The Illuminated Ō-yoroi

In the days of the Grandfathers' Grandfathers, There lived at the foot of Mount Kujoi a wizard by the name of Shen Zhu. One of the Four Great Generals, he desired nothing more than to live out his life in quiet contemplation in atonement for his deeds.

When the warriors came from the Far Waters, the Golden Empress sent couriers to the four winds, their purpose to seek out the Generals and call them to battle once more.

His topknot cut and his scepter broken, Shen Zhu was yet unable to deny the Empress' edict. Unable to don the Warrior's garb, Shen Zhu meditated for a day and a night. Upon the dawn he departed, armored in knowledge.

The Illuminated Ō-yoroi is a suit of Lamellar armor, the construction of which is said to be contained within the Five Scrolls of Shen Zhu. Crafted from pages of arcane writing, and worked fine illustrations, the magically hardened armor provides a -2[+2]  bonus, and is wearable by magic users. In addition, the Illuminated Ō-yoroi, when found, bears 3 of the original 9 illuminations. When a successful hit is scored, the enchantment worked into the illustration is triggered. (Which Illustration is triggered is determined randomly)

Once triggered, the illustration's enchantment is spent, rendering it inert.

The Golden Empress:  Golden flame engulfs the attacker, dealing 2d6 damage.

The Princess and the Heron: Heals 1d8 HP

The Toad: Darkness, as per the spell.

This is a bard.

I think I'm in love.

In Review: Battlechangers!

Whoo boy... Every time I write one of these reviews, I try to be as fair as possible. Often, that means I point out flaws, real or perceived, though I try to be as professional as I can.

So what can I say about Battlechangers? Well, we'll find out after the jump.

Distractions

Class has started back in earnest, so expect some slight hiccups in posting. One of these days, I'll be able to churn out a steady schedule, I swear.

Dreams of Talslanta: 1-2 Gatekeeper

Too drained last week to run, so I allowed the players a respite, to RP with the newest member of the party, a Rogue Magician named Calithen. This week, the four-strong fellowship ascended the stair. Halfway up, they encountered a trio of mechanical giants.

A tense stand-off occurred and thanks to Cypreana and Calithen, the guardians were turned aside.

Cresting the stairs, the party came face to face with a walled structure, the gate of which had collapsed from age. A further discovery showed that the group was, in fact, standing on a floating island.  

Some outside events forced me to pause the game there, but the party as a whole seemed satisfied. There was good roleplaying, clever use of magic, and though the mechanics are still being puzzled out, I feel that the game is going well.

Post Apoc Sci-Fantasy musings.

"...Warriors here could have been inheritors of ancient ritual traditions so they are genetically engineered, trained to the apex of human potential (think Dune's superhumans), users of gene-coded, evolving relic weapons and/or had potential-expanding machinery integrated into their body. 'Rogues' could have been scholar-cum-archaeologists, studying the ruins of previous civilizations for what they are actively trying to understand the numenera and attempting to piece together their own crude, but innovative, machines. Wizards could have been a select group guarding passed down activation words for the common types of numenera, or those still biologically similar enough to the humans of the ancient empires that the various nanomachines floating around everywhere still respond to their commands."

The above comes from a post on a popular message board concerning Monte Cook's newest project, Numenera. Unfortunately, the user's ideas skip beyond what Cook presents, which means I have little interest in the end product. I do however, have copies of Other Dust and the Stars Without Number core rulebook.  I might see what I can knock together...

The Big Blue Binder o' Talislanta

After a few pokes and prods from folks on IRC, I thought I'd share what exactly my Talislanta binder looks like. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had the core rulebook printed through printme1, the binder I supplied myself.

The Blue Sun

Thrice round the room the blue sun slipped

With a dip and a spin and a flash

And Into Shadow nimbly skipped

With the ring of a saber's clash  

-- From the Bladesong of Forgemaster Kelail

A sturdy +1 shortsword, the Blue Sun bears its namesake, a gibbous moon depicted on the flat of the blade in a single sapphire the length of a man's middle finger. Much like the moon from which it takes its name, the Blue Sun sheds false light, obscuring the wielder in shadow. The wielder is always treated as one step higher (or lower, depending on system used) AC than armor and other bonuses normally allow.

In Review: The Sacred BBQ!!

What do you get when you cross Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition, The Burning Wheel's design ethos, and sprinkle a bit of narrative gaming on top? No, that's not a riddle, it's The Sacred BBQ!