And so it begins… again…

There is a hole in your mind… What do you want?… No one here is exactly what he appears…. Nothing’s the same anymore…. Commander Sinclair is being reassigned…. Why don’t you eliminate the entire Narn homeworld while you’re at it?… I see a great hand reaching out of the stars…. Who are you?… President Clark has signed a decree today declaring martial law…. These orders have forced us to declare independence…. unless you people get off your encounter-suited butts and do something!… You are the one who was…. If you go to Z’Ha’Dum, you will die…. Why are you here?… Do you have anything worth living for?… I think of my beautiful city in flames…… like giants in the playground…… Now get the hell out of our galaxy!… We are here to place President Clark under arrest.

Waitasec… I drifted there… where was I?

Oh yes, my core gaming group (who have generously been my playtest group for the past few years as well) has reassembled and as of yesterday we have a new game and game plan! Two spanking new characters, a brand new invented world (even if I did steal some of the better bits from others sources, ahem), a new quest, new lynchpins and quandaries, the whole kit and caboodle – and the first game to be played with the all new completed (so far) 2.0 rules – especially the new Boons and Effects! (I feel like a “Whee!” is somehow appropriate here, but I’ll restrain myself – somehow, grin.)

I would love us to have another member, maybe even two – it would be nice to have at least three players besides me (the GM), so if you are in the local area (Southwestern NH/Southeastern VT) and are interested, let me know, benn@4efix.com – could be fun!

The game plan we built yesterday wound up being fantasy, which for our group is unusual as we’ve typically gone “Super” often. But to avoid the stereotypical fantasy gaming experience, we made a few tweaks:

• no non human intelligent races – no elves, dwarves, etc. However, we do have different human races and cultures which are reminiscent of the standard fantasy tropes. So while we have the Dunad humans, who tend to be a short, stocky, hardy, mountain people, they have no special racial “abilities” like detection or craftmanship – gives the whole thing a more “authentic” less campy feel.
• We set it in a more Renaissance type period as opposed to a more primitive middle ages. (Still no gunpowder though.)
• We choose a more adventurous, swashbuckling theme. (Okay, that one’s less about being unique, grin.)

 
In addition, we came up with five magic systems (I did, um, “borrow” a few from Lyndon Hardy) including:

• Wizardry – the practice of spell-casting, with each Wizard learning how to engrave his spells on reality itself, to deepen the channel through which magic flows – the deeper the channel, the less chance of a miscast.
• Sorcery – the practice of Demon summoning, all about domination and control. Good news, if you dominate the demon you summon, you can have them do one thing for you. Bad news – if they dominate you they can ride your body like a Harley for awhile.
• Alchemy – the practice of finding substances and things in the world that one can combine essences of to create potions – knowing that it’s a matter of probabilities, and that you frequently have to start out making a hundred potions to even have a 50/50 chance of winding up with one success.
• Artificery – the practice of making artifacts and magic items, requiring days or even weeks of rituals of patience, perseverance, and above all perfection to finally make that one perfect item – unless you make one tiny mistake and have to start from scratch.
• And finally, the Naturals, who do not count themselves as a magical practice – and indeed are mostly against magic, which makes sense given the techniques they learn to, through calm serenity, project harmony and tranquility – which can interrupt, stifle, or even destroy all other forms of magic.

 
We’re all stoked to play – and with the disappearance of ALL the mages of rank master or above, across the whole continent, the apprentices are the only one’s left to trying to figure out what this all means – including the sudden and unexplained appearance of countless obsidian spires off the coasts of this continent.

Guess it’s up to the Questers to get to the bottom of what’s going on – and to do something about it!

And they’re off!