Another Caffeinated Day

The Blogging A to Z 2012 Collection

Thu, 17 May 2012 20:04:47 +0000

I can't recall where I got this idea. I won't claim it as mine, but I thought it was a cool idea no less.

You should find a PDF attached below of all the entries for the 2012 Blogging A to Z challenge that Ben and I made. Enjoy!

And remember, we hope that you'll drop by and comment on each entry.

Blogging WFRP A to Z: The Complete 2012 Collection

And now for something completely different... Cufón sux.

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:09:05 +0000

So... I've started seeing a lot of this JavaScript library called Cufón. Fonts for the People it says.

UGH! Please people, stop relying on JavaScript DOM hijacking for delivering web fonts. It's notoriously unreliable and requires just too much work to manage.

HTML5 and CSS3 are where web development is at, and both are fucking reliable and gracefully degrade. If you have not read HTML5 and CSS3: Develop Today with Tomorrow's Standards by Brian P. Hogan (Pragmatic Bookshelf) and have not read chapter 19, Using Real Fonts, please, if you use Cufón and/or you're a web dev, stop reading this, click the above link and get rid of Cufón.

Right.

Now.

Leaving one, returning to another

Fri, 11 May 2012 20:18:28 +0000

Resigned today from my current position with my employer.

I don't know why I was so nervous, I know exactly why I did it and where I was going next, my former employer. I'm very excited about the move.

However, handing my resignation over to my manager was nerve wracking. I think because I like the guy, but really think his ego and his project are awfully out of sync.

Anyway... the next three weeks will be liberating, if only a little uncomfortable in the transition. The project has a lot of fail written on it and getting away from it is important. So all is good, I remain gainfully employed and I'm going someplace where I'm valued and I know a lot of people.

Blogging A to Z 2012 Retrospective

Sun, 6 May 2012 18:41:23 +0000

2012 was my second year in the Blogging A-to-Z challenge. I learned about the idea from Grognardia last year. James' effort focused on his Original D&D campaign known as Dwimmermount (which posted nigh $50,000 in Kickstarter last month). I jumped in with my own effort on role-playing games (RPGs) focusing on Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, or WFRP.

WFRP is a license of Games Workshop, currently published by Fantasy Flight Games. The world of WFRP is a low fantasy, 15th century Germanic and Arthurian setting featuring elves, dwarves, halflings and a myriad of beasts, magic, and dark magical foes.

I quickly found that I not only enjoyed the challenge, but I was becoming more familiar with the setting and far more comfortable writing and extending the setting for my own games. My entries in Blogging A-to-Z 2011 also won me some recognition the WFRP community, including a Best of the Fans Award from Adolphus Altdorfer, the nom de plume of Magnus Seter at The Altdorf Correspondant,

Thus the fire was lit and I began planning my effort for 2012. Only I had a problem on the outset: a European Vacation. While I could have figured out a way to beg, borrow and steal data connections in Italy, I knew I was going to busy. I had several ideas to handle my absence. The first was to just pre-write my posts and queue them. The second was to engage others. I issued a call to the WFRP community of bloggers, a small one to be sure, and got immediate interest.

In the end, 26 entries later, I can declare SUCCESS. Ben Scerri of versamus; we roll was a tremendous help, blogging on the other side of the world from Australia. Ben not only provided support in my planned absence, he provided near or half of the ideas for Blogging A-to-Z 2012. Thank you, Ben!

We got to share with the visitors our enjoyment of the WFRP setting (there was less system focus posts than 2011) with a wider audience. But I think that Ben and I also can share a hardship in blogging, literally on opposite sides and poles of the Earth. We settled on GMT posts. For me that meant that my posts appeared hours before midnight in the US and "yesterday" for Ben. I think in retrospect the lesson to pass to "A-to-Z'ers" is: if you're going to co-blog the challenge, stay local and within six hours plus-or-minus GMT. Anything approaching 12 hours creates a "I'm awake, your asleep" communication blackout. If you must, then plan at least a day ahead for all communication and last minute changes are not allowed.

Thanks for visiting and see you next year... indeed.

So, what about other games you may ask?

Thu, 3 May 2012 16:32:03 +0000

There should be no question about my allegiances to WFRP. Damn, I love the game, the setting, and--to be specific--the system of WFRP 2e by Chris Pramas of Green Ronin.

It was the clear love of WFRP that Chris Pramas put into the game as noted in the last pages of the core rulebook that led me to take a look at Chris' other work at Green Ronin. While I'm not much for d20 and equally ho-hum about supers games, Green Ronin's work on Dragon Age and the Adventure Gaming Engine was a home run.

Dragon Age and AGE hit a lot of nostalgia buttons for me. The box sets. The level pacing by box. The dark fantasy setting of Dragon Age the video game by BioWare. And the simplicity of AGE as well as its ability to capture the dynamic, exciting, and explosive powers of the video game in "stunts." If you haven't checked out Dragon Age, you should. The final box set is in queue for release. Add that AGE is being rolled out to other titles and genres.

On the rules light, old school touchy-feely side of things, I have recently found Heroes Against Darkness (HAD) by Justin Halliday. This free, I said FREE, game is just... well, amazing.

HAD weighs in at 230 pages. A lot you might think for a rules light system. However, a players & game master guide and a bestiary are included. As well as full guide to understanding the elements of a fantasy setting rooted in a historical presentation that allows a campaign to organically grow in the sandbox. Justin even provides a 28 page solo adventure, The Sundered Tower, reminiscent of the D&D Red Box of old.

HAD feels like Justin channeled several concepts from Dragon Age, D&D BECMI, even D&D 4e (with HP Rallying, e.g., Healing Surges) into a homebrew, d20 light system, and yet players can get started in 10 minutes. The Level 10 ceiling (as presented) passes the "Hero in a Tavern" test (some might know this test as E6). PC powers/feats are detailed out to Level 20, again a feature I might attribute to E6 (where after Level 6, PCs gain feats, nothing more). Justin's channelling is presented in a professional layout with artwork evocative of the heroic and gritty world of heroes against darkness. The PDF is so nice, one wants to cough up the dollars to have it bound.

Did I mention that HAD was FREE?

And I have other game passions. Pathfinder captures my current high fantasy imaginations. I desperately want to play the Pathfinder Beginner Box with my daughter. Twilight:2000 still captures my crunchy rules, raised during the Cold War, apocalyptic, Chernobyl ruins at every crossroad dread, And if I could get a copy of TMNT&OS... I might be intrigued by Supers again. Maybe.

Blogging A to Z 2012 Complete

Tue, 1 May 2012 13:35:19 +0000

Ben Scerri and I finished Blogging A-to-Z! What a run. I'll have more on May 7 for the retrospective, so stay tuned.

Needless to say, it was a great run. I hope, if you're reading for the first time, that you'll take 5 or 10 minutes to scan through the post and comment, in gaming parlance: "ret-con".

Thanks for visiting... watch for more WFRP goodness to come. The A-to-Z challenge always rekindles my enjoyment of blogging about RPG, &c.

Z is for Zombies

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:01:00 +0000

Zombies¹ are by far the most well known undead creature of the Old World. War, plague, and just day-to-day death leave the raw materials for necromancers of all stripes to raise and master mere slaves to crushing armies.

From the vampire counts of Sylvania to upstart wizards of a Ruinous Power in Bretonnia the chance of the common Old World citizen to have not experienced an encounter with these creatures is almost none. More often the masters of the walking dead meet their deaths at the hand of brave individuals and mighty heroes in the service of the Emperor. Depending on the power mustered over the zombie by the necromancer, the zombie may simply collapse or begin to aimlessly wander. It is not unknown to find bands of 10 or a 100 zombies roaming the fields, hills or forgotten graveyard after the death of a necromancer. These are the easiest to destroy and farmers can make short work of them.

It is the zombie hoard that is controlled by the necromantic magic of a vampire count that is most feared. Often quick and seemingly endowed with an intelligence to react to changing battlefield conditions, these hoards instill terror in villages and towns facing them.

[1] Apologies for the empty post this morning. I had two versions in the queue and failed to delete the empty post.↩

Y is for The Yellow Fang

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:01:00 +0000

The agents of the Ruinous Powers hide everywhere. They hide in the shadows cast in alleys from pyres built to cleanse the souls of their confederates.

It is expected that these agents form cults serving their dark masters and The Yellow Fang is quite typical of these cults. Dedicated to the Skaven's god The Horned Rat, the Yellow Fang operates out of Carroburg, Middenland. Members often tattoo themselves with a yellow fang or pull an eye tooth to hang from a necklace hidden under a shirt or collar--so common are missing teeth in the Old World this act goes unnoticed by almost everyone.

The cult works closely with their masters, the foul rat men, but harbor a secret at the very top of the cult that amounts to betrayal. Working to bring decay and despair to the Empire and hasten its collapse for the Skaven, The Yellow Fang plots to master and overthrow the Skaven should the end game occur. The conflict is a natural one considering the betrayal found within the Skaven's own ranks.

The Yellow Fang has worked its way into moderate positions of political power in Carroburg and have expanded to Altdorf and other cities. These new cults are expected to pay tribute to their Carroburg sponsors in providing both slaves for the Skaven's Under Empire and as sacrifices to the Horned Rat. This ring of kidnapping removes the attention generated by such acts from Carroburg to the other cities and the new members eager to please.

X is for Xnen'Ledh, Lesser Daemon of Slaanesh

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:01:00 +0000

It is said that every being has a True Name. Knowing the true name of any beast, man, elf, dwarf, or halfling is said to grant complete power over of that being. In matters of magic and the Aethyr this knowledge is sought after often at great expense and great punishment.

Xnen'Ledh¹ is the true name of a Lesser Daemon of Slaanesh, the Chaos Lord--or Lady--of Pleasure, patron of all things beautiful and seductive. Xnen'Ledh is actually two beings, Xnen and Ledh, that go by the more common name of The Blonde Sisters. The name belies an insidious ensorcelling power to enthrall those that should cross Xnen'Ledh's path.

Xnen'Ledh presents a powerful illusion of normality that begins to fall as their thralls become more entwined in their seductive games. When the illusions fail, Xnen'Ledh's dark leathery wings are said to be first revealed. The thrall may now begin to understand that the dark angels have fully entwined them in a dark plot of which there is no escape but death. In the final form their opposite bone white pincers are revealed. It is often that the thralls find themselves at the end of their usefulness as the pincers cut deeply in a blood feast to Xnen'Ledh. A particularly useful and beautiful thrall might very well experience this death embraced by The Blonde Sisters in carnal finality that leaves the body a drained husk.

The Blonde Sisters are inseparable and readily identifiable by those knowing what to watch for. Xnen'Ledh travels to the great cities of the Old World using their tempting and seductive appearance to weave plots of such complexity no mortal could ever perceive the end game, all in service of Slaanesh.

[1] 'X' seems to be the most difficult letter for $WFRP$ A-to-Z. For me at least. Last year I created a Lustrian blood daemon. This year I went to the sourcebooks and created a "lesser daemon" using tools for game masters in the Tome of Corruption. Enjoy this additional piece of creativity.↩

WFRP Genre Fiction

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:45:00 +0000

It's hard to believe but my last campaign game for WFRP was nearly 3 years ago.

At the end of that campaign the daughter of one of the players joined the group playing a Dilettante name Siassa Jean-Aubry of Bretonnia. I loved the idea of the character so much I started some fiction based on her introduction to the group. I completed a "first chapter" of about 1500 words.

Here's a teaser. Tell me if you think you would want read some more.

SAISSA JEAN-AUBRY

A disjointed chorus of screams carried on the warm, humid wind reached the battlements of Castle Bordeleaux. The purple sunset in the west cast a long shadow below Saissa, over the long knoll upon which the castle set. In Bordeleaux proper the streets and alleys were pitch from the shadows and made darker still by the thick columns of black smoke that hung over the city. The tallest buildings seemed to clutch at the sky hoping to keep the sun from setting, the spires beacons of orange light against a rolling black curtain.

Saissa scanned the rooftops of the city looking for the more affluent merchant quarters of Bordeleaux. A merlon and arrow loop blocked her view to the south. She thought better of leaning out over the embrasure, then looked to her right where the wall made a graceful turn to look over the city and its southern reaches. If not for the battlements, she would then be able to see parts of the warehouse and docks.

Saissa turned and made a quick crouching dash to the right hoping for that better view. A door burst open ahead of her and more than a dozen men spilled onto the wall-walk. She stood upright and whispered, “Manann protect me.”

“TAKE YOUR STATIONS YOU HONORLESS MAGGOTS! THE TREE LINE IS A DEAD LINE! YOUR TASK IS SIMPLE! NO MAN, WOMAN, CHILD, OR BEAST APPROACHES THIS WALL!” the landed sergeant-at-arms screamed as each conscripted peasant archer ran in file past Saissa. Each archer ignored her, or at least only glanced in her direction for the briefest of moments. Was that one’s eyes swollen red with tears? Yes, but he was behind her before she could get a better look. She turned quickly to see the next man push Red Eyes forward as he stumbled.

She turned back to look into the tabard of the sergeant. He was a full head taller than Saissa.

“Deylaud! remove this WOMAN from MY wall!” The sergeant was a very strong man and his order was not to be questioned. The sergeant’s hand, callused from training, grasped Saissa’s shoulder. In a sweep to his left, he pressed forward and she was pushed into the two handed grasp of Deylaud. Deylaud was equally strong and Saissa felt as if she fell into brick wall. The sergeant was now shouting at each archer taking positions in the merlons and loops, stacking quivers and stringing their longbows.