributed among College of Air, College of Earth, College of Fire, College of Metal, College of Water, College of Wood, and/or College of Void, as appropriate. Add additional levels of Extra Magical Ability to the general advantage list.

Elemental Understanding allows the substitution of Hidden Lore (Elementals) for Thaumatology when using grimoires to cast spells from an Elemental college (even if the grimoire was written for an entirely different magical tradition!)

CRBM Specific Elementalist

Replace Elemental Influence 3 (One Element) [24] and 20 points in elementalist spells with Magery 0 [5], a suitable 5 point talent 2 [10], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], the Perk: Elemental Understanding [1], and College of (One Element) (VH) IQ+2 [8]-17 (includes a +2 bonus from the talent).

CRBM Necromancer

Replace Deathliness 3 [24] and 10 points in Deathly spells with Magery 0 [5], Extra Magical Ability 2 [20], College of Death (VH) IQ [8]-15, and the Perk: Secrets of the Dead [1]. Add additional levels of Extra Magical Ability to the general advantage list.

Secrets of the Dead allows the substitution of Hidden Lore (Undead) for Thaumatology when using grimoires to cast College of Death spells (even if the grimoire was written for an entirely different magical tradition!)

CRBM Revised Shaman

As normal for CRBM, Shaman spells are individually IQ/E skills, and are sorted into three colleges.
College of Life: Beast Summoning, Boost Dexterity, Boost Health, Boost Strength, Command, Compel Truth, Cure Disease, Daze, Deathtouch*, Dream Projection, Dream Sending, Fear, Grace, Madness, Major Healing, Mass Daze, Mental Stun, Message, Might, Minor Healing, Panic, Paralyze Limb, Presence, Remove Contagion, Retrogression, Rider Within, Rooted Feet, Sense Life, Silver Tongue, Sleep, Soul Rider, Spasm, Stop Spasm, Strike Blind, Strike Deaf, Strike Dumb, Strike Numb, Terror, Total Paralysis, Vigor.
College of Spirits: Affect Spirits, Animation, Animate Shadow, Astral Block, Astral Vision, Awaken Craft Spirit, Banish, Beacon, Command Spirit, Control Elemental, Create Elemental, Entrap Spirit, Final Rest, Materialize, Pentagram, Planar Summons, Planar Visit, Planar Shift, Repel Spirits, Sense Spirit, Skull Spirit, Solidify, Soul Jar, Summon Demon, Summon Elemental, Summon Shade, Turn Spirit, Turn Zombie.
College of Wisdom: Bless, Boost IQ, Create Door, Curse, Detect Magic, Dispel Magic, Divination, Force Touch*, Hide Object, History, Know True Shape, Magic Resistance, Mystic Mist, Nightingale, Pathfinder, Predict Weather, Projection, Remove Curse, See Invisible, See Secrets, Sense Mana, Sense Observation, Sense Spirit, Summon Shade, Suspend Curse, Trace Teleport, Utter Dome, Watchdog, Wisdom.

A spell's effective prerequisite count (and its penalty to casting rolls) is equal to it's PI - 1, so a shaman can cast all PI 1 spells in a College at his skill in the college. Shamans do not use grimoires, but have spirit guides that serve a similar purpose.

Each level of Power Investiture (Shamanic) increases Threshold by 10 and Recovery Rate by 15, with both starting at 0. Power Investiture (Shamanic) does not provide a bonus to learn spells.

On the template, replace 10 points in Shamanic spells with one of the following spell packages
  • Focused caster: One Shamanic College at (VH) IQ [8]-14 and the other two colleges at (VH) IQ-3 [1]-11; or
  • Generalist caster: Two shamanic colleges at (VH) IQ-1 [4]-13 and the other college at (VH) IQ-2 [2]-12; or
  • Scattered caster: Choose 10 shamanic spells at (E) IQ [1]-14.

Spirit Guides

A spirit guide is a friendly or controlled spirit who advises a shaman in the practice of magic. A shaman may have zero or more spirit guides.

Each spirit guide gives a bonus to casting one or more spells from the college default. The bonus can only buy off the prerequisite penalty to cast the spell and the effective skill cannot exceed the shaman's Hidden Lore (Spirits) skill.

A spirit guide is a 1 point advantage and can give on of the following sets of bonuses:
  • +1 to three different spells
  • +2 to one spell and +1 to two different spells
  • +2 to one spell and +3 to another
  • +4 to one spell
Spirit guides can be transferred from one shaman to another. Spirit guides can be voluntarily transferred between shamans as an act of will, but the shaman who gives away the spirit guide loses any bonuses immediately and the shaman who acquires the guide does not get the bonuses until he has slept (or meditated for shamans who do not sleep) for at least 8 hours and made contact with the spirit guide.


A shaman can steal another shaman's spirit guides. Spirit guides may be stolen from another shaman's physical body (including his corpse) or from a shaman's house or other place of power. The ritual to steal a spirit guide takes an hour to perform and fails automatically if it is interrupted in any way.



On the Effectiveness of Dungeon Fantasy Templates

I've been playing Dungeon Fantasy in online and face to face groups for about six years now. I've seen played or played myself most of the templates. I have some opinions on which templates work better, and I share them here. In some cases, I've added suggestions for improving the template.

As part of that, I've also written some thoughts on the kinds of challenges a delving band can expect to see, and what abilities they need to overcome those challenges.

Challenges



Templates

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Improving Artificers in Dungeon Fantasy

I wasn't very satisfied with the Artificer. It isn't an awful template, but it has a lot of abilities that are costly in terms of points, money, and weight, and it's easy for it not get much benefit from those abilities. The sample Artificer from Mirror of the Fire Demons is an excellent example: despite being a full 250 point PC template with $1200 and 73 lbs in gear, he's not particularly more effective in combat than the 140 point (sans disadvantages) Archer template.

Still, all hope is not lost for the Artificer. There's a solid base there, and a couple of house rules and some additional sample gear could give him a big boost.

Getting Stuff Cheap

Most delvers can get a 20% discount on basic gear by making it themselves with a successful Armoury or Alchemy roll (DF Dungeons p3). Anyone who can make a Flight potion in the field with whatever scraps he found on the dungeon wall should be able to get a better discount when using a proper laboratory. Anyone with the Quick Gadgeteer advantage gets a 50% discount when using the rules for Brewing or Crafting, and can find items worth up to $100 when attempting Scrounging. A Quick Gadgeteer can also make items with special qualities, such as Fine or Dwarven (but not magic enchantments!) or any special order, when using the Crafting rules.

Furthermore, Artificers have a natural affinity for complicated devices, and their labor goes farther when making one. Artificers get an additional 25% discount when they use Crafting to make a complicated mechanical device. All the new items below qualify, as well as all forms of crossbows, portable traps (DF Adventurers p 26), the low-tech flamethrower (DF Clerics p 34), cobweb kites (DF Sages p 12), float coats (DF Sages p 12), dwarven accurizers (DF Sages p 12), universal tool kits (DF Sages p 12), any clocks (DF Treasure Tables p 14), dwarven crankbows (DF Treasure Tables p 32), and the spinning saw (DF Treasure Tables p 33).

Artificers Devices

These fiddly yet useful devices are available to, and can be used by, anyone, but only Artificers can take advantage of them in a practical manner. The need to constantly tinker, modify, and adjust these devices means that they're very likely to malfunction in the hands of an unskilled user.

All artificer devices that are weapons (including melee weapons) have a Malf value (B407) equal to the user's Engineer (Gadgets) skill, at -3 if the user doesn't have the Gadgeteer advantage. They malfunction as TL3 non-revolver firearm, and can explode as springs, cogs, and flywheels turn into deadly shrapnel. The malfunction number is furthered penalized by -2 for every 24 hours that elapses without a Gadgeteer performing an hour of maintenance on the device.

Non-weapon devices can also malfunction. Roll against the user's Engineer (Gadgets) skill, at -3 if the user doesn't have the Gadgeteer advantage, when the device is first used each day, every minute of continuous use thereafter, and when the device is used again after more than 5 minutes elapse. Again, treat the device as a TL3 non-revolver firearm, with a stoppage failure meaning the device works for 1d seconds and then seizes up.

Artificers who intend to make extensive use of artificer devices are advised to take the No Nuisance Rolls (Engineer) perk.

The following devices are examples. Many more items along these lines are certainly possible.

Alchemical Flamethrower: This improved version of the low-tech flamethrower uses stronger materials and a more ingenious mixing mechanism to overcome the limitations of the basic design. It holds 8 pints of a 7:1 mixture of lantern oil and alchemical fire and mixes them in the aerosol chamber. It is a one-handed weapon, as the pumps are self-powered by springs and gears. Treat each shot as standard alchemical fire. It fires in either of two modes: a short ranged jet of flame, or launching a flaming cloud at the ground (as per the second use of alchemical fire) out to 30 yards.

Powered Pistol Crossbow: A repeating pistol crossbow (DF Loadouts p 23) with the lever replaced by an ingenious combinations of cogs, gears, and springs. It reloads itself automatically from the rotating drum, allowing faster and more accurate fire. The increased rate of fire comes at the cost of the reload time, as rewinding the springs takes much more time.

Powered Crankbow: A cog and spring powered crankbow that reloads itself quicker and fires more powerful shots, this weapon is one of the ultimate weapons of artificers. Spring loaded magazines allow it to be reloaded quickly in combat, but loading the magazine with a bolt and winding the springs takes 10 seconds per shot.

LIQUID PROJECTOR (DX-4)
WeaponDamageAccRangeWeightRoFShotsCostSTBulkRcl
Alchemical Flamethrower: Jet Mode
Flame Cloud Launcher
1d bu (5)
1d-1 bu area 2
-
2
10
30
15Jet
1
8(30i)$200011-6-
CROSSBOW (DX-4)
WeaponDamageAccRangeWeightRoFShotsCostSTBulkRcl
Powered Pistol Crossbowthr+2 imp2x6/x127/136(10i)$16008†-42
Powered Crankbowthr+5 imp4x15/x2017/3721(3)$70009†-71

Powered Saw: A spinning saw with the cranked handle supplemented by springs and flywheels. It can be used for up to 10 seconds at no FP cost as the flywheels and springs provide the motive power. It takes 2 seconds and 1 FP to recharge it for 1 second of use outside of combat, or it can be driven by the crank in combat as with any other spinning saw. $3600, 7 lbs, other stats as a spinning saw.

Mechanical Door Opener: A mechanical device for silently forcing open doors. It takes one minute and 1 FP to put into place and charge the mechanism, and then it can be activated to do 6dx2 cr to a door, lock, hinge, bar, wall, or other static item. $2000, 6 lbs.

Mechanical Exoskeleton: Unlike other artificer devices, this collection of spring powered arms and legs only needs to check for malfunctions every hour of use, not every minute. It provides the wearer with Lifting ST5 and Striking ST2 for 8 hours, and then needs to be recharged using the attached steam boiler for 8 hours. The exoskeleton fits over armor (or is sometimes built into armor) but provides no additional protection itself. $10,000, 15 lbs.

Advanced Mechanical Exoskeleton: As above, but slightly stronger, with Lifting ST8 and Striking ST4. It also has an overdrive mode that consumes 1 hour of normal use per minute and requires a malfunction roll every minute like any other artificer device. While overdrive is engaged, the exoskeleton provides Lifting ST20 and Striking ST8. Overdrive mode must be engaged for a least a full minute at a time. $50000, 20 lbs.

Design Notes

The Getting Stuff cheap house rule is a straightforward enhancement of the existing rules. It strongly encourages artificers to kit up with fancy gear, but they're reasonably the most gear dependent template. Giving them additional bonuses for complicated gear further incentivizes the artificer as the mad scientist using clockwork weapons. There's a slight disadvantage in that Artificers might want to spend all their time making crossbows and not delving, but delvers should have other reasons for delving than modest levels of greed.

The artificer devices are intended to be primitive super science for artificers only. It's trivially obvious that giving +5 Lifting ST is better for the ST17 barbarian than the ST11 artificer, but "being the guy who makes cool toys that other people use" isn't as exciting as "crazed mad inventor." So while an artificer could make a mechanical exoskeleton for the barbarian, it will almost immediately malfunction and likely explode when the savage wears it.

The powered crankbow is my favorite artificer device, as I think it gives the artificer a unique place in ranged combat. The scout provides consistent, high damage, and accurate ranged fire with a variety of damage types; the mystic knight archer has a slower rate of fire but hits targets behind cover or uses shrapnel to clear out formations; and the artificer with the powered crankbow provides a few seconds of fairly damaging suppression fire, but without the weird effects of the mystic knight.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Effectiveness of Artificers in Dungeon Fantasy

The artificer is a strange, if early, addition to the Dungeon Fantasy line. The name and the template's signature advantage of Gadgeteer makes most people think of them as clockwork engineers, creating
strange devices to conquer dungeon obstacles, but in practice alchemy and potions are slightly more useful and have more examples in the rules. The template lacks a clear focus, aside from being something of a general purpose problem solver like a wizard and something of a trap finder and door opener like a thief, but without the abilities to safely scout ahead.

I personally think most of the template's weaknesses could be solved by opening up the concept space for their gadgets. The Dwarven Crankbow and the Spinning Saw from Treasure Table 8 are good examples of artificer inspired weapons, but I'd want to crank them up a couple of notches. Letting the artificer have the equivalent of a low caliber sub machine gun gives them a unique way to contribute to combat, for instance.

The Basic Chassis

Artificers have generalist attributes: a little ST and HT, a little more IQ and DX. They're interesting in that regard: they're not high IQ generalists like the Scholar, Wizard, or Cleric, but instead focused gadgeteers who get most of their ability from a cheap, focused talent. I really like this approach, since it helps keep the gadgeteer in his niche.

One of the difficulties for the gadgeteer is their signature abilities require heavy toolkits, and a Basic Lift of 24 lbs just doesn't supply enough lift. Gadgeteers are well advised to buy Lifting ST (it's on the template) and increased Basic Move, since if you have to be encumbered, it helps to be fast to start. The difference between moving 3 yards each second and moving 4 yards each second can be crucial.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Artificers start out with a good set of mandatory Advantages. Quick Gadgeteer is their signature ability, and it should be an impressive ability: 50 points is as much as the wizard spends on Magery and half his spells. Artificers back that up with a focused talent (Alchemy, Armoury, Engineer, Scrounging, Traps) and 3 Gizmos to let them cobble together stuff on the fly. After that, they have another 40 points in discretionary advantages, which generally need to be spent on IQ, Lifting ST, or Wealth. Alternately, 40 points is enough to select a good racial template.

All artificers are Compulsive Inventors, which is slightly annoying since the effects aren't defined anywhere that I'm aware of. They get the usual -45 points in mostly generic delver Disadvantages. Stand outs are Bad Sight and Hard of Hearing, since most delvers don't have physical Disadvantages, and Pyromania, since it's poorly defined in the rules.

Artificers and Race

Artificers want more IQ and more (Lifting) ST or lighter equipment out of their racial selections. All of the races with IQ penalties are general unwise, but Dwarf, Gnome, and Halfling are all good choices. Gnome includes the Widget Worker talent that further increases Armoury, Lockpicking, and Traps, doesn't have a ST penalty, and is large enough to use SM0 weapons with almost no penalty, so it's a solid choice.

Skills

Skill at Alchemy and Engineering basically define the Artificer. They're also decent at Traps and Lockpicking, and decent with a Crossbow. Their melee skills are distinctly second line, but they're no worse than a cleric or druid. Arguably, artificers are going to be lighter armor and slower than a cleric or druid, since more of their money and encumbrance budget needs to go to their gadgets and toolkits, and they're better suited to be ranged combatants than spending all their time trying to trudge into melee.

Equipping Artificers

By the book, artificers need to spend $1600 and carry 30 lbs just in their toolkits if they want to do both Alchemy and Engineering in the field. That's a pretty hefty cost and load for their basic abilities. After that, a single shot crossbow, basic leather armor, and adventuring kit pretty much double that cost and weight.

Serious artificers are going to want something better than a mere crossbow, and as I pointed out earlier, the Dwarven Crankbow is a good starting point. At another  $1750 and 14 lbs, it's neither light nor cheap, but it's the only DF ranged weapon that non-magically provides multiple shots per second and a reasonable magazine. Even so, it's not very impressive, but an artificer should be able to use a gizmo and Fast-Talk (GM) to add a powered crank or something to increase damage, rate of fire, and accuracy in crucial combat.

Even though the artificer is mostly alchemy or technology focused, as much of their equipment should be enchanted as possible. If nothing else, Fortify and Lighten enchantments make their armor much more effective and lighter at a fairly minimal cost.

Artificers in Play

In play, Artificers are a mixed bag, in my experience. If they don't make the most of their gadgeteering abilities, they're no better than a Thief, only slower and without the ability to sneak. Given my previously stated views on the effectiveness of thieves, that's not a good place to be. Artificers need to take advantage of their gadgeteering abilities to be effective.

Quick Gadgeteer and 3 Gizmos is 65 points, more than the Wizard or Cleric spend on their signature abilities, plus another $1000 and 20 lbs of gear to enable it. Gadgeteers should be at least as useful as either of those templates, though in different ways. From crossing chasms with hand cranked bridges to finding hidden treasure with improvised metal detectors to defeating mobs of enemies with alchemical grenades, Artificers should be constantly finding ways to solve problems and overcome obstacles.

Effective gadgeteers pretty much need an agreement between the player and the GM. The player needs to aggressive push for gadget solutions to problems, and the GM needs to provide supplies and be accommodating in making solutions work.

One of the biggest problems with the Artificer is that the existing examples of gadget like gear are terrible. The cobweb kite is $16000 and 8 lb solution to falling great heights - something a wizard can do basically for 3 or less FP with Slow Fall, Levitation, Walk on Air, or any of the Flight spells. The Dwarven Accurizer increases a crossbow's accuracy by 1 but costs $1200 and weighs 14 lbs - enough to buy nearly 50 crossbow bolts with Accuracy +1 on them. The Dwarven Crankbow is 10 times as expensive and twice as heavy as a normal crossbow but has worse accuracy and less damage.

If Artificer gadgets were more equivalent with TL5 or TL6 weapons - light multishot pistols or deadly single shot rifles - then I think artificers would be much better. Fortunately, the quality of an
Artificer's gadgets are defined by the GM, so this is easily solvable in play by a permissive GM.



Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Villainous Pairups in Sentinels of the Multiverse

So I've been playing a lot of Sentinels of the Multiverse (SotM). You should, too.

The latest Sentinels expansion is Vengeance, and unlike the previous expansions that only introduced new heroes, villainous masterminds, and environments, Vengeance introduces a new style of play. Instead of 3-5 heroes fighting 1 villainous mastermind in a single environment, Vengeance lets 3-5 heroes face off against 3-5 villains, each roughly equal in power to a hero.

It's a neat concept, but the actual game play experience is a little weak. 3-5 extra decks take up a lot of space on the table, and the interleaving of hero and villain turns is a bit complicated. The extra decks also take a lot more time to play, but the games don't last for very many turns. Heroes don't have time to set up their big combos, and villains play maybe 1/3rd of their decks at most. The fact that the Vengeance villains have a lot of ongoing and equipment destruction doesn't help the situation.

Another slight sadness for Vengeance is that the game is still limited to only five heroes. If you want to play with six friends, or if you want to experiment solo with a six hero match, it doesn't expand the
game to allow that. Admittedly, the designers of SotM never suggested they were going to allow six players, so I'm not faulting them for that. But it is an itch I'd like to scratch.

One thing I've been experimenting with is a semi-Vengeance style game using the normal villains.

Villainous Pair Ups

This is an alternate setup for SotM. Pick six hero decks, one environment deck, and two full size villain decks (not Vengeful 5 decks or alternate "team decks") from difficulty 1 or 2 villains. Set up one of the villains to start the game, followed by three of the heroes, the other villain, the last three heroes, and the environment deck. Play proceeds more or less normally, with a villain turn, three hero turns, the other villain turn, three more hero turns, and the environment turn. For scaling purposes, treat H as 4.

I've been experimenting with this format, and I've found it's reasonably challenging. Omnitron is rarely a challenge by himself, and Ambuscade is a speed bump 95% of the time, but the two of them together are reasonable difficult. More challenging villains, such as Plague Rat or Akash'bhuta, can combine to be nearly as hard as the difficulty 4 villains like Iron Legacy or the Chairman.

It's also a fun format, since with 6 heroes, there's more interaction and potential synergies between heroes.


Programming Note
So the extent that this blog has a following, it's mostly people who play GURPS. I'll be posting more stuff about GURPS in the future, I promise, but I have been playing a huge amount of SotM recently. There should be an Effectiveness of Template type article up soon, I hope.

Monday, March 17, 2014

So Where Have I Been?

So it's been almost 4 months since I last updated my blog. I'm not particularly going to apologize, since I don't feel I did anything wrong, but I will say what's been up in my life.

In November, I finally got Skyrim, and that game got me addicted for quite some time. It's a fun game, and the various Dragonshouts make for a nice change of pace from the usual melee/archery/magic options of the Elder Scroll games.

On December 19, my employer Calxeda announced they were shutting down on December 20th. This was not the happiest Christmas announcement I'd ever heard. On the plus side, it mostly killed my Skyrim addiction. On the minus side, the Christmas vacation is not the best time to find health insurance and start searching for a job.

January was spent searching for a job. Happily, that was successful and I started at my new outfit during the first week of February.

Since then, I've still been playing a little GURPS, both face to face and online, and a lot of my new favorite game: Sentinels of the Multiverse (SotM)! It's a solo or co-op game of superheroes and supervillains. It's absolutely fabulous. I'll be adding some SotM posts to this blog.

I don't know how much I'll be posting in the future, but I'll try to add stuff when I have something to say.