Tuesday, May 28, 2013

I have been away...

And a little busy:
A late mothers' day present
Well, technically my wife was busy, and I was flailing around trying to help her.  With two in the house now, our free time has declined somewhat.

Anyway, I have not touched a miniature for weeks, and have not been keeping up with blogs either.  It seems like plenty of good things have been going on in the ol'blogosphere, but I have not caught up with it all yet.

I did manage to read almost all of the Grant Morrison JLA books, and the second Carson Napier on Venus book, and have just started the final Wheel of Time book... so plenty more to discuss once I get into the swing of things again.  It might be a while though!

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Dungeon Master's Guide II


Last week I finished reading the Monster Manual II (MMII), published in the far off year of 1983, when I was too young to read this.

Most of the thoughts I had of II are the same as of the original Monster Manual, although I will say that the art is over all much better in MMII (and apparently they had more than $5 to pay for the cover art this time around). However, the selection of monsters feels pretty weak to me.  If you are not in to planar adventures, then about 60% of the content is cut, and most of what is left is strange variations of previous monsters.

I did like the Derro (even though they are basically evil dwarves), the cloaker, and the rules for animal skeletons, as all of these are things which could feature in a more low powered game.  Even better, Reaper has some great Derro figures, sculpted by Derek Schubert.  These certainly need to feature in a future campaign (avert your eyes players!)  There are also some now-classic monsters from the various adventures published prior to this book, including the Driders, which of course have become popular since then. (Reaper has some stand ins for those too).

Friday, May 3, 2013

Pirates of Venus

I just finished reading Pirates of Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Published in 1934, it is the story of Carson Napier, a wealthy young adventurer, who builds a space ship to travel to Mars.  As it happens, he goes to Venus instead, and there encounters a race of humanity not too unlike our own, and has various adventures, while trying to reach the object of his affection.  After the Barsoom books, much of this seems familiar; however, the unusual and novel aspects of Venus are interesting, and Carson is quite a bit better than John Carter. 

Figures wise, most of the stuff used for Barsoom games could translate over to Venus, although some care would have to be taken with the weaponry, and the women wear a specific garment that may be difficult to find in the usual places. (possibly Roman or Greek women?)  The Venusian ships would be interesting to see as well, as they are nuclear powered pre-dreadnaught cruisers which can none the less be carried by boarding action.

I got the book from the library (as I do with most books), and not only was it first edition, but it still had the little cards in the back from the pre-barcode lending era.  It was pretty interesting to see how frequently (or not) this book was read over the nearly 80 years that it has been in the possession of the library.

In another interesting tidbit, a Carson of Venus movie is in the offing...  so provided that comes to fruition, and is popular, there could be some more interest in this setting.

The next book in the series is Lost on Venus, which I have on order for an inter-library loan, as the local library system does not have it. Looking forward to it, since this one ends on a cliff hanger!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Inquisitor d1000 Part 8 - Secret

Here is a d100 table of Secrets as part of the d1000 inquisitor attributes project. Go back and read that post if you want to know what this is about.

In this list I am trying to get at the secret parts of an Inquisitor, either physical, historical, or mental.   It took me longer to come up with this list, as it was harder for me to think of than equipment or weapons, both of which have historically been more exciting for me.

D100 Secret 
1 Abhuman heritage (Squat, navigator, ratling, ogryn)
2 Addiction (d10 'flects, 'Lo, tabac, alcohol, Obscura, stims, vids, jelly babies, call girls/boys, daytime vids)
3 Aetherphobia
4 Agoraphobia
5 Alliance (inquisitor, Ordos, chaos, rebels etc.)
6 Ambition
7 Ancestors
8 Atheist
9 Beautiful singing voice
10 Brand, slave mark
11 Cadaver organs
12 Charcoal lung filter
13 Child
14 Claustrophobia
15 Collection (teeth, ears, hair, girls, servo skulls, rings)
16 Count down clock
17 Credit reserves
18 Crush
19 Daemon possession (minor)
20 Detachable fingertip garrote
21 Downhive interests (street meat, NASCAR)
22 Eating disorder
23 Excessive faith
24 Failure of duty
25 Financial interests
26 Gambler
27 Gender
28 Glutton
29 Growth
30 Gullibility
31 Hallucinations
32 Heinlein Enslaver Beast
33 Heretic
34 Hexogramic wards
35 Hideout
36 Hobby (throne collecting, hive fishing, avian watching etc.)
37 Honor
38 Hunger (flesh, ulsios, bacon butties, power)
39 Identity
40 Illicit connections
41 Implanted frag grenade belt
42 Implanted tracker beacon
43 Infernal pact (minor)
44 Kleptomania
45 Krovandian intestinal worm
46 Language (e.g. glossia, battle sign)
47 Longevity
48 Lucky two throne coin
49 Machine sprit possession
50 Master
51 Member, conclave
52 Member, cult
53 Member, hair club
54 Mnemonic molar markings
55 Meruvian Lung grubs
56 Mindwiped previously
57 Mutation
58 Name
59 Nemesis
60 Obsessive compulsive
61 Ocular pictor implant
62 Ordos
63 Origin
64 Pacemaker
65 Poet
66 Poison pill tooth
67 Post traumatic stress
68 Primarch fetish
69 Prisoner
70 Psyker
71 Pyromania
72 Recording device (d4 hours)
73 Rival
74 Scarring, enemy's name
75 Scrimshawed phalanges (d10)
76 Seed
77 Servant
78 Smuggling chamber in bowels
79 Stim injector
80 Storage chamber in forearm (right/left)
81 Subdermal flesh wasp nest (d8 wasps)
82 Suppressed memories
83 Surgically altered endocrinological system
84 Tattoo, bawdy
85 Tattoo, Cult
86 Tattoo, Gang related
87 Tattoo, memorial
88 tattoo, ransom bearer bond
89 tattoo, regrettable
90 Tattoo, religious
91 Tattoo, slave mark
92 Tattoo, system password
93 Trainspotter
94 Twin
95 Unsavory past
96 Vox receiver implant
97 Whisperer (daemon, psychosis, implant, vestigial twin, Saint)
98 Xeno organ replacement (known/unknown)
99 Xenophile 
100 Possession, major

Let me know what you think, or if you have any more ideas.