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  • Roleplaying Basics, Part One: What Is It, Really?

    Hi everyone! I thought I’d spend the next few posts exploring the fundamentals of roleplaying games (RPGs). Not because I claim any special expertise, but simply because I enjoy thinking and talking about them. I’m also hoping this sparks a conversation, inviting you to share your own thoughts and perspectives.

    Part of my motivation is personal: I’m working to articulate my understanding in my own words, moving away from the specific jargon of a group I was previously involved with (AdeptPlay). This series is part of that process.

    What Roleplaying Isn’t: Storytelling

    First, let’s tackle what in my opinion is a common misconception. Despite what many books and articles suggest, roleplaying is not storytelling, at least not in the conventional sense. I believe framing it that way is misleading.

    Think about traditional storytelling: the storyteller typically arrives with a fully formed narrative – beginning, middle, end, plot points, the works. They then recount this pre-existing story to the audience.

    Roleplaying doesn’t work like that. While a story certainly emerges from a roleplaying session after it’s over, the act of playing isn’t about reciting or playing to a pre-written script.

    Crucially, the quality of the story that emerges after the session often has little correlation with how much fun the participants had during the session. You can have an incredible, engaging time playing, yet the resulting story, viewed objectively, might lack classic story structure or polish. Conversely, you might endure a dull or frustrating session where your contributions felt ignored, but the sequence of events, when looked back upon, coincidentally forms a structurally “good” story.

    Because the process isn’t storytelling, and because the quality of the resulting narrative doesn’t necessarily reflect the quality of the play experience, I find using “storytelling” as the primary lens for understanding RPGs to be unhelpful, even misleading.

    So, What Is Roleplaying? (Focusing on Game-mastered Games)

    Okay, if it’s not storytelling, what is happening during a roleplaying game?

    There’s a vast spectrum of RPGs. One major distinction is between games with a designated Game Master (GM) and those without (often called GM-less games). For this post, I’ll focus on games with a GM, simply because they are very common, though GM-less games are a fascinating topic for another time. (Note: It’s difficult to make sweeping generalizations about GM-less games due to their huge variety.)

    At its core, a GM’d roleplaying session is a conversation. Participants talk about what’s happening within a shared setting.

    For example, in a Star Trek Adventures game, the setting is the familiar sci-fi universe of the Federation, Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, etc. Concepts like starships, phasers, transporters, and tractor beams are part of the assumed background shared by everyone playing.

    Most participants are Players, each typically controlling one or more specific characters within that setting. One participant is the Game Master (GM).

    Players assume the roles of their characters, describing their actions, words, and sometimes thoughts. They might also ask the GM questions to clarify the situation or environment (“What else do I see in this room?”).

    The Game Master has the power and responsibility to describe the setting, determine how the environment and its inhabitants react to the player characters (PCs), and portray all the other characters in the world, known as Non-Player Characters (NPCs). From a player’s perspective, NPCs are part of the setting managed by the GM.

    The Flow of Play

    The way play proceeds is, the GM presents a context, the players describe how their characters react, and the GM describes the outcome or the world’s response. The conversation flows back and forth between one or more players talking, the GM responding, and the players responding in turn.

    At certain points, most RPGs introduce an element of chance. Players, and sometimes the GM, might roll dice or use another randomizer (like drawing cards). The outcome of this randomization influences what happens next in the shared setting. Did the character succeed at their risky action? Did something unexpected occur? The result is incorporated into the ongoing conversation.

    This cycle—conversation, action, occasional randomization and determination of the outcome, followed by more conversation—repeats until the session reaches an endpoint. This might be due to external factors (like running out of scheduled time) or internal narrative developments (reaching a satisfying conclusion, achieving a goal or failing to). Occasionally, a session might end because players decide they aren’t enjoying the game anymore, which can happen for a myriad of reasons.

    Essential Elements of Gamemastered Roleplaying

    If that describes the process, what are the core components that make it work? Based on the flow described above (and please comment if you think I’ve missed something crucial!), here are what I see as the essential elements:

    Shared Setting: The group agrees to play within a specific fictional world (Middle-earth, the Star Trek universe, World War II, a post-apocalyptic wasteland, etc.) with common background assumptions about how that world works.

    Agreed-Upon Rules (The Game System): The group uses a specific set of rules (Dungeons & Dragons, Star Trek Adventures, Alien RPG, Call of Cthulhu, Apocalypse World, or one of the countless others). This system defines:

    • The distinct powers and responsibilities of the GM and the Players.
    • How characters are created and what they can do.
    • How and when randomization (dice, cards, etc.) is used to resolve uncertainty.
    • The ways characters and the setting can change.
    • Essentially, the game system dictates who gets to say what, when, and with what effect within the flow of play.

    GM Preparation: For most GM’d games, the GM does some preparation beforehand. The extent varies wildly by game system and GM style, but it generally involves creating or selecting fictional elements to drive the action and create conflict. This often includes:

    • Defining specific locations within the setting.
    • Creating NPCs with their own goals and motivations.
    • Establishing what’s at stake or what risks the player characters might face or care about.
    • For instance, if the GM knows the players want to reach a treasure cave on a mountain, they might prep the journey. This could involve creating a forest path, populating it with conflicting NPCs (like a lost baby dragon, goblins wanting to capture it, and its worried mother searching frantically), creating a dynamic context with choices for the players to navigate.

    Scene Framing: Someone (usually, but not always the GM) needs to kick off the action by describing the initial context: where the PCs are, what time it is, and what’s immediately happening. Examples: “You’re walking through the forest under a bright sun when a small dragon crashes through the trees into a clearing ahead.” or “You’re aboard your freighter, the Beowolf, en route to Hypatia Station when you pick up a distress signal.”

    Player Character Embodiment: Players respond to the framed scene by describing what their characters do, think, or say, guided by their character’s established goals, personality, and motivations.

    Active Listening and Building: Participants listen to each other. When a player describes their character’s action, it’s generally accepted as having happened in the shared world unless the rules or the GM intervenes (often by saying something like, “Okay, let’s see if you succeed at that,” and calling for a dice roll). Other players and the GM then react and build upon that contribution.

    GM Adjudication and Setting Response: The GM uses the rules and their prepared material (or improvisation) to describe how the world and NPCs react to the players’ actions. If a player character threatens a goblin, the GM portrays the goblin’s response based on what they know about its nature. If the outcome is uncertain (Just how intimidating was the threat? How tough is the goblin?), the GM might call for a dice roll based on the game’s rules. Similarly, if a character tries to scale a slippery wall, the GM might determine the difficulty and ask for a roll to see if they manage it.

    Player Response and Iteration: Players react to the outcomes and the GM’s descriptions, deciding on their characters’ next actions, continuing the cycle.

    Change and Consequence: As play progresses, the shared imagined world is dynamic. NPCs might change their goals, allegiances, abilities, or leave or die. Player characters can also change – gaining new abilities and powers, gaining or losing resources, changing their motivations, facing injuries and setbacks including death. Locations, organizations, and the overall setting will evolve based on the actions taken.

    Play continues cyclically and iteratively until a natural endpoint is reached for the session.

    Wrapping Up (For Now)
    So, that’s my initial take on describing what basic GM’d roleplaying is, focusing on the process rather than trying to define it by the story it might produce after the fact. I haven’t touched on what makes it good or effective yet – just the mechanics of what happens at the table.

    Over to You!
    What’s your perspective? Did I miss anything crucial in this description? Is there anything you think I’m off the mark on? I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

  • A Brief Note on Leaving AdeptPlay

    This post will be of little to no interest to anyone who doesn’t know me personally, or who hasn’t interacted with me on Adeptplay or the related Discord server. I’m writing it mainly as an explanation to those friends I’ve made on those venues about why I’ll no longer be participating there. Everyone else should probably keep scrolling.

    So the AdeptPlay website is Ron Edwards’ project. I respect him because he did have a lot of interesting things to say on the subject of roleplaying, and through dialogue with him and other members of the site I did learn a lot, which helped to improve my gameplay and overall enjoyment of roleplaying.

    In the end, though, I had to leave the group behind. Here’s why.

    I found Ron’s writing very difficult to understand in general, not just on the website but in his published games as well. Part of that is my fault, at least initially – I brought assumptions based on earlier play to his writing, and misinterpreted his work because of that; that’s on me, and not the author’s fault.

    But the other 50% of the problem really was (and is) his writing. Once I eventually understood what he was trying to say, it made sense, but was very difficult to get out of the texts alone.

    It seemed like some of the time he spent a lot of effort talking about non-essential things, while giving short shrift to the most critical elements. The text of the game Trollbabe (a great game I have enjoyed, once I understood how to play it) is a good example.

    My theory is, this is at least partly because when he writes (this is also true of his spoken presentations as well) he tends to assume a certain specific framework of premises that no one else does. They might seem obvious to him, or he doesn’t think he needs to mention them because he has talked about them a lot before. Either way, in general this framework of assumptions was not obvious to me or most of the people he was talking to.

    The same was true even with his responses to questions, which were often vague, somewhat weird, and difficult to follow. I speak as someone with two Master’s degrees who’s used to reading technical and often obscure material.

    Now when I took the time to unpack exactly what he had in mind, usually he had something useful and interesting to say at the end of it, but this unpacking involved asking a lot of follow-up questions to figure out just what he meant. That’s fine. We all assume certain things when we try to communicate, or conversation would be impossible. Sometimes there are misunderstandings and we have to ask questions to clear things up. That’s just being human. So far, so good.

    The problem was, Ron started to see my attempts to get an understanding of what he was saying as challenging or hostile attacks against him. So my asking questions with the intent of gaining understanding were perceived as somehow aggressive and unkind.

    Now I know what my intent was. But it’s important in general to objectively assess whether your actions competently convey your intent, and to correct yourself if not.

    So I reviewed what I wrote on the entirety of the website carefully, and except for my very last comment on the site, neither the tone nor the content of anything I wrote could be reasonably construed as aggressive or challenging in a hostile way towards Ron.

    I have tried to see things from Ron’s point of view. Most people who didn’t understand Ron were content to stay silent, for one reason or another, so I did ask more questions than average, which might have given the impression of being aggressive. The normal adult thing to do in that case, if Ron thought that, would be to have a dialogue to clarify intent, but this is not something he tried: he basically gaslighted me and just asserted that I was being hostile, with no discussion. However, objectively speaking, there was nothing in the content of what I wrote on the site that was hostile; my questions were what they putatively appeared to be: I asked many questions because I was really interested in comprehending what he was saying and what his position was. I had no evil, hidden intent or nefarious motives.

    In the end, Ron insisted on interpreting my questions as my attacking him, and there was nothing I could do to disabuse him of this notion. In our last interaction he concluded he was not able to help me and no longer wanted to answer any of my questions, or accept any of my money in future. Any reasonable person who examines the totality of our interactions on the site would be very hard-pressed to find any evidence for these conclusions. Frankly, I find his behavior here childish and silly. But such is life, no one has to interact with anyone they don’t want to on the internet.

    Edwards didn’t ban me from the Adeptplay site, although I guess he might do so now (it doesn’t matter, as I’ll never post on it again, or read it again). I’m choosing to leave it voluntarily. In general the site, and the Discord server, became stressful places to take part in. His treatment of me wasn’t unique (and actually better than what he did to many others); he would often become upset at someone for an innocuous comment, or ban someone immediately for an imagined transgression. It became very difficult to predict what would set Ron off. So every time I would write something, I had to wonder whether it was somehow the wrong thing and would get me banned. And this is coming from me, someone who (as Ron knows) actively promoted and encouraged others to check out his work.

    Upon leaving the Discord, I immediately felt a sense of relief and relaxation. It surprises me to realize the amount of stress of “not wanting to upset Ron” I was unconsciously carrying around with me. I feel considerably happier already.

    I wish everyone else participating at Adeptplay well, in their gaming and other creative endeavors. Hopefully they will be able to safely tiptoe around that venue without somehow offending Ron. For me though, Ron’s volatility, combined with his paranoid tendency to think I was attacking him, made it too uncomfortable a place to be. My time is better spent in other activities than in vainly trying to persuade someone that I’m not an evil bastard out to get them.

    I look forward to continuing to discuss games with anyone interested, on this blog or in other venues. No person is an island, and we need to keep talking to and working with each other to achieve worthwhile things.

    Edit: So as I was discussing this situation with a friend, he raised the following thoughts: 

    “I hate to say it, but it sounds like you were taken in by a narcissist. The behavior you describe sounds typical, including the explosions over minor comments or criticisms, or in your case just asking questions. Was everything in this group you were in about how his theories are unique and better than anything else out there? Was he like a guru whose wisdom could not be questioned? 

    “It sounds a bit like a cult, to be honest. Let me guess: was there a unique vocabulary, or special code words that no outsider would understand? Special ‘wisdom’ that was only available to those inside the group? Would they laugh and demean others outside it, considering themselves superior? Initial friendliness to recruit, followed by strict rules afterward? There you go – us vs. them mentality, authoritarian leadership, emotional abuse, etc.

    “Sometimes narcissistic cult leaders will make vague, cryptic statements to make themselves look profound, but when you dig into it there isn’t much there. That’s why they can get upset over innocent questions – they don’t want to be understood, at least not fully, because it would show they’re a fraud, or just not that special. And also they just don’t want to put in the work – they’d rather sit back and be worshipped for their profundity.

    “And forget about trying to dialogue with someone like that – everything will always come back to you being the problem and your being deficient in some way. They will never apologize. Be thankful you got out when you did.”

    This hit me like a splash of cold water in the face; I’ve had issues with narcissists before, but I simply hadn’t considered this could be what was going on. Whether my friend’s assessment is entirely accurate I don’t know, but clearly I’ll have to think deeply about this for some time. 

    Edit 2: Interestingly, shortly after I got that feedback, my sister (who knew nothing about the situation or anyone involved) contacted me to say she had a dream where I was taken in by a pig, that pretended to be nice and would be a valued member on the farm, but then killed and ate me when my back was turned. I am taking this as confirmation that my friend was correct.

    What a world…

  • Thoughts about AI in RPGs

    I’m not trying to write a big, all-encompassing essay on the subject here, just a few thoughts based on one experiment I did. I briefly mentioned this on one discussion group, but met so much hostility I thought I’d post here instead.

    So I am working on a novel that involves traveling to parallel worlds, as well as an RPG on the same theme. I wanted some inspiration for a world the characters jump to. I remembered Traveler’s random system and planet generation, which is a lot of fun, and wondered how I might modify it to fit. I went to one of the AI bots and asked if it knew the game; it did. It also knew the planet generation system, and was able to generate several planets in seconds.

    So far this is not much different than running any online generator especially designed for the purpose. But here is the interesting part: I used this as a starting point. I engaged in a dialogue with the AI, telling it what I wanted to do and asking it to modify the planet generation procedure accordingly. After a bit of back and forth, I got something useful.

    The original method involved using predetermined lists, and rolling dice to select from it. When it comes to AI, there is no need to have a list of limited choices, so that went away. Anyway I’m putting the end result and an example of its output, below.

    One of the objections I got was that the use of AI harms creativity. IMO this is a good example of why that’s not true. The AI’s output gives me something to work from, a springboard for me to be creative with.

    If I were going to use the output below to prep for a game, for example, I’d flesh out the conflict between the Boundarians and Explorers a bit more, and lay the seeds for a situation where the PCs are involved in an incident at a research station – perhaps they are blamed for sabotage, and have to prove their innocence. A Boundarian faction wants to frame them and use them as propaganda, while an Explorer group wants to help them, but one of them is secretly working for the Others. At this point, I’d use AI again, to come up with NPCs (especially names) and stat them, and perhaps to detail a map or two. That’d be fodder for at least a session or two, done very quickly, and the process would be fun for me. And for my novel, of course this is great stuff I can modify and use as I like.

    Now could I have done all this without AI? Sure. But it would have taken hours instead of minutes. For me, this is a fun process that saves time. I might even include the procedure in the GM section of the game itself, maybe with some alternative tables for those who prefer to roll for themselves.

    I don’t get the hate for AI in this context, but I’m open to persuasion if someone has some cogent arguments on why using AI this way is bad.

    Anyway your comments are welcome!

    Have you used AI in your games or fiction, and if so, how?

    Here is the procedure the AI and I came up with:

    Parallel World Creation Procedure

    First keep in mind what kind of world the characters just jumped from. Unless they jump “far”, in interdimensional terms, the world they jump to should be similar to the world they just jumped from, in most respects. The closer a world is to another one in interdimensional space, the more similar they tend to be.

    Dimensional Distance Metric – a scale (1-10) where each increment represents exponentially greater divergence potential. Level 1-3 jumps show minor variations, 4-6 moderate differences, and 7-10 radical departures from the original world.

    Natural History – Determine when this parallel Earth (that the characters just arrived on) diverged from our own in terms of natural history (including geology), if it did at all, and whether that changed things like the shape of the continents or sea levels.

    Physical Laws Variation – Determine if fundamental physical constants differ slightly in this world. Even minor variations could lead to fascinating technological implications.

    Temporal Offset – Consider whether time flows at the same rate across all parallel worlds. Some might be “ahead” or “behind” your characters’ original timeline, even with similar historical paths.

    Local Terrain – What is the local terrain like where the characters appear?

    Interdimensional Scars/Features – Identify places where the boundaries between worlds are thinner or have been damaged, creating unique phenomena (strange weather, gravitational anomalies, aurora-like effects, etc.) that might appear in the local terrain.

    Dominant Species or species – Determine whether the indigenous sentient inhabitants of this parallel Earth are human, or if some other species evolved instead (if so, what did they evolve from and what are they like physically). Determine whether there is more than one such species.

    Biological Compatibility – Determine whether food, microbes, and other biological elements from one world are compatible with visitors from another. This could create interesting survival challenges or health concerns for the characters.

    Historical divergence – Determine how the history of the inhabitants’ civilization differed or diverged from ours, and to what extent.

    Dimensional Echoes – Decide if parallel versions of your characters exist in this world, and if so, what happened to them. Meeting one’s parallel self could create fascinating plot points or complications.

    Trust Level – Determine how welcoming or distrustful the inhabitants are to strangers.

    Interdimensional Awareness – Determine if the inhabitants know about parallel worlds, how common this knowledge is, and whether they have tried (successfully or not) to reach them. This might affect how they respond to your characters.

    Tech level – Determine the level of technology the inhabitants have developed.

    Habitations – Decide how large the groups are that the inhabitants dwell in: solitary, or nomadic clans, small villages, cities, etc.

    Clothing – Determine the style and type of clothing the inhabitants wear.

    Culture – Come up with some unique aspects of their culture.

    Conflicts – to what extent do the indigenous inhabitants live in harmony with each other? Are there large-scale conflicts, more local conflicts only, or none? What other threats do they face?

    There is an evil force of interdimensional beings known as the Others, who try to destroy and corrupt the worlds they come across. Determine whether this parallel world has been at all affected by the Others, and if so to what extent.

    Others’ Signature Effects – Create a consistent set of telltale signs that the Others have influenced a world (specific environmental damage, behavioral changes in inhabitants, technological corruptions, strange symbols or structures).

    Dimensional Return Mechanics – Establish whether some worlds are easier to leave than others, perhaps based on how corrupted they are by the Others or other interdimensional factors that might trap or free your characters.

    Here is one result:

    Parallel World: The Nebelwelt

    Dimensional Distance: 5/10 (Moderate divergence)

    Natural History

    This world diverged approximately 65 million years ago when the Chicxulub asteroid impact was significantly less severe. While still devastating, it didn’t cause the complete extinction of large dinosaurs. As a result, some theropod dinosaurs survived alongside early mammals, leading to co-evolution. The continental layout is recognizable but with higher sea levels (+40m compared to our Earth), creating large inland seas in North America and Central Asia.

    Physical Laws Variation

    The electromagnetic constant is 0.5% stronger, resulting in slightly more efficient electrical conduction. This has led to unique technological developments around electricity and magnetism, including advanced magnetic propulsion systems that emerged earlier than electrical combustion in this world’s technological timeline.

    Temporal Offset

    Time flows 1.2x faster in this world compared to the characters’ origin world. The year is equivalent to what we would call 2087, though their calendar system is entirely different.

    Local Terrain

    The characters materialize in a temperate rainforest where massive, ancient redwood-like trees tower overhead. The forest floor is surprisingly clear—maintained by the local inhabitants. Nearby flows a wide, slow-moving river with unusual blue-green phosphorescence. In the distance, the ruins of what appears to be a modern city peek through the canopy.

    Interdimensional Scars

    The area where they arrive features vertical “light pillars” that occasionally shimmer through the forest—a natural thinning of dimensional boundaries. During certain lunar phases, these pillars intensify and objects placed within them temporarily phase between visible and invisible states.

    Dominant Species

    Two intelligent species co-evolved: humans (very similar to Earth humans but with slightly denser bone structure and enhanced night vision) and the Saurians—descendants of surviving theropod dinosaurs. Saurians stand 1.5-1.8 meters tall with feathered crests, scaled skin, and four-fingered hands. Their society is technologically sophisticated and they possess natural electromagnetic sensitivity organs along their spines.

    Biological Compatibility

    Food from this world is mostly compatible with human visitors, though some fruits contain compounds that create mild euphoric effects. The local microbiome is different enough that visitors initially experience heightened allergic responses that subside after approximately one week of exposure. The characters may need to seek medical attention from the locals to manage this transition.

    Historical Divergence

    Human civilization developed later and in partnership with Saurian culture rather than as the sole dominant species. Major historical events include the Great Communion (first formal alliance between species in 5000 BCE), the Age of Magnetic Sciences (4th-10th century CE), and most recently, the Retreat (the gradual abandonment of megacities due to climatic shifts and resource depletion).

    Dimensional Echoes

    Parallel versions of the characters exist, but their lives took dramatically different paths. One character’s echo became a respected diplomat between human and Saurian nations; another’s echo died young in a dimensional experiment; a third’s echo never exists because their ancestor married a different person after meeting a Saurian diplomat.

    Trust Level

    The inhabitants are cautiously welcoming of strangers but have developed sophisticated methods to detect “dimensional corruption.” Newcomers are subjected to a ritual involving exposure to specific magnetic fields that reveal signs of Others’ influence. Those who pass are welcomed and offered guidance; those who fail are isolated and studied.

    Interdimensional Awareness

    Both species have known about parallel worlds for approximately 150 years. A joint scientific body called the Boundary Commission actively studies interdimensional physics. Intentional travel remains rare and dangerous, but they have developed technology to detect incursions and communicate across dimensional boundaries in limited circumstances.

    Tech Level

    Technology is advanced in some areas and deliberately restrained in others. They’ve mastered fusion power, magnetic transportation networks, and biological engineering, but have strictly limited AI development and nanotech after early disasters. Their computers are organic-electronic hybrids with living components, and most cities are designed to integrate with rather than dominate the natural environment.

    Habitations

    Society is organized around “nexus communities” of 5,000-10,000 individuals (mixed human and Saurian) connected by efficient magnetic rail systems. These communities blend seemlessly with surrounding ecosystems, with buildings constructed within and around natural features rather than replacing them. The largest city, Concordia, houses approximately 300,000 people.

    Clothing

    Humans wear adaptable garments made from engineered fibers that change properties based on environmental conditions and the wearer’s physiological state. Saurians wear minimal clothing but adorn their natural scales and feathers with bioluminescent patterns that indicate social role, emotional state, and personal achievements. Both species wear ceremonial magnetic jewelry that serves both decorative and practical functions.

    Culture

    Society operates on a “contribution recognition” system rather than monetary exchange. Both species practice a form of shared dreaming facilitated by ceremonial gatherings where participants consume a native fungus. Music is predominantly percussive among Saurians and vocal among humans, creating a unique complementary art form when performed together. Major cultural values include ecological harmony, knowledge preservation, and dimensional responsibility.

    Conflicts

    The main societal conflict is philosophical rather than military—a deep division between “Boundarians” who believe dimensional boundaries should remain strictly regulated and “Explorers” who advocate for more active interdimensional engagement. This conflict occasionally flares into sabotage of research facilities or unauthorized travel attempts. Additionally, both species are dealing with fertility challenges, with birth rates declining for unknown reasons over the past 50 years.

    Others’ Influence

    This world has experienced limited contact with the Others. Approximately 35 years ago, an incursion occurred in what was once northern Europe, creating a “dead zone” where technology fails and living things develop unusual mutations. The area is quarantined, but researchers study it from secure observatories. The inhabitants have developed early warning systems for detecting Others’ energy signatures.

    Others’ Signature Effects

    When the Others influence an area, plant life develops metallic properties, water bodies emit a subtle hum at 17.8Hz, and electronic signals contain embedded fractal patterns visible when analyzed. Affected individuals report shared dreams featuring geometric structures that shouldn’t be mathematically possible, and develop an aversion to certain sound frequencies.

    Dimensional Return Mechanics

    The magnetic anomalies that pervade this world make dimensional travel unpredictable. The characters will discover that their return mechanism functions at only 60% efficiency, requiring them to either locate a naturally occurring dimensional thin point or seek help from the Boundary Commission, who may demand knowledge exchange as payment for assistance

  • Gaming at ECCC

    I’ll be demoing the Fallout RPG and Star Trek Adventures RPG this weekend at Emerald City Comicon. Hope to see old friends and make some new ones!

  • Dragonflight 2024 Games

    In case you wanted any more information about the games I’m hoping to run during Dragonflight, you can find some files here:

    Drive folder

    The folder includes the rules for All Outta Bubblegum with Zombies, some of the pregens for Demon Slayer, and setting information for Finding Haven.

    Thanks for checking, and I hope to game with you this summer!

  • A Game of the Pool: Cthulhu Style!

    A couple of friends wanted to play the Pool, and picked a Lovecraftian scenario. So I updated my Cthulhu version of the Pool (available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xAJJUfMEksHb8TTC7pRdn_Hlh6fDyCbU/view?usp=drivesdk) and the players made one character each. They wanted a period piece, so we went with 1920s Seattle. 

    The first thing I did in my prep was read about Seattle in the 20s. The population at the time was 315,000, wages were about $35 a week, $1750 a year on average. A full, fancy lunch at a restaurant cost 40-80 cents, and a slice of pie 5 cents. There was no TV. Commercial radio had just started. There are phonographs and telegraphs; there were phones, and you could call throughout most of the country by this point. The Great War had ended in 1918; and the deadly 1918 flu pandemic was mostly over by 1920. Prohibition was in full swing, and smuggling booze was big business. 

    The famed Seattle General Strike of 1919 had just drawn global headlines. The strike was one of the first citywide work stoppages in a major U.S. city, and terrified the business community that a Bolshevik Revolution was about to sweep the country. The FBI swooped in to stop the strike, arrested the labor leaders, and shut down the labor newspapers. 

    This led to the country experiencing its first Red Scare, a time of national hysteria that brought crackdowns on trade unionists, socialists, anti-war activists, and so on. Vigilante groups such as the Seattle “Minute Men” formed, with the goal of discovering German spies.

    The Ku Klux Klan was a powerful component of the Democratic Party at this time, and led an anti-immigrant crusade. In the same vein, Woodrow Wilson’s government launched the “Palmer Raids,” where the federal government rounded up and jailed or deported more than 500 immigrants throughout the country.

    There were several incidents of political violence. In what’s come to be known as the Centralia Massacre, a vigilante group marched on the local headquarters of the IWW. In the resulting shootout, 3 of the vigilantes were killed. The police stopped the confrontation and arrested a Wobbly member, Wesley Everest. Later that evening, a mob raided the jail and lynched him from a bridge. 

    So, when I looked over this bit of history, quite dramatic and violent, I found myself drawn to the horror of the Centralia massacre incident. What if, I wondered, the slain man had a relative that wanted revenge – and was willing to go to extreme lengths to get it? In a Lovecraftian context, that would mean getting the power to identify Everest’s killers, and then bring to them a bloody justice. Suppose that was his son, who made a deal with a spawn of Nyarlathotep to gain dark powers. With that as a seed, I brainstormed from there. 

    In order to get the spell needed to identify his father’s killers, Everest would need a particular spell. How? Perhaps from a dealer in stolen or exotic goods. Let’s call her Gwendolyn Love, who does business out of a speakeasy. Love has her own problems – a rival, let’s say; Dave Vance, of Vance Export-Import Co., Ltd. 

    Vance will be a pretty bad guy. Looking over the history, I notice the KKK was quite active, holding large public rallies. Let’s make him their Grand Wizard, and have him be an actual sorcerer with a few spells in his pocket. He and Love have a gangland-type competition, not only in liquor but exotic goods such as scrolls. They’d each like to take the other out, and are looking to recruit others to help. 

    In addition, the local KKK suspect Everest knows or has some book or scroll from which he gained sorcerous powers, and are harassing him to get their hands on it. 

    Now, what about a starting scene to let the players know about and get into the thick of the situation? Well, suppose a couple of KKK thugs went a bit too far in harassing Everest, and he responded by letting the spawn of Nyarlathotep loose, killing them. The release of sorcerous energy would be felt by the PCs, who when they went to investigate would find the dead men, and a matchbook with the name “Jake Everest” circled. 

    I made a few notes on a few locations – the speakeasy, the Vance Company warehouse, a farm used for a KKK rally, and so on. I fleshed out the NPCs more, and my prep was done.

    The characters created by the players included:

    Name: Joseph Harbinger

    Studying as a Jesuit exorcist, Joseph Harbinger discovered a book of arcane formulae that could twist reality. One formula summoned the Whispering Void, which told him secrets that destroyed his faith. He left the order and seeks the Book of Thomas the Other, rumored to contain proof of a benevolent god. Pursuing the book, Joseph had an education in the seattle underworld and persuading people. 

    Jesuit exorcist +1

    Arcane formulae that could twist reality +2

    Summoned the Whispering Void +1

    Faith +1

    Seeks the Book of Thomas the Other +1

    Proof of a benevolent god +1

    seattle  underworld +1

     persuading people. +1

    And

    Name: Silas Whigham

    Accompanied by Jenkins (a rat) and plumbing tools, Silas leads the Subterranean Hygiene Intelligence Team. He knows the city’s underground, which is why politicians, detectives, and military officers call on him to deal with unspeakable messes. Silas inhales mind-altering fumes venting from underground: He’s convinced they inspire his prophetic visions. Silas uses his workman demeanor to persuade citizens that his activities are safe and authorized.

    Jenkins (rat): +1 

    Plumbing tools: +2

    Subterranean Hygiene Intelligence Team: +1

    Knowledge of the underground: +2

    Vision-inducing fumes: +2

    I had the players introduce their characters and say what they were doing, and then described the initial scene. Unfortunately, I immediately ran into a problem: one of the players got angry with me, accusing me of railroading. The player of Harbinger refused to go to the scene I had prepped, instead wanting to go to the university in pursuit of the Thomas tome. At the time, I was taken aback; I was confused by the response. I went with it the best I could. My notes on the Thomas tome were minimal at best, so I quickly made up a few things – the tome is in Palestine, owned by a man named Mazran. Other people wanted the book as well, for different reasons. Both Love and Vance would have the contacts to broker a deal, but everyone involved was a backstabber. With this background in mind, I kept playing, alternating scenes between the two players. 

    After the session, I asked this player what was going on. It turns out he and I had a basic misunderstanding: when I did my prep for the game, I did so with no regard for the PC backgrounds at all – similar to how I’d prep for running a dungeon crawl. The player, on the other hand, assumed the exact opposite, that I would base my preparation on his character background, as he wanted pursuing the tome to be his central focus of play. Ron Edwards has some terminology for these two approaches for GM prep, and also distinguishes a third option that’s in between the two, but unfortunately I can’t recall them or where to find them, so you’ll need to ask him if you need clarification. But the point is, the problem arose because the player and I had different expectations of what the focus of play was going to be. Once I learned what the player wanted, I then prepped the next session accordingly.

    Anyway, Joseph Harbinger wound up at the Blue Royale, the speakeasy where Gwendolyn Love operated. For a price, she got him the contact information for Abdullah Mazran, the current owner of the tome.

    Meanwhile, Silas Whigham pursued the clues he found on the dead klan members, and managed to sneak into Jake Everest’s apartment. Once inside, his luck ran out. After several failed rolls, he became possessed by another spawn of nyarlathotep, who Everest had been keeping in a box he’d hidden away. While the entity didn’t have total control, Whigham’s player would have to make rolls to resist when it tried to exert it.

    Behind the scenes: between scenes, I made brief notes about what the NPCs were up to. Everest went to Love in pursuit of the pnakotic manuscript, from which he could learn the spell Azathoth’s shadow (this would give him the ability to look into the past and discover his father’s killers). Everest wouldn’t be able to afford to pay cash for the scroll, so what would Love accept in exchange? She agrees to give him the manuscript if he kills Vance. As this is happening, Vance is preparing to lead a KKK rally. He plans to use the energy of the rally to cast a spell at Love, to kill or enslave her. 

    The session ended and the players advanced their characters according to the standard Pool rules. Silas’ player added “Possessed by a demon, he has developed secret mental reserves to resist his dark master” and “Mental resistance to parasitic demons: +2”.

    It would take a bit of time to describe the rest of the game in detail, but here are some of the moments that stand out:

    Since the KKK rally was widely advertised, Jake knew where Vance would be, and followed him there. Silas encounters Jake at the rally, and they have a conversation. They can see the spawns in each other, and Jake is slowly losing his humanity. He reveals he is going to kill Vance. Vance arrives, heading for the speaker stage, and Jake closes in for the kill. Silas has the chance to intervene, but chooses not to. Jake kills Vance, and loses control to his spawn, which proceeds to massacre a number of the rally attendees, absorbing their life essence and growing stronger.

    Harbinger locates and makes a deal with another antiquarian, a Mr. Said, who wants the Thomas book for himself but is willing to let Harbinger study it. Their plan involves taking Mazran’s son hostage, and demanding the book in exchange for him. To get the son requires Harbinger to cast a kind of dimensional gate spell, which unfortunately goes disastrously wrong. Said is sucked, screaming, into the void. Harbinger is left with nothing.

    Silas is concerned that Jake will lose control and let something horrible into the world if his plan succeeds, so he follows him. 

    Harbinger goes back to Love, but fails to get anything out of her. Angered, he destroys the entire building with dark magic. He then goes to a church and causes a priest to lose their faith. 

    There is a final scene where Harbinger, Silas, and Jake are in a church. Jake is ready to cast his spell, and begin to take vengeance for his father. Silas repeatedly tries to do things but his player keeps failing his rolls. Finally, they both try to stop Jake, Silas grabbing him around the neck and holding him as Harbinger’s void spell consumes them both, then himself, leaving no trace of any of them. IIRC, both players succeeded in these final rolls, and both chose to do a monologue, so they collaborated on it. 

    Although I enjoyed the game overall, I felt bad because the players kept failing rather spectacularly on critical rolls – and I saw my role as to make sure these rolls had serious consequences. My impression was these multiple failures frustrated them a bit, but I didn’t know what I could do about it. 

    As always, I appreciate any comments, questions, or analysis. In particular, what is your experience when players have really bad luck with multiple critical rolls?

  • Some Lessons From Tunnels & Trolls

    Having heard from some people, such as Ron Edwards, that T&T was the quintessential dungeon-crawling game, I wanted to give the game a spin to see how I liked it and what I could learn from it. The 5th edition of the game is what got the most praise, so that’s the one I tried. My bottom line: the game as a whole is clever and worthy of play, but the text is vague enough that it requires interpretation; such interpretation can differ dramatically from table to table. I’ll include what I came up with below in a comment; for Ron Edwards’ (substantially different, but also perfectly functional) way of playing, please see his website, http://adeptplay.com.

    Here’s what happened during the actual game:

    So the setting of the game is my own. The evil queen Aletheia, recently released from centuries of imprisonment, and her right hand mage Judore, took over the realm of Varhold, enslaving its inhabitants. From there, she called all the remnants of the Elven diaspora to her. Together, they continued enslaving and conscripting humans and other races into her army, and began a campaign of imperial conquest. None seem to be able to stand against her forces. Desperate for any chance, any hint of weapons or items to fight against the evil queen, rulers of the surrounding territories are willing to pay high prices. So, brave adventures roam the land, exploring caverns and ancient ruins in search of such treasure.

    In the dwarven town of Boltheim, refugees fleeing from the depredations of the elven forces have found that their trials are only just beginning. The locals tell of how strange creatures are coming into town and abducting people, who are never seen again. Recently, a teenage abductee successfully escaped, and told how she was held captive in some sort of cave, where she could see chests full of crystals glowing with strange magic. Pleading for someone to help rescue her family, she gave directions to the location from which she escaped.

    So the adventure begins with the player characters in front of an iron door leading further into the caverns. I was GMing for two players, each of who controlled two characters, who included warriors Hayoshiko, Atticus, and Enneada, and Sezerain the rogue. The characters were able to enter the door, forcing it open with a combined strength roll. One rules point here: the fifth edition rules talk about saving rolls, but these are really attribute checks. The easiest way for me to understand them was that the player rolls two dice (doubles explode), and adds the relevant attribute value to the total. They need to equal or exceed the difficulty number, which is five times the difficult level +15. The level of difficulty is determined by the GM. So 2d6+attribute >= 15 + (difficulty level X 5). This is mathematically equivalent to what the text describes, but it is more intuitive for me.

    The characters quickly found themselves in a room with a fancy rug on the floor, and three doors to choose from. They noticed the rug was clean and looked pristine, so they were quite suspicious of it and avoided stepping on it. I asked for some IQ checks here as basically perception rolls; for those who didn’t roll a 20 or above, I just gave very basic information. One character rolled above 20, and I mentioned how they could hear people screaming faintly in the distance, and that the doors to the east and south were closest to the sound.

    The players open the door to the east, and see nothing inside, except a chest and another door. They are suspicious, and don’t go in. They then proceed to the door to the south. One character opens it, and because they didn’t use the key, it triggers a trap. Three giant, hungry spiders are released from above them, and proceed to attack.

    Now, when creating the spiders, I gave them the following features. I thought I would give them a monster rating of 20 – but that would mean they’d roll three dice each, and add 15. This seemed too harsh, so I gave them three dice and an add of just five. I was then worried this would make them too easy, so I thought that I would make it so that they didn’t get weaker (roll fewer dice) until they were down to a 5 constitution. In other words, instead of them taking damage to their monster rating they’d take damage to their Constitution of 20. In addition, I gave them a web spinning attack: they can spit out webs, forcing the targeted character to make a dexterity save of 20 or be trapped; once entangled, a character would have to make a Strength roll of 25 or above to escape.

    Unfortunately, I didn’t realize just how challenging the spiders would be. A giant spider managed to corner one of the characters, Hayoshiko, into a one-on-one battle. This became a bit of a grind, as the character was a warrior with 12 points of armor. After several rounds where no one did any damage to each other, we quickly instituted the spite damage rule: if you roll a six, then someone on the opposing side takes one point of damage, regardless of armor. Slowly, they were each getting hurt. Hayoshiko tried to retreat to join the other characters so they could fight together. I interpreted this to be a dexterity roll. Unfortunately the character failed (they rolled less than 20). Now here is the first rules question: when someone does a stunt like this, how to adjudicate the attack from the opponent? Normally, you compare the total of weapon rolls from each side, but when one side isn’t using a weapon roll, how to determine the result of the opposing attack? In this particular case, I rolled for the spider as usual, and compared this total to the player’s total for their dexterity roll, basically substituting it for the weapon roll. The spider’s total was less than the player’s. So I interpreted this to mean that the character was not able to reach his companions, but also the spider was not able to damage him. But I’m not clear on how this works in general. 

    Meanwhile, Enneada, Sezerain, and Atticus were fighting together against two spiders. The first round goes well for them, and they’re able to do 20 points above the spiders’ total, so do 10 points of damage to each spider. The spiders then unleash their web attacks. Atticus and Enneada fail their dexterity saving throws, and are entangled. Facing two giant spiders, Sezerain backs into the room with the chest, hoping to use the doorway to keep both spiders from attacking him at once. I winced inwardly as the player told me this, because I knew there was a pit trap just inside the door to the chest room! The pit trap opens. However, the player makes their saving throw – they needed a 25, and they got a 26. So I say they’re able to roll to the side, their lantern rolling onto the floor beside them.

    So now we have three separate fights going on. Hayoshiko is fighting one spider to the west side of the room, one spider is attacking the entangled characters, while another spider is trying to get at Sezerain, who is in the room with the chest, balanced on the edge of the pit trap. 

    Over the course of several rounds, Hayoshiko tries a number of maneuvers, retreating and trying to get back out the main entrance, trying to get the spider to flee using his torch, and again trying to reach the other characters. Unfortunately, each maneuver fails. I interpreted them as dexterity rolls, with maybe one luck roll in there. Now, the way that I read the rules, when someone does a stunt like this I should give them the difficulty level, consequences for failure, and the benefit of success. The benefits of success were easy to determine each time, but I wound up being continually confused about what failure would mean, in particular how to adjudicate the spider’s attack after the player failed. What I wound up doing was just applying the spider attack to the total of the players dexterity roll. The result was a slow grind, with spite damage slowly wearing away at each combatant. 

    Sezerain fought the giant spider with his spear, and the results were similar to Hayoshiko’s battle: they were slowly grinding each other down. Meanwhile, the third giant spider made free attacks on the entangled Atticus, eventually killing him. Enneada tried several strength rolls to get free, failing several times, helpless to prevent the spider from savaging the poor Atticus.

    The battle continues, Enneada fails to escape, and gets bit for some damage; Sezerain keeps fighting the spider and finally kills it. Enneada finally breaks free of her web, and attacks the spider. Sezerain throws his spear at the spider, so I interpreted that as a combined melee attack. This attack is able to take that spider out.

    At this point, after several failed rolls, Hayoshiko is fighting a giant spider in the dark, armed only with a rock. Sezerain and Enneada want to quickly join him, so I gave them a choice: Enneada can help Sezerain across the pit trap quickly with a combined strength roll; if successful, they’ll be able to reach Hayoshiko in time to make a combined attack against the remaining spider this round. Or, they can play it safe, Sezerain can cross automatically without a roll required, but they won’t be able to reach Hayoshiko until the next round.

    Here’s where another rules question comes in. They each made a strength roll, Enneada succeeding, but Sezerain failed by rolling a 4. Now their combined total was more than enough to beat the level of difficulty of 25 – but because one of them failed their roll, how to interpret the results? In this case, I erred on the side of  harshness, saying that Sezerain almost slips but he manages to get across, but not in time to help Hayoshiko this round. 

    Regardless, Hayoshiko and the spider do only a slight bit of damage to each other from spite damage. The next round, the characters join up, and are able to take the spider out with their combined attack. 

    I felt a little bit embarrassed, because I hadn’t meant the spiders to be that much of a challenge. They were powerful enough to almost take out the entire party. But I suppose that’s just my inexperience with the system. I felt sorry for the characters, and wanted to change the spider stats on the spot to help them out, but the players saw what I was doing and spoke up, refusing to let me go easy on them, which of course was the right call.

    The rest of the game went smoothly in my opinion. The characters cleverly disarmed a trap in the chest by pushing it into the pit trap so that it broke open. The sleeping gas it contained was released, but it dispersed sufficiently that it didn’t get anyone. The party proceeded further into the caverns, and found where the screams were coming from. They observed humans tied onto stone slabs, their blood being slowly drained and dripping into containers which glowed, gradually getting brighter the more blood dripped into them. In addition, they found a humanoid mushroom tied onto the one of the slabs, with a battle hardened Elven veteran and a pair of orcs experimenting on it, trying to get it to bleed. They also saw a couple of human slaves, with iron collars on their necks. One of the slaves noticed Enneada, but turned their head, not acknowledging her presence.

    After a brief discussion, the party decided they were too wounded to attempt a rescue, and took the treasure they found and ran back to town. And that’s where that session ended.

    Overall I had a lot of fun, but I admit that, during prep, I had a very hard time understanding this text of Tunnels and Trolls. I’m speaking of the fifth edition here. To me, some of the most important parts of play were completely left out. It’s like, the game text makes perfect sense if you already know how to play the game – but if you don’t, it’s very difficult to know how to play from reading the text. I often find this problem; the authors are so familiar with their game that some of the most important practices or rules are so obvious to them that they don’t even think of writing them down. However, these are not obvious to most other people. Without exception, when I’ve heard a game designer say, “it’s obvious that you’re supposed to do such-and-such in that situation,” or the like, they’ve been completely wrong. Certainly their point was not obvious to me at all.

    One caveat: considering the time this game was written – 1979, I believe – it’s better than most comparable texts, and remarkably innovative. Despite the issues I had with it, I don’t want to forget this point.

  • My Entry for Game Chef 2018

    I didn’t have much time to work on it this year, the contest came up during the same week as Dragonflight and a Tai Chi workshop. Still, I had some fun writing this up, and hope it proves interesting to someone out there 🙂

    Many Worlds, Many Stories

    By Manu Saxena

    The theme this year was lost stories, and the ingredients used were speedwalking, sheepskin, and blunt.

  • Monsterhearts Episode Two 

    At the party, Nix is able to knock her assailant out, after which she and Morrigan steal a Lexus and head to Discovery Park. 

    Back at the park, Tien wrenches Odessa from the vampire’s grasp, and attempts to flee with her. However Lyra’s mesmerizing eyes take hold of him, and Tien agrees to hear her out. The vampire reiterates how she is reasonable, helping to keep this region safe for both human and supernatural folk alike; she warns Tien that if Jonathan, a particularly vicious vampire, is able to take up residence here they will all regret it. She denies taking Jamie, as she would never be so sloppy as to just disappear someone. She tells Tien to do his homework on this, and quickly vanishes. 

    Tien comforts the stunned Odessa, then goes to find Harvey, whose body is broken and dying. Tien heals him with his transference power, listening to how he had an unrequited crush on Jamie, and his other woes. He leads the now healed but shaken Harvey out to the parking lot, where Morrigan and Nix have discovered Odessa, who is no longer catatonic but starting to freak out. Tien takes Harvey and Odessa home, making up a story about how they were attacked by a rival school’s student. 

    Morrigan and Nix search the park for any sign of Jamie, and follow her trail to a grove off the main paths; the center of the clearing contains a flat stone slab. The area has some signs of recently being occupied, mostly with many people having sex. The PCs discover that the stone slab was used as a kind of psychic battery to absorb and discharge various intense emotions, including sexual ecstasy and terrible fear. Tien rejoins them, and after doing some computer research discovers a disturbing but informative letter, from a 19th century newspaper man by the name of Benjamin Gilbert. Having lost Jamie’s trail, they call it quits for the night.

    The following morning at Seattle High, they notice that Harvey looks quite pale, wears sunglasses, and seems to be uncomfortable in the sun. Tien questions him, and he mentions how a hot blond chick showed up at his house, wanted to be invited in, and they had a wild make-out session. The “hickey” she gave him is, in Tien’s estimation, rather large, and looks like a wound that’s several days old – but no such wound was there last night in the park.

    Students are being interviewed one-by-one by SPD’s Detective Avery. He asks standard questions like when they saw her last, who did she hang out with, did anyone not like her, etc. but also takes pictures of their shoes. He also asks about her yoga classes, and they notice a brochure about a new yoga studio entitled Order of the New Dawn.

    American history class is doing a segment on local history, so based on clues from the Gilbert letter, Nix and Morrigan decide to research Chinese immigration during the 18th century gold rush. Searching for the name “Ling”, they discover the sad event of the massacre of Chinese gold miners on the Snake river (read more here: The Snake River Massacre). Four names jump out at them: J. Canfield, Frank Vaughn, Hiram, and Hezekiah. 

    Morrigan, obsessed with finding out how and why she was resurrected, learns that Stacy’s mother, who recently lost her job, worked at the same hospital that treated her after the accident. Morrigan seductively cozies up to Stacy, and they have an intimate rendezvous in the girl’s locker room. She convinces Stacy to invite her over for dinner, so that she can interrogate her Mom; Stacy agrees.

    Nix and Tien look for more clues to Jamie’s whereabouts. Nix decides to head down to the OND yoga studio. It’s an impressive place in a high-rent downtown building. When she enters, the assistant looks her over and says, “oh, you have one of those auras. You must be here for the soma.” The now-smiling assistant leads her back to an office, where a very fit Mr. Stile greets her from a challenging yoga pose. He bids her welcome, and asks what flavor of soma she wants. Confused, Nix blurts out that she just wants to know where Jamie is. Stile frowns, and says the police already asked about this. When Nix persists, Stile tells her to remain in the office, and leaves, locking the door behind him. Concerned, Nix tries to figure some way out of the room, but can’t. The door opens and two large men in business suits enter – and she can tell immediately that they’re vampires. “You made a bad mistake coming here,” one of them says, shaking his head.

    Tien, meanwhile, has done such a bad job of researching that he attracts the attention of the police. Detective Avery stops by to grab him from the library. He accuses Tien of knowing more than he’s telling, and when Tien remains uncooperative he says he’ll have to come downtown. While headed to the police station in the back of Avery’s car, Tien makes a break for it – using his ghostly power he phases through the car door, into the middle of traffic. Brakes squeal and cars are rear-ended as Tien flees across the road. He heads with ghostly speed to the yoga studio.

    At Morrigan’s dinner with Stacy and her mother, Morrigan guilt-trips Stacy’s Mom into telling her about two of the doctors who worked on her after her accident. She confirms that these doctors, while not unknown, tend to show up infrequently, and mostly for unusual cases. She also tells Morrigan that, from what she heard, when the paramedics first brought her in to the hospital they thought she was dead, and had covered her with a sheet. 

    Back at the yoga studio’s office, Nix tries to escape, making a break for the door, but is caught by one of the vampires. A big fight ensues, Nix kicking one of the creatures savagely while biting off the hand of the other. During the struggle she hears one of the vampires call the other “Hiram”. Unfortunately they are strong and fast, and she gets hurt, pinned to the wall by a vampire. 

    Tien arrives at the studio as well, and the assistant repeats that, “oh, you have one of those auras, you must be here for the soma,” and escorts him to the back office. From down the hall, a frowning Mr. Stile tells them to go back, now is not a good time, but Tien hears Nix cry out in pain. He darts past Stile and his assistant, and phases into the room. He pries a vampire off of Nix and tries to escape with her, but again the vampires are too fast. One of them catches him and tears him apart. He escapes death by becoming his darkest self, which in his case means he becomes an invisible poltergeist only able to interact with inanimate objects. He throws the office table into the vampires, but one of them catches it and reverses the throw, blasting it into Tien. The creatures slam Nix onto the floor, then tie her up; wrapping her up with the sheet from the sofa, they carry her out of the building. Invisible, Tien follows. 

    To be continued…

  • Monsterhearts, A Clue or Two

    A letter from Benjamin Gilbert

     The whole history of the fire we published in the Times was a lie, of course. The fire had nothing to do with that foolish Swede in the wood shop, we just used him as a convenient scapegoat. It was all because of the vampires. 

     Hunters from the east were on their trail, and had been for awhile – one of the creatures they called “Jonathan” was particularly disruptive, hardly bothering to cover his tracks as he left a trail of destruction, broken lives and broken families from New York to Oregon. He ravaged Seattle for weeks before we finally trapped him and his henchmen in the wood shop. The owner, may he Rest In Peace, was part of the plot, and invited them in so they would be unable to harm innocents when we confronted them. The vampire Jonathan – an exceptionally tall man, with dark hair, striking blue eyes, and an ugly scar down the right side of his neck – tried to compel us with that curious mental power they have, but we’d taken precautions – the standard herbal remedy from the old country proved effective. But we were unprepared for his extraordinary speed and power, and that of his companions. 

     DeMarigny took out two of the bloodsuckers with stakes, and I wounded one with my silver knife, but failed to slay it. Grossman’s bullets proved entirely ineffective, and Jonathan snapped his neck in the blink of an eye. DeMarigny and the other hunters fought like lions, but the vampires were just too fast. Jonathan knocked the knife out of my grasp and pinned me to the wall with an insane strength. He forced me to watch, helpless, as they drained DeMarigny of his life.

     Gloating, the evil vampire looked into my eyes. “Now that your friends are dead or dying, I think we’ll take our time with you. You organized this hunt, and are worthy of special interest.” 

     Although my heart quailed within my breast, I put on a brave face. “Do your worst!” I cried, “I go to meet my maker with a clear conscience!”

     Jonathan’s grin grew wider. “No, you won’t,” he crowed, “because I will turn you. You will join us, and I will personally supervise your transition as you feed on the innocent and helpless. You will receive a punishment beyond death.” With these words, fangs sprouted from his mouth and he bit down, piercing my neck. I am not ashamed to say I cried out then, in greater despair and horror than I had ever known. 

     When I was weak and dizzy from blood loss, he opened a vein in his arm and forced me to swallow some of his blood. “You will die soon now,” the vampire said, “and when you wake up, you will be one of us.” I was too weak to move or respond, and lay slumped against the doorframe. The exit was inches to my right, but may as well have been on another continent. The creatures turned to begin feeding on those wounded hunters they hadn’t yet killed, and tears fell from my eyes as I heard their cries of despair and pain. 

     It was then that she appeared. Beautiful, with a face showing traces of an ancestry from the east, and dark hair that fell in curls onto her shoulders. Kneeling down, she looked at me, and I thought I saw pity in her eyes, combined with a steely determination. I struggled to rise, entreating her to flee, to save herself, but she shook her head. “Invite me in,” she whispered, “and I will help you. This I promise.” 

     It was then I knew she was another creature of the night. My first instinct was to refuse her, but then, what did I have to lose? My fate was already sealed. “Come in,” I managed to croak. 

     Instantly she entered, followed by companions of her own. They were like a storm, unleashing a savagery upon Jonathan and his faction that words cannot describe. It was in this struggle that the fire started. I managed to crawl out of the burning building, and watched as the battle between the vampires continued, first onto the roof of the woodshop and then onto neighboring rooftops. The conflagration spread, as burning vampires set nearby buildings alight as they screamed and died. And so the Great Seattle Fire began. This was the truth we dared not print in the paper. 

     I died at some point during the night. Ling found me later, and cared for me, showing me how to feed. She had her own reasons for wanting Jonathan dead, but of these she forbids me to speak. She believes that monster perished in the fire, but I am not so sanguine. It is this Jonathan’s fault that I now walk as a creature of the night, condemned to darkness and to feed on the living for as long as my foul existence continues. And I make it my only goal to take vengeance upon this villain, and all those like him, who prey on the innocent with cruelty and malice. 

     I write this so that those on the inner council may know the truth, and be warned, and so take appropriate action. In my next note I will confirm for you the best and most reliable methods for warding against and destroying vampires. I urge you to employ these methods and protections throughout the region, using whatever excuses as may seem fit to the council. 

    I am most sincerely,

    Benjamin Gilbert

    A vampire