Nine Years in Azurth

 

We didn't have a game this weekend, but the 20th (I believe) marked the 9th Anniversary of our Land of Azurth campaign.

The party started in Yanth Country and has now visited 3 of 4 regions of Azurth (and they passed beneath the 4th), as well as taking side trips to  other places like the Land of Under-Sea and Medieval France.

In all that time, we managed to hold on to all but 2 players. Eric dropped out due to life and dissatisfaction with the telegaming we had to adapt to in the pandemic versus in person. Jim passed away earlier this year after a nine year battle with colon cancer.

My imagination tends to wander pretty quickly. I would never have stayed with this world, this campaign, and this system this long without a group of players that it was fun to DM for. 

Thanks to Andrea, Gina, Bob, Tug, and our absent friends for the enjoyment they've given me over the years.

Telesthetic Hound

The telesthetic hounds of Gnydrion are a domestic animal of obscure origins. As their name suggests, they are superficially similar to the canines brought from Earth in ancient times, but they possess a number of anatomic and physiologic differences, most obviously the extended and flexible snout ending in a star-shaped sensory organ. The protuberances radiating from the nose are sensitive to magic and allow the hound to track the aura of creatures and in some cases predict their future whereabouts.

The hounds are commonly bred within the Doar Obdurate where they are used not only to track criminals, but to predict dissident behavior via their sensitivity to human emotion. Scholars are divided on whether the hounds' capabilities actually allow this, but the Obdurs have never been zealous to let mere proof get in the way of legal certainty.

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1983 (week 3)

My mission: read DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands around October 21, 1983.

Brave & the Bold #194: Barr is joined by Infantino, though in a way the story feels more like the sort of thing Bates and Infantino might do in Flash. A motivational therapist Andrea Wye counsels the Rainbow Raider and Dr. Double X to realize their potential as villains by switching super-heroic opponents--the Flash and Batman, respectively.

Flash is attacked by Doctor Double X in Central City, while Batman has to face the Rainbow Raider in Gotham City. The villains get the upper hand against the unprepared heroes, and defeat and capture them. They back to Wye's island, where she pretends to experiment on the heroes, but Flash recovers quick thanks to his fast metabolism and frees Batman. Working together, Batman and Flash defeat the crooks, but Wye manages to escape while the heroes are busy capturing the criminals.

Camelot 3000 #2: Barr, Bolland, and Patterson continue their futuristic Arthurian epic. King Arthur and his entourage arrive at the United Nations and fight some Neo-Men goons.  Then they head inside, where Arthur pulls the sword from the stone. Seven stars shoot out of the sword and fly to various points around the world. Each star finds the reincarnation of one of the Round Table knights (plus Guinevere) and awakening their memories. Arthur, Merlin and Tom set about gathering his allies. At United Earth Defense headquarters, Commander Joan Acton recalls she is the Lady Guinevere. In Paris, France, wealthy Jules Futrelle remembers being Sir Lancelot. Meanwhile, the wicked Morgan Le Fay watches and schemes against Arthur. Another good issue, thought the star here is Bolland's art.

Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #3: Kupperberg and Infantino/Oksner pick up with the newly created Decay menacing the city. I'm not really sure what Pendergast's goal is now. He dissolves a homeless guy which is maybe in keeping with his previous mission, but then he dissolves some new construction. If he's just into destruction now, why start with the homeless guy? Anyway, Supergirl battle him, but she's almost defeated by his power when she allows him to grab her face with his dissolving hands! Luck for her, Psi has turned against Pendergast, whom she realizes has been manipulating her for his own ends. She appears at the battle, transforms Decay into Pendergast again, and vanishes from sight. There's also a subplot where Linda Danvers gets a part-time job as a secretary to her absent-minded major professor (and perhaps romantic interest). 

Overall, this really reads a lot like a 70s Marvel book, it's really only the Infantino art that keeps it from completely having that feel.

There's a Lois Lane backup by O'Flynn and Oksner continue the primetime TV drama sort of stories they were doing with Lois in Superman Family. In this one, an unsigned story on her desk seems to predict events in the future--but most of the story is about the apparent kidnapping of young model Missy Conrad, who actually ran away with her father whom she hadn't seen since her parent's divorce/ Then, she is really kidnapped by criminals her father owes money and Lois up in it.

Green Lantern #160: Barr and Pollard/La Rosa have Green Lantern abducted by The Headmen, goofy old foes of his that have elongated craniums like the Leader. They use their superhuman willpower to take control of his ring and knock him out. He's helped by Dorine Clay, a non-eggheaded member of the Headmen's race who explains that her previous rebellion failed. The Headmen are trying to join up with the Citadel and trying to use the captured Green Lantern as their admission ticket. Hal escapes briefly and tries to arm the rebels, but they overpower him again and put him and Dorine in a prison cell to be executed in the morning. Luckily, the Omega Men, who intercepted the Headmen's communication with the Citadel, come to their rescue.

Meanwhile, on Earth, there are still weird doings with a kid named Donny Weems and a crystal he found. On Tront, Green Lantern Eddore is determined to complete his mission, despite the Guardians telling him it's not in his jurisdiction anymore.

In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Rozakis, Moore, and Rodriquez, continue the story from last issue. Penelops learns that the aliens heating his world are doing it accidentally as they try to increase the sun's energy to make another world warm enough for them to live. Penelops urges them to stop, but their process is irreversible. Thinking quickly, Penelops moves his world to a cooler orbit and the aliens still get their new home.

House of Mystery #312: Mishkin/Cohn and Gonzales have Bennett back in New York with his friends.  There have been a rash of disappearances in the subway, and they think it could be vampires. Bennett goes down to investigate and meets a reporter named Maggie Carle. They're attacked by a giant arachnoid beast who apparently has escaped from Barr Laboratories, the company responsible for creating the cancer cure that made humans poisonous to vampires. A team of men working for Barr Laboratories get the drop on Bennett and Carle and insist that they come with them.

Jones and Zamora tell the story of a poor waitress who is convinced the elixir she sees a strange, elderly man drink every day in the dinner where she works is some sort of miracle drug, but only after she's invaded his home to still a supply does she find out its embalming fluid and the man is undead. Boltinoff and Sangalang round out the issue with the tale of a wealthy, young couple in New York City who join the exclusive Suicide Club, only to find it lives up to its name in its expectations for its members who lose at games of chance. If that balk and following through, the club turns to murder.

Legion of Super-Heroes #295: Giffen gets a bit of a break as he shares penciling duties with Howard Bender this issue. Blok deduces that the Legion foe Universo is a renegade Green Lantern after watching tapes of an early adventure of the Legion in which they are at odds the Green Lanterns who are trying to stop a scientist from looking back at the origins of the universe (I feel like that's going to come up again). After the initially conflict, Green Lantern Vidar tries to do the same thing and gets kicked out for his crimes then goes on to become Universo.

Night Force #6: Once again, Wolfman and Colan/Smith show the scientific establishment out of its depth dealing with the paranormal. The head of Science City uses his psychics to unless Vanessa's link to darkness fully at it means their doom. Demons roam the complex and the KGB agents from his issue free Caine and Gold in the hopes they can help. But Vanessa feels abandoned by Gold and the demons are out to get him specifically! There's a Nigel Kneale sort of approach here. The demons are real things but not what folklore or ancient belief has said they are, but something more pseudo-scientific. It perhaps doesn't jibe with the DCU as a whole or even other elements in Night Force, but it works for this story.

While all of this is going on, Baron Winters gets a visit from the cops who promptly open the wrong door and get lose in the past, so now Winters has to rescue them.

Sgt. Rock #372: Another single appearance member of Easy Company meets his end as a kid who uses his (sanitized to hide the horrors of war) diary entries as letters who to his parents. Rock has the somber duty of writing the last entry and letter.

Warlord #65: I went over the main story in this issue here. In "The Barren Earth" backup, Jinal is found by some robed desert-dwellers who turn out to be reptilian. They don't harm her, but they aren't particularly helpful either. Then she's captured by human marauders who certainly don't have good intentions. Luckily, she's rescued by a guy that is dressed like one of the reptilians and rides a similar mount but is actually a human named Skinner who says he'll take her to civilization.

Phaelorn Gap

Shreev Seg Molok (art by Jason Sholtis)

Phaelorn Gap is a town near the Lake of Vermilion Mists along the Panarch's roadway heading east away from the great cities and across the mountains. It is the center of the scintilla harvesting industry with the Lake. The wealth harvested from the Lake belongs by law to the Panarch and flows to his coffers save that which is paid in renumeration or lost to corruption. 

The divers, young, unmarried women by tradition, receive little in the way of wages for their efforts, but do receive a state pension upon retirement. Some former divers become matrons, responsible for wrangling and discipline of the divers and insuring they do not skim from harvest unduly. The matrons, of course, take their gratuity before the Panarch gets his.

Operations in Phaelorn Gap are overseen by the Eminent Compulsor. The current holder of that position is Briszm Wungar. Officially his only function is to ensure the scintilla are transported West and the Panarch receives his due. In practice, he is the overseer of the entire operation, enriched by his own peculation.

Wungar is not personally an opposing man, so he must rely on the dignity of his office and the strong arms of his local enforcers to assure his will is done. Chief among these enforcers is the Shreev, Seg Molok, and his subalterns. Molok is a veteran of minor conflicts in the region and is said to have survived (after sufficient brave resistance, certainly) the Whelming of Fort Olmovar by the Great M'Gog Horde. He is a man respected by the townsfolk of Phaelorn Gap for his pragmatism and evenhandedness. His sense of honor and appreciation of duty is such that the size of the inducement proffered sways him less than his reckoning of the ethical questions involved. 

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1983 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of October 14, 1982. 

Batman #355:  Good cover by Hannigan and Giordano. On there drive home Bruce and Vicki are run off the road by Catwoman and into the river. Bruce manages to get them both out. Knowing that she has made a terrible mistake, Catwoman flees without looking back.

Later, as Vicki recuperates in the hospital, Bruce hears from Jason Bard and Jim Gordon that Rupert Thorne has been convicted of the murder of Pauling and Gordon gotten a call to meet with Mayor Hill. After leaving the hospital, Gordon goes to Hill's office. Hill is concerned that the Gotham City Council are call a recall election and in order to try to head than off, he gives James Gordon his old job back under the condition of his support.

That night, Batman goes to Selina's apartment and finds only her panther who hasn't been fed in a while. After taking care of the animal, he finds a clue that leads him to the Catamont warehouse. Catwoman is waiting and attacks. With Batman at her mercy due to his still healing injury, she could easily kill him, but she realizes her mistake and pulls back. They apologize to each other for the pain they each have caused and part ways.

A continuity glitch in this issue: Catwoman clearly knows Bruce is Batman, but earlier stories in this arc make it clear she doesn't know. Future stories (still pre-Crisis) will stick with the version where she never knew.

Flash #317: Bates and Infantino continue the Goldface story with the Eradicator lurking in the background. The Flash tangles with Goldface twice and gets defeated. Goldface demands Flash leave town or he'll continue murdering people in Central City.. The Flash isn't about to leave, but he recruits the reformed Heatwave to help him try to take down the villain. They get closer, but again Goldface escapes, and Flash is left in peril of drowning. Meanwhile, the Eradicator makes short work of Goldface's goons that come after him, and Creed Philips discovers that the Eradicator killed his physician (he doesn't appear to know that he's the Eradicator).

G.I. Combat #249: Kanigher and Vicatan bring back the Mercenaries are and get embroiled in saving Tibetan refugees from river pirates then meet a girl whose brother is the Dalai Lama(?). She offers them a jade pendant in exchange for helping get her brother across the border. Turns out she planned to sell out her brother to the Soviets, which the Mercenaries prevent, but then (as usual) they don't get paid because the emerald is shattered by bullets. 

There are two Haunted Tank stories as usual, but made a bit more memorable than average by a kind of ironic view of the fortunes of war. In the first, Jeb looses a bet with the tank retrieval crew when he assures them they won't have to pick up his disabled tank again, which of course they do on the next page. In the second, Jeb and his men spend the whole issue getting a captured German officer back to command only to have him almost immediately allowed to escape because he was a double agent.

The other two stories include a bleak short about a disabled former soldier who returns home to me mocked by young men eager to go fight themselves, unaware of his service. Finally, there's a "based on a true story" tale about how planting some bamboo aids soldiers in escaping a Japanese POW camp.

Masters of the Universe #2: I reviewed this issue here back in 2015. 

 

Saga of the Swamp Thing #9: Swamp Thing and crew arrive in New Jersey, where their helicopter (created by Reef in the previous issue) disintegrates and Reef is conveniently killed in the crash. Swamp Thing is morose the whole time because he's realized the little girl he was trying to protect (Karen Clancy) turns out to be evil incarnate.

Meanwhile in Washington D.C., Harry Kay takes Paul Feldner to a Sunderland facility to be treated for his burns. It turns out Karen Clancy had thought he might be the catalyst whose power she could consume to achieve her ultimate power, but nope, that's another associate of Kay's named David Marx. Karen develops into a fully grown woman over Feldner's burning body and offers to spare him in exchange for Marx. Marx goes to her willingly to save Feldner's life. Harry Kay is revealed to be a Nazi war criminal and he is operating his own mission, separate from the Sunderland's goals. 

Swampie and friends are confronted by Kay at the Barclay clinic where he explains that he is trying to obtain "information of vital importance to the future of the world" and asks for their help. They so Kay has his flunky Milton attack them with psychic powers.

In the Cavalieri/Carrillo Phantom Stranger backup, The Phantom Stranger and a builder investigate a murder and strange phenomena inside a church scheduled for demolition. Turns out it's living gargoyles.

New Teen Titans #26: Wolfman and Perez continue their story about runaways and street crime. Raven heals the wounded youth at the cost of nearly succumbing to the spirit of her demonic father, Trigon. The guy turns out to be the older brother of the teenager whose death Dick and Kory witnessed last issue. He had come to New York to investigate his brother's death only to nearly be killed by gangsters working for drug kingpin Anthony Scarapelli. Back at the youth center, the Titans meet with Adrian Chase and Roy Harper, the latter working as a liaison between federal and local authorities on drug-related cases. Leaving with the Titans, Roy gets into his Speedy gear, and they team-up to bust up Scarapelli's plans to have his new drug shipment distributed by duped, teenage runaways. Two of the kids, however, are killed in the fight, despite the Titans' efforts. Some of the ones that return home alive don't get happy endings, either. It's all a little heavy-handed and maybe even trite, perhaps, but no more so than what was in a lot of primetime dramas. And this was a comic for kids. it works as an arc and sort of differentiates the Titans from the X-Men.

There's also an Atari Force preview in this issue by Conway and Andru/Giordano. Disappointingly, this story is more an advertisement for DC's Comics that came with certain Atari game cartridges. It features the characters from those comics and is much more standard "toy tie-in comics" than the ongoing series than will follow the next year.

Superman #379: No mention is made of Superman's reduced power this issue. In Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics chronology for Superman, Wolfman's depowered Superman arc in Action (and crossing over into the Teen Titans) occurs well before the stuff going on in the other Superman titles, which is the most harmonious way of handling everyone else ignoring what Wolfman is doing.  

Anyway, in this issue Bates and Swan a strange proto-being is causing Bizarros all over Htrae to explode, and Bizarro No. 1 comes to Earth to see if Superman can help do anything about it. It turns out its actually a plot by Bizarro Luthor to save Bizarroworld from an alien invasion. 

This issue is the first appearance of the Bizarro Justice League and Bizarros Yellow Lantern, Hawkman, and Aquaman.

Rumble Beneath the Arena

 Our Land of Azurth 5e game continued back on last Sunday with a pretty much all combat session as the party thumbed their collective nose as the Looms' warning and entered the complex built with the junk wall behind the arena. They descended into subterranean rooms where they found a masked giant with a maul and a group of poisoned armed mooks.

These guys wore the group down. In fact, Waylon was have gone down if not for the timely healing of Dagmar. As some of the group had triumphed, Loom unleashed some sort of a sonic attack to soften them up for the attack of a large mechanical monster than was able to shoot fire out of its finger tips. Erekose and Waylon teamed up on it with their magic weapons while Shade and Dagmar hit him from a distance. When it was destroyed it exploded (or course), but the party managed to avoid major harm.

They were hurting after that and downed some good berries and took a short rest before moving on.

Thono Inn

The Thono Inn and Baths are a famed, but aging attraction near the Lake of Vermilion Mists, which offer "gas baths" of the peculiar substance of the Lake itself in addition to more traditional bathing. Yrming is the eleventh generation of Thonos to run the baths, though in truth she leaves the day-to-day management to her husband, Gris Samber, while she manages the special activities for the inn's extensive festival schedule that borrows holidays liberally from diverse civic and religious calendars. So large are the baths that Thono Village has arisen nearby to support it. 

The pumps which support the unique bath offerings require the work of an expert engineer to maintain. Ormaz Halx is the current individual charged with this task. He is given to reminding anyone that questions his decisions that he once studied at the hwaopt library (true in the strictest sense). He is also given to intemperance regarding the local distilled spirit. When deep in inebriation, he has been known to speak of a mysterious cave containing crystalline columns which somehow fulfill desires. He will angrily deny every having said anything of the sort when sober.

The Thono family and their loyal employees have a historic antipathy with the Cult of the Hierodule who bring their celebratory revels to the vicinity annually. This ill-feeling is primarily financial, owing to the grubby, vagabond nature of the cult leaders and their followers, and the promiscuous ways of the cult's youthful celebrants who provide for free erotic services for which the inn's contracted, professional staff would charge.

Gris Samber takes a broad view of who one day might be a paying customer and so does not urge his staff to violence against their transients, with the probable exception of Bardo Clart, the cult's current wild-eyed and hirsute leader.  

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1983 (week 1)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! Today, I'm looking at the comics at newsstands on the week of October 7, 1982. 

Arak Son of Thunder #17: Arak and Valda are almost able to fight their way out of the palace of the Emperor, but Aetius, counselor to the emperor, uses sleeping sand to knock them out aided by the untimely arrival of Haakon, an emissary from White Cathay, trying to curry favor with the Emperor. They wind up in the dungeon, but Irene, mother to the Emperor, visits the dungeons and offers Arak a deal for his freedom. It seems she doesn't trust Haakon and believes he is there to steal the secret of Greek fire. her suspicions prove correct, as Haakon tries just that at a demonstration that day, but she didn't reckon on Aetius being in cahoots. Arak is knocked out and kidnapped and the villains are about to set fire to a boat with Valda, Irene, and the Emperor on board.

In the backup, the Thomases and Gonzales/Alcala give Valda and Maligigi a city (mis)adventure As the cross paths with the thief Brunello who they believe is going to steal the remains of St. Denys which are kept in a jeweled reliquary. Then it turns out the theft has already occurred. Greeramada, the supposed friend of Malgigi, unleashes demons. She demands that the sorcerer provide her with the spell which will cause the beheaded saint to rise again.

Blackhawk #254: In the main story, Evanier and Spiegle have the Blackhawks helping to defend the French town of West Dieppe from Nazi invasion. When Blackhawk gets a report that Professor Merson was sighted in Berne, he flies there alone. It's a trap, though, and Domino is waiting. When the rest of the team gets word of his capture, they fly to Berne and find Blackhawk tied to the front of a tank. The 'Hawks have a dilemma: destroy the tank with Blackhawk on it or die. Instead, Olaf uses the bazooka on the German infantry instead and the surprising move allows them to get Blackhawk and get away.

The backup with art by Cockrum has Chuck on a solo mission to deliver a communique. He spots the plane of Nordling, Hitler's private courier. He follows the Nazi into an abandoned building, but Nordling becomes aware of him, and Chuck is shot and wounded. Chuck manages to make it outside. When he sneaks back in later, he finds the Nazi protecting a group of stray cats. Chuck calls Stan and Chop Chop to patch him up and take Nordling into custody.

 

DC Comics Presents #53: Mishkin and Swan/DeZuniga provide a seasonal story with "The Haunting Dooms of Halloween!" having Superman visit the House of Mystery. This sort of offbeat team-up has a certain charm for me, and it's the sort of thing Marvel didn't really do in their team-up books. Anyway, the villain here is Mr. Mxyzptlk who lures Supes into the House of Mystery to save Lois Lane and some transformed trick-or-treaters.

Fury of Firestorm #8: Conway and Moore/Rodriquez bring back Typhoon for some reason. Things haven't gone well for David Drake since the accident that made him Typhoon. He's been in a psychiatric hospital and gets out only to have his wife leave him. He snaps and goes looking for revenge. Meanwhile in New York City, after testing his powers under Stein's supervision, he goes to the movies with his friends and winds up beating up that jerk Cliff Carmichael. 

Typhoon arrives in New York and kills the former captain of the ship who inadvertently caused his transformation, then he goes after Stein, heaving the sea captain's corpse through his office window. Firestorm's first priority is to save innocent lives. Through trial and error, he attempts to direct people out of the path of Typhoon's fury. The villain gets the upper hand, however and delivers a blow that sends the unconscious Firestorm plummeting into the bay.

Justice League #210:  Conway and Buckler/Tanghal have Ray "the Atom" Palmer and his colleague Physicist David Dorman discover an "X-Element," a catalyst for all basic chemical reactions, which is about to decay, and thus disrupt all natural processes on Earth. As the Atom, Ray summons the Justice League, which splits up into sub-teams as they do to stave off world-wide apocalypse. Just as all seems lost, aliens calling themselves the Treasurers appear, offering to reverse the decay of the X-Element in exchange for specimens of Earth flora and fauna, including (unknown to the JLA) one human: a seemingly ordinary postal clerk named George Arthur Stuart.

Wonder Woman #298: Ed Hannigan/Dick Giordano cover on this issue. Believing Wonder Woman to be dead, Aegeus has forced Trevor to help him find Paradise Island in the Bermuda Triangle where he begins an assault. Wonder Woman, however, is still very much alive. She recovers and defeats the terrorists and Bellerophon, and heads for Paradise Island. Steve Trevor, dumped off Pegasus but caught by Queen Hippolyte, is taken to Science Island without touching ground and employs a hang-glider to try and attack Aegeus. Before his foolish heroics can lead to his death, Wonder Woman appears, takes Steve back to Science Island, and defeats Aegeus, who uses a last thunderbolt to teleport himself away to--well, not quite disappear until the Who's Who, but he doesn't have many rematches left.

In the Huntress backup by Cavalieri and Staton, Huntress looks like she may meet her end in the coils of Boa's pet constrictor but Blackwing comes to her aid. Huntress gets to hear his origin before she heads out to confront Boa and his gang, and this time, triumph over them. 

Adventure Comics #495: As usual, the only new story here is The Challengers of the Unknown by Rozakis and art this time by Toth/Gaicoia. Continuing the extended "Challengers Begin" origin story from last issue, the not-yet-Challs hang in Rocky's apartment, reading and paying bills. Professor Haley is still chewing on their as yet unsolved jet sabotage. They all have reasons to believe they might have been the target though the possibilities seem far-fetched: Native Alaskans angry about desecration of a burial ground, the allies of a deceased South American dictator, Haley's cousin Freddie hoping to gain an inheritance. That last seems the best lead, but before they can leave, Red has something else to say...next issue.

A More Civilized Age

Art by Donato Giancola

I'm all for "lived-in futures" and dusty, grubby space Westerns, but I feel like there are some science fiction aesthetics that don't get their due. And I'm not talking gleaming, featureless rocket hulls and silver lamé outfits. I mean the more refined, swashbuckling, adventure film derived style.

Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon was probably the biggest feature in promoting this style, but it shows up in other places like Cody Starbuck by Howard Chaykin:

And in Milady 3000 and i Briganti by Magnus (Roberto Raviola):

It's not really absent from the Star Wars saga. It just shows up more in the prequels than in the original films. I think there's a hint of it in Lynch's Dune and the SyFy mini-series version--though it is sorely lacking from the drear Villeneuve version.

The Adventure-Point Crawl Campaign

My kid has been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender, which means I have been rewatching it, and that gave me a roleplaying game related idea, not so much in regard to its content, but really its structure. 

The creation of the fantasy epic, such a staple of fantasy media, has always been hard in games because historically, attempts to do so have led to drastically limited options for player agency. At best, the Adventure Path that is the modern descendant of the Dragonlance modules tends to be really linear. At worst, it's an outright railroad.

I don't think it has to be that way, though, but it would require some discussion and buy-in from players and a good session zero. Here's how I think it could work:

1. The GM tells the players the campaign setting and situation and suggests (but not mandates) a Quest, perhaps. Or perhaps, the players and the GM sort of make that up together? The "Quest" is the desired outcome: defeat the Firelord in the case of The Last Airbender or defeat Sauron in Lord of the Rings.

2. The player's make up characters, finalize the Quest, and plan the steps they think they will need to achieve it. The Quest needn't be etched in stone. It's possible the campaign as it unfolds might lead to a different goal, e.g.: Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. It failed. But in the year of the Shadow War, it became something greater: our last, best hope for victory. It's even conceivable PCs might switch sides. Anyway, there should also be more character specific goals woven in, not just big campaign ones.

3. The GM plots those steps both geographically on a pointcrawl map and node-wise for a campaign structure map and makes clocks of antagonist/rival actions and other events. It's important to note here that the steps which will become nodes aren't plotted scenes. They aren't linked to each other in a linearly (or strictly linear) fashion for the most part, and they aren't supposed to go any certain way. Nothing is "supposed" to happen. In Avatar, Aang has to master the 4 elements. That goal could have played out in a lot of different ways. In fact, it takes two potential teachers before he ultimately gets to learn firebending. Localizing potential places where the goals can be achieved is important, because fantasy epics tends to cover a lot of geography. They aren't just dramas or soap operas to be played out in a limited location.

4. The players choose where to go and have other adventures and encounters along the way due to those choices. This may call for a bit of separation of player and character knowledge, but even without that, I feel like it works if the players just know the likely location of achieving one of their goals. Circumstances may mean it doesn't work out. The world doesn't stay static. But any unsuccessful attempt to achieve a goal at a point should always yield clues to a goal--either another one or the one they failed to achieve. In this sense, it's like running a mystery; clues to the next goal location shouldn't be hard to find.

5. Players can alter goals in response to events or their desires.  New point crawl "maps" may need to be generated in response. When new goal nodes come online, new hooks and areas of interest need to be populated around them. It's the "story" goals embedded in sandboxy locations that makes this much less linear than an adventure path.

6. Repeat until the PCs achieve the goal or the clocks expire and a new status quo (and possibly campaign) is established. What if the hobbits fail to destroy the ring before Sauron's victory? Well, the story needn't be over.

This approach doesn't feature the degree of session to session freedom of the completely sandbox game, it's true. However, the player collaboration in the planning phase ensures it's not a GM enforced story. Indeed, both players and GM will be surprised by the final shape of the emergent story. 

While this may be a bit of a novel approach (at least I haven't seen anyone ever talk about it) ideas about "node-based scenario design" and "mission-based adventures" have existed for a long time. What this does to enhance those is get player input prior to the missions and link the nodes in a grander campaign.

Wednesday Comics: DC, December 1982 (week 4)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, we look at the comics hitting the newsstand on August 26, 1982.

Weird War Tales #118: Kane provides a cover that seems to be an homage to Giant-Sized X-Men #1. I've praised Kanigher certain sort of inventiveness before and this issue is another example. He and Carrillo have the G.I. Robot and the Creature Commandos brought to London to be decorated by the King. With this framing device of our heroes adventures getting related to his Royal Highness, we get the usual sorts of adventures of these guys. G.I. Robot, who already bested the samurai robot, now has to face the "geisha robot"--and the female is deadlier than the male, because J.A.K.E. apparently doesn't want to hurt a lady. Instead, in their second encounter, he leads her on a chase that winds up with her destroying herself stepping on a landmine.

In the Creature Commando yarn, a group of Nazis escape from a military prison and take a group of kids that had previously been having a picnic with the Commandos captive. The monsters go all out to rescue their young friends.

World's Finest Comics #286: Burkett and Buckler/LaRosa contain the zodiac story. After Zatanna's injury last issue, Superman and Batman take her to the JLA Satellite, but ultimately Wonder Woman decides to take Zatanna to Paradise Island where they can use the Purple Healing Ray. Batman and Superman return to their respective cities.

In the meantime, Dr. Zodiac ponders his current situation and recalls how he was sprung out of prison by Madame Zodiac, who he's now romancing. It's clear that she has been the promoter of his actions to fulfill the dictates of the evil dark cloud she serves. 

The dark cloud is on the move again. Its powers seem to unleash people's darkest impulses and turns people against each other using hate as the fuel.Clark's neighbor's dog is stolen by a Satanic cult to be sacrificed. Superman stops them, but he is once again attacked by the dark cloud and is temporarily incapacitated. In Gotham City, Lucius Fox returns home to find the Ku Klux Klan waiting for him outside his house. Batman, Robin, and ultimately Superman respond.

Later, the dark cloud has gained all the power required from Dr. Zodiac and Madame Zodiac, and a new wave of monsters start plaguing the cities of America. The Justice League members encounter werewolves and vampires. In Gotham, Batman, Robin and Superman contend with a horde of zombies, but after dealing with the monsters, Batman is possessed by the dark cloud.

Action Comics #538: Barr and Norvick have Superman at a low point after his defeat by Jackhammer. Bruised and half-conscious, Superman limps to Jimmy Olsen's apartment and asks his friend to use his disguise skills to help him hide his bruises. 

For the next few days, Superman keeps a low profile, using his other powers to thwart robberies from a distance as his wounds heal. At the same time, Jackhammer exploits his newfound fame to rise in the Metropolis underworld and go on a crime spree.

After a week goes by without a Superman sighting, the Daily Planet staff starts wondering what has happened to their hero. At night, Clark Kent privately admits to himself he is afraid. Thinking of his parents, Clark mans up and heads out.

Superman confronts Jackhammer again, but the armored villain still has the upper hand. The crowd of on-lookers moves in to help Superman, distracting Jackhammer long enough for Supes to defeat the foe. Superman receives the multitude's congratulations, but he insists he's the one who is grateful for the help of the people of Metropolis.

In the Aquaman backup by Rozakis and Saviuk, Aquaman and Mera first have to deal with the fallout of her out of control powers. Then, it's revealed that Mera's psyche is somehow imprisoned and someone else shares her body--a someone who commands the body to strangle Aquaman!

Arion Lord of Atlantis #2: Kupperberg and Duursema bring Arion back to Atlantis, which is under attack from Thamuz, a state-city ruled by D'Tilluh's son M'Zalle. Arion helps defend the city and defeats a band of assassins. Arion learns his rival, Garn Danuuth, is commanding the Thamuzian forces and seeks a secret hidden beneath the city. 

Meanwhile in the wastelands, Lady Chian and Wyynde try to find their way back to Atlantis under the mistaken belief that Arion is dead. They encounter a girl named Mara fleeing from Thamuz. She carries with her a crystal ram's head which soldiers have been sent to retrieve. Chian and Wyynde defeat the soldiers, then bring Mara back to Atlantis.

All-Star Squadron #16: Part One of this recounts All-Star Squadron #14 which has now been altered due the crossover that just completed last month now having never happened. When the All-Star Squadron returns to the meeting rooms of the JSA.  they discover a disheveled Wonder Woman await for them. She had her own encounter with Nuclear. Steve Trevor was captured in the battle, and she has come to the Squadron seeking aid.

The Squadron takes Wonder Woman’s invisible plane to Norfolk to investigate. They track Trevor and Nuclear to the lab of a dilletante named Percy Playboy. The villain’s magnetic powers are effective against the All-Star’s, but Trevor escapes and shoots Nuclear, apparently killing him.

Thomas concocted this story to plug an old continuity gap. Percy Playboy, the villain Nuclear, had his first and only other appearance in 1950 in Wonder Woman #43. Strangely, that story is called "Nuclear's Return" and calls him Wonder Woman's archnemesis, even though he never appeared before. So, Thomas gives his that previous meeting, at least in continuity.

Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #10: I bought this issue off the stands as a kid. Andy "Wolfie" Wolf, the antagonist of Peter "Pigiron" Porkchops from when they both were just funny animal characters in the 40s is brought into this superhero update by doing a riff on the Wolfman. A curse transforms him into the Wuz-Wolf--'cause he "was a wolf, but he ain't no more."

Anyway, there's also a backup where Fastback has to deal with Chesire Cheetah who reminds me a lot of Chester Cheetah, except he's not cheesy. In the literal way, I mean. 

 

Detective Comics #521: Conway and Novick seem to be heading toward returning Catwoman to villainy by first making her the crazy ex-girlfriend.  Selina awakens from a nightmare where she murders Victoria Vale. She calls Wayne Manor, hoping to talk with Bruce, but when Alfred tells her that Bruce is asleep (really, he's out as Batman), Selina assumes that Bruce is really spending the night with Vicki, which only makes matters her jealousy worse. 

A few hours later, Vicki Vale gets a visit from Catwoman, who warns her to stay away from Bruce and she threatens to kill her if she doesn't. The next morning, Vicki tells Bruce all about it. Bruce tells her that Selina was responsible for their breakup and that now she has to deal with him moving on. As Vicki and Bruce kiss, Catwoman watches from a distance and makes a vow to fight to the death for Bruce's affection.

With Selina's heel turn, Green Arrow moves into the backup slot courtesy of Cavalleri and von Eeden. And we're in for some early 80s computer stuff! A story on computer crime Oliver Queen is working on vanishes from his terminal at the Daily Star. In its place he gets the image of Hi-Tek, who tells Oliver that he deleted his story rather than have his secrets exposed. Learning the address of the IT firm that stores the Star's data, Oliver becomes Green Arrow and goes there to confront H-Tek, but instead has to deal with an exploding robot that knocks him out. GA wakes up to find security sticking guns in his face, demanding he explain what he's doing there.

Jonah Hex #67: Fleisher and DeZuniga continue Hex's trail of vengeance against the rogue cavalrymen responsible for the death of Jonah's fiancée, Cassie Wainright years ago. This time, it's Croy's turn. He's a gambler and cheat. He tracks Hex to the town of Careysburg and takes a shot at him through a hotel window but instead kills a barmaid visiting Hex for the evenings.

The next morning, Croy fires another rifle shot that creases the back of Hex's skull. A few locals bring him to Doc Brewster's office, and Hex begins to suffer from fever dreams. He recalls the events, which led to the death of Cassie.

The following day, Croy learns that Hex is still alive and decides to take another try. He barges into Brewster's office, but Hex seems fully recovered. Croy tries to get the drop on him by way of a concealed revolver in his sleeve, but Jonah shoots him twice in the chest before Croy can get a shot off.

New Adventures of Superboy #36: Kupperberg and Schaffenberger delve into the dangers of standardized testing in schools! A researcher (I guess) named William Wright administers a test in Smallville High School and is able to take mental control of a number of students there. He discovers that he commands mental power enough to defeat Superboy.

In the Dial-H for Hero backup by Bridwell and Bender, Chris is captured by the Master and his dial is taken by the villain who proceeds to dial himself a powered identity.

Arena Assault

I completely forgot to write up our last session (two Sundays ago) in our Land of Azurth campaign. The party was still trying to figure out a way to free Bellona, War Lady of Sang, from the control of Loom. Their attempt at subterfuge hadn't played out the way they thought, so they shifted tactics and cased the place for an assault under cover of night.

The were pretty sure Bellona was being housed in the building behind the arena, but the means of spying (using Waylon's owl familiar) were insufficient to get a real sense of the inside of the place. Still, they are confident in their abilities.

The sneaking across the deserted arena is easy, but they must have tripped some alarm, because an image of a being called itself Loom appears before them when they reach the door and demands they bow down in reverence. Most of the part goes along, but Dagmar views it as sacrilege and won't do it. Loom allows his lackeys to attack first: Helmarg the troll woman and her ogre bruisers move in to attack--but Loom says this match won't be to the death.

These guys are tougher than the party anticipated, but after a battle that saw Waylon fall twice only to be revived by Dagmar healing magics, they finally prevail.

When they still won't bow to Loom he unleashes some sort of poison cloud on them. They still isn't enough to take them out, thanks to good saving throws all around. After looting their unconscious foes, they prepare to move into the complex. 

A Taxonomy of Fantastic Lands

Thinking about the phylogenetic connection between the Lost Worlds of Victorian adventure fiction and the planetary romances of last century led me to an overall classification scheme for all sorts of unusual/fantastic lands or country within large settings (whether that larger setting be an approximation of the real world or a secondary, fantasy world). This was quickly done, so it might bear further though. 

The Strange Country: The Strange Country probably is an outgrowth of The Odyssey and Medieval travelogues. It is a place definitely situated in the wider world and generally not differing in its physical laws but possessed of its least one unusual feature whether than be a geographic anomaly, cultural eccentricity, or weird animal. Most of the various city-states of Barsoom, and the countries of Vance's Tschai or Raymond's Mongo fall into this category. The "Planet of Hats" TV trope is the Strange Country on a planetary scale. The Strange Country differs from the more mundane foreign land by the degree of exaggeration in its unique thing and by the fact that beyond that thing, it isn't usual that foreign in terms of culture, language, etc.

The Lost World: The Lost World is more remote and more divergent from the outside world that the Strange Country. Most often it's an isolated pocket of one or more elements of the world's past, but it could be completely alien. Perhaps its most defining feature is that it is typically a hidden place and is much harder to reach than the strange country. Maple White Land of Doyle's The Lost World is the prototypical example, but Tarzan encounters a lot of these "lost valleys" from Crusader to remnants to lost Atlantean cities. The dividing line between the weirder Strange Countries and Lost Worlds isn't entirely clear, but if the place is widely known to scholars just seldom visited, it's a Strange Country. If no one knew it existed or it was believed to be mythical, it's a Lost World.

Fairyland: The Fairyland is a region defined by its fantasticalness. Physical laws may be very different from the surrounding world. If it has contact with the wider world if is limited and geographical conscribed. Often though, it will be as remote as the Lost World--even more so, perhaps, because it may not strictly be placeable on a map, existing in an extradimensional space. Literal Fairy lands are generally Fairylands, but so is the demonic subworlds of a number of Michael Shea's fantasy novels, Hades in Greek Myth, or Wackyland in Warner Bros. cartoons featuring the Dodo.

Wednesday Comics: New Stuff I've Liked

 I spend all my Wednesdays talks about old comics that I don't get much of a chance to talk about newer things. Here are a couple of recent comics that I have enjoyed and you might too. They all happen to have "world" in the title.

World's Finest: I've mentioned this one before, but Waid's and Mora's classic (Bronze Age-y) stories and characterization with a modern sensibility continue to be really good. There are now a couple of collected editions in the series.

World's Finest: Teen Titans: Spinning out of World's Finest, Waid and Emanuela Lupacchino bring a similar (though not identical. Being about younger characters makes this book feel a bit more modern) to a sort of new version of the 70s Teen Titans. It's like what might have been if X-men style angst and later 80s Deconstruction hadn't intervened.

Worldtr33: Shifting gears, this is a horror comic by James Tynion IV and Fernando Blanco. In 1999, a group of computer nerds discovered the Undernet―a secret underworld/intelligence in internet. They charted their explorations on a message board called W0RLDTR33. They thought they sealed the Undernet away for good. But now, seemingly random killings posted on social media proclaim the arrival of a new age. The world has access to the Undernet again, and, like Cthulhu rising, it will mean a terrible new age dawning for humanity unless they can stop it again.

What I Like

In this DIY rpg world, there are a lot of factions, cliques, theorists, declarations of movements, manifestos, categorizations. I'm not really adherent to any of these except in the loosest since of being an rpg enthusiast of a certain vintage, preferring games of a more traditional tabletop lineage (in which I would include most rpgs) rather than strictly story games, and being a member of the Hydra Co-op and enjoying the gaming material written and run by my fellow Hydra heads. I do have things that I like in games and try to produce in the games I run.

It should go without saying, but to make it clear, I don't necessarily think these things are better (though sometimes maybe I do!), they just happen to be my preference. Starting loosely with a list that gets quoted a lot in Old School and related circles that I believe was created by Scrap Princess allow, here's what I like:

1. Interact with the world. I want players to approach the world as if their characters are inhabiting it, not as a gloss over a rules set or just flavor. The world, however, isn't merely composed of (imaginary) physical objects and locations but of (imaginary) social relationships, and conventions of genre or setting.

2. There is nothing that is supposed to happen, but some outcomes are more likely given (1). The story is in the hands of the players, but the world is going to dictate some more likely outcomes of actions. To give absolute, unfettered agency is to violate the first principle, but there is always a high degree of variation within a broad outcome, and the player actions and preferences are going to determine how it all turns out.

3. The player is an actor but also a participant in a social activity. I don't mean actor in the arch sense of the stereotyped thespian behavior, but I mean that the player has the roll of portraying a character, but also in considering (in a somewhat metagame fashion) what makes sense for that character within the larger context of the "story" unfolding. (And by invoking "story" here, I don't mean in a preconceived way. I mean: given the inputs of character, setting, situation, and genre, what seems cool to the player to have happen?)   This differs from the stance of strictly playing the character, wherein the player gives no consideration to the big picture, which can lead (in my view) to a player becoming too involved in the character and viewing the character's losses or setbacks as a loss or setback for themselves. Also, "it's what my character would do" can lead to disruptive behavior at the table.

4. It's the player's job to make your character interesting and to make the game interesting for yourself and others. This follows logically, I think, from (3) and (1) and leads directly to (7) below. The GM is also a player in this regard.

5. The character sheet is the mediator between theory and result. Plans and actions should be conceived in line with (1) and a lesser extend (3), but the mechanics of the game should support the actions players are likely to engage in. The character sheet as the rules-based abstraction of the character's capabilities ought to have some role in that, otherwise why not just play pretend and dispense with it?

6. Player skill/talent is important. The way I see rpgs as "winnable" is not primarily in character survival or successfully achieving goals (though those things are far from insignificant) but rather in making the experience more fun or cooler. I like skills and related systems some old schoolers dislike, but I think good, clever roleplay and tactics--defined as ideas that are not merely sensible or logical in the abstract but are also entertaining, spur/inspire players, and show clear consideration and interaction with the sustained, consistent, imaginary world we are involved with--are crucial.

7. Sometimes your character will die, but it's seldom interesting to die pointlessly. Death can be an important possible outcome in rpgs and I don't generally favor removing it as an option (though perhaps some games make a case for this), but I don't find pointless death as a result of computer game style "gotchas" or super-swingy rolls fulfilling. It's more gamey perhaps than I typically want. Often, another sort of setback other than "start over" is a better option to me.

8. It's fun to try new things. New settings, new mechanics--all worth a go. I don't think there is a particular formula of the type of game I want to spend all my time with. To me, it would be akin to eating the same thing every day for lunch. It gets old. Sometimes that even means sampling something you already know you aren't going to like most of the time to see if you enjoy partaking of it rarely.