The wombull - a possible new character class?

I read this. And with Saturday's round-up still fresh in my mind, it all started to happen.

Picture the scene. Late '80s, the UK, a temple of gaming near a rambling common. A creature looking rather like a Womble elopes with one looking a bit like a Citadel ambull into the folds of what could be a BECMI box. They dig a lair and start a character class.

If I was going to write up that character class - and why would I? - I might do it like this...

WOMBULL

Motivation  Likes holes in the ground. Drawn to the intolerable waste in forgotten spaces; prefers not to steal, but will to put a thing to better use.

Requirements  Strength and Wisdom of 13+

Nature  Wisdom is the prime, with dice, saves and levels as per the dwarf.

Equipment  May use any; has jaws and claws (1d4 dam.), and paws only a little clumsier than human hands (-1 with missile weapons and devices).

Abilities  Digs twice as fast as a human. Has infravision, the dwarven feel for structure and a 1-in-6 chance of identifying inconsistencies or later changes in the contents of a space. May combine suitable items into a new form given that form's gp value in minutes; the new form is one degree poorer for its type and has a 1-in-3 chance of failing with each use.

Knowing the creativity of the people round here, someone's already done it, but I think I'd be happy to play any version. Now, where could a party with a wombull go adventuring..?

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Appendix OSR (2)

I've been reading The Secret History of Star Wars on a now mysterious Marcia Lucas and thinking.

Thinking it's another good text for that reading list.

Thinking we may think we create, and do, but not so much as we might like to think we do. We can hold worlds in our heads (with art or miniatures to help maybe, and numbers etc.), but mostly these are variations on this world even when they're not.

And how well do we actually know this one..? Or each other's version? Do we even know our own?

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The beginning of the Ends

Here's an idea which was given a nudge by Trey's latest post, Opening the Doors of Perception. I recommend reading it, following the links and looking at the portal list.

The essence is this. All worlds are connected and each can be reached from any other. The idea is to get links between settings and game universes, so one campaign can run smoothly into another. What would a gateway to a given world look like?

Pick a world, any world - an existing space or a new - and describe a path across.

Here's a weird example: In a wild landscape, dig a cocoon in play dough, modelling putty or stained clay, then enter and settle in, buried alive. Fast, meditate and grow squishy like the squirming worms. Wake, and join their migration to dark and nasty regions.

Which could be a way you leave the current setting and end up somewhere like this...

A destination world could be much more serious of course, basically anywhere. I'll post more as I get them and make a master list, with links to whatever people come up with.

More inspiration.

Update: There's a master list here.

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Dragon's Lair - alive and kicking the bucket

I see a lot of inspiration in old video games, likely for the excitement there was in playing them and the influence they had, even unconsciously in the brief images. Dragon's Lair also has the Don Bluth story attached, a big near-run thing. This is the full laserdisc.

It feels fresher than I'd expect nearly 30 years on, and it's good to see scenes I'd likely never have reached, but the video may need a steel like that for the gameplay given all the repetition. The way Daphne is drawn could also be a surprise. More lower down.

Who framed Conan le Barbare?

I found this and had a blast. I think it's worth a look for several reasons, not least given the last post and feelings about Conan. It gave me an idea too. Framing is common in cinema and literature, but less so in gaming so I've put some suggestions lower down.

Framing then. It could be used to set up a stand-alone roleplaying session or wargame, just to play with the usual format or content, or could be part of a less linear campaign, with the outcome affecting the reality doing the framing. Here's a list of possible forms.

1. dream - the obvious one; you could make the game rulebendingly weird, or add references to the framing reality, maybe as symbols, or foreshadowing events
2. fantasy - this is more interesting; if it's a simple fantasy of superiority, maybe the fantasising character or a faction gets a reroll per turn, or the GM fudges
3. flashback - another obvious one, also suitable for those references to the world outside the frame and maybe providing information, although the individual experiencing the flashback would presumably have to survive it; then again, it could be more the Cold Lazarus kind, or the mind could have been uploaded
4. psychoanalysis - this could be interesting, and could be used to play up an aspect of the game or a character's life, while the free association idea could see the action jumping around, in a wargame maybe as mini scenarios or multiple tables; re the aspect, as a contrast to the fantasy, the game could focus on a failure, or comedy of errors, with the character being forced to reroll, although the need for survival might suit a game less about danger and more about status say 
5. regression - this might work well later in a campaign, to develop a character by revealing early life, maybe a repressed memory, or even a past incarnation...
6. cross examination - this could work on the subjectivity of truth, by having each player able to rewind or blow-up a detail of the action to show how it really was
7. interview - it might be best to understand this for practical purposes as some blend of a cross examination, fantasy and psychoanalysis, depending on the self-importance of the subject and the nature of the interviewee and audience
8. reality media - if this is more The Truman Show, the NPCs or other players could be in on it, actively working with the GM, or able to manipulate events in a wargame (the fundamentals deck could work for this); if it's a Big Brother-style show, the other characters or individual squads in the force could be playing to the audience, represented by something as simple as testing a score to keep order in a wargame, or a set of criteria to meet to make it big in the framing world

But if all of that seems just too serious, well then I do have to ask: "What is best in life?"

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Pulp sounds (4)

The slow wander after a soundtrack to gaming goes on. Here's another piece which manages mystery and militarism, but which doesn't seem limited to any one genre despite being part of a well-known sci-fi score, to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Interesting film, and interesting that it seems to grow in the memory over time. Star Trek is a funny old thing. I wrote a recent post here on the radical in the franchise, and later read this enjoyable post at The Secret Sun with a different focus. It goes deep.

I'm pretty sure there was discussion of The Wrath of Khan somewhere else recently as well, but I can't remember the place. Damien G. Walter mentioned it today too.

Inspired by the film, a response to Jennie's Expansion Joints this week. The idea is to write a narrative in 15 words, with one word given; this time the word is free. For some discussion of the nature of stories and how short they can be see the last post here .

Free! But free's a crowd, of choices...

We strike out; by our decisions close caskets.

If you write your own 15-worder, you can leave it or link to it here. And have a listen.

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Peake and British gaming

A couple of interesting articles on Mervyn Peake, probably best known as the author of the influential Gormenghast series. One has reflections from four writers, among them Michael Moorcock and China Miéville, the other an interview with Peake's children.

Tied in with this are two posts on British gaming and its major influences. The first is by Chris at Vaults of Nagoh and focuses on the dungeon concept; some Gormenghast too. The second, by Coopdevil at Fighting Fantasist, has more emphasis on WD and GW, 

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Half-elf, half-orc and the USS Enterprise

It struck me today, more forcefully than ever, just how radical by our standards Star Trek was when first shown. A mixed-race crew with representatives of former and current opponents in hot and cold armed conflict. They may have had a white North American male ordering them about, but by contrast the alien half-elf was arch conservativism.

The Next Generation always seemed to me a step forwards, but I suspect now it could have been a step back. An elder captain meant a more subtle paternalism, and as a Frenchman played by a Brit a reference to early influences on modern North American culture. For all the extra women on show - one to three in the main cast - and a man with a disability - overcome in part - there was less reflection of our diversity.

That diversity seemed to have been moved into other forms of life - an android and a Klingon - and with regard to opponents, the assumption seemed to have been made that mass conflict would eventually be overcome too. The Prime Directive reinforced this, suggesting each group had to make its own way up. But, as the android suggested with his growth arc, up appeared to mean human, or at least the ideals of the Federation.

It became fashionable to bash the good guys over the course of TNG, certainly in DS9, perhaps even to denigrate the idea of good. But there was a bright light in a character we might easily first equate with a half-orc - a trope I'd say is still fresh - Worf. The development of the Klingons through him made so much possible, not least DS9. 

His being there highlighted the value of an alternative perspective on things, the wonders of a reference to multiple sources, the deep fulfilment in a constant struggle to know the best approach. This struggle is likely a very general thing, something fundamental to a universe in which it appears just one of potentially many possibilities is experienced. If the Federation was this, Worf's essence as a character, it might have been a worthwhile venture, and on that level, through Worf, TNG may have kept that early radicalism alive.

Of course, that radicalism was largely conservative, belief in a wholesome past used to shape a better future. It seems to reject the Enlightenment while actually being at root the same process, an opening up of the mind to a lost, forgotten or revealed body of knowledge, the demonstration of its value and its use to synthesise new solutions.

But then from 1987 to 1994, the consensus outside Trek was for consensus itself, and a globalisation was moving visibly and fast. In this sense TNG may have been advocating the other view still, albeit this time a comfortable, cosy, closed tradition, as far as the franchise would tolerate. After all, an update of a successful series isn't especially bold.

As for the ideas of the original series, I won't argue the times weren't already moving ahead of Star Trek in the '60s, that the series was just matching a trend. But what does that say about us now? Who heads our fantasies today? A state-sponsored torturer in 24, an exclusive prostitute in Secret Diary of a Call Girl and a serial killer in Dexter.
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40K OSR? (5)

Warhammer 40,000 we know, but an OSR?

It can be an Old School Renaissance, an Other School Renaissance, even an Optional School Renaissance, or something else entirely. How about a Review, a Revolution, or another 'R'?

There's this 40K OSR logo now too thanks to Colonel Kane at Tales from the Maelstrom. Feel free to use it if you identify with the concept, especially if you're putting out new ideas.

If you do use it, I'd ask only you credit Colonel Kane and give some thought to adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your blogroll, for reasons that will be clear if you visit. Check out the rogue trader conversion up now.

This week we're a day late of course, but all good things...

• Almost no new mechanics this week, with just Big Jim at Galaxy in Flames and his house rules for large games...

• ... and arguably Mik at Mik's Minis with rules for the Sons of Minos for Deathwatch. Have a look at the converted team, with an early techmarine.

• Lantz has been as busy as usual, showing us at The Magnet Pro a titan tech priest conversion and a batch of ad mech miniatures painted by Mr. Lemon, including two gants, a unit of praetorians and some characters. Re the comments to the first, C'nor is on the case with the non-Chaos daemons.

• Commissar Carrie will be providing material for Lantz's AdMech FanDex, which is good news, as the latest instalment of Radical shows.

• At Craftworld Iybraesil HurricaneGirl has a story of her own, one featuring a radical tactic and illustrated with a pic of the original land speeder.

• On old pics, Unite All Action looks at the origins of Ghazghkull in White Dwarf 134 and wonders what can be learnt from older armies. I get a buzz out of that final photo I just don't get today; I think it's numbers and space. There's also a painboy using more original battlewagon kit parts.

• Re the past, Hungry Ghosts at his Chaos Squat blog has a look at a pre-Rogue Trader sci-fi ruleset from GW, Spacefarers.

• Back to writing briefly, Auberon at Digital Waaagh! yesterday published an interview with Dan Abnett, one of several big names in the series so far.

• And modelling again, to Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze, who's now working through a massive Orkified stormhammer, maybe my favourite old Epic superheavy, and some renegade rough riders on steeds of Slaanesh.

• On the subject of big Ork vehicles, John Lambshead at John's Toy Soldiers has scratchbuilt chinork transport, otherwise available from Forge World.

• For a big vehicle full stop, take a look at Gotthammer's stunning phantom titan at Collegia Titanica, inspired by Tron. He's also just posted two names using Tolkien's Quenya, as well as some 40K haikus.

• Back to Chaos, at Warpstone Flux jabberjabber is putting together a lord on horseback for each of the four powers - Khorne and Nurgle so far.

Linked with this is a wild card for this week, the Miracle Workers rules for Mordheim at Liber Malefic. Possible inspiration given the links between game worlds and systems. Also a wild card is CounterFett's suggestion at All Things Fett for alternative marines.

So what have I missed?

Maybe you've seen more new rules out there, or another variation of some kind? Maybe you posted something? If you have OSRy material to share, don't be shy - just leave a link. Put the logo up too if you want to, or just do things your way.

Update: Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze has now put up the first on a converted Trojan.

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Animal doctor?

Hmm... No domesticated animals adapted for Humanspace Empires. Yet. Who starts?

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Lesser daemon of Malal..?

Has anyone else seen this?

It belongs to us now. It's all ours. Over at netherwerks they're generous people. And creative. Look at their other blogs.

It's an unnamed monster with no stats in any system. The idea is to fix that, see how many ways it could be done. I'm getting beserker, daemon, spaceman...

How about a new kind of lesser daemon for Warhammer 40,000, maybe for that mysterious Chaos god, Malal? Back in the early days of the 1980s there were mentions, but we've long settled down into the standard quartet of Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch and Slaanesh.

We don't know very much about Malal, but axes are suggestive, given the Dreadaxe and starmetal axe in the stories of Kaleb Daark and Skrag the Slaughterer. In a 1987 card game the god was represented by a warband of beastmen, and that ties in here too. We understand Malal is an outcast or renegade and aims at destroying the other four.

Doctor Who's who

The Happy Whisk asked me at her blog a day or so ago who my favourite Doctor Who is.

Our favourite Doctor is not necessarily the same as our Doctor of course, but in my case the two probably do take the one form. I'd go with the controversial choice of the seventh, Sylvester McCoy.

Why? Well, I think the question can only really be answered by watching the shows themselves. One is all but required viewing for Who fans anyway, Remembrance of the Daleks.

Saying this is also a little controversial perhaps, in that the shows are in a sense the weakest means of experiencing Who over the medium and maybe longer haul, in terms of scripts, acting and effects; famously so for the effects, and maybe the scripts now too.

Is it a dread? Is it a knight? Well, ...

My thoughts on the complaining about GW's new dreadknight are sketched out here. As I wrote at Brent's, "For me there's much less to argue with in that model than we'd been led to expect." As ever, the calm reassessment and acceptance has begun.

But here's an angle I've not seen picked up on yet. Count the 'classic' tropes in this vid.

This is Krang, in case anyone is wondering. Well done if you are!
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