Actaeon

This is brilliant. Make it a poll! Our in depth explanations of each game's pros and cons are probably more confusing than helpful.

I admit to having bit rather underwhelmed with the last season. Looking forward to the 50th anniversary, though.

The next mini-campaign, probably a two parter, will take place sometime in June. I hope that eventually others will want to DM, but I imagine it would help to get more people comfortable with the system, first. "Dragons attack!" reads an underground paranormal newspaper. "Several large, fire breathing reptiles descended on key targets along Colorado's front range Wednesday, according to several reliable sources that spoke on condition of anonymity. Although law enforcement continues to attribute the attacks to terrorism, hundreds of eyewitnesses corroborate the story. According to our sources, the creatures appeared to focus on the Duane Physics Building of the University of Colorado in Boulder, NOAA headquarters (also in Boulder), Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, and Camp Hale in Leadville. All of these locations have previously linked to the top-secret paramilitary organization known as "Legion". Of these, only Cheyenne Mountain and, oddly, CU Boulder seem to have withstood the attacks. We attempted to reach representatives of Legion, but they either declined comment or did not return our calls." The assembly in the common room is uncharacteristically quiet as Ella leans on the bar in front of them. She explains, to the tense crowd, that the Inn is not alone in travelling the multiverse. The Phoenicians are an ancient, semi-immortal race that have taken it upon themselves to act as the stewards of the time space continuum- at any cost. Legion is a small, guerilla organization fighting to undermine their regulation- even if it risks tearing holes in reality. And then there are the Yith- ruthless killers who dine upon their victims and absorb their abilities (including, on at least one occasion, the Phoenician's power to move between worlds). And that's just the ones we know about. What they know of the Inn, and how it fits into their plans, is anyone's guess. Bob Walsh scrubs soot and blood off of his previously immaculate 1938 Cadillac Limousine. He contemplates the day's events and silently thanks Ella for letting him skip the meeting. The back doors to the stable are open, letting in the warm light of a desert sunset over pink rock and scattered clumps of sagebrush. From under the shade of a stunted juniper, a pair of malevolent eyes regard him.

I thought the same, but you weren't on top of it. I don't LIKE having to step in and pick up your slack. Edit: This is in relation to his first assertion, not the second one. I rarely get called cute, even when I wear fairy wings.

*stabs Randomizer with a mechanical pencil* ... Someone had to do it, and I haven't seen Nico in a long time.

Well, I have three for sure and enough maybes to make it worth it. Message me if you have any questions about character generation and don't hesitate to make your PCs interesting. Just wait until you get a load of WolfTreeMan. I'm thinking CalRef unless anyone has a major objection.

Is that a challenge, son? I've outlasted half a dozen newbies like you. Eventually you'll either leave or become assimilated.

... You are oldbies. I mean, heck, I'm practically a midbie and my member number is four digits.

Like Goldenking, there are a few songs or artists I enjoy in pretty much every genre- including rap and country. I never quite understood blanket distaste for something so broad as "country music". To me, Western Swing, Honky Tonk, Bluegrass, Country Pop, and Rockabilly seem varied enough that one of them must appeal. For instance, I tend to prefer country that borders on folk, like Emmylou Harris or the Cowboy Junkies- although some occasional boogie woogie can be fun. In general, my music tastes seem to overlap with Dinti's a fair amount, and I'm usually able to find some common ground with Nikki and ADoS.

You might call it a year since the Inn lost many of its most experienced residents in an incident that the remaining old timers don't talk much about. It's hard to count time in a place that flits about in space and time, but Robert Walsh reckons about three hundred nights of fitful sleep in the interim For the dozen or so new denizens that have wandered in since then, The Inn Between the Worlds is a place of safety- a series of lighthearted adventures across the multiverse with little or no real risk. But that's all about to change. The last two weeks in Boulder, Colorado, have been pretty dull for most residents. Even for those unused to a post-industrial world, the novelty has worn off. Some have even begun to use the word "marooned". Soon, they'll miss these quiet days. A storm is brewing. Rumors of strange events across the country have begun to circulate. And it is the tendency- some say the duty- of the heros of the Inn to walk into the danger others flee. They will have a choice to make. Will they rise to the occasion and uphold the prestige of the Inn? Or will they hide within its enchanted walls and allow a once proud institution to sink into mediocrity? The Battle of Boulder, the first canon mini-campaign for the Inn Between the Worlds setting, kicks off at 18:00 MDT on Saturday, May 18- provided at least four players confirm participation and submit characters by then. If all goes well, it will be a one-night event. If this one doesn't float your boat, there will hopefully be many more to come.

There are several aspects to this that confuse me. 1. Out of all the Refugi and Spiderwebbers, how did I get tagged as the most potentially homicidal? 2. Are murders really as simple to prevent as not inviting the psychopath to the party? 3. Surely your knife collecting boyfriend is more than a match for me. 4. Where is there to hike in Denver? 5. Why would I go someplace on foot when I'd have the pick of everyone's cars, including the lovely four weel drive I sold you (and certainly didn't tamper with)?

No. And neither does standing over my bed while I'm asleep. That goes for Tyran and his surveillance van, too.

Since we've brought this thread back, I guess I can lay claim to having met two Spiderwebbers, although Neb is quieter presence than Sy. Year 5 is coming up, though. Don't know if I'm invited.

On Spiderweb, you could probably just put "no", and elaborate in the comments anyway.

I suspect I'll be obliged to double post frequently in this thread. Kindly don't judge me for it. I have two things to report: 1. The Campaign The first fully canon mini-campaign using the setting will pick up where Riders on the Storm left off- with a marauding dragon attacking the city of Boulder, Colorado. Help might be coming over the hill if any of the old crew wants to recycle their characters, but mostly the denizens of the Inn will be needed to save a city otherwise unprepared for such things. It should be a good chance for people to familiarize themselves with the system- a lot of action and room for everyone to contribute. I'll prepare a more dramatic intro and work on setting a time when I start seeing more character creation. Which brings me to... 2. The System With her move, job, and geohashing, I can't imagine Sy has much time to be working on an RPG system for someone else. As such, I'm going to go ahead and launch SGS III. For those of you that participated or watched RotS, it should look pretty familiar. I've tightened up a few elements, and I've let a few things go- the biggest being the point system. For those (most) of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Simplified Gaming System (SGS) is my attempt to trim things down to their bare essentials. It differs from AIMhack (Eph's far better designed attempt at the same) in that it relies on player discretion to create and balance their own abilities. Although I have compiled, and will continue to expand, a basic list of Abilities and Skills (the only two types of stats the system has), I hope that every character will have at least one that is unique. Here's where I'm really going out on a limb. The original SGS had an XP system to buy abilities- which got real clunky real fast. SGS II (Lighack) was going to have something embedded in the system itself- no dice (pun not intended) for now. So for SGS III, I'm saying "screw it". I trust you. Build a character that feels balanced and present it to me. Try to include a couple abilities to define the character, half a dozen basic skills (hide, sneak, awareness), and a couple of unique ones. Make it roughly on par with the other characters. Robert Walsh is done, and I expect to finish up Styx, Mark, the Professor, and maybe even Legion in the next few days. When you've done that, post a link on the character page above and I'll take a look at it to see if there are any glaring issues. I promise I'm an easy grader.

Or, at the very least, be very certain the necromancy is worth it. Also worth keeping in mind in real life. It's a real pain when your undead army turns on you. Edit: Nobody tell Eph I said that. I don't fancy a smiting.

Well done! Have my Internet approbation in exchange for your real life accomplishment!

The degree to which Tolkien devoted himself to creating an entire world, complete with several thousand years of history, lineages, languages, etc, is not something I would expect of any sane author. Yes, it creates depth and immersion on an unmatched level, but it also makes me want to go back in time and take John on a hike or something to get him out of the house for a while.

The Silmarillion was the first book I ever took on that I wasn't equal to. After running out of challenges in 5th grade, I decided to tackle it in 6th- and found it dense and stilted beyond anything I'd been exposed to (not having been raised with religious texts). I ended up reading it in chunks, and found it digestible as such. In fact, I still recommend treating it that way.

They were all killed an atomic blast. (Or maybe I got sidetracked.)

He was in character. Clearly you need to watch more Futurama. It's a THOUSAND years in the future, not a measly hundred.

I firmly believe that pi day should be observed 365/pi days into the year. I also want an e day and a phi day, though it's less clear how to celebrate them.

It's hard to do that until I see what Sy's done with what I gave her. I deeply suspect that the system I pitched will see significant modification. Regardless, it will be much easier to draw up stats using the interface- I hope. That's why the list, so far, is qualitative rather than quantitative. I firmly believe that a character starts there and that stats come later. If you'd prefer to wait for the system to be live, that's fine.

... I can't get upset about that tangent, as I, too, am a lover of typewriters. As for the concept, it has certainly been done before. I'm not too worried about breaking new ground (in the electronic world, at least), but perhaps I can facilitate a meeting of minds to create something enjoyable.This ties back to my Luddite status. I have an above average understanding of computers, actually. They are not, however, a top priority in my life, and I am consequently unlikely to be conversant about coding in the same sense that I know relatively little about sailing. (In both cases, they're things sound interesting but take a back seat to more immediate opportunities.) Finally, BMA, I suspect you care more than you let on. I see you've already created a character.

Yes... the car is the only thing you have that I could have tampered with... there's nothing else you need to worry about.