In Thoth's Wake! - A Pulp Adventure for Fate Core!

Wow, it's been almost two years since I've posted something here and a lot has happened in that time!

I've been remiss in not touting a little project I've been working on for a while. Just over two years ago, my Chicago area gaming friends convinced me to use Kickstarter's Zine Quest to make it a reality. 

So, with their help, the help of 125 backers, and the support of friends and family, In Thoth's Wake! Zine QuestEdition! was brought from old Spirit of the Century campaign notes to a fully realized pulp adventure for Fate Core!

The Final Zine Quest Cover!

The Pitch

A mysterious woman’s dying words send your intrepid adventurers on the path to find the temple of the Egyptian God Thoth. Secrets to Thoth's genesis are hidden within. Could they lead the adventurers to an ancient lost Greek civilization?

In Thoth's Wake! is a scene-based pulp adventure written for use with the Fate Core roleplaying game system, but can be repurposed for the system of your choice. It's loosely set in the 1930s and assumes the players will be taking on the roles of a united group of adventurers. Playing through this adventure will take between two and four standard-length roleplaying sessions. It contains six possible major scenes and includes five different maps of exciting locations.

Fate Core was designed to be open world and non-linear, which seems counter to designing an “adventure module” such as this. However, I've noticed several Fate-specific discussion threads with players and game masters lamenting the lack of pre-generated adventures. Likewise, game masters new to the Fate Core system may be more comfortable with the familiar adventure module format. 

As a Fate game master, you can use this adventure in whole or in part. If you like the story but Fate isn’t your cup of tea, it should be fairly trivial to strip out those bits and drop in your preferred system-specific mechanics and characters. Perhaps you just like some of the scenes and would like to reskin them for your campaign. Or maybe you'll just enjoy the maps or Non-Player Characters.

It is currently available on DriveThruRPG. 

Initially, it was going to be a one-and-done thing. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, I made it available for pay-what-you-want for the first year of the pandemic and donated the proceeds to artists who lost income due to gaming conventions going virtual-only.

I hope to do the full color version some day...

Shadow of the Century - Part 2: Smash and Grab

Last week, we sat down to run our first play session of the Shadow of the Century beta playtest!

The Pharmacy Scene from La Femme Nikita - Yeah, it was released in 1990—but FILMED in 1989!

We ran with three players again, but only one of three had attended the Pitch Session. Fortunately, one of the new players asked me to work up Hackerman from Kung Fury as a character ahead of time. The other new player decided to go with the pregenerated "Loose Cannon" character form the sample characters provided—we modified the aspect Mason's Gunning for Me to reflect one of the NPCs from the Pitch Session, so it became Biggins' Gunning for Me.

So, our characters for the night are:
Raymond James - Brain/Detective/Warrior
High Concept: Centurion Historian
Trouble: “Actually…..”
Call to Action: Following in the footsteps of the Spirits

Hackerman - Brain/Hacker/Inventor
High Concept: Hacker at Large
Trouble: Inappropriate Innuendo
Call to Action: With Great Processing Power Comes Great Responsibility

Officer Riza Colak - Cop/Loose Cannon(Gonzo)/Wheelman

High Concept: Cop on the Edge
Trouble: Biggins' Gunning for Me
Call to Action: None yet

Introducing...

In order to introduce the characters, I decided to do a series of scenes where each player describes their character doing their thing, getting caught, and making a hasty escape—to be scooped up by their mysterious benefactor. Ya know, the ol' "Everyone Meets Everyone" trope.

Ken described a giant Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse, but stacked with rows and rows of cardboard file boxes. Raymond James has pulled several off the shelves and is rifling through them. A security guard shows up and asks him who he is and why he's here. Raymond starts, "Well, sir, I'm from the University of..." and pretends to pat himself down for ID. The guard doesn't buy it and radios in to the front desk. Raymond scatters the contents of a box in the air to conceal his escape and ducks out a side door. Waiting for him is a white and gold custom conversion van. An elderly gentleman opens the passenger door and beckons him to jump inside. Once in, the old man jams a cane on the gas pedal and they're off.

Josh explains that Hackerman is convinced that Tastee-Freez is tied up in some big government conspiracy. He's broken into the back room of a local Tastee-Freez and is in the process of dialing in to their corporate records using a Tandy 1000 and a giant modem, when the assistant manager walks in. Hackerman explains that the sequencing board doesn't match the left-handed thrommel-meister, followed by more technobabble. The assistant manager goes to grab the manager, at which point Hackerman bolts, dropping the chunky modem in the process. Waiting for him is a white and gold custom conversion van. An elderly gentleman in a wheelchair slides open the side door and beckons him to jump inside. Once in, a bookish fellow stomps on the gas pedal and they're off.

Sarah sets the scene as a stakeout at a "typical 80's warehouse by the docks". (Josh starts playing "Crockett's Theme".) Officer Riza Colak is there with a fat cassette recorder. She's trying to get evidence that dirty cops from her precinct are getting paid by local drug dealers to look the other way. Just as it gets to the juicy bit, a rat knocks over some bottles, drawing their attention to her. Riza runs for it, bullets whizzing past, and ducks into a nearby parking structure. Waiting for her is a white and gold custom conversion van. A nerd with giant glasses and a mullet slides open the side door. An elderly gentleman in a wheelchair beckons her to jump inside. Once in, a bookish fellow stomps on the gas pedal and they're off.

The elderly gentleman introduces himself as Angus MacGregor. He explains that he's been gathering individuals with particular skillsets to, "help make the world a better place." Riza's not buying it. Raymond steps in to explain that Angus is the Spirit of Longing and a former member of the now defunct Century Club—an organization made up of exceptional individuals who, at one time, kept the forces of evil in check. Angus wants to reconnect old Centurion friends and try to make a difference again. Riza's still not buying it, saying she's got her own corruption to weed out. Angus finally convinces her by pointing out she could be more effective by going bigger: "try to cut them off at the head rather than try to whittle them down at their feet."

Angus directs Raymond to take them to their base of operations—an abandoned police station in the middle of an unpopulated and forgotten chunk of Miami. They park next to Riza's new "squad car"—a shiny new Mustang. Once inside, they have free reign and access to all the resources they could ever need. Hackerman is in heaven!

The Scene of the Crime

After getting settled, Angus calls the three of them into a meeting room. He presents them with a seemingly innocuous newspaper article—a drug store robbery where the crooks got away even though the place was surrounded by police. Something about it seems familiar to Raymond, but he can't put his finger on it. They go to check it out.

The drug store is a mom-n-pop shop currently surrounded by crime scene tape. The front window is smashed in and shelves are overturned.

Raymond heads to the pharmacy counter directly and finds paperwork spilled everywhere. None of the paperwork is newer than three months ago. Drug bottles not on the shelves have been lined up on the counter as if to be counted.

Hackerman makes a beeline to the office and discovers mom and pop have a brand new computer and security camera system. He begins downloading the contents of the computer to floppy disks. He also checks for the video tape of the moment of the break in. Not surprisingly, it's been taken as evidence.

Riza goes to the police station that handled the case to get a copy of the police report. As she's waiting for copies to be made, she notices an officer suspiciously pick up the phone and place a call. She can barely make out him saying, "you told me to call if she shows up. Well, she's here," before he quickly hangs up. With the copy of the report in hand, she stops by the tattletale's desk and makes her presence known before returning to the crime scene.

When Raymond is done examining the drug counter, he heads upstairs to where mom and pop live and questions them. They confirm that multiple people broke in, smashed the place, and took very little – just some loose cash and a couple of bottles of pills. The police arrived quickly, surrounded the place, and the noise from the store below just kind of stopped. The officers were unable to find anybody.

Hackerman starts to unpack all of his gear and starts building a "Magnetic Resonance Convergence Processor" using his Weird Science stunt. He succeeds, and gives it the stunt "When using the Magnetic Resonance Convergence Processor to process electro-magnetic signals, you get a +2 to Hacking to reconstruct those signals". Hackerman starts it running as it reads the magnetic residue image on the head of the video recorder and samples the camera cells and wiring to try to recreate the missing footage of the break in.

Riza compares the police report to evidence on scene. It also confirms that some small bills and a few handfuls of drugs were taken.

The Magnetic Resonance Convergence Processor finishes and ejects a newly minted video cassette. They all decide to pack up and head back to base.

Shortly after leaving the scene, Riza sees flashing lights in her rearview mirror. She diligently pulls over and Officer Joey Biggins steps out and over and leans on her car door. For all his bravado, Riza simply defects everything. Seeing as he's not going to get anything out of her, he smashes the Mustang's taillights for his trouble and moves along. During the rest of the ride back, Hackerman expounds the various ways he's going to make life difficult for Officer Biggins. When it's suggested he sign Biggins up for the Columbia Record & Tape Club, Hackerman states that's over the line as it's equivalent to being punished for war crimes.

Home Base Sweet Home Base

Back at base, Hackerman makes a big production of wheeling out the front-projection TV and gathering everybody around to check it out. Everybody gets a good chuckle when Raymond suggests this is an awful lot of effort just to show off his porn collection.

Hackerman ignores the comment and loads up his video reconstruction. A fuzzy black and white image appears on the screen...

Interior of the drug store.
A brick enters the frame, shards of glass following.
Three individuals enter, two bulky men and a woman with large hair.
One man enters the pharmacy and starts going through stacks of paperwork, throwing them on the floor as he goes.
The woman disappears into the office.
The other man starts pushing over shelves and smashing things.
After a minute or two, the woman returns with a scroll of dot-matrix printout.
Flashing lights begin to reflect off the walls.
The man in the pharmacy stuffs some pill bottles into his jacket pockets, smashes the register on the floor, pockets some cash, and throws the cash drawer at the ceiling light, plunging him into darkness.
The woman returns to the office and flips off the lights.
The remaining man makes a few false starts in various directions before deciding on a darkened corner.
Police officers enter the building from various directions, their flashlights reveal empty spaces where people were just moments before.

Riza loses it. She can't believe people just disappeared into the walls. Angus MacGregor asks her, "now do you see what we are dealing with?" Riza storms off for a stiff drink.

It finally clicks in Raymond's head: That's where he knows that ability From! The Grey Ghost used to able to do that! Angus confirms Ray's discovery and surmises that somebody has the Grey Ghost captive and is somehow extracting his powers.

Hackerman starts reconstructing the contents of mom and pop's computer from floppy disks...

Shadow of the Century - Character Workup: Hackerman

When we sat down to do the Pitch Session for Shadow of the Century, a few of our regular players weren't able to make it, because Life™. One player, Josh, sent the following consolation note:

"Make me this guy as a character:"

That's Hackerman, from the crowdfunded short film, Kung Fury. Which, itself, is a love letter to the 80's. I need to sit down and watch the completed film, but what I've seen is FANTASTIC!

So, just before the first play session, I worked up Hackerman based on just the above video (really, I should watch the whole thing). Here's the result:

The above is all "Beta" – the final version may be different.

I decided to give him a gonzo stunt to see how the "take two stunts, mash them together, and give it some wacky flavor" works out in play.

I did want to give him a stunt that allows him to hack anything as long as he could conceivable connect a computer to it. However, I decided to stick with the spirit of the playtest and use only stunts as written.

Josh was pleased.


P.S. I watched Kung Fury in its entirety. It IS FANTASTIC! Doesn't add much to the character of Hackerman—the above video does a better job characterizing him.

Shadow of the Century - Part 1. The Pitch Session

In 2006, Evil Hat published Spirit of the Century, a pulp role-playing game set in the 1920's and using the Fate system. Its premise is that, at the stroke of midnight, at the beginning of the century, extraordinary people—Spirit Centurions—are born with an innate urge to fight evil, right wrongs, shine light in the shadows, and generally make the world a better place.

Recently, Evil hat released Young Centurions to Fate Core and Fate More Kickstarter backers. Young Centurions uses the Fate Accelerated rules and posits, "what were the Centurions like as teenagers?"

Fast forward along that timeline to the 80's. Roles have flipped—the bad guys, specifically Shadow Centurions, are taking positions of power in megacorporations and political offices, and the good guys, the Spirit Centurions, are now relegated to the shadows and hiding their identities. However, they are still trying to do good and make change through their proxies: New-Wave Heroes. This is where the players come in.

The brilliance of Shadow of the Century is that it totally embraces the tropes of the 80's. Take several of the movies and TV shows of the 80's: The A-Team, Airwolf, Big Trouble in Little China, Charlie's Angels, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Goonies, Knight Rider, Magnum P.I... and you can imagine the old Spirit Centurions directing the young heroes to go out and make a difference!
(Hannibal, Archangel, Egg, Charlie, Uncle Jesse, Chester Copperpot(?), Devon, Higgins respectively.)

Recently, Evil Hat announced a Shadow of the Century beta playtest. Our regular play group was fortunate enough to get in on it. I've spent the last five days devouring the playtest document. Shadow of the Century uses the Fate Core system, but includes a simplified system of roles for character generation, simplified rules for generating NPCs, and lays out steps for having a Montage! The background text really captures the feel of the 80's—the energy, the excesses, the emerging technology we now take for granted. This Friday, we sat down to do the "Pitch Session".

The Pitch Session is where you set the tone, basic plot, and characters of your game's story. We repeatedly commented on how it felt very much like we were a bunch of writers trying to come up with a new TV show or movie to pitch to some media bigwigs.

Phase One: Format
First, you decide if you will be playing as if you are shooting a movie or a TV series. A movie has big, fast action and a shorter overall story arc. A TV series has a much longer major story arc and several smaller "season" story arcs that can be wrapped up quickly. Since our group suffers from what we call "Gamer ADD" and the fact that we want to get four or five sessions in before the playtest ends, we decided we were going to treat our game as a movie.

Phase Two: Gonzometer
The Gonzometer gives you guidelines for how crazy and wacky you want your game to be—from your basic competent action heroes, all the way to alien invasions and robots from the future. We set it at level 2 (out of 4)—just slightly supernatural.

Phase Three: Issues
It took us a while to figure out in what direction we wanted to take the game. The first thought was to concentrate on the Cold War, but decided that, in nuclear war, nobody wins. Eventually, we worked our way towards a group similar to the crew from the movie Sneakers. Even though that movie was from 1992, we liked the idea of outlaws with special skill sets trying to make up for their previous transgressions—possibly with supernatural abilities.

After some further discussion, it was decided a Centurion runs the group and he’s trying to rescue other Centurions. Since we needed to focus on just one rescue, one player suggested a very old Centurion. Since Young Centurions mentioned the Grey Ghost was from the 1800's, he was our man.

Big Issue: We have to rescue the Grey Ghost.

Subplot Issue: Criminals are using Grey-Ghost-like abilities to commit crimes - this needs to be stopped.

Phase Four and Seven: Heroes

Keith decided he wanted to play the ladies man who's secretly a huge computer nerd.

Mike Smith - Face/Hacker/Thief

High concept: Undercover Nerd

Trouble: Nerdgasm

Call to Action: Repenting former thief

Ken wanted to play the bookworm who's been following the exploits of the Century Club for as long as he can remember. In almost a stalker-like fashion, he wants to be one.

Raymond James - Brain/Detective/Warrior

High concept: Centurion Historian

Trouble: “Actually…..”

Call to Action: Following in the footsteps of the Spirits

And Michael decided he wanted to play a hippie pharmacologist who's stickin' it to the man!

Sunshine - Alchemist (Gonzo)/Detective/Saboteur

High concept: Tactical Alchemist

Trouble: Bad trips

Call to Action: Fighting the Man

Phase Five and Six: Cast and Villains

These phases are kind of a neat twist on Fate world building. In this case, all the players quickly generate three NPCs each by writing down names on three note cards and passing them to the left. Then everybody adds a quick note to each name and passes them on for another round of quick notes.

We changed it up slightly in that we did them as a "card draft": Write down names on three note cards, pass them to the left. Pick one card, pass the remaining two to the left. Pick one card, pass the remaining to the left. Everybody will end up with three cards from different people. Add a note to each one and repeat the process.

We had the most fun with these phases.

Here's what we ended up with. NPCs chosen as "villains" are marked with an *:

Alexa Park - Heiress to a Hotel Magnate, Big into biker culture

Big Pete - Bouncer at TechNoir, Trained in martial arts

Dr. Raymond Cunningham - Has a PhD in Philosophy, Always wears a surgical mask

Lenny the Snitch - Key witness to an ongoing investigation, Has no middle fingers

Mr. Zero - Buys and sells “questionable” electronics, Always wears a Captain Planet Inspector Gadget t-shirt

*Officer Joey Biggins - Detective, Takes payoffs from gangs

Sally Maxwell - Wealthy daughter of the Maxwells of the Maxwell Museum, Never seen without a “boy toy” on her arm

Samantha Patel - Girlfriend of drug kingpin __________, Does his books and is secretly siphoning off funds

*Slick Steve - User car salesman, Makes under-the-table deals with corporate types

*Tryn Velcog - Standoffish Greek hacker, Stands 5’8”, but 6’ with hair

*Vieger AKA “Switch” - Norwegian hacker–Tryn’s nemesis, Split personality disorder

Zed Kalista - Owns a pawn shop, Obsessed with Ninjas

Finally, a suggestion was made for another “Bad Guy”. Here's the notes we took: Technophobe, Can render tech dead with  an EMP-like touch. 

Now I just have to figure out who has the Grey Ghost and why for next week!

Gen Con 2015 Recap

This year's Gen Con was fantastic (and crowded) as usual! However, it's been over a week since Gen Con ended, so forgive me if the details have faded a bit. You won't get all the games played and meals eaten as much as in my Gen Con 2014 Recap.

You know you're at Gen Con
when you got your badge!

Wednesday:
Eight of us arrived in Indy early afternoon. After sorting out rooms (the hotel pre-registration in January was a nightmare, BTW), we went down to Will Call to grab our badges, coupon books, and bags. We then indulged in tasty food (and slow service) at Granite City Food & Brewery.

Afterwards, we scurried back to the hotel to grab a table and get to gaming. I forget what all was played, but Brad finally got to try out Arctic Scavengers. This time we played with the Medic cards, which made purchasing cards from the common decks much easier.

Thursday:
Initially, I had a ticket to the 10 AM Privateer Press Speed Painting Event, but wanted to check out Evil Hat's "State of the Hat" address, so I talked my buddy Mike into giving speed painting a try. This had an interesting repercussion.

So, I attended the "State of the Hat". Evil Hat has their own breakdown on their site, but here's what I took note of:

• Fate Accessibility - Elsa Henry of Feminist Sonar announced her handbook "for bringing characters with disabilities into games and players with disabilities to your table, using the Fate system as a lens for both."
• Fate of Cthulhu - Think Terminator, but replace Skynet with Cthulhu.
• Portal Jumpers - A kid-centric game along the lines of the 80s cartoon, Dungeons & Dragons, utilizing the Apocalypse Engine. It's my understanding that they will be revealing several worlds over time - fantasy, space, dinosaurs, etc.
• Kaiju Incorporated - From Evil Hat's page: "A satirical setting about corporate excess and profiteering in the wake of wide-scale kaiju attacks..." Will be released as both a card game and an RPG.
• The Dystopian Universe Roleplaying Game - A Fate-system RPG based on Indie Boards and Cards’ games The Resistance and Coup.
• Dresden Files Accelerated - There was a discussion of using "Mantles" as part of character creation.
• Bubblegumshoe - Veronica Mars-like teenage detective RPG using Pelgrane Press' GUMSHOE system. It's been enhanced with relationship mechanics and a fun layout. You can bet Kenneth Hite is involved.
• Dresden Lives - The Dresden LARP continues to evolve.
• Majestic 12 - A supplement for the Atomic Robo RPG with new comic art! I'm looking forward to this one.
• Young Centurions - A young adult prequel to Spirit of the Century using Fate Accelerated.
• Do: Fate of the Flying Temple - A Fate version of Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.
• War of Ashes RPG - To sum up in two words:"Muppet wars". It's a loosely Fate Accelerated RPG based on Zombiesmith's miniatures game and capable of using minis. It is in the process of being printed, due in October, and they are taking preorders.
• Shadows of the Century - Spirit of the Century takes on 80s action TV. It is currently in alpha playtesting. I'm SO excited to get my hands on this!
• Blood on the Trail - Vampire Oregon Trail anyone?
• Don't Turn Your Back - Card game based on the Don't Rest Your Head roleplaying game. Just starting to ship to Kickstarter backers.

Say it: "verdigris"

I had to leave "State of the Hat" early as I had another Privateer Press Speed Painting Event at 11 AM. There were some extra seats, so Mike decided to purchase two of them and speed painted TWO miniatures in 45 minutes! I did some nice burnishing, verdigris, and rust effects, but they did not impress the judge.

After that was a quick run into the exhibit hall to hit up the Games & Gears booth for my Gen Con Collectors Brush Set that I preordered. They were kind enough to let me upgrade my set so I could get Mike a set of synthetics, a towel, and some brush soap. While we were there, we ran around looking to take advantage of some of the coupons.  Imagine my surprise when we ran into Trace Beaulieu and Crow of MST3K fame. I totally didn't realize he played Dr. Clayton Forrester!

Trace, Crow, and me!

Trace is starring as the human in the VERMIN Web Show, which just got funded on Kickstarter!

"El Toro"

Mike and I couldn't stay in the exhibit hall very long as I had a ticket for the 2 PM Reaper Speed Painting Event. Mike decided to sit in on this one too. There was some sort of mix-up and we were given clay golems from the Bones line to paint instead of a primed metal pirate. It was difficult trying to paint mounds of flesh and still stand out from the crowd. I decided to paint mine as a luchador complete with an "El Toro" tattoo on his back. Mike painted his as the grown up version of the Coppertone Baby. Surprisingly, I came in second place, beating Marike Reimer! Marike is a real good sport and gave everyone who placed above her a $10 gift certificate to the Dark Sword Miniatures booth.

I couldn't celebrate too long, as I had the "Airbrush Techniques Q&A" class with Angel Giraldez immediately after. It was amazing seeing Angel work up a miniature from a black primer coat to clean highlights with just an airbrush. Immediately after that was "Highlighting & Shading, The Next Step to Competitive Painting" with Golden Demon winner Dennis Smith. I was able to follow what Dennis was doing, and actually achieved some decent highlights on the provided Infinity miniature (pictures don't do it justice), but I was not keen on the color choices – the red came out more orange when we were done.

Since this was my busiest day, the rest of the evening was a blur, but I'm sure I had a Greedo sandwich from Der Pretzel Wagen. Unfortunately, they forgot the wasabi horseradish!

Friday:
At 10 AM, I participated in the only hands-on class I could get with Angel Giraldez: "Painting with Angel Giraldez: NMM". It was my first time trying Non-Metallic Metals under instruction, so it came out surprisingly well. It turns out it's pretty much highlighting up to white. The Non Metallic Metals Set from Vallejo made it relatively easy. I should post a photo...

Angel Giraldez's work on the left, my attempt on the right.

I spent the rest of the day walking the entirety of the exhibit hall, even handing off my 2 PM Reaper Speed Painting Event ticket to Mike. I bought surprisingly little this year, but I did pick up a slightly dinged up copy of Machikoro from CoolStuffInc based on recommendation alone.

Upon leaving the hall, I made arrangements to meet Brad, Scott, and Kristin at Mikado Japanese Restaurant for sushi. Even though they are contemporary sushi, the fish was good and their Seafood Puff is to die for! Yum!

After returning to the hotel and staking out a couple of tables to game on, I followed the ENnies twitter feed. Even though Dungeons & Dragons swept most of the categories, I was happy to see Evil Hat Productions (Atomic Robo The Roleplaying Game), Monte Cook Games (The Strange, Ninth World Guidebook), Modiphius Entertainment Ltd. (Achtung! Cthulhu: Terrors of the Secret War, MUTANT Year Zero The Roleplaying Game), and Kenneth Hite (Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, Ken Writes About Stuff Volume 2) get some lovin'.

Around that time, you could clearly see fireworks from the window of the room we were gaming in. It was part of a nearby baseball game, but I like to think it was Gen Con's way of saying hello.

Even though we had planned to play Fiasco Wednesday night, Friday was the first time we actually got a chance to. Mike and I wanted to see how Fiasco would handle cyberpunk, so we played the Hard Wired Playset by Alex Mayo. Sadly, it wasn't the best attempt as half the table wanted to do J-pop cyberpunk while the other half wanted to do dark and gritty cyberpunk. I will give Rich credit for staying in character and shooting the kneecaps of two other PCs in the first go around the table, particularly since he hasn't roleplayed in years.

Saturday:
Saturday started with another 10 AM class: "Freehand with Marike Weimer". Found out two interesting things about Marike: 1. Her Real Life Job™ is IT-related (as is mine) and 2. She takes quite a few clever shortcuts when painting miniatures, not that you'd know it. Her freehand is impeccable. Go ahead, check it out. Here's her website again.

After her class, I decided to drop in on the Games on Demand room and see if I could pick up a 2-hour game. Note for newbs: you need to sign up for games at the table in front of the room and games cost generic tickets, generally two. I did none of these things. I wandered in looking for Will Hindmarch to see if I could drop in to his Project: Dark game. Will kindly let me know his game was full, but his buddy Cory was available to run a game and runs them well. So, I stopped by Cory's table, and he let me know I was a newb and how to get things sorted out. At the registration table, under Cory O'Brien (I'm pretty sure this is his website), was listed Fate and Leverage. I chose Fate as I'm always interested in seeing how other folks run it and headed back in. Eventually, the table filled up and we jumped into an animorphic pirate tale full of swashbuckling and shenanigans! Cory does run a fine game, and started by canvassing the players for a list of 'Pirate Codes' unique to our ship – breaking one of these codes created a one time boost against you. Unfortunately, my two hours went quickly so I had to leave. But, I left the metal golem stuck with a "tangled in rope" aspect with two free invocations.

The reason I left early? Another Reaper Speed Painting Event at 2 PM. The miniature as a fur-clad female druid and I tried some of the NMM skills I picked up, but no win for me.

Brad picked up Poop: The Game for my lovely wife who finds humor in all things scatalogical. It's kind of like Uno, but there's a toilet/flush mechanic that can return stacks of cards to your hand and keeping you from going out.

Shortly after, I got a text from Keith Potter, one of the Chicago Area Game Writers Colloquium (CAGWIC) guys, asking if I'd be interested in hosting a Fiasco game for a few friends. We were also able to snag another CAGWIC member: PK Sullivan. I secured a game table at the JW, we decided on the News Channel Six Playset by Chris Norwood, Ken Coble, and Tom Gurganus, and ran with it. I played, Bruce Bauer!, the grizzled veteran news anchor just looking to retire after 60-some years. Keith played the Arts and Events reporter, Olivier Devereaux, who had been around as long as I had, but was having the best time of his life and looking to keep me around for company. His roommate, Jeff Flynn, played by Bear, was an unscrupulous bookie and all-around crook. On the other side of me, PK played the young, fresh-faced rookie, Rob Bolton, with a proper education looking to make it big. He had ousted the previous weekend anchor, Drake Dunbar, played by John, who had slipped into a drinking habit after losing his job of 15 years, wife and kids. The game was rife with ballot-box stuffing, horse racing scandals, and even Rob punched Bruce ON-AIR. Loved it! Easily in my top three favorite Fiasco games!

After bidding my CAGWIC friends adieu and taking a quick breather, I sat down for a full night of card and board games. Specifically:

• Castles of Mad King Ludwig - A tile placement game where you purchase rooms to build a castle worth the most victory points. Players take turns as the Master Builder who sets the prices for the room tiles. It was fun and I won the game (never mind Jose bumping the score track), but I found myself trying to build the perfect castle. Is there a solo mode?
• Red7 - A card game that looks like Uno, but is so much more intricate. Each card has a number, color, and rule attached to the color (and an icon that does special effects for the super-advanced game). The object is to follow the current rule but be higher than the rest of the table by number or color – red being high on the ROYGBIV scale – thus Red7 is the highest. If you cannot play a card to follow the rule, you can change the rule, or both. Yeah, it's tricky. I was just starting to get the hang of it and would like to try Red7 again.
• Tricks & Treats The Card Game - What a way to come down from Red7. You lay out several trick-or-treat baskets, randomly and secretly determine which is your basket, and then play candy cards on top of the baskets, trying to get the most candy at the end without letting on whose basket is whose. Aimed at a younger crowd, methinks.
• Chopstick Dexterity MegaChallenge 3000 - The premise of this Kickstarted game is simple: fill a large bowl with 25 wooden food pieces (in five colors and five shapes), flip over a cardboard token with a picture of a piece of food, and use chopsticks to grab that piece of food and drop it into your smaller dish before the other players do. In reality, it's a mad frenzy of chopsticks jousting, food flying, and bowls clacking! The box says it takes 15 minutes to play. It took us half an hour to get through 10 of the cardboard tokens and we were drenched in sweat. 

Sunday:
Sunday, we packed up the cars, checked out, and headed to Steak and Shake for a surprisingly quick breakfast. Then it was back to the exhibit hall for one last shopping spree.

I headed to the Geek Chic booth to pick up a new "Cowboy" mustache monocle/necklace for the wife. Then I picked up the 3rd edition rulebook for the Infinity tabletop miniature wargame - the art is gorgeous! While I was at the Infinity/Corvus Belli booth, and since my regular gaming group is playtesting the Infinity RPG, I picked up some Infinity Tokens from the Warsenal folks who were sharing the booth. In talking with them about the Infinity RPG, they mentioned that Corvus Belli would be producing miniatures for the Kickstarter when it launches. They just happened to announce the miniatures at Gen Con. Check out these beauts:

I got a chance to thank Angel Giraldez and shake his hand one last time before he had to leave. Before I left the booth, I had to snap a few pics of this gorgeous piece of scenery/terrain:

Finally, at 2:30, was the Reaper Speed Paint Final. We painted the same miniature we had for the final last year, so I decided to go with lighter colors. I did not win. Alas.

And with my brushes, gaming bag, and fresh purchases in hand, we left Indianapolis; Gen Con 2015 came to a close.

Obligatory Speed Paint Finals Photo
Courtesy Pete

Fate Core Character Cards

For the past couple of months, weather permitting, I've been running our group's first Fate Core game. It's based on the comic Wild Blue Yonder.
Last time I ran a Fate-based game was Spirit of the Century and I had the players fill out 3" x 5" index cards by hand. This was great as I had everyone's skills and aspects in front of me and could sort them by initiative order. Unfortunately, they were inconsistent and hard to read.
This time around, I decided to print out standard cards that the players could fill in. Initially, I stuck with  the 3" x 5" index cards, but found that they were a little cramped. I then moved up to 4" x 6" index cards. These proved to be more complete, easier to fill out, and, incidentally, easier to read.
I also ended up making a card for tracking multiple unnamed NPCs.

Both cards are available for use:

• Fate Core PC Card
• Fate Core NPC Card

If you end up using them, please leave me a comment as to how well they work for you.

Little Trouble in Big China - Part 2

This needs a bit of editing, but here's part 2!:


"This can't be!", Wilhelm thought to himself, trying not to let the others notice his near panic at Ming Lee's disappearance. "OK...remember your training". OK. Wilhelm was back in the moment. The moment where they were in a warehouse with the crazed Jinda, always willing to lay down their lives for the cause of their master. By the time Wilhelm took his cleaning breath, Justin had already prepared for "negotiations". Justin was generally quick to talk his way out of situations. Sometimes, it was remarkable to behold. But this time...this time, Justin knew his bullets would be doing the talking. As he squeezed the trigger on his revolver, he heard Wilhelm's shot ring out first, wounding a Jinda. Justin may have been a terrific shot, but Wilhelm could still have the drop on just about anybody. With this first shot fired, time seemed to speed up, as skilled bladed began to converge on the two heroes.
            "Damn this filthy glass", said the Talon out loud, staring at the skylight on the roof. His instincts were spot on, but he hadn't planned for the filth on this neighborhood to shroud his view into the warehouse. Through the filth, he could barely make out a crate stacked high enough for him to land, but no line of sight of his friends.  As he took a few minutes to work out a way to possible open it a crack, or even cut a small section away... ! The Talon heard that familiar sound of a gun shots, followed by the sound of men with blades rushing from inside. "Well, that didn't take long", he said to himself, as he jumped through the glass.
            Shelly had come back from unconsciousness a while ago, but her only evidence of it was that now, instead of the pleasant dream she was having about finding the "digger", and it's engineering marvel, she only had a headache, and bound hands in the confined darkness. Shelly always dreamed of the remarkable finds she was about to discover. So, she was sorry to be awake, now. She made a habit of snooping around, but she never had someone get the drop on her like this before. She never even saw who clubbed her over the head. But that odd smell... But none of that mattered now. Now she was bound and confined, and she just heard two gunshots and the muffled sounds of men with blades rushing for an attack. Then light came from all directions! With a loud crash, suddenly the crate around her tore to splinters, and tossed her down a few feet to the ground. As her eyes adjusted to their new surroundings, she looked up saw possibly the most welcome (and surprising) sight she had seen in years. Before her was The Talon.
            The Talon stood over Shelley. He saw her, but with an unmatched focus, he studied the warehouse, noting exactly how many foes there were, and assessing his next move. He had no time to free his surprised colleague now, Jinda were already on Wilhelm and Justin, firing and parrying. Thinking quickly, the Talon used the power of his ancient stone to cast a blinding light, rendering the Jinda helpless for a few crucial moments, giving Wilhelm and Justin the upper hand. This gave The Talon a moment to drop Shelley a gun.
            In one swift motion, Shelley disassembled the gun, used the sharp firing pin to cur through her bonds, and re-assembled the gun. For Gun-Shell, this was like playing with blocks. As the other heroes battled the Jinda, they all stopped for a moment and marveled at what happened next. In a kung-fu spin move, Shelley flung the pistol at the closest Jinda, striking him directly in the eye. As it did so, the gun fired, leaving his fellow Jinda, next to him, missing much of his brain matter! The gun then bounced right back into Shelley's hand. Even the now half-bind Jinda was dumb-struck for a moment, before the Talon ended his miserable existence. Wilhelm had always found Shelley somewhat tomboy-ish. It was difficult for him to even picture the brunette in him mind without  some small amount of grease on her pretty face. But at that sight, even Wilhelm thought, "I think I love that woman!"
            After mapping up the remaining Jinda, the heroes searched the warehouse and discovered a note. They were to bring the manuscript to the Valley of Tears. After finding a map of it's location, it was off to the remote location. Upon arrival, they were greeted by the burned remains of several Jinda. The eerie site was an alter surrounded by the stone warriors of Qín Shǐ Huángdì. Wilhelm and Justin held back and covered the Talon and Shelley as they approached the alter. Once they reached it without incident, the two joined them near the alter. Just then, the trap was sprung. Before any of them could react, blow darts came at them from above! Darkness enveloped them all as they lost consciousness....
            "Welcome back", said a callous voice. Lo Fan stood before them, the lovely Ming-Lee at his side. All of the heroes were bound, as well as the professor. They were in it now. "Thank you, centurions!" Lo Fan said. I already had the instructions on how to command this great army, but what I needed was your lovely jade stone." The Talon shuttered. His precious and ancient stone, used only for good, was taken. He'd delivered it right to him. Damn! Immediately, Justin began taunting Lo Fan. Trying to convince him that he had already lost the fight. Lo Fan wasn't fooled by the rouse, but if gave Wilhelm just enough time to work his way out of his binds and check...Yes! They had failed to notice his hidden pistol up his sleeve! Just as Lo Fan began to snicker of Justin's suggestions, Wilhelm let a shot ring out...passing straight through Lo Fan! One of the shadowy figures stepped forward and said, "Surely you didn't think I would leave myself that vulnerable, SIEZE HIM!"
            What happened next happened very quickly, as the Jinda began to descend on then, Wilhelm shot his last bullet in the chamber and took one out, as the Talon and Shelley escaped their bonds. All as Lo Fan placed the green gem on the alter and sung an ancient song. As the heroes fought of the Jinda, the rumbling of the stone warriors startled them! They were coming to life! "Go, my minions. Go, conquer earth!" yelled Lo Fan, mad with power!
            As soon as Shelley had a moment, she spotted the digger in the corner of the alcove they were in. Unable to resist, she headed right for it. Meanwhile, Wilhelm, mad a direct plea to Ming Lee. "You don't have to follow him into the darkness." he told her, staring deep into her eyes. "I...I don't want to, but I..." she timidly replied. "Join us, and redeem yourself, Ming Lee, no matter what happens, I will protect you", Wilhelm interrupted. "Yes", Ming Lee said, her face welling with tears. As she began to move towards her new found savior. "No!", Lo Fan shouted. "How dare you defy me, come to my side, Ming Lee. Now!". But to no avail. "Jinda! Get her, and bring me the item!" The item...Wilhelm though. Of course! He suddenly realized that Ming Lee had been the key the whole time! Just as Jinda approached Ming Lee, they found that she was more than capable of dispatching them, as one by one they fell to her martial arts! "Ming Lee", Wilhelm shouted. "You're comb!" And she tossed him her decorative comb with the grand pearl on it.
            As Justin finally freed himself, he noticed tucked behind the alter, a box holding their possessions. As though his gun was willing itself back into his hands, he went right for it. With all the commotion, he had a hard time getting a bead on Lo Fan. But as he turned around, suddenly a large Monkey-like monster howled right in his face! As it raise it's huge claw, he heard a clank sound, as the monster fell to the ground. Standing before him was Shelley, in the digger suit, beaming as she has just tried another switch. "Ooo, that was fun", she said. The monster wasn't dead, but Justin soon ended that by firing several shots at it's head!
            Lo Fan, seeing that things were starting to get out of control commanded several of his stone warriors to break off, and attack the centurions. As they approached slowly and methodically, Wilhelm grabbed the comb, placed it on the alter, and sang the same song that Lo Fan had just sung moments before. When he finished, a beam of light cascaded throughout the warriors. First stopping them in their tracks, and then they began to crumble and fall apart! "Damn you, centurions!" cried Lo Fan, as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. As the Talon made short work of the few remaining Jinda left, the whole area began to rumble. "We must make haste!" shouted the Talon! But Justin was missing!
            When Lo Fan had vanished, Justin had seen him reappear behind the alter. And watched as he scurried away through an unforeseen passage, like a cockroach. "You're not getting away from me this time", Justin though as he dove in right after him. Just as the save collapsed behind him.
            There was no time to loose! They had only moments to leave. The Talon told Shelley that the digger did not have enough power to evacuate in that thing, and they had better leave it behind. "Power" she thought. I have an extra power cell right here with me. Remarkably, the power cell fit perfectly, and in a moment, she went from being the slowest member to escape, to the fastest.
            When they reached the edge of the crater like formation, they had only seconds before the entire site has somehow been swallowed up by the earth! Wilhelm stood there, shocked that Justin's exploits were over. Shelley has an uncharacteristic tear on her cheek. Ming Lee stood in reverence and guilt over the centurion who had lost his life to end this menace and bring her back to the light. It was The Talon who broke the silence. "We will have to time to morn our fallen comrade later, centurions We should leave this place before the authorities, or anyone else comes calling."
            Wilhelm said a particularly long good bye to Ming Lee, who vowed to see him again, someday. As The Talon made arrangements with a charter. A sad chore that was not neccesary in the original plan. But now... As the pontoon boat approached the dock, and the team looked on the bustling city of Shanghai with sadness, the door flung open. "What were you guys going to leave without me?!" said a familiar voice! Justin was with them again. "How the heck did he..." was all Wilhelm could think to say. It's a tale to tell while we're in the air, guys. Let's get out of here!

Little Trouble in Big China - Part 1

So I've finally started running a Spirit of the Century game. We've done the character generation and have played the first session. One of the PCs, Scott, took it upon himself to write up the saga so far. Awesome.

The Century Club in...

Little Trouble in Big China

"I could sure use a bath" he said to his fellow Centurians. Wilhelm was always the
first to miss the comforts of the more civilized locations. "Before we find this Professor Troublé character, I'm getting a hot bath." Professor Touble. His name said it all, didn't it? The professor had made a startling discovery, and he was in over his head. Troublé had discovered some ancient manuscript, and our job was to keep it out of the wrong hands and deliver it to safety.
It was a given when traveling to Shanghai, that you'd spend a lot of time in the air. The arrangement that was made was to let local pilots get us most of the way. Then Justin would handle the last leg of the journey, in a borrowed pontoon plane. It was the right thing. This would keep Justin pretty fresh by the time we arrived. But still. Justin was a pilot. He'd rather go to a blind dentist then put his life in the hands of these hacks, so when he was finally able to get behind the stick, he felt rejuvenated, along with his fellow Centurions.
As always, Justin landed safely on the water, and coasted gently to the dock. Once the door opened, that rejuvenated feeling was sucked away. There, in the crowd, standing like an idiot, was Troublé. Shouting and waving the very manuscript we were sent to protect. Before we even drew our first Chinese breath, we were on the job. Wilhelm went as inconspicuous as he could right for the Professor. You had to look very carefully, but you could barely make out the shadowy figure emerge from the plane and creep along the shadows for Troublé. The Talon was with us. A man of few words unless he needed to say them. You would have sworn he was sound asleep during the entire trip, but he moved with silent and certain purpose of a man who knew his surroundings well.
Before anyone could reach the professor, "they" were on him. We knew there would be other interested parties, but we'd hoped that we'd get to him first. Without so much as a glance at each other, Wilhelm and the Talon instinctively knew that the time for stealth was over, and the chase was on!
Wilhelm sprang into action first! By the time he got to Troublé's original location he was already in the water sans manuscript, and the figures were getting away...jumping from boat to boat along the packed wharf. The Talon wasn't far behind. Justin, preferring his bullets do the chasing, pulled out his gun and was only briefly held up by some nasty looking locals. They all saw when one of the figures fell and cracked his skull on the dock. But no one expected him to burst into flames. The Talon and Wilhelm knew what that meant. Mantha! The elixir that was used by Jinda-hai gave them strength, and no fear, but also made their bodies combust upon death!
As the chase continued, the figures kept hurling obstacles in the heros' way. First laundry, then food products of the locals nearby. It was the fruit that slipped up the Talon. In all his training, he still couldn't do much about a slick surface. Had there been something to grab onto, then it would have been a cake walk. As it turned out, when he fell, sitting straight up on the small boat’s deck, Justin was able to pass him, using the Talon's own head to brace him from falling himself. The Talon was glad to help, but realized there had to be a better way. Looking around, he commandeered one of the few motor boats he could find, and quickly gave chase over the water.
When one of the cultists ignited a fuel source, Wilhelm dove for the water. It wasn't what he had in mind when he requested a hot bath. He surfaced and immediately grabbed the leg of a passing cultist, startling the shadowy figure and sending him down to the deck. As Wilhelm grappled with the cultist, Justin decided that his bullets could now be safely deployed to take out the last cultist, holding the manuscript. As the Talon casually rode by in his new-found-friend's boat, he found the winded Wilhelm, and Justin holding the manuscript, and some new found evidence.

In order to command Qín Shǐ Huángdì's army, one must complete the circle about the square, the union between heaven and earth. Scatter praises to the four winds: 東 (dōng - east), 南 (nán - south), 西 (xī - west), 北 (běi - north). Pat the horse's mane then make a surging fist. Finally, sing the ge'wei, the song of gathering.

The Green Dragon, the dragon of bounty, breathes life. The White Tiger, the tiger with claws of metal, snatches that away.

"It's referring to the army of a general that died a couple of millennia ago." said Wilhelm. "Well, whatever it is, we've got it now" said Justin. Along with the manuscript, they picked up a laundry ticket. Thinking that it may lead to those who sent the cultists, the team decided to pay the laundry a visit. The old man was polite, and pretended to be perplexed when he explained that the ticket was his, but was not for picking up.... but for dropping off. So, this was the drop off point. But who was picking up?
The Talon and Justin had been on enough adventures with Wilhelm to know that the beautiful woman who entered the shop they were surveilling was going to be a huge distraction for him. But there was nothing they could do now, short of running in guns blazing. A thought that had crossed Justin's mind several times.
Wilhelm could charm the eye liner right off of Cleopatra herself. But Ming Lee was different. She was something special. It was all he could do to not hand over the manuscript and blush like a school boy the moment she revealed that she was the one picking up. It took every bit of strength in Wilhelm to delay her by a couple hours. They just needed a plan. The team decided to consult with Professor Troublé, only to find that he'd been taken by the Jinda.
The pace of the Centurion is not the easy path, nor is it the clear path. Justin struggled with this. Life had been hard for him, and he thought that the mission was complete. We had the manuscript after all. The Talon, however saw the way of the world. The cruelty. The injustice. We'd been given one mission. But the Talon...the Centurions…always have an additional mission. But it was not the Talon's place to force this higher purpose on anyone. The Talon, with those steely eyes, looked at Justin and handed him the manuscript. "You must choose our course of action" he said, without a hint of judgment. The path before them seemed suddenly clear. The path of the Centurions is the one that makes the world a better place...the one that saves the helpless. Justin decided that we must go back for the professor.
The team decided to make a fake manuscript, and use it to barter for the professors life. When they met back up with Ming Lee, it seemed that without the manuscript, her cruel master Lo Fan, may take her life. Wilhelm, enamored with her, vowed to protect her as well, and she agreed to take them to see her master. The odds were not in their favor. Lo Fan was already known for his cruelty, and he was sure to have an army waiting for them. When they approached Lo Fan's (seemingly) abandoned warehouse, then entered. Wilhelm paused for a moment, as he noticed that the Talon had disappeared. Finally he noticed that he had decided to find his own entrance on the roof. "Yes. That might work better" Wilhelm thought. As he began walking again, within the warehouse, he was too far behind Ming Lee to do anything about the Jinda who suddenly appeared at her side, only to disappear with her a moment later in a puff of smoke! Ah...the trap!