It's where I talk to myself. Gaming, politics, and links I don't want to forget about.
I take no responsibility for the following list of eight names, other than that they’re in a notebook I own. His fault.
Today, being a holiday, did not feel much like a Monday. Ooops.
Anyhow, I’m going to steal a mashup from Jere today. He says he’s seen a lot of campaigns that draw from T.S. Eliot’s "The Waste Land." I’ve never been lucky enough for that, although I did once play a paladin who drew religious inspiration from an old battered copy of Selected Poems. (Eric Hargan’s Catholicworld campaign. Eric is now writing policy studies for the Federalist Society, among other lawyerly pursuits.)
But I risk digressing into the treacherous political waters so evident in my previous post. Ladies and gentlemen, it is not yet April; it is not yet the cruellest month. Still, we may still breed lilacs before their time is come.
The second Wednesday Weird invokes the Charm Other spell:
This spell shows up in several roleplaying games by many different names. Leaving the target charmed by the spellcaster, it can turn an enemy into a friend. Generally, the target will be susceptible to suggestion by the caster and will completely believe anything the caster says.
This effect is not restrained to the fantasy genre. A telepath might gain the same effect through mental powers and one of the most famous examples of this “spell” was in a certain film by George Lucas. “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
Now your job: How does this spell get weird?
This wouldn’t work in the straight D&D sense, but…
The Livid Dragon is a little tavern along one of the main trade routes in the region: gets a lot of merchants, a fair number of adventurers, plenty of problems but plenty of fun. And it’s very profitable for the owner.
It’s also where you spilled a Charm Person potion a couple of weeks ago. An honest mistake on your part; you were going to slip it into that suspected assassin’s drink, but someone bumped your elbow and you wound up wasting the thing. No great loss, since they aren’t that expensive.
Ever since then, your luck has been astounding — in the Livid Dragon. Nowhere else. In the Livid Dragon, there’s always a serving boy when you need one. You generally draw the card you need when you’re playing poker. You’re pretty sure you’re more charming there, judging by the number of people who make amorous advances. The owner forgets to charge you for dinner more often than not.
This wouldn’t be so bad, except that other taverns are getting jealous, and the good fortune you get in the Livid Dragon is balanced by bad fortune everywhere else.
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes:
What five games would you love to run/play if you had a willing group and a weekly time slot?
I’m going to leave out games I’m in or running now, of course (yay, Champions and Buffy), and also games I expect to be able to play in soon — I’m looking at you, Star Wars and Charnel Gods and espionage game! You can also assume that I wish I could go back and play in Carl’s games again. Those disposed of:
Nobilis is a very strong runner-up.
Since Godzilla (Quicktime trailer) is being re-released in the United States in the original version, I figure it’s a good time to mashup that very movie. The scoop on all things Godzilla is long and intricate; feel free to draw from any element of the mythos.
This week’s Game WISH asks:
What are your characters’ mottoes, in ten words or less? Quotes and formal mottoes encouraged.
That’s fun! In no particular order:
Paul/Emoticon: For God, France, and humanity.
Reese: It’s all about the roads.
Mr. Wellstone: Fame follows fashion.
Cian: One must always journey to find wisdom.
Stick: Break dimensions, go to jail.
Clarice: Hail Britannia!
Constantine: Friends and family; blood and bone.
Jayson: Fortune follows.
(That last is a bit of a cheat, being my own family motto. But I like it.)
Time for mashup number twenty-six. Hey, that’s half a year! Not too bad. Our subject today is the classic Jules Verne novel Around the World in 80 Days.
It’s your basic travelogue in fictional form, with the added excitement of (unjust) pursuit by the law. Phileas Fogg, accompanied by his faithful servant Passepartout, must transnavigate the globe in 80 days to win a fairly sizable bet. That provides the essential aspect of time pressure. Everything else is just trouble along the way, with Detective Fix as a secondary plot backbone.
Mr. Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world. People said that he resembled Byron—at least that his head was Byronic; but he was a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live on a thousand years without growing old.
Monday Mashup number 25 is late; I just noticed that I hadn’t posted it from last night. Ooops. Well, here you go anyhow.
Today’s ingredient is the musical Chicago. I’m assuming the Catherine-Zeta Jones version, but any version is good. It’s glitz, it’s glamour, it’s crime, it’s the desirability of fame. In particular that last. The musical aspect is certainly optional, and when I say “optional” I mean “I’ll be really impressed if anyone manages to work it in.”
Kitchen Stadium is open. Start your mashups.
I have been woefully behind on WISHes lately. I blame travel, and apologize. However, I’m home now, and WISH 82 rocks:
Sum up one or more games that you GM or play in 10 words or less. (Three is best, but not everybody is that pithy.) Don’t restrict yourself to current games if you have great ones in the past.
DoSS: Dreams of heroism. (Chris is scratching his head right about now.)
Unknown USA: Driving Miss Dorothy.
Paridon: In pursuit of style.
Babes in the Woods: Traveling to wisdom.
UN PEACE: Too old too fast.
In honor of the kickoff of the 2004 political season, today’s mashup will be based on the Iowa caucuses, which are exceedingly rich soil in which to plant a campaign seed. You’ve got the obvious basic storyline of selecting a leader in the middle of political intrigue. You’ve got the way the caucuses work; they’re not actually an election. You’ve got the current sitaution, in which the political outsider (Dean) surged against the consummate veteran (Gephardt) until at the very last minute the other veteran (Kerry) takes the unexpected lead — and the other young guy (Edwards) is surging as well. You’ve got Iowa, a state most people ignore except every four years. Fun stuff. Mashers, start your ethanol-fuelled engines!