BareBones Fantasy: Over The Hills and Far Away

30 December 2013 | Hisham | | Role Playing Games, RPG Actual Play, RPG Irfan Plays
 

Some time ago, I ran BareBones Fantasy RPG for Irfan. The campaign is set in the default setting: the Keranak Kingdoms! Late afternoon yesterday, we continued the game with him playing the halfling spellcaster-warrior Jake Hastur and I running the human scholar-scout Finn Riverwyld. We stopped by sundown and resumed the game this morning.

Last time, Jake and Finn were commissioned by Duchess Lyla Keranak of Kingsbridge to look for her missing brother Captain Kane Keranak, or at the very least return his signet ring back to her. The duo travelled to the Island of Netharak where he was last seen. After having rested in Mr. Bonewall's house at the fishing port of Dronak, Jake and Finn geared up and set out northwest to where Kane was last seen headed.

I bet there's an Elven Ranger Smith in this game somewhere

Not the real cover of this game, but a bear does appear later in the game.

Day One

The duo headed into the thick jungle.

By noon, Jake had almost wandered into a river with foul black water but Finn with his superior scouting skills stopped the faux pas. Then a large, slimy tentacle burst out of the water. They both hastily retreated toward separate directions, but the tentacle hunted after Finn, who promptly hid in thick bushes beside a fallen tree. Jake hid up a slope by tall trees and bushes. Before the tentacle found Finn, Jake cast a lightning bolt (29 from Offensive Strike 56%) that blew a hole midway down the tentacle, spilling its black blood.

Finn used the distraction to roll under the fallen tree trunk and scramble up the slope toward Jake. As the flailing tentacle smashed up nearby flora in pain looking for prey, Jake's second lightning bolt hit, severing it where the bolt struck. The tentacle withdrew rapidly into the river. Finn thanked Jake as they resumed their journey.

The 29% roll!

We never did find out where the tentacle came from.

They were halfway up a heavily-forested mountain when night fell. It was raining heavily. Jake cast a spell to push away the rainclouds away from the mountain. Finn set up their tent and a fire and began dinner.

The night passed by without incident.

 

Rafe's 24 Month Birthday (aka Second Birthday)

29 December 2013 | sila | | Family Pics
 

And so the boy is now two years old! The big T-W-O! Twenty-four months have passed so quickly!

Angel baby

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Then Things Get Awesomer and Awesomer!

27 December 2013 | Hisham | | Rants
 
Make sure all the molars get mooshed
 

Christmas 2013

26 December 2013 | sila | | Family Pics
 

So this year we decided to participate in the Christmas tradition. Yaya is old enough now to enjoy it and in fact, she asked for it. So here we go! Our first family Christmas. Also, since we have had a lot of work travels in recent months, we decided to forgo our usual end of year trip (someplace warm, usually) and stayed home instead. So bring it on! We start with the obligatory photo with Santa:

Yaya was happy but luckily Adik did not cry (he thinks Santa is an evil overlord)

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

First Snowfall of the Winter

23 December 2013 | sila | | Family Pics
 

So we actually missed the first snowfall in Ohio (in November) this year while we were away at work in Pennsylvania. But when we were in Pennsylvania (again, for work) in December, snow caught up with us. This entry is basically just some fun photos taken during the snowfall, and afterwards.

Most of the photos were taken on the Sunday afternoon (you might remember the Eagles Sunday afternoon game with snow flurries that severely limited visibility on TV?), but some were taken in the days after.

Let's play in the snow!

As always, please mouse over the pictures for captions.

 

65 Months

22 December 2013 | sila | | Family Pics
 

65 months! Five years and five months have passed.

Beautiful smile

* Mouse over pictures for captions

 

Amusements at the New Ducky Hotel

16 December 2013 | sila | | Family Pics
 

So we have spent many days at the new Ducky Hotel in the past three months. We played in the snow, and amused ourselves in all kinds of ways. This entry is just a bunch of fun photos of the activities at the new Ducky Hotel (that would be the Homewood Suites in Lansdale, PA). Our Old Ducky Hotel was in Cranford, NJ. :-)

Smiling as brightly as the sun

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Selamat Pengantin Baru Cik Ma and Farid

11 December 2013 | Hisham | | Family Pics
 

Irfan's Cik Ma and Uncle Farid got married on the 11th at Pondok Lubuk Tapah; and thus Uncle Farid was upgraded to Irfan's second Ayah Cik.

Since I had an exam the previous day, I arrived just in time for the festivities. Here are some photos from the wedding festivities.

When everyone was busy sometimes Irfan babysat Zara.

Aqad completed, Ayah Cik and Cik Ma were now husband and wife.
I photographed stuff in the back.

 

The Gifts of Star Wars Books

10 December 2013 | Hisham | | Books, Star Wars
 

Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopaedia

Tsing visited with a gift: The Old Repubic Encyclopaedia, with material from the Star Wars MMO game set 3600 years before the movies and more than 300 years after the Knights of the Old Republic / Dark Lords of the Sith comic series. It's a great treasure trove of information not just for the game, which I do not play. It also has a ton of stuff I can mine for Star Wars RPG sessions set in the present.

Proto-CR-90 Corvette

New ships! Not much but PCs might come across some of these vessels in deep storage for thousands of years, just ready to be explored or to be used as their vehicles. Just make sure there are unknown dangers aboard after being dormant for millennia.

Proto-YT-1300 Freighter

Strangely enough, my current desktop wallpaper is of an XS light freighter berthed in a landing bay.

 

Dinner with Tsing and Michelle

07 December 2013 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Family Pics
 

Tsing, Michelle and their kids visited us for dinner last night. Having us as one of their regular stops during their vacation never fails to warm my heart. The last time they were back there were two children in two. This time there's three! Unfortunately I did not take a photo of baby Ezra because he was busy playing the keyboard, then sleeping.

Looking at old photos with Ashley
Emma
Irfan still calls Ashley her cousin
33 years of friendship
 

Night's Black Agents: A Romanian Rendezvous

03 December 2013 | Hisham | | GOKL Actual Play, Nights Black Agents, RPG Actual Play, Role Playing Games
 

Previously, the Agents completed a week-long mission at Inish Medical, a multinational medical corporation that was using the haemocanis serum derived from blood of certain East European dog breeds to give vampiric abilities to their subjects. Inish appeared to have larger, more diabolical plans for the serum application. It was up to them to discover what. 

The Agents began a new mission: to gather intel on Romania. Inish took interest in criminal underworld in Bucharest, who helped them acquire special breeds of dogs in Romania before the Heimdall debacle.

They also had a secondary mission: to extract their ally Vienna "Vin" Cesarescu from Inish's task force - the R-Team - that had a job to do in Romania. Vin was a Romani woman who displayed vampiric symptoms and abilities even before Inish abducted her and forced her to work for them. R-Team would be arriving in Bucharest on Saturday.

Title image created by GM Kai
 

DAY 01 Thursday

King Valentin's Lair

Jacob Novazembla, freshly bitten by Vin several days ago during the Inish mission, had arrived a day earlier at the sea port of Constanța on a solo assignment to King Valentin a.k.a The Devil's Husband, a leader of a Romanian criminal organisation. (Jacob's player was absent, so he was relegated to the role of an NPC.) King Valentin's distrust of Jacob was alleviated when he sniffed his odour. When Jacob refused his insistence, King Valentin's men grabbed him and pulled down his pants for a visual confirmation. Valentin dropped his own pants as well to show what they both had in common.

Vampiric bite mark at the nether regions, caused by Vin. "The smell is unmistakable," Valentin remarked.

Then, still pantless, he embraced Jacob with glee and growled happily, "WE ARE BROTHERS!"

Valentin agreed to help the Agents.

Jacob wished his pants were back on.

 

BU-77, Fugitive ARC Trooper

01 December 2013 | Hisham | | Artwork, Role Playing Games, Star Wars
 

I once posted about BU-77 the ARC Trooper, my Star Wars D6 RPG character from the  Team: Sabredart campaign, complete with D6 stats.

Recently, I found a line art of BU-77 that I drew after became a fugitive from the Republic and wore a new costume he found aboard the Mandalorian Dungeon Ship Lost Hope. So I imported the drawing to GIMP and painted it up a bit.

Tempus Fugit