April begins unusually, March ends normally

April begins tomorrow with both day of tricks and misdirections, such deception not being my specialty do not expect anything clever from me, and Easter Sunday.  Should be a strange day and if you celebrate Easter, have a wonderful day in the faith.

The origin of the name of the Roman month Aprilis is unclear, it may refer to the opening (aperire) of buds and flowers as Spring arrives or in some way to the goddess Venus, to whom it is a sacred month, or something else.  We just do not know, which is actually rather fun.

I am again doing the the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for April, the theme will be “Odds and Ends of the Sea of Stars” so if you have questions about my setting, please ask.

March, 2018, saw the following posts here:

Tuesday Magic Item – Storming Shield

Voddick set the large shield up.  “Even with this, I am not exciting about charging across a field with the enemy having so many archers.”

“Nor I but I do not think the officers will listen to our misgivings,” replied Gollaon glancing their way.

“Well, we will just have to make the best of it,” sighed Voddick.  “I am sure we will be glad of the shields.”

Storming Shield

These large shields are usually gaudily decorated often with a motto or insults towards the owner’s foes.  On close examination, they are not particularly well made.

PinkCat: Running in the Shade “It’s a Concert, Tina” (A different sort of SR campaign report)

To understand what is going on here, you had best read the first PinkCat: Running in the Shade post, but short summary, this is a campaign report for our Shadowrun campaign set in NorCal through the filter of a cartoon made by one of the team members.

Episode Thirty-Five: It’s a Concert, Tina

Guest Starring: Clawz, DD, DoubleUp, Jove and Tora.  And introducing:

• Rani, a cardinal magician who keeps changing the color of her feather.  (A stand in for Renny, an elven magician played by K.)
  

DD has a concert scheduled and the people who were suppose to set it up, so she needs some help to get things set up.  Everyone pitches in, of course, things go wrong: the stage starts to sink, the generator will not start, things keep getting lost and misplaced.  Rani realizes that the concert ground is disturbing a nest of gremlins and once they are bought of with food and old technology to break, everything rules smoothly.  Episode ends with DD preforming a song about finding friends in odd places.

What really happened:

Of Tests and Terrors – A Petrichor Campaign Report

Having left our heroes on a cliffhanger as a voice announced “Prepare to be judged.”  From the back of the temple emerges a figure, a resplendent priest with staff and full beard.  Though it is obviously a construct of some sort and he is flanked by six robed figures who stay back in the shadows, the “priest” introduces himself as Ayyumma.  He states that the characters must under go four trails, one for each element, to prove they are worthy.  Lorrend happily accepts for the group.

First, the test of water, suddenly the room is overrun (overflowed?) by a mighty river and the characters are submerged.  Pedr is almost washed away buy Lorrend tosses him a rope and drags them both to the river bank, where Elsbeth is already waiting.

Ayyumma serves our heroes date wine, flat bread and fruits and asks about them, getting short biographies and a brief history of the world since the Sundering.

Then, the test of fire where they are asked to pull white hot iron rods out of a brazier.  Lorrend just grabs one, relying on his toughness as a smith.  Elsbeth trusts to her good dwarven gauntlets.  While Pedr uses chill touch to finesse the whole process.  The burns are painful, except for Pedr, but it was the willingness to make the grasp that was important and salve is provided.

Next, the test of air, which is three riddles, nicely each of the character (players) is able to answer one of them.

Lorrend than complains that he had hoped for something more physically challenging and is rewarded(?) with an earth elemental charging in and attacking them.  The fight was being fairly challenging until Pedr’s chromatic orb ended it with a crashing finality (critical hit with a thunder attack on a creature vulnerable to thunder damage, BOOM!).

Ayyumma reveals himself as a demon, and the robed figures as lesser demons, and they throw themselves at our heroes.  Between Elsbeth’s storm blessings, Pedr’s magic and Lorrend’s combat skills, the lesser demons are quickly dispatched.  Ayyumma proves a tougher foe and is pressing the characters heavily when a massive stone paw smashes it to the floor.   Erisham apologizes for being late and Lorrend complains that the tests were in vein.

Continued in Of Souls and Seals.

Notes: It was decided to return to Petrichor after a mere two year hiatus. It was a short game as R was still recovering from sickness thus the deus ex machina at the end.  Not sure when we will get back to it again.

Image found on Wikimedia Commons and is in the Public Domain.

Tuesday Magic Item – Charge Breaker Javelin

Gollaon looked down on the cavalry start to dress its lines in preparation for a charge.  “Oh this is going to be ugly.  I am not sure if I can watch.”

“Why?” asked Voddick recocking his crossbow.

“The skirmishers have javelins that will magically pin the horses’ hooves to the ground.”

“If they were not on the other side I would warn them.”

“Well, send a warning shot their way, it will not dissuade them but at least we will have tried.  I hate the thought of those horses suffering.”

“Agreed,” said Voddick taking aim.

Charge Breaker Javelin

These heavy javelins are often marked with simple images of people stumbling or legs breaking, which demonstrate their intent.

Review – Shadows in Focus: Morocco (Shadowrun)

Shadows in Focus – Morocco is a location sourcebook for Shadowrun and provides useful information on Morocco and its environs that would be useful to the sorts of people who are Shadowrunners. It is the sort of book you need if you are going to run a game set in or around Morocco.

Shadows in Focus – Morocco is a location sourcebook for the 5th edition of Shadowrun, this particular book covers the shadow nexus of smugglers, corporations and nationalism that exist in the Morocco of the Sixth World.

Morocco is a gateway to the Mediterranean and Islamic worlds so it serves as a nexus of trade, legal and illegal, as well as a gatekeeper of the Gibraltar straights. In the Sixth World, it suffered heavily during EuroWar II which saw it invaded by European forces driving back the Islamic forces which had used it as a stepping stone to invade Spain. Morocco has rebuilt with heavy corporate aid making many see the government as a puppet of megacorporate interests. The truth is more complex with the Morocco government, corporations, traditional social groups and other factions all vying for power.

Review – Shadowrun: Dark Terrors

Shadowrun: Dark Terrors is a sourcebook for Shadowrun and provides a lot of information, a lot of interesting information on the dark corners of the Sixth World but not a lot of advice on how to use or incorporate that information into a campaign, especially an ongoing campaign. I enjoyed the read but, for me, there is almost nothing I can or would use in my ongoing street level campaign. I am not sure who the target audience for this book is, it seems like it should be a GM’s book but there is just not enough here to hang campaigns on, in many cases there is barely enough to hang an adventure or two off of. Equally, players can read it and be scared of the horrible things out there but there are not any tools to help you fight the terrors. So, ultimately, I am not sure what this book is for beyond pushing the metaplot(s) forward (especially on CFD) a little.

Shadowrun: Dark Terrors, is a Plot Sourcebook for the 5th edition of Shadowrun, this particular book covers a variety of dangers, threats and evils, primarily magical in nature that exist in the Sixth World.

The book begins with one of the ubiquitous fiction sections,

Tuesday Magic Item – Blood Banner

“Another red banner?!  They must have emptied the jail before marching to war,” complained Voddick.

“I am not fond of working as executioners for what may be innocent people,” agreed Gollaon aiming along the shaft of his arrow.

“But they will kill us if we do not kill them.”

“Needs must,” said Gollaon releasing the bow string.  “But I do not have to be happy about it.”

“There is a break in the line,” said Voddick pointing.  “Let us see if we can show their officers what we think of their policy,”

“Capital idea.”

Blood Banner

These banners are of bright red cloth but their edges are stained a darker red.  If there is any ornamentation it will be on the pike-staff, a heraldic symbol or state identification perhaps, but equally often they are unadorned.  The magic of the banner is activated by having a person wipe their blood on the banner which then ties them to the banner for the duration of the campaign.

Tuesday Magic Item – Sword of the Saopha

Gollaon ducked behind a tree and Voddick knelt behind his shield, both tree and shield caught arrows.  “As long as the left flank holds, I think the battle is ours,” said Voddick.

“They will hold, their commander will see to it,” replied Gollaon, stepping out long enough to loose an arrow and then ducking back.

“The soldiers are solid too.  Now we just have to keep from being perforated before the fight ends.”

Sword of the Saopha

The blades of these finely made swords are usually decorated in gold or silver, detailing the heritage of the noble it was made for.  The grip is usually horn wrapped with leather or cord.  They are prized possession of the noble caste and losing one is seen as a stain on a family’s honor.