The Throne of Stars, Act 3

Beginning June 1st, at the Comeback Inn forums....

PbP on approach to finish Act 2.....

The heroes are on an intercept course with the First THRONE. The Fifth THRONE, overtaken by the Wicked That Walked the Deeps of Uthorrad, looms closer, its Starfire weaponry slowly building charge.

But they will not be the first to set foot in the satellite since the days after the second Beast Man Crusade. Another ship is moored on the auxiliary docking pad.

Does it bring friends, or enemies...?


There is room for three more players in this ongoing Play by Post at the Comeback Inn. Set one thousand years after Uther's reign, Blackmoor's civilization is at its height. But the Empire crumbles, rotting from within. The Emperor sees enemies in every shadow, as more than one minister of the Imperial Regent's Council has been found to be playing host to demonic essences.

Disturbing reports from the Western Continent hint at massive devastation of one of the Imperial Defense Force's secret research facilities. An Aethernet blackout of all news of the incident by Imperial Edict does nothing to quell rumors from growing faster than thistle-weed in a squash patch.

Vanders Heavy Industries, in the meantime, has posted bulletins across crystalview and Aethernet news nodes that they are poised to sign a momentous armament contract with the Imperial Defense Forces that will enable far-flung troops to return home to their families.

Diviners from the University have been unable to find trace of the Empress of Pop amidst what little is left in the wake of the firestorm that her abductors called down, wiping out most of the IAF Special Operations Unit assigned to her rescue from the paramilitary compound in the mountains of Booh.....

Leave a comment below, on the Thorn's Chronicle Facebook page, or contact the GM through the Comeback Inn forum if you're interested in playing in this Alternity-based science-fantasy adventure.

Thorn's Mistamere: The Legend of Gygar and Elendorath

As told by the Baron Sherlane Halaran, to the assembled adventurers in Threshold:


"It was the stronghold of a great king, Gygar, called 'the Gray,' and he ruled these lands, nearly down to the Dymrak forests, and nearly as far east as Penhalligon, some three hundred years ago. His lands were said to be quite prosperous, and the tribes of Traladarans that united under his banner were quite well off. There were others, though, who wanted his wealth and knowledge for themselves. It was said that the Hags of Dymrak either allied with or twisted the ruling Queen from a rivaling city-state, and they waged a great war, with the armies of Gygar clashing with the hobgoblins, goblin, and orcish ranks that this mad queen, Elendorath was her name, was able to bend to her will with foul magics from the hags.

"Well, fortunately, her forces soon turned on their own, and Gygar's armies were able to drive them into the mountains... but not before much of his kingdom had been laid to waste. Now, here is the interesting part.... If the stories are true, this Elendorath was related to Gygar the Gray. Some say she was his estranged wife. Other say she was one of his daughters. Whichever is the case, in the final battle between the two, the legends say, the queen had scored a crippling blow against the older king, and would have finished him off, had not his daughter, the Princess Argentia, intervened. It is unclear whether she or the king scored a mortal blow against the mad queen, but as she fell -- or retreated, as some stories say -- she pronounced a curse on King Gygar and his lands and people, and especially against the princess, who robbed her of her revenge against the king.

"Well, we all know what happens when a curse is pronounced and is influenced by a covey of hags. It came to pass, three times as strong. The king grew ill, his kingdom fell into ruin as crops failed and famine set in. It would be so, the Queen pronounced, until his daughter should die by his own hand. We know that the king died. We also know that the princess did, but not whether or not it was by his hand, or the work of the curse, or by some other means.

"The castle fell to ruin, and eventually all manner of evil creatures made their way into the dungeons beneath. There have been many expeditions into the ruins, but nearly all return with tales of monsters and shadows... and a vengeful ghost, prowling the halls, warning those away who would dare to intrude."

From the Play by Post: Act 2, Scene 3 opens...

The Prologue: 300 Years Past: Hyborean Rim, UIC Forward Offensive Encampment, Spring, UC 1688

“That was no route, it was a regrouping. I told her! I told her not to pursue them!”

Parchment, quills, and thin panes of readingglass flew about the mobile CIC. Ink spattered walls, console portals, and command staff alike. Those who’d served with the Silver Lady knew enough to take cover beneath tables and paperwork.

Careers of Thorn's Blackmoor: The TechOp

TechOp

Of all the professions, TechOps are the most likely to shine in Blackmoor’s Late Imperial Age. These are the tinkerers, inventors, those making and making use of the newest technologies. A hero with a high INT and DEX with an interest in some sort of technology or another is a prime candidate for the TechOp.

Careers of Thorn's Blackmoor: The Free Agent

Free Agent Careers

The hero with high Dexterity and Will is best suited to the Free Agent profession. These are the independent operatives of the Empire: the covert agents, troubleshooters.

Careers of Thorn's Blackmoor: The Diplomat

Continuing the series on possible careers in Thorn's World That Was in the Late Imperium, here are some ideas for those playing Diplomat heroes.

The skill point costs may look fairly frugal, but remember that Diplomats must also spend for skills in their secondary profession.

Careers of Thorn's Blackmoor: The Combat Specialist

One of the players asked for some information on how the various classes “fit” into the ‘modern’ Imperial society… but as we are using the Alternity Science Fiction Roleplaying Game, the idea of “class” is sketchy at best, and downright muddy if you want to try drawing direct parallels between it and (A)D&D.

Thorn's Blackmoor: Filling Gaps

Five years. It doesn’t seem like a very long time, but in the case of a prolonged and ongoing writing project, it seems… endless. Thorn’s Chronicle has only spanned a matter of months. The adventures of the Handmaidens, not even a week. (Well, two thousand years and a week.) Likewise, the action of the first two acts of the Throne of Stars campaign.

Magitech of Thorn's World That Was: The S.H.A.D.E. and the i.V.E.E.

The equivalent to an AI in Thorn’s Blackmoor is a S.H.A.D.E. (A Sentient Heuristic Aetheric Data Entity) Most of the time, they are invisible, intangible to those without access to the Aetherweb. 

Happy New Year!

As this is usually the time for resolutions, I have decided to plant a few of my own here rather than simply tack them up on the wall in the office.

 

• I will finish a playtestable draft of TC2 and have TC3 at least plot-mapped.
• Thorn & company will reach Alfheim
• The Handmaidens will get out of Traladara
• The Throne of Stars play-by-post will resume, and we will conclude Acts 2 and 3. (Seats are still open at the table, if anyone is interested)
• IF there is enough interest, I may do further play-by-posts. Perhaps some playtesting TC1 or TC2?

How about the rest of you? What are your 2014 gaming-related goals?

From the Netbook: Magitech of the World That Was

Over at the Comeback Inn forums, there has been some discussion of the magitech of Dave Arneson’s Blackmoor, throughout the settings’ various incarnations.

Artifacts from the City of the Gods can potentially make it into the hands of PCs through modules DA2 and 3: blasters, blaster rifles, glow wands, medkits, battle suits… Taken out of the Valley of the Ancients, or through the time portal in the Comeback Inn, these wondrous items have the potential to make the heroes into near godlike figures. It is noted in the various timelines of Mystara that developments gleaned from the tech of the City of the Gods are what made Blackmoor a force to be reckoned with, and promoted the kingdom’s rapid rise in power and influence.

Happy Holidays!

Aimeel had to use "Hold Animal"
on Sevenz to capture this memory-keep

Warmest holiday wishes to my small following.

In the works: Design Diary: The Echo and the Reflection

A couple busy work weeks atop deadlines for the inaugural issue of Threshold have put the breaks on several writing projects.

Certain revelations in the play by post over at the Comeback Inn have made certain characters' pasts a little more clear. I suppose now I have to nail down even more back story for two NPCs, the Empress of Pop, Aimeel, and Blackmoor University's Chief Archivist, the S.H.A.D.E. dubbed "Ivy."

Be on the lookout, for some thoughts on the origins and original plot purposes behind Rowena's Echo and Reflection.....

T-minus 50:45:37, and counting

The trigger encounter for the second act of The Throne of Stars campaign goes live in a little over two days.

Design Diary: The Songbird and Her Cat

The Throne of Stars campaign opened with a question. Two questions, really: What is Aimeel, and why does the Empire want its greatest musical sensation silenced?

Curtain call: Act 1 complete

The first act of the Throne of Stars Campaign finishes up, and work is underway to bring Act 2 online within the next few weeks.

The Falling Throne

Last image of the Third Throne, as seen from the Seventh, in the year before the Twilight Rebellion.

From the PbP: Kingsman

image source:http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/97666971#/d1j4xyl

Kingsman is the Blackmoor equivalent to chess, or go. The board consists of a twenty-five square by twenty-five square grid checked off in two different alternating colors. Each side has a fifty-piece “army,” with each piece or pair of pieces having its own movement and attack patterns. The game ends when either all the pieces are captured (called a rout), or when one army outmaneuvers the other, either leaving only openings that would mean the pieces are captured (being in check), or outright blocking all the available moves (being check-mated). Capturing the Kingsman’s piece is automatic victory (called a (capital-C) Capture), is the shortest way to win, but is also the most difficult of victories to obtain.

Noblemen of the Thonian Empire would frequently make wagers, with each having to give up gold, or lands, or slaves with the capture of pieces from the board. In more than one occasion, marriages were determined by victories. It is said that Leansethar's terms of marriage were that her suitor had to defeat Rowena at Kingsman by all victory methods (route, check, check-mate, capture) in four consecutive games.

The only known instance of any victory against Rowena was by the Great Svenny, who won by Capture in an otherwise rout-oriented game in 1020 UC. The match took seven months to complete, and Svenny had only three pieces left in play. 

Rowena subsequently challenged him to an alternate version of the game, played on a hex grid, with her single Kingsman surrounded by 150 pieces of Svenny's choosing. That game took three years to play out, and Uther's daughter won by rout. Unfortunately, there is no record of the moves used. It took the bank of fifty difference engines working in tandem twelve years to come up with but a single iteration, in the Last Days.

Needless to say, Leansethar never took a husband.

Throne of Stars prologue: The Hour of Truth

The Last Days of Blackmoor play by post is nearing it's beginning.

She has taken the Empire by storm with her songs.

Can one voice determine the fate of an entire world?

What lengths will Evil go to silence that voice?

It all begins in The Hour of Truth