Forging of the Three

A new force begins to form on the edge of Morland Mmountain, just outside the forest. A small town aptly named Hope Springs, attracts heroes as it grows into the new hub of human civilization.
Gund, a Dwarf, born of a long line of demon slayers, hears tales of a recent menace to the nearby human village and heeds the call. With his spirit-Wolf Dargo at his side, he begins the journey down the mountain. Along the way, he encountered an Elven woman in peril from a swarm of spider-wasps and made short work of her quarry. Since Arianna was travelling to Hope Springs as well to seek information about ElfHaven, she chose to partner with the Dwarf for the journey seeing the benefit of having one so skilled with a weapon at her side.
As they emerged from Morland Woods, they encountered a human scout. A significant language barrier prevented detailed discussions, but they managed to learn that he was investigating recent animal attacks on the livestock from the village. The Human, known as Lyrin, offered to introduce the wayward strangers to the leader of the humans in this area.
After a brief discussion with Mayor Pellin, the Dwarf decided to help rid them of the monstrous creature that was feasting on their animals. The Elf begrudgingly followed along and Lyrin was more than happy to accompany the pair to accomplish what would've been his task alone.

The Funniest thing happened on the way to the game...

As always, something comes along that interferes with gaming. There was a stall here and a stall there, I found some new players, then maybe not... Of course, my interests drifted a bit, so my focus ended up on other things. I started playing in another irregular game, I got a new GURPS book, which I had to read, and other activities demanded my time. The game with the kids hasn't come back together, even though that inspired me to write enough for at least three more sessions, introduce new characters, start a revolution, etc. And, of course, now convention season is looming on the horizon. Actually, it's charging at me from down the street. I've got a gaming day at ASU this weekend, then LepreCon 31 in May, then a convention every month (it seems) until Christmas! I'll still attempt to squeeze gaming in there, but I have to maintain some balance (damned concience) with work and family as well.
So, current status of my Lygath Reborn... indefinite hold. But I did enough background work that I could start it pretty spontaneously, which is a good place to be.
Current status of the kids game? I dunno. They both had fun, they both talked about it afterward. They were even inspired to mutilate HeroClix to try to create minis for their characters! Brings a tear to the eye doesn't it?
Current status of Transhuman Space? Well, unless the perfect group forms around me, I'm not likely to run this game. It just takes a whole other level of gamer, a whole other level of understanding and commitment. It wouldn't be right to just slop it together. However, some THS inspired ideas have been floating around, so I may do some Traveller, Transhuman Space, Humanx, Uplift sort of hybrid thing. Heh, throw in some laser swords and I can attract a bunch of new players this summer!
Of course, the websites have taken a backseat, again, to my preparing for conventions. I've been working on a Superhero game, and I'm just about done, just need to polish it a bit. I'm also going to prep my fantasy game I wrote with the intention of it becoming a continuing story run at every convention. We'll see.
Well, it wasn't much, but my blog seemed so stale. I needed to throw something in there. A status seemed to be about the right thing.
Taa.

So, these two Elves walk into the village...

Two days ago I ran a short scenario for my oldest boy and his friend. My son, David, has never played a role-playing game, but has some interest in various forms of gaming. His friend Mike however, has played D&D with friends and family apparently for quite a long time (100th level characters anyone?). Still, I wasn't sure what kind of game it was going to turn into. Fortunately, they both took to the game system pretty well, understanding the mechanics quickly as well as the function of Advantages and Disadvantages, how skills were based off of Attributes, etc. Once play started (Character creation for the two of them took less than an hour, that alone is quite an accomplishment. Many thanks go to the concept of Occupational Templates.), I described their starting area, the social situation, and who was in charge. Before I knew it, they were standing before the BMOC asking for a job. No leading these guys around by their noses, they were digging around for a quest! Since it was their first ride on the GURPS bus, I played it light, but tried to throw in enough variety that they got a feel of how it should go. We played for a few hours and ended at a good point where I can really drag them into a greater adventure. The only lesson I think I need to teach is that of consequences. They seem to think they can walk all over everyone else and expect no recourse. I blame PC and console gaming for this insolence!!
The end result was two teens interested in GURPS (my MIB obligation fulfilled), my son enjoying my favorite game and pasttime (my family tradition obligation fulfilled), and we all had a fun evening and it cost me almost nothing (have you seen teen boys eat!?!) (my frugal parent obligation fulfilled).
So, I feel this was definitely something to blog about.

Progress

My website comes along nicely. On the technical side, I've figured out how to make FrontPage do what I want it to most of the time for several of the neat things on the site.
On the content side, I've been developing information specific to a campaign. Most of the previous work was worldbuilding, which is fundamental to the campaign, but does not really set the tone of the campaign, merely supplies the background.
Something I've started to do, which is an important step for me, is make characters. For the non role-player, any character that isn't played by a player is a non-player-character aka NPC. I've created a couple of NPCs that the PCs (Player Characters) will interact with and they will help me understand the world. (I'll post about world development in general later to help you understand statements such as this one.)
As I develop the NPCs and I start to get a feel for their personalities and motivations, I'll start to see the world from their perspective a little. For example, there is a character named Eliath. He is a young Goblin who has a strong hatred of Saurians (basically dinosaur-men). Now, I could just leave it at that and every time he gets around one, he mouths off or throws a rock at them. But if I understand the reason behind his prejudice, I gain more insight into him and the rest of the world. Since it's a role-playing game (RPG (acronyms save keystrokes)), I'll role-play it. I simply ask Eliath. "Eli, what's the deal? Why do you scowl every time I mention Streggen (who is a Saurian btw)?" Eliath answers "You know I'm a pretty easy-going guy, I like just about everyone. But when I was nine..." he rolls up his sleeve bearing an ugly circular scar on his forearm, "you see this hole? It went all the way through" he says, twisting his arm so I can see the exit wound. A group of Saurians drove a spike through my arm and into a tree down in Mudwhistle. They were preparing to eat me when a slug farmer chased them off." Looking around nervously, "you hear me? They were going to eat me!"
Ok, ok, I'm getting carried away, but you see my point. Now I know the background on Eliaths intolerance of the reptilians. Now it has some substance to it, and it's something I can use in the future. Also, look at the rest of the filler (aka me getting carried away), now we know there are slug farmers (what ever that is) in Mudwhistle.
Anyway, overall, the development is coming along at a pace that I am pleased with. Please check out the site and let me know what you think.

It Begins

Tonight was the first gathering of the minds for this rebirth of my Fantasy world. My friend Alan, whom I've not seen in far too long, and my friend Steve, whom I see more often than I see any other person not living in my home, both came over as the foundation of this game. Many of the greatest gaming memories of my life involved one or both of these two people. Gaming or not, I was happy to be here.
So, on with it.
We talked a lot about my ideas and how things have changed as a result of the dark cataclysm, and how things were during it. Many ideas wandered their way back and forth across the table. A few notes were taken to solidify some of the more abstract or to prompt more detailed work on my part afterward.
Amongst much catching up, we did manage to butcher my PC Race list (the list of races allowed for a player to play; things like Dwarves and Gargoyles made the cut, while such things as Water Elementals and Zombies got cut.), establish the foundations of some flourishing religions, and create a few racial and spiritual fears and superstitions which are always happy finds for a GM (Game Master).
From here, a few e-mails and conversations will take place, they will both make characters, I'll whip up a basic plot, establish a couple of story-arcs, a few NPCs, maybe a map, and in two weeks we'll actually get together, hopefully with one or two more players, and carve out a history for the new world.

Lygath Reborn

Background you need to know to understand what I'm talking about.
I'm a gamer, a role-player, I run role-playing games. Exclusively, I run and play GURPS which is a game "system" that enables me to use the same rules for a multitude of genres. I've been using GURPS for about 17 years and one of the main genres I've run is fantasy.

To do so, I created my own fantasy world and as time went on, more detail was added thereby helping to make the world more dynamic and many adventures were had in this world.
One such adventure pitted a band of fairly powerful mercenaries against a near omnipotent necromancer bent on ruling the world. Unfortunately, this band of adventurers failed to comprehend the magnitude of their opposition and were sumarily thwacked for it.
Nearly a year later, the religious order that funded them assembled a new, more powerful band of characters chosen from the finest heroes from all over the continent. They set out, with a small army at their disposal, and sought a weakness in the defenses of the psychotic that now ruled an entire kingdom and showed no signs of stopping there.

As you will soon see, the details get a little hazy from here on out. Storytellers speak of a great battle that cracked the sky and tore the earth as if it were rotten flesh. Some say the Dark Overlord defeated these new saviours, but skeptics ask where he is now. Others say the heroes defeated him and scattered his remains to the elements. In either case, neither the heroes nor the Overlord were seen again.
Of course, no one really had time to consider where they had gone and how. This had been the epic battle betweeen good and evil. A conflict of that magnitude takes it's toll on its surroundings. The world suffered greatly. The people were free from the threat of an undead ruler, but now their very existence stood on the brink. The sun was cut from the sky and the world saw an unending twilight. The evil minions, plucked from the nether dimensions to be used as pawns, now were freed without their master to control them. Many other hells set upon the earth. Entire kingdoms cast into eternal flame, volcanoes and earthquakes gutted the landscape. Plagues and famine drove entire civilizations to starvation. And mana, the very essense of magic, of life itself many believe, mana was drained from the world. Used up in the final war they say. Great archmages, once able to summon a feast for a city could no longer call upon their magical powers for even the most menial of tasks. All that gave the world life was gone.
This eternal twilight became the new home to everyone. Entire races were wiped out by starvation, exposure, and predators. Those that found a way to survive would be forever scarred by the atrocities necessary to sustain them.
Suddenly, as if everyone at once awoke from the same terrible nightmare, the sky parted and the sun rose.
Most thought the great fire in the sky was a new horror set upon them by their acursed world. With the sun brought back the seasons. A new spring came, plants once again answered to those with the knowledge. Clusters of people turned into villages, trade routes were established, and a semblance of a society began again. But as the peoples spirits rose, the minions of the dark sought once again to supress all that is good and natural.
A new order of heroes must be summoned. New magics are to be found and harnessed, and this evil must be vanquished, lest we return to the eternal twilight.