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Friday 25 March 2011

The Weirdness of Public Transportation

On one of the many fateful days that were more like a night if one is to account for the lack of light and prevalence of darkness on the streets and the cold wind blowing for the ephemeral space where the dead dwell... I got on a bus. As it often happens from some time now, I was reading a book and then the unexpected happen.

"Can you move somewhere else so I can sit here?" a woman who was failing the fight against gravity asked while I magnificently dodged the few drops of an alcoholic beverage filling her can. I have considered the request over letting this woman sit down in a place that clearly belonged to her from the dawn of mankind. For, as I recall, the great prophets have said that the public transportation seat of the second floor at the very front to the very left is the property of any inebriated female species of the human race. Unfortunately, we decided the Neanderthals are better whacked than listened to so our ancestors have recorded only a few tidbits of their wisdom... and even that must have been filled with propaganda. So in all my generosity, politeness and kindness I said the most simple of words.

"NO"

I am not sure how my answer was taken as an invitation to pointing out several seats all over the bus that were empty, of which there were at least 8 just in my peripheral vision... but it was amusing nonetheless.

"Ok, I asked nicely, now this guy over there will tell you to get another seat." The New Challenger appeared. The reader at this point should imagine the stereotypical tall guy who has more muscles than brains because it has been scientifically proven that the more people think people you've killed, the more likely they are to vote you governor of their state. The problem was that England has counties, so your mileage may vary in Europe.

"What is the problem?" he says while looking from me to her.
"He's not giving me my seat."
"Oh yeah?!" He was excited like a reject from a Superman film. "Give this lady the seat."

I have considered the request that he infused with a healthy dose of testosterone that would make even Dirty Harry look like a wimpy kid crying over his stolen candy stick.

"NO"

At this point the woman was getting furious but the man calmed her down by saying that they will get out of the bus at the same stop as me and teach me a lesson. Her guy left to go to the back of the bus. While she stood there being drunk a guy sitting on the other side of the bus attempted to placate her by giving away his own seat but she was not so easily taken by some other seat. She specifically wanted the one that my ass was currently enjoying. A moment later my stop came up so I stood up and gone out while the apparent couple was having a shouting match from the two ends of the bus... something about something she did while he was in prison or something...

The door closed and the bus disappeared into the night!

Monday 14 March 2011

Game Ideas

Whenever I talk with people about running games, I often hear about a common problem among us Game Masters. Mainly that of having way too many ideas for games but not enough time to run them all. Instead of waiting for those couple ideas I had to fade into nothingness, I thought I might as well put them here. This way at least I'll have them all in one place. So without further ado, here's what I'd like to run in the future...

System: Cat
This game would be set in a remote town somewhere, probably Alaska. The player characters find out that children are starting to grow very unemotional towards them but try to hide it in front of adults. Every night, when their parents think they're asleep, they sneak out and meet outside of town to chant in a low murmur, they never sleep. Through some sort of investigation, the player characters find out something is taking over the children's psyche when they dream. Now they have to search the Dream to find whatever is causing it and put an end to its evil schemes!

System: Exalted - The Alchemicals
Being Alchemicals, the characters would be industrial paragons of their nation. However, all signs show there is a threat of a Gremlin swarm led by a powerful smoke elemental. For this game I would like to use a very cyberpunk feel to the game, high level of artifacts, with people having many implants, the use of occasional jokes (like one antagonist having a split personality and bearing the names Window 1 and Window 2) and having fights in tunnels where gravity is relative.

System: Exalted - The Dragon-Blooded
The players would be a special forces team sent out on missions to further the interests of the Realm. Possible missions would be investigating strange cases in the Realm and reigning down the Realm's wrath on insurgencies in the Threshold. Between missions the player characters would have to deal with politics that either hinder or help their team, depending on their actions.

System: Exalted - The Infernals
This game would take place in a possible future of Creation where the Yozis have won. The Yozis' prison fused with Creation, allowing them to regain their rightful place in Yu-Shan. Yet their Infernal champions are still needed. Although many Exalts have fallen, selling out their Exaltations to the demons and thus becoming half-Infernals, the battle for Creation is still waged. Not every heroic soul was broken, some remain, desperately trying to fight in a world that hates and despises them. They are a far lesser concern than the Neverborn's armies growing in the shadow of the Reclamation. Soon a new war will be waged that will decide whether Hell on Earth will reign supreme or will existence itself be plunged into Oblivion.

System: Exalted - The Sidereals
This game would be about a group of Sidereal martial artists infiltrating and manipulating governments to their bureau's own ends. I would like to go on a more macro-scale with this or have the main plot take place in Nexus's criminal underground. I'd like to take inspiration from James Bond movies or films like The Avengers and XXX where there's one antagonist bent on destroying/taking over the world so I'm thinking either a Deathlord or some Raksha noble. Having players start with an additional 5 Martial Arts Charms is a must.

System: Hero System 6th Edition
When the Autobots boarded the Ark to find a new home, they were attacked by the Decepticons. The resulting battle damaged the ship so it crash landed on prehistoric Earth. After several millennia have passed, the volcano the ship ended up under erupted. It brought the ship online and it sent out a probe to look for life on the planet. Due to its definition of life excluding organic matter, it only scanned machines and based on their design, repaired the Transformers. Thus the story began... but in this alternate reality the Autobots were too damaged to be repaired so only Decepticons were brought back to life. Without a leader and stranded on an alien planet, they'll have to decide what to do next and fight for the little bit of Energon left. I imagine this game would deal with the sparsity of their energy sources and infighting between forming factions within their group.

System: Promethean The Created
Each of the player characters has a vision telling them to come to a cave. There they are greeted by a Quashmall who tells them of a Centimanus who is trying to combine the four aspects of the end into one being. It is now their duty to stop the creation of this entity. Their quest will bring them through regions of the world each embodying said four aspects: War, Pestilence, Famine and Death.

System: Savage Worlds
The players take on the roles of knights in service to the great King chosen by the gods to unite the land of Albion. The King possesses a powerful sword artifact but unfortunately, when word of invaders clad in the skins of beasts and wielding massive axes reach him, he decides to send his knights to parley with their warlord. As it turns out, the bloodthirsty barbarians are willing to talk... so they take their mechanical mounts, power armours and other inventions and go see what all the ruckus is about.

System: Savage Worlds
During the second world war, the Nazis have experimented with augmenting human beings into more resilient soldiers. Unfortunately, something went wrong and their latest experimentation camp blew up. Drafted to be soldiers or simply civilians caught in the crossfire, the player characters can't return to their lives because of their monstrous appearance so they have to hide away in the sewers while protecting the city above from the ravages of war.

System: Victoriana
When I first read about Victoriana I immediately had the idea to have players be planning one of the many rebellions Poland had during the times of occupation. Secret meetings, planning the proceedings, recruiting allies, avoiding the secret police, dealing with propaganda, etc. For the great finale, it's all or nothing! Best part? Other than tanks and soldiers with guns, you have to deal with beasts and magic.