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<span id="blog-title">Lacking Natural Simplicity</span>
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<p class="lead blog-description">Random musings on books, code, and tabletop games.</p>
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<article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/04/06/stross/" class="u-url">Recent Reading: Stross</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/04/06/stross/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-04-06T20:30:00-05:00" title="2009-04-06 20:30">2009-04-06 20:30</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/04/06/stross/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/04/06/stross.html">Comments</a>
</p>
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<ul>
<li>
<p><cite>Accelerando</cite>, by Charles Stross, copyright 2005; Ace/The Berkley
Publishing Groupo/Penguin Group (USA) Inc./Penguin Books Ltd., July
2006; ISBN 0-441-01415-1.</p>
<p>Crash! Bang! Ouch! The idea of sentient corporations and ponzi
schemes taking over makes this a dystopia to me. Very interesting,
however; and quite dense.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/recent-reading/" rel="tag">recent reading</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/science-fiction/" rel="tag">science fiction</a></li>
</ul></nav>
</div>
</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/29/pirates-session-5-revenge-is-sweet-and-so-are-pies/" class="u-url">Pirates! Session #5: Revenge is Sweet (and so are pies!)</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/29/pirates-session-5-revenge-is-sweet-and-so-are-pies/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-29T15:30:00-05:00" title="2009-03-29 15:30">2009-03-29 15:30</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/29/pirates-session-5-revenge-is-sweet-and-so-are-pies/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/29/pirates-session-5-revenge-is-sweet-and-so-are-pies.html">Comments</a>
</p>
</div>
</header><div class="e-content entry-content">
<p>I guess I've got a <em>Pirates of the Spanish Main</em> campaign on my hands…</p>
<p>I knew the A. kids wanted to play a <a class="reference external" href="pages/roleplaying-games-played-with-the-kids/#savage-worlds">Savage Worlds</a> Pirates! game
when L.B. came to visit next, but I still hadn't anything the Thursday
before I was to pick L.B. up. Luckily I had lunch that day with a
coworker who plays RPGs, and together we brainstormed an adventure
outline. (Thanks, M.A.H.!)</p>
<section id="attending"><h2>Attending</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>T.A. playing Isaiah Kestrel, former captain of the <em>Lady Faire</em></p></li>
<li><p>E.A. playing Alice Pettigrew</p></li>
<li><p>M.A. playing Captain (Scarred) Jack</p></li>
<li><p>L.B. playing Phelicity Phillipe Gujon</p></li>
</ul></section><section id="actual-play"><h2>Actual Play</h2>
<p>I knew that losing the <em>Lady Faire</em> still rankled, so I made the
villans of the damsel in distress plot suggested by M.A.H. the
mutinous crew of the <em>Lady Faire</em> and the evil pirate who had taken
over the ship after the mutiny. So, while the kids' struggling
pirates were looking for their next smuggling job (all their current
tiny boat would let them manage) they heard a rumor that their former
crew had kidnapped the daughter of a wealthy merchant. They tracked
down the fisherman who had witnessed the attack on the yacht and
confirmed it had been their mutineers. After this they set sail for
Tortuga, looking for information about where those mutinous dogs were
now.</p>
<p>This was the first time I'd bothered to use the sailing rules from the
rulebook, and they very quickly learned why somebody needs Knowledge
(Navigation)! Eventually they reached Tortuga, and as soon as they
landed they started looking for information. They very quickly
learned why somebody needs Streetwise! Luckily for them, many people
had gone to a yearly pie-eating contest held by a local eatery. They
entered, and Phelicity should have won, but another pirate was
initially declared the winner; however, the resulting pie-fight
conclusively proved he was cheating (and Phelicity got the prize
money!), and in the end he turned out to be Deadeye Dave, one of their
former crew. He'd been dropped there to arrange ransom, while the
rest of the crew had gone off to a safe haven in the Virgin Islands.</p>
<p>So off they went to the Virgin Islands. After some excellent
navigating by former captain Isaiah they arrived, snuck up the side of
the former <em>Lady Faire</em>, now named the <em>Saucy Wench</em> (which the kids
universally agreed was a <strong>terrible</strong> name), nailed their erstwhile
crew under hatches, and disposed of the interloping pirate captain and
his chief henchman just in time to intimidate their former crew as
they burst the hatches.</p>
<p>Eventually they left Deadeye Dave on one deserted island, the other
pirates on another, and sailed back to collect the reward for from the
damsel's relived father.</p>
<p>They decided that since they had the <em>Lady Faire</em> back that Isaiah
was captain of her again, while Captain Jack remained captain of the
smaller boat. M.A. was charmingly nervous that the girls would
abandon Captain Jack's boat for Isaiah Kestrel's, since it was bigger,
but I think the fact that they now had a small fleet, rather than just
a single boat made everybody happy.</p>
</section><section id="aftermath"><h2>Aftermath</h2>
<p>Now I have to figure out if this has affected their Fame, and how much
money the reward came to!</p>
</section><nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/actual-play/" rel="tag">actual-play</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/kids/" rel="tag">kids</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/pirates-of-the-spanish-main/" rel="tag">pirates of the spanish main</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/rpg/" rel="tag">rpg</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/savage-worlds/" rel="tag">savage worlds</a></li>
</ul></nav>
</div>
</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/29/toon-car-blazers-session-2/" class="u-url">Toon: Car Blazers!, Session #2</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/29/toon-car-blazers-session-2/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-29T13:30:00-05:00" title="2009-03-29 13:30">2009-03-29 13:30</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/29/toon-car-blazers-session-2/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/29/toon-car-blazers-session-2.html">Comments</a>
</p>
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</header><div class="e-content entry-content">
<p>On Sunday the kids came over after lunch to play <a class="reference external" href="pages/roleplaying-games-played-with-the-kids/#toon">Toon</a> again.</p>
<aside class="admonition admonition-spoilers"><p class="admonition-title">Spoilers!</p>
<p>“Car Blazers”, <em>Toon</em>, <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sjgames.com/">Steve Jackson Games</a></p>
</aside><section id="attending"><h2>Attending</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>T.A. played Nektar</p></li>
<li><p>E.A. played Betheny</p></li>
<li><p>L.B. played Erica</p></li>
<li><p>M.A. played Gorge (pronounced “George”)</p></li>
</ul></section><section id="actual-play"><h2>Actual Play</h2>
<p>The characters followed the Teleks to the <em>Tooth Decay</em>, where Nektar
kept trying to keep them away from the ship. Luckily by the time the
others caught on they were too close and got snagged by the arm.
Inside they wasted no time aggravating Bob, so when Torgo told them
he'd be sending troops to imprison them Bob dumped them out of the
<em>Tomato</em> and told them they were contractually obligated to foil
Torgo's fiendish plans. They went out into the corridor and were
immediately run over by the robot car carrying fruits, and were
riding it back to the source when a ragged dentist spotted them and
jumped and grabbed Bethany off Erica's back, tucking and rolling into
a nearby bubble. The others followed quickly, and soon everyone found
themshelves the targets of primitive dentists. At one point everybody
was being dragged by one or more dentist toward dilapidated dentist
chairs of one unpleasant sort or another, but in the end only Betheny
ended up in a chair and had her teeth drilled — after being
anesthetized, of course! It was at this point that a terrible noise
was heard in the distance and the dentists and their chairs and even
some of the trees ran off.</p>
<p>And that's where we left them for the time being.</p>
</section><section id="aftermath"><h2>Aftermath</h2>
<p>As usual I found <em>Toon</em> to be very tiring to run, but worth it.</p>
</section><nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/actual-play/" rel="tag">actual-play</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/kids/" rel="tag">kids</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/rpg/" rel="tag">rpg</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/spoilers/" rel="tag">spoilers</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/toon/" rel="tag">toon</a></li>
</ul></nav>
</div>
</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/28/toon-car-blazers-session-1/" class="u-url">Toon: Car Blazers!, Session #1</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/28/toon-car-blazers-session-1/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-28T22:00:00-05:00" title="2009-03-28 22:00">2009-03-28 22:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/28/toon-car-blazers-session-1/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/28/toon-car-blazers-session-1.html">Comments</a>
</p>
</div>
</header><div class="e-content entry-content">
<aside class="admonition admonition-spoilers"><p class="admonition-title">Spoilers!</p>
<p>“Car Blazers”, <em>Toon</em>, <a class="reference external" href="http://www.sjgames.com/">Steve Jackson Games</a></p>
</aside><p>L.B. <em>really</em> wanted to play <a class="reference external" href="pages/roleplaying-games-played-with-the-kids/#toon">Toon</a> again, but I wanted to try
something different from the one-shots we'd been doing, so I looked
through the rulebook and found a cartoon series that looked fun: “Car
Blazers!”.</p>
<section id="attending"><h2>Attending</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>T.A.</p></li>
<li><p>E.A.</p></li>
<li><p>M.A.</p></li>
<li><p>L.B.</p></li>
</ul></section><section id="character-creation"><h2>Character Creation</h2>
<p>For some reason Toon and Buggin' are the games we've done
character creation in the most. (For the <a class="reference external" href="pages/roleplaying-games-played-with-the-kids/#savage-worlds">Savage Worlds</a> games I've
been letting them choose from pregenerated characters, probably
because most of them have been one-shots.)</p>
<p>We spent most of the evening doing character creation, and
everybody ended up with neat characters.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>T.A. created Nektar, a three foot tall blue alien with golden eyes
and antennae like Shrek's who was kidnapped and forced to join the
Car Blazers and who just wants to escape.</p></li>
<li><p>E.A. created Betheny, a 2 inch tall mini-me with wings who always has
to be in the middle of things and joined the Car Blazers because she
didn't like the orphanage, and who with a Muscle of 3 ended up the
strongest character!</p></li>
<li><p>L.B. created Erica, a bunny with a jetpack who was in it for the
carrots, belives everybody should have a special blankie, and who
has the urge to defeat villans and protect friends and their
possessions.</p></li>
<li><p>M.A. created Gorge (pronounced “George”), an alien from the sun, a
humanoid solar flare with a belt with two holsters and flame guns
who joined the Car Blazers to get to burn things.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>E.A. started the orphanage idea, and when every single last one of
them rolled a 3+6=9 for Hit Points, I decided that they must have all
been orphans from different orphanages that the routine medical workup
on joining the Car Blazers proved conclusively that they were
quadruplets separated at birth!</p>
<p>I got the kids to laugh uproariously even before character generation
was over. E.A. kept going on about how horrible the orphanage had
been, and everytime she did an orphanage matron would pop out of
nowhere, show evidence that the orphanage had actually been a great
place, and then disappear. E.A. kept making up things that were more
and more difficult to disprove, and the orphanage matron would go to
more and more absurd lengths to disprove them, pulling the younger
Betheny out of pictures of luxury and comparing DNA from her blood to
that of the older Betheny, etc. This was really fun, and helped keep
character generation from dragging too much.</p>
<p>T.A., an alien, wanted to make sure that the Car Blazers' unbreakable 5-year
contract used normal-length years — which made me laugh sinisterly.</p>
</section><section id="actual-play"><h2>Actual Play</h2>
<p>After character creation we only had 45 minutes to play, but we went
ahead and started on the “Car Blazers” Series Pilot. They got
introduced to the Teleks and eventually blew two of their battleships
to pieces, and then spotted two other Telek ships leaving the system,
and that's where we left them for that evening.</p>
</section><nav><ul itemprop="keywords" class="tags">
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/actual-play/" rel="tag">actual-play</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/kids/" rel="tag">kids</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/rpg/" rel="tag">rpg</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/spoilers/" rel="tag">spoilers</a></li>
<li><a class="tag p-category" href="categories/toon/" rel="tag">toon</a></li>
</ul></nav>
</div>
</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/27/savage-space-1889/" class="u-url">Savage Space 1889</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/27/savage-space-1889/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-27T12:12:33-05:00" title="2009-03-27 12:12">2009-03-27 12:12</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/27/savage-space-1889/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/27/savage-space-1889.html">Comments</a>
</p>
</div>
</header><div class="e-content entry-content">
<p>Yay! <a class="reference external" href="http://www.peginc.com/">Pinnacle Entertainment Group</a> has <a class="reference external" href="http://www.peginc.com/Art/Articles/Space1889/Space1889.html">announced</a> that they're going
to publish a <a class="reference internal" href="posts/2009/03/27/savage-space-1889/#savage-worlds">Savage Worlds</a> <a class="reference external" href="http://www.peginc.com/plot-points">plot point</a> campaign in the “Space 1889”
setting entitled <em>Space 1889: Red Sands</em>!</p>
<span class="target" id="savage-worlds"></span>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/23/stross/" class="u-url">Recent Reading: Stross</a></h2>
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<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/23/stross/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-23T00:00:00-05:00" title="2009-03-23 00:00">2009-03-23 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/23/stross/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/23/stross.html">Comments</a>
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<ul class="simple">
<li><p><cite>Jennifer Morgue</cite>, by Charles Stross, copyright 2006; Golden Gryphon
Press, 2006; ISBN 1-930846-45-2. The follow-up to his <cite>The Atrocity
Archives</cite>.</p></li>
</ul>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/13/watchmen/" class="u-url">Watchmen</a></h2>
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<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/13/watchmen/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-13T22:15:00-05:00" title="2009-03-13 22:15">2009-03-13 22:15</time></a></p>
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<p>I went to see <em>Watchmen</em> with a friend, and thoroughly enjoyed it,
despite the missing subplot and the changes at the end. I thought the
changes were a reasonable approach to adapting the comic series to
cinema.</p>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/12/s004-rv-2009-03-12/" class="u-url">Rushing Valley D&D, Session #4</a></h2>
<div class="metadata blog-post-meta">
<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/12/s004-rv-2009-03-12/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-12T00:00:00-05:00" title="2009-03-12 00:00">2009-03-12 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/12/s004-rv-2009-03-12/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/12/s004-rv-2009-03-12.html">Comments</a>
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<section id="rushing-valley-d-d-session-4"><h2>Rushing Valley D&D, Session #4</h2>
<section id="thursday-12-march-2009"><h3>Thursday, 12 March 2009</h3>
<dl class="field-list simple">
<dt>version<span class="colon">:</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>2020-08-03 16:00:14</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>This is an <a class="reference external" href="http://www.actualplay.com/">actual play</a> report from the “Rushing Valley” <em>Dungeons
and Dragons</em> campaign. These actual play reports are available in
<a class="reference external" href="categories/cat_gaming/actual-play/wvhtf/rushing-valley/">html</a> from T.K.B.'s blog and from P.D.F.'s
<a class="reference external" href="http://pdf-rpg.motion-forum.net/forum.htm">RPG forum</a>'s <a class="reference external" href="http://pdf-rpg.motion-forum.net/rushing-valley-campaign-c1/">Rushing Valley Campaign</a> <a class="reference external" href="http://pdf-rpg.motion-forum.net/history-f2/">History forum</a>.</p>
<section id="attending"><h4>Attending</h4>
<p>Clockwise round the table, starting with the DM at 9 o'clock:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>P.D.F. as DM</p></li>
<li><p>B.MC. playing Polonius, Onchu's rowdy young cousin from Riverton</p></li>
<li><p>J.H. playing Eirnin</p></li>
<li><p>M.A.F. playing Bartha</p></li>
<li><p>T.K.B. playing Droston a'Seamus</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Unfortunately C.A.H. was unable to attend, so Onchu was otherwise occupied.</p>
</section><section id="introduction"><h4>Introduction</h4>
<p>Each of the characters in the session were paid 5 silver pieces for
their work on the bridge.</p>
<p>The last session ended Tuesday, June 2 (?).</p>
<p>This session starts Monday, June 14.</p>
</section><section id="actual-play-1"><h4>Actual Play</h4>
<section id="what-s-been-happening"><h5>What's been Happening</h5>
<p>Preparations for the new mine are underway. Preliminary housing has
been built and they're starting to get ready to start extracting
materials.</p>
<p>A group of miners coming back from the close mines (one-half mile from town)
were attacked by what Brock called a <em>dire</em> raccoon. One miner was
injured, but they managed to kill the dire raccoon. There has been
talk about calling up the militia and putting the three companies on
rotating escort and guard duty.</p>
</section><section id="another-job-from-mcvoy"><h5>Another Job from McVoy</h5>
<p>Brand McVoy bursts in looking for us. After an exchange with
Polonius, McVoy tells Polonius to keep out of trouble. He offers the
group a job taking three wagons of cut stone to Riverton, with his
youngest son, young Brand, driving one of the wagons and the two
others to be driven by the us. He offers 20 silver pieces, we suggest
40 silver, and he counters with 30, which we accept.</p>
<p>We set out for Riverton the next morning at dawn, with Bartha in the
lead, young Brand in the middle, and Eirnin bringing up the rear. Not
far out on the first day, the wagon Eirnin's driving breaks a wheel,
but it doesn't take long to fix and we're back on the road.</p>
<section id="local-gossip-proves-true"><h6>Local Gossip Proves True</h6>
<p>Now, local gossip has it young Brand was caught behind the woodsheed
with Gelsie (sp?) Hillfield, but normally he's a quiet 14 year old.
However, anytime any of us got near his wagon he gets belligerent.
Eventually we call him on it, and it turns out Gelsie's hiding in the
wagon under a tarp. He and Gelsie plan to run for distant parts where
there families won't try to keep them apart, or worse. After we are
unable to convince them to do otherwise, we continue our journey, with
Gelsie hiding. Eirnin, soft touch that he is, gives young Brand 2
silver for their journey. Droston's thinking that we'd better get
these two lovebirds to the Sheriff in Riverton before the
McVoy/Hillfield feud heats up to killing again.</p>
</section><section id="heading-for-a-hill-field-of-trouble"><h6>Heading for a Hill(field) of Trouble</h6>
<p>On the second day of the journey Gelsie's two older brothers Hal (36)
and Heirnen (32) show up convinced young Brand has kidnapped their
sister and hidden her in his wagon. We refuse to let them search the
wagon, worried Brand and the brothers will come to blows, but
eventually convince them we'll got straight to the Sheriff in
Riverton. Droston starts ranging out in front, wanting to have a big
enough lead when we reach Riverton to get to the Sheriff's office and
explain the situation before the Hillfields arrive.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Droston runs into a couple of wolves while way out in
front and out of sight. He yells for backup, and wagons stop while
Eirnin and Polonius start running towards Droston. The Hillfields
take that opportunity to attack. Hal grabs Bartha, who screams rape,
while Heinen knocks young Brand out out, rips back the tarp, grabs
Gelsie, and with Gelsie kicking and screaming rides hard back toward
Masonberg.</p>
<p>Polonius turns back to the wagons while Eirnin continues towards
Droston. Polonius tries to shoot Hal's horse without hitting Hal or
Gelsie, but misses.</p>
<p>Heinen, on the other hand, isn't having it easy with Bartha, who is
giving better than she's getting. When she finally drives him off the
wagon he grabs his horses reins and runs back towards Masonburg, but
Bartha actually leaps on the back of his horse and continues the
struggle. Finally Heinen gets away.</p>
<p>Droston, meanwhile, kills one of the two wolves and the other runs
away, wounded. After skinning the wolf, he and Eirnin start back
towards the wagons. Once everybody gets back to the wagons we discuss
what to do next, comfort poor Brand, and decide to deliver the wagons
and go straight to the Sherrif in Riverton.
<span class="comment">[And we all netted +10 XP for roleplaying!]</span></p>
</section><section id="we-really-ought-to-stay-out-of-riverton"><h6>We really ought to stay out of Riverton</h6>
<p>As soon as we'd gotten the wagons to the warehouse, Droston went off
to explain the situation McVoy/Hillfield situation to the sherrif
(including the fact he'd been planning to bring the two youngsters
straight to the sherrif as soon as Gelsie was found). The
sherrif was understandably perturbed about the possibility of the feud
starting up again.</p>
<p>They also talked about the the strange creatures being found around
Masonburg. The sherrif had a lot of trouble around Riverton with
wolves, since they're even less used to dealing with them than the
Masonburgers, and have had one toddler and lots of livestock killed.
<span class="comment">[P.D.F., were any strange animals showing up around
Riverton?]</span> They've instituted a 3 c.p. bounty on the wolf-skins, so
Droston turned his wolf-skin in for the bounty, since it's a c.p. more
than Masonburg is paying.</p>
<p>There has been a lot less vandalism and petty theft since Polonius
left town. Roy, the murder that we brought back to Masonburg after
finding him unconscious on the path, was found guilty and was to hang
in three days. There is a travelling circus coming to town next
month.</p>
<p>Brand spends the night in a jail cell with the door open. Droston
spends the night with him, and Bartha stays too, after she gets back
from an evening spent gathering information about the “witch” who
lives in the swamp.</p>
<p>Eirnin joins Polonius for a night out with Polonius's friends Chet and
Biff, and they plan a pie-theft, but as Polonius his approach he
notices that the pies literal have strings attached, and everybody
flees.</p>
</section><section id="back-to-masonburg"><h6>Back to Masonburg</h6>
<p>In the morning the sherrif and young Brand set off at before dawn on
horseback for Masonburg, and we set off ourselves at dawn. We arrive
back in Masonburg on the afternoon of the second day, June 18th.</p>
<p>We drop the wagons and horses off at McVoy's. Big Brand isn't there,
and we talk to Mrs. McVoy, who tells them they'll have to talk to her
husband about their pay, and goes on about young Brand's inappropriate
behavior with that Hillfield girl. Droston is rude to her about the
delay in getting paid, and she tells him off, tells him she'll be
telling his mother about this, and orders him to leave and not come
back. Knowing he's let his anger get the best of him again, he stops
briefly to warn his mother of his misstep, and then rejoins the group
as the go to talk to McVoy.</p>
<!-- :comment:`[I couldn't remember if it's about young Brand's situation or
getting paid, but P.D.F. said it was about getting paid.]` -->
<p>Big Brand is completely distracted by young Brand's situation, and
pays them without most of his usual bad natured comments. Droston
tells McVoy that he was rude McVoy's wife, and that he was wrong to do
it, and that he'll apologize to her anytime she wants. McVoy absently
says he'll tell his wife, and that's the end of the conversation.</p>
<p>Droston stops back home to tell his mom what he told McVoy.</p>
</section></section><section id="you-want-us-to-do-what-we-re-always-in-trouble-anyway"><h5>You want us to do <em>what</em>? We're always in trouble anyway…</h5>
<p>We get word that Mayor Gladston wants to meet with us (and Onchu, too,
of course, but he's still at work). He's sitting on his porch in the
cool shade, and cordially offers us ale. After chatting a bit, he
tells us that the town elders have decided to form a fourth militia
company, consisting of the four of us and Onchu, and are levying a new
tax to pay for it. We can pick a name and colors. (The other
companies are the <span class="company">Block & Hammer</span>, sponsored by the mason's
guild, the <span class="company">Axe & Bow</span>, sponsored by the foresters and
hunters, and the <span class="company">Serpents</span>.) Bartha wanted the Fairy
Tricksters, but was quickly overruled. We ended up with the name
<span class="company">Wolf-banes</span>, with colors of grey and black. (Droston thinks
we should add red, and get a flag with a bloody wolf's head as a
symbol.) Our first shift will start the next day, patrolling between
the new and old mines, and we'll be on duty for two weeks and off for
six weeks.</p>
<p>Droston asked if there is somebody who might know more about the old
history of the region, and the mayor says old hermit Kessleman might;
he used to live up the river to the south. <strong>[Is Kessleman the same as
Golsmith from Session #5, or are there two hermits south of
Masonburg?]</strong></p>
<p>Bartha started work on a shield [equivalent to a small wooden shield]
and Droston starts working on a composite bow.</p>
<section id="back-to-the-new-mines-and-a-fairy"><h6>Back to the new mines and … a fairy?</h6>
<p>The miners at the new gem mine have been hearing strange sounds south
of the mine. <strong>[Didn't they all come back from the mines?]</strong></p>
<p>It's two days walk to the new gem mine, where we set up in the miner's
quarters, a building made of heavy logs with no windows. We are doing
an initial scan of the area when someone <strong>[who was it?]</strong> hears a
high-pitched voice say, “go get the other big uglies — my friend needs
help!” And a 2 and one-half foot tall man with gossamer wings, a
Robin Hood hat, curly-toed shoes, and a bow and arrows appears. He is
Whaler Appleby, who has played tricks on them and helped them before,
warning them about the murderer Roy and shooting him with one of his
sleep arrows for us to find. Now his friend, the brownie Nigel
Redbark, has been captured by “little uglies and a big little ugly”
and taken to their camp across the river.</p>
</section><section id="rescue-the-brownie"><h6>Rescue the … brownie?</h6>
<p>We all get together, get the situation out of Whaler (with difficulty,
since he's not very good at concentrating on one thing, and both he
and Bartha find each other <em>very</em> “distracting”), and head toward the
“little uglies'” camp. It turns out that it's across the river in a
steep-sided hollow on the hillside, and is reached by a tree trunk
across the river. It's dark by the time we get there. Whaler told us
that there are three “little uglies”, one “big little ugly”, and an
evil-looking over-sized wolf. We decide that Droston and Bartha will
sneak up, and Whaler will light up the hollow with his magic so we can
see to fight, and to distract our opponents, and Eirnin and Polonius
will hurry up when the commotion starts.</p>
<p>Bartha heads across the tree trunk while Droston targets the wolf.
The “little uglies” retaliate with javelins and a crossbow. When
Bartha is across she attacks the nearest “little ugly”. The wolf
joins the attack on Bartha and soon another “little ugly” does as
well. Eirnin starts across the log and falls, barely catching
himself. Polonius has his bow out and is loosing arrows as well.
Finally the “big little ugly” appears, and is huge! He immediately
runs to the tree trunk and begins straining to lift it. Droston
starts targeting him. Eirnin pulls himself up. Somebody
<strong>[Eirnin?]</strong> is attacking the “big little ugly”. Polonius is trying
to get across the tree trunk. Bartha is taking a lot of heavy damage,
and eventually decides to tackle the wolf, taking it and her over the
steep cliff to the rocks and the river below. <strong>[And she earns a Hero
point!]</strong></p>
<p>Whaler Appleby appears in mid-air, carrying a tied-up brownie, and
yelling “Flee, Flee!” Unfortunately, we're too entangled in the fight
to do so, and we can't leave what is all to likely to be Bartha's
corpse behind in the river, so we struggle on. Eventually we kill the
wolf and the rest of the “little uglies”. It turns out the wolf broke
Bartha's fall, so she's still alive. We take the head of the “big
little ugly”, the head of a “little ugly”, and the head and skin of
the evil over-sized wolf. The “big little ugly” has a greatsword
(which is in good condition) and a chain shirt (which is not in good
condition), and the “little uglies” have a small morningstar, a small
shield, a small crossbow, and a rusty short sword. The “big little
ugly” also had 15 gp, 25 sp, 140 cp, and one gem. We divide this up
with Polonius taking the great sword, Eirnin the chain shirt, Polinus
talking 3 gp, everybody else 4 gp, everybody 6 sp each, everybody 35
cp each, and Droston carrying the gem.</p>
<p>We ended on day 6, June 20th, back at the barracks.</p>
</section></section></section><section id="aftermath"><h4>Aftermath</h4>
<p>During the session we established that Polonius used a hero point last
session, and that Polonius is 16, Eirnin is 17, and Bartha is 17,
although she always says she's 14 when asked. Droston is the oldest
at 18. Droston has the shiny feel good stone that he picked up in an
earlier session from the stone where he'd left cakes and Bartha had
left pretty stones, and it is a luck stone that gives a +1 to saving
throws.</p>
<p>We each got +1500 XP for the adventure and +10 XP each as a
roleplaying bonus.</p>
<p>Droston obviously needs to work on his anger issues.</p>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/03/09/bayard-demarest-ed-golden-il-mignola-mcdonald-smith/" class="u-url">Recent Reading: Bayard, Demarest, (ed.) Golden & (il.) Mignola, McDonald, Smith</a></h2>
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<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/03/09/bayard-demarest-ed-golden-il-mignola-mcdonald-smith/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-03-09T00:00:00-05:00" title="2009-03-09 00:00">2009-03-09 00:00</time></a></p>
<p class="commentline"> <a href="posts/2009/03/09/bayard-demarest-ed-golden-il-mignola-mcdonald-smith/#disqus_thread" data-disqus-identifier="cache/posts/2009/03/09/bayard-demarest-ed-golden-il-mignola-mcdonald-smith.html">Comments</a>
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<ul>
<li><p><cite>The Black Tower</cite>, by Louis Bayard; William Morrow, 2008.</p></li>
<li><p><cite>The Cardinal's Heir</cite>, by Jaki Demarest; Medallion Press, 2004.</p></li>
<li>
<p><cite>Hellboy: Oddest Jobs</cite>, edited by Christopher Golden, illustrated by
Mike Mignola.</p>
<p>I suppose it's odd that I've still not read more than one or two
Hellboy comics. I really ought to get some of the compilations.</p>
</li>
<li><p><cite>The Fox</cite>, by Sherwood Smith; DAW Books/Penguin Group; 2007.
Sequel to <cite>Inda</cite>.</p></li>
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</article><article class="blog-post h-entry post-text"><header><h2 class="p-name entry-title blog-post-title"><a href="posts/2009/02/28/alastair-reynolds/" class="u-url">Recent Reading: Alastair Reynolds</a></h2>
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<p class="byline author vcard"><span class="byline-name fn">T. Kurt Bond</span></p>
<p class="dateline"><a href="posts/2009/02/28/alastair-reynolds/" rel="bookmark"><time class="published dt-published" datetime="2009-02-28T00:00:00-05:00" title="2009-02-28 00:00">2009-02-28 00:00</time></a></p>
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<ul>
<li>
<p><cite>Revelation Space</cite> ,by Alastair Reynolds, copyright © 2000 by Orion
Publishing Group; Berkley Publishing Group/Penguin Group (USA)
Inc./Penguin Books Ltd.; June 2002; 15th printing; ISBN
978-0-441-00942-8.</p>
<p>I haven't read as much science fiction as I once did, but I've been
reading more of it again in the last year or so. I got Reynolds'
<a class="reference external" href="books/read/2009/01/reynolds.html"><cite>Pushing Ice</cite></a> from the library, and enjoyed it, so I bought
<cite>Revelation Space</cite>, and was hooked.</p>
</li>
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<h4>About</h4>
<p>Lacking Natural Simplicity is one, not particularly flattering,
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<li><a href="pages/colophon/index.html">Colophon</a></li>
<li><a href="pages/typographical-conventions/index.html">Typographical Conventions</a></li>
<li><a href="pages/static-pages-index/index.html">Pages</a></li>
<li>
<a href="http://tkb.tx0.org/">My tx0.org web page</a>
<br> Mostly empty
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://consp.org/">consp.org</a>
<br> Rises from the dead!
<br> <a href="http://consp.org/blog/blog.html">microblog</a>
</li>
</ol>
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