Looks like I’m on at least two new books in Cubicle 7’s Victoriana line. Under NDA right now, so that’s about all I can say is “Back in the RPG writing game.”

Here’s a few characters from our up and coming Liberty City campaign using the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying by Margaret Weis Productions that just got jerked out of print by Disney.

PARADOX (Dr. James Fravik)

Affiliations: Solo d8, Buddy d10, Team d6

Distinctions: It’s All Just Math, Just Lucky I Guess, What the @#$% Did I Do?

POWER SETS:

Probability Manipulator: Probability control d8, Intuition d8, Teleport d8; SFX, Can I Help?: Can loan his Probability Control Die to another player and shutdown the power until the other player has used the die. Can recover the die early with a plot point; SFX, Need a Lift?: +d6 and step up affect die one to inflict a complication on a target; SFX, Second Chance: Can reroll a Probability Manipulation test spending a plot point; SFX, Superpostion: 1 plot point to ignore physical stress; Limitation, Exhausted: Gain a plot point when power set is shutdown. Recover with an opportunity or in transition scene; Limitation, Fate Fights Back: On a 1 or 2, create an opportunity for the Watcher.

SPECIALTIES: Business Expert, Covert Expert, Science Master

MILESTONES:

I’ll Take My Chances: Gain 1XP when first using Probability Manipulation, 3XP when Watcher uses PM opportunity against the team, 10XP when power set leads to catastrophe or overwhelming success.

One Many, Many Worlds: Gain 1XP when he questions the reality of his situation, 3XP when he fails a power set test that causes stress to him or his team, 10XP when he has a cognitive break that requires him to leave the team or abandon the mission.

 

PARALLEL (Manny Byquist)

Affiliations: Solo d6, Buddy d8, Team d10

Distinctions: Many Copies, Many Problems; The Ultimate Backup, What Haven’t I Done?

POWER SET:

The Human Copier: One Man Mob (3xd8); SFX, Absorb Dupes: 1plot point to eliminate any dupe complication. If they resist step up emotional stress; step up any stress that the dupe has taken; SFX, Did I Do That?: In a transition scene can create a dupe-related resource; SFX, Plenty to Go Around: Acts like area effect; SFX, Take One For the Team: 1 plot point ignores physical stress on him or any team member; Limitation  Fly in the Ointment: Gains 1 plot point when a dupe-related complications is played, step up his emotional stress +1; Limitation, Mob Cohesion: his One Man Mob power can be targeted with area effect, and a d10 physical stress takes a die from One Man Mob power. Can be recovered with an opportunity or during transition scene.

SPECIALITIES: Covert Expert, Combat Expert, Crime Expert, Medical Expert, Psych Expert, Tech Expert

MILESTONES:

It’s Kinda My Fault: Gain 1XP when one of his dupes causes trouble for the character; 3XP when dupe is involved in a major criminal event as hero or villain; 10XP when he or his dupes defeats the team in a scenario.

Back Up…and Side and Front, As Well!: Gain 1XP when he or a dupe “Takes One For the Team”; 3XP when a scene is won primarily due to his dupes; 10XP when a team member dies protecting or being protected by a dupe.

Hey, Disney, suck it!

Reading a post from my Victoriana alum (and contributor over at Gnome Stew) Walt Ciechanowski on Facebook got me thinking about verisimilitude in modern games or writing today. Specifically, he was talking about Boost!, a citrus soda that is available only in a select area of southern New Jersey. I have a similar strange food from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, where I lived as a kid — Schaeffer’s Bologna, an “all-beef bologna, flavored only with salt and pepper”, an a touch of garlic has an edible skin and is great snack food.

For the longest time, you couldn’t get real New Mexican chile paste (red or green) or salsa outside of the state. The California stuff is too bland, Texas too sweet…during the ’90s, when I was away from Albuquerque, I would get cravings for NM-style chile and could only find something similar in Sierra Vista, Arizona when I was stations at Sierra Vista. It was also one of the first places I could find McEwan’s ales outside of Scotland — then it started popping up everywhere until Heineken bought the brewery and delisted it, leading to my singular desire to blow the Netherlands off the face of Europe.

So those of you reading, please chime in — what a particular, very popular but highly localized food or drink from your neighborhood or past. (Tell us what it is and where it’s limited to. Who knows, it might turn up in someone’s game!)

Jesus, man, just sit the f#$% down!

Kinda makes you feel insignificant, doesn’t it..?

I’ve not read the book, but it has a spectacularly large fan base, so…

…and more goodness…

Tabletop gamers and LARPs have plenty of overlap in players, though I’ve found those who straddle the line prefer one type of gaming over the other. One of the elements of LARPing that rarely makes its way to the table is costuming. I’ve known player that have special dice for certain games, or some kind of fetish that gets them into character easier — one of our current players has dogtags from Quantum Mechanix for his Galactica pilot, (They’re lovely, by the way…) and a cowboy hat he wears for his Texan in the pulp campaign. Others have worn a Psi Corps badge in a Babylon 5 game, or brought Star Trek props to the table for a game. Hell, one of the players even dressed in BDSM gear for her character.

It’s fun. It helps the players fit in. But it can also make other players who haven’t quite made the leap from a social game of pretend at the table, to that more immersive style of play that LARPers and dress-up types bring with them. (Especially when you’ve got a girl wearing nothing-there leather bits…)

Personally, I could couldn’t care less. If the players are having fun, they can bring whatever prop or costume they want, so long as it’s not sharp or loaded, but it’s a good idea before people get too out there to make sure everyone’s comfortable with level of costuming being done.

Have your say.

The wife says, “Sassy!”

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