Where's my blog, fool?

Big thanks to everyone who checked up on me when they found this blog no longer existed.  I've been mostly offline the last week or so with a friend visiting from out of town.  At some point a robot at google detected some sort of suspicious activity involving both my blog and my gmail account, putting the kibosh on both.  Fortunately Mike Shorten sent me a text message alerting me to the problem.

Time to get serious about archiving this stuff offline...

fun (?) with Wikipedia

My buddy Pat posted this item to his Google Buzz feed:

Today on XKCD the alt text says that if you click the first hyperlink on any page in wikipedia that is not in parentheses or in italics, and repeat that process, you will eventually end up at Philosophy.

I checked Lake Trout. 13 clicks later I was at philosophy.

From Tauroctony, 24 clicks.

From Nachos, 19 clicks.

From Magick, 19 clicks.
Head For the Red: Wiki-Philosophy Trivia 

I decided to test this hypothesis by using the Wikipedia random button, which is one of my favorite buttons on the entire internet. Here are my results, wikipedia page names in bold.

Random article doodad led to Kenneth N. Beers

who worked for NASA

which is part of the executive branch

which is part of a national government

which is a form of central government

which is a form of sovereign state

which is a type of state

which is a concept in the social sciences

which is a field of study

which is part of academia

which is a community

which involves interaction

which is more complicated than simple causality

which involves events

which are generally observable

which is an important trait to physics

which is a natural science

which is a science

the goal of which is the accumulation of knowledge

which involves gaining facts

which are a form of information

which comes in a sequence

a concept important to mathematics

which studies, among other things, quantity

which is a property

in modern philosophy

a subset of philosophy

From random button to philosophy, 26 clicks.  I assume the next step, if someone hasn't already written it, is a little program like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon thing-a-ma-bob.

Mr. T gonna suck your blood, fool!

Result from google image search "Mr. T vampire".

magic items: purchase, pillage or...

Listing standard gold piece values in the first edition Dungeon Masters Guide was one of Gygax's worst decisions, in my opinion.  From there it's only a short leap to shops that stock magic items nas standard wares, which quickly pushes any pseudo-medieval gameworld towards an implicit technomagical industrial revolution.  And finding a magic item yourself (especially if you were nearly killed by gods know what getting it) will always beat the pants off of picking up your new vorpal blade at Sears Roebuck.

There's a third option besides buying and looting that I wish there was a little mechanical support for: the magical gift. Think about the Lady in the Lake and Excalibur or the Phial of Galadriel. Wouldn't it be cool if there was some sort of good, solid criterion for "You are worthy of your quest.  Take this, as it may be useful on your journey."?  4e's Treasure Parcel rules (which I otherwise loath) might actually be on to something in this regard.

besmirching Jeffy Plantagenet

Yesterday's outline of Geoffrey of Anjou's personality got some interesting responses. A couple people felt that my characterization was a bit of a disservice to the patriarch of the Plantagenet dynasty. Dangerous Brian notes:

While matilda was making a hash of things in England, her husband was kicking ass and taking names all over France. In fact, Matilda's son Henry probably owes his military genius, energetic enthuisiam and penchant for womanising to the teachings and example of his father.

And Don McKinney, one of the niftiest guys I've ever known, reminds us:

Henry I had heard reports of Geoffrey's talents and prowess. I suspect that would be more military that bardic... Remember that Geoffrey's father gave him Anjou because he left to marry and become King of Jerusalem (1131-1143), so Geoffrey's family isn't exactly a bunch of unknowns.

These are excellent points.  The wikipedia article on Geoffrey of Anjou also provides this interesting detail:

John of Marmoutier describes Geoffrey as handsome, red-headed, jovial, and a great warrior; however, Ralph of Diceto alleges that his charm concealed his cold and selfish character.

I don't think I've read those particular chroniclers yet, so those guys can be added to the pile of fun stuff to check into while researching for the campaign.  Anyway, all this stuff suggests that my take on this guy is a gross oversimplification at best and outright erroneous at worst. The thing is, I'm okay with that.
 
Dude's been dead for the better part of a millenium and frankly I feel like I don't owe him jack and/or squat. Getting Geoffrey of Anjou 'right' just isn't a priority for me.  I'm much more interested in doing something interesting with the materials available, whether the result comes out exactly in line with history or not. The research is fuel for the process, not the point of the process. The point is to end up with fun stuff for the game. 
 
Geoffrey of Anjou may never even show up in my campaign.  As Dangerous Brian notes he hangs back in Normandy while his wife leads an invasion of England. But as a VIP of the setting he casts a long shadow. Geoffrey as a useless dandy fits in with an overall theme for the upper crust in the campaign: these are all terrible people.  Matilda and Stephen's family spat over who gets to sit at the head of the table at Christmas dinner costs thousands of lives and pretty much wrecks up an entire country (and much of France, too)  for two friggin' decades. Under my interpretation no one at the top of the Wessex social hierarchy is going to come off as a swell guy to go have a beer with.  Incidentally, this means Empress Matilda is going to be tricky, as it would be super duper easy to just pretend "she's a bitch" counts as characterization.
 
But anyway, let's say we want to keep the prettyboy fancy dresser angle, but give Geoffrey a harder edge, make him a cruel bastard who can kick more than a little ass.  There's at least one superb model to go for in characterizing this version, Tim Roth's character Archibald Cunningham from the Liam Neeson flick Rob Roy. Man, I hate that guy. Neeson's Rob Roy pulling himself up by his foe's sword and just stone cold chopping Cunningham down is a great "Fuck yeah!" moment.

Mr. Roth plays an excellent Deadly Douchebag.
He was also great in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Ladies, God's gift to you has arrived.

I've been trying to get a feel for the personalities of some of the important personages of 12th century England.  The guy above, Geoffrey of Anjou, is the husband of Empress Matilda, one of the claimants to the throne during the Anarchy.  Note that he is not Emperor Geoffrey; he is a mere count.  Matilda holds the title of Empress from her first marriage.  She's the widow of a Holy Roman Emperor, though I can't remember his name at the moment.  Matilda is also Queen of the Romans in her own right. Geoffrey's family is wealthy and powerful, but he obviously married up socially.

Another interesting fact about Geoffrey of Anjou is that he is considerably younger than his imperial spouse.  As the campaign opens he is 26 and she is 37, suggesting perhaps that Geoffrey is perhaps a bit of a trophy husband along the lines of the Ashton Kutcher/Demi Moore relationship.

Additionally, Geoffrey could be interpreted as a bit of a fashion plate.  See that shield he's carrying with the lions?  That's the earliest extant coat of arms in England.  His uncle, King Henry I, gave him that shield upon his knighting.  Books on the subject of heraldry always assume that shield devices arose out of the practical need to identify friends and foes on the field of battle.  What if they're wrong?  What if heraldry just started out as a silly fashion trend?  Suppose young Geoffrey wears that shield every he goes.  Everyone knows the king gave him that shield (if they don't know, he'll certainly tell them).  Soon his no-good hangers-on, the kind of toadies that latch on to any powerful man, are carrying fancy painted shields as well. Then Geoffrey marries the Empress.  Soon all of Europe hops onto the painted shield craze!  But not everyone can pull off wearing a Phrygian cap emblazoned with their device quite as dapperly as Geoffrey here.

So this is my take on Geoffrey of Anjou, one of the major players of the period: he's an empty-headed clotheshorse.  The Paris Hilton of his age.  Famous for being famous.  His only assets are prettyboy looks, the ability to accessorize hat/shield combos and the luck to marry well.

new Wessex map

The main change in this version of my campaign map is the addition of something resembling the Roman road system. The obvious reason to put these roads on the board is for moving around the PC party and/or clashing armies. The less obvious reason is that pretty much all the inns, the leftovers of ancient Roman system of tabernae roadhouses, located on the map are these roads. They're the only places one can readily get both a bed and some ale for hard coin.

Elsewhere you can buy a drink at an alehouse, which is quite literally someone's house where you can buy an ale.  The host (usually a woman, the alewife) has a few extra stools or benches she pulls out in front of her hut/cottage/whatever.  When that day's ale is ready she puts out her sign and serves up fresh brew to whoever shows up with a silver penny in hand.  Food is not available and there's nowhere to sleep. All other accommodations are via the laws of hospitality. Travelers often stay at manors, monasteries and churches, in this latter case sleeping on the sanctuary floor in most parishes. I'm still working out what that means for my campaign.

Whatchu talkin' 'bout Mr. T?

gaming with music

I have a tendency to imagine that music and gaming ought to go together like chocolate and peanut butter, the way music and film mesh so effectively.  The James Bond Theme is an immediately recognizable part of the 007 mythos.  Or think about Ennio Morricone's music and Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.  As much as I respect Leone's overall direction, I don't think the last act of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly could possibly work without Morricone's "The Ecstacy of Gold":



Personally, I think that's one of the greatest sequences I've ever seen on film, ranking right up there with the opening track shot in Orson Wells's Touch of Evil. But would it work with a score less awesome than Morricone's? I doubt it. And after experiencing the flatness of this early no-music preview for the original Star Wars I sometimes find it hard not to think of John Williams as the guy who saved George Lucas's career.

The problem is that film is a passive form of entertainment.  Roleplaying games require the active use of totally different parts of the brain.  John Williams or Ennio Morricone can work to draw us deeper into the enchantment film provides.  Put the soundtrack for Star Wars on at a sci-fi session and inevitably I will stop playing at some point and just listen.  Perhaps with my mouth agape like a slack-jawed yokel.

But good music clearly digs down to an ancient layer of meaning that I just can't reach with graph paper and twelve sided dice, so I'm not quite ready to give up on teaming them up.  Here are some ideas on how to do that without accidentally turning your session into a meeting of a music appreciation society:

• Listen to appropriate music during game prep. Of course, this cuts the players out of the action.
• Put together a playlist for the players, maybe even burning CDs for everyone. Some players will doubtless look at you like you're crazy, but others will get it.
• Play an intro theme. Most sessions start out with a bit of light chitchat. Firing up a copy of Holst's Mars movement or whatever would serve as a signal to stop talking about comic books and get serious about playing.
• Perhaps music during the session is feasible, but one has to be smart about selection. No songs with words, perhaps.  People will either sing along or simply pay too much attention to the lyrics. Nothing too strongly invocative of something irrelevant to the game at hand. To you, the sountrack to The Breakfast Club might strike just the right tone for your dungeon, but the players might have trouble connecting it to anything but the movie.
• I maintain a little email list of my player pool.  Gmail makes that pretty dang easy.  I can imagine a scenario where in one of my regular "reminder: game tonight" emails I included a link to a youtube clip of some music video. "Tonight we continue the hunt for the Werebeast of Labbershack Moor. And to set the mood, here's Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark at the Moon"."

Anybody else with any ideas on how to use music with gaming without it ending up a big ol' distraction?

this came to me while blogger was fubarred

One Shot Idea for Exactly Four Players

In the distant future scientists discover trace amounts of super-DNA imbued in the ink of an ancient scroll. The genetic material is reconstituted into four brave young volunteers, who use their newfound powers to battle the enemies of humanity. They are...

KISS 3000!

Starchild! Space Ace! Catman! The Demon! ...fighting to protect Planet Terra from menaces interstellar and transdimensional... fighting for the power of Rock and Roll!

first thought upon waking today

If the sum of human knowledge is doubling every five years, does that mean I'm twice as stupid as I was in 2006?

Half as smart as back then, plus whatever I've managed to learn.  But minus everything I've forgotten, so it may be a wash.