Pen & Paper Bullshit

Having fled Anlu without alerting too many of the Phoenix Lord's men, the party decide to take stock and resupply in the small farming village of Waisha. Unfortunately, they find themselves caught in between a conflict between the remnants of the town's old guard, now turned bandits, and the Phoenix Guardians under the mysterious Humaar Rama. All they have to do is keep a low profile, make contact with one of Rulon's old revolutionary buddies, and pick up some horses to quicken their trip north; of course, not all of them are good at blending in and things quickly spiral out of their control.

The party finally arrive at Castle Purgatory, ready to pass on to the Second Circle of Hell. Unfortunately, the prince has withheld some rather key information, primarily that the lich is sealed in a divinely warded room to prevent him from being killed by another demon or undead. Thankfully, Caliban can make infiltrating the demon part of the castle a bit easier, if the party can get him to his throne room, where he can channel the power of the First Circle to secure the castle. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the party doesn't trust him and make other plans.

Dr. Lindorm has discovered that the strange artificial trees have something to do with a disappearing patient, prompting the cabal to renew their investigation into them. Well, most of the cabal: Nate instead decides to get drunk and hook up with Bigfoot again using the CRYTD dating app. Things go about equally well for both groups, which is to say terribly and with lots of screaming and crying.

Following the disastrous events at the Tournament of the Four Elements, the ad hoc group flees to Anlu, where Aisuse promises that the Torchbearers, his band of freedom fighters (or a cult, depending on how you look at it) will be able to shelter them and provide them with aide and direction. Instead, they find that Anlu has been not only flooded with refugees, but the minions of the Glorious Phoenix Lord.

Now allied with Prince Calliban, the party is directed towards the City of the Victorious Queen, a massive monument in city form to the Queen of Hell. Here, according to Calliban, they can find allies to help secure the First Ring of Hell when the party leaves, providing a stable base for all future rebellious activities. Of course, the party doesn't necessarily agree with the prince about the future of Hell.

The year is 1619 and, like the dreaded walktapus, the Lunar Empire has spread its tentacles to encompass nearly all of Sartar, with only the city of Whitewall remaining free. In the Colymar tribe, King Kangharl, with the help of the Lunars, has seized the throne from his cousin Leika; it is a dark time for the free people of Sartar, one that looks like it will never end. In particular, the Haraborn clan, the smallest member of the Colymar tribe, have begun to suffer, as an ill wind blows in on the Feast of Sartar the Founder: two young boys of the clan have gone missing, with no clues to as where they have gone. Thankfully, four adventurers from abroad have decided to call Black Stag Vale their home, offering a small chance at solving this perplexing mystery and lifting the spirits of their adopted clan.

The Tournament of the Four Elements, held in the capital of the Raohu Empire, is a chance for shapers from all over the world to display their ability and fighting skills on a world stage; it draws competitors from such distant lands as the Sunset Empire and the Yangai Kingdom. But this year, strange things are afoot and the fate of the world falls on the collective shoulders of a peasant rebel, the champion of a cult, and a foreign noble; spirits long forgotten by the world have started to stir as they prepare to make their return.

The second part of character creation for our playtest of Shape of the Elements; this time we do some collaborative world creation and discuss the cultures that each player comes from. If you'd like to playtest Shape of the Elements (and send me your notes and impressions about it!) you can DM me over on Twitter, @lesbiathan.

I'm working on another game! This is the character creation for that game, known as Shape of the Elements. Its a mix of wuxia and Avatar: The Last Airbender, Powered by the Apocalypse.  The game isn't released yet, but if you want to playtest it (and send me your notes!) send me a DM over on Twitter, @lesbiathan.

Here's the second part of character creation for our RuneQuest campaign: cult initiations! In RuneQuest, the gods are close and, by re-enacting their deeds in a ritual known as HeroQuesting, cultists can not only gain tremendous powers and abilities, but can diverge from the original myth and explore different aspects of it, either by failing certain parts or succeeding where their god didn't. The simplest and most common HeroQuest is the cult initiation quest, which is usually a retelling of a key myth related to the cult's god or goddess. Usually, these are bog standard with very little divergence from the original story, but sometimes extraordinary individuals do what their patron deity could not and turn HeroQuest into something truly unique, gaining powers well beyond what their cult expects. Guess what kind of initiations the players have?

After their encounter with the Chaos Possum, the 4C Cabal tends to their personal lives, with the exception of Rick Ranger, who's entire body is completely broken after being stampeded by a bunch of magickally called group of forest animals. Rick's life only gets worse, somehow.

Its RuneQuest time! We're going to play the latest edition of RuneQuest by Chaosium, which is, honestly, full of really weird rules and overly complex mechanics; if you find yourself interested in it (or just really like Glorantha, the epic setting of RuneQuest), then we strongly suggest you check out the really, really, really good character sheet over at Roll20, which does all the fiddly math and tracks lots of the odd mechanics for you. Anyways, this is character creation for our RuneQuest campaign, set during the opening days of the Hero Wars, before the sacking of the Lunar Temple in Sartar. If none of that makes sense to you, the party is a talking duck, a werewolf, a secret Lunar priest, and a very angry man who wants to eat a flying bull; it promises to be a very wild ride.

The final confrontation between the gang and President Vans begins, as Bodies in Motion comes to a close! Will they figure out how Vans' mysterious Stand Moondance works, or will they be stuck in a loop forever? Who does the iron idol choose to grant its power to? And what is the fate of Magnetic Springs? Find out in this, the session of Bodies in Motion!

Here it is, the penultimate (probably) episode of Bodies in Motion! The gang faces down Vice President May and her nefarious and devious Stand, Powerslave! Bonds are tested, idols are fumbled, and something amazing happens. Soon, the only thing standing in the way of their crusade to stop gentrification will be President Vans and his mysterious abilities. Thus ends the Money for Nothin' arc, as the final arc, Run This Town, begins.

The 4Cs, a magickal cabal dedicated to discovering the secrets of Denali National Park, have gotten a hot tip about a newly discovered artificial tree; these trees seem to draw in cryptids, though cryptid hunters and the Furry Hunter Association makes it hard to actually get a look at them. Well, the 4Cs have their own plans on how to deal with them, as well as a magickal polaroid that can take perfectly clear pictures of real cryptids. Its time to get to work and solve the mysteries of Cryptid, Alaska!

The party decides to investigate what is going on with Prince Caliban; they find a familiar situation and are less than pleased with the prince's attitude. Hugh falls back into old habits.

The Free Cities disagree about almost everything: politics, economics, religion; if two people can fight about it, the there's at least two Free Cities currently feuding about it. In fact, only one thing can get them to work together: the Ardent Empire. Their long time foe, the Empire desperately wants to conquer them, but cannot thanks to the work of the Free City Militia. The FCM is the only recognized inter-city government agency and its mandate goes above the petty squabbles of its members. So, when an Imperial experiment carrier violates Free City airspace, the FMC is called upon to investigate and respond to any hostilities. Just what is The Queen of Heaven planning?

Following their disastrous encounter with Captain Barnabus and his Stand Satellite Electrica, the pirates of the Best Hamster Boat decide to follow the mysterious compass the British so desperately want, but not before docking at Tortuga, a pirate stronghold, for repairs. But something is afoot and, for once, it isn't the work of an enemy Stand.

Well, we're back to playing Unknown Armies! This time, the players are in Alaska looking at cryptids and cryptocurrency; also someone fucked Big Foot? Probably one of the more insane cabals to ever grace the tabletop and this podcast, to be honest. Find out what brings together a washed up rocker, a personal assistant with anger issues, a crypto grifter, a doctor obsessed with snakes, and a weirdo loner with gun magick in this character creation session. Remember: its pronounce mah-GICK not magic!

Hugh opens up to Blaze during a sparring session. Dawn and Hugh look at a weird bush and bond.