Weekly Book Recommendation (June 21)

This week's reads:

Christa Comes out of Her Shell by Abbi Waxman: This was just wonderful. 90% of the book from Christa's first person narration and Waxman admirably creates a protagonist who is a pleasure to be with even when she is making dumb decisions, because Waxman has spent the time letting you know where Christa is damaged and how she is healing. And the book spends equal time showing how her family - damaged by celebrity and the early death of a parent - are likewise healing. The romance plot is believable and the prospective partner likable. The tension of the plot follows logically from the edge case premise (Christa's dad was a Steve Irwin-like international celebrity nationalist who died in a plane crash 25 years ago who has reappeared alive). No one is stupid for reasons of plot or romance novel beat structure. I just enjoyed the heck out of this. 

Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup: This is delightfully meta. Bearup is a YouTuber who in 2022 did a run of YouTube Shorts about a fantasy author who held auditions for the ingenue of her new series and rather than a 20 year old waif of a princess she got a 36 year old widowed mother of two with a shocking propensity to hide knives on her person and no fucks left to give who looks exactly like the author. The short's humor came from the negotiation of the author, Caroline, trying to get the heroine, Rosamund, to follow the enemies-to-lovers romance fiction beat structure with Rosamund fighting the inanity of it. Bearup's fans demanded more, and then when the sequence came to a conclusion asked where the book was in enough numbers that Bearup, who has only ever written fanfic, decided to self publish the novel. So we have the layer of Caroline's work life, then Caroline as writer with her (hot) editor, then Caroline negotiating with Rosamund and the two male leads meant to be her love triangle (and her Hot Enemy has the face of Caroline's Hot Editor), and finally Rosamund story itself, as she doesn't remember the talking to Caroline when she's in the plot. It's... cute. It really is. But it's also clearly her first full novel so while it has a ton of energy it doesn't have as much polish. Still, vivacious and unkempt beats sterile perfection every day. 

 

New Salem: Renaissance - Bill Willingham's Classic Duo

We're opening this overview of super hero module design with the one two punch of Death Duel with the Destroyers and Island of Doctor Apocalypse, probably the best known pieces of V&V media as they were converted by their creator into the Elementals comic book. That shows a dedication to his gaming creations, folks: lots of people convert their D&D games into fantasy novels, but not nearly so many pull it off with Supers games to comics. 

That's a pair of evocative covers!

Here's the view from 5000 feet: Doctor Apocalypse is a James Bond style villain with his own private island, small army, group of super-villain henchmen, genius intellect, indomitable will, a magic gemstone that gives him any 6 super-powers he wants at any time, giant robots, a city-destroying satellite, and a desire to... own Manhattan as a sovereign state. Oooooookay. To be fair, he plans to use that as a base to capture superhumans, teleport them to his private island, and magically brainwash them into an army to rule the world. 

Interestingly, Doctor DNA's goal was to jump start the evolution of the human race starting with chemically brainwashing superhumans into an army to rule the world. So it's a thing. But while DNA worked in the shadows, Apocalypse goes for national blackmail: to prove his chops he unleashes a 5 day supernatural hurricane on the eastern seaboard of the US that contains emotion destabilizing magic. After this he sends a video to Dan Rather outlining his demands for the annexation of Manhattan. And to further prove his power tomorrow he will destroy Times Square

Now, lets take a break here. 

• The whole thing with the storm? that's great. Solid advice to the GM about how to have the PCs interact with the storm in abstract, but this whole bit really needed fleshing out to make it equal to the other fights in the module. too few game systems have rules for dealing with rescue situations, from out of control vehicles to burning buildings to mega-storms, and by God, Super-Hero games need those! 
• It also has the requisite bit of if a PC has comic awareness or similar powers they find it blocked when trying to find the origins of the storm. Ugh. Just let them jump forward a bit guys; they have this power for a reason! Anyway, 
• Written in 1982, so cut the Dan Rather at CBS gets a tape thing some slack. 
• The module is 21 pages, but all the game mechanics are duplicated for 1st and 2nd edition and 4 of the pages are dedicated to artwork. It would have been great to add another 4 pages and really get into how fighting the storm would work mechanically, other than luring the PCs to attacking each other cloaked with musty emotional illusions. 

Then in part 2, the actual 'start' of the adventure, we abandon the seaboard wide hurricane to reveal... A GIANT MECHA. Seems like a bit of a let down. It's it tough giant mecha, but come on. I suppose some points for switching up the threats, and there is a nice concept of the mecha crew spending half their actions destroying Times Square, so there is an external problem mechanism, which is nice: they might defeat the mecha but if it has already trashed a major American landmark did they really "win"? (Interestingly, the giant robot design here is partially duplicated in the Day of the Octopus starter adventure in the first edition of FASERIP Marvel Superheroes, with the same secret weakness)

Once it's defeated, the heroes can question the crew to locate the Destroyers HQ in Manhattan, mount an attack on their base, defeat the destroyers (with the author outlining how to give them a second chance to do so) and find out the location of Apocalypse's secret island. That's the end of Death Duel. 

How is it as an NSR Module? The first segment with the storm is great, open ended, super evocative, but is handled in a perfunctory way by the module. The other parts of the module are a railroad- mecha fight (meh) and a "break into the villains skyscraper base and fight them" which is a logical enough next step to not feel railroad-y and doesn't contain any "the heroes must do X" or "Y power doesn't work". Willingham lays out the individual Destroyers battle tactics and relationships, gives a detailed map of the facility, the security structure of the facility, and recommendations for what sort of scenario the PCs might enter based on their actions. It's well done in terms of open ended GM advice. The assumption is in one of the two fights the heroes will win, which given the genre is a safe assumption; if they win neither, the next logical step is what happened in the Elementals comic: the heroes are captured and brought to Apocalypse for "programming", which is where they wanted to be anyway, but now have to escape again. 

The second module starts with an infodump on Apocalypse's background and base - century old secret historian and mystic, and Nacht Island 100 miles north of Bermuda respectively - and in the second adventure, invade there, fight the James Bond base villains, and hopefully defeat the really freaking tough Apocalypse before he starts using his city-killing satellite to force compliance on his Manhattan demands. After the PCs get this briefing from their government contacts they are left to their own to plan the assault, with the caveat being that a) keeping the American science expedition on the site safe b) disabling either the killer satellite or is cloaking mechanism, and c) defeating Doctor Apocalypse. 

From an NSR sense this is generally fine; OK sure it's an awful lot of "you have to stop the bad guys before he does evil" plotting, but the island base is full of just reams of lovely James Bond shit - opulent villas, monorail tubes, mini-subs, underwater bases - that means the GM has to REALLY understand what's on the island but once they do the players can use their PCs powers and abilities kind of however they want. 

As an aside, the strangest bit are the villages of island natives, generally non-industrial, very stereotypical "superstitious jungle island natives" tropes, some of whom still practice the cult religion that gave the evil white man Dr. Apocalypse his powers, while their rituals do nothing. In the center of the island is the temple of elemental evil... oh sorry, more general ultimate evil... that was the core of Apocalypse's origin story. I have to say, Willingham excising all of this was an improvement in Elementals, but it's presence here (and that my heroes resolved some of the problems of Nacht Island by throwing a meteor at it from space) radically changed my V&V game world by introducing a lot of new powered demon villains when this place was cracked open. None of this was in the module as writ but this was very evocative to a young me.  

So does this work for New Salem? ... ... Kinda? There is absolutely space for an aside in the New Salem campaign for a weather controlling evil guy with an army of new henchmen to try to blatantly conquer the city, forcing the PCs to team up with some of the Syndicate's villains to stop this outside threat. There would have to be some stronger, or any, reason why this city in particular is what Apocalypse wants, and the idea that the US government is going to cede away a key piece of our economic infrastructure is nuts, but it's nuts in a sort of James Bond way. At least the railroad nature is kept to the broad strokes and not the minutia. 

This got very long and took longer than I thought; I doubt next weeks' review of FORCE and Assassin! will be as lengthy. 

Under the Giant's Shadow: Resources, Surprises, Maps, and Magic Items

Had another session of my B/X game Under the Giants Shadow, where the PCs were able to prevail upon Edmund and his horseclan to stay an extra week in the city ruins so they could recover from the injuries in their camp. These injuries were earned hopefully dealing a crippling blow to the cult of Brother Blade (one of the various Brotherhood of the Stars cults that are run by individual charismatic leaders for individual gods). Blade and his men somehow got into Galmagia's undercity and are stripping the cathedral of the Matriarchs of the Moon (the organized polytheistic religion), leaving the human members of the party incensed. (Since Dwarves are atheists after their gods went mad, the Dungar the Dwarf didn't care, but wants the loot.) 

Despite the party members at-best-average Charisma - Oland Seven-souls the thief is deliberately average with his 10, where as Athyera the Magic-User is closed off, harshly critical and sometimes dismissive at her 8, and Jessethera the cleric is overly evangelistic and passionate at her 7 - Oland manages to close the deal with two of the three horseclan youths, hiring them on for them to split a share of the treasure (and minimum of 10 GP each per delve) and, once back in civilization, be outfitted with steel swords rather than their current spears. 

This was the first time we had really made use of the recruiting rules - last time the Pcs offered something insanely valuable for the use of some of Edmund's men, Edmund lowballed them an offer and they took it - and the players got into the mini-game aspect of it. And despite the Dungar's player's die hard belief that having henchmen just meant you were sending them to do your cool things, Oland's Player immediately grasped the "have these two guys guard doors/our backs while we do stuff" utility of them. Never mind how useful they were when the fight against the animated dead happened. 

Yes that's right, when you obliterate the fighter-type members of the evil clerics cult, he will just bring them back. Maybe not in the same fashion, but in the same wrapping. The fight with the zombies was quick but impressive, with a Zombie scoring well enough with their first attack to activate their special power of "lob target across room for extra damage" on Jessethea. Fortunately for the party she was not incapacitated and was able to Turn Undead (also the first time we got to play with my new Acts of Faith rules) and 2 of the 4 zombies off into a stairwell where the stairs collapsed under them. The remaining two were dispatched by Dungar and Oland (with his two henchmen). Oland then sent arrows into the zombies trapped in the stairwell until they collapsed. 

But I get ahead of myself. Once they were back in the cathedral they found all of the corpses they made last time gone and the room cleaned up. They better mapped the room, discovering one corridor they didn't expect to be there and doors exiting on the narrower sides to the East and West. Opting for East as based on what they knew of the above ground floor plan should be a smaller area, they find the Abbess' private study, which Brother Blade was now using as his quarters, which contained 4 reanimated cult members guarding the doors to the flanking water-destroyed libraries that had stairs down to the crypts. There was much ganishing of teeth that the libraries water-wards had broken and a quarter century of fluid coming through the giant-created cracks in the ceiling. as my room notes stated "the shelves contain nothing but bitter disappointment". 

Aethrya had fortuitously prepared Read Languages, so when they found Brother Blade's personal journal they were immediately able to collect a lot of information on their opponent, and that he is looking for The Swords of the Soul of the City, which are Behind the Last Door in the Ancestral Crypts. Blade is assuming these are inside the Cathedral's crypts and he has been using his group of zombies to explore the crypts for them, but Atherya knows from the journal that they found of the head clerk of the custom's house that the Last Door is under the custom's house vault. There was a brief moment of "He's digging in the wrong place!" 

This was when the players surprised me by saying they were following him into the crypts, which I had not mapped yet. Time to hit the internet and find maps, in this case Dyson Logos' Iseldic's Drop, which I decided was mirrored on both sides of the Abbess' study room. The players really appreciated the multi-level circular interconnectivity of the space. The internet: so helpful. I don't have it stocked with monsters, but I can say that any of the spaces they are entering now have been cleared out by Blade and his zombies. 

Winging it madly based on the maps and my own knowledge of what I intended to find down there, the players pieced together more of what was going on, found a spell book in a secret compartment inside a desecrated sarcophagus - and until you have seen B/X or AD&D magic users find a spell book with new spells in it you have never seen a player truly happy - and had an encounter with a haunt, the 27th Abbess to is pissed about her grave being desecrated. 

Fortunately Oland Sevensouls has a possessed grappling hook that lets him summon his dead colleague Azric to act as an intercessor with other ghosts. Sol Atherya was able to tell Oland to ask Azric to ask the Abbess x questions, and then the chain used for response. Nearly forced the players to actually play Telephone but in the interest of time I decided to just keep it open, and everyone had a lot of fun with the absurdity of the scene. Especially since Jessethea's player played the killed-by-a-dragon Azric, so it was a three player chain. The Abbess gave them more information on Blade's activities, told them to reference the library archives for the location of more information on magic in the crypts ("we can't! They're sludge!", identified the dodecahedron they found earlier as a Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals, and finally possessed her silver caduceus amulet for Oland to carry. He's at 4 souls now and counting!

The amulet gives him perfect knowledge of the crypt's labyrinthine layout (in other words I can print all the Logos maps for him), and gives him the Abbess' Divine Favor Score (17) rather than his own for saving throw bonuses (+2 rather than +0) when he's wearing it. Another unique magic item for him to carry. Now the group is setting up an ambush for Blade when he returns from this trip, hoping surprise will overcome his 7 zombies +1 acolyte + him as a 5th level Cleric. Their fallback is Aethrya using the 2nd level iteration of "floating disk" (which mirrors the 1E "Push" spell) to shove him down the 16 level open well. 

Yes, please please please send the higher level antagonist to his "death" where you can't see the body after. That would be perfect!

The Battle for Vulture Point Act III Scene II

The next morning saw Cybele and Dietrich renting a small cart and driver to take them and the morbid prizes from Hightower Tor to the intersection of Ferrantino, Scornbul, and Serin where, as promised stood the stalwart, Spartan and serene stone structure that housed the city's Paladins. A brief introduction, and the handing over of one of Dietrich's cards (provided in a timely fashion by his new solicitor), led them and the remains in their care to the office of Honesto Merin. That worthy paladin accepted the two nobles graciously, inquiring after their health and sense of the city, and, once he placed the young Von Eisenwald, into a reminiscence of how the old von Eisenwald, Dietrich's uncle, had been a good friend to the paladins and the city. Dietrich took this complement on his line graciously, with the wish that he too could perform such service. Indeed, Cybele took that opportunity to say that if there was ever anything the Paladins needed to not hesitate to call on her services. (Bec: I'll just accept that plot coupon now!)

Then, over the sweet coffee in tall, thin mugs that was the custom in the north, the three discussed the matter at hand: the items taken from Hightower Tor. Honesto confirmed that he was aware that the Tor had been looted, and was hopeful that these two were finally coming forward to make clear that claim, and was surprised to know that the pair were part of a second, unplanned expedition into the chaos crypt. With the knowledge of further actions there by multiple parties, he states that he will redouble his efforts to find the previous delvers and see what they learned. Honesto is quiet and serious during their recitation of battles with chaos beasts both in the Tor and at Vulture Point and sketches out briefly the political problems with arranging a garrison at that location - though he will again take up the cause in the face of this new information.

He was able to identify at least some of the remains, placing the circlet on the most decorated of the skulls as belonging to General Moltalvo de Molro, who fell in the second to last battle before the taking of the Tor. These circlets are no longer used in the armed forces, but the Paladins revere them as artifacts of the empire's past, and Honesto asked that Dietrich give him some time to secure the funds for its purchase before putting the item on the open market - a Paladin's lifestyle is such that they seldom have much liquidity. (Bec: you mean they have a vow of poverty? That sucks! Tom: no, it's that they're always preparing for the next Chaos invasion. Brian: Exactly - unlike everyone else they actually do spend all of their gold upgrading their weapons and equipment for the next fight.) Lord Von Esienwald waves this away, giving the circlet as a gift to the Paladins on the spot. 

Concerning the remains, Honesto is willing to have the Paladins take possession of them, but ultimately they will have to go to the Cardinals for their return to the endless ocean and the next tide of life. The pair thank him for this as the remainder of the day they have other appointments. As a final request, Dietrich asks what steps might be required for him to gain entrance into the Paladin order. Honesto is thrilled by this and arranges a time for the pair to meet again, along with Honesto's brethren in the city, so that they might more fully discuss what needs be done. 

Their official work completed, the two nobles leave, heading deeper into Serin to their next appointment

Once he had broken his fast Hiram Desaud took to the streets of Emirikol armed only with the solicitor’s card from Raul de la Bellasteras and the burning desire to soak the man for as much money as possible in the replacement of his shattered sword. Following the broad thoroughfares of Serin across one of the many bridges to the western side of that sundered quarter he eventually located the offices of Bauhausen and Derr. 

While the house is obviously of tallfolk construction the well-worn shallow steps out front make it clear that Raul's solicitors, like Dietrich's, are of halfling descent. The interior is everything a prosperous law office should be - clerks busily working of briefs and contracts, assistants pulling information from the filing cabinets that line the walls to waist height, or from the latter-accessible bookcases that ascend from there to the ceiling. To his right is a long, narrow closet containing two rows of identical gray bowlers and coats, with two yellow bonnets and patterned shawls to add color. He is in the office only a few moments before a helpful clerk asked his name, and, upon learning it, offers him a seat for a moment while Signor Bauhausen was contacted. 

Hiram's wait was remarkably short before the clerk escorts him into Signor Bauhausen's office - some chairs for tallfolk facing a human-sized 'status' desk made of polished oak that completely dominated the room, with several long low locked chests to on the wall. Signor Bauhausen greets him at the door with a bow, stating that sir de la Bellastaros had already contacted him about the affair, and he extends his deepest regrets, please, please have a seat, would you care for a drink? The halfling lawyer then clambers onto the boosted seat behind his enormous expanse of desk, all the while passing along the apologies of sir de la Bellasteros for the unfortunate incident as one of the women in the office arrived with a platter of holding a pot of tea and a pitcher of fruit drink. Hiram declines, trying to feel out the situation, and begins to lay out his requirements. 

He is politely interrupted by the solicitor, who informs him that sir de la Bellasteros has already sent over a package with which to make amends - it arrived by courier this morning along with the letter explaining the situation. The Bellasteros heir had gone into his family's heirlooms to make restitution for his error - at this Signor Bauhausen hopped back off his stool and unlocked two of the locks on his offices complicated chest to withdraw a sheathed rapier. He carefully handed it over to Hiram, pointing out the quality of the workmanship. Hiram couldn't deny this - the fine leatherwork of the sheath, the filigree of the hilt, the red veined green of the bloodstone on the hilt - but he still wasn't comforted. The bloodstone was an odd choice, as the stone bore connotations of protection and defense or hearth rather that was unusual for a dueling blade. He slid the sword from its sheath and learned why. 

Not a metal blade at all, but a flawlessly balanced wooden training blade - the sort of thing given to rich, often spoiled children who have clamored at their father's knee for their own sword. Hiram silently held his temper, his acting training preventing the slightest sign of the insult from showing on his features. (Tom: Oh, that's a priceless insult. Dave: no, he'll pay for it all right.)

Seeing nothing, Bauhausen continued to prattle on as he reclaimed his seat, "Indeed, Sir de la Ballesteros informed me that had he but realized your age he certainly never would have consented to the match. Most shocking, but I do admit you carry yourself in a very adult fashion young sir and can understand how he might have been confused." (Dave: does the lawyer know what's happening here? Brian: he seems oblivious, just happy that he was able to settle the affair so easily. Do you want to take it out on him? Dave: Not in this town. I need the lawyers on my side, remember?) "I hope it meets with your approval - I know that the Ballesteros family must be sorry to part with it." 

Hiram smiled gracefully, "Not to worry, I'm sure that sir de la Ballasteros will be seeing it again." 

The official meeting over, Bauhausen continued with some pleasantries, asking how long the young sir would be staying in the city, if his parents were here with him, and if his family had arranged for a solicitor within Emirikol as yet. (Dave: it's tempting to take him up on that, but I'm not sure I want to share lawyers with my new arch enemy. Tom: yeah, that's just asking to get screwed.) After a few more minutes Lord Desaud made his goodbyes, accepted his cloak from a clerk at the door and made his way back onto the street, looking for a weaponsmiths shop. 

Finding one with a gnomish proprietor who was either fresh to the city or who was prickly enough to not abandon his thick accent, he inquired about the costs of having a new blade placed on the hilt. The gnome is initially shocked, but is quickly mollified when informed that Hiram has no intention of damaging the masterwork of the wooden blade - he just has needs to the hilt to be visible on another weapon. The gnome then quickly points out the various blades he has available, but Hiram is momentarily stymied - the cheaper, more workmanlike blades would not do justice to the hilt and scabbard, while the ones of equivalent craftsmanship were slightly too dear for his purse. He promises to return to the shop within the next few days and makes his way, having moved from seething to plotting, towards Ferrantino library to meet his companions. 

Cybele and Dietrich head through the streets of Serin to the Ferrantino library. That edifice was as impressive up close as it had been driving past the day previous - gleaming white marble stairs and pillars leading into a large central chamber lit by both magical globes and large skylights. The expected echoing effect of such a space was obviously being muted by permanent enchantments to muffle the sound within the atrium, allowing the crowds of scholars, tourists, hucksters and couriers to move about and through one another without disrupting those actually working. In the center of this room stood a table promising information to the new attendees, so after a moment of marveling at the size and scope of the learning about them the two nobles made their way to that point. 

Cybele offers up her questions first, asking where she might locate information on both a wizard mark and on the magical properties of some materials. She is directed to the old part of the library - taking the long corridor to the north, and then down a flight of stairs to the arcane researches section. She is also warned that there are wards preventing access to some parts of those areas, but such restricted stacks will be well identified. Dietrich then introduces himself and says that he has received an invitation to make an appointment with the lady d'Farrentino. He too is sent to the old part of the library, only to head up the stairs to the Loremistress' offices to make an appointment with her secretary. Nodding their thanks, the pair follows the given directions, with Dietrich stating that he will come to aid Cybele in her research once he is finished making his appointment. According to their earlier agenda, Hiram would be joining them at the library later for the three to share lunch. As they parted company at the stair, they saw a sign warning that in the lower levels there was no fire. They both took this as being a statement of hard, magically enforced fact rather than a warning against open flame.

Up the stairs Dietrich once again learns that the Von Eisenwald family name - and his appearance to his deceased uncle - proceeds him: the secretary places him immediately, and the two quickly settle on an appointment for dinner between lord Von Esienwald and lady d'Farrantino two days hence. Dietrich learns that just as his uncle was a friend to the paladins, he was apparently also a friend to the library, so it seems he has many roles to fill as the next lord. 

Downstairs Cybele began her investigations into the mark found on the lead case at Hightower Tor. With three lines of inquiry - the Imperial Wizards Registry, the letters of the local wizards in the archives and the contracts of the city - to search through, she began with the imperial registry. The mark was not listed, which means that it was adopted by someone within the last 40 years, as the Republic had de-funded the imperial wizard's registry at that date. She also learned quite a bit about the official terms of the registry, and how students very seldom take their master's marks upon their master's deaths - when it has happened it has a disturbing tendency to mean the master has stolen his apprentice's body. Still, other than diminishing the likelihood that the mark's owner was of a long-lived Elvish blood due to its recent adoption there this was a dead end. 

As she prepared to move on to the collected letters she was interrupted by Dietrich and Hiram, who had finished his morning's activities and met his fellow on the way into the library. As it was still over an hour before lunch time the pair asked for directions and she set them to researching the uses for Green Dragon's Blood, one of the other items found along with the Cockatrice Feather in the Tor. 

Her next line of inquiry was equally fruitless - the letters from the local wizards were not cataloged as in a matter that made sense to her, leading to several frustrating returns over the same information before she tossed up her hands and moved on. She did not have great hopes for the contract files, but as fortune would have it she located the mark almost immediately - the mark's owner, one Alsan Nightshade (Bec: Aslan Nightshade? Does that ever sound pretentious! Dave: And confused. Tom: Maybe he's bipolar?), had recently secured ownership of one of Serin's wizard towers. The towers themselves are centuries old, and any vacancy produces some complicated contractual wrangling and character references with the city for the right to residence in the hallowed spires. The papers showed some concerns about the human wizard's personality, but other than some rumors that were run down as being groundless there was no evidence of chaos taint or illegal activity. Hence he was awarded right-of-residence in the tower with the standard contracts for mandatory civil service on 6 major holidays and if the city ever needed defending from invasion. 

Jotting down the pertinent details she went to join her comrades, who were being stymied by a surplus of information. Green Dragon Blood, and dragon blood in general, is a component in hundreds, if not thousands of major enchantments and transformations. It can restore the near dead to life, provide proof against any toxin (while being a virulent toxin itself), grant the ability to communicate with animals, allow the transformation to other forms, restore sanity to the mad or flesh to one’s ancestors - all when mixed with other magical items or enhanced by other magics. While they cannot know what it does, there can be no mistaking the apparent value of the vial. Before the group can engage in any further discussion, they, and everyone else in the room, are interrupted by the sound of a crash from the floor below, followed by a cloud of white smoke billowing up the circular stairs from the arcane research levels below.

Weekly Book Recommendations (June 14)

The Godfather by Mario Puzo: Puzo's writing style is a perfect example of how to keep the reader engaged while making absolutely no demands on them. Everything is quickly and cleanly explained, backstories or side tales are offset in their own sections and delivered in the same voice with the same presentation, and all details you might ever want to know (and many that you likely don't in the sense of "what is this doing here? why are we tracking these people for this bit? Ah well I'm in for the ride....") are given freely. If this sounds like a knock on it, it's not. There is absolutely a space for this sort of book and Puzo nails it. There are the usual possible complaints about how this romanticized the Mafia, but pretty much all Mafia fiction does that, and Puzo uses it to good effect when there's a sudden moment of brutal violence (never explicitly described, usually off screen) which knocks you back. 

I had always heard that the film version of the Godfather was so much superior to the book, but having seeing the movie for the first time a couple years back (on the full screen with Pacino doing a Q&A after, which is probably the best way to have seen it) and now read the book, I don't agree. The screenplay is pretty much the book with the "why am I reading about this person?" sections cut out, with the book's utter lack of obfuscation making it clear to the actors exactly what the characters are feeling in any one moment. Sure it's a good film, but not that much better than the book. Maybe it's my lack of boomer great-director nostalgia, my general distaste for Mafia fiction, or something else. But this isn't a movie review, it's a book recommendation, and if you liked the movie, you'll like the book. 

Weekly Cooking Report June 13: Steak in red wine sauce with pan fried potato slices

The most difficult thing for this week is that you'll need two skillets running at once. This is one of the first things I learned to cook, so I have faith in you. It's a bit fiddlier than normal but trust me.

Summertime Shadows

We're gonna tackle the potatoes part of this first. The recipe is pretty damn simple:

• 1 lb. yellow potatoes, preferable Russets or Yukon Gold, washed and cut into 1/4" slices. 
• 4 tbs. of cooking oil; I recommend 2 tbs. of  olive oil and 2 tbs. of butter for maximum flavor but you do you
• A spice mix made up of 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 tsp. dried thyme. 

Put a skillet over medium high heat, add the cooking oils. Once it's shimmering and/or the butter is melted, add the potatoes in an even layer on the skillet. Flip every 3-4 minutes until both sides are brown, about 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle the spice mix on, serve hot. 

Got that? OK, good, that's running in the background while we do the steak, which is a little less easy. 

• 18 oz or so of rib eye steak, about 1 1/2 inches thick, brought to room temp laying on paper towels and then patted dry. Should take about 30 minutes to come to temp. and salted with 1 tsp. kosher salt.
• 2 tbs. butter, cut in half
• One finely chopped large shallot (remember the cutting device i mentioned before? super helpful here) and 1 smashed garlic clove. 
• two sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tbs. aka a dash of balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup beef broth and 1/2 cup dry red wine, which will be added together
• another mx of 1/4 tsp kosher salt, 2 tbs. butter and 1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Heat a 10-inch cast iron skillet over high heat for about 5 minutes just until it starts to smoke. Carefully place the steak in the hot pan and cook about 2 minutes until enough of a crust has developed on the bottom that the steak no longer sticks to the pan. The flip and cook for 2 minutes. And then flip and cook for 2 minutes, etc. At about 8 minutes cook time start checking internal temp for a 125F medium rare (your preference may very, it will be faster or slower if you have one big steak or a couple smaller ones as I have in my photo). 

Once you're at temp, move the steak to a plate to rest, reduce the heat to medium-high and drop in that first 2 tbs of butter and the shallots, stirring regularly until you can smell the shallot, which will be less and a minute. Then add in the garlic, thyme, and vinegar, and cook until the shallots are brown, another less than a minute thing. Finally add the wine/broth mix and let it cook down for 10 minutes; at the 8 minute mark add in any juices from the steak on the plate. You should end with about a half a cup.

Remove the garlic clove and thyme sprigs, and toss in the final mix of kosher salt, butter, and pepper and whisk until the butter, then remove from heat and move to a pouring vessel. Serve to a grateful family

New Salem: Renaissance - super hero RPG module design

Getting back to New Salem, and I promise that July is the month where i flood you with corrupt social order adversaries to build out the other side of the threat conspyramid, I wanted to take a minute to look at how you could/would/should even design adventures for super hero games, never mind super-hero games that are trying to have a NSR/Sandbox/player driven focus like New Salem. 

I come to this having just...

1. Read some Mastodon posts about treating adventure writing as if it were technical writing - there is information on what to do and how to do it that needs to get in front of the Game Master as quickly and cleanly as possible for maximum use in play - and that adventures should be written with that in mind. This being gaming, of course there's push back and counter arguments in a healthy ecosystem where no two tables are actually playing the same game. 
2. Watched a video review for I1 - Dwellers of the Forbidden City (which I am running for my library kids D&D group this summer) which dings the 1981 module for not giving the GM a clearer story direction. Now, I suppose if you're producing content entirely for GMs who are used to modules giving them stories with rising action, climaxes, etc. then this is a fair warning, but since I1 started as a tournament module that was then expanded to "and once you've done that you've discovered a lost city full of treasure and plots and mysteries to explore" with the faith that 1981 AD&D players would want to do that without additional plot motivation, dinging it for that feels out of place. 

That being said, I've previously discussed how the super-hero genre is story focused as a rule, and the whole of the New Salem: Renaissance project is to get the genre into a place where a sandbox story would be effective. So what would a module for that look like?

Looking over the classic V&V Modules (there were 20 in the game's heyday, with four villain collections), with two of them being a back to back two-parter (Death Duel with the Destroyers + Island of Doctor Apocalypse). Others are set up as sequels (FORCE can be followed by Assassin; Enter the Dragon's Claw: HONOR can be followed by Search for the Sensei), and these are all very story-driven. There's a precipitating event that is outside the PCs control - the villain makes an attack or someone tells the heroes that there is an attack coming. There's then some back and forth with the villain where the author is making assumptions of the heroes tactics, powers, and strategies. This can get super clunky and railroading. 

My favorite is that FORCE opens with an investigative journalist dying at the PCs feet trying to pass along information about an evil cult. And then despite Revivification being a standard power in V&V the it absolutely cannot work here because it would break the investigative opening to the module. Super-heroes just have such varied abilities, power levels, and tactics. The genre wants you to write stories like the comics, but everything about the genre makes generic modules REALLY hard.

For some reason, my favorite is the deeply sketchy Dawn of DNA

How can you not love that cover?

The module isn't one direct adventure but a series of events being made by a shadowy mastermind who has a slow plan to take over the world. The three parts a) are the PCs having disparate encounters where either the mastermind is making quiet moves, or his henchmen are getting bored and making dumb plays that draw attention to their activities, b) the henchmen deciding the heroes know too much and taking steps to eliminate or ambush them, and then c) the shadow mastermind unfurling his grand plan, which the GM is meant to integrate into the larger world (with existing NPC hero teams already having fallen under his control, for example). Unlike other modules these are meant to be interspersed with whatever else is going on in the game world. To the players they might feel like almost randomly generated encounters. 

It is very short (about 16 pages of text) but like many sandbox adventures it opens up to "and then what do the heroes do next?" Exactly how entrenched Doctor DNA becomes in the world is based in how much effort the PCs put into resolving what is happening early, and maybe taking the fight to him, but it doesn't presume any of that. 

I'm going to delve more into the other modules I have over the rest of of June.

The Battle for Vulture Point, Act III Scene I

Our four noble heroes, along with their two new friends Florian and Donato de la Ballesteros, made their way from the bower of blades northward, heading for the borderland between Seri and Scornbul - the shadow area between the two quarters where the constructions felt close but had not yet merged into the mazes of the docks. There the sextet shared dinner at a lovely restaurant, enjoying the spiced fish and pasta dishes common to the north while they discussed recent events. Donato reassured Hiram that Raul would likely make no more than one attempt to settle affairs with the young actor, applying another insult or finding some pretense for another duel - not to worry, he had never known his cousin to deny the presence of a healer at such an encounter. Hiram was little reassured. Donato informed Melas, however, that Victor would likely hate him to the grave. Melas shrugged at this, taking it as being an expected thing of no consequence. 

At Cybele's request Florian outlined what he did on a day-to-day basis: he, Raul, and Dontao were all part of the larger de la Ballesteros family, and when his and Raul's father died Raul would inherit. Therefore, Florian occupied himself as latter sons did - having let his elder cousin Donato make the decision to join the priesthood he prepared himself, albeit with little interest, for the army. Someday. If nothing else, he prepared his blade for combat. Glancing over Florian's features, the lady Floriane could see the similarities between the brothers, save with Raul being dark everywhere that his sibling was fair. 

At Florian's return request for information on how this quartet began traveling together, Hiram took up the bulk of the conversation, reciting a masterful blank verse oration of their adventures to date, beginning with Hightower Tor and opening with the 11th form's classic line "it was a dark and stormy night." (Dave: 20! I dazzle them! Me: you were probably composing it in your head for days. Dave: well, sure, but much of it is extemporaneous.) The cousins are indeed awestruck at the recitation and the adventures it contained, but early on our friends caught the two sharing glances, as if communicating some private joke or plan. Since there seemed no animosity in the men, they trusted that they would be made aware of the humor in due course. And, with the last of the wine finished the cousins suggested with broad grins that the group head further into the warrens to see what was playing at the Dock and Boards - one of the small local theatres. All save Melas agreed - the hunchback claimed fatigue and graciously retired for the evening (Since Jim couldn't make the session). 

As the group wound further into the heart of the chaotic city they witnessed scenes that would be unthinkable in the more staid and civilized north: the sheer press of humanity, the children running unaccompanied through the streets in the evening, the taverns that were little more than bars open to the street, the scrum of sailors who were on land for just the night and no doubt intended to spend all of it drinking, carousing with those of loose virtue, or both, all walking side by side with respectably dressed merchants and tradesmen of all races and milling around the movement of goods from one warehouse, ship, or business establishment to another all in a time after dark when to the south only the night servants would be about on the streets quietly preparing businesses for the next day. It was both exhilarating and terrifying in its spectacle, but our group was never threatened, as only the foolish would approach such people of obviously noble bearing - and sporting such obviously well-honed blades - with course intentions (Tom: no, they'll lure us further in where they can ambush us at their leisure). 

Snagging the attention of one of the local youths Florian ascertains that the Dock and Boards had not changed shows and that there was another production due to start in an hour. Smiling broadly, the fair-haired gentleman led his companions into a busy tavern that catered to both the adventurous noble and the recently paid sailor alike. Obviously regular customers, he and Donato had no problem securing space at the bar for the four and drinks were ordered to while away the time until the show. While Donato and Dietrich discussed matters of religion and politics, Cybele and Hiram scanned the crowd to take in such a diverse group of humanity, both of them had their eyes alight on a figure at one of the far tables: wearing the navy blue cloak of the Water Church with a hood pulled up in an effort to obscure his features, the figure had obviously not reckoned on the light from the tables candle, which quite undid the effect, clearly marking his blond hair, half-elven brow, piercing eyes and once broken nose. The figure was in earnest conversation with a handful of rough looking sailors, obviously trying to convince them of the validity of some endeavor. Glancing back a few moments later they saw the man had unfolded a map onto the table, trying and failing to obscure it from any who might glance over. Cybele nudged Florian, who uttered a simple 'what is he doing here?" before changing the conversation back to the subtle grace of Cybele's wrists, which he had already witnessed first had this evening but would not, as a gentleman, allow himself to more closely observe without permission. Under this onslaught Cybele found she had quite lost the thread of her questioning. 

Hiram, experienced as he was in the theater, saw something quite different (Dave: 20! Again!). No one could be as inept at subtlety as this fellow appeared, and the nature of his placement in the room, the careful pitching of his stage whisper to carry just far enough without being obvious, the eye-catching gesture of unfolding and re-folding the map, all bespoke of a trained stage professional. Whoever this fellow was, he was going to great lengths to be noticed as someone who wanted not to be noticed. (Tom: I wonder what alley they're going to drag that idiot's body out of tomorrow? Dave: I think it might be the other way around… Tom: well, someone's getting set up, I'm just glad it's not us). He carefully avoided being entangled in this matter any further, not mentioning his observations to his friends even as they left the bar and approached the Dock and Boards - Hiram's first exposure to Emirkolian Theater. Looking like one of a thousand similar Peoples Playhouses across the republic, the marquee revealed the cousins' joke: "Pedro and Pierre Loot Hightower Tor"!

The group worked their way through the crowds at the Dock and Boards to some of the second-floor boxes, gladly paying the small additional fee to be away from the huggermugger of the tired, tipsy mass of humanity. Steady-footed halflings moved through the crowd selling ale, and the whole building was redolent with stale spirits. "I'm sure you can land somewhere better than this" Cybele assured her dramatic friend. "Oh, in intend to" Hiram replied. Then he took a moment to explain the finances of playhouses (the play is a loss leader, the money is in the beer and food) and how that works into the enduring nature of Pedro and Pierre tales (broadly humorous crowd pleasers performed by four man troupes, with the non leads providing music, sound effects and taking turns being on stage wearing paper mâché heads to take the roles of chaos beasts). 

With that knowledge in hand the group saw the structure of the play, but that did not in any way diminish their enjoyment of it - or their wonder at its accuracy. Pedro and Pierre entered by rope down to the center of the stage, just as whoever dug the shaft must have entered that center room. While exploring they faced humorous traps (Bec: Darts!), a clockwork automaton (disabled by hurling sand into its gears) and a giant spider - bulbous and eight limbed, which snuck up on the hapless delvers as they were peering at an inscription, tapping Pierre on the shoulder several times before getting his attention and unleashing shrieks from the actors and the audience. The chase and combat with that ended act one, and some beers and sauerbraten were purchased from a halfling vendor. Donato expressed his surprise at the eight limbed spider and Hiram explained that it was the other two actors operating in tandem inside the costume - and then effortlessly displayed how such a thing is done with some quick acrobatics. (Dave 20! This is getting strange. Tom: you're gonna regret these with the fighting starts). 

In act two Pedro and Pierre found, just as our heroes had, a bear headed corpse on an altar, festooned with purses and a necklace. Given ominous cast to the lighting and the wailing of the violin off stage the audience was primed for the beast to jump up as Pierre poked the corpse once, twice, three times. To the shock of the audience instead of arising the body burst open at the chest, disgorging a handful of scorpions which began dancing madly around the room - leading to an improvised caper from Pedro and Pierre as they both dodged the things and cut loose the purses and necklace before fleeing. After the shock was over Hiram was able to identify the weak paper mâché cover holding wound clockwork scorpions tightly together inside the chest cavity - the pokes would weaken the seal and allow the toys to burst loose and skitter about. Still, the three Hightower veterans were wondering if that was the real cause of the gaping chest wound on the actual bear man's body. 

The remainder of the play veered from known territory, indicating a sister passage flanking the spider's den. In this Pedro and Pierre recovered more treasures. Unfortunately, whatever the reality of their venture the structure of the Pedro and Pierre pieces must be obeyed - the hapless duo failed to spot a large trap trigger (despite the audience's warning) and bring down an enormous stone block on their heads. They barely leap to safety, but their treasures are all flattened! With a shrug Pedro asks "Back up the rope?" and Pierre nods sadly and the lead actors vanish into the scaffolding over the stage, only to reappear from the wings to take their bows and accept what coinage is thrown onto the stage for them by the tired, drunken audience.

The nobles waited a few moments for the crush to die down then began their trek home, discussing the finer points of accuracy in the narrative. The play stuck closely to the known facts until that non-existent passage. Still, Hiram's 'sense of the stage' in whilst in the dungeon had indicated what might have been a blocked passage outside of the realm of the dramaturgy as it was not a room he could not enter. (A gratuitous retcon from the GM as I forgot about it. Oops.) "Which means" Dietrich surmised, 'That whoever reached the Tor before us decided to make some quick coin by this play." Donato and Florian revealed the existence of rumors about the looting of Hightower Tor, and this play opened in early winter as a response. Before they could reach Serin they heard a scream for help. In an alley ahead of them they spotted two commoners and their child being beaten by a handful of ruffian sailors. Behind them was the priest from the bar, expounding that death is alas their miserable fate. Donato appeared utterly perplexed and yells "Sebastian?" at which the priest looked up in shock and alarm, being perfectly framed in the streetlight before diving into the shadows. 

As his companions leaped into action Hiram, suspecting a trap based on his previous observations, tried to urge caution. (GM: "Roll for initiative" Dave: "2. Crap." Tom: "Warned ya.") Little is warranted however, as the agile Dietrich dispatches one of the sailors in a single pass and then effortlessly defends himself against two others until Florain and Donato arrive and drive the fight from them. The fourth sailor tries to flee, only to be brought low by a bolt of arcane energy from the ever-capable lady Floriane. Hiram generates a dramaturgical radiance to drive off the shadows, but of the lead assailant - identified by the cousins as Sebastian d'Ferrantino, Cardinal of the East in the church of the Endless Ocean, son of Portia d'Ferrantino, Loremistress of the Ferrantino Library, amongst the highest men in Emirikol - there is no sign. 

Donato tended to the commoner’s wounds while the others extracted the story from the two living ruffians: Sebastian had recruited them to help him locate a chaos crypt in under Scornbul, and these peasants were carrying a book detailing the instructions on how to enter.  Sebastian had ordered them to lie in wait, then identified these people in the street and had them dragged into the alley. The commoners were carrying no such book, and professed with honest faces that they had no knowledge of any chaos crypts. Donato offered to walk them home as Florian led their prisoners to jail to file a complaint against them. Both bid their new friends a fond farewell with a promise to keep them apprised of these odd developments. Before leaving her, Florian did brush his lips, however briefly, against Cybele's aforementioned fair wrist, feeling the quickened beat of her heart.

Weekly Book Recommendations (June 7)

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie: You all know this one, right? Well, if all you know are the myriad film and TV versions I do recommend you go back to the original and give it a read. Yes, it's full of between the wars British classism and temperament of nationality stereotypes but the writing is sharp, incisive, funny at points, and leads up to a satisfying conclusion even if you already know the ending. I'm a big fan of these stories as movies and will likely now track down more of the originals. 

NOT RECOMMENDED BUT WANT TO COMMENT ON

The Prince of the Marshes And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq by Rory Stewart: I had put this on my wish list in 2006 under the theory that it might help me make sense of the culsterfuck/omnishambles that was the Iraq Occupation, and also that maybe it might make good fodder for a gaming setting. I only ended up with a copy of the book this Christmas, and having tried it I'm sad to say it didn't do either. At this remove there's just no sense to make of the catastrophic mess that was postwar Iraq, and Stewart, a British citizen with some experience in the Arab world and some diplomatic experience, is just too earnest in presenting things. He had nothing to do with the planning or execution of the war, and appears to honestly have thought he might be able to at first accomplish, and later salvage, something beneficial to the Iraqi people out of a mess not his making. I appreciate that, but he also lacks a journalists/storytellers instincts to make the book really engaging to me - it may be his recitation of events, but it feels dry most of the time and clearly futile - which may be more about me than him. If these sorts of books are your jam, this one is technically well written but its hard to make sense of the mess that he was in. 

Weekly Cooking Report June 6: One hour Broiled Chicken with Roasted Veggies and Couscous

Alas I didn't get a photo of this one, but I'm stealing one from the CI site that I took the initial recipe from. But don't put your chicken, even cooked, on a wooden cutting board. Ick. 

Anyway, we had planned to make a longer cook, more complicated chicken dish for company (Here if you're interested) and then realized that we had missed our window for getting it started and fell back on this classic. For shopping you're going to need

• 1 (4-pound) whole chicken, giblets discarded; if you go with a bigger chicken I can't guarantee a 1 hour cook time.
• 1 ½ teaspoons vegetable oil for the chicken and another 1 ½ teaspoons for the veggies
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 garlic clove minced/chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 tbs butter. 
• 1 box couscous of your preference 
• Carrots and Broccoli to make a pound of veggies, or whatever your preferred volume is

Set up your oven so the top rack is about 1 foot away from the broiler -- you don't want to get to close or the chicken skin with scorch - and then butterfly your chicken. We've gone over this before I have faith in you and I have faith in you. Once it's butterflied, use a knife to poke holes in the skin across the whole bird, about 3/4 inch apart. 

Put an broiler safe skillet (I use cast iron, that stuff is indestructible) on the stovetop, add 1 tsp of olive oil, and set it to high. While it heats up, rub the bird down with the remaining 1/2 tsp olive oil, then 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper on the skin side, flip it over and repeat 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Flip it back over - it's going in the oven skin side up - and put it on the skillet as as soon as the olive oil just starts to smoke. You'll want as much of the bottom of the chicken touching the pan as you can (hence the concern with a bigger bird). Put it in the oven with the skillet handle facing one of the front corners of the oven. Turn on the broiler and let it cook for 25 minutes. 

While that is happening, chop up the veggies to about 3/4 inch chunks, mix them in a bowl with the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Once everything is covered with oil, put it on a cookie sheet and set it aside. 

At the 25 minute mark, rotate the handle of the skillet to the other corner to more evenly cook the chicken, and add a probe thermometer set to 155F to the thickest part of the breast. This should take 20-30 minutes to hit. 

Once the chicken is at temp, take it out, move it to a carving board, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Turn the over to 425 and toss in the prepared veggie sheet, get the couscous started. Mmmmm, couscous. So fast, so versatile. 

Put the skillet full of chicken juices onto the stovetop on low heat, add the minced garlic, thyme sprigs, and 1/4 cup white wine. Deglaze the pan, getting up any brown crust bits, and let it cook down. Once it's just simmering, whisk in the butter until it melts. You may need to season for more salt, but I generally don't. 

At the end of the 15 minute rest, everything will be good to go. Serve to a grateful family. 

Emirikol and Honor Points

The other house rule I instituted before session 3 was Honor Points: The short form is PCs engaging in profligate spending appropriate to the swashbuckling nobles we're emulating are actually purchasing the equivalent of 'pick what it does when you need it' one use buffs in that mirror D&D potions. Honor Points require foregoing or pissing way GP value equal to 1.33x the normal potion cost (or 200 GP) because it can be traded for any skill buff potion at the time the PC needs it. Yes this removes some of the strategic/logistical aspect of the game but it also removes the heroes all carrying a half dozen potions, which don’t fit this genre. 

1 Point spent gives

• Athletics: +5 to Climbing and Jumping
• Hiding: +10 to hide
• Sneaking: +10 to Move Silent
• Swimming: +10 to swim
• Vision: +5 to Spot and Search
• Slipperiness: +10 to Escape Artist

2 points spent gives 

• Aid: +1 to hit, +1d8 temporary HP
• Bull's Strength: +1d4+1 for 3 hours
• Cat's Grace: +1d4+1 for 3 hours
• Charisma: +1d4+1 for 3 hours
• Endurance: +1d4+1 for 3 hours
• Intelligence: +1d4+1 for 3 hours
• Wisdom: +1d4+1 for 3 hours

One nice thing about these Honor Points from a GM perspective is that they keep the heroes from 'leaving money on the table', or failing to locate and wring value out of every last item discovered on their ventures. Rather than having them awash with cash I can just directly award them Honor Points (for winning duels or rescuing people) for doing things that nobles see as honorable and heroic. Rather than watching them try to negotiate sales of the goods in the pirates hoard they can sniff at the barrels of anchovies and bolts of fabric and leave it for the guard to sort out who it belongs to - earning one Honor Point for every 200 GP of value they don't see as worth their time. When they find artwork or magic items they don't want or can't use they can graciously donate them to the Paladins or some other charitable organization and convert them to the equivalent of potions.

Personally, I rather like this. One of the common tropes of the Musketeers and of other urban heroes like Fafard and the Grey Mouser are their boom and bust cycles, their ability to suddenly have the skills needed to respond to most situations. Honor Points support those, as some of the PCs wealth is constantly tied up in things that can't be sold or transferred for cash when their loansharks come looking for them. For anyone else looking to get a more free wheeling, less money grubbing D&D game going, I recommend it.