Rules for Cookie House Fighting, 40K Style!

I do not think anything else needs saying. Expect photographic evidence of my silliness soon!

My AD&D 1st ed Character: LET ME SHOW YOU HER

Over at Alive and Out of Print . org they are doing a Play By Post game of the classic Against the Giants series. I am joining in, taking one of the pregens and making it my own. I chose the first of the 2 Clerics and turned him into the following:


(She sort of looks like that. The picture is Rally Vincent from Gunsmith Cats)

Sister Marimae Flanaghan (Aka: Sister Mary Facesmasher)
Human Female Cleric of Sigmar
Lawful Good
Age: 31 Height: 5' 8" Weight 143 lbs.

STR 16, INT 10, WIS 18, DEX 12, CON 16, CHA 17
72 HP
AC -2, 0 Shieldless, 10 Unarmored
THACO 14, 12 with +2 Mace
Damage to S or M is 1d6+3 (2 for +2 Mace, +1 for STR 16)

SPELL SLOTS
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 6 5 4 2 1

EQUIPMENT
Mace +2, Plate Mail +2, Shield +2, 2 Potions of Invisibility, Potion of Diminution, 2 Potions of Extra Healing


Backstory: Mary grew up on a different world than that which contains the lands of Greyhawk. A land with endless wars against the Undead, Orks, and the other dimensional forces of Chaos. It is on this world that she became a priestess of Sigmar, a god of justice and warfare, ascended from humanity. She was mostly tasked with teaching orphans and had little chance to go out in the field. However she became infamous for believing in the old adage of "Spare the rod and spoil the child".

Her students tended to be rather well behaved, even for orphans growing up under religious doctrination. (Many will grow up to be Witch Hunters, Inquisitors, or more fantatical Warpriests because of this...) With her reputation one of the senior priests decided he would prefer her to punish him for his sins. Because he was a VERY naughty boy.

Needless to say, Mary ran the hell out of there, collected her meager belongings, and decided to travel the world, which lead her into a portal bringing her to the Free City of Greyhawk. There she found her calling at putting large blunt objects through the faces of monsters, criminals, and anyone else who was an enemy of justice and peace. She became a freelance cleric connected to the St Cuthbert order which she considers to pretty much be Sigmar by another name anyhow.

After a few years of travelling and adventuring she decided it was time to settle down and start up a church of her own in some out of the way town with funds she had collected while cleansing the land of heretics and monsters. Life was fine except for one thing. One of the workers hired to build her church, a half orc named Geal. (LN Commoner) She was enjoying his hard sweaty work a little too much, and jumping into a nearby lake and small waterfall to pray away her feelings was working less and less each day.

Thus with little more than some money left to have her church finished and a note to the workers to finish and how to get some other priests to take care of it, she left to travel again, working out her (in her mind anyhow!) filthy thoughts by hitting more evil things in the face with blunt objects.

Quote: "Evil cannot speak it's blasphemies when it's jaw is crushed."

L1 (5 spells at level 10)
Cure Light Wounds x 4, Detect Magic

L2 (5 spells at level 10)
Silence 15 radius X 2, Find Traps, Slow Poison x 2

L3 (4 Spells at level 10)
Prayer x 2, Dispel Magic, Speak With the Dead

L4 (4 Spells at level 10)
Protection from Evil 10 Radius, Neutralize Poison, Sticks to Snakes x 2

L5 (2 Spells at level 10)
Dispel Evil, Flame Strike

Extra Gear: Silver Holy Symbol, Leather Backpack, Small Silver Mirror, 2 Water Skins, 3 Large Belt Pouches, Basic clothing with cloak, Boots, 2 weeks' Iron Rations, Tinder box, 12 wax candles, 4 flasks of Holy Water, 4 Iron Spikes, 4 flasks of Oil, Bone Scroll Case. (Obviously we have more food and probably mounts in the cave.)

40K Has me so in its vile grip!

Curse this game!

I was gonna give a friend my Black Reach Marines and a Codex as his Christmas present.
(I'll get him something else he would probably like more anyhow.)

I had gotten BR for 30 bucks so the Marines were practically free. Today at the 40K game I saw about getting some more Marine bits for him. Sadly one player wants to magnetize all his Terminators so he can switch weapons, meaning the 2 Thunder Hammer and 3 Lightning Claw Assault Termie idea could not happen.

Another dude sold me a 5 man assault squad for 8 bucks with one Power Fist, rest CCW and Bolt Pistol.

On the drive home I had an epiphany: The Blood Angels codex is free outside of printer ink. Why not do BA as the army instead of vanilla Marines?

Then I had a secondary epiphany: I should keep these Marines, throw in my spare Lead Mk6 Techmarine, my Mephiston model I used as a Chaos Lord, and 5 Space Hulk 2nd ed Terminators and have an army.

The concept: Pre Heresy World Eaters that have come out of the Warp a bit messed up and counts as a Blood Angels force. They have been pirating and stealing and killing anything they don't like, Imperial or otherwise.

My eventual goal is 3 Vindicators, 2 Terminator Squads with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shields, and a shit ton of Assault Squads and a Death Company.

I converted a spare 2nd ed era metal Legion of the Damned body to counts as Lemartes, and have currently added his pal, a venerable Dreadnought with Heavy Flamer attachment. And clearly their time in the Warp has messed em up a little:



My current army design is:

HQ: Mephiston (WE Captain that thinks his Pysker powers are really his ANGRY HATE) 225 points.
Lemartes: 125
Elites: 2 Terminator Squads, 1 W Heavy Flamer. 200 and 205 points each. (200 each if I convert to Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield.) Venerable Dreadnought with Heavy Flamer and Multi Melta. Extra Armor. 165
Techmarine 75 points.
Troops: Assault Squad Vet Sgt with Power Fist, Meltabombs, Combat Shield. 1 of the other 4 Assault Marines with Plasma Pistol 195 points. 10 man tac squad Sgt with Meltabombs, Chainsword. 1 Tac with Flamer, 1 Tac with Missile Launcher: 210.

1400 points. An army whose total cash expenditure was effectively 40 bucks if we count 10 for Mephiston, a couple of bucks for the Techmarine, 10 for the BR Marines, 10 for the SH Termies (50 dollar game) and 8 for the Assault Marines.

For 1500 point games I will probably just get 2 Drop pods or 2 Attack Bikes. For larger games more Assault Squads, and a trio of Vindicators. Hell, once I get them I may tweak the above instead of having 2 Terminator Squads.

My Changeling LARP Character. LET ME SHOW YOU HIM.

Intelligence, Wits, Resolve 2
Strength, Dexterity, Stamina 3
Presence 3, Manipulation, Composure 3

Crafts 1
Politics 3
Athletics 4 (Specialty Acrobatics)
Brawl 4 (Specialty Claw Knockback)
Animal Ken 1 (Bless Spec Tiger)
Intimidation 3 (Specialty Physical Threats)
Persuasion 2 (Motivational Speeches)
Socialize 2

Merits:
Mantle Summer 3
Brawling Dodge 1
Tiger Style Kung Fu 3

Fang & Talon 2 (Beast's Keen Senses)

Health 7
Willpower 4
Glamour 6 (11 max)
Wyrd 2
Clarity 7

Current Unspent XP: 16 (Most likely 15 will be spent on raising Intelligence to 3. Next two session's XP will be used to take Firearms, probably to 2 dots.)

Rufus grew up in the late 70s and early 80s. While his family was pretty poor, he was mostly happy, and his Saturday mornings were spent with a bowl of Corn Pops, a couple toys, and many glorious hours in front of the TV watching cartoons.

Cartoons were his escape from living in a trailer home and his generally off working (when they weren't out drinking) parents rarely being around. Optimus Prime, Duke, and Captain Global were his father figures. The Voltron Force his brothers and sisters. The Thundercats his pets.

In a rare difference one day in 1988 he was taken to an amusement park for his birthday. His mother being too hung over to even get out of bed, it was just Rufus and his dad that day. And it was there in a land of roller coasters and videogames that he was taken. His father was getting them lunch and Rufus was over by the Star Wars machine playing a couple rounds when he heard some splashing at the lake over the park's fence. It sounded like someone was drowning!

Following what he learned from various morals and messages in his cartoons he acted without hesitation, jumping over the fence to try to help whoever was in danger. There was NO TIME to waste! He yelled quickly for anyone to get real help and dove right in to help whoever was in trouble.

When he got to the thrashing person he found it to be a preteen just like him. In fact once he got a good look at him, he saw it WAS HIM. With an evil grin this impostor tried to pull him under only to get a solid punch from Rufus. Those martial arts classes at the Y were paying off! It worked for Snake Eyes after all. Then from below something was pulling him under! He grabbed at his doppleganger and didn't let go. Deeper and deeper till all went black.

When his father heard the commotion and got over there he saw something bob to the surface, lifeless.

His only son. On his 12th birthday. Dead.

Rufus was then indoctrinated into his new world by Stefan. A world of hunts and violence and death. Yet Stefan was stern, not harsh, and took a firm liking to Rufus' spirit and attitude. He had seen so few people who actually were as idealistic as this boy was. Rufus for a time followed his instructions, and let the beast inside come out. Yet it was a noble beast, a white tiger. Yet even the most majestic animal has a side terrible to behold, a side of wrath. Whenever Rufus saw injustice this side came out. The results were usually fatal for someone.

On what would have been his 24th birthday Stefan let Rufus go. The day before Stefan had professed all his feelings towards Rufus. Feelings Rufus did not share or reciprocate. In fact in spite of the power and magic and adventures they had shared Rufus merely wanted to be in the real world with his family.

Hurt, Stefan told him to leave. But now the hunter would be the hunted. Like one of Rufus' favorite movies said "If they catch you, they will kill you".

But first they had to catch him. And Rufus said he would take out anyone who tried, even if he fell in the process. Even if he had to face Stefan himself. Optimus Prime didn't back down when Megatron fought him on Autobot City, and neither would Rufus!

Getting back to the real world Rufus tried to reconnect with his family. His mother blaming his father, had left him via a cheap pistol in her mouth. His father had spent the last decade working and when not working drinking trying to forget it all. Yet this man seemed so much like his boy it brought a little life back to him. He helped his son get back on his feet any way he could, using some of his drinking buddies to get Rufus fake ids and data so he could live like a normal person.

Yet Rufus could not stay. They would hunt him. Saying goodbye to his dad, he joined the Navy for a tour and travelled the world, keeping moving and as sailors so often do, never really staying in one place for too long. He took this time to learn as much as he could, and sent most of his pay home to his father, outside of what he needed for martial arts classes and basic necessities like clothes and Corn Pops.

Upon completing his tour in the Navy he started competing in various martial arts competitions both legal and illegal, winning enough to live out of a suitcase and help people in the towns he visited, like Bill Bixby did in the Hulk.

Then one day a friend of his, Eric Stewart (possibly my secondary character) introduced him to other runaways. He found notice of a meeting one summer night in Willimantic Connecticut.

And yet again, everything changed.

(Actual play begins here.)

The Summer King Sid was murdered! The Spring Queen turned up missing! People were thrown into the Hedge without their consent! Thrust into this sort of situation Rufus helped to take charge, worked with his fellow runaways and brought Sid's killer to justice, and revealed the reason the area was so safe in the past. People were being taken as sacrifices and taken back to those nightmarish lands.

Rufus was elected Summer King and is currently trying to come to grips to his new role as a commander of disparate people who are full of mistrust and doubt. Rufus will bring them together as brothers and sisters in arms, even if he has to die to do it.

His childhood heroes would do no less, and neither will he.

Narfindor, my Tunnels & Trolls Campaign World!

Narfindor has been my house world for various stories mostly residing in my head for 20 years now. Sadly, most of what little I had written and drawn has been lost to time. However I have my vague memories.

For T&T 7.5, I am bringing it back! And this series will chronicle its rebirth. Plus give me a good backup spot so I don't lose all my work again. For the third time. I like my hard copy stuff! But when you lose it all not having a digital backup kinda bites.

This is all my stuff and belongs to me, though folks are free to use it provided credit is given and blah blah. Make your own world slackers! ITS FUN AND GETS YOUR BRAIN WORKING.

Already I have tweaked things to fit the adventures I plan to run, and to make things a tad less stereotypical than they once were. Though probably not as much as it should be. It will always be a work in progress though, so anything can be changed.

See the map in the previous post? That is the southwestern most continent of my world. As seen, it connects to a northwestern one, and there is a central continent and a massive eastern continent plus various islands and such.

UPDATED: Comments from noted adventurer Aron Stewart, the last known Forger, and teenaged loudmouthed spokesman for the Armageddon Hunters, the adventurers from other worlds and times who defeated Vedaan, the son of Tiamat. His comments will be in italics.

Narfindor was created 10,000 years ago by someone or something as a connected counterpoint to Earth, and populated with many sentient races, most very human like. While it is connected to Earth by magical means, getting from either planet is rare if not beyond anyone's actual control, and there is a time desynch that sometime in the future will end.

I'm guessing this place was made for some reason or the other. Maybe it's a proving ground of some kind? Too many things are similar to Earth to be mere coincidence. I don't even know how I got here. One minute I was in school in a shootout with some terrorist scuzzbags, the next here. My pals from Earth came over in similar ways, though from different times. And we were somehow able to speak and read the local language. All that was missing was a little bald guy saying cryptic (expletive deleted)!

The most notable races on Narfindor are: (With simplified ideas on their basic culture.)

Humans: Mostly known for being more problematic than the other races, their high breeding and shorter lifespan has lead to serious amounts of ambition and in some cases xenophobic racism. They do control 2 of the 4 major civilizations on the planet in spite of their shortcomings. Their cultures are similar to Imperial Rome, Feudal Japan, and the Wild West era of that area of the United States. About 10 million Humans are on planet.

There are lots of people like you and me on Narfindor. Plain old boring humans doing the same dumb things they do on Earth. Cept with more swords and no place to charge my iPod. Which kinda sucks.

The Nain: Known as Dwarves to everyone else, the Nain once had the most powerful empire on the planet, and had technology capable of reaching the stars. They tend to be practical, pragmatic, and hardworking. They are still the most advanced race, but due to the Teknikan Wars, it has been voluntarily regressed to a rough 16th century Earth level. Their culture is most similar to Ireland or Scotland of around the same time period. Around 1 million Nain live.

These dudes are cool, if a bit cranky. They have lots of good booze, the best technology on the planet (if early Victorian era Steampunk Gaslight can be called technology anyhow!), and they enjoy a good hunk of meat grilled over an open flame. I taught em how to make Cheeseburgers! You think a world of swords and sorcery is fun? There are no Burger Kings! But they take stuff entirely too seriously some times. Must be the beards. And for the record, Dwarf chicks don't have em.

The Elves: The Elves are a race in decline. While their discovery of magic won the Teknikan Wars and removed Nain superiority over the planet, it also lead to Humanity taking the magic in darker directions, and many of them choosing to ensure the Elves did not repeat the Nain's empire with magic. Currently most Wood Elves are dead, with their darker skinned Jungle and Cave Elf cousins being the dominant of the two peoples. They accepted the Wood Elf refugees to their homes in jungles and caves and they are slowly becoming one race. Their culture is a mixture of African and Germanic pre Renaissance. It is currently thought that there is around 330,000 Elves in total, most living underground.

Elves sorta look like you and me, cept with Spock ears. And there is something... off about em. Unearthly kinda. If you aren't looking for it you really can't tell them from Humans, but the way they talk and move and their whole look is.. different. The Wood Elves are pretty snooty, but the Jungle Elves are awesome and cool. Plus they like the heat and don't wear much. And give me (expletive deleted). I kinda have to hide it. One of our gang a Jungle Elf. She was one of the Elves that preferred caves to the Jungle itself. Rekishad is cool and hot and funny. No wonder my homie Horace and her hooked up. He is the target of most of her jokes. Ledettia is with us too, but she is a miserable Wood Elf and all snooty and stuck up. Which ruins the whole fun of having a hottie with red hair and a great pair of (expletive deleted)!

The Drago: These flying lizardmen are related loosely to Dragons, though are generally green scaled as opposed to white or black. They tend to prefer to be left alone and rarely intervene in anything that doesn't directly affect them. They are an enigma on a world full of curiosities. No actual census has even been thought of, but it is guessed the Drago number less than 80,000.

Ya know how the good dragons are white and breathe ice, and the black dragons are bad and breathe fire? Well the Drago are grey and breathe "I could give a (expletive deleted)". They are tools who don't care about anything that doesn't directly affect them. They just don't care. I'm surprised they even helped us fight Vedaan. They suck.

The Cattroni: Their actual name being a mixture of growls and hisses, these Cat people are known for being excellent warriors and trackers, hunting the plains. Their culture is a mixture of Native American peoples and Sparta. Around 1 million Cattroni are living today.

I didn't get to hang out with these guys too much. They run aroung Gohadir doing rangery things and getting "Thundercats Hooo!" up in this (expletive deleted). They really helped kick Vedaan's (expletive deleted) and seriously (expletive deleted) his (expletive deleted) up! They aren't some Furry's wet dream though. These cats have big claws, big fangs, and move like a bat out of hell. Yet they are virtually silent when they wanna be! They are mostly in three big clans. One looks most like Lynxes, one Black Panthers, and one Cheetahs. Every once in a while they apparently have a big albino one that is like a white Siberian Tiger and those dudes are like special and (expletive deleted). The first Furry to hit on one would probably end up with their guts turned into a noose they would get hung with. And that's if the Cattroni was in a GOOD mood!

The Mer: These aquatic people are similar in avoiding trouble like the Drago, but tend to covertly help those in need against the darker powers of the world. Some people claim they have combined Teknikan and Magic together to make a number of powerful weapons... Nobody knows how many Mer live, but it is guessed that it is around 500,000.

Another group I didn't talk to too much. They kinda look like Humans, but have wierd colored skin that's sorta like a Shark's with that smooth one way coarse the other. And big old anime kinda eyes that glow at night. And gills on their necks and shoulders. Its wild to look at, especially since they don't wear too much either. Which would be cool except I don't really want to see fish guy junk in tight sea undies while trying to fight the forces of evil. They all have really cool wristbands they wear on the surface that they can shoot elemental waters blasts with though. And they helped fight Vedaan so I guess I can deal with dude thong butt once in a while.

The Orcish people: These powerful nomads and wanderers prefer the deserts, but will go anywhere there is battles to be fought and money to be made. They can be fearsome in combat, but tend to be more interested in money and battle than any genuine cause. The Orcish peoples are similar to humans in the wide variety of honorable and dishonorable members. They are comprised of a number of similar races, Goblins being the smallest and meanest, and Ogres being the largest and generally most gentle, with the "true" Orcs being the central people. Their culture is a mix of Turkish and Romanian circa the time of Vlad the Impaler. A rough estimate of their total population numbers 7 million souls.

I worked as much with as against these guys. Tough as Hell in a fight. The little ones are meaner but small, the big ones are nicer but HUGE. The middle ones are just TOUGH HOMBRES. But if you have enough money or don't piss them off they won't bug you. But if you are against their employers or tick em off look out!

The Minotaur: The last major race are the Minotaurs. They are known for being explorers and pirates, having a love for exploring, especially seaborn explorations. They are the mappers of the islands, the solvers of the mazes. They tend to be a bit brutal in their dealings with other races, but similar to Orcs they are more interested in money and their own desires than anyone else's ideas of morality. Their culture is most similar to Spain and Portugal in the age of Christopher Columbus with a touch of the English Privateer. About 250,000 Minotaurs are predicted to live and sail the seas.

Minotaurs are wierd. I can never tell what they are thinking since these big ol cows rarely have any expression other than blank. My Bard teacher Alis had a "friend" who worked with her (Let's just say I am pretty sure she could play the (expletive deleted) flute if you know what I mean!) who was one and you did NOT mess with him. I saw him throw a dude 30 feet, chuck a handful of throwing darts at him and then finish him off with a harpoon designed to be fired from a sailing ship while at sea on a dinghy during a hurricane! And he was probably getting freaky walking moocow on Human action! I can only imagine what one who has been at sea for six months and hasn't gotten any in a while would do!

The lesser races: These lesser races are smaller in number than the above, or are less well known. Its rumored many races appear then are destroyed in a matter of decades. There are guessed to be around 400 of these races, most with populations numbering from 10,000-40,000 meaning most are in serious decline and genetic defects in the long run.

I don't know too much about these. Do Demons and Devils count? Howabout the White and Black Dragons? Are some of the monsters we fought actually considered lesser races? I know I have had to pop a cap in some (expletive deleted) in the cause of like saving reality and all, but it would kinda suck if I killed a lot of sentient beings. Or is it supposed to be sapient? I dunno. Killing people really bites.

Coming up: The planet and major civilizations.

General Stuff and Updates

Its been a bit since I have updated. Some content I have for the blog is currently being used as a contest entry over at aliveandoutofprint.org so it and its follow up comics (yes me and my gaming comics again!) will be held off or delayed in creation till the contest is over. Ill probably start the follow up work next week though.

But I have been able to take advantage of some nice sales the last few weeks to get more gaming stuff cheap.

Sarge's had 3 books for 10 dollars so a rummage through their pile and came out with one must have, and 2 acceptable supplemental items to get.

The original Mongoose publishing update to Runequest core rulesbook was my must have. For 3.33 I can now cheaply see if Mongoose improved upon the first RPG I ever bought, though one I have never had the pleasure of actually playing. The two other products were Delta Green for Cthulhu Live, mostly bought because I like Delta Green and Cthulhu, and the rulebook for Reaper's Warlord miniatures game, more just for pretty miniatures pictures and maybe some ideas I can mine for other games and campaigns.

But the BIG game sale happened this week at Arkham Asylum. 50% off. EVERYTHING IN STORE. A 3 day anniversary sale. Sadly (or luckily for my ever growing fiscal responsibility..) I had to limit what I bought. For gaming related things I got The Battle for Black Reach Warhammer 40K 5th edition starter with its essential new rulesbook, and the current Heroscape starter set.

Both sets I have been hemming and hawing over buying, and it looks like my holding off has paid off for once to the tune of 50 dollars in savings. Nice! The Orks in the Black Reach set are really gorgeous to behold and will gladly join my existing army.

At Borders I took advantage of a 30% off coupon to get a 20 dollar boxed set of 5 11-13 dollar Dungeon Crawl Classics modules for 14 dollars. It has caused me to change my original plans for a Tunnels & Trolls campaign to one using these modules. Every day I write down what changes need to be made to fit my campaign and my original gameworld that I first came up with back in 88-89 or so. I don't have my original or later updated maps and information on it so I am rebuilding it from the top, taking these modules into mind for town and terrain placement.

I am using VMWare's Fusion which allows various old operating systems to be run as a virtual machine/hard drive on an Intel Mac without needing a partition or anything similar. This allows more of my old games to become playable once more, and allows me to use my favorite RPG mapping program which was on the old AD&D Core Rules 2.0 CDROM. In 30 minutes I had the basics of one of my world's continents made up:



Not too shabby for such a short amount of work! It needs some more naming and a touch more detail here and there, but its a good start.

Characters for the campaign have been created, with MagicDrew and Starfury both making a pair of characters. It looks like 9IN is probably done with Tuesdays though. It took a little more time to create characters than I thought it would, but I think they were overthinking the game a bit, though it started to click the more I explained.

But they are ready to go for next week and the first module is mostly converted over, but given T&T's simplicity, its more a read through and some notes than anything I really HAVE to have done.