[Alignment] Chaotic Evil

Chaotic Evil, "Destroyer"

A chaotic evil character does whatever his greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drive him to do. He is hot-tempered, vicious, arbitrarily violent, and unpredictable. If he is simply out for whatever he can get, he is ruthless and brutal. If he is committed to the spread of evil and chaos, he is even worse. Thankfully, his plans are haphazard, and any groups he joins or forms are poorly organized. Typically, chaotic evil people can be made to work together only by force, and their leader lasts only as long as he can thwart attempts to topple or assassinate him.

Chaotic evil is sometimes called "demonic" because demons are the epitome of chaotic evil.

Chaotic evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents the destruction not only of beauty and life but also of the order on which beauty and life depend.

[Cons] I'm going to Go Play Northwest

I'm going to Go Play Northwest this upcoming weekend (June 18-20). I look forward to playing some cool games, meeting local (and not so local) gamers and having a good time.

If you're going to be there, let me know!

[Graduation Day] Today, I Walk!

I am officially the most educated person in my direct family. The ceremony started a half-hour ago. Wish me luck!

[Vids] Strange Days and Demolition Man

In the 1990s, there were two dystopian action flicks, Strange Days and Demolition Man, each with different tones and situations that resonated deeply with me when I saw them in the theatre. Recently, I got both from my local library.

Each film posited a future where society was on the brink. In the case of Demolition Man, a society, that had taken all the undesirable elements and shoved them underground to maintain the appearance of a gentler, more civilized society, suddenly needed those same undesirable elements to solve their problems. In Strange Days, during a countdown to the year 2000, society is wracked by police violence and social unrest, murder and obsession.

I really enjoyed watching both, seeing how they've held up to time in the intervening years. The last scene in Strange Days with Vincent D'onofrio, covered with blood and handcuffed to the corpse of his partner (who just committed suicide to avoid jail), dragging the dead body towards Angela Basset and Ralph Fiennes, with a gun ready and intent on killing them both, while surrounded by police and rioting crowds, was excellent. Kathryn Bigelow later on went to direct the Hurt Locker (currently on my Netflix list).

These films got my imagination working on a near-future dystopian-style, maybe cyber-punk, game. Watch them and let me know what you think.

[Aftermath!] The D.C. Campaign: The Dead Kennedys

The Dead Kennedys

Location: Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Population: 770
Military Strength: 235
Military Resources: Few small arms, mostly hand weapons, including sports based equipment (baseball bats and football gear). Limited civilian vehicles.

Treaties: Treaty Hospital

Enemies: Pentagon (the isolationist faction, see below)

Resources: This group supplements growing crops in the stadium proper by scavenging a wide-range of materials across the District.

Trade: A wide variety of goods scavanged from D.C., including electronics, medicine, canned food and hand weapons.

General Reaction: -5 (+5 from people with Treaty Hospital).

Background: The Kennedys came from a mix of sports teams, fans and journalists who used the stadium as a defensible base to keep the mobs and gangs at bay during the dark years. Using the equipment available at the stadium, as well as small arms raided from nearby police and national guard armories, they managed to keep the stadium and area around from descending into total chaos. They were one of the first communities to support Treaty Hospital.

Currently, the leadership is going through some in-fighting which hasn't come to direct violence or assassination yet, but it's only a matter of time. One faction is focused on isolation and taking what they need, no matter the consequences, while the other faction wants to increase trade and communications through the nearby communities.

[Characters] XZ-31f

Infiltrator XZ-31f Terminator ("fembot" model)

Novice + 48 XP (Novice + 9 Advances + 3 XP)
Agility d10, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 6, Charisma -0-

Hindrances:
Infiltrator XZ-31f (Smarts Limitation, Electrical Susceptibility, Wanted/Secret, Clueless, Vengeful, Heartless), Curious [M], Doubting Thomas [m], Quirk [m]

Edges:
Infiltrator XZ-31f (Construct, Machine Healing, Psionic Immunity, Level-Headed, Attractive, Technosavvy), Luck, Improved Level Headed, Frenzy, Improved Frenzy, Marksman, Trademark Weapon (Fighting), Trademark Weapon (Shooting)

Skills:
Fighting d10, Shooting d10, Notice d4, Guts d4, Stealth d4, Persuasion d4, Tracking d4, Survival d4, Knowledge (Tactics) d4, Repair d6

The Infiltrator XZ-31 was one of the early model Terminators designed to infiltrate and subvert a human stronghold. The -31f (fembot model) was specifically designed to seduce sentries and guards, gain access to secure locations and "destroy from within." The outer human skin, actually grown from vats, and the inner skeleton and drive train was the top of the line. Unfortunately, in an attempt to make the Infiltrator "more human" a slave human brain was incorporated into the system. The interface between the brain and the onboard computer was faulty, resulting in a lowered intelligence factor.

The machine proved to be able to physically infiltrate quite well into human communities, but the social interaction program was very limited, leading to most of them being discovered by wrong answers to the simplest questions that most humans knew. This "common knowledge" gap, as well as an electrical grounding issue that made them particularly susceptible to electrical damage, lead to the introduction of the Infiltrator YA series within two system cycles, which became the model standard ever after. Several dozen decommissioned XZ-31 models, including an unknown number of -31fs, were lost during a raid 15 system cycles ago by a human resistance group and their current whereabouts and activities are unknown. Many are believed to have been successfully re-programmed and operational in the field.

[How To Play] Introduction

In an effort to evangelize more about games I love, I've decided to start a series about how to play various games. I plan to cover most of the details of character creation, combat, skills and any other specific details that will help you to play or run a game.

I'll start with Savage Worlds and go from there. Let me know what you think.

[Labyrinth Lord] Magic Weapons, Part 2

Part 2 of an article I wrote this for last year's Lincoln Middle School D&D Club newsletter by Christian Walker. This article continues the magic item by parts for other weapons.

Axes, Maces and Spears - Oh, My: The Next Set of Weapons

Last time, I wrote about parting out magic swords to allow characters to keep using their old weapons and developing their weapons throughout the game. But I left out axes, spears, and more. So here are the rules for those weapons as well.

An axe, warhammer, spear, morning star, mace or polearm have nearly the same parts: they all have a haft/handle or shaft, a grip and a head. Assuming that a tassel can be added as well as an end cap or spike on the handle, most of these weapons have 5 slots, same as swords.

Some examples include: an axe, hammer or mace has an end cap or spike, haft, grip, tassel and head. A morning star has a haft, grip, chains and two heads. A spear or other pole arm has the end cap or spike, shaft, grip, tassel and head.

Axe hafts can be used on other, similiar-sized weapons, like morning stars and maces, even picks. A spear shaft can be used on most polearms. Incorporating most parts into a weapon take the same amount of time as swords, about a half-hour with the appropriate tools. An enchanted head replica is incorporated into a current weapon in the same way as swords, with the sympathetic ritual.

I've changed up the various tables below to made more unique weapons.

Table I: Magic Weapon Modifier, Roll 1d6
1. +1
2. +1 vs. animal (GMs choice)
3. +1 vs. monster (GMs choice)
4. special attack (see Table III)
5. special effect (see Table IV)
6. cursed weapon (see Table V)

Table II: Magic Weapon Part, Roll 1d6
1. Head
2. Shaft/Haft
3. Grip
4. Tassel
5. End Cap/Spike
6. GMs Choice

Table III: Special Attack, Roll 1d6
1. +1 vs demons
2. +1 vs giants
3. +1 vs undead
4. +1 vs elementals
5. +1 vs sea creatures
6. +1 vs demi-human or human

Table IV: Special Effect, Roll 1d6
1. flaming weapon
2. stunning
3. ethereal
4. +0 weapon (it's magical but doesn't improve the attack)
5. level drain
6. cold weapon

Table V: Cursed Weapon, Roll 1d6
1. -1 weapon
2. berserker
3. cowardice (save vs. Fear or run away)
4. -2 weapon
5. delusion
6. reduces dexterity to 3

[Resources] Viking Runestones

The Vikings placed Runestones all around the world, from England to all the way to Greece, with messages that praised their gods, celebrated their heroes and honored their dead.

They are a pretty cool image to include in any type of game, from fantasy to modern to even future (alien runestones, anyone). Their purpose should be mysterious, their magic unfathomable.

[Monsters] XZ-31

Infiltrator XZ-31, early model Terminator

The Infiltrator XZ-31 was one of the early model Terminators designed to infiltrate and subvert a human stronghold. The outer human skin, actually grown from vats, and the inner skeleton and drive train was the top of the line.

Unfortunately, in an attempt to make the Infiltrator "more human" a slave human brain was incorporated into the system. The interface between the brain and the onboard computer was faulty, resulting in a lowered intelligence factor. The machine proved to be able to physically infiltrate quite well into human communities, but the social interaction program was very limited, leading to most of them being discovered by wrong answers to the simplest questions that most humans knew.

This "common knowledge" gap, as well as an electrical grounding issue that made them particularly susceptible to electrical damage, lead to the introduction of the Infiltrator YA series within two system cycles which became the model standard ever after. Several dozen decommissioned XZ-31 models were lost during a raid 15 system cycles ago by a human resistance group and their current whereabouts and activities are unknown. Many are believed to have been successfully re-programmed and operating in the field.

Using the Savage Worlds Slipstream Alien Race Generator:

Infiltrator XZ-31: Net: +2

Hindrances:

• Limited intelligence: Smarts restriction: -3
• Electrical Susceptability: -2
• Wanted/Secret (Major): -2
• Clueless (Major): -2
• Heartless: -1

Hindrances Total: -10

Edges:

• Construct: +3
• Machine Healing: +2
• Psionic Immunity: +4
• Level-Headed: +2
• Technosavvy (Repair d6): +1

Edges Total: +12

[Auld Lang 'Zine] 1001+1 Nights, Issue #0

Issue #0, One Thousand and One Nights and One Night RPG Campaign Design 'zine

Here's the first issue of my old One Thousand and One Nights and One Night RPG Campaign Design 'zine, even though it's correctly labeled Issue #0.

I had been kicking around the idea of starting a 'zine for a while, after reading Christian Walker's excellent Scrollworks and Iridia 'zines and finally, while in the midst of grad school studying, decided to pull the hammer on it.

Since I was determined to have a two-page PDF, I wanted to know what it would be like to do a single page. If I could do one page, I could probably do two. So I wrote this short introduction, and jumped all around with the subjects, creating a mish-mash of content.

I remember writing this 'zine using Open Office and not building a stable nameplate (often mistaken as a masthead) that I did for later 'zines because I had so many problems it. I used Chiller for the titles and Georgia for the text.

The icon of the skeleton was a style choice for the nameplate - each subsequent issue has part of this series of skeleton woodcuts, showing only one skeleton or character at a time. I remember really liking this little bit of graphic and I don't think I had to repeat any more than twice in the course of the 50 issues.

I start several long-running subjects, including My Style and Actual Play, not to mention What I'm Reading and Quotes (both used for this blog, too).

I added only two game notes to the webpage:

• Tunnels and Trolls from Flying Buffalo.
• The _ R I N G _ _ _ '_ Vaults.

And the links are still working, an amazing thing with the ever-changing internet.

As a first-try, I'm moderately pleased.

[Aftermath!] The D.C. Campaign: Treaty Hospital

Treaty Hospital ("Doc")

Location: D.C. General Hospital, Washington, D.C. Located between 19th Street SE and the Anacostia River, from Independence Avenue SE to G Street SE.

Population: 200
Military Strength: -0-
Military Resources: -0-

Treaties: Spook Hill, UFP, FAA, Naval Observatory, The Monastery, Arlington Hall, The Pentagon, The Dead Kennedys, Anacostia Yacht Club, Mennonites.

Enemies: The Skinheads, The WPRC

Resources: The largest medical center in the city. Practically any pre-Ruin procedure is available, for a price.

Trade: Mainly medical procedures, supplies and equipment.

General Reaction: +5 (+10 if you can pay the doctors' fees).

Background: In the midst of the Ruin, D.C. General opened it's doors to the wounded and dying masses. Early on, most of the survivors realized the value of a medical community and have been protecting the Treaty Hospital ever since.

[Resources] Cubesat!

Want a cheap, easy to deploy satellite for a futuristic game? Get a Cubesat!

For only about $80,000, universities across the globe are building and launching these small satellites, measuring about 1 litre (10 cm cube), from off-the-shelf electronics components.

Building these devices allows scientists to test a variety of space and technology projects. Part of the price includes adding the Cubesat to the Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD) and launching it into space.

[Blog] I added an RSS feed

I think I did it right.

Let me know if it doesn't work for you. (And by doesn't work for you, I mean the RSS link does not provide the requisite connection, not that the whole thought of RSS feeds makes you feel squidgy and you think that they may be some way for the government to mark you with the sign of the beast).

Thanks!