Inspired by the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme, 'Desert Island Discs', I thought it would be fun to see if anyone would like to join me in a thought exercise of 'Desert Island Games'?

The rules are simple:

• List the eight games (RPG, board, or card) that you would want with you if marooned on a desert island. Whichever game you choose, you may take all the material you own pertaining to that game.
• The games must come from your current collection.
• You will be automatically given a set of dice, a pad of A4 lined paper and a box of pencils.
• At the end of your list, identify the one game you regard most highly.
• You may also choose one gaming-related luxury, which cannot be a game itself.
• It is assumed that you are marooned with several other gamers of your choice.

So, now we're clear on the rules I'll start the ball rolling.

1. Pendragon - my favourite RPG of all time and one whose multi-generational aspect would really come into play whilst marooned.
2. Ars Magica - another game that benefits from long-term play and huge time investment.
3. MERP - I wouldn't last long without a Tolkien fix of some description.
4. RuneQuest (2nd edition) - lots of time to explore the idiosyncrasies of Glorantha.
5. AD&D - the alpha and the omega of RPGs.
6. Palladium Fantasy - I don't have a cogent reason, I just love it so much and the source books are some of the best produced for any fantasy setting.
7. Traveller - no need for any other SF game with this bad boy along for the ride.
8. Dying Earth - for those times when a little bit of quirkiness is required.

The one game I regard most highly is Pendragon and is the game I couldn't live without.

As for gaming luxury, that would have to be my plush Cthulhu. On which note, I'm actually quite stunned that a Cthulhu game didn't make the cut. I also couldn't fit in any board or card games, which is quite surprising. I compiled my list quickly and didn't let my conscious mind become too involved in the whole affair, relying more on feeling and instinct for the games I would take with me.

Last night I successfully cast 'Summon Gamers', conjuring Matty and Timbo within my inner sanctum. Ok, it's the dining room. We game in the dining room, alright? I don't have an inner sanctum because I'm not actually a Hermetic Magus, much to my chagrin. So, the three of us hooked-up for a hastily arranged fix of gaming as none of us have played since CottageCon. I thought it would be fun to pluck my old Dragon Warriors books from the shelves and run a short adventure for the guys. The DW system takes approximately 4.762 seconds to assimilate and the setting is a very stereotypical, pseudo-medieval fantasy world. This meant that we could leap straight into the action with a minimum of fuss. I had rolled-up three PCs for the chaps to choose from, so Timbo took Kheldor the Sorcerer whilst Matty went with Rogar the Barbarian. Due to the last minute arrangement of this game (I called the guys at 3pm and we were assembled by 7.30pm) I had no time to write an adventure and so I decided to run the scenario in DW Book 1, 'The King Under The Forest'. This scenario is inspired by Arthurian myth and sees the PCs exploring the last resting-place of Vallandar, the once and future king who will return to the land in its greatest hour of need, yadda yadda. The adventure is a cheesy and highly enjoyable dungeon-crawl, complete with cunning traps, fearsome monsters and confounding puzzles designed to test both the PCs abilities and the players' brains. We had animated statues, barriers of mystical energy, warriors stepping out of a tapestry, a web-spinning giant spider and a Gorgon, oh yes! Wry smiles greeted me as Rogar found a helmet with a mirrored visor, whilst the entertainment afforded by two basins of differently coloured liquids cannot accurately be put into words. This game was great fun and we all felt 13 years old again, when Saturday night gaming was not only acceptable, it was absolutely mandatory. Kheldor and Rogar won through to the king's final resting place, defeated the spectre of Vallandar's evil half-brother, retrieved the (allegorical) treasures of the kingdom and helped themselves to a lovely, shiny sword each. Leaving the dungeon, the PCs delivered the treasures of the kingdom to the local Baron who is now in their debt, which could be useful. I gave each PC sufficient xp to advance a level and we agreed to play this game again.

DW is a perfect pick-up game for a quick and dirty RPG session. I understand that the game has been re-released as a shiny new hardback and I imagine the rules have been modified and modernised. I enjoyed the nostagia of using the old books from 1985, which cost the princely sum of £1.75. I vividly recall reading the reviews of DW in White Dwarf back in the day but couldn't afford the game at the time (cue the smallest violin in the world). I snared a full set of all six books on ebay a little while ago and this has been the first opportunity I've had to run it. I anticipate more pick-up games of DW in the future.

I've had another few thoughts regarding setting and potential story generating ideas for the GURPS game. Once again, I'm posting them here to act as enticement to the players but also to invite comments from the handful of folks that take the time to read my ramblings.

• The Kindred are (by and large) against scientific progress. This is due to a fear that their enemies (i.e. mortals) will discover new ways to hunt and kill vampires. There are many Kindred who also believe that the light of science will reduce fear of the supernatural amongst the mass of humanity and therefore eliminate one of the vampires' most potent weapons.
• The Lupines are (by and large) against scientific progress for much the same reason as the Kindred. The werewolves are beset by the additional fear that scientific knowledge and discovery will inevitably lead to a further decline in magic and a distancing of the material world from the Umbra; in other words the Lupines fear a general strengthening of the Gauntlet due to scientific enlightenment.
• There is a theory, amongst some occult adepts, that all supernatural creatures trace their origin back to the lost civilisation of Atlantis.
• Lord Byron once described London as the Devil's Drawing Room. I'm thinking that this would be a good name for the campaign, although I'm also tempted by James Thomson's description of it as "the city of dreadful night" (1874). What do you think, dear reader?
• Rumours abound of a very old and very powerful Lupine dwelling somewhere in Britain. He, or she, is known only as 'Winter'.

I hope these nuggets get the players' imaginative juices flowing as freely as mine.

I've just taken delivery of an AD&D DMG with the David Sutherland cover painting, courtesy of ebay. I've been looking for one of these beauties for a little while and finally happened upon one in fantastic condition at the princely sum of 99 pence, plus p&p. The book has obviously been well-loved and used, but cared for at the same time. This has clearly come from the hands of a gamer not unlike myself. I will use this copy as my regular DMG from now on and leave my Jeff Easley edition on the shelf. You know the one, I had it autographed by Gary when I met him back in 2000. Did I mention that I met Gary, had a conversation with him and asked him to sign my DMG? I didn't mention that? Well, sit down pilgrim and allow me to bore your tits right off..........

Sorry about that. Returning to the actual point of this post, I love the foreword from this book, written by the then TSR Games & Rules Editor, Mike Carr. He opens with an excellent question that I'm sure has had many gamers debating until the wee hours:

"Is Dungeon Mastering an art or a science?"

I'm not going to expound any of my own thoughts on this question just yet, but feel free to comment with any wild theories you may have about this.

However, the opening question of the foreword is not the part that really rubs my Buddha. That particular gem comes in the last paragraph and captures exactly how I feel about running games:

"Dungeon Mastering itself is no easy undertaking, to be sure. But Dungeon Mastering well is doubly difficult. There are few gamemasters around who are so superb in their conduct of play that they could disdain the opportunity to improve themselves in some way. [.....] Take heed, and always endeavour to make the game the best it can be - and all that it can be!"

A-fricking-men! I believe that we GMs can always be better at what we do and that we will never know it all, where running games is concerned. I am constantly learning and evolving as a GM and it's a process I take very seriously; probably too seriously if I'm honest. The day that a GM believes he has nothing more to learn about the art (or science) of running games is the day he should hand in his dice.

So I come to serious preparation for my GURPS Vampire/Werewolf game set in nineteenth century London. Below is a brief bio for the current Prince of London. At this time I'm not listing stats for NPCs such as this because I don't really see the point. I have a broad idea of how many points this character is built on and a fair sense of his skills, disciplines etc. What is of far more interest to me are the origins of this guy and his current motivations, in order that he can become an interesting NPC for the PCs to interact with. The information posted here represents commonly held knowledge amongst the supernatural denizens of London and is necessarily brief and vague. My aim in posting such information here is that it will act as a primer for the players and will hopefully get them excited about playing. Hope springs eternal and all that. Anyway, without further ado, I give you:

Marcus Flavius Aquila of House Lasombra, Prince of London

Marcus was a young Centurion in the Ninth Legion, stationed at Eburacum in the year AD 117. Sometime in that year the Ninth Legion was sent north, beyond the wall, to quell an uprising amongst the Caledonian tribes. The entire Legion disappeared without a trace; not a single man came back south of the wall. So runs the official history of the Ninth Hispana. In fact, one soldier did return from this ill-fated expedition, only it took the young Centurion almost 70 years to make that journey. The eventual fate of the Ninth is still a mystery to anyone other than Marcus, who has not been inclined to discuss it, at least recently. Marcus was sired whilst beyond the wall, by an ancient Lasombra who had stalked the highlands and forests of Caledonia for centuries. Perhaps it was loneliness that drove this ancient one to create progeny for the first time; perhaps he, or she, saw something in the bright, strong, young Roman that suggested he would make a fine addition to House Lasombra. Who can fathom the workings of such an ancient and malevolent mind?

Marcus spent several centuries travelling extensively throughout Europe, remaining in one place for decades, learning and developing his powers, whilst also reaching an understanding of the occluded world that exists in shadowy parallel to that perceived by the mass of humanity.

Immortality inevitably creates a degree of ennui after enough time and, sometime around the thirteenth century, Marcus slipped into torpor. The exact details of the events leading to this are unknown to anyone but Marcus. Of equal mystery is how the Roman revived out of torpor during the latter half of the seventeenth century, somewhere in northern Africa.

Marcus arrived in London during AD 1703 and almost immediately assumed the title of Prince, a position and privilege he enjoys greatly, revelling in the delights of a city that is surely destined to become the centre of the civilised world.

So it came to pass (all too quickly) that our last game slot arrived and Matty took the helm for a riotous session of All Flesh Must Be Eaten. The PCs belonged to an extended family group and were distributed like so:

• Smart mouth doctor - Robin
• His beautician girlfriend - me (of course)
• His disabled, geeky, younger brother - Chief
• His survivalist-type older brother - Timbo
• His kick-arse sister - StevieB
• The practical, rugged, eldest brother - NPC portrayed by Matty

The set-up for the scenario was a family holiday in a Lakeland cottage; how bucolic. I think the interplay between my character and Robin's may have disturbed some people, but it was an awful lot of fun! Soon enough we had zombie problems as the eldest brother stepped outside to check on some blown fuses and returned thereafter all zombied-up. Matty loves zombies, playing them with great aplomb and much wailing of, "BRRRAAAIIINNSS!" More undead started to show up and we were soon besieged in our holiday cottage, fighting them off with all means at our disposal, including a hairspray/lighter combination. Of particular note were the zombie cats, which freaked me right out. As our barricades failed and we started to be overrun, we made a dash for the car. In the ensuing fracas, kick-arse sister got bitten and promptly zombied-out in the car. Chief's character started to wave a chainsaw around in the confines of a people-carrier, which is never a good idea, kids. He received a bite for his troubles and the rest of us bailed out of the moving vehicle, watching it trundle away over a hill. The final scene saw the doctor, the girlfriend and the survivalist brother standing on a windswept hill, as the beautician turned to the survivalist and said, "Fuck off Lawrence. You really creep me out."

This was a fun romp of a scenario and a perfect final game for the inaugural CottageCon. AFMBE has a simple mechanic that facilitates quick-moving drama and swiftly resolved action. The characters were well balanced and had some surprisingly useful skills. The scenario felt open-ended and as though we had a fair amount of control over the way in which it progressed. The tragicomic ending suited the session well and mirrored the bittersweet taste in our mouths at the end of a truly fabulous weekend.

Sunday afternoon saw me on GM duties again, this time for Hot War. It’s been a long time since a new game has generated as much excited anticipation as this latest offering from Contest Ground Studios. I received this game as a birthday gift from StevieB and I was very much looking forward to running it. I downloaded a scenario from the CGS website and the PCs were disseminated as follows:

• Herbert Jenkins (disgraced politician) – Chief
• Captain Brad Harris (American Air Force pilot) - Timbo
• Sergeant Jock Smith (Police officer) – StevieB
• Lieutenant Julian Stevens (Naval Intelligence officer) – Robin
• Samantha Askew (Former journalist) – Matty

Once again, the premise of the scenario was very straightforward and involved an investigation that followed a fairly predictable route to a showdown with a fairly predictable baddy. However, the pedestrian nature of the scenario did not detract from the main enjoyment of the game, which came from the interactions of the PCs, both with each other and with the NPCs. All the players brought their ‘A’ game to the table once more and played their characters to the hilt, especially the Chief who derived far too much entertainment and enjoyment playing the disgraced, weasely Herbert Jenkins. Such a great job he did portraying this annoying character that captain Harris was forced to spark out the old fella at one point in the game. Robin was also a hoot as the (unjustifiably) superior Julian Stevens who formed a formidably irritating partnership with Herbert. A natural line of division manifested between Herbert and Julian on the one side and the rest of the PCs on the other. This rift only added to the overall enjoyment of the game and created some ace roleplaying moments. The scenario ended successfully for the PCs, but with the team permanently disbanded owing to an inability to play nicely together.

The mechanics of Hot War are similar to those of Cold City, which I have blogged about previously. In a one-shot scenario it’s difficult to fully explore the nuances of the system, but we sampled enough to know that we wanted more of this game. Much more. We ran with a very simple success/failure mechanic and didn’t get into degrees of success as it didn’t seem important for this scenario. The concept of success translating into authorial right for a scene is one that we all dig hugely and have the necessary maturity to employ said concept in a sensible fashion. I’d hate to see such a mechanic exposed to the machinations of ‘That Guy’.

http://www.rpgblog2.com/2009/09/exclusive-interview-that-guy.html

I’m now hatching a plan to start a campaign of Cold City and take the characters forward into Hot War. I really want to see how things like Traits, Relationships and Hidden Agendas change over the course of a campaign. I imagine that a lot of good story opportunities will arise from the characters’ actions and changing aims.

Saturday night was my first session in the big chair and so, armed with a large ice-cold vodka, we kicked off a game of Mythic Russia.

I had elected to run the ‘Wood, Blood and Snow’ scenario in the Mythic Russia MRB. This seemed like a good convention scenario with a simple premise and a set of interesting characters with strong personalities and their own agendas. The PCs were divvied up thusly:

• The old Baron – StevieB
• The Baron’s eldest son – Timbo
• The Baron’s youngest son – Chief
• The Baron’s brother – Robin
• The Baron’s agent/manservant – Matty

The scenario revolved around the Baron and his entourage making a pilgrimage to a small town, in whose church lay a holy icon of St. Andrew. The pilgrimage was the idea of Father Fyodor, the Baron’s brother and foaming orthodox zealot. Robin really got under the skin of this character and spent the whole scenario thundering frighteningly at any sinner within a 200-yard radius. The scenario panned-out as a conflict between the PCs and a small group of Teutonic Knights, with some intra-family politics thrown in for good measure. Timbo and Chief played the brothers brilliantly and really brought out the rivalry and dislike for each other. StevieB was quietly contemplative and manipulative as the old Boyar, playing his two sons off each other in an attempt to judge which one would be the more effective successor. All the while, in the background, whispering in the Baron’s ear, lurked Alexander the manservant, played with guileful magnificence by Matty. The adventure concluded with the release of a fragment of the true cross from within the icon, the death of two Knights and the expeditious retreat of the third. Alexander slipped away in the chaos, stealing the Baron’s Mongol concubine in the process.

Once the scenario got moving it really ran itself. The players embraced their characters wholeheartedly and seemed to have a lot of fun portraying the members of the dysfunctional Krasivy family. As GM I had opportunity to sit back and enjoy the spectacle of players really enjoying themselves. This opportunity was afforded to me largely due to the simple nature of the scenario, which required little GM effort and made it perfect as a one-shot adventure. I remain slightly unconvinced by the HeroQuest system and would like to play in a game run by an experienced HQ GM. The huge number of possible augments to a roll really slows things down at the point when you want the action to be fast moving. I didn’t bother with extended contests, which seem counter-intuitive and needlessly time consuming. I went instead with the rules for chained contests from the MR MRB. Perhaps in future I’ll limit the number of augments allowed on a single roll in order to speed things up. Overall I had a blast running this game and would happily run more Mythic Russia, possibly continuing the saga of the Krasivy family.

StevieB treated us all to a tasty sample of the Savage Worlds’ system, by way of the Sundered Skies setting. Yummy.

The basic premise of the scenario was that the crew of the good ship ‘Chaos’ would travel to a nearby mining island and steal the freshly delivered payroll. Simples. The tastiest course of this particular feast was the entrée, during which we realised that the PCs were based on the crew of the Serenity. Here’s how the characters were distributed:

Captain Hal Drenolds – moi
Jayne the half-orc – Chief
KD the dwarf – Matty
Rash the elf – Robin
Tome Herder the Drakin – Timbo

I was very pleased to get the captain and especially excited at the prospect for some good roleplaying when Chief got Jayne. The scenario was good and straightforward, with the added wrinkles of imminent landfall for the mining island, coupled with an attack by Ragers, which added some good extra tension and need for urgency. Chief and I sparked off each other well and I did enjoy both ordering him around and repeatedly getting one over on him. Jayne isn’t the sharpest tool in the box (bless ‘im) and Chief played that aspect brilliantly. Robin had Rash use Hal’s ‘Code of Honour’ drawback in order to persuade the captain to rescue as many miners as possible from the dual threat of Ragers and landfall. I similarly exploited Jayne’s “Greedy’ drawback in order to get him onto the Rager ship, where Hal was getting marmelised by a huge Rager. The scenario ended successfully with the payroll taken and rescue of several miners, in whose possession we left the Rager ship, because we’re lovely.

This scenario was a ton of laughs and the PCs were great fun to play. I really loved the Sundered Skies setting and immediately saw the parallels with the Firefly universe. I would definitely play a campaign in this setting, preferably with the PCs from this game. However, I’m not convinced by Savage Worlds as a rule-set. The range of probabilities regarding skill rolls seems limited and I prefer a system where I can add (or subtract) numbers to (or from) a dice roll when attempting an action. Another slight quibble arises from the amount of damage dealt out by weapons, especially when a high degree of success occurs on the roll. Jayne was dealing out apocalyptic amounts of damage, which was good for our side, but seemed out of proportion somehow. In a one-off scenario I could pretty much ignore my problems with the mechanics, but over a longer period the system’s idiosyncrasies would get on my nads.

So, in summary:

• Great, fun scenario, which was excellently run.
• Rich and interesting setting with tons of potential.
• Sucky rule system.

Trail of Cthulhu

The Chief ran a very enjoyable scenario revolving around mysterious goings-on in a girls’ school, on a remote Scottish island. The party consisted of:


• A Tory MP – yours truly
• A Physics professor – Timbo
• A Journalist – Matty
• A Priest – StevieB
• A Hobo – Robin

The characters had come to the island on individual business but it quickly became apparent that all of us were looking for friends who had recently disappeared. This common goal broke down the social barriers between us and we soon focussed on getting to the bottom of the mystery. We were soon up to our necks in secret societies, bizarre machinery opening gates to other dimensions, fallen meteorites and locating the last known whereabouts of our friends. In true Lovecraftian fashion, the scenario culminated in widespread insanity and death, with only the Tory MP escaping with both skin and sanity intact.

This was everyone’s first encounter with ToC and we all agreed that the system played well, creating a gaming experience that more accurately reflected Lovecraft’s writings; something that the BRP system rarely facilitates. The approach to sanity was especially fresh and interesting, with us very quickly realising how rapidly a character’s pillars of sanity can start to crumble. It seems that once Stability points start to be lost it’s very hard to recover fully and scoop all of one’s marbles back into the bag. This may not be to everyone’s taste but I liked it a lot, primarily because it is a mechanic that ensures a fairly rapid mental disintegration that parallels the fate of so many Lovecraftian heroes. For classic-era Cthulhu gaming I would definitely now choose ToC over BRP. For modern-era stuff/Delta Green I’d still go to Unknown Armies as system of choice.

Ok, so this isn't strictly speaking a convention, rather the product of six men frustrated by intermittent gaming and being desirous of a long weekend away, doing nothing except gaming. Thus was CottageCon born and the inaugural event occurs over the coming weekend of 13th - 16th November 2009.

Six stalwart gaming friends of many years will head to darkest Wharfedale and the welcoming warmth of a converted barn for a few days of games, games and games. We have organised it along convention lines, with slots for games; a list of games to be run and by whom; pre-generated characters all round; a set of games we have not played before; a variety of board and card games for ad hoc, downtime entertainment; a melange of wholesome foodstuffs prepared by our resident gourmet; lashings of booze and a selection of RPG-related movies. Should the weekend go according to plan we aim to do it again next year and look at opening up the proceedings to other interested parties. The main aim of the weekend is to game our little hearts out and sample some RPGs that have been sitting, unplayed, on our shelves for a while. The line-up is as follows:

Slot 1 - Friday 8pm-midnight - Trail of Cthulhu

Slot 2 - Saturday 2pm-6pm - Savage Worlds

Slot 3 - Saturday 8pm-midnight - Mythic Russia

Slot 4 - Sunday 2pm-6pm - Hot War

Slot 5 - Sunday 8pm-midnight - All Flesh Must Be Eaten

I'll let y'all know how it went after I've recovered, sometime next week.

"If any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn liar." - Harry Patch

Henry John “Harry” Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009) – known as “the Last Tommy” – was a British supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe and the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. Patch was, with Claude Choules, one of the last two surviving British veterans of the First World War, and along with Frank Buckles and John Babcock, one of the last four worldwide. He was, at the age of 111 years, 38 days, the verified third-oldest man in the world, the oldest man in Europe and one of the 70 oldest men ever.

So another lap around our star is complete and I've reached 37 years upon this planet. As usual I am in a reflective mood, looking back on the past year and the lessons it has brought. I feel that I've learned a great deal this year about myself and the often tortuous nature of human relationships. If I had to identify one key lesson from the previous twelve months it would be the importance of honesty, both with others and with oneself. I also like to take a little time around now to count my blessings and give thanks for all the great people in my life, especially TLD and the stalwart dudes of the TNC, whose friendship means more to me with each passing year.

Speaking of the TNC, we are meeting for some good old AD&D tonight with the second session of the Chief's Greyhawk mini-campaign. I'm jolly excited about having another opportunity to play Anstruther the Resplendent! I can't think of a more perfect way to celebrate my birthday than with a session of one of my favourite RPGs,in the company of my dear friends.

I’ve been ruminating on what keeps us coming back to the gaming table, session after session when most adventures ostensibly fall into one of the following broad categories:
 

 

• Go to location (x) and retrieve object (y)
• Go to location (x) and slay baddie (y)
• Go to location (x) and rescue person (y)
• Save location (x) from invading nasties (y)
• Solve the mystery of missing object (x) and/or missing person (y)

 

All RPG adventures are variations on the above themes. After more than 25 years of gaming there are few surprises remaining in the basic plot of any adventure in which I play or run. So what exactly keeps us coming back for more, year after year? Well, I think that the following elements are all important:

 

1. Getting together with friends on a regular basis.
2. Creating and playing new characters is great fun.
3. Within the basic plots listed above a great variety of possible tweaks exist. As an example, taking a story element (rescue the fairy-tale princess) traditionally attributed to a particular genre (fantasy) and place it in a different genre (science-fiction).
4. Playing the game, by which I mean engaging with the mechanics of whatever system is currently being employed.

 

I’m going to elaborate somewhat on point 4. Firstly, I’ve never had any time for debates that centre on the premise of “System A sucks/System B rules”. We all have our favourite systems and those which leave us cold, so let’s just leave it at that, m’kay?

 

Secondly, I don’t believe in the idea of a perfect rule system. I don’t believe that such a thing exists and furthermore I don’t believe it is an attainable goal. Now, just to digress momentarily, I’m not for one moment suggesting that designers should stop developing new games, or even trying to devise the so-called perfect system, after all it’s the journey that’s important, not the destination.

 

Ok, so back to the point in hand. I enjoy engaging with the mechanics of the system in play and exploring its idiosyncrasies and foibles, a case in point being the resource management of spells in AD&D, as mentioned in my previous post. Such a mechanic represents an aspect of ‘playing the game’. Under any degree of analysis it makes little or no sense, but as an element forming part of a rules framework for a game it provides an interesting mental challenge, which is a Good Thing ™ .

 

I’ve been reading Starblazer Adventures, which is powered by the Fate system. As with all games the proof of the pudding will be in the playing, but I’m very much enjoying what I’ve read thus far of the mechanics. I’m looking forward to engaging with these rules as a GM and am equally eager to see what the players make of them, particularly the invoking and compelling of Aspects in play to make situations more complicated and exciting.  

Owing to a variety of other commitments, Matty's run of Ravenloft has been temporarily postponed and the Chief has stepped into the breach in order to run his part of The Great DM Brain Trust, aka 5 Go Mad in Greyhawk.

I have not played AD&D for roughly eleven years, so last Thursday was a giant treat for me, akin to all my birthdays arriving at once. I elected to play the magic-user I had earmarked for Matty's game and so it came to pass that Anstruther the Resplendent made his debut in a small village somewhere within the Great Kingdom. Timbo was playing his ranger (Kirroc) from my game, whereas Matty had a new character in Gorim Thunderhammer, Dwarf fighter and brother of Grimfell, from my game. J was too poorly to attend and, as a brief aside, has passed his malady onto me; so cheers, matey!

Anywho, our band was soon up to its neck in mystery and adventure as we were hired by a saucy ranger chick to recover a statuette from the tomb of a local, noble family. We were promised a reward of 2000GP per person, plus freedom to keep any extraneous loot that we pick up during our grave-robbing exercise. As an evil character, Anstruther had absolutely no moral or ethical qualms about such an undertaking. We decided to hire a thief for trap-finding and lock-picking duties and were put in contact with an irritatingly cheerful Halfling called Welby; oh how I wish I could cast Fireball. We agreed to a contract of 100GP per day, plus a bonus of 200GP provided none of us were harmed by a trap during the adventure.

The journey to the tomb was uneventful and we were soon stood before an architecturally nightmarish ziggurat, adorned with many gothic trimmings including gargoyles. Wait a second! Did you say gargoyles? Oh yes, we were straight into our first combat and Anstruther immediately found himself toe-to-toe with one of the beasts. One melee round later and the mage was down from 19 to 8 HP and seriously worried about seeing the end of the next round. Thankfully, Gorim and Kirroc made short work of the two monsters, with Gorim proving how utterly ace fighters can be in AD&D, especially if using the weapon specialisation rules from Unearthed Arcana. With this first fracas resolved we moved into the tomb itself and..........

..........came face-to-face with some ogres who had seemingly set-up camp in the charming, quaint, dark, dank tomb. Idiots. More wonderful fighting prowess from both Kirroc and Gorim, coupled with judicious use of spells such as Sleep and Strength from Anstruther, saw the messy demise of four ogres in as many rounds and little injury to the party. Exploration of the darkest recesses of the mausoleum revealed a large, subterranean chamber containing the rotting remains of several ogres, plus a wight. Oh, goody-fricking-gumdrops, level-draining undead, every player's favourite beasty. Undaunted by the possibility of becoming a 1st-level nobody, Gorim charged the vile creature with his battle cry of, "Clangeddin!" Kirroc immediately backed him up, whilst Anstruther tip-toed forward, cast Mirror Image on the ranger and then buggered-off plenty quick and cowered near the exit, all spells expended for the day. Embarrassingly for the undead terror, it was brutally dispatched in about two rounds, much to the chagrin of the Chief and we proceeded to discover the sarcophagus containing the statuette.

Inspecting our prize it became apparent that there was a secret compartment in its base but nobody could figure out how to open it. A quick snooze and one Knock spell later saw the statuette spill its guts and we discovered a legal document pertaining to some ownership rights of a noble family, presumably the very one that wanted this statuette returned. We toyed with ransoming this document for a greater reward but instead decided to hand it over separately in a 'Now-you-know-that-we-know' kind of maneuver, hopefully proving our skill and honesty in one fell-swoop and securing the possibility of further work from such a generous employer.

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The chance to be a player doesn't happen very often for me, primarily because I prefer to GM and have approximately 1,000,001 ideas for games I want to run before shuffling off this mortal coil. However, I do enjoy playing once in a while because it reminds me of how I got into this hobby in the first place and I find it helps me to be a better GM.

AD&D is where I started all those many moons ago, so playing it again takes me back to my roots in a very tangible way. I love the challenge of playing magic-users at lower levels and the tricky resource management of spells. Anstruther is currently 4th-level and has the use of only three 1st-level and two 2nd-level spells per day. His spell book currently holds seven spells each of 1st and 2nd-level, so spell selection is a real head-scratcher and a process I enjoy. After one session I already have Anstruther's characterisation coming together and I'm really looking forward to playing more sessions with him.

As a closing point I'd like to point out the magnificent job done by the Chief, who has never run AD&D in his life and the casual observer would not have realised that fact. Bravo, sir.     

Another gig in what is becoming a packed run towards the end of 2009. The redoubtable Phil very kindly gifted me a free ticket to see Calvin Harris at 53 Degrees in Preston; a venue affiliated with the University of Central Lancashire. Even more heroically, Phil drove there and back, thus permitting me the hedonistic delight of a few beers on a Tuesday night. I am a hugely fortunate being.

Calvin Harris is not someone with whom I'm eminently familiar and this is a situation I will be rectifying after last night. His performance was energetic, exciting and groovy. He engaged effortlessly and charmingly with the crowd and had the whole place jumping. His vocal accompanist was excellent and gorgeous; his band were tight and funky. I was impressed with my first visit to this venue, which is small but well-designed (much like me). The acoustics were spot-on with no trace of reverb or tinniness from the PA system. The bar was a rip-off, which came as slight surprise in a student venue but prices were no higher than at other gigs. The crowd was politely enthusiastic but didn't go as mental as I had expected or experienced at Bloc Party, earlier this month. Perhaps it is not cool to lose your mind at gigs anymore? My finger is so far off the pulse it's sad. Anyway, it was a top night and I recommend seeing Mr.Harris should the opportunity arise.

Here are the questions I tackled last Wednesday.

1. Read the following extract:
Maximilien Vilain de Gand, baron de Rassenghien, governor of Lille,
Douai and Orchies, to Margaret of Parma. Lille, 30 June 1566.
1. ... I am bound, furthermore, to inform Your Highness that two more
preachings took place last night, the chief of which, attended by some
4,000 people, was held about two leagues from this town on the road to
Tournai by a preacher whose name, I understand, is Cornille de La
Zenne, the son of a blacksmith from Roubaix, who has long been a
fugitive from this country on account of the religion. According to the
report, which some reliable persons have submitted to me, whom I know
to have been at the said preaching, the said preacher exhorted his
auditors, among other things, not to start any trouble or [commit] any
seditious act, because in such a case no one would assist them, but if
anyone arrested them or examined them for no other reason than their
faith, or for having gone to the preachings, they might all be assured that
they would be helped before any ill befell them, and in conclusion he
spoke more or less as follows: we pray to God that He may grant the
destruction of this papist idolatry; be of good heart for we are quite strong,
but our time has not yet come. And we pray God that He may keep the
people of Tournai and Armentières in their convictions and likewise
confirm the good start we see among the inhabitants of Lille. And when
the said sermon was over, the preacher disappeared so quickly through
the crowd with the help of twenty hackbutters, who escorted him, that it
was impossible to know whither he had retired.
 
What can we learn from this source about the impact of Protestantism in the
Netherlands in 1566?

2. Read the following extract:
[...] Our aim, brothers, is the emancipation of the proletariat, the
achievement of our social rights ...
 The people, this multitude of producers for whom misery is the
appanage, the people has existed until today only to procure for its
exploiters those enjoyments that it, the pariah of society, has never
known.
 Yes, it is by its labour that the people makes the bourgeois, the
proprietors, the capitalists; yes, it is the people that makes all the happy
individuals on earth.
 The State, in other words the men that govern the people, only exists
because of the taxes paid by everyone, taxes, the evident source of
which, is the producer.
 Suppress the producer, and with a single blow you will obliterate the
bourgeois, the proprietors, the capitalists, and you will drive the state to
bankruptcy.
 Thus the State is the people, it is the producer.
[...]
 No more intermediaries between the people and the government! 
 The people, without more ado, should organise itself! Is it not
sovereign, the producer of all riches?
(Anthology 5.18, Manifesto of the Delegates of the Corporations (Seated
at the Luxembourg) to the Workers of the Department of the Seine,
8 June 1848)
 
What can we learn from this source about class ideologies in mid-nineteenth-
century France?


3. Was Atlantic slavery a necessary but not sufficient condition for industrialisation
in Britain?


4. To what extent is the movement from medieval to modern society characterized
by the rise of secularism?

Well, that's done then and I must say that it went surprisingly smoothly. For the first time in my life I opened an exam paper and didn't think, "Oh crap, I know nothing." I took ten minutes to read through the whole paper and carefully select the four questions I would tackle. This was time well spent and helped me to focus clearly on the task in hand over the next three hours. Aside from some mild writer's cramp towards the end, it was actually an enjoyable experience and I can now relax in the confidence that I have passed this course. The next course starts in February, so until then I can read entirely for pleasure.

As I come to the end of my second year studying for a BA(Hons) in History, through the Open University, I am faced with the prospect of sitting an exam for the first time in over 15 years. Needless to say I'm a little apprehensive about such an undertaking. My studying this year has not gone as well as I would have liked due to a variety of personal issues that have taken precedence and required a lot of my energy. I am therefore not as well prepared as I would wish and have realised that there is no way I can cram 500 years of European history into my head at this late stage. I have decided to revise the topics with which I am most comfortable and then pray that the universe is kind enough to have questions related to those topics crop up on tomorrow's paper. I'm fairly confident of being able to scrape a pass mark but am not holding out hope for anything greater. Hopefully next year will be a smoother ride, at least from an academic perspective.