Damn I Am Pretty Art Laboratories

I've started to realize some things in my campaign in Crux lately.  And I've forgotten to mention some societies or organizations within the city that have bearing in my campaign.  Here's one of them.  Like the Destreza or others, this is one of those groups that sort of fall under the purview of an icon, in this case, the Wolf's Circle is a part of the Archdruid's purview: healing the city and keep its wild parts natural, and remaining vigilant about the more Abolethic elements out there. The Wolf's Circle The ways and means of the druids of Crux perhaps, seems the most illogical.  They live within a urban sprawl, one of the largest metropoli known to the world.  It would seem that to find any Druids in the steam and smoke of Crux would be odd.  Or individual. But the Archdruid herself dwells in the City of Curses.  The many feyborn animal villages scattered throughout the city also point to the heightened numbers of Druids within the city's bo...

The Publisher Aspect: The Public Needs To Know! Invoke When: Uncovering secrets or convincing others to tell you the truth. Compel When: Presented with a chance to uncover secrets or when tempted to ask questions, even when it would be impolite to do so. Quote:  "The powerful have gotten away with their lies for too long.  Hear the truth, embrace the fervor and call for something new, something revolutionary." The Publisher funds the three most prominent newspapers in Crux- he also helps to publish a variety of books and pamphlets as well.  Almost all of his efforts are directed to helping further one cause: stirring up revolution. Common Knowledge  The Church of the Machine brought the invention of the Printing Press to the continents of Ainesia and Necruxa.  The creation of newsprint led to the founding of various printing houses.  In cities like Crux, these papers became the backbone of conversation and news.  In Crux, the ...

Ever just want to take things over, but have to do some deceitful stuff to get to power?  Well, if not, Coup can at least help one learn how to do that. This game has been around for awhile. I've been to pick up a copy of it after reading reviews for it, as bluffing games like it have a certain appeal to me. After playing it a few times with my gaming group. Originally out back in 2013, Coup , like the Resistance , is another bluffing party game. Its speed and simplicity won us over. Coup plays fast because one can take out others very fast.  One action a turn.  Each action doesn't have to be true.  And one is fighting to keep his or her facedown cards, his or her influence. Influence is key theming that makes me like Coup .  Who one controls or manipulates is ever changing; the players represent almost faceless powers behind the scenes.  The game has a built in timing mechanism. This keeps games very short, and causes them to have some fina...

Here's a bit of a bestiary entry for Crux.  This is my own version of the Puca, a Welsh/Irish/English faery.  The goal was to create black-furred sadists.  They worked out well in a recent session of the Crux game I've been running at home (the Keepers of Crux).  They didn't put up too tough of a fight, but their creepiness really made a splash in the game. The Puca These fey are the size of Ferrets, and they specialize in crawling through extradimensional spaces.  They are akin to gremlins and other such fey fauna.  In the case of the Puca, they also are irreverent shapeshifters, capable of shifting from one to a dozen of different animal forms.  They have a preference for rabbit, goat or horse forms.  Almost always, their forms are black-furred, with antlers that look like twigs. Normally they worship and obey the lordship of the Fey Lord known only as the Stranger, but others stuck between realities can garner them as servants too. ...

The Ramelin The Sandfolk, from birth, embrace pain.  All Ramelin children learn the same proverb: "Life is Pain." To signify this, newborn Ramelin are ritually scarred along their right cheeks.  Each Ramelin family has their own particular scar-runes, passed down throughout the generations.  More scars are added with each year the child survives.  Most Ramelin scars reveal much about their lives; the wealthier, the smaller, more precise scars they have. Ramelin believe their tribe originate from the Sacred Mesa Akilahakram, deep in the Immortal Khanates of Maliph.  The mesa once had been deep in the jungle.  Its black obsidian stones formed the bones of the first Ramelin, or so the story goes.  The Jinn made them to serve. Chained up to them, the first Ramelin were enslaved.  Slaves, the Ramelin say they remained that way until the Jungles of Rruk turned to sand by Ith's archmagic.  The tale of how the Ramelin became freed varies am...

Life is best when one gets to wear a new, beautiful dress.  Silk, vibrant purple and enchanted just right to echo along with music, I felt ready to my job as a Diva.  I strode out of the Grand Bazaar, bedazzled and ready to face the City of Curses.  I was Diva, ready to help others hear the Singer's Song. The bell chimed when I entered the establishment. "We don't serve yer kind."  The barkeep immediately retorted at me. I looked back at the signs on the front of the tavern's door.  The glass had been painted with the words, 'The Storm's Last Call, bar and restaurant.'  Underneath it had been written an additional phrase as well. 'Humans Only.  No halflings, Fiendbloods or Tinkers.' I sniffed.  "I'm a singer of the song-" "Aye," the one-eyed barkeep agreed.  "And yer a twins-damned fiendblood too.  Or didya think yer pretty horns wouldn't give it away?" I sighed.  No point in pushing the po...

Mad Max Fury Road has left me enlightened.  Yep, I just described a movie in terms of a religious experience.  A glorious experience wherein a man strapped to the front of a rig with a chrome guitar shoots flames.  Because awesomeness comes in such glorious packages. Because it was. Others have talked about the sheer joyous glory of Fury Road , but I can at least try to recapture a bit of the thrill it left.  I saw it with my roommates.  The three of us were overjoyed in the aftermath of car, sand and action. Besides being a nonstop rush of a film, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I tend to be over-critical of movies.  As one of my roommates had put it, "I've never seen you enjoy a movie." It met my expectations.  But not just that.  The movie's first moments have its big buy-in- once you see the two-headed lizard, the ride is on.  It doesn't stop.  It just goes and goes.  Mad Max-chic kicks in, with the post-apocalyptic c...

I stood up, kinda cold.  The station's always been that way. I say station like this place is really something big or important.  It isn't.  Just enough to keep out the radiation. "It's colder than normal-" "Noticed that." I didn't recognize that voice.  It wasn't anything familiar.  Not Cooperative.  I jumped at the sound of it though. "Calm down."  I turned around to try and find the voice of this new stranger.  "Don't.  Stay still.  Or else-" "Else what?"  I didn't quite understand that tone.  "Sorry, haven't been around people for awhile... usually I get to just lie here, riding the garden ship between stops-" "Quiet.  Garden ship?"  What?  Wasn't that obvious?  I mean, I figured all the plants the Spirit maintained would make it obvious.  "You call this a Garden ship- so you are what, its gardener or what?" "Um... this would be easier if you-...

The Tomasi are the human tribe one of my players has been playing- well, he's been playing a Tomasi-Aethamir, so his focus has been the Aethamir part.  As for me, I've elaborated these notes based on his character, NPCs and the way Tomasi have acted so far in the game.  The Tomasi in fact are named after him too, as I find it to be a neat one to say aloud. Tomasi are the Seafolk, lovers of good food and magic, and unwilling to surrender in the face of adversity. The Tomasi, or Seafolk The People of the Tomasi Plateau for centuries prior to the rise of their empire were well-known for their own particular arcane traditions.  With a predilection toward summoning planar monsters, it makes sense that their tribe's ancient homelands would later form part of the core of the Sorcerous Republic of Ith . The Tomasi were a proud people long before the Ursyklon arrived on Orphos .  Their ancestors were sheepherders, their magical talents focused mainly on agrarian pur...

Alt. Race for Crux (Fate Core) Sometimes one finds the curses in Crux last longer than a lifetime.  Far longer.  The dead denizens of the city come in a wide variety, but the easiest to run into at those of the Ghost Street in Old Crux: Ghosts. Ghosts are trapped in the living plane.  Occultic texts claim that some sort of emotional or something important in life chains them to life.  Some others disagree, finding ghosts with no "outstanding" matters who seem only bonded to a physical object they owned in life.  A rare few ghosts seemed tied to specific bloodlines, often haunting their own descendants in their own unique way. Of course, there are gatherings and societies of Ghosts as well.  Some of them find the idea of being "stuck" because they cannot pass over offensive.  These are old ghosts, many who view themselves as citizens of Crux much as any other. There are also those ghostly entities that seem to have lost their sentience or in...

The Walridr or Dream-Vampires "White butterflies flutter even in the briefest of dreams." Aspect: White Butterfly Dreams Invoke When: Manipulating the dreams of others or recounting a memorable story or song Compel When: Presented with a chance to hear a entertaining story or song The Walridr are migrant vampires, their clan coming from the northern parts of Ainesia to Crux more than a century ago.  They lack magickal power over a physical element.  Instead, the Walridr are known for their psychic talents, especially with dreams. The Knight Walridr enjoyed his own fair share of song and tales during his life.  A wandering antipaladin, his sadistic tastes carried over onto those unfortunate enough to entertain him.  Singers would drown in their own blood, hearing his laughter last in their ears. Walridr rode across the breadth of Jarn and Ainesia.  He left countless bodies, his horde of cutthroats and warriors staining those unfortunate to play hos...

The Archbishop Aspect:  In the Name of the Twins! Quote:   "The Summer Rose provided the fire that birthed you, she is in every breath that protect life and helps others. The Black Rose gave you the mind and will to improve on that fire, to make something with it. Don't damn your soul with curses and magick like the rest of this cursed city." For Othebeans in Crux , both visiting and migrants, the Archbishop has always been the true authority in the city. For the faithful of the Twins , the Archbishop is the voice of their will on Orphos. Through the Archbishop works the semi-secret society of the Eternal Order of the Eagle and the Crow , which hunt monsters in Crux in spite of Ithic laws against that. Common Knowledge The Archbishop resides with St. Zyra's Cathedral, near the middle of the Rose Quarter. The massive structure is one of the enduring monuments of Othebean rule over the city. Naturally it has long been the center of many different controve...

Between work and the horror that is spring/summer, I managed to catch a chance to see Avengers 2 .  And then I came back the next day to watch it a second time.  Needless to say, I don't have any complaints about the film.  If anything, I walked away happy because one thing was done right: Hawkeye served as the everyman of Age of Ultron . I use that term because its the closest thing I can think of to describe what I liked about his character building in the film.  Here is the normal guy of the team, who only uses bow and arrow.  Here is the essence of the Hawkeye I've read in the comics: grounded and always striving to do the right thing despite the mistakes he makes.  Everyman characters like that always are there to help the audience identify with them.  The everyman (or everywoman, or everyperson I suppose would be better, even though I can't think of that many female versions of the trope compared to the standard cutout ones) serves a critical r...