Bootleg Alchemicals

Though alcohol is legal across the New World continent, smuggling still exists to avoid taxation. The largest illicit smuggling of intoxicants, however, involves alchemical substances of various sorts made illegal, over decade ago, in most of the member states of the Union (including the City, the Steel League, and Lake City) thanks to the efforts of church-driven abstinence movements.

This has done little to stem the tide of these substances, which are available in speakeasies or drug dens throughout most major cities. “Bathtub alchemicals” are made in small laboratories within cities or rural areas. Larger scale operations (on some level, likely under the thumb of the Infernal gangsters of the Hell Syndicate) smuggle in alchemicals from foreign countries. Some may even come from other planes of existence, though the origins of such extra-terrene substances are murky.

Alchemical intoxicants come in many varieties, having effects similar to “mundane” drugs (like alcohol, cocaine, opiates, or cannabis) or mixtures thereof--there is an alchemical similar to cocaethylene, for instance. There are also “exotics” which produce magical effects similar to many potions in traditional fantasy worlds. Cheaply made alchemicals may be dangerous, in ways beyond the intended effects, and cheaply made exotics often strangely so.

Here are a couple of alchemicals not uncommon in the City and its world:

Absinthe: In the world we know, absinthe is just a liqueur flavored with essence of wormwood (usually with a high alcohol content), but in the world of the City, it literally harbors a green faerie. Technically, its an alchemical tincture of the larval stage of a spirit creature. These larvae appear to the imbiber as small, pale green, luminescent, and winged pixie-things, but are invisible to others not magically aided. It’s use enhances creativity, and may lead to clairvoyance or clairaudience in a chance which increases with dose (10-40% on first try, with chance increasing by 5% for every week of 4 or more days use. Similar intervals without use lower the chance). With long term use, it allows the user to perceive astral beings, but also causes hallucinations, so telling the two apart is nontrivial. This gives way to paranoia, and possible convulsions if use is heavy and prolonged.

Purpureal ether: Also called mauve enmanation, this alien substance is difficult to describe in earthly terms: it's purplish and has a slight glow, and can be “poured” or contained--something fog from dry ice, though it doesn’t dissipate like any fog, and is, in fact, a radiation from somewhere in the outer dark. It can be collected on moonless nights with little cloud cover on alchemically prepared cloth screens.  These are pressed or squeezed to yield the substance, which is then bottled in opaque receptacles--sunlight will degrade it within others. After 24 hours, it becomes more violatile, and is used by inhalation from bottles, or from cloths on which some of the substance has been pored.  It’s use deadens pain, increases strength (+1 with commiserate damage bonus) and heightens the mind (making the user immune to illusions and the like) for 1d4 hours. It also, however, reduces coordination (reducing anything reliant on dexterity by -1). Longterm use (daily use for a period of 1-4 months), causes degeneration first of the nerves (further dexterity loss, though this time permament), then of the flesh (charisma, and finally constitution loss).

Do We Want to be that Popular?

Back from Comic-Con finally, and I have to say I’m glad its over. Three days is more than enough. One more Comic-Con related note before returning to my regular programming, but this one bears more relevance to role-playing gaming.

At a panel I attended, I heard Michael Uslan hail the victory of comics. He’d attended the first comic convention ever (120 people), when it was an outsider hobby and fans didn’t know each even existed. He pointed out just how far we fans have come to day when comics properties are big business, and an the entertainment industry is paying attention. “We’ve won,” he said.

Whitney Matheson’s observations carried a counterargument, though. She pointed out how the comics and artists related booths at SDCC got squeezed into less and less acreage, and got pushed progressively into the hinterlands, while movie studio and video game pavilions grew and grew, and too the prime real estate.

I think this is an important observation and lover’s of any niche hobby like table-top rpgs might do well to remember: fringe hobbies/art forms “accepted” into the larger culture don’t triumph, they're subsumed. Wider interest means moneyed interests get into the driver’s seat.

Greater acceptance would mean the spirit of DIY that runs through most of the rpg-world would be driven out or marginalized. Some might say this already occurs, but its nothing like what would happen if the kaiju Global Media Conglomerate turned its radioactive gaze on helpless RPG City. Granted rpgs are perhaps not as “exploitable” as comics, in terms of IP, but I’m still pretty sure there’s a lot of bad that could come from it.

In that same panel Brad Meltzer pointed out the golden, ornate, Throne of Odin display (advertising, the upcoming movie) as the perfect metaphor for Comic-Con: “it’s big--takes up a lot of space, gaudy...and empty.”

Well, except for the occasional big photo-op:

Maybe in rpg-land our king’s not terribly photogenic, and his throne-room’s kinda shabby--but he rules at our sufferance, not that of some occupying army.

Comic-Con Day 2 and part of Day 3

Day two at San Diego Comic Con starts late because my co-conspirator, Brandon, doesn’t arrive in San Diego until 2:30 AM having been cutting the trailer for a talking animal film until late in LA.


We attend a “State of Animation Panel” which portends ill because it is boring. Particularly after the anticipation of standing in line half and hour, and getting yelled at by con staff. The exhibit hall is even more dense than Thursday, and going anywhere is swimming upstream. Con disillusionment rears it’s head.

Then, Guillermo del Toro makes it right with his profanity-peppered intro to teaser footage from the remake of the 70s horror classic remake he’s producing and scripting Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. It looks really cool, and he’s really cool.

Things go good for a bit, and I pick up a cool ERB retrospective illustrated and signed by Mark Wheatley and a pulp art book. Then there’s the Star Wars pavillion where you can take a picture than makes it look like you’re an action figure in blister pack on a Boba Fett card. Rumors of invites to Disney’s TRON sequel party or DC’s party entice us, but Brandon’s friend’s text messages are all over the place, and vague.

We instead end the evening with anime and drinks at the hotel bar.

Day three dawns with a panel on the increasing profile of comics in popular culture. This is interesting, but its our second choice as we would have preferred to attend Warner Brothers film teaser mega-presentation, but for the multiple tents full of eager attendees who arrived way before us . After that we make the rounds in the exhibit hall again and I score an advanced reader’s copy of Tony DiTerlizzi’s new illustrated book The Search for Wondla which looks great.

Then, we’re Brandon’s friend finally comes through and we’re whisked to Wired’s party, where True-Blood is served, and several cast members from Chuck and True Blood are in attendance. DVD sets of season two of True Blood come as door prizes. Did I mention this was all courtesy of Patron, who has a make-your-own Margarita booth? Well, it was.

Gotta go.  I have to find a way to pack the things I've bought and the ephemera I've acquired in my bag for the plane.

Combat at Comic-Con

A friend of mine recorded this footage as we watched the tourney on top of the San Diego Convention Center:

 

Fear and Loathing at Comic-Con

One day down in San Diego, and alright--there wasn't any loathing, and only a little fear, but the title sounded good...

It was a long day, boarding a plan on the east coast a 7:30AM with comics blogger/journalist Chris “Invincible Super-blog” Sims, who has it turns out is afraid of flying (“the takeoffs and landings,” he says) and not afraid of having a Mai Tai before 11pm.

Five hours later, we’re in San Diego, and I have to find the mysterious woman whose name I have only seen in a text message. and try to get my ticket. When I finally talk to her she says I can find her under the purple SyFy balloon and: “I’m tall.”

She isn’t kidding. The pretty, bright-smiling, giantess leads me into the convention center—losing me briefly as the gendarmes detain me at the door, but quickly retrieving me—and I get the passes and associated swag for myself and my as-yet-to-arrive friend from LA.

But what about the con? Well, parked outside is the black beauty, but the outfits of the three Green Hornettes in front of it seem impractical for crime-fighting. People take plenty of pictures, though. Everywhere, people are barking things at you like carnies, conspiratorially handing you dubious ephemera like they’re trying to invite you to a rave, or to a church revival. And everywhere, there’s the press of humanity like a general admission concert.

Of course, you’re not even in the exhibit hall yet.

Inside, well, imagine a carnival if every carnival ride was as commercially-motivated as an 80s toy tie-in cartoon, then combine that with a big trade show of some sort, what ever kind you’re familiar with, as long as it has glitz and plastic-pretty sales folk with big smiles. Then liberally apply cosplayers—teen anime characters being moody in packs, older girls favoring the most revealing superheroine outfits. Guys in multi-color body-stockings.

Then, of course, there’s content. A panel on “genre-bending” where all the authors say they do it because its cool, except contrarian China Mieville who worries it may not be—and Scott Westerfield gets to give a PowerPoint demonstration on his new novel, which argues persuasively that tanks would be better with legs.

Before that, there was a panel on urban fantasy where the last question posed was “which class of supernatural being do you find the sexiest?” The answer involved musing on vampires and the possible downside of no circulation.

And with that, we draw the curtain on day one.

Coming soon...

I'd like to officially announce Weird Adventures--a supplement based on (and expanding upon) the world of the City that I've been discussing here for many a post.  What you see above is the tenative cover design, featuring a painting by Doug Stambaugh.

The supplement will be geared toward the generic "old school" game, but feature mostly setting material usable for any game system.  I'll probably get into more detailed rules-related digressions here on the blog.

Planned contents include:

• A guide to the City giving a map and an overview of its five baronies, numerous neighborhoods, and places of interest to adventurers.
• A whistle-stop tour of the strange New World from the rural Smaragdine Mountains inhabited by hillbilly giants, to the occult witchocracy of glamorous Hesperia, and a whole continent in between.
• A monster manual detailing about two dozen creatures from "bugbear" (of the living nightmare variety) to "zombie, black-dust."
• Several adventure seeds for the setting.

In addition, it will feature great artwork from the aforementioned Doug Stambaugh, Chris Huth, Seth Frail and others.

I'm tenatively planning for a late fall release.  More details to come...

Warlord Wednesday: Special Guest Star

Taking a break this week from my issue by issue review of DC Comics's The Warlord as I get ready to head out to San Diego and Comic-Con, I thought instead I'd take a look the Warlord's appearances in the wider DC Universe.

Travis Morgan's first appearance outside his own title was in Crisis on Infinite Earths #5 (1985).  Like just about everybody else in the DC universe, Morgan had a walk-on in this world-shattering (literally) crossover.  He even gets a line:

Next, he turns up in Seattle, of all places, in a two-parter in Mike Grell's run on Green Arrow vol. 2.  Fun was poked at his more than passing resemblance to Oliver Queen.  Here's the cover of the second issue (#28) of that story from 1990:

After that he made a regretable appearance in the equally regretable Justice League Taskforce series, then it was back to Green Arrow (this time Connor Hawke) for three issues.  Dan Jurgens, always a Warlord fan, brought the Teen Titans to Skartaris in 1997.

2000 saw Morgan going toe-to-toe with Aquaman, again courtesy of Dan Jurgens: