So there I was, your everyday, ordinary Human Ranger hero, walking down the street of the port city, chatting with my two new comrades Reed (Halfling Paladin) and Hylan (Gnome Wizard), when this woman grabs my leg and tells me that slavers have half-inched her husband! Well, we can't be having with that, so we wents with her down to the dock where she picked out a ship in the bay waving a quarantine sign yet still managed to have quite a bit of interaction with the dock, people going to and from and the like.
Deciding discretion was the better of charging ahead and hitting people with billy clubs (Reed was fond of that plan), we instead decided to go in under cover of darkness and see what we see. We got our hands on an old boat, which Hylan did up a treat with a bit of magic. With the aid of an understanding ship's captain (who, for some unfathomable reason, spoke with an Irish accent) towing us out in the wee hours of the morning, we got our longboat within striking distance of the ship.
On board we spied six guards and an officer pacing the top deck. Reed and myself slipped up the side of the boat to take on the officer, while Hylan faked up someone falling into the bay on the other side of the ship, which very nearly worked. The officer saw us coming and got in a decent smack to Reed before I pushed him through the rails and onto the deck below. Hylan put most of the guards to sleep, but one got in and had a go at me, although he didn't have the chance for a second. The officer nearly got away (and alerted others), but Reed and myself put paid to him.
However, the ship's medic came looking and saw the bodies on the deck. Whoops. (And speaking of whoops, we should have remembered to tie the longboat to the ship...) Still, a quick slash later and he saw the wisdom of surrendering to us. The Captain proved a greater challenge, and he very nearly got away before collapsing under Reed's influence.
Below deck, we locked the sailors in their bunk room, and managed to subdue the Captain of the Guard, but the ship's mage got away while we were busy. This meant we had to deal with the rest of the guards, but we proved up for the challenge. Collecting up with ship's Wright, we freed the slaves and took the ship into port to hand everything over the authorities.
Good job for us, but since the Emir (in charge of the city) does consider slavery illegal, considering he gets a backhander from them and thus doesn't mind too much, we'll see how he feels about having successful anti-slavers in his midst... is that the open sea I hear calling?
[END]
Thursday, 31 July 2008
The Chronicles of Risan: Part the First
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Clearing the Confusion
What: A one day convention for roleplaying and boardgames, with three separate rounds spread over the day.
When: Staurday 2 August 2008, 9:00am start time
Where: Turnbull House, 11 Bowen Street
Cost: $15.00 Player entrant, $10.00 GM, $5.00 WARGS member. Also, if you only want to come for part of the day, it's $5 per round.
For further information visit www.nzrag.com.
I have no idea what I'll be playing in, but I'll certainly be there. (So no Heroic Cthulhu for me that day.)
[END]
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Video Roundup
Dexter Season Three
What thin premise can they stretch over too many episodes this time? (Yeah, it's a great series, but very basic ideas.)
Steamboat Willie
80 years ago today. Wow!
The Music of the Spheres
More brilliant for those in Albert Hall, I suppose, but good to see the tradition of the Doctor Who actors in panto is staying alive.
Cell Phone and Brain Cancer
What aren't they telling you they should be? More importantly: what are they telling you they shouldn't?
[END]
Monday, 28 July 2008
Sanctuarians
Caught up with the web-series Sanctuary yesterday. Sanctuary is a series of 15 or so minute episodes, of which they got up to eight. The series has been picked up by the Sci Fi Channel and will start screening in October.
The basic premise is... monsters are real. (Although the term in this series is "abnormal"). Not exactly stunningly original. The first four episodes are essentially the pilot, and the second four make up episode two, although since this would make each episode around an hour I doubt the full episodes will be all that content. (I gather that the first two episodes might be reshot as they are very dark.) The style is via CGI-screens to create sets (a formula used by one or two movies in the past), and is more noticeable in some scenes than others.
To be honest, the main pulling element it has at the moment is that it has Amanda "Stargate SG-1" Tapping in it (this being the project she went on to after Stargate finished, which is why she was only in one season of Stargate Atlantis). It's hard to say yet if there will be an ongoing plot-line or if it will devolve into "Abnormal of the Week". It certainly has some promising points built-up, and there's no doubt of high production value in this, but that does not a guaranteed series make...
Definitely a series to keep an eye out for, although I have to say that Amanda's attempted British accent (and "attempted" is the polite word) is not working in the series favour... (at least they didn't have David Boreanaz try to keep up an Irish accent, thankfully).
[END]
Sunday, 27 July 2008
HC Again
Yep, it's out already. Mainly because we had a shorter time and called it quits early (mainly due to not having a short second mod and half the players leaving...).
Anyway, with one usual player (Pete) away, Logan was looking at rerunning some older mods that some of the players hadn't done or listened to before. I wasn't sure which ones I have heard, so I decided to take a pragmatic approach to the matter...
Thus, this is a mod in which I GM! (Took Logan by surprise, ha! (In a good way.)) Set in Trinity again, this was making a point which I don't know if anyone picked up on (it wasn't a subtle point, but not one I explicitly state). But it did end in a way I wasn't expecting, and now I have to deal with that. Note that this is dealing with adult subject matter. Trinity: Fire Inside: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
[END]
Master-trix
I've been rewatching Series 3 of Doctor Who, and one thing that affords is being able to make more connections. And I've noticed a few things:
* In Smith and Jones, the Doctor transfers genetic material via a kiss.
* In The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords, the Master is kissing Lucy Saxon a lot.
* (And just what other genetic transfer has happened between him and his wife?)
* A red fingernailed hand (admittedly that of the production manager and not the actress) picks up the ring at the end...
So has Lucy being contaminated and now thinks she is the Master? And was subdued while the original Master was around? Could this be not only why she shot him, but also chanted the Doctor's name? To whit, "get this guy out of the way, so I can be the Master proper".
While most of us picked Lucy as the hand at the end, it's only when one recalls the first episode of the series that the mechanism comes out.
(Although whether or not RTD was thinking any of that is anyone's guess... and maybe we'll see the Master (Mastrix?) return in one of the specials??)
[END]
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Chickens without Heads
Brilliant news, the Headless Chickens are one again reforming (although probably just as a one off). I've been relistening to their albums a lot recently, they've done some great songs... and thanks to the internet, we can see those videos of yesteryear...
Either via their own MySpace page, or on YouTube. Check out Juice, Cruise Control, Mr Moon, Supertrouper, Gasfrankenstation, Choppers, Donda Esta La Pollo, Second-time Virgin, even an interview and of course George:
[END]
