Am back! (RPG/RL)
Although I never really went anywhere - just been offline, mostly, for the last few weeks. Here's a quick round up of things:
In RPG, we've played two games of Alternity recently, with a Samurai setting. It has been really exciting with lots of talk of honor, vicious sword duels and feuding clans. The back story to the campaign saw the emperor find a divine, talking toad, leading to five years of prosperity for the emperor, his lands, and for the Toad Clan (to which the PCs belong). However, one day the toad was swallowed by a phoenix, as the Phoenix Clan moved to claim more power for themselves. Hearing the voice of the toad from inside the phoenix's belly, they took control of the emperor, prompting a response from the Toad Clan.
The PCs traveled with their Daimyo to the capitol, where they hoped their pleas against the actions of the Phoenix Clan would be heard. To ensure they were, the ageing Daimyo committed seppuku before the emperor in protest, handing power to his son. Adrian's character, Akira, was chosen as the Daimyo's second. His hand was shaken by nerves and he bought dishonor upon himself and his family when his lord's head left his shoulders with a sloppy cut.
From there the game moved forward, offering Akira a chance at some redemption through the science of a gaijin doctor, Dr. Buttersworth, who introduced him to his stethoscope. With the wondrous device the heart beat of the toad could be heard and the truth behind the Phoenix Clan's claims ascertained. Pulling favors with the new Daimyo's younger brother got Akira, the other PCs and the good-doctor into the imperial court, where it was revealed that the toad did indeed still live! While the Phoenix Clan were not lying, the question remained as to the comfort and safety of the divine toad inside the stomach of a fiery bird.
As the matter was discussed and debated by the clan elders, the Phoenix sprang their trap and tried to kidnap the emperor, saving him from claimed Toad aggression. The capitol was engulfed in flames and the PCs battled against both the living and the dead members of the Phoenix Clan, aided by the Shrine Maiden Kiyomi.. They battled to the palace gates where they killed a powerful Oni-Ogre before he could even raise his club.
Battling through the palace, they reached the throne room and found an injured Dr. Buttersworth and the emperor - surrounded by dead samurai. The eldest daughter of the Phoenix Clan, Nana Yamada, was personally tasked with the abduction. Yama, played by Jordan, challenged her to a duel, which she won easily - but not as easily as she won his heart! The remaining PCs, supported by Dr. Buttersworth fought bravely, finally taking down Nana, saving the emperor, and making it safely to the docks and aboard a friendly vessel.
The second game was filled with a lot of political intrigue, as Miko, played by Becky, was tasked with forging an alliance with the Hare Clan. Their lands were going to play an important role in the building conflict between the Toad and their allies, and the Phoenix and their allies.
The intervening 6 months had seen claims by the Phoenix that they had saved the emperor from the Toad Clan, and producing their own emperor as evidence! They moved forward and occupied the capitol to defend him, and the phoenix bird they claimed still housed the divine toad. The true emperor, in the meantime, was being moved around the Toad Clan's lands in secret, to keep him safe. The toad was also held in a secret location - resting with Buddhist monks and healing from the wounds suffered in the flaming bird's belly!
Spending some of her stipend on support from the merchant navy, new canons and training for her crews, Miko a lot of gold in case the war took its toll on the fields and fishermen in her domain. She set sail, reunited with her old companions, sailing through the neutral Dragon Clan's waters, into the hostile Phoenix Clan's waters, as far out to sea as she dare. There she encountered fasting priests who were attempting to summon a powerful sea serpent to augment the Phoenix Clan's naval strength. One of the priests ended his life rather than be captured, while the others went to her brig, becoming the first POWs of the conflict.
They then arrived in the waters of the Lion Clan, allies of the Toad, and were escorted safely through their waters to their destination, the Hare Clan's city of Ichiguro. Miko met with the Hare Daimyo and initial negotiations went well. An attempt on the PC's lives by ninjas during the night could not stop the wheels of diplomacy, with both parties firmly blaming the Phoenix for such dishonorable tactics.
The Hare wished to support the Toad, but was unable to commit to doing so, as they had their own problems which were using up their resources, namely pirates operating along the Hare's coast, and skirmishes with the Fish Clan, who bordered to their south.
The Fish Clan were keen to be seen as "players" in the war between the Toad and the Phoenix - they wanted it to be Toad vs. Phoenix vs. Fish, with intelligence reports stating that they even had a new political system set up in the chaos, with the Fish Daimyo sharing power with an elected-from-the-samurai-class President! The Fish also had an ongoing feud with the Hare, over a Fish Clan swordsman, claiming sanctuary in one of the temples in their lands. The monks would not kick the swordsman out as long as he lived by their rules, and the Hare could not drag him out, lest they insight a revolt from all the temples throughout their lands.
The swordsman was non-other than Eiji Kurita, legendary warrior who sought enlightenment and to perfect his skills with the blade - travelling as far as India to learn strange fighting styles and religious tenets. After much negotiating with the monks, Eiji and the Hare Daimyo, the events leading to Eiji's forced seclusion came to light.
Many years ago, Eiji had duelled the Daimyo's daughter, to first blood. After loosing, she did not stop and pressed the attack, forcing him to use his secret technique (later revealed to be the Dasamuki Mahakali - the art of ten hands, five swords!) to save himself. The Daimyo's daughter died from her injuries as many Hare samurai lined up to defeat the Fish swordsman. He defeated each one without resorting to his secret technique but it was no good - they would not rest until his head was bought before their Daimyo for his "dishonorable tactics".
With neither side willing to accept the stain of dishonor, all hope of Miko securing a treaty seemed to be lost due to this Fish-Hare feud. However, by moving both parties towards a Fish-Hare alliance, supported by the Toad, she was to meet with success.
Not, however, without Eiji surrendering to the Hare Daimyo. Convinced to put his own life aside for the sake of peace between the clans, he committed seppuku and died with his honor intact. Before his death, Eiji revealed to Yama that he trained at the same school as Nana, and that using the Phoenix Clan's magic, she still lived. He gifted Yama with one of his swords, and the task of returning two of his swords to his two sons, still living within the Fish Clan's holdings.
Phew! All this was done with an additional sword-fighting mechanic, based on rock-paper-scissors. A lot of fun so far - let's see if we can get another game going soonish!
Because of these Samurai games, we've not managed to play any SCAP. Also, next week, Adrian is going to start running a Mutants and Masterminds game for us. More on that as it happens. Finally, Dance of Dice Games is finally coming together as we have an amazing artist working on illustrations for us! w00t!
In Real Life, a lot of things have sucked. Lots of illness and mental instability, propped up by lots of pills. Ugh.
I'm no longer going to swimming classes as I couldn't handle the pressure of it. With everyone saying "well done" and "it is such a good thing", I flipped out and couldn't handle it. I would spend all day before the class (at 2130!) freaking out and not being able to do anything. However, I am pleased to have gone for a while, intend to pick it up again, and can actually swim now!
Finally, I've got to add something, before I forget about it. Picture evidence should be coming soon. We bought some profiteroles, chocolate covered ones. What would you expect on the box, to describe the chocolate coating? Chocolate covered? Chocolate dipped? Oh, no. These were chocolate enrobed. Check that out - enrobed! Lol.
In RPG, we've played two games of Alternity recently, with a Samurai setting. It has been really exciting with lots of talk of honor, vicious sword duels and feuding clans. The back story to the campaign saw the emperor find a divine, talking toad, leading to five years of prosperity for the emperor, his lands, and for the Toad Clan (to which the PCs belong). However, one day the toad was swallowed by a phoenix, as the Phoenix Clan moved to claim more power for themselves. Hearing the voice of the toad from inside the phoenix's belly, they took control of the emperor, prompting a response from the Toad Clan.
The PCs traveled with their Daimyo to the capitol, where they hoped their pleas against the actions of the Phoenix Clan would be heard. To ensure they were, the ageing Daimyo committed seppuku before the emperor in protest, handing power to his son. Adrian's character, Akira, was chosen as the Daimyo's second. His hand was shaken by nerves and he bought dishonor upon himself and his family when his lord's head left his shoulders with a sloppy cut.
From there the game moved forward, offering Akira a chance at some redemption through the science of a gaijin doctor, Dr. Buttersworth, who introduced him to his stethoscope. With the wondrous device the heart beat of the toad could be heard and the truth behind the Phoenix Clan's claims ascertained. Pulling favors with the new Daimyo's younger brother got Akira, the other PCs and the good-doctor into the imperial court, where it was revealed that the toad did indeed still live! While the Phoenix Clan were not lying, the question remained as to the comfort and safety of the divine toad inside the stomach of a fiery bird.
As the matter was discussed and debated by the clan elders, the Phoenix sprang their trap and tried to kidnap the emperor, saving him from claimed Toad aggression. The capitol was engulfed in flames and the PCs battled against both the living and the dead members of the Phoenix Clan, aided by the Shrine Maiden Kiyomi.. They battled to the palace gates where they killed a powerful Oni-Ogre before he could even raise his club.
Battling through the palace, they reached the throne room and found an injured Dr. Buttersworth and the emperor - surrounded by dead samurai. The eldest daughter of the Phoenix Clan, Nana Yamada, was personally tasked with the abduction. Yama, played by Jordan, challenged her to a duel, which she won easily - but not as easily as she won his heart! The remaining PCs, supported by Dr. Buttersworth fought bravely, finally taking down Nana, saving the emperor, and making it safely to the docks and aboard a friendly vessel.
The second game was filled with a lot of political intrigue, as Miko, played by Becky, was tasked with forging an alliance with the Hare Clan. Their lands were going to play an important role in the building conflict between the Toad and their allies, and the Phoenix and their allies.
The intervening 6 months had seen claims by the Phoenix that they had saved the emperor from the Toad Clan, and producing their own emperor as evidence! They moved forward and occupied the capitol to defend him, and the phoenix bird they claimed still housed the divine toad. The true emperor, in the meantime, was being moved around the Toad Clan's lands in secret, to keep him safe. The toad was also held in a secret location - resting with Buddhist monks and healing from the wounds suffered in the flaming bird's belly!
Spending some of her stipend on support from the merchant navy, new canons and training for her crews, Miko a lot of gold in case the war took its toll on the fields and fishermen in her domain. She set sail, reunited with her old companions, sailing through the neutral Dragon Clan's waters, into the hostile Phoenix Clan's waters, as far out to sea as she dare. There she encountered fasting priests who were attempting to summon a powerful sea serpent to augment the Phoenix Clan's naval strength. One of the priests ended his life rather than be captured, while the others went to her brig, becoming the first POWs of the conflict.
They then arrived in the waters of the Lion Clan, allies of the Toad, and were escorted safely through their waters to their destination, the Hare Clan's city of Ichiguro. Miko met with the Hare Daimyo and initial negotiations went well. An attempt on the PC's lives by ninjas during the night could not stop the wheels of diplomacy, with both parties firmly blaming the Phoenix for such dishonorable tactics.
The Hare wished to support the Toad, but was unable to commit to doing so, as they had their own problems which were using up their resources, namely pirates operating along the Hare's coast, and skirmishes with the Fish Clan, who bordered to their south.
The Fish Clan were keen to be seen as "players" in the war between the Toad and the Phoenix - they wanted it to be Toad vs. Phoenix vs. Fish, with intelligence reports stating that they even had a new political system set up in the chaos, with the Fish Daimyo sharing power with an elected-from-the-samurai-class President! The Fish also had an ongoing feud with the Hare, over a Fish Clan swordsman, claiming sanctuary in one of the temples in their lands. The monks would not kick the swordsman out as long as he lived by their rules, and the Hare could not drag him out, lest they insight a revolt from all the temples throughout their lands.
The swordsman was non-other than Eiji Kurita, legendary warrior who sought enlightenment and to perfect his skills with the blade - travelling as far as India to learn strange fighting styles and religious tenets. After much negotiating with the monks, Eiji and the Hare Daimyo, the events leading to Eiji's forced seclusion came to light.
Many years ago, Eiji had duelled the Daimyo's daughter, to first blood. After loosing, she did not stop and pressed the attack, forcing him to use his secret technique (later revealed to be the Dasamuki Mahakali - the art of ten hands, five swords!) to save himself. The Daimyo's daughter died from her injuries as many Hare samurai lined up to defeat the Fish swordsman. He defeated each one without resorting to his secret technique but it was no good - they would not rest until his head was bought before their Daimyo for his "dishonorable tactics".
With neither side willing to accept the stain of dishonor, all hope of Miko securing a treaty seemed to be lost due to this Fish-Hare feud. However, by moving both parties towards a Fish-Hare alliance, supported by the Toad, she was to meet with success.
Not, however, without Eiji surrendering to the Hare Daimyo. Convinced to put his own life aside for the sake of peace between the clans, he committed seppuku and died with his honor intact. Before his death, Eiji revealed to Yama that he trained at the same school as Nana, and that using the Phoenix Clan's magic, she still lived. He gifted Yama with one of his swords, and the task of returning two of his swords to his two sons, still living within the Fish Clan's holdings.
Phew! All this was done with an additional sword-fighting mechanic, based on rock-paper-scissors. A lot of fun so far - let's see if we can get another game going soonish!
Because of these Samurai games, we've not managed to play any SCAP. Also, next week, Adrian is going to start running a Mutants and Masterminds game for us. More on that as it happens. Finally, Dance of Dice Games is finally coming together as we have an amazing artist working on illustrations for us! w00t!
In Real Life, a lot of things have sucked. Lots of illness and mental instability, propped up by lots of pills. Ugh.
I'm no longer going to swimming classes as I couldn't handle the pressure of it. With everyone saying "well done" and "it is such a good thing", I flipped out and couldn't handle it. I would spend all day before the class (at 2130!) freaking out and not being able to do anything. However, I am pleased to have gone for a while, intend to pick it up again, and can actually swim now!
Finally, I've got to add something, before I forget about it. Picture evidence should be coming soon. We bought some profiteroles, chocolate covered ones. What would you expect on the box, to describe the chocolate coating? Chocolate covered? Chocolate dipped? Oh, no. These were chocolate enrobed. Check that out - enrobed! Lol.