Inspiration: Gadget Man

I'm fond of telling detail in RPGs -- little bits of detail that help flesh out the world. It may be innovative, it may be weird, or it may be downright domestic in that quirky, but very human "that's stupid but so true" way that we almost never think of but recognize the veracity of when we encounter it.

TV shows and magazines are my go-to source for these types of things, especially lifestyle bits and cutting edge technology.

I recommend Gadget Man (Season 01 has Stephen Fry, and Season 02 has Richard Ayoade as host) for some particularly interesting bits of lifestyle gadgetry that can be extrapolated -- or added in straight as 'old technology' -- for Science Fiction and Cyberpunk games.

My personal episode favorites so far are:

• The one where Mr. Ayoade takes us through a gaggle of gadgets aimed at making child care easier. The origami stroller (a self-folding and unfolding stroller) and the Puzzlebox Orbit (a mind-controlled flying toy) will definitely trigger ideas in the devious GM. Oh, and the automated rolling spycam to keep tabs on your children.
• The space-saving episode, chock full of ideas that could be stolen for your cramped starship or space-station... or just a Cyberpunk sarariman's home.

Confederation Chronicles: A Gumshoe Sidestory

I've been reading through Ashen Stars and began looking at ways to integrate it into the Stars Without Number setting. I suppose it's due to my curiosity about Gumshoe's focus on both investigation issues in RPGs AND about tackling the procedural format in gaming sessions.

My original concept for the Confederation Chronicles tackles an all-out exploration / expeditionary approach to the Stars Without Number setting & system.

The setting is different, but not campaign shatteringly so. There are echoes of Stars Without Number here, and the mystery of the Mohilar war certainly has resonances similar to the Scream of SWN.

In the end, it's the campaign framework I'm looking at testing, and having Lazers trolling the Bleed to solve mysteries and uphold justice on the frontier does have a nice feel to it.

Things I Learned From Champions: It's okay to RetCon or Reboot or even Re-invent!

Like any other RPG campaign, there's a potential for an ongoing campaign. Unlike other genres, however, it's arguable that super-heroic campaigns have the greatest leniency for changes to established canon or campaign history -- and it's because of the source material.

Comics themselves have a long track record of forgetting / ignoring things like character histories, established universe rules, and even character deaths. And that was before things like the establishing the multiverse, and those oh-too-often universe-wide retcons known as "crises" in the DC parlance.

In-Session Fixes

Now, while my old gaming group was very much dedicated to the 'death by the rule of the dice', there were instances when certain things would be replayed or adjusted.

For example, the GM forgetting to inform a PC with a set of extra-normal senses (that are always on) about a crucial clue that would've changed the outcome of a situation. Or the incorrect calculation / interpretation of a rule in combat. These -- in my group -- would've triggered a re-roll or a re-play before the events were committed to campaign canon.

These changes could be likened to editorial fiat of comic books, before the book gets published and distributed to the masses.

Next Session Fixes

Now, if you imagine that a GM is equivalent to a given creative team or perhaps another comic book entirely, using the same characters, then you might find some disagreement over what happened to shared characters.

Similarly, if a cosmic-powered villain run by a bloodthirsty guest GM that ended up killing a PC or two, then one could expect that game to be entirely ignored canon-wise (but experience points retained, of course). Or perhaps certain villainous NPCs were portrayed / played incorrectly -- they would be revealed as fakes or copycats. Or if a PC had played out of character (a rare occurence due to personal reasons), then perhaps the copycat rationale or a mind-control subplot would be hatched -- that the player and PC would then have to endure for a series of sessions until resolved.

Of course, there are some game sessions where everyone -- including the GM -- agrees that a certain character, or series of events, or the entire storyline was an abomination, and never happened. I know I still do that with certain comic book storylines or details -- Cable, I'm talking about you.

A Character Revamp

These can range from a simple updating of a character (much like the shift from the "first citizen" version of Batman to the "dark avenger of the night" Batman during the run of Neal Adams in Detective Comics), to the creation of an alternate / upgraded version of that character in "another universe" -- like the Barry Allen Flash instead of the Jay Garrick Flash, or the Hal Jordan Green Lantern instead of the Alan Scott Green Lantern.

This could be due to many reasons:

• a new GM who didn't like the old character's build;
• a new ruleset that mandates (or gives an excuse) to refine the current character's build;
• boredom with the current character concept, or an insight into what the player really wants the character to be;
• a new movie / TV series / cartoon / comic book gives a new spin or take on a character archetype and a player wants in on that.

Often, a player will rebuild the character in a more optimized manner than before, due to perennial problems that are encountered during play and also to expanding rules knowledge and expertise. However, sometimes the rebuild breaks the effectiveness (or even appeal) of the character -- much like an upgrade of software that somehow ignores a certain sweet spot of a build that was heretofore unknown.

But, like comic books -- this may all be necessary to keep the characters, the game, and the campaign fresh and relevant to the players and the GM for years to come.

Things I Learned From Champions: A Power Fantasy Has A Cost

About this time last year, I wrote about power fantasies in RPGs.

I'm returning to that well once more, because I was thinking about what lessons I'd learned from playing Champions with my old group of gaming friends.

Many of them dealt with the power fantasy that some would say are inherent in comic book heroes. More than mere wish fulfillment ("I can fly!" or "I can see through walls!" or "I am the best fighter in the world!"), there's also the desire of a child or adolescent (and some would say, adults) to have a greater ability to make a difference: to become someone respected or feared, to save lives, to stop injustice, to change the world.

But in a point-based system like Champions -- which can reflect a need for the 'fair-play' mentality in a supers game, wherein everyone has the potential for roughly equal efficacy in the game, as well as a way to keep the powers at a manageable level for a desired campaign -- you routinely run out of points for your desired character concept, especially early on.

And when you hit that ceiling, that's when you start negotiating -- sometimes with the GM, mostly with yourself -- about how to realize that power fantasy embodied by your super-heroic character concept. Here are some approaches and the lessons they taught me.

Approach 01: Cripple yourself Physically, Mentally, or Socially to get more points

Veterans of point-based games know this trick. There's a famous article in an old Adventurer's Club magazine concerning uber-powerful cripples that were clearly built to abuse aspects of if the Champions system: powerful beings lacking arms, legs, and sight; dangerously insane; hunted by everyone and their grandma.

But after the initial rush of having been able to 'break the system' by getting ridiculous amounts of points, and perhaps allowed to play a game or two with your PC, there is the dawning realization that your character just isn't the suave, sophisticated hero; the even-tempered, full-limbed bastion of reason, or the hyper-competent polymath that you tend to enjoy reading about in your favored graphic novels.

There's a point that (well, some of you) realize that there's an additional cost to this type of rules abuse: the inability to play the character you really wanted to.

Approach 02: Bend the Rules Until They Break

This covers applying as many ridiculous limitations to your powers to reduce their costs (even though they're clearly not limitations due to the rarity of the occasion), combining powers and advantages and limitations in strained configurations (often devoid of a serious special effect or an attempt at a concept), and even straight out ignoring the rules that state you can't do certain things.

Again, after the rush of getting away with it (maybe once or twice), the one-trick pony character you've created loses its luster, and you end up wanting a more well-rounded, fun to play character. More likely, however, you find that the ideal situation that your character will be a nigh-unstoppable combat monster in never comes up, and you hobble around trying to make an impossible set of circumstances take place.

Approach 03: Hide from and Lie to the GM

This familiar approach, with a near-infinite number of possible variants, often ends with the realization that you're only cheating yourself because you know you didn't earn your victory. Or it ends with your GM (and possibly other players) pissed not only at your violation of rules, but also the trust of the gaming group and you find yourself reprimanded or kicked out.

Ultimate Realization: Choose Your Character Concept and Pay the Price

At some point, perhaps in a flash of grudging insight or in a slowly evolving philosophy of character creation, you accept certain things, like:

• you don't have enough points to realize your character as he / she would be at the zenith of his / her power, but you can build him / her at the beginning or early part of his / her career;
• the power levels of the current campaign are inappropriate for your superheroic concept, so you shift to another character concept that you're also fond of;
• you will not take on disadvantages that will lead to you violating the spirit of your character for the sake of points, thus helping your GM understand what you're going for and avoiding irreversible reputation-damaging incidents. No more Berzerk: when in an enclosed space (almost guaranteeing an avoidance of elevators, vehicles, and narrow corridors);
• psychological disadvantages will serve to help define your character, rather than act as a crutch to be overcome for the sake of points. Psych Lim: Never Leaves a Teammate Behind (Total Commitment) isn't even something you'll ask to roll to overcome, you play it as such -- pretty much ensuring that your other PCs will have to force you to do so in-game;
• you accept that your GM will bring your power limitations into play with a given frequency, and thus choose them according to how often your want that disadvantage to rear its annoying head -- dropping them (by paying points) when it gets old;
• you play straight with your GM, perhaps doing real negotiations with him / her to get certain concessions or approvals -- a word of honor to eschew rules abuse and to roleplay true to type. For example: promising to adhere to the moral codes of Batman or Superman in order gain lenience for restricted or banned powers or power framework constructs.
• agreeing to regular peer reviews of character pointage to keep you and your players honest (and error free).

Of course, your gaming group and mileage may vary. But, in my experience, this has been the path of Champions character creation enlightenment for my fellow players and GMs -- though some achieved enlightenment earlier than others.

Fading Suns: A Priestly Path -- Part 01

"Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?" -- Father Brown

Two From Life, One From History, One From Fiction

In a past post (also titled A Priestly Path), I talked about creating new characters using the current version of the Fading Suns system -- inspired by real priests.

I decided to pattern the first two on priests I've actually met:

• a priest I knew in school who taught us math, and held our class to a very high standard. For most of the year, we hated him -- but toward the end, we began to appreciate his methods as we experienced a jump in our mathematical skills. He was a Jesuit, very smart, told corny puns, and was very protective of the trees on campus. He passed away years ago, and is still remembered by our class with fondness.
• another priest associated with my alma mater who is in administration, but also teaches on campus. His path through the priesthood is very interesting: with a Bachelor of Science in Physics, he entered the Society of Jesus and got another set of degrees in Philosophy and Sacred Theology, before moving on to the U.S. to get a Master's Degree in Physics and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Physics at two different universities there.

The next one would probably drain all possible points, unless I start him off from an earlier point in his career. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) is someone whose mark on the world cannot be underestimated -- though reading through his achievements and those of the Society sound like an epic campaign, straining credulity. Despite the limitations, I'll definitely run out of points.

The last one might be a bit more reasonable -- inspired by the literary character Father Brown.

The real trick is to tweak them so that they might be found in a noble's entourage -- or perhaps tie them all together as an adventuring party? Too bad there's no Brother Battle in the mix for combat. But I did know an ex-military man who became a priest in the U.S. at my parish...

GM's Day Finds: NeoExodus Starter Kit

You've got about two days at the time of this posting to avail of this excellent setting for Pathfinder.

Nine products, including the core setting book -- normally priced at $32.93 for a low, low price of $10.99.

Check out NeoExodus: A House Divided and buy it (along with the character classes addenda, adventure book, and spell card packs) now!

Maybe I should try my hand at converting these to Monsters & Magic...

Things I Learned From Champions: Preamble

Champions and the HERO System get a bum rap for a clustered set of criticisms. Most of them center around concerns about complexity, math, and emphasis on combat.

Perhaps it was just the people I played with, or the rulebooks that I started with, but I could never really agree 100% with the naysayers.

True, there was a certain complexity in the game system, but:

1. I actually found it quite simple and elegant in comparison to the tables and charts and multiple rulebooks from AD&D 2nd Edition onwards;
2. Given the challenge of addressing the breadth of super-heroic powers and environmental concerns that might regularly crop up in superheroic campaigns, I felt that the rulesets were remarkably consistent;
3. Genre physics emulation rule systems -- very different from the narrative-driven rule systems that also emerged some time after my beginning Champions -- are very much different in terms of character creation and gameplay strategies.

As for the math, it was never an issue. I actually became better at the fundamental arithmetic involved (no quadratic equations or powers or radicals, just plain addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), and often scratched my head at the complaints. Perhaps it was just a cultural distaste / gaming preference against math, or having calculators in a game -- but my fellow players and GMs loved trying to figure out how much casual strength would be needed to deflect the moon, so there was no fear of calculators at our table. Especially since we regularly played on the fly, making rough estimates of the mass of a given car, the energy output of a given cyclotron, etc.

And combat? Well, that's the criticism leveled at almost all iterations of D&D, and quite a few other RPGs out there. Superhero combat is a staple of the genre, and is often found in the catalog of defining elements of many a superhero storyline. But our gaming table was also fond of roleplaying, and fully fleshing out characters by purchasing both the Professional Skill and Knowledge Skill for certain core elements of our characters, seen by some ensuring that we could talk the talk AND walk the walk. And for entire games that dealt with backstory, or character development, the dice rarely hit the table.

So, in the future I'll be posting on aspects of my experience and views of this system, and maybe bring back a little bit of the magic that seems so distant these days.

Update

Based on older posts, some of the topics will include:

• Teamwork
• Variety
• Well-rounded characters (attack, defense, movement, and factor X)
• Science and the rubber it's made from
• Generalization, Specialization, and the trap of the Swiss Army Knife

Comic Book Confessionals: Bludhaven Academy

Oh, I really liked this Fatman on Batman podcast (episode #051). Not so much for the warm-up banter and the really interesting friendly catch-up stories between Kevin Smith and Paul Dini -- but for the awesome brainstorming session on a TV show idea (triggered by the first Arkham Origins TV commercial).

Bludhaven Academy. Awesome idea that I wish would be created and come close to (or exceed) the potential promised here.

And it makes me think about super-heroes and mythology, and it pulls me back to my super-heroic gaming again.

Lazy Post: Women in the Super-Hero Genre

I got a request for Darna in my last lazy post, but she doesn't really fit into the fantasy genre -- more of the superheroic genre. Hence this lazy post (which includes the female cosplayer pics in action / heroic poses that I could find on a cursory glance). Yeah, I'm primarily a DC fan -- but I like a lot of off-beat Marvel stuff too.

Darna 2009.
Portrayed by Marian Rivera

Darna 2004
Portrayed by Angel Locsin

Cosplayed by Jackie Ashley
photographed by DanaBelle

Batgirl aka Barbara Gordon cosplay from
cosplayer Knightess Rouge.
Photography by Janet Drake.

Model: Sarah Scott
Photography: Superhero Photography

Lazy Post: Females in the Fantasy Genre

Update: Okay, here's Xena!

There was a request for Xena, so here she is. Non-traditional Xena garb, but the attitude is awesome.

from XenaCentral.net

Isle Imperium 1.52 -- Cities of Bone

from Empire dela Mort

ALECTO, ARCTURUS, and VARIAN dive into Arc’s frostweave gate just as the smoke seeking them coalesces into a man, an evident member of the Bone legion who tells his shardling (a sort of sentient, hazy nimbus surrounding a tiny shard), “Bone prevails… I want this glory for myself.”

Meanwhile, Arc is faced with the decision of whether to try and break through the barrier surrounding Bone territory, or try to have his traverse find another way out. Opting for the latter, he ends up taking them to an icy wasteland which they later learn is called Hibernia. Narrowly escaping the guardian creatures of the place—which they feel compelled to avoid looking at directly, thereby perceiving them only as enormous shadows that crash up to attack the trio’s shadows through the ice surface—they discover that the low mounds sporadically scattered throughout the area are small chambers that use rose quartz to sustain as well as prevent the hatching of seventeen winterheart dragon eggs, as indicated by the marking ‘7 of 17’ painted on one.

Hibernia also hampers the use of their abilities; however, through the Lord of Shadows that he is wearing, Ian is able to discover technique, a method of using shard abilities that modifies those abilities in a certain way—in this case, by adding the definition ‘longshadow’, which allows their shards to function close to normally in this otherwise hostile environment. As a provost, the Lord of Shadows is further able to share techniques, which Ian promptly does, enabling the three to locate, travel to, and breach an uninhabited Bone legion tower within Hibernia.

Within the tower, they bluff their way past the shardling custodian (learning that M. Revenin of Bone’s Second Number, mounted by the Strife Mechanic, passed through thirteen days ago) to be able to use the ‘Gate of Four’—a set of mirrors facing outward in a square, set atop a rose quartz mandala on the floor, similar to the one Aly manipulated to get them into the tower. Examining the elaborate decorations on each mirror, they are able to determine that they are transport gates leading to Solaris, Cielis, Luna, and Terra. Almost accidentally figuring out how to activate the mirrors, they step through the portal to Terra, beginning a series of several traverses through various mirrors, as follows:

• Terra (leading to Hibernia, Solaris, Cielis, and Luna)—judged too populated
• Luna (leading to Terra, Niveum, Ignis, and Aquero)—neither regular nor longshadow abilities function
• Terra
• Cielis (leading to Terra, Barbas, Aquero, and Soma)—neither regular nor longshadow abilities function
• Terra
• Solaris (leading to Terra, Gargantus, Lithus, and Ossis)

At Solaris, they encounter a female mount of the Bone legion, preparing to use the Gate of Four there. Once again, Ian bluffs their way past her, but this more or less compels them to head down the tower stairs as if they belong there. Reluctant to push their luck further, they render themselves unseen through an ability of Aly’s, in order to avoid another Bone mount (male) going upstairs and a further two (male and female) heading down. As the pair exits the tower, the three Diamond mounts scurry invisibly after them, thus finding themselves in the Bone city of Solaris.

The city itself apparently emits some sort of call to non-Bone-aligned shards; and while the Unconquered Avenger and Devoted Warder manage to remain true to their natures and legion, the Lord of Shadows is irresistibly drawn away, forcing Ian to hastily don the Bejeweled Warder. They then attempt to gate out of the city, but Arc’s scourge gate (his frostweave having been burnt out by the passage to Hibernia) registers all their desired destinations as nonexistent, just as their attempts at warder communications register their comrades’ shards as destroyed or ruined. After some trepidation due to the presence of an architect within the city (and learning that all architects originate from Bone), Ian decides to use civilar traverse, registering the destinations available from Solaris as: Alaricien (affiliated with Bone), Io Presis (Bone), and Urul Haek (Bone).

They decide on Urul Haek, and find it a deserted city perched just above the lip of a volcano. From there, Ian determines that they can traverse either back to Solaris or to Merinius, a city affiliated with both Ivory and Bone. As they ponder why the cities of Alaricien and Io Presis have become mysteriously inaccessible from this new location, a reddish Occidental dragon comes into view and demands an explanation of their presence. Utilizing the gaze of dragons ability from the Prince of Dragon shard, Arc explains that they are merely passing through, and the dragon URUL HAEK agrees to let them continue on their way, going so far as to call Arc “little brother”. Aly suggests waiting the few minutes until resharding so that she can wear the Saint of Consonance and support Ian as a fellow civilar, but the delay seems to irk the dragon—though not as much as Arc’s implication that the dragon is chained to the city (which it is, from a visual perspective). As the dragon rears up, they hastily flee to Solaris.

At the center of Solaris, they meet another dragon, the gold-and-silver SOLARIS, who has a quite civil conversation with her “little brother” Arc, and lets them be on their way once he has assured her that they mean no harm to her or her city. They move on to IO PRESIS, the attendant dragon of which is not nearly so affable, freezing Ian in place to prevent further traverse on his part. This being the case and it being resharding time at last, Aly switches to Saint of Consonance so she can trigger a traverse and Arc switches to Prince of Dragons in hope that it will improve communication. Sadly, exactly the opposite happens, as Io Presis identifies Arc as “the one who refused the youngling when she needed help” and turns his immobilizing attention to Arc.

Aly attempts to traverse the three of them away to the Ivory and Bone city of Caecum, but forgets to take her number with her. Ian does not forget, but Arc is left behind regardless. After paying the 1,000 bright light necessary for the first use of abilities in Caecum, the duo hastily return to the platform beneath the giant rose quartz shard in Io Presis, where they quickly snatch Arc away as the bronze dragon is summoning the architects and other authorities of the city to come deal with him.

From the Bone city of Vesperis (the only other option available from Io Presis), civilar traverse can take the harried refugees to Antiochus (affiliated with Bone), Ursu (Bone), Ulianus (Bone), or Teraton (unaligned). Seizing on the unaligned option, they hurry to Teraton, from where they can traverse to Heryodus Primus (affiliated with Amethyst), Zalium (Amethyst), or the crown city of Korantium (Carnelian). Stunned to find themselves in the rival empire of Korantium, and much more stunned to learn of at least two heretofore unknown legions, the trio decide to stop in apparent relative safety and gather their wits.

They take refuge in a nearby inn, where Aly’s scholar-fueled communication skills and attempt to pay for breakfast with one of Khimere’s pearls get them mistaken for members of the Pearl league. Although the landlady meekly tells them that breakfast is on the house, she also calls for an evident civic official—who turns out to be Arc’s long-lost cousin DEVON Minato.

After officially ascertaining from Aly that the three ‘Pearl’ mounts intend neither to participate in the ongoing tournament nor to stay in town for more than a day, Devon makes to leave, but is intercepted by Arc, whom she then hisses at, “What are you doing here?! The leagues still seek the line and they still seek you,” implying that Teraton (along with Arc’s parents, brothers, and sisters, who apparently live there) has remained free and unaligned precisely because the leagues have not been able to eliminate ‘the line’ in Arc’s absence. She goes on to tell him that they have evidently crossed several ‘ages’ (which seem to be geographical rather than chronological divisions), and that they should go back the way they came immediately.

As Arc is receiving this frantic chastisement, Devon seems to become aware of someone approaching, and addresses the gem around her neck, “Sphere Machinist, will you help me?” By this method, she manages to conceal herself and the trio from the Amethyst league member who enters, clearly in search of them. The unfortunate landlady valiantly does her best to cover up, which prompts the frustrated man to threaten to burn her establishment down since “I cannot harm you, but this will not violate the terms of the truce.”

Springing to the landlady’s aid, Devon lowers the concealment and, as the Amethyst man stares at the Diamond mounts, she reappears next to him and sinks a knife into his side. This evidently makes the man’s jewel flash some sort of alert, and Devon cries out that they have to leave before falling unconscious. Aly badgers the name of a nearby town out of the landlady and renders her petrified in hope that she will be construed as a victim, as Arc hastily gates them away to the town of Agarol.

Just outside Agarol, Ian tries to take the flashing amethyst from the dead man’s neck, only to have his hand badly burnt on contact. Arc is able to take hold of the gem, learning that it is ‘the fifth amethyst, the Hierarch’, and that he can wear it, except that he will never again be able to bear a shard. He therefore tucks the now-quiescent jewel away while Ian hastily constructs an underground tomb to conceal the man’s body. Nevertheless, they still have the sense that pursuit is hot on their heels, so Ian uses civilar traverse to take them to the crown city of Korantium.

At Korantium, they feel they have gained enough breathing room for Aly to consult with the Saint of Scholars, who promptly panics and essentially hollers at them that they must go back exactly the way they came, wasting no time, since every moment they spend in this age weakens them. Unsure whether to leave Devon or take her with them, they try to awaken her, Aly finally slapping the woman at Ian’s suggestion, thus engendering ‘serious consequences’ as a result of a legion member ‘attacking’ a league member. Not having much other choice, the awakened Devon agrees to go with them, and is hastily sworn in as a member of the First, discarding her Sphere Machinist and donning the Scarab Helionaut.

Accordingly, then, with Devon in tow, the group retraces their steps, paying bright light to facilitate traversal and whisking twice past the startled officials of Io Presis before they finally arrive at Hibernia, where a male Bone mount barely has time to react to their appearance before he is savagely attacked and they use longshadow door to flee the tower.

Outside in Hibernia, they move to the two mounds they passed earlier, Arc prying up the rose quartz covers in hope of freeing the young winterheart dragons, before activating a gate once more at the first mound they encountered. From there, they travel back to the port of Kaven, where the Bone mount they fled in the first place greets them with, “I thought you would be back.”


leagues encountered or heard of: Citrine (Devon’s), Amethyst, Pearl (referred to as “riparian”), Carnelian, Garnet

Border Wardens: 10 Complications for the Castellan

The Castellan?

Here's a set of 10 possible complications for the Castellan, all culled from the RPG.net thread titled "100 Random Complications for Module B2: THE KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS".

1. [ Item 1 ] The Castellan is a psychotic martinet who subjects the inhabitants of the Keep to brutal and humiliating abuses of military “discipline”. The Bailiff is plotting a revolt.
2. [ Item 2 ] The Castellan is dead, killed in a boar-hunting mishap a few weeks ago. The current “Castellan” is a 0-level soldier wearing his armor and posing as him. If the forces of Chaos discover this, they will immediately attack the Keep en masse. If the PC's discover this, the authorities of the Keep will stop at nothing to silence them.
3. [ Item 4 ] The Castellan has a beautiful and feisty young daughter who is desperate to escape the Keep and get back to civilization. She will attempt to coerce, trick, befriend, seduce or otherwise manipulate the PC(s) if she thinks it might achieve her goal. Daddy is very protective and possessive.
4. [ Item 5 ] The Castellan is a once-great war hero, banished to the Keep as punishment for supporting the wrong side in a palace intrigue. He plots and schemes for a way to return to court, and is always on the lookout for useful idiots to uses as pawns toward this end.
5. [ Item 9] The Castellan is dying, and has no children. If any of the PCs is a lawful fighter who shows bravery and initiative, the Castellan will take a shine to him or her and begin to groom the warrior to be his replacement. This will drive some of his advisers and staff murderous with jealousy.
6. [ Item 22 ] The Castellan has very severe dyslexia and is completely illiterate. He depends entirely on the Scribe (Keep area 26) for all his written communications (making the Scribe effectively the second most powerful person in the Keep). Some insiders suspect this, but no one actually knows.
7. [ Item 24 ] Castellan's Standing Order #1: The gates to the Keep are never to be opened after the sun sets. Never. NO EXCEPTIONS.
8. [ Item 46 ] The previous Castellan (who died in an extremely suspicious fall from the Keep's walls) was utterly insane, and the men of the Keep are working day and night to undo his many bizarre alterations and strange policies: The bright pink walls are being painted over, children are no longer kept locked in dog cages in the Central Towers as insurance against their parent's disobedience, dwarves are no longer forcibly shaved, and a tarp now covers the massive guillotine, shoved into an unused corner of the Inner Bailey.
9. [ Item 74 ] Destroy all monsters! The Castellan has banned all negotiation and peaceful contact with the inhabitants of the Caves of Chaos, on pain of death. Any ransom payments, truces with monsters, etc. must be kept very quiet, as the Captain of the Watch will investigate rumors of such as crimes and do his best to see that the “Chaos fraternizers” hang.
10. [ Item 98 ]One of the Castellan's maids is actually the daughter of the King's younger brother, being held hostage at this remote keep under order of the king as insurance against his power-hungry brother's ambitions. Her presence at The Keep is a tightly-held and politically sensitive secret: When few strangers are at The Keep she is allowed to wander the Inner Baily more-or-less freely, but if there are a lot of prying eyes around the Castellan has her stashed in an out-of-the-way guestroom in the Keep Fortress, often bound and gagged (She is livid about this humiliation, but the Castellan thinks the dungeon is just too cold and wet for one of her breeding). If PCs were to discover her existence, rescue her, and return her to her father, their rewards would be great indeed... but at the possible cost of plunging the entire Kingdom into a brutal civil war. If the PC's find out about her, and the Keep's authorities know that they know, "Accidents" will be arraigned.

All 100 complications were submitted by:

Richard R

Old Gumphrey

Alcamtar

MutieMoe

Comdessert

FergusQuill

Evilhalfling

WalcottTwins

And I don't remember who submitted what anymore. You can follow the link to find out more! But be warned, not all entries are *ahem* politically correct.

Isle Imperium 1.51 -- The Scent of Myrrh

Myrrh, as it turns out, is deadly to unsharded humans and deleterious even to sharded ones, such that prolonged exposure prevents most ability use, causes unconsciousness, and drains recent memories, albeit allowing the recovery of long-suppressed ones. Unconscious in a warehouse full of the substance, certain members of the First recall the following.

ARCTURUS:

• was hungry for knowledge and travel to Nova Aeternus as early as ten years old, strongly disapproved by father
• also as early as ten, was repeatedly exhorted by an unseen voice claiming to be in the woods to “set me free”
• traded a pommel he “has always had” and a dagger with HADRIAN in exchange for books and scrolls
• at around 14, got in a fight with father over Arc’s “allowing” his cousin DEVON’S purse to be stolen (by a young Aly and Cat); father let slip that Arc was “found”; Arc ran out and father had a heart attack, was enfeebled ever after. Later, Devon (from Nova Aeternus) said, “You were sent here… safer here… I came to see if you’re all right.”
• experiences the memory of an ancient man, ORENICUS, wishing to be freed of the extended life apparently granted by his shard from fallen Opal, Fate Spinner. The mount’s servant ULIKAEN attempted to oblige by removing the shard but was killed when it defended, fatally slamming him into the wall. Another servant tried later, using a blade.

VARIAN:

• like Arc, was a regular attendee of the yearly carnival at a young age; when they were around 10, Hadrian (probably) got a wooden statuette from a fortune teller there, while Ian (probably) got a kiss (may have been the other way around)
• had some tension with Hadrian early on over Ian’s mother’s role in the household; Hadrian’s grandmother decided to teach Ian to read and play a musical instrument
• At around 12, Hadrian was mauled by a bear. Guilt-stricken, Ian went to avenge him, thus meeting the sharded bear SALAMIS, who proposed to spare Ian’s life if the latter removed the dagger that woke him and prompted him to attack
• Some time after, Ian made an arrangement with ‘Salami’ wherein the latter pretended to attack in order for Ian to impress his lady love ‘Princess Ayelle’ (a.k.a. TISIPHONE). The plan succeeded, and Tisi gave Ian his first kiss.
• experiences a memory of DIONES walking through the city of jewels, Acrete, with a certain RASELDAN (not the same as Ruby’s), Bejeweled Warrior

ALECTO:

• wanted to juggle as early as nine years old; was prevented and threatened by lead juggler ROVANCUS (“Juggling is men’s work; you need balls”) in favor of his apprentice, ‘Conrad of the Seven Fingers’. Tisi wanted to be an actress and singer; MEGAERA, a dancer.
• After Rovancus’s death, Aly was apprenticed by Conrad, with whom a romantic relationship soon developed. At this time, Tisi was hurt by Aly’s acceptance of and friendship with the troupe’s young new lead actress, CATALINA.
• Some time later, as Tisi was mediating between Aly and Meg over the latter having fallen in love with Conrad and vice versa, they were visited by a massive shambling form that quickly divided into three hooded humanoids, presumably the Furies. The trio noted that the sisters are well named—the eldest being protective, the middle one calm, and the youngest sharp—and prophesied: “Three like diamonds in hand / One who will try and fall / One who with emerald will stand / One who will be one with the saint of all.”
• had a falling-out with Cat at the age of 15 over the man whom Aly believes to be the father of Cat’s daughter Alia
• remembers the existence of the Empire of Korantia, the primary rival nation of the Imperium

The three adults are woken from their slumber by the shards Bejeweled Warder, Saint of Consonance, and particularly Unconquered Avenger, who uncharacteristically breaks the rules by making everyone unconquerable, despite not being mounted. Arc uses impossible leap in an attempt to gain perspective from a higher vantage point, with the unintended result of breaking all three through the roof and out of the warehouse. There, they learn from the irate custodian that they evidently made a deal in which they would be allowed to purchase myrrh if they could manage to stay inside the warehouse for two hours.

After returning to the warehouse and enduring the allotted time, they buy three wagon loads of myrrh at the price of 200,000 bright light. They are then obliged to load the myrrh manually onto their hired ship, since abilities are not working and only a second’s contact with the substance was enough to kill one of the unsharded crew members who tried to help them. It takes them three days to do this, and another fourteen days to travel by sea to the port of Kaven, where they are supposed to meet the other four members of their number. (Arc has a hazy memory of sitting in a bar with everyone when Cat decided they should split up to improve their chances of acquiring myrrh in as little time as possible.)

They arrive at Kaven to find it a deserted port with nothing more than a well and four empty warehouses, cut off from the rest of the land by a sharp cliff. Aly and Arc are deciding where to store the substance when Ian realizes that the top layer of myrrh has evaporated even as they speak. Frantic, they resort to prayer in an attempt to make the offering to Terminus, and are rewarded by a voice telling them that they must cross a boundary. They do so, hauling a wagon each from pier to shore, and thereby find themselves in what is apparently the god’s sanctum, where their offering is graciously accepted and permission granted for the rewriting of the writ without further difficulty.

Once returned to Kaven, they decide to at least fill their flasks from the well, having realized that they evidently split their supplies, as well as shards, with the other team. On the inner rim of the well, they find a message from Mantius, carved into the stone in carnie hand signals: “Waited for 3 days, but had to go bec the Bone L is after us. See you at next meeting place. Be careful.” A second message reads: “Don’t let them get their hands on the land grant!”

Mystified as to the location of ‘the next meeting place’, the three decide that since they cannot travel by sea, the boat having long departed, they might as well go by land, at least until enough time has passed to render their shards fully operational again and to enable them to reshard (Ian having remembered that they have been unable to deshard for all the intervening days). Accordingly, Arc leaps to get a better look beyond the cliff overlooking the port—and is shocked and horrified to discover a vast, teeming encampment of the Bone legion just past the ridge.

Following Arc’s panicked descent, the mounts hurry to the water in the hope that washing off any remnants of myrrh will enable them to use their abilities properly. His choice of a spot behind a rocky outcropping proves fortuitous when a dark flash heralds an outpouring of black smoke that seems to be some sort of method of seeking, which before long manifests images of the Phantom Herald, Saint of Consonance, and Scarab Helionaut, clearly indicating the Bone legionaries know exactly who they are looking for.

Fortunately, the washing works, enabling Arc to manifest a frostweave gate and all three of them to hastily reshard. As the black smoke turns back toward the shoreline where it bypassed them previously, they hastily dive into gate, knowing it will not be able to take them to their intended destination, but hoping for the best.


sundry information:

• The ‘thunder pact’ apparently comprises the shards Keeper of the Thunder Pact, Gallows Mage, Soul Sculptor, and Augur of Arrows.
• Arc reveals that Ian’s stepfather’s name was Belarigus.
• chance of mission success: from 11% (Cuburdus) to 15% (unknown) to 18% (myrrh acquisition) to 28% (Terminus’s permission)

Play On Target takes on Settings with Serial Numbers Filed Off

So this post is a set of reactions to Play On Target's podcast episode on Settings with the Serial Numbers Filed Off. As always, these are one sentient's opinions and not meant to be a review or critique -- in the hopes that this feedback will help the podcast creators gauge how their podcasts are impacting their audience.

Stuff that I Really Enjoyed

Great!

Play On Target provides useful information in the podcast site about the episode in question!

Not only does it tell you what the episode is about -- "we talk about the pros and cons of releasing a product that is obviously a licensed property with the numbers files off" -- it also gives a list of relevant links to each of the games mentioned in the podcast.

Great for research, and to figure out how a game's name might actually be spelled, especially if composed of a homonym friendly play on words (I'm looking at you InSpectres).

I'm also grooving to the fact that my opinions on the Fading Suns reactions (It's not Dune with the serial numbers filed off. Nor is it Warhammer 40k with the serial numbers filed off.) match my own. I also find it hilarious that my reactions to the 'almost-Highlander' RPGs (Legacy: War of Ages,
Immortal: The Invisible War) were so similar, despite the fact that I never bought either -- just looked 'em over in the game shop. To be honest I felt that purely on visual appeal alone, Legacy: War of Ages was clearly the superior product -- but neither convinced me to shell out money.

Dread. That game again. I must buy it -- when I have the money.

I liked the reversal of the premise also -- just before the middle of the podcast -- that led into the discussion of the murky issue of vampire / werewolf / frankenstein's monster / world of darkness / new world of darkness intellectual property.

Bounty Head Bebop. Cute and Fuzzy Seizure Monsters. Really? Frickin' A! Thanks!

And yes, Fiasco & Hollowpoint are also things I must play soon.

All this stuff in the space of an hour! Amazing!

Stuff that I Found Interesting

Interesting.

I didn't know that d6 Space was effectively Star Wars with the numbers scraped off. I mean, I know that the d6 systems are really close to that original system -- a friend of mine picked up the Metabarons RPG, and I could really see the Star Wars D6 system that I knew and loved underneath everything -- but I didn't know it was that close in the generic system as well. I should really go through it now that they're free on RPGNow.

I also agree it would be cool to find out about the 'cease-and-desist' rumor about either or both 'almost-Highlander' RPGs. Keep us posted on that, guys!

I also found it interesting that InSpectres came across to some folks as more of a Ghostbusters-alike RPG, rather than as the indie game / collaborative RPG approach. Which is how I know about it -- and I'd pretty much dismissed the analog to Ghostbusters, because of that confessional mechanic that was mentioned. But it's true -- it really owes a lot of its inspiration to Ghostbusters.

Lords of Gossamer & Shadow is also interesting, because of its original incarnation as Amber: The Diceless Roleplaying Game, and because of its expanding sources of inspiration. In fact, I was immediately thinking of integrating an equivalent of the TimeLords and the Daleks into the list of other factions to run into. It has a different feel that the other forked setting / ruleset -- Lords of Olympus -- which is really more in the vein of gods and demi-gods and politics and epic universe-shaking and -shaping adventure.

With one exception -- see below in Stuff I Didn't Like -- I got a nostalgic thrill on the rundown of the X-files inspired RPGs. I was surprised that C.O.R.P.S. 1st Edition wasn't mentioned, but I guess I'm one of the few remaining BTRC fans.

When talking about Cyberpunk, I flashed back to the Fading Suns RPG and wondered how much some RPGs are less [insert property here] with the serial numbers filed off, and are just very niched genre/sub-genre emulation games / game systems. Cyberpunk 2020 certainly qualifies, and so does the Mekton series of games.

Burning Sands: Jihad. There is such a thing?

It's interesting that the Price of Freedom still has that stigma to it. Greg Costikyan has mentioned before that he really didn't believe everything in Price of Freedom, or at least to the extremes described in it. He seems to have been going for a Paranoia type of vibe for it in modern day(especially since it was also under the West End Games banner), but I think it was too close to reality to jump over to the humorous side of things.

I also like Crimson Skies, and enjoyed reading Warbirds. I wasn't as put off by the setting. Just think that it's not an alternate dimension but an alternate dimension timeline. Besides, they might have been trying to avoid the whole intellectual property landmine just waiting there.

The brief discussion on why getting licensed properties can be difficult for RPG companies, and thanks for the "Blake's 7 RPG" link reference. Although, I would posit my suggestion for such a game: Cold City / Hot War + Stars Without Number.

Stuff I Didn't Like

Whoa.

I know that this is all by fans for fans, and that we're not all professionals here, but consider this constructive criticism -- and just imagine me making these expressions while listening.

There was a point where the podcast crew was trying remember the game 3:16 Carnage Among The Stars that made me cringe a bit, and I was trying to figure out why. God knows the same thing happens to me on occasion, and it can be annoying. I do suggest that in the future, you can just say you'll put it into the the show notes and move on -- I felt that we wasted some time there remembering (subjective, because I KNEW what you meant guys, but screaming it across space and time wouldn't help). I also cringed at the mention of Hot War, because it was such a different type of game from what was being discussed -- but that's just me.

Also: come on, guys. Delta Green was written that way before X-files came out, everybody knows that. It's in the preface thingy in the book. As hard core Call of Cthulhu enthusiasts (which you are, right?) at least one of you would have known that bit of geek trivia. But, to be fair, it was very much in the vein of that conspiracy-laden zeitgeist.

Suggestions

You may wish to...

Technical stuff. Sometimes the difference in the audio quality can be jarring. Early on, some of it was choppy -- and then some times staticky. Mostly okay though, don't get me wrong.

Also, because there are so many of you guys -- rather than just a duo -- I kind of lose track of who's talking. Not that it matters, since most of the time I'm listening to the content -- but perhaps once in a while an identification of sorts might be great, 'cause in my mind I don't want to keep score of whose talking by labeling them (in  my mind only): Lowell; Not Lowell; Lowell again, maybe; Sam? Not Sam -- wait no, Sam, so who was the other guy?; Brian???; Not Brian, definitely not Sam, maybe Andrew????

Be careful when you guys end up talking over each other -- the volume can be painful to folks with earphones!

Structuring. Perhaps you can try to group things together and create artificial breaks at various arbitrary points (Sci-Fi, then Fantasy, the Horror OR 80s, 90s, 2000's) so that folks like me who squeeze the show in can feel like we're finishing a chapter or two and then come back to it later taking on the next chapter and so on.

Inspiration: Steve Gan and the Star-Lord

With the renewed buzz around the Guardians of the Galaxy film (which doubly-hit me recently because of my SF feeds and comics feeds), I was surprised to hear about Steve Gan -- a Filipino-Chinese comic book artist that not many might have heard of -- in my social media feeds.

It turns out that -- according to this Comixverse article from last year -- Steve Gan was a co-creator of Star-Lord (along with the legendary Steve Englehart). Steve Gan is more well-known locally for the icon of Filipino Fantasy by Caparas and Gan known as Ang Panday (“The Blacksmith”), which debuted in March of 1979. It was further popularized by a series movies by Fernando Poe, Jr. and many other leading men in movies and TV since -- such as Jericho Rosales (to the right).

This, of course, makes me curious about their take on the Star-Lord, who seems to be getting less press than Groot or Rocket Racoon.

It also triggers my interest in the so-called Philippine Invasion of comics back in the 1980s, also recently touched on by the Fire & Water series of podcasts.

Border Wardens: What Are The Borderlands?

When I first picked up the Keep on the Borderlands, I skipped right past the Keep, and the outdoor map, to the Caves of Chaos.

Now that I've returned, different things catch my eye as hooks:

• the various factions of the Keep, and the intrigue unfolding there
• the two (?) references to the Caves of the Unknown
• the mad hermit, the lizardmen, the spiders, and the raiders in the wilderness

And I begin to read things into the setting, especially tied to the setting of Mystara.

Why is the Castellan here? He's clearly meant to be five levels higher than any of the PCs, as are many of the high positions in the Keep -- what is he meant to guard?

1. A more prosaic reason: this is where an invasion from the western mountain border might osttensibly take place, hence the fortifications and quite possibly some kind of early warning system back to the capital. We should expect more secrets: hidden weapons and secret allies from the wilderness, as well as a truly marvelous method of notifying the nearest military forces of Karameikos.
2. A more fantastic reason: the keep guards against encroaching Chaos. The Caves of Chaos were so named by a powerful (and now deceased) duo of magic-user and cleric. Naming it (in a magical/theurgical sense) thereby curtailed what it used to be -- a font of uncontrollable forces of Chaos from the mountains, or the earth, or a rift in reality. The Castellan (and those who hold official positions in the Keep) were also named, and gained special abilities when in opposition to those forces. Many fell in the Forgotten War, and they always keep an eye out for trustworthy adventurers to induct into their ranks. And they keep an eye on the ever-shifting tactics of Chaos.

Gaming Culture: Consuming Podcasts & Hangouts

Logo of one of the podcasts
I listen to. Do you know
which one this is?

I listen to a fair number of gaming and gaming-related podcasts, and have been working through a bunch of online interviews and hangouts.

The great things about this are:

• getting exposure to concerns, views, and opinions that were new or unusual when compared to my own gaming culture experience over in the U.S. and back here in the Philippines;
• learning about new RPGs, revisiting old ones;
• studying the history of our hobby from accounts of researchers and people who are / were there at the time;
• thinking and re-thinking my position on game theory, socio-political issues raised within the industry in the community;
• and learning about interesting related content and art that inspire or were inspired by the hobby.

So I hope to tackle a few of these podcasts in clusters and individual portions, to just express why certain things resonate with me: be it nostalgia, new ideas, or just sheer geek delight.

And besides, I'm getting gunshy about some of my Border Wardens and other campaign posts -- though I am working on them, honest!

Rocket Age: Two to Try!

A lost city of ancients, in contested territory -- on Mars!

Here's the blurb:

"The Lost City of the Ancients!  A free introductory scenario for Rocket Age our new radium-powered game line of interplanetary adventure! 

The discovery of an apparently intact Ancient Martian ruin deep in the Western Highlands has set potentially deadly events in motion. Such a find would draw treasure seekers and archaeologists from across Mars, but this one is even more of an attraction. It lies in territory unclaimed by any faction or nation. This makes it free for the taking and, despite the harshness of the Western Highlands, the need to travel through territory held by the Blue Chanari and the stiff competition, three other expeditions are already kitting out in the French held city-state of Kolpith."

Racing Rockets 'Round the Planets!

Here's the blurb:

"The First Solar Cup race has just been announced, a rocket race that launches from the Indianapolis Interplanetary Rocket Port, flies around Venus, and shoots back out to Mars before turning around and heading down the straight towards Earth. 

As much as race fans and the rocket set are looking forward to this contest of men and machines, a dark cloud hangs over it. An extortionist calling himself Ghost Racer has sent letters to the race commission threatening to disrupt the race if they do not pay him a ransom. The Solar Cup Commission have not take him seriously, but two days ago a bomb was found in one of the rocket ship hangars. 

Our heroes must join the race incognito to protect the racers and spectators from this Ghost Racer. But can they catch him before it's too late?"


Yeah, I'm feeling my way around this setting for my first attempt at running it. The former adventure establishes some of that political intrigue and colonization feel; the latter adventure gives the scope and capability of space travel as the background.

And I can theoretically include an alternate universe Timelord, too...

Armchair Review: DWAITAS -- The 4th Doctor Sourcebook

And the next installment of the DWAITAS Doctor
Sourcebooks is out. It's the 4th Doctor -- portrayed by Tom Baker -- the longest running of all the Doctors so far, and arguably the most popular of the original series sequence.

Like the prior installments in this excellent series, DWAITAS - Fourth Doctor Sourcebook not only provides the predictable crunch (new traits, character sheets for the Doctor / Companions / acquaintances / enemies) and fluff (series and episode synposes), but also provides some thematic explorations and comparisons to the episodes and themes from prior incarnations. It even includes a synopsis of the lost episode "Shada", a must-have for die-hard Whovians.

I say, doesn't Skarga's sphere remind you of Rover, from The Prisoner?

Chapter One: Playing in the Fourth Doctor Era

Some really interesting insights here, as I'm used to thinking of the Doctor's older shows in episodic form, rather than as the grand sweep of a campaign arc. While many would cite the change in characterization as the most obvious change, I'd missed the fact that the Far Future of humanity is mapped out in this cycle of stories. Also, as pointed out in "The Demystification of the Time Lords", it's true that the mysterious Time Lords and Gallifrey are not only fleshed out more, they're also taken down a peg and portrayed as a decadent and decaying culture that possesses a great deal of power and influence in the multiverse -- a theme certainly worth exploring.

Chapter Two: The Fourth Doctor and Companions

The Two Companions that really jumped out at me here are -- surprise -- Romana and Romana. The first incarnation was not only beautiful, but had a distant and aloof aspect to her beauty; the second incarnation was more sweet and approachable in seeming, perhaps indicating the change in her personality after having been influenced by the traveling Doctor's ways (or maybe she just like Princess Astra's looks, just like she said). Of course, Leela and Sarah Jane Smith are also memorable, but the counterpoint of an equal Time Lord to the Doctor really shifted the dynamic for me in this era.

Chapter Three: The Fourth Doctor's Adventures + Shada in the Appendix

For those interested in canon, the complete run of the 4th Doctor's adventures, and adventure hooks and NPCs, opponents, and gadgets aplenty -- this section is a treasure trove of gaming delights.


The next installment can't come soon enough for me!

Fading Suns: Fief Dreams

The completist in me wants a complete compilation of all Fiefs, including the Church ones -- and perhaps the ones for the Guilds. All in one book.

And with some stats for movers and shakers in each of these areas. I did like the conceit of having each one written by a Questing Knight consolidating information, but perhaps a standard format for the report can include some non-system specific assessments of different places.

And will there be ones for the minor houses? Perhaps a single mini-book for all minor houses would be good for the newer edition with its updated timeline.

Ah, Fading Suns. Someday, we shall return to your darkening stars.

Data Scan: An Unkindness of Replicants

"If only you could see what I've
seen with your eyes."

My awareness of the replicant theme in cyberpunk really started with Blade Runner. There was a lovely series of scenes that really reinforced that these humanoid beings were not mere enhanced humans -- they were engineered, design to meet key specifications and performance ratings.

And they were unhappy with the status quo -- especially the built in natural obsolescence that was far shorter than human lifespans. A frightening prospect, considering the capabilities of the combat models.

Somehow implicitly tied to the concept of these manufactured humanoids is the corporation behind them. In Blade Runner, it was the Tyrell Corporation's "more human than human" motto that blared proudly about its achievements in creating this life form that was so close to our own.

I suppose that, in the case of this movie, replicants were used to explore (among many things) what the definition of life / sentience / humanity was in the face of technology that allowed you to recreate creatures that could arguably be crafted to be more 'human' than you.

In Bubblegum Crisis, an anime heavily influenced by Blade Runner, they're called Boomers. Again, they have different models of this artificial life form; some of them were apparently more prone to going crazy and running amok through the rainswept, neon-washed streets of Neo-Tokyo. Boomers, however, were more powerful creations, apparently requiring not only the ADPolice to quell outbreaks of violence, but also the heroic Knight Sabers (whose crusade against the evil corporation known as Genom was the focus of the series).

They also had an unnerving ability to fuse with electronic material and add to their own mass -- almost as though the technology they were constructed from allowed them to insinuate themselves into machinery and circuitry, bypassing security and overriding default functionality.

And while not all boomers were evil, those that were clearly showed how -- through sheer capability alone -- they were a major threat to humanity's technologically dependent existence. Unlike Blade Runner, this anime seemed to be more about the dangers of playing god with replicant technology and letting it grow beyond the capability of humanity to control.

But not all anime series represented the threat of the replicant as predominantly a physical one. The manga and anime Appleseed tackled the replicant / bioroid as being a benevolent race, but one that was visually indistinguishable from humans.

Not only did most humans view them as benign; many of the the bioroids shown believed themselves to be tools of humanity -- a necessary part of the new form of civilization, in order to prevent another world war from breaking out and driving humanity back into barbarism.

Still, when some bioroids begin arguing that engineering a better class of people (perhaps hybrids of the two species?), the already impressive action kicks into high gear, and the intrigue and politics get turned up a notch as well.

Meanwhile, a current TV show seems to be trying to delve into this space once more, with mandatory combat model android partners to police officers. Almost Human isn't treading the ground that Star Trek: The Next Generation trod with Data -- an android trying to become human. Instead, the android protagonist that partners with the human protagonist seems to be akin to Top 10's Joe Pi, who acknowledges that certain things are meant to simulate human interaction, that he is not human. However, he clearly feels that he is different (if not superior) to the other androids on the force, in that they operate on meticulously defined decision trees, while he operates on something more along the lines of raw intelligence and knowledge coupled with leaps in intuitive logic.

So far, I also enjoy how this iteration of the replicant has different model series with in the same type of model (an MX series android, within the set of combat android models), very much like how Blade Runner's Nexus 6 replicants were also of varying functions in society. It really speaks to how the replicant is a product of corporate production, where some models and operating systems really hit the sweet spot in terms of synergystic functionality -- and others are just 'good enough' until a better model comes along.

In my Cyberpunk campaign later this year, I intend to revisit many of these themes -- but I also plan to add the concept of the software upgrade, backups, and rollbacks to really reinforce how replicants, despite their amazing approximation of humanity, are still something other than human; something detached from what we currently consider the human condition.