Time of the Tarrasque: Lands of the Sun teaser

As promised a few weeks ago, I have more information to share about my upcoming "Lands of the Sun" game. The campaign blurb appears below, and the public information for my players can be found here, on the "Time of the Tarrasque" wiki.

Lands of the Sun

The region known as the Dragon's Wing is dominated by the coastal Sultanate of Asasor and the Lokoran Desert of the interior. Asasor is a subtropical nation of dark-skinned humans and halflings, ruled by the priests of the sun and moon gods. The sultan claims the borders of the Lokoran, and this frontier serves as a buffer between his realm and the sun-adapted orcs of that desert.

The Dragonspire Mountains, beyond the Lokoran, were once home to the evil hobgoblin empire of Rizagarn, but that nation's power was broken by the alliance of northern nations who founded the Shield. The hobgoblins' territory once extended as far as Asasor's borders, and the surviving eastern tribes remain a thorn in the sultanate's side. Fortunately, the hobgoblins and orcs hate each other as much as they do humans and halflings, which keeps their numbers from growing too great. But one of Asasor's greatest fears is that a charismatic warlord will arise among one of those races and undo the precarious balance along the frontier. 

The priests of Asasor are also vigilant against the cult of Asmolon, the evil god of darkness and undead. This cult was responsible for the destruction of the halflings' ancestral homeland across the southern sea, and the sun god's champions try to prevent another such catastrophe by finding and destroying any evil they can uncover. They are also wary of the Cult of the Tarrasque, which has numerous adherents among the orcs, who zealously guard sacred sites in the desert where the beast has appeared in the past.

"Lands of the Sun" will initially focus on the hills and deserts of the frontier, with the heroes dealing with threats from orcs, hobgoblins, and death cults. Most adventurers here are humans, halflings, or half-orcs, but the other core races do visit and live within the sultanate in small numbers.

Tales of the Blue Swan: My college AD&D campaign

I've been GMing regularly since I was in 8th grade, but college was the first time I ran a truly long-term campaign. I ran AD&D 2nd Edition every other weekend during my sophomore, junior, and senior years at Denison University. During this time, the PCs went from 1st level to around 6th or 7th. With this being a college group, turnover was high, but we always had at least a couple players who continued into the next school year--and exactly one who was in the party for all three years. (When he and I reconnected many years later, he informed me that he ran a D&D game of his own during his senior year, using the setting I had created. Music to a world-builder's ears!)

Our original players that first year included two that I had played with in another DM's game the previous year. Kevin was a fellow fantasy and SF fan and long-time gamer, a junior who I'd originally met during my prospective weekend and remained close friends with throughout college. He played a human mage who had devoted his career to learning enough magic to adequately protect himself and his scanty, precious hit points.

The second was Gail, a biology instructor doing a two-year stint at Denison while she completed her doctorate. She was relatively new to gaming, but enthusiastic and eager to learn more--and she helped us get use of a meeting room in the Biology building for our sessions. She played a halfling thief largely based on a character from a TSR novel she had enjoyed.

We had one other female player: Carol, the daughter of a professor at Denison. She had recently finished her bachelor's degree and moved back home while looking for full-time employment. She had the most gaming experience of the group, and she and Gail were the two players who put the most effort into the role-playing side of the game. (I was sorely disappointed when they both moved out of state the next year. We never did manage to recruit another woman into the group, and were sadly diminished for it.) Carol played a half-elf bard, and was content with being a lore-seeker in a supporting role. Her character carried a backpack full of every little piece of mundane equipment she had ever found useful in a previous game.

Ed, the three-year veteran, played a human thief who spent much of his time trying to show off how sneaky he was. He and Gail frequently concocted schemes that got both their characters into entertaining scrapes.

Hassan was a Muslim who felt strongly about playing a character who embodied his own beliefs. He found a suitable match in playing a cleric of the god of light and healing. He didn't socialize with the rest of us outside of game, and I regret not getting the chance to know him better.

Scott was an athlete whose sports schedule also didn't give me much time to see him outside of game. (I ended up living across the hall from him a year or two later but, ironically, he had dropped out of the group by then.) He played an elf ranger, specializing in archery. With the high minimum ability scores required for AD&D rangers, he was the most consistent damage-dealer in the group, at any distance.

The final member (but one of the earliest recruits after Kevin and Gail) was Aaron, whose many geeky interests soon made him inseparable from Kevin and me. In fact, he and I became roommates the next year, and the only reason he didn't play for the campaign's full run was because he transferred to another school after two years. He played the party tank, a human fighter. Unfortunately, he tended to have long runs of bad dice luck that resulted in him being the least effective combatant in many important battles. Even at his most flailing, however, he and his heavy armor could be counted on to draw attention away from the less tough members of the party. His fighter and Gail's thief were good friends--she kept him well-supplied with booze to show her gratitude for him being a living tower shield, as well as a convenient tall thing to climb whenever bugs were around.

Now that I've introduced the Company of the Blue Swan, I'll share just one brief anecdote from that first year. Half of "D&D" is "dragons," so I threw one at them for their final adventure near the end of term. The PCs were all 3rd-4th level by then, so it was a very young black dragon (only 8 HD, IIRC), but it provided a very challenging hunt and fight for the party. As the dragon lured them further into the swamp, I built up their sense of paranoia with a number of eerie sounds and false alarms. When they reached a large stream that they needed to ford, they linked themselves together with ropes so that the stronger members could keep the weaker ones from going under. The dragon chose that moment to double back and attack. Most of the party made it safely across by the time the dragon reached them, but Aaron's fighter brought up the rear and so was out in the open when it made a strafing run. His usual dice luck held true and he badly flubbed his saving throw, taking full damage. Luckily, he was at full HP, which was just a hair above the maximum damage I could have rolled, so he survived--while getting the greatest scare of his life. His dice just rubbed it in by easily making the save for his platemail to avoid being melted. The party directed all their firepower at the dragon and, a few rounds later, emerged victorious without losing anyone.

The aftermath of the adventure, when they skinned the dragon and brought the hide home, was a golden opportunity for the party to show off their many quirks. Carol's bard was the only PC who had enough cash to pay for making dragonhide armor, and eagerly commissioned a suit. With such a young dragon, the armor was only as good as leather, but to a bard, its use in getting people to ask for the story was well worth the loss of 1 point of AC. Aaron's fighter had a shield made from the largest remaining piece, and some other members of the party commissioned smaller items with the rest. Ed's thief spent all his available cash on acquiring dragonhide boots and gloves, and dragonhide pickle tongs. Why pickle tongs? Well, why not? And it had never been done before.

I may tell more Blue Swan war stories in future columns, though few of them are as clear after all this time as the dragon fight. At the very least, the origin story of the world I created for that campaign, and later recreated in highly altered form for a couple other campaigns (using GURPS and D&D 3.0/3.5) is worth a column.

Thoughts about LEGO Friends

Two items made the rounds among my Facebook friends during the past few months: "The Little Girl from the 1981 LEGO Ad is All Grown Up, and She’s Got Something to Say," which was posted at WomenYouShouldKnow.net in February, and a LEGO Friends installment of the webcomic Seasonal Depression from December. Unsurprisingly, this generated another round of debate about whether the LEGO Friends theme was a good thing or bad thing for kids. As both a parent and a former LEGO employee, I decided that it was time for me to revisit my own thoughts and feelings on this subject.

During the 1980s, the company started marketing their toys heavily to boys. This strategy helped create the enduring stereotype that all LEGO toys are for boys. The company made a few attempts at creating products lines for girls, including Belville, Scala, Paradiso, and Clickits, but except for Belville these themes were short-lived. At least part of the reason those lines failed is the fact that they were not designed to be fully compatible with other LEGO themes. Belville characters were on a larger scale than minifigures, and the sets involved fewer building elements. Clikits was a jewelry-making line that had even less to do with the traditional building experience. The most enduring "girl" toy has to be the simple pink bucket of bricks, with its pink (and later, purple) bricks mixed in with the classic primary colors.

Eventually the LEGO Group conducted several years of research into what kinds of products would appeal to girls, and the end result was LEGO Friends. This new theme was designed to be a girl-friendly counterpart to LEGO City. The sets focused on the hobbies and adventures of five teenaged girls, whose interests included many stereotypically girly hobbies (baking, fashion design, cute pets) as well as a few less gendered activities (music, science). The models used a more pastel color scheme than LEGO City, and introduced "minidolls." These new character figures had more realistic proportions than classic blocky minifigures, but their slenderness necessitated having fewer points of articulation. The hands and the tops of the heads were the same size and shape as a minifigure's, which allowed their hair, headwear, and accessories to be compatible with other themes.

The theme was introduced at the very end of 2011, and sold extremely well from the start. I was working in a LEGO Store at the time, and the reactions from customers ran the full spectrum. Some adults and children were overjoyed that there were finally LEGO toys for girls, while others saw the theme as a ploy to marginalize the girl fans of LEGO even further. My own reaction was rather mixed: I was skeptical about the theme's chances of success and disliked the pastel palette, but I had a duty to learn to sell this theme along with the rest of the store's inventory. Once I finally got my hands on a set to build for the store's display cases, my opinion improved: these sets did include a decent amount of building, so girls were not being shortchanged on that critical part of the LEGO experience.

I eventually came to a conclusion that many of my co-workers shared: The new theme would attract some girls who would otherwise not touch LEGO toys, then many of those girls would eventually explore other themes. But perhaps more importantly, the parents who felt that LEGO City was too boy-centric would be given more options for toys they might find more suitable for girls. Our attitude about that may have been a bit cynical, but sales figures showed that the company had indeed produced a successful new theme.

My own children, who were 7 (girl) and 6 (boy) at the time of the theme's debut, had played  with LEGO and DUPLO toys pretty much their entire lives. They both liked a wide variety of themes, including City, Castle, Pirates, and Ninja. In fact, the Christmas just before the first Friends sets were released, the two themes my daughter most desired were Ninjago and Alien Conquest! When they discovered the new Friends theme, both my daughter and my son were equally enchanted by them. My daughter immediately wanted the Invention Workshop set (a small science lab) above all others, and they both clamored after the cute animals. This new interest did nothing to dull their appreciation of other themes, and they regularly mixed together their minifigures and minidolls for shared adventures. For them, Friends was just one more theme to love, out of dozens of equally cool lines.

Since then, the Friends minidolls have been adapted for other themes, including the current Disney Princess line and the brand-new LEGO Elves sets. As with Friends, the Elves theme has elicited a wide variety of reactions among my acquaintances. These seem to fall into two camps, either "They are elves, so must be mine," or "They are a sickening parody of elfkind, and must be destroyed." It's the LEGO Friends argument all over again! Personally, these two new themes are just not my thing, and the handful of interesting parts I might find uses for don't justify the cost of the sets for me. (The Merida set comes very close, but like most Brave merchandise, her minidoll is just a bit too pretty for the character.) For the most part, I'm not much interested in acquiring Friends sets for myself. The one exception is the polybag pets series, which are a cheap way to get new animals for my RPG minis collection. But I will continue to buy the occasional Friends sets for my children, along with a wide variety of other themes.

Last year's Research Institute set, part of the LEGO Ideas theme, includes three women scientist minifigures and the tools of their fields. It's a great set for showing girls that science and LEGO are cool without any of the pink nonsense that pervades "girls' sets." Sadly, LEGO Ideas sets are produced as limited editions, so this set has little hope of getting the wider distribution it deserves. The set's entire production sold out online within just a couple of days, and despite the LEGO Group's promises of manufacturing more, they remain unavailable.

The Exo Suit, another recent LEGO Ideas set, features two astronauts, a man and a woman, distinguished only by their faces. This minimalist gendering for a space-themed set actually comes pretty close to the solution presented by Maritsa Patrinos in her Seasonal Depression comic. If the LEGO group can make more sets like these two in their larger-production themes, we may see some real progress towards a more gender-neutral toy line. In my opinion, designing all LEGO themes to appeal to both boys and girls is the only sure way to continue to grow the brand in a world that is increasingly sensitive to gender bias.

On a lighter note, these fantasy heroines were created using parts from Friends and at least five other themes. How many can you identify?

TBT: Light-Hearted Lovecraftian Lyrics

I'm trying to make Thursday my regular day to post here each week, and will do my best to keep to that schedule. However, this month is already a hectic one, and shows no signs of becoming otherwise. My wife is changing jobs later this month, so we've been scrambling to set up her new office space at home before then. The kids are out of school at the end of May, so we've had to plan out their summer in time to get them into camp during the weeks that they aren't off visiting grandparents. I already posted earlier this week (for May the Fourth), so today's post is going to be a simple, little Throwback Thursday column.

Besides being a LEGOmaniac and gamer, I've also been interested in art and writing for as long as I can remember. So naturally, my bachelor's degree is in Studio Art with a minor in English. Most of my work at Denison (and since then) was drawing and painting, with a bit of photography and sculpture. I have an account at deviantArt, where I've posted photos of my artwork spanning from high school to college to the two decades since then. That gallery also includes a small selection of poetry, both serious and silly. I've decided to share a couple of the latter with you here.

Cthulhu Bunny Foofoo

Cthulhu Bunny Foofoo
Hopping through sunken R'lyeh,
Scooping up the Deep Ones and bopping 'em on the head.

Down came Nyarlathotep and he said:
"Cthulhu Bunny Foofoo,
I don't want to see you
Scooping up the Deep Ones and bopping 'em on the head.
I'll give three chances 
And then I'll feed you to Azathoth."

The progression of the the remaining verses should be obvious. This is my contribution to a series of alternate lyrics to Little Bunny Foofoo that my group of friends created and passed around back in the late '90s.

And also from that period comes this descent into madness:

Cthulhu Fhtagn

Cthulhu fhtagn:
Unpronounceable phrase!
Cthulhu fhtagn:
Say it anyways!

It means he's dreamin' 
Down in wat'ry R'lyeh.
It's the Mad Ay-rab's dread prophecy:
Cthulhu fhtagn.

Let's hear from Captain Johansen:
   I'm Captain Gustaf Johan-sennn!
Very nice.
   Takk!
he ran his ship aground on a slimy island.
He found non-Euclidean streets on every hand.
   I've a delicate mind, though I seem quite stout.
   And it hurt when my friends never came back out.
   And oh, the slime
(A nasty climb!)
   Oozing up all the time
(Oh, will he have time?)
   To escape this morass
(What did you do?)
   Sailed right through his--
Captain! Not in front of the squids!
   Oh...unnskyld.

Cthulhu fhtagn:
Unpronounceable phrase!
Cthulhu fhtagn:
Say it anyways!
It means he's dreamin' 
Down in wat'ry R'lyeh.
It's the Mad Ay-rab's 
dread prophecy:
Cthulhu fhtagn.

Cthulhu fhtagn.
[Repeats]

It means he's dreamin' 
Down in wat'ry R'lyeh.
It's the Mad Ay-rab's dread prophecy:
Cthulhu fhtagn.
[Repeats]

May the Fourth be With You, Part 3: The Blue Viper

The Blue Viper is a Y-wing starship owned by Miishwik, a Rodian. His partner in crime is Loala Reshi, an ex-slave turned Sith apprentice, who further her master's agenda through acts of murder, theft, and terrorism. The third member of the team is Miishwik's astromech droid, R6-D7, who has developed a quirky, sadistic personality of its own.

See Parts 1 and 2 for the new Twi'lek Sith Apprentice and Rodian Marauder templates. Rules for astromech droids appear in the main rulebook.

LOALA RESHI, Twi'lek Sith apprentice

Loala is a Twi'lek with deep blue skin, whose beauty is only slightly marred by a few prominent scars. In order to remain as unimpeded and mobile as possible--and also to distract her enemies--she wears very little clothing (unless the local climate demands otherwise).

Loala was born into slavery far from her race's homeworld. After serving a succession of cruel masters, she was purchased (or stolen) by a Sith Lord who saw the power of the Force within her. This new master proved to be her most abusive one yet, but he promised her power beyond imagining. Soon after his promise started to show results, however, he vanished without a trace--possibly slain by a Jedi Knight, captured by a more powerful Sith, or gone on some sudden, lengthy quest. Left on her own, Loala continued to practice her dark powers, and seeks out opportunities to use (or misuse) them in new ways. While trolling the underworld for means to support herself, she met Miishwik. Her powers impressed him enough that they have been partners in crime ever since.

DEXTERITY 3D
Dodge 4D
Lightsaber 4D

KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
Intimidation (interrogation 3D+1)
Languages 3D+1
Willpower 3D+1

MECHANICAL 1D+2
--

PERCEPTION 3D+2
Search (tracking 4D+2)

STRENGTH 2D+1
Climbing/Jumping (jumping 3D+1)

TECHNICAL 2D
--

Special Abilities

Force Skills: Control 2D
Sense 2D
Force powers: Accelerate Healing, Control Pain, Life Detection, Life Sense, Lightsaber Combat, Sense Force.
Tentacles: See p. 137 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition.

Move: 10
Force Points: 2
Force Sensitive: Yes
Dark Side Points: 2
Character Points:

Equipment
Robe
Lightsaber (damage 5D)
Hold-out Blaster (damage 3D+2)
Macrobinoculars

MIISHWIK, Rodian marauder

Miishwik is remarkably tall and muscular for a Rodian. He wears dark leather clothing when not in his spacesuit, and carries at least one gun at all times--even when asleep.

Miishwik began his career as a bounty hunter but then expanded his horizons to include assassination and piracy. He is both pleased and frightened to have a "sorceress" as a partner: Loala's powers help them complete more unusual contracts, and get more of them, but he is fully aware that she might turn on him at any time for reasons that only a Sith could fathom.

DEXTERITY 4D+1
Blaster (blaster carbine 5D+1)
Dodge 5D+1

KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Languages (Twi'lik 3D+2)

MECHANICAL 2D+1
Starfighter Piloting 3D+1 (Y-wing 4D+1)
Starship Gunnery 3D+1 (laser cannons 4D+1)

PERCEPTION 3D
--

STRENGTH 3D+2
--

TECHNICAL 2D
Blaster Repair 3D
Droid Repair 3D (astromech droid 4D)
Starship Repair (Y-wing 3D)

Special Abilities

Story Factors: Reputation: See page 136 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition.

Move: 10
Force Points: --
Force Sensitive: No
Dark Side Points: --
Character Points:

Equipment
Blaster Pistol (damage 4D)
Blaster Carbine (damage 5D)
Vacuum suit
Protective Vest (+2 to torso front and back to Strength rolls to resist damage)
Two Medpacs
Y-wing (see page 117 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition)

R6-D7, astromech droid

This astromech droid is covered with blue-gray panels that bear the marks of burns and hasty past repairs. Its inner workings, however, are in excellent condition thanks to Miishwik's mechanical skills.

R6-D7 is the navigator and co-pilot of the Blue Viper. Its personality program has warped over time, giving it a strong sadistic streak. It enjoys inflicting pain on living things with its tools. It also takes much vicarious pleasure in Miishwik's cold-blooded violence, so is content to remain with him and Loala as long as they continue to provide him with entertainment and spare parts.

DEXTERITY 2D
Dodge 3D
Melee Combat 3D

KNOWLEDGE 2DLanguages (Rodian 3D)

MECHANICAL 3D
Astrogation 5D
Starfighter Piloting (Y-wing 4D)

PERCEPTION 2D
--

STRENGTH 2D
--

TECHNICAL 3D
Computer Programming/Repair 4D
Security 4D
Starship Repair 5D (if acting as co-pilot, may attempt repairs while in flight)
Starship Weapons Repair 4D

Special Abilities

(See Equipment)

Move: 5
Force Points: --
Force Sensitive: No
Dark Side Points: --
Character Points:

Equipment
Three wheeled legs (one retractable)
Retractable heavy grasper arm
Extendable .3 m long video sensor
Small electric arc welder (1D to 5D damage, as fits the situation; .3 m range)
Small circular saw (4D damage; .3 m range)
Video display screen
Holographic projector/recorder
Fire extinguisher
Small (20 cm x 8 cm) internal "cargo" area
Some additional small tools and equipment

May the Fourth Be With You, Part 2: Rodian Marauder

The following character template is designed for the Second Edition of West End Games' Star Wars Roleplaying Game. A sample character will be presented in Part 3.

RODIAN MARAUDER

You enjoy putting your piloting and combat skills to use as a bounty hunter, assassin, or pirate. You live the wandering life of an adventurer, and take on jobs on your own terms. Most of the money you make from your exploits goes into maintaining your ship and your weapons, but when the money is good enough, you know how to have a rowdy good time to celebrate your success.

DEXTERITY 4D+1
Blaster
Dodge
Grenade
Melee Combat
Vehicle Blasters

KNOWLEDGE 2D+2
Alien Species
Languages
Planetary Systems
Streetwise
Survival

MECHANICAL 2D+1
Astrogation
Communications
Sensors
Starfighter Piloting
Starship Gunnery
Starship Shields

PERCEPTION 3D
Command
Investigation
Search
Sneak

STRENGTH 3D+2
Brawling
Lifting
Stamina

TECHNICAL 2D
Armor Repair
Blaster Repair
Droid Repair
Starship Repair
Starship Weapons Repair

Special Abilities

Story Factors: Reputation: See page 136 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition.

Move: 10
Force Points: --
Force Sensitive: No
Dark Side Points: --
Character Points:

Equipment
Blaster Pistol (damage 4D)
Blaster Carbine (damage 5D)
Vacuum suit
Protective Vest (+2 to torso front and back to Strength rolls to resist damage)
Two Medpacs
Y-wing (see page 117 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition)

May the Fourth Be With You, Part 1: Twi'lek Sith Apprentice

The following character template is designed for the Second Edition of West End Games' Star Wars Roleplaying Game. A sample character will be presented in Part 3.

TWI'LEK SITH APPRENTICE

You felt the power of the Force at an early age, but a Sith Lord found you before the Jedi did, so your training was a twisted, torturous mockery of the Jedi Knights' ideals. (You may have been a slave when he found you, as so many of your people are, and seen the Force as a way to freedom and power.) If your master is still around, you must obey him or suffer the consequences. Or maybe you're on the run in order to escape his wrath, or your master died or vanished, leaving you to fend for yourself, for good or for ill.

If you still follow the Sith way, you're likely to be consumed by the Dark Side before too much longer--or you my have come to realize that the Light Side of the Force is the better way and you're attempting to redeem yourself.

DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster
Dodge
Lightsaber
Pick Pocket
Running
Vehicle Blasters

KNOWLEDGE 2D+1
Alien Species
Intimidation
Languages
Streetwise
Survival
Willpower

MECHANICAL 1D+2
Beast Riding
Repulsorlift Operation

PERCEPTION 3D+2
Bargain
Gambling
Hide
Persuasion
Search
Sneak

STRENGTH 2D+1
Climbing/Jumping
Stamina
Swimming

TECHNICAL 2D
Blaster Repair
First Aid
Repulsorlift Repair
Security

Special Abilities

Force Skills: You begin with six Force powers.
Control 1D
Sense 1D
Tentacles: See p. 137 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition.

Move: 10
Force Points: 2
Force Sensitive: Yes
Dark Side Points: 2
Character Points:

Equipment
Robes
Lightsaber (damage 5D)
Hold-out Blaster (damage 3D+2)
Macrobinoculars