Last night we played more in our Savage Worlds Evernight campaign. Despite playing for a few months, we actually haven't gotten to the Evernight proper part of the campaign yet. I decided to do an extended prologue, to tie the characters into the world a little more and to familiarize everyone with the system. In addition, I've watched a lot of Highlander, Firefly and Babylong 5 since we started, and its, well, affected my storytelling somewhat.

So last night, the PCs found out that the mysterious Elf in the group (who was raised by her adopted father in the forest, away from human and Elven societies both) is actually - unbeknownest to her - a member of a Noble House and the daughter and heir to the Protectors (think Warlord). Her mother recently passed away and the title has passed to her. The Princess of the Realm is afraid of her (the King/Queen rule during peace, the Protector in times of War - and Nightfall is coming) because the Elven Realms haven't had a Protector that was more than a figurehead for 500 years, plus there is a prophecy surrounding Zash (the PC Elf) stating that she will lead the Elves to war ... and to their destruction. (At the final battle of Evernight, the Elves will nobly sacrifice themselves so that the other races may live.)

Of course, she found that out after the Princess had come with a large group of armed soldiers to arrest her for High Treason, who was then in turn attacked by a force from Zash's own house. Much bloodshed ensued (something unhead in the Elven realm for centuries), including the death of the Princess and royal heir (sadly, none of the PCs killer her, so the leader of the other force did, and is now taking the body back to the Royal Court for the proper royal cremation ceremonies - and to face his likely trial and execution).

In a lighter moment, in one of the towns they were passing through (trying to pass through unknown, for many and sundry reasons I won't go into) the group encountered a statue of the group's rogueish PC displayed prominently in a town square (a la Jaynestown). It provided for some good comedy.


High roleplaying moment of the night: the group's Sun Priestess was asked to lead the sermon at High Sun during the 1000th anniversary of Tarrian's Birthday (Tarrian being an ancient hero who saved the land). The player outlined her sermon, and actually gave a short piece of it. Her theme was effectively "be good to your neighbor and release all your old hatreds" - and then she rolled a Persuasion rolled that Aced, and played the Peace Adventure Card (perfect draw for the cirrcumstance) to enhance the effect of her sermon and leave a lasting impression on folks. It was a great scene.

Today's events are...

See Land of the Dead afternoon show.

Get a bite to eat! No brains though, I'm driving.

Play some Munchkin & Lunch Money.

Skunk

Check out my fantasy campaign, Wizard Quest, a world using Wizards of the Coast’s 3.5 DnD system by visiting .

Check out the NEW IMPROVED flash teaser for my sci-fi campaign, , coming Jan 2007. I’ll be using D20 Future for the rules.

Check out what games I’m working on and their status by visiting .

Tampa Bay Game Players Forum is now available, .

Just got back from playing Warmachine at the LGS.
Just recieve my Rezolution stuff in the mail, so I'll be playing that soon enough.
Picked up SPANC the other day, which I've played once so far, it's alright.
Also played Risk Godstorm the other day, always fun.
I still need to read the rules for Call of Cthulu CCG.

We had a great time at the movies yesterday. I enjoyed Land of the Dead, but also felt a little empty after the end, like something was missing from the movie more than most of his films. Didn't really feel like a Romero film and I'm not sure if it's because he's been away from that world or whether he just isn't interested in the underlying tones or he tried to deal with to big a cast of characters.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the film, and that's a good thing.

We had lots of fun playing cards, just Munchkin though, never got to playing lunch money.

Next up we'll be starting a Shadowrun game. Got to finish my character today so he'll be ready for next Saturday.

Skunk

Check out my fantasy campaign, Wizard Quest, a world using Wizards of the Coast’s 3.5 DnD system by visiting .

Check out the NEW IMPROVED flash teaser for my sci-fi campaign, , coming Jan 2007. I’ll be using D20 Future for the rules.

Check out what games I’m working on and their status by visiting .

Tampa Bay Game Players Forum is now available, .

I finished the SW HSCM game yesterday.

They managed to make it back, but not figure out who had killed the instructor.. leaving room for the sequel.

Observations about the SW system - I am still bothered by the overly generic nature of the magic system, and annoyed that while they mention variants they give no means for balancing variants against each other. (Perhaps Evernight has such?)

Combat can be lethal, which is good. An ever increasing pool of hit points is my biggest gripe with D20, avoided with SW. (And with True 20, a system that I am going to give a longer going over in the future.) But it also lacks direction in the form of listed options, which is bad - while the GM and players can use the system to add in new complications it would have been nice to have some examples.

Over all I find that I preferred the clunky system in Deadlands to the streamlined SW rules, and will likely continue using the older Deadlands even after Deadlands Reloaded comes out - to cover all my zombie spaghetti western needs. For a generic system I will continue to use the older version of Storyteller (while avoiding the newer version like the plague that it is).

The Auld Grump

Heh, the player of the Monster Hunter in my HSCM game has told me that his character is thinking about asking Carol the Ogre out on a date... Players are such silly creatures! Mind you, Carol really is a nice person, so we will see what happens.

He also asked if I would mind terribly redoing the game for D20, he does not much like SW. (Apparently liking it less than I do, though for much the same reasons.) So it may be ported over to True 20, which I want to try out. (HSCM may become my default setting for testing out systems...)

The Auld Grump, life is like a box of poisoned chocolates... sooner or later, yo're gonna die. (Forrest Grump)

I ran the 2nd session of our first WHFRP (v.2) adventure and wrapped it up last Wednesday. Everyone had a blast. I'll be running a new WH adventure tomorrow night. Eventually the group will get to Middenheim and I'll run them through some of BI's Paths of the Damned.

I've been fiddling a bit with Hirst Arts (got a couple fieldstone molds), they're kind of cool, but I'm still eagerly awaiting Himmeltwitch for some more town setting stuff. I've also been pushing my way through painting some rank & file minis, beastmen, orcs, etc.

We've started playing a test game of Werewolf: The Forsaken (the new one). After getting (mostly) over the silly renaming decisions, we wanted to work out some of the new powers, and how to deal with a variety of combat issues.

Way faster combat than the OWoD's WTA. Much more streamlined, and I'm actually enjoying the setting itself. In other words, the whole premise of what and why Werewolves are. Pretty cool stuff.

We've played two solid sessions, and only 5 rolls came down to "trading 10s." Hell, at least with the new system, you've always got a chance, regardless of how small.

I know The Auld Grump's arguements against the new system, but even if you agree with him (or are him ), you might want to check out the book for story ideas (even if you don't use the system).