Geo-Verse

The group got to the chaos ship Avenger, captained by Maladorn. They met Hilx, a surly half-Orc who showed them to their staterooms and gave them a run down on the ship’s rules.

Soon, the ship got underway and Razeth went up to see what he could help with. The Orc deck hand had him help stow the mooring lines and they chatted awhile when the deck hand took the forward watch.

They left the City of Brass behind them and soon heard a wailing sound. It seems that the ship was heading to the Keening Delve and the captain intended to fly through one of its many passages.

The sole human crewmember, Misty, came up and relieved the Orc at lookout as they approached the Delve.

By then Teka had climbed up to the deck and they assisted Misty as the ship plunged into the Keening Delve. As they were going through the tunnel, a Blue Slaad dropped on deck.

There was a brief, but violent fight which saw the paladin thrown overboard. Fortunately they were in the tunnel, so he didn’t fall far and the sorcerer was able to recover him quickly.

Teka always seems to be knocking Razeth into a hole or pulling him out of one.

They pushed the body of the Slaad overboard and conntinued through the Delve.

Behind the Screen

Because of its proximity to the City of Brass, I wanted to use the Keening Delve. I tossed a quick encounter in there just to let the characters flex their level 17 muscles some before arriving at the castle in the clouds.

This Week in Podcasts

Order 66 – The Order 66 Podcast posted their 98 podcast covering the Star Wars Saga Edition RPG. In this episode, GM Chris, GM Dave, and TG had special guest Christopher West, cartographer extraordinaire. They had a lengthy discussion about maps and mapmaking.

NewbieDM – This minicast was NewbieDM’s test. In this trial cast the host and guest hose ChattyDM answer a listener’s question about perception checks. NewbieDM suggested that he would be doing other casts like this and ChattyDM, DaveTheGame, and he would be collaboration on a podcast for gamemasters.

HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast – In Episode 34, Chris and Chad take on HPL’s story, The Festival. Their reader this week was Scott MacDonell. Next week they will look at the story that HPL ghost wrote for Hari Houdini.

Radio Free Hommlet – The RFH crew posted Episode 44. While we have been expecting the interview with Rodney Thompson of Wizards of the Coast, this cast does not have that. Instead, they had a discussion of how players in 4E manage to gimp their characters and ways to avoid that.

DVD’s

Ponyo – Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent move has been released by Disney. As I mentioned the movie is beautifully done, but a little short on the plot. The cover of the DVD case says that it was “Inspired by…Hans Christian Anderson Story The Little Mermaid.” It has to be a very loose inspiration as this is even further from the HCA story than the Disney version.

Books

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp – This book is essentially a workbook for helping one develop the habits needed for creativity. Although Ms. Tharp is a choreographer, her advice can apply to any creative person or any person who wishes to foster their creativity. After hearing Wil Wheaton and the crew of Radio Free Hommlet give this book a recommendation, I decided to check it out. I received it this week and am still going through it.

This book is not something you can read and instantly make you creative. It has exercises throughout the book to help get the reader in the creative habit. It stands in the top 10 of three different categories on Amazon.

Music

Zoe Keating – Once Cello x 16: Natoma – I was first made aware of Zoe Keating’s work through the Radio Free Hommlet podcast, which uses a portion of Legions (War) to introduce one of their segments. A bit later, Episode 23 of the HP Lovecraft Literary podcast gave me a greater appreciation for cello music.

I dug out some of the Yo Yo Ma CD’s I had, but I wanted something less traditional and bit deeper. It was another blog or Tweet that made me take a closer look at Zoe Keating and finally order one of her CD’s. I picked up Natoma because it has Legions (War) on it and found it to be a very enjoyable album.

What is unique about Zoe’s work is that she performs all of the pieces solo but accompanied by herself. She does with the assistance of a computer for which she has developed a foot activation system. The result is a very beautiful and other worldly composition.

Those interested in learning more about Zoe Keating can find her on YouTube or go to www.zoekeating.com.

The H.P. Lovecraft Word of the Week

Hoary – adj – 1. Gray or white with or as with age. 2. Covered with grayish hair or pubescence. 3. So old as to inspire veneration; ancient.

Geo

The group left the captain’s office and talked to farmer Sims. He lead them to where he found his daughter’s milk pail. There they found that several beings in boots struggled with the girl and headed to the woods.

Following the trail, the found the girl’s clogs and noticed that the group was joined by two beings with larger boots. The group they were following was moving slowly through the woods and the characters soon caught up with them.

The group the found consisted of six cultists and two warforged. The warforged were not wearing the robes of the cultists, but were wearing clothes and oversized boots.

The group engaged this group and fought them until the last standing member, one of the warforged, surrendered.

As we closed the session, they were releasing the girl, Larna, from her bonds and preparing to bind up the warforged, Jonas (J0NA5).

During the fight, the group determined that the cultists belonged to the Fleshweavers, an off-shoot of the Mockery who have a special affinity for warforged.

Behind the Screen

This was an abbreviated session, necessitated by crazy work schedules this week. Nevertheless, I try to run a session every week as I feel missing a week causes loss of momentum.

All of the villains of this piece came directly from the monster builder with little modification. For this encounter, I used the Cultist Thug, a level 8 skirmisher, and the Warforged Savage, a level 7 brute. I used the savage as it was written, but I wanted to have a quick fight, so the cultists became minions. I did the conversion on the fly, by giving them a single hit point and a constant 5 points of damage.

I expect that the group will determing where the cult is hiding from Jonas and go there to terminate further activities in the area.

Elderac

In this segment, I continue to look at the films of Hayao Miyazaki and how they might apply to fantasy games. I have two films left.

Kiki’s Delivery Service – a coming of age story of a young witch who leaves home and goes to the city to make her way. It seems to be set in an alternate timeline where there are advanced automobiles, but aviation still is in its infancy.

Some elements that might be useful in a fantasy game:

- There is some magic involved, mostly flying on the broomstick
- Flying vessels
- Familiars

Although Kiki is a witch, this is less about magic and more about her overcoming obstacles. Because of this movie, the little black cat we have gained the name Jiji.

Ponyo – is a newer Miyazaki movie. It was released in the States last summer and only recently has come out of DVD. The titular character is an intelligent sea creature that seems to be the child of a wizard and a sea spirit. She befriends a young boy and the adventure takes off from there.

Some elements that might be useful in a fantasy game:

- A wizard that seems to create magic with potions
- An underwater lair
- A water spirit
- Magic gone awry

I am still somewhat undecided about this movie. It feels like it was cut short for the American audience, but the Japanese version is the same length from what I have been able to learn. Although it does have Miyazaki’s familiar themes of a strong heroine and the conflict with nature, this movie isn’t as strong as his previous efforts. When my copy of the DVD arrives, I’ll need to watch it again, carefully, to see if there are subtle things that I missed.

That covers all of the Miyazaki films. He does have some TV productions and manga, but I am leaving it with just a focus on the movies.

Looking over the lists of elements, I see that many, if not most, can be covered easily with almost any standard fantasy RPG. The real wealth here comes in the backgrounds and themes that are portrayed.

This is a compiled list of the ones I find most interesting and will consider for my game:

Arcane education requires some sort of fealty
A post apocalyptic setting
Prophesy that gets fulfilled in an unexpected way
Giant constructs as weapons of war
The toxic forest
Giant insects
Early firearms
Flying cities
Levitation stone
Air pirates
Political upheaval
A changing world

A quick review will reveal that most of these come from Nausicaa and Laputa.

I will take a closer look at these in a future blog about the New Geonian World.

Thanks for reading,

Geo

Tonight was the annual ball in the City of Brass.

After showing their invitations, they were announced and shown into the ballroom. The granduer of the ball was a bit overwhelming for some of the group, but they quickly recovered and got down to business. At least some of them got busy, Razeth and Isonnea got into the dancing. Jennia found the attentions of Balzar, a human planeshopper.

Teka, Mellin, and Ruwyn went around the ball speaking with those to whom they needed to speak. They had difficulty finding Baron K’Zan at first, largely because he had not yet arrived at the ball, being fashionably late and all that.

The captain also arrived after the group. Mellin spoke with the captain and negotiated a price for him to take them to their destination. He told her to have the group at Tanith Tower by noon on the day after next.

Then Teka spent some time talking with baron K’Zan and gathered some information from him, after he got the Efreet to warm up.

After accomplishing their tasks, the group enjoyed the ball. Towards the end of the evening, a succubus cornered Razeth and blackmailed him into dancing with her. After tempting him with her charms, she told him to leave the diamond where it is and she would fill his wildest desires.

Finally, at the end of the night, the group worked their way back to the Twisted Horn. If Jennia has some time the next day, she plans to go see Balzar Thorton’s ship, the Lady Alexis.

Behind the Screen (Spoiler Alert)

This was a pretty good session. I had a god time describing the ball, its decor, and patrons.

Trying once again to introduce a love interest for Jennia, I introduced Balzar Thorton, a planesjumper from Shadizar.

Working towards Razeth’s Epic Destiny, I had a succubus approach him and offer some temptation. He probably should have recognized that the succubus was fairly out of place in the City of Brass. A religion check would have shown that devils belong on the astral plane.

Next session, we should be fast forwarding to thier departure from the City of Brass on their way to Talapu. In the meantime, I need to make some cloud giants and storm giants.

Captain Maladorn arrived with the Eladrin Princess Cassila. She has a secret and her story is a seed for a future quest. They will see her again when the get to Maladorn’s ship.

Geo