Day 9: The Forbidden Lands

Still feeling a little low today, but I managed to get this one done. Had several appointments that I had to keep, but I got this done.

This game is also by Free League (Twilight 2000,Mutant Zero), so I guess its safe to say I am a fan? Anyway, I chose to use the Legends and Adventures book, which has a more life path oriented character creation. About halfway through, I realized I was making Willow Ufgood. lol.

I named my Halfling Sorcerer Brollo Bright, as I like alliteration. Fight me.

Character Sheet

The Character

Brollo grew up as a the Baker’s son and learned all about the process as her apprentice. When he was younger, the village Elders approached his parents to share that he had the Sorcerer’s Mark and was destined to be a great one. Brollo began training with the Sorcerers at once, but still made sure he did his work at the store. He did not want to let his mother do all the work alone.

Eventually, his mother suggested he leave to make his fortune. She had saved a map that his absent father had left her to buried treasure he had left behind in his adventuring days. Brollo found and dug it up to find quite a few silver’s worth of jewels and coins. This was enough to outfit himself to do something bigger.

As the magic he had learned required him to be in mountains or caves (Path of the Stone), he headed out to the nearby mountains to seek out adventure.

The Experience

This system is, as more modern ones are, severely lacking in the solo character generation area. There are several cool random events to help tie the players together, in addition to writing relationships with each other. I would have worked that part into this write-up, but alas, I was alone today. I mean, finding your adventuring party while plundering the same old ruins sounds like a fun way to meet!

Day 8: Star Trek Adventures

I am feeling a little low today, so I decided on something easier for me to make.

Today’s character is One of Five (known as Juan to most people). He is a liberated Borg. I made the character with this online character creator made by Modiphious, the maker of the game.

Character Sheet

The Character

Juan was raised on a frontier colony of artists and philosophers. He tended to not be interested in the art and culture until the day the Borg came. Everything he knew was taken from him, and because they were not warriors, they were quickly assimilated. Many years went by until a Federation starship attacked and disabled his Cube. He was liberated from the collective and through rehabilitation, remembered who he was before the Borg.

He joined Star Fleet and went to the academy to become a Security officer, intent on destroying the Borg. Over time, he learned that it was more important to protect his new family, than it was to focus on a pointless vendetta. He eventually became the First Officer on a ship that he now calls home.

If Star Fleet felt he was worth it, then he would dedicate his new life to helping others get that chance as well. He would liberate everyone he could, Borg or not.

The Experience

This is a simple system to make a character, although you need to think about your values carefully. They have a mechanical effect in the game and it is a significant one.

Other than that, I was mostly looking for an easy completion to this challenge today, as I am not well. I feel a bit better completing it, however, so there you are.

Day 7: Twilight 2000

I forgot to actually post this yesterday. Oops.

My kickstarter arrived recently for this game, so I made a character and see what it looks like. Also, I had a buddy (John Wick) participate, as he is still waiting on his copy to arrive. Feel free to watch that video and watch the process.

My character is James “Jimmy” Bachman, who met his best buddy Oscar Turner )john’s character) in college.

Character Sheet

The Character

James and Oscar lived within a mile of each other and never met until College. They met in orientation, where they happened to be in line together. They both decided to go into the CIA; Oscar went into intelligence and James gravitated to Sniper. From there they were inseparable until James dropped out to head into the military – one of his other colleague thought it would be a good idea.

After a term of that, he decided he missed his buddy and went back to the Agency to work with Oscar again. A few years after that, War broke out and the BTO (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) did their best to survive. They had the skills, but they were in war torn Europe now, with nothing but their backpacks, a few firearms and bicycles. Oscar felt they could make it home somehow, and Oscar was the only one James could trust.

So here they are on bicycles or on foot, working their way back to the USA. They had no idea what they would find their, but that wasn’t going to stop them. They were going Home.

The Experience

I really like this creation system overall. It has some issues, but it was a fun process and I created a neat character from the life path system they provide.

The one negative is the indexing. They reference a few things that they had not yet shown you how to handle and no page reference to do there. The life path process assumes you already know how to make skill rolls, but it is not explained how until after character creation in the book.

Also, they have everyone roll for War breaking out and aging separately, and it created quite a disparity in age when war broke out. So, we just started about halfway through rolling one die for them and applying the result to both of us. It seemed to work well for us. Small flaws, and not enough to make me dislike the process, but they existed.

I do like that they made sure every character has Range Combat skill regardless of your life path. It is the first required skill you take when you enter the military – which every character does before its over – so you won’t be unable to shoot a gun when the time comes. In this game, that is important.

It was a lot more fun with someone else — which is a common theme in character creation — so if you want to play it, I recommend you make characters as a group. It takes a little longer, as you might need to wait for someone to make some choices on skills and where their career is going to go.

Day 6: 7th Sea

I had completely forgotten until this morning (and after I already started a character in another game) that I was going to be making a character tonight for the 7th Sea game we had planned. doh!

So, I am using the character from there, a Montaigne Sorcerer by the name of René Jean-Luc Lievremont.

The Character

RenĂ© was the son of a farmer who lost his mind when RenĂ© first Pulled. He sent RenĂ© to a Sorcerer to be “trained” but he knew it was to get rid of him. His father did not want a Sorcerer in the family – some sort of superstition. It didn’t matter, as RenĂ© went anyway and learned the basics of the Art. Eventually, he left to pursue Fortune and Glorious Fame to work its way back to his father’s ears. He took his dad’s musket, as a reminder of why he left. RenĂ© loves to hit people with it or throw it at things, imagining its his dad. He rarely fires it anymore.

RenĂ© is a thief, but one who doesn’t like the risks that normally come with it. Second Story work is for the amateur; Privateering was the way to go. He hooked up with a Captain who valued his talents, became the Quartermaster on a ship called – no shit – the Otter Nonsense. There is no doubt that this is an Omen for the future that RenĂ© might get rich, but it will definitely cost him his sanity.

Still, there are worse places to be than being followed and fired upon by a Vodacce Galleon because he has their daughter on board. The daughter who he found at sea in a dinghy clutching a note, along with a dead Knight of the Rose and Cross. Said dinghy was floating next to a flaming ship that would not allow itself to extinguish, regardless of the sand and water used. Oh, and she doesn’t remember anything and she’s a Fate Witch.

So, yeah. The flaming ship was sunk, the daughter was picked up and the Otter Nonsense carried on its way. A little drama — and fire — later, he found himself here, pursued by the family because he want to help this girl.

The Character Sheet

The Experience

There was more to the story of René, but that is the overview of what happened to him. The rest of the crew had some fun experiences along the way. One was even in love with the villain and let her shoot him in the chest! Pretty cool.

Swashbuckling was definitely had, and I had fun. The experience was enjoyable and I think the character will be fun to play should we play again.

But, I built a generalist in a game that kinda works best with specialties. I have a lot of options, but without hero points being spent, I don’t have a lot of dice to roll. I built a sidekick and a plot twist, but I DO think its fun to be called RenĂ© and I love his backstory, I just decided. I have always loved the French. 🙂

If I play again, I am playing a duelist, or an Knight of the Rose and Cross. I think I would enjoy that much more in this game.

Today’s running code:

So, I decided to write out some of my thoughts in code, to see if they make sense. I was struggling to get things done today, and had to prioritize things that had to be done vs. things I want to get done. The writing below is pretty much what went through my brain. I have run it, reached FuckIt(), and am currently regenerating. I am not asleep, so I had enough spoons to get this written.

NOTE: This is pseudocode from several of the various languages I know. I am choosing various syntax purely for readability of my message. I know it won’t compile and I don’t need to be told. If you need it to compile, feel free to rewrite it and let me know. I am happy with it as it is, since it runs on ChrisOS just fine. 🙂


Today’s Code:

#> cat DoStuff.exe
#> #/bin/chrish -w

//start of Code
spoons = GetSpoonCount(); // do I have the energy?
fucks  = GetFuckCount();  // can I give a fuck?
spoons = spoons -1; // evaluating counts costs spoons.

// If I don't give a fuck, we are done.
if (fucks < 1) { 
    FuckIt(); // if we are here, go look at FuckIt subroutine below.
}

// Otherwise, let's try to get something done! 
// if we have positive spoons, then let's go

// loop over plans and start doing them
for plan in plansForToday {
    // check to see if you still care
    if ( spoons > 0 AND fucks > 0 ) {	
        effort = GetEffort(plan);
        if ( effort > spoons OR effort > fucks) {
            FuckIt();
       }

        // if we got here, we are doing shit!		
        DoTheThing(plan);
        fucks  = (fucks  - effort);
        spoons  = (spoons - effort);
    }
    
    // because sometimes I just randomly lost more spoons
    // for no fucking reason
    spoons = spoons - rand(0-2) ;    
}

if ( fucks < 1 ) { 
	FuckIt();
} 


// subroutines
sub FuckIt() {
    print "Fuck It.";
	if (spoons < 1) {
		print "I am done.";
		sleep(10000);
	}

    exit;
}

//End of Code
#> exit

Thank you for coming to my ChrisTalk.
Thank you for coming to my ChrisTalk.

Day 5: Fantasy Age

I am mostly following John Wick’s 31 day Challenge, but today I decided to do a different game. Fantasy Age is the Generic System that was first the Dragon Age RPG, which was featured on Tabletop.

I enjoy this system, although it has some flaws, but I have not made a character for me – I was always the GM. I decided on a gnomish mage who is so obsessed with forbidden knowledge, that he sometimes forgets all else. Tik Kelbon, is his name.

The Character

Tik Kelbon could not sit still once he learned of the existence of the Soul Arcana, spells that can manipulate one’s very essence. Perhaps raise the dead or even moving the soul to another body or object! Not that he wanted to such things, but imaging how it would help the world.

He had off towards the deep desert, where the Tome of the Soul was rumoured to be found. He had provisions enough for a long trip on his horse, and water for some time. He had his crew together at the Inn of the Rat on the edge of the dunes. Once they were rested for the night, they would set out.

Now the task of getting there and getting the Tome without the others knowing what he sought. They might not want anyone to have that knowledge. Well. he’s gotten this far without anyone knowing; he can make it the rest of the way. He will know soon enough.

Character Sheet

The Experience

Fantasy AGE is an interesting system. I watched the tabletop episode while I made this character to get in the mood. The system is simple, although the book is not organized very well. I had to jump about a bit to get the character made. They had a list to make it helpful, but there was a bit of searching to get the details. Still, I got it done.

Day 4: TMNT

Borrowed the book for this one, as I couldn’t find it. Day 5 will be out shortly, once I finish it. Almost caught up!

The Character

Yangus tries to forget before he was Freed from the facility he was brought up in. As a Maine Coon, he was a big cat, and those cages weren’t designed for him, and now he avoids small enclosed spaces. His mutations weren’t so obvious that he couldn’t pass as a cat, unless you got a close look at his paws, as they were closer to human hands than cat. He can talk some, but he has a thick Cat accent.
He has been running from place to place ever since he escaped, one step ahead of organization for a few years now, but they do seem to have some way to track him that he can’t figure out. He got the low-jack chip out of his head after breaking into a doctor’s office for some tools, but they still track him down if he stays in one place for more than about a month. So, every few weeks, Yangus ventures off into the wilderness to find the next town. Not the best life, but at least he is free.

Page One and Page Two

The Experience

Playing a mutant cat with psionics and a partial human appearance is just the kind of experience I enjoy. I was thinking of Rocket Raccoon as I made him, and I think it helped the process. Most of what is on the sheet is randomly rolled, as you did in the 80s, but I think it would be a fun character to play once connected with a group. With the caveat, that I would likely want to use another system, as Palladium isn’t ideal.

Day 3: Mutant Year Zero

I am a little behind, as I had several days of previous commitments I had to prioritize first and I am pooped. I am hoping to catch up by Day 5 and keep it consistent from there, still using the Day the character should have been done. This is hard for my ADHD/PTSD brain, y’all, but I have a gym buddy/body double keeping me on track. It is very helpful.

Now on to Karl, another Enforcer character. I am starting to see a theme in my choices. 🙂

The Character

Karl grew up in the wastes and survived competing with the various creatures. His mutated carapace instead of skin and immense size (even as a child) allowed him to survive with only emotional damage to show for it. Most things just leave him alone as he walks about the waste. Despite his large size and intimidating manner, he is a big softie if you aren’t hostile to him. He only kills what he has to, and taking advantage of his kindness is cause for it. Good info to know, just in case you meet him in the wild.

Karl’s Character sheet on GDrive

The Experience

Once again, I made a character I want to play and I enjoyed the process, but the lack of a group to play off of for better backgrounds was definitely noticed. I would like to actually play this game at least once and maybe remake Karl when I do. I only had the starter set for this one, so I would like to do more with this game.

Day 2: Thirsty Sword Lesbians

The Character

Olli Milmot is a Beast. She likes to go get wild, dresses comfortably and carries a sword made of the teeth of things she was forced to fight. She would much rather wrestle, cuddle and kiss, but if you push her, she will fight you on your terms. Then, the Beast takes over and she adds teeth to her sword. Oh, and if you run? She is an expert Tracker. You made your choice; hide if you can.

The Experience

I decided Ollie’s beast form was that of an Owlbear because Owlbears are cool. Fight me. I think this one would have been much more fun to create in a session 0 with a group, but there you go.

I was in a hurry, so no picture today. Working on Day three!

Day 1: Bunkers and Badasses

The Character

I made Kevin! the Psycho Enforcer who loves to Dance! And to Break Shit! With Explosions! Also, he likes YELLING. My Opinion (that you didn’t ask for): Seems like a simple system, with a leveling system very much like Borderlands! The random gun tables were fun also. I rolled one up for fun. It is a Torgue weapon called the One (Red Text: Gravity’s Rainbow). You can only shoot it once a day, but it does maximum damage x10! A One Shot Kill so I can go on with my Rage in peace!

The Experience

Making Kevin! was a lot of fun and I actually wanted to play him. Otherwise, sounds like a beer and pretzels kinda game that would be fun to fill in between session when folks can’t make it or to run at a con.

Let’s see if I can make it 31 days!

Just waiting for the world to change…