In Remembrance of Honorable Soldiers on Armistice Day (2023)

We have reached another Armistice Day (in modern parlance Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the US).  It originally served as a remember of the end of the Great War, the Armistice that ended the war starting at 11:11am on 11 November, 1918, and those who served and died there.  Since then, it has been expanded to include the many others who have served and died for their country in honorable service through the years.

If you remember, pause for a minute of silence to honor the brave soldiers and other members of the armed forces that have guarded us -and still do- at 11:11am.

Though do not let us forget, “It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it.” -Robert E Lee

And, as is my want, a poem about, to stir memories and feeling, this one from an American poet:

In Remembrance of those Who Served (2022)

It is fitting the weather here is again grey and sullen as another Armistice Day (in modern parlance Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the US) is once againhere.  As Armistice Day it originally served as a remembrance of the end of the Great War, the Armistice that ended the war starting at 11:11am on 11 November 1918, and those who served and died there.  Since then, it has been expanded to include the many others who have served and died for their country in honorable service through the years.

If you remember, pause for a minute of silence to honor the brave soldiers and other members of the armed forces that have guarded us -and still do- at 11:11am.

While it has been my wont in recent years to find poems from lesser-known war poets, for this year, an Irishman:

History Resources for your Game [5]

A variety of interesting articles about history that I have found recently that you can use to add depth and texture to your game world or just to expand your general knowledge.  I use them for both.

There are more ways to catch fish than nets and lines, the Pacific North West tribes built extensive fish traps along the coast.  These fish traps were extensive and suddenly forgotten due to a terrible set of circumstances.  But a fascinating technology for harvesting fish.  Is your campaign set along a coast?  Is there a place there for fish traps?  If so, would any of the cultures there be likely to use them?

Though sometimes your concern is with water, in Indin they used to use step wells to gather and store water.  There is a concerted effort to reclaim and rebuild these unusual and fascinating water storage systems.  Is water a concern in areas of your campaign world?  What strategies do the people there use to store and conserve water?

This is a fascinating article about the Zone Rouge, the area of France still deemed too dangerous to visit because of abanded Great War munitions and toxins.  Interesting enough on its own, but noted in there is the fact that certain types of plants can tell you what sorts of minerals are in the soil.  Yes, prospecting with plants!  It would be a neat “secret technique” for exploring druids, perhaps an order that is tied to one of the Dwarven cultures?  Are there any areas due to the aftermath of war or other reasons that are unsafe to visit?

Dogs and people have been living together for millennia, and we have shaped many dogs to fit very niche needs.  This article looks at some of the vanished breeds whose purpose vanished and, as happens, so did they.  The story of the evolution of our current types of dogs is interesting and a bit sad as so many other types of dogs were left behind, lost in the mists of time.  Though a turnspit dog might make a fine familiar for a wizard who specialized in culinary magic.  What sorts of dogs are there in your campaign?  Does any culture specialize in creating exotic dogs?

Did you know that there are abandoned buildings and even entire towns in the US Nation Parks?  Here are a few of them.  Great place to set a horror game or perhaps for a supervillain to hide their secret base.

Hope this has you thinking   Have you found any intriguing or fascinating history you would like to share?  If so, please do!

Notes: Photo by Dharani.prakas, found on Wikimedia Commons and used under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

In Memory of those Who Served

It is fitting the weather here is  grey and sullen as another Armistice Day (in modern parlance Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the US) is once here.  As Armistice Day it originally served as a remembrance of the end of the Great War, the Armistice that ended the war starting at 11:11am on 11 November 1918, and those who served and died there.  Since then, it has been expanded to include the many others who have served and died for their country in honorable service through the years.

If you remember, pause for a minute of silence to honor the brave soldiers and other members of the armed forces that have guarded us -and still do- at 11:11am.

While it has been my wont in recent years to find poems from lesser-known war poets, for this year, an Australian:

History Resources for your Game [4]

A variety of interesting articles about history that have found recently and wished to share:

The story of the HOUGHTEAM, a secret unit sent into the ruin of Germany (while the fighting was still ongoing) to acquire the Nazi’s vast collection of maps and geophysical data for the US (and the keep it from the Soviets).  What a great plot for an adventure!

Some of the high valleys of Switzerland used to store cheese to be served at the owner’s funeral.  Funeral customs, apart from tombs to plunder, are often neglected in RPGs, so good food for thought here.

A very good discussion on oaths, how they are made and why can be found here.   Very useful for designing oaths for characters to take.  In fact the entirety of A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry is well worth mining for information on history.

Games have been with us forever, recently a Roman game piece has been found.   Many partial games have been found but is most case we do not have a firm idea of how the game was played.   Do your game worlds have any games unique to them?

Languages live and die with their speakers, and there are only about 2,000 people left who speak Tsakonika, a language descended from Laconian, the language of ancient Sparta.  It is one of the oldest surviving languages.  Have you used lost languages in one of your adventures?

Have you found any intriguing or fascinating history you would like to share?  If so, please do!

Notes: Photo edited from the one at the Chester Standard and used without permission.

In Memory of the Noble and True Who Served

This year has been so strange that it seems sudden that we have reached another Armistice Day (in modern parlance Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the US).  As Armistice Day it originally served as a remember of the end of the Great War, the Armistice that ended the war starting at 11:11am on 11 November, 1918, and those who served and died there.  Since then, it has been expanded to include the many others who have served and died for their country in honorable service through the years.

If you remember, pause for a minute of silence to honor the brave soldiers and other members of the armed forces that have guarded us -and still do- at 11:11am.

While it has been my wont in recent years to find poems from lesser known war poets, for this year:

Heroes Inc – Reflections looking Back

Heroes Incorporated, two decades on

It was a great campaign with great people, the core of the group -Peter, Daniel and Tom- were also superhero genre fiends like me with Steve and Dave happy to join in.  Steve was also a history buff helping with context.  We played the game, a lot, forty to fifty session went into creating all those issues, and talked about it on three levels:

• What was in the in the game/comic.
• The editorial decisions that keep other things out of the comics.
• How Grant Morrison was going to rewrite it all in the late 1990s.

Now, this was the late 1990s, so we had to dig up our historical data the old fashioned way.  But there were other things going on, so I did not delve as deeply as I should have.  Now, I know I made some mistakes, some less than sensitive choices which I regret.  Should I CH a new supers game, I will make a much greater effort to avoid such insensitivity, I am sure I will still make mistake but I will be more aware.

I liked the campaign world so much, I continued it with: The New Atlantians, using the ICONS rules and set in Atlanta, and the LA Stars, twice, using the Mutants & Masterminds and set in Los Angles.  Neither of which ran quite as long, with the New Atlantians only managing a single session.

As I love superheroes and the silver age so much, I really hope that I can get another campaign going probably using Masks: A New Generation this time around.

Back to Heroes Inc Roll Call.

Photo by Cecil E Burdick, Jr, on his trip to NYC in 1967, posted and copyrighted by his son.  See the full set here.

Heroes Inc – Summaries of Issue 21 and 22

Heroes Incorporated, Summaries of Issues 21 and 22

(This story is refined as part of a “secret files” collection published in the 1990s filling in some continuity gaps.  It was decided by the players and the GM to be far to violent and dark to have been part of the ‘official’ 1960s continuity.)

“Fires of the New Sun”

The Heroes Inc team (Playboy, Human Jackrabbit, Plasma-man and the Cleaning Agent) are in Tokyo for the Olympics.  While at a dinner party, which includes the Soviet and Red Chinese representatives, it is attacked by a group of New Sun (Japanese) nationalists in powered armor who are trying the kill the communists.

The team stops them, but at great cost as the armor is equipped with ‘kamikaze’ bombs which exploded when the wearer was knocked unconscious.  Many guests were wounded after the first two attackers were killed, forcing the heroes to careful contain the others until the rest of the guests could be removed from the scene. [The Human Jackrabbit was able to use his new mega-scale running to get the wounded people to the hospital.]

Issue 21: Dragons of California

Heroes Inc – Rebel – Interview TEEN BEAT magazine

Rebel – Interview from TEENBEAT magazine.

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           Without doubt the hippest of the new wave of superheroes is the teen idol Rebel™. With his bad-boy good looks and his super cool super powers this hunk shows that there’s more to crime fighting than a squaresville cape and mask. This cat knows the kids and knows where it’s at. It was with her heart in her throat that this girl reporter approached the door to his hotel suite. I was about to meet the man who is redefining the term icon…

            Some suit opens the door and I ‘m ushered into his presence. He is framed by the window and let me tell you gentle reader everything you ‘ve heard about that profile is true! He holds an old Milwaukee in one hand and a smoking Black Label™ in the other; the bad boy of the hero world doesn ‘t take any bull from anyone! He slowly turns to me. I feel a blush rising. He peers deep into my eyes over the top of his sunglasses (Rayban Aviators style fiends). My heart skips a beat.

            “Hey. ” He says nonchalantly.

            Hey. Just that one syllable takes on so much depth coming from his lips. I am listening to the voice of the tortured soul of our generation. Flustered I sit down and fumble with the pages of my note pad. He pretends not to notice my discomfort and lets me regain my composure while staring out of the window. I take a couple of deep breaths and try not to let myself be intimidated. On top of my game again, I turn to the teen hero and bring out my big guns. I open with my hardest question first.

Heroes Inc – Rebel: The Untold Story

Rebel Special 1 – Rebel: the Untold Story

Cover: Rebel looking back over his shoulder as he steps through the gates of Warner Brothers Studios. A speech balloon from rebel says, “Are you ready to learn the truth?” Splashed across the bottom, “Rebel’s Secret Origin Revealed for the First Time!”

The scene: Hollywood, late June to early July 1963. Rebel has gone west to Warner Brothers Studios, Hollywood, to star in his first feature film, his origin story entitled, Rebel: The Untold Story. The opening scenes in the comic are of Rebel flying in front of the Hollywood sign, Rebel at Gruman’s Chinese Theater, Rebel at the Brown Derby, and so on.

Rebel first works with WB Studios animation department, having a cameo in a Bugs Bunny cartoon which is being specially made to accompany Rebel’s movie (“Rabbit without a Cause“?). So, Rebel gets to meet Mel Blanc (the man of a thousand voices).