End of July, towards August and GenCon

August, which is named after the Roman Emperor (or First Citizen if you prefer) Augustus Caesar, the theme will be a month of personalities from the Sea of Stars (and possibly other places) if I can find some inspiration.  If there is someone -or something– in particular that you would like to see, write a comment or otherwise let me know.

I will be at GenCon which follows closely after the start of August.  Who else is planning to attend this year?  Maybe we can meet up and chat.

A slowish month was July, 2022, but not entirely without content in this journal:

August Shadowrun Campaign News and a new Seattle Scream Prop (#77)

We hit a big summer gap in our Shadowrun campaigns though did get a little bit of play and run a game that served as a swan song to my long-running character, PinkCat.  I sure miss that hacker.  The next game I will be CHing will be an unusual second Saturday game at Tyche’s Games, as I will be at GenCon for the first Saturday, so please drop by and join in if you in the Athens, Georgia, area.

The next Shadowrun sourcebook, Hack and Slash, for hackers and other computer specialists, will release at GenCon.  I will try and get a review of it done soon after I get a copy.

Now what you really came here for, the latest Seattle Scream (#77), the M3 story and the one about Horizon’s expansion are obliquely tied to PinkCat‘s swan song.  The rest are just the usual scattering of news, ideas, and potential plot hooks.

Notes: Image found on pxhere and is in the Public Domain.

Superheroes – Once upon a Time in 1968 – Issue 14 – Part 2: Miami Fright

This is the second half of Issue 14 with our young heroes on the way to Miami . . . by dirigible.

Cover: A Question Mark divides the cover, on one side is Leonard, the airship, being attacked by sky-squids, the other side is a man in a black trenchcoat and broadbrimmed hat with Kirby dots spilling out from under the brim, a blue-skinned woman with gills in her neck wearing a white bikini and a disreputable thuggish man in a monks habit.  Across the bottom is “New Challenges for our Young Heroes!”

Opening page of Part Two:  Leonard high over the Atlantic coast, Vulpix talking on her belt radio, “But Uncle, we are on a case.  I don’t want to go to a stuffy gala.”  The rest of the team stands by.

Tuesday Magic Item – Heart’s Secret Pen

Gollaon took the letter and slipped it into a sheepskin pouch.  “We will see it safe to your . . . friend.  Fear not.”

Voddick nodded and followed behind.  “I spared a glance at the letter while they were writing it, I could not make heads of tails out of it.”

“The pen they were using, it makes the writing secret so that only the intended person can truly read the letter.”

“That is quite useful, come with some terrible curse though, yes?”

“Well, it does require some of your heart’s blood to function . . . or so I have been told,” admitted Gollaon.

Heart’s Secret Pen

These pens are well made and elegantly crafted, hidden somewhere upon them is a symbol of love, but one must search to find it.

Styles of Game Mastering, this is mine.

Over at RPGGeek, there is a discussion about GMing styles (which you can find here) where I replied but I thought that I would share it here as well.

So, my thoughts on how I run a game.

My World, I have the final say about how things are, how they work and how it all fits together. That being said, I love for players to add, adapt and build off of things in the setting. Just because I have the right to veto something does not mean that I want to use it, I want the game to be fun for the player and something they are willing to buy into and make their own as well.

Let the players lead, there are things going on in the world that will happen in certain ways if not interfered with but it is up to the players to decide what their characters do and if they want to get involved in plots larger than “let us earn so money to buy drinks”. I do not use end-of-the-world plots (except in my superheroes campaign where the characters stopping such things is an underlying assumption of the genre) and while the world may get “worse” if the characters do not stop certain things, they will always have a chance to correct course and make things better laters, if that is their wish.

Light Preparation, I rarely have more than a page of notes going into a game, sometimes I highlight people, places or things I want to make sure show up (or at least get referenced) but usually I just have an opening scene and a handful of threads and off we go. I have been trying to be better at taking notes and these days I almost always have a google doc open as I am playing to add notes to as things happen and get mentioned.

There are Consequences, which is why note-taking is important! If the shadowrunners piss off Manawave Technologies and leave clues as to who they are, if the venturers insult a Draconic representative, if our teen heroes foil a plan by the Puzzle Master, these will lead to consequences . . . The games and the adventures do not take place in a vacuum, what the player characters do effect the world, usually in small ways but sometimes in major one and, in turn, the world will affect them.

Naturally, all these interlock, because I know my world(s), I am able to work out how to fit in player ideas and suggestions and to extrapolate the effects of their actions will have on and in the world.  I can start with minimal notes and work outward because I have a strong idea of how things fit together and what the general currents are in the campaign.

Notes: photo [Construction Site] 1880s by Louis Lafon, found on the Met and is in the Public Domain

Tuesday Magic Item – Animal Pal Amulet and Collar

Gollaon took a sip of tea, leaned back and said, “That master of hounds is a clever one.”

“What brings that on?” asked Voddick as he speared a sausage.

“Well, beyond his natural talent with the dogs, he uses some subtle magic to communicate with them.”

Voddick nodded.  “So, we should be careful what we do when the dogs are watching?”

“Good point.”

Animal Pal Amulet and Collar

These amulets are very idiosyncratic to their owners, often having ties to the animals they love, such as a locket with miniatures of beloved pets inside, amulets in the shape of cats or dogs, or other such designs.  While some of them may seem a bit tacky to others, they have strong associations to the original owner.

Sean’s GenCon Advice 2022

GenCon is about two weeks away!  Time flies.  I am hoping this year will seem a little more normal even if masks are still required.  So, I thought I would (once again) share my hard-earned experience and try and help out people who are going as I do every year.

Preparation:

Tuesday Magic Item – Zodiac Headband

Gollaon and Voddick stood guard, their weapons ready on the roof of the tower as the young scion performed a short ritual under the summer stars, their headband glowing in the starlight.

“Will this be done soon?” whispered Voddick to his friend.  “There is a meg of stout calling my name.”

“Soon enough, our employer is being exceptionally precise,” whispered back Gollaon.  “It is a less burdensome task than they have prepared for here.”

“At least the quarters are comfortable and the pay is good.”

Zodiac Headband

These headbands are usually made from silver and set with a oval of cut jet (or other black stone) to be worn over the forehead.  The oval glimmer and glitters as if trying to manifest light which it does when exposed to the constellations above, it will replicate the pattern of the constellation in appropriately colored crystals.

Tuesday Magic Item – Elemental Seed

Gollaon watched, bow ready, as the elementalist dropped small crystals into the prepared areas.  Within moments, man-shaped, but well larger than most people, beings of clay and stone with glittering crystal eyes emerged from the ground, as though swimming up from the depths.

Voddick crossbow snapped.  “I hope you are done with whatever you needed to do,” he said from around the corner.  “Because those demon-riders are almost here.”

The stone and clay beings followed the commands of the elementalist who followed them with Gollaon at their side.  “We are on the way with aid,” said Gollaon as Voddick’s crossbow launched another bolt.

Elemental Seed

These are almost always crystals, usually semi-precious stones, but sometimes they appear as something more unusual: Amber for earth.  Clouds woven into a knot for air.  An ever-burning coal for fire. Unmelting ice or snow for water.  To use the seed, they must simply be placed into a large amount of the appropriate element and an elemental will appear made of that element, who is friendly to the person who awakened them it but not under their control.