Pen & Paper Bullshit

Having fled Anlu without alerting too many of the Phoenix Lord's men, the party decide to take stock and resupply in the small farming village of Waisha. Unfortunately, they find themselves caught in between a conflict between the remnants of the town's old guard, now turned bandits, and the Phoenix Guardians under the mysterious Humaar Rama. All they have to do is keep a low profile, make contact with one of Rulon's old revolutionary buddies, and pick up some horses to quicken their trip north; of course, not all of them are good at blending in and things quickly spiral out of their control.

The party finally arrive at Castle Purgatory, ready to pass on to the Second Circle of Hell. Unfortunately, the prince has withheld some rather key information, primarily that the lich is sealed in a divinely warded room to prevent him from being killed by another demon or undead. Thankfully, Caliban can make infiltrating the demon part of the castle a bit easier, if the party can get him to his throne room, where he can channel the power of the First Circle to secure the castle. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the party doesn't trust him and make other plans.

Dr. Lindorm has discovered that the strange artificial trees have something to do with a disappearing patient, prompting the cabal to renew their investigation into them. Well, most of the cabal: Nate instead decides to get drunk and hook up with Bigfoot again using the CRYTD dating app. Things go about equally well for both groups, which is to say terribly and with lots of screaming and crying.

Following the disastrous events at the Tournament of the Four Elements, the ad hoc group flees to Anlu, where Aisuse promises that the Torchbearers, his band of freedom fighters (or a cult, depending on how you look at it) will be able to shelter them and provide them with aide and direction. Instead, they find that Anlu has been not only flooded with refugees, but the minions of the Glorious Phoenix Lord.

Now allied with Prince Calliban, the party is directed towards the City of the Victorious Queen, a massive monument in city form to the Queen of Hell. Here, according to Calliban, they can find allies to help secure the First Ring of Hell when the party leaves, providing a stable base for all future rebellious activities. Of course, the party doesn't necessarily agree with the prince about the future of Hell.

The year is 1619 and, like the dreaded walktapus, the Lunar Empire has spread its tentacles to encompass nearly all of Sartar, with only the city of Whitewall remaining free. In the Colymar tribe, King Kangharl, with the help of the Lunars, has seized the throne from his cousin Leika; it is a dark time for the free people of Sartar, one that looks like it will never end. In particular, the Haraborn clan, the smallest member of the Colymar tribe, have begun to suffer, as an ill wind blows in on the Feast of Sartar the Founder: two young boys of the clan have gone missing, with no clues to as where they have gone. Thankfully, four adventurers from abroad have decided to call Black Stag Vale their home, offering a small chance at solving this perplexing mystery and lifting the spirits of their adopted clan.

The Tournament of the Four Elements, held in the capital of the Raohu Empire, is a chance for shapers from all over the world to display their ability and fighting skills on a world stage; it draws competitors from such distant lands as the Sunset Empire and the Yangai Kingdom. But this year, strange things are afoot and the fate of the world falls on the collective shoulders of a peasant rebel, the champion of a cult, and a foreign noble; spirits long forgotten by the world have started to stir as they prepare to make their return.

The second part of character creation for our playtest of Shape of the Elements; this time we do some collaborative world creation and discuss the cultures that each player comes from. If you'd like to playtest Shape of the Elements (and send me your notes and impressions about it!) you can DM me over on Twitter, @lesbiathan.

I'm working on another game! This is the character creation for that game, known as Shape of the Elements. Its a mix of wuxia and Avatar: The Last Airbender, Powered by the Apocalypse.  The game isn't released yet, but if you want to playtest it (and send me your notes!) send me a DM over on Twitter, @lesbiathan.

Here's the second part of character creation for our RuneQuest campaign: cult initiations! In RuneQuest, the gods are close and, by re-enacting their deeds in a ritual known as HeroQuesting, cultists can not only gain tremendous powers and abilities, but can diverge from the original myth and explore different aspects of it, either by failing certain parts or succeeding where their god didn't. The simplest and most common HeroQuest is the cult initiation quest, which is usually a retelling of a key myth related to the cult's god or goddess. Usually, these are bog standard with very little divergence from the original story, but sometimes extraordinary individuals do what their patron deity could not and turn HeroQuest into something truly unique, gaining powers well beyond what their cult expects. Guess what kind of initiations the players have?