Gaming

The second Wednesday Weird (original) 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.” ...

There’s a smidgen of movement in the White Wolf vs. Sony case. On 12/26/03, someone filed a proposed revised expedited discovery consent order. On 1/6/04, White Wolf moved for leave to file an amended and supplemented complaint. There are two major changes requested: Addition of claims for infringement of Under A Blood Red Moon and Time of Thin Blood. Clarification that the claims relate not only to the movie but to the entire Underworld IP. ...

OK, now I know what that protective order was. Here’s the PDF (original). It’s just the procedure the parties need to use if they want to protect portions of their evidence from public view. Sony, for example, may not wish their script for Underworld 2 to be available just yet. Now they can introduce it into evidence without pesky people like me getting their hands on it.

If I wind up buying the World of Darkness end-times books (and who am I kidding, of course I will), the WoD metaplot summaries will be of huge enormous use.

If the Gospels mashup didn’t quite satisfy your yen for Christian gaming, allow me to recommend the RPGnet thread dedicated to statting up Jesus (original). I must be in a mood this week or something.

Supernifty site full of 1890s Boston photographs. Already used some for the entrance pages.

Credit to Joe Landsdale, Simon Green, and Green Ronin. God of the Razor: domains are murder, knives, reflections. God of Satin: domains are lust, seduction, hotels. God of Twenties: domains are money, fraud, first impressions. God of Tears: domains are regret, alcohol, and arguments. They ride, like loas, except full-time until the horse dies. Sometimes it’s mutually agreeable, and sometimes not.

Not exactly breaking news, but there’s been nothing else in White Wolf v. Sony for a while, so here’s the only thing posted in the PACER docket since early this month: 11/26/03 AGREED PROTECTIVE ORDER approved by Judge J. Owen Forrester. (see order for specifics)(cc) (dfb) Sadly for our curiosity, there is no actual order attached. Yeah, I’m pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel here. I have no idea what this could mean.

So a long long time ago, Ginger noticed that I occasionally wrote gaming entries (original), and I noticed her blog back, and got into her Game WISH, and so on. A little while ago, I noticed Jim Henley looking for a group RPGblog (original). I like talking about gaming. So here’s The 20’ by 20’ Room. I hope people enjoy what we all have to say.

This week’s Game WISH (original) is about player-driven shifts: What’s the biggest PC-driven shift you’ve ever experienced in a campaign? If you were a player, what made you feel like you could successfully change the GM’s world? If you were a GM, was this planned or something the PCs surprised you with? Probably unsurprisingly, my example comes from a Feng Shui campaign. (Shifts in the world are built right into the background.) Brad was the GM; the PCs were Transformed Dragons who were not part of the Ascended. Ascended — think Illuminati, but with a ruling class made up of animals who had transformed into human form. Brad made it really clear from the beginning that he wanted to run a world-changing campaign, and we took him up on the offer by going back to the 1850s juncture and working to make demons part of society. The plan was to increase the ambient level of magic so that we could take our true draconic forms once again. ...