'Review': Earth 52 Issue 1

Haven't had a chance to post in a while, so I thought I'd do some catching up by doing a write up on one of the games this week: DC Adventures or 'Earth 52.'



The first session of the DC game was character creation. I've had a clear idea in mind for my character for a few days beforehand, so not much to really mention there. Magic-based character, magic focused mainly on necromancy spells. The other characters being made were a shapeshifter (turns into a bear), a woman with super strength (but not an amazon), a fire-based energy controller (but stealthy), and a guy who can get the crap beat out of him (and also makes force bubbles). Should make for a very interesting group.

The basic setting of this game is that it is set on an alternate Earth: Earth 52, where the heroes have disappeared, the villains are running amok, and a group of strangers wake up in a government facility, with no memory of the last year and powers they never had before.

That's about it, though. Should have more after the next session, where we will face off against the deadliest DC villain of all: Crazy Quilt.

Mood: Irradiated

Music: 'Save Me' by Remy Zero

Quote Of The Day: "I used to think I didn't need a family. I mean, I had the demons and the walking skeletons. But the difference between a walking skeleton and a kid is, a kid won't eat the soft parts of your face while you're sleeping." - Deadly Girl

Random Stuff

Not much to talk about today. World of Darkness is tonight and then Pathfinder Society is tomorrow, though I'm not really sure I can give much of a recap on those two. World of Darkness is just too big to really remember everything that's going down.

Finally caught an episode of Young Justice on Cartoon Network after seeing KnightErrantJR recommend it on his blog. Enjoyed it, but I have to admit that I never knew much about the DC Universe. Now that I do, I have to say that I think Dr. Fate is a dick. I never really knew anything about him, but now? Damn, he's like a parasite, using people and running around in their bodies while they remain trapped, and helpless, inside.

The picture up above is of the character I've been working on for the upcoming DC Adventures game: The Necromancer. I thought I had character creation finished last night, only to realize that I hadn't spent any points on my Defenses... so, that was not good. Need to go back and make some changes, lose some things I don't really need just yet.

Mood: Tired

Music: 'Fire' by Scooter

Quote Of The Day: "It is bad luck to be superstitious." - Andrew W. Mathis

Pretty Sweet Ride

Well, yesterday was the Deathwatch game. A very entertaining session was had by all. Er.. well.. mostly all.

After receiving word from a Deathwatch team on Avalos that their team has suffered heavy losses and the mission has failed, the Fortress Erioch sends in another team to retrieve their stranded Battle-Brothers. And, if necessary, to order Exterminatus to ensure that the Genestealer infestation is stopped once and for all.

Meanwhile, back on the planet, the surviving Deathwatch Marines Lucius and Sesnian battle to hold back the encroaching rebel hordes. They repel the Genestealer cultists in time to receive message from the Kill-team Commander, ordering them to fall back to the House of Echoes for retrieval. Before they can do so, however, they decide to attempt to retrieve their Fallen brothers gene-seed, a dangerous plan given that many genestealers still lurk in the area.

With all the valor and honor that becomes a member of the Adeptus Astartes, they brave an assault against the Governor's Mansion to retrieve their fallen comrade, only to be met by the deadly genestealers who have been lying in wait. The Space Marines are fast, but the genestealers prove faster, their claws easily slicing through steel and ceramite, near fatally wounding the two Marines in short order.

However, before the hideous xeno can finish off the brave warriors of the Emperor, the Kill-team arrives, several jumping from the Thunderhawk Gunship to lay waste to the alien filth, as the others fire from above, raining death down upon their foes. Taken by surprise, the genestealers have no time to react before they are cut down. The rescue team grabs their fallen comrades and loads them back onto the transport, taking off as they order Exterminatus and wipe the planet clean of all life, both alien and human.

Such is the price of eternal vigilance, but the Emperor shall protect the souls of the faithful.

I love writing in Imperiumese!

Mood: Righteous

Music: 'The Dream' by Jerry Goldsmith (From the Total Recall soundtrack. I know. But it always sounded pretty Space Marine-y to me.)

Quote Of The Day: "I'm not familiar with the metric system." - Patton Oswalt

Dresden Files Recap

Well, last night was certainly fun, though the fun could have been even greater if the game had even 1 more person! Is no one interested in jumping into the Dresdenverse?!

Anyway.. last night continued from where we left off on the previous run, tracking down the only lead we had so far. After an attempted hit on a wealthy businessman whose name we did not recall, we took down the license plate number of one of the cars and tracked it down. Searching the guy's home turned up diddly so we decided to leave before we were caught burglarizing, an activity which both Roland (Dave's trashman/magical artifact collector) and Nathan (my Sorcerer) were both less than adequate at.

On the way back home to rest and recuperate, we discovered the vehicle parked outside a nearby nightclub. We pulled over and I worked some magnetic mojo to yank a piece off of the car's bumper, which would come in handy when we decided to track him down again. Roland uses one of those fancy little magic items of his to take a psychometric reading off of it, getting some brief visions of where the car has been, the only one really standing out is at some meeting next to a limousine. After that it was off to enjoy some sleep, something which the game's namesake gets very little of, I've noticed.

Next morning, I run a tracking spell on the piece of bumper and decide to go looking for it on my own (Roland needs his beauty sleep after all). Tracking the car down proves to be a fruitless effort given my spellslinger has no method of transportation besides the public variety and his own feet. So, without any success I hit up 'Big Daddy Kane', the proprietor of a local 'Voodoo' shop which specializes in selling trinkets that have nothing to do with the actual practice.

Having tapped him as a contact early in this case, he's been working to dig up info on the most likely suspects (people who have the money and the means to be producing Third Eye). The list of people is surprisingly short, as most of the people capable of doing this are now turning up dead. He gives me the list which contains the very same man that I spent the day trying to track down. Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?

After getting home, I hit up Roland on the phone and give him the info, thinking we're definitely on to something. However, Roland has a different theory, believing that it isn't our current suspect (Chin Lo Fan) who is behind the Third Eye but rather the man he attempted to kill, the wealthy businessman whose name we can't remember. It's a possibility, so its not ruled out, but at this point its still only theory.

When we meet back up, I set up the tracking spell again, just in case we might need it. In the mean time, we head to the stately manor of the wealthy businessman whose name we have recently learned, after reading the paper, is Sandoval Kane, COO of Kane Westfield Pharmaceuticals. And they say print is dead. Pfah! However, given the man's wealth he was able to purchase a gate, which hampered our efforts of finding out anything about him, so rather than be arrested for trespassing we leave and follow the tracking spell to Chin Lo Fan's car.

Our timing is impeccable, arriving on the scene just as the tracking spell dissipates and Lo Fan leaves in a different car. We tail him, apparently unnoticed, with the aid of Roland's impeccable driving skills and his knowledge of the city. Lo Fan and his entourage head into a.. less reputable section of town, driving into a garage which immediately closes behind them. We continue to 'drive casually' around to a back alley behind the garage and plan our next step.

Though its incredibly stupid, we decide that the direct approach is the best one. We'll confront Lo Fan; if our new theory is correct than there won't be any need for a fight, if it isn't correct.. well.. then we just get the hell out of there. However, before we can put that plan into action, we notice a transient hanging around in the alley. We both approach, Roland attempting to chat him up and I notice that, for a transient, he has some very nice boots. I mention it, of course, as it just seemed like an interesting thing to me, and the faux hobo runs.

I give chase while Roland checks out what's going on inside the garage from a window. It appears that Chin Lo Fan is meeting with someone, and isn't very happy, so angry that he starts lapsing into Mandarin ('Lapsing Into Mandarin' is going to be the name of my band now). On the chase side of things, after a bit of sprinting, I manage to catch up with him. However, I'm not very good at tackling people to the ground, as a scrawny emo-boy wrestling is not my forte, so I use a Water evocation to turn the ground ahead of him into ice, which happens to be a very good decision given that he was just about to turn around and slug me in the gut.

Slipping and falling on his ass, I barely have time to try and interrogate my fighting bum friend before Roland comes screeching around the corner, and the sound of gunshots rings out on the night streets. It seems during my somewhat one sided discussion with the supposed transient (who wears nice boots and bulletproof vests, very chic) Roland decided to drive by the front and throw a rock through their window in the hopes of keeping the two groups from shooting each other. This did not seem to work out as planned.

With very little time to react, and very little interest in being shot, I jump into the car with Roland. Our transient friend decides to run away rather than get a free ride, and so we give chase after Lo Fan. Heading down the street after his car which seems to be fleeing the scene, and the lookouts currently shooting at him. Though we escape some of their notice, one of the thugs spots us and attempts to steal the car. Not particularly in the mood for this crap, I take out my water hose gun (an enchanted item) and fire, hitting him with the equivalent of a fire hydrant and throwing him quite a ways away.

Having not really expected the gun to have quite so much kick, I demand that Roland pull over so I can make sure that the guy is alright. I don't want to become a Lawbreaker any time soon, or ever if I can help it. Roland says no, so I jump out of the car and run to the thug's aid. He's a bit messed up, but nothing severe, so I promise to call him an ambulance, picking up his gun, and run off after Roland who has continued his pursuit without me.

Today is the Deathwatch game, so I'm sure that tomorrow I'll have a write up for it as well. Till then.

Mood: 'Subtle And Quick To Anger'

Music: 'Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry (What? I can't like Katy Perry?)

Quote: "Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob." - James Madison

A Minor Rant

Nothing really new to mention, though I just wanted to get something off my chest that's been bugging me like crazy this whole Winter: Windchill or "Feels Like" Weather.

I checked the weather today and it says that it is 34 out. However, off to the side, in tiny little writing it also says 'Feels Like: 31'. Am I missing some bizarre aspect of how the weather works here? Because it seems to me that if it's supposedly 34 out but it feels like 31 then it's 31 out!

I want to know what the actual weather is, not the fantasy weather that might exist if conditions were perfect.

Of course, this really only applies to the way the weather's been in the past, currently I have no qualms with the weather. It's doing a great job and I would much prefer it if it just stayed like this for.. well.. forever, really.

I've been working on my DC Adventures character still, got a pretty good idea of what I want to do, just need to figure out a proper background. Also, I've decided to have him use a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T as his vehicle. All I need to do now is figure out the stats for a Challenger.

Mood: Anxious

Music: 'Money' by Lissy Trullie

Quote: "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!" - Dracula

Words, Words, Words

Well, not really all that much to mention. Finally getting over this god awful cold I've had, the weather's taken a turn for the better, and I've just started reading 'Side Jobs', a collection of short stories from the Dresden Files, so everything is pretty good.

Watched the Grammys last night. Well, by watch I meant flicked back and forth between channels when the thing I was really watching went to commercials. Never heard of Arcade Fire before, so a little curious now after they won Album of the Year. For the most part, though, I think I'll just stick with my IAMX, Ghostland Observatory, and the like.

RPG-wise, I finally took a good look at the DC system and figured out how all that stuff worked. Was a little confused when I tried to build a Power and ended up with something more expensive than my whole character.

Dresden Files RPG and Deathwatch both coming up in a few days, so looking forward to that. I'll probably do summaries of those for my next post if I remember them clearly enough the day after. If there's anyone that actually reads this blog and is interested in the Dresden Files RPG, I feel compelled to inform you that there's still plenty of room to join up.

Till next post.

Mood: Optimistic

Music: 'I Need A Doctor' by Dr. Dre featuring Eminem & Skylar Grey

Quote: "I had a romance novel inside me, but I paid three sailors to beat it out of me with steel pipes." - Patton Oswalt

First.. Post.. EVER! 2/12/11

Well, let me start by saying that I've never really had much interest in doing a web log or a 'blog'. However, given that I've taken the Hypocritic Oath (allowing me to radically alter my beliefs whenever its convenient), and given that it certainly seems like a good idea at the time, I've decided to give it a try.

Today, there isn't a whole lot to talk about. Returned some items to the library with a hefty late fee to pay. Wasn't able to return them previously as I have been doing some work at a certain local video game development company that shall remain nameless. That said, and with absolutely nothing to do with the previous sentence, I heartily encourage anyone interested in the Red Faction series of games to pick up the next one. You might spot a certain someone's name in the credits.

Currently still doing research and work for the Star Trek RPG that I'm hoping to run at my FLGS 'The Armored Gopher'. I've watched episodes from time to time, but I was never a huge fan. That isn't to say I disliked them, I just never watched them enough to get really involved with any of the series.

Also doing work to come up with characters for a few games that I'm in. After my Apothecary was disintegrated in the Deathwatch game, I have been working on a Black Shield Kill-Marine, but am currently uncertain on what Specialty to take. I already came up with my own Chapter (very fun!) which he will be a part of, though no one but me and my GM will know what it is given that he's a Black Shield.

And also working on my character for KnightErrantJR's DC Adventures game. Definitely going to go the magic route, and I'm hoping I can figure out some of the more complicated stuff in the rules before the game starts.

Will try to keep up with this, but I'm a bit of a procrastinator. So I'll do it tomorrow.

Mood: Hungry (is that a mood?)

Music: IAMX's 'Think Of England'

Quote Of The Day: "I used to work on the suicide hotline but I got fired. People would call up and I kept seeing their point." - Fat Doctor