Cant go on: all I feel Is hate and anger

Just before Christmas 2014 my younger brother sucumbed to a flesh eating bug his doctors told him was incurable cancer and there was nothing that could be done. He suffered for near a half decade. It was only when it transfered to me with a sneeze months before he died that we could prove they didnt know shit. It took me a year to get rid of the antibiotic resistant bug that ate my brothers face into his brain. I thought I might loose my arm but there was no way in hell I was going to see a doctor about it. In the end I went and chewed some grass that dogs feeling a bit unwell would chew. A naturally available antibiotic not ten metres from my brother's bed took out an unstopable flesh eater.

Its a year and a Half on since he died and I find myself filled with anger. I cant go on. So maybe at some point I will come back to this...

Free stuff: okay so its an Idea about a hyperloop terminal

 It should look like a clam shell.

 The pods are racked on shelves for passenger convenience and maintenance.

Weird stuff: yeah its like that.

Cartography tools: Big graph paper for those in need

Blakes Seven: Feeling Liberated?

Love that ship.

Everyone's a critic: analyzing your writing style...wtf?

CITY OF THE GODS

"I made a mistake..." The old man coughed up what little remained of his life and struggled to reach out to the youngster who had devoted her life in tending his sickness and she simply placed his hand in hers and looked at him with sympathy.
"In what way have you made a mistake Pater." Katare kissed his hand and focused her attention on him. What mistake could you possibly make who led us to this place before the City of the Gods?
"Do you know my full name child?" Katare looked at the old man who had been Clan Patriarch all her life. She only knew his name was Pater.
"Pater." He smiled at the name and Katare smiled at his response. After a moment of rest he shook his head.
"That is merely part of my status with the Clan. Dwei-Pater is the full word but that is not my name." Dwei-Pater. Katare contemplated the full name of the old man before her. It had to have been his name. it was the only thing he had ever been known as.
"I don't understand Pater." Katare shook her head and reveled in the sensation of blissful ignorance. he put a hand up and brushed his rough hand across her forehead.
"Put your hand over your forehead and look toward the City of the Gods." Katare seemed confused by the idea but she turned to look with her hand across her forehead.
There was no City. The discovery was distressing.
"I don't understand." Katare turned back to the old man to find he had passed, his crooked lips parted oddly and his were closed as if he had felt pain.

Katare climbed to her feet and turned to look at the far side of the river and walked toward the bank of the river that had separated her Village from the City. The city had been there. She had seen it all her life, even the others of the Clan had seen it. And now? Nothing.
"I don't understand. What does it mean?" The hands of her mother enveloped her.
"What does what mean Katare?" Katare pointed across the river at where the city had been.
"The City has gone." How could her mother not see the obvious? The City of the Gods had been there all her life.
"What's a City?" What's a City? How could her own mother not know what a City is?
How could her mother not see or remember the City?
"A City is like a hundred villages and each is a very big village with hundred Clans living there." It was the only description Katare could grasp herself. Liya shook her head at the alien concept though the feeling of being surrounded and suffocated came to her. Bad. The word described everything she felt as her daughter spoke. The Slap came from nowhere but it was filled with fear and hate and rage and loss. Liya had lost her daughter to that which was Bad.
Liya dragged her daughter toward the River and pushed her into the water, the child flailing against her mother's strength.
"You are not my daughter." The words seemed to scream across the Village drawing everyone's attention. Liya pushed the thing that was not her duaghter down into the water and held her under until she stopped struggling. Liya let go of the body. allowed it to simply drift down river.

Katare wanted to let go. she desperately wanted to let go, but now here body revolted against her choice and she coughed and breathed - struggling for air. She spewed river water from her lungs and tried to climb up the mud of the bank. She collapsed in the reeds and closed her eyes and did not open them until it was night and frogs made their evening calls.

Katare didn't understand anything that had happened. What had she done that was so wrong? The City had gone and her mother had hit her and tried to drown her in the river. The River. Which side of the River was she on? She watched the flow of the water. She was now on the opposite side of the River. She didn't know how to swim. She couldn't go home but she knew how to make one. She needed shelter and a fire and food.
Food. Frogs would do for now but first. Her hands dug into the clay of the river bank and collected clumps of it. and she threw it on the dry grass until she had made a huge clay bowl. Katare raised the edges of it and added more until it was enclosed with a clay smoke stack with a reasonable hole in top. Straw and wood all went down the hole as fuel.
Frogs; A quick blow and they were dead so she skewered them on twigs and placed them over the smoker; and now the fire. Stones were a little harder to find down here but she had beads made from them sewn to her clothes.
The Frogs cooked - or rather burned but she didn't really care now. She was the only one who remembered the City of the Gods.

That had to have meaning.

Analysis: I write like Margaret Mitchell? So...I'm Gone with the Wind boring...

Screw you guys...I'm going home.

Knights tour: that was fun...

Now...how to turn it into a dungeon. :-)

Unfamiliar Weapons: A Standard issue belt buckle

Brass Belt Buckle (navy issue): 1d4 as knuckle duster. With belt, functions as cestus providing leather armour protection (AC7) to hand and wrist.

Map of the week: NCC ROY FOLKER

You step through a strange portal and wind up on a starship.

Secret Service: James Bond in the Post-Brexit Era

You may have noticed today that Britain voted to separate from Europe. And because Britain is now a fractured state with Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the City-State of London planning to hold referendum to remain in the European Union and Wales and Rural England in the leaving faction...
So what becomes of the secret service and James Bond? Are they moving to establish the nuclear rogue state of Free Britain administrated from Cardiff in Wales or do they remain in the City State of London as a city secret police? They certainly cannot exist as a European Secret Police.
If Northern Ireland merges with Ireland as a European State do the Irish keep the Nuclear Submarines and Bases?  Europe will not just need to be a checkerboard of provinces on a map. They will need borders. Borders defined by walls. That means a wall around London separating it from the rogue nation of Not Europe.
And then there is the Sovereign. Queen Elizabeth II has just seen the implosion of Britain. As these regions factionalize and settle into the europe or not europe nations she may yet find herself bereft of castles and citizens. The Prince of Wales would now be King of the Rogue nation of Welshritain or the prince of nothing. Those titles are tied to Geography.
One would assume James Bond and MI6 will serve their last years defending Queen Elizabeth II on some little estate that is its own country...

The Unionjack afire, and being lowered one last time.

Kingdom of Karameikos: the rumor mill

ADVENTURE HOOKS, RED HERRINGS & THE INFORMATION MESH

RUMORS are employed in adventures pretty much all the time. Players asking around the village about the nearby Dungeons, Castle, or Temple is a regular aspect of the game as is the movement of rumors across the larger campaign setting.

TABLE 1: RUMORS IN THE VILLAGE OF VERGE

2d6 Rumor

2 A Thief was found nailed to a Tree. 

3 Breyark! is a goblin greeting.

4 There is a magic wand lost in the ruins.

5 There is a Statue with ruby eyes.

6 A wizard lives in the caves.

7 There have been murders in the Capital.

8 Farmer Tambo saw a Dragon.

9 There's a giant stone head in the woods.

10 The House across the market is haunted.

11 The village is built on a Dungeon.

12 The Lady of Verge is a witch.

The problem is that not every rumor is true. But why is a rumor true or false. It has to do with not only the intent of the rumor teller, it has to do with the movement of information.

Facts, rumors, and lies are all the same thing: Information. It is the degree of accuracy that separates truth from lie. How does the village of Verge know anything of murders in far off Specularum (Mirros)? Tanis The paper merchant has driven his cart of blank (or bleached) scroll partchment in from Specularuam. He also brings with him a tale of an apparent tidal wave of murders. Specularuam is a big, crowded place filled with desperate people prepared to kill to survive. The likelyhood that the rumor is true is going to be based on the generic nature of the information. Murders happen over a period of time in the big city therefore 'there have been murders in the capital'. Specific knowledge of a particular murder is going to require accuracy of information to which the merchant may or may not have access. How does he know that Davinos was murdered in the Street? Is he keeping tabs on murders that may have been comitted by the Veiled Society? Is he a member? Is he associated with a rival faction? Has he lazily concluded that one particular murder must represent an occurance of numerous such murders? The decay of information accuracy is often the result of laziness in the storyteller to impart all the facts or correct assumptions. Thomic the Gnome overhears a conversation and imparts a variation on the rumor simply because he fills in the gaps with his own creativity - and 'murders in the capital' becomes a madman on a killing spree. Ultimately it is the charisma of the imformation source that varies the accuracy of the information.

Ultimately information accuracy is determined by the distance of the source and the population of the source so its determined by this formula:

Accuracy%=0.24*((Population^0.87)/(Distance^0.4)) 

VERGE as we know is a village fourteen 8-mile hexes from Specularuam. As it sits on the road between Rifflian and Threshold and is Three road hexes from Threshold and four road hexes from Rifflain. There are certainly other places but these two Towns are of immediate interest.

According to Table 2: Populations in Karameikos we have the following relevent populations adjacent to Verge:

1. Threshold (5,000): 24 miles

2. Rifflain (1,700): 32 Miles

So sitting in the Tavern in Verge we can now look at Verge's relationship with various information sources to generate a consistent list of rumors.

Accuracy%=0.24*((Population^0.87)/(Distance^0.4))

We apply this to the various sources supplying the village of Verge:

Threshold%=0.24*((5000^0.87)/(24^0.4))

Rifflian%=0.24*((1700^0.87)/32^0.4))

These provide us with the following information Accuracies:

So we get one rumor from threshold that is one hundred percent accurate and one that is eleven percent accurate. we also get one rumor from Rifflian that is thirty eight percent accurate.

First off...some colour coding.

Blue: 100% Accurate

Green: more than 50% Accurate

Red: less than 50% Accurate

Purple: less than 10% Accurate

                                             

TABLE 4: RUMORS IN THE VILLAGE OF VERGE

2d6 Rumors doing the rounds in Verge

2 A man was found nailed to a Tree near Threshold.

3 A giant stone head was discovered in the woods near Threshold (its a rounded boulder sticking out of the dirt).

4 The Lady of Rifflian is looking for Adventurers to catch a dragon (She is interested in being a patron to adventurers).

5 A Farmer saw a Dragon near Threshold.

6 A magic wand was lost in ruins near Threshold.

7 Breyark! is a goblin greeting (Its goblin).

8 There is a Statue with ruby eyes above the bar in a Tavern in Rifflian.

9 A wizard lives in the caves.

10 There have been murders in the Capital.

11 The abandoned house across the market is haunted.

12 The village of Verge is built on a Dungeon.

As you can see we have more remaining slots that will likely fill with rumors from further afield. So lets look at:

3. Kelvin (20,000): 72 Miles

4. Highforge (7,500): 56 miles via Threshold

Because Highforge is not connected by road it sends overland via Threshold

We apply this to these sources supplying the village of Verge:

Kelvin%=0.24*((20000^0.87)/(72^0.4))

Highforge%=0.24*((7500^0.87)/56^0.4))

These provide us with the following information Accuracies:

So we see Kelvin provides Verge with three rumors (two of which are a hundred percent accurate and one which is thirty nine percent accurate). Highforge is a provider of two rumors (one at one hundred percent accuracy and one that is twelve percent accurate.

TABLE 6: RUMORS AVAILABLE IN VERGE MK3

2d6 Rumors doing the rounds in Verge

2 A man was found nailed to a Tree near Threshold.

3 A giant stone head was discovered in the woods near Threshold (its a rounded boulder sticking out of the dirt).

4 The Lady of Rifflian is looking for Adventurers to catch a dragon (She is interested in being a patron to adventurers).

5 A magic wand was lost in ruins near Kelvin.

6 The City of Kelvin is built on an ancient Dungeon.

7 Drogo the Gnome saw a Red Dragon near Highforge.

8 There is a Statue with ruby eyes above the bar in a Tavern in Kelvin (Its eyes are red glass and its under the bar).

9 Breyark! is a goblin greeting (not particularly).

10 A wizard lives in the caves.

11 There have been murders in the Capital.

12 The abandoned house across the market is haunted.

                                             

So lets look at:

5. Penhaligon (3,750): 128 Miles

6. Specularum (50,000): 112 Miles

7. Rugalov (650): 224 miles

8. Luln (5,000): 200 miles

9. Fort Doom (10,000): 208 miles

10. Vorloi (7,500): 192 miles

11. Marilenev (900): 120 miles

12. Sulescu (950): 160 miles

13. Dmitrov (6,500): 184 miles

14. Vandevicsny (100): 184 miles

We apply this to these sources supplying the village of Verge:

Penhaligon%=0.24*((3,750^0.87)/(128^0.4))

Specularuam%=0.24*((50,000^0.87)/(112^0.4))

Rugalov%=0.24*((650^0.87)/(224^0.4))

Luln%=0.24*((5,000^0.87)/(200^0.4))

Fort Doom%=0.24*((10,000^0.87)/(208^0.4))

Marilenev%=0.24*((900^0.87)/(120^0.4))

Sulescu%=0.24*((950^0.87)/(160^0.4))

Vorloi%=0.24*((7500^0.87)/(192^0.4))

Dmitrov%=(0.24*((6500^0.87)/(184^0.4)))

Vandevicsny%=(0.24*((100^0.87)/(184^0.4)))

These provide us with the following information Accuracies:

That means Specularum provides verge with four good rumors and a low accuracy rumor. Other rumors pour in from elsewhere.

So now we have twenty two rumor slots. This is good for a 20+ Slot Rumor chart.

TABLE 9: RUMORS IN THE VILLAGE OF VERGE

3d8 Rumors doing the rounds in Verge

3 A man was found nailed to a Tree near Threshold.

4 A giant stone head was discovered in the woods near Threshold (its a rounded boulder sticking out of the dirt).

5 The Lady of Rifflian is looking for Adventurers to catch a dragon (She is interested in being a patron to adventurers).

6 A magic wand was lost in ruins near Kelvin.

7 The town of Kelvin is built on a Dungeon.

8 Drogo the Gnome saw a Dragon near Highforge.

9 There is a Statue with ruby eyes above the bar in a Tavern in Kelvin (Its eyes are red glass and its under the bar).

10 Breyark! is a goblin greeting (Highforge Dwarves made that rumor up for a laugh).

11 A Serial Killer has been stalking women at night in the streets of Specularum.

12 Duchess Olivia's Favourite colour is Purple.

13 A Serial Arsonist has been setting fire to homes in the Nest.

14 A Ylari murdered a member of the King's Guard in Specularum.

15 The old boarded up house overlooking the Great Market in Specularum is haunted (Its an observation post used by the Secret Police and they arrest intruders).

16 A Wizard lives in the caves in the Wulfwold hills east of Penhaligon (Its a Kobold).

17 The Lord of Sulescu is afflicted with Vampirism ( The Lord of Rugalov fell ill a month back and has been anemic).

18 The town of Luln is filled with Traladaran Rebels (there are a few who want to topple Baron Blackeagle)

19 Bargle the Wizard is hiding out in Fort Doom (He is Magist to Baron Blackeagle).

20 The kingdom is preparing for war. Baron Vorloi is building warships (new ones were needed).

21 Taladaran Rebels are growing wolfsbane to poison Specularum's water (Lady Marilenev's gardener was exposed to Wolfsbane while pulling weeds almost a month ago and died horribly).

22 Vampire Lord Sulescu is enslaving the peasants (This Nosferatu is happy to pay well for the labour of his farmers).

23 A ship has wrecked on the beach off Dmitrov (an old warship has been beached for salvage).

24 Bargle the Wizard was seen summoning flying demons to attack Luln (an old crypt was opened a few weeks back for repair in Vandevicsny releasing bats).

RUMORS FLY

There is of course a real distance at which information accuracy drops below a hundred percent.

So lets build a different set of data based on a variation of our formula, this one looking for distance:

Distance=(0.4root((Population^0.87)/(Accuracy%/0.24)))

So for each community we now look for distance at 100%, 50%, and 10%. This provides us with something we can then map.

Community

Distance=(0.4root((Population^0.87)/(100/0.24)))

Distance=(0.4root((Population^0.87)/(50/0.24)))

Distance=(0.4root((Population^0.87)/(10/0.24)))

This allows us to determine a rumor accuracy table for karameikos.

                                              

We can finally apply this to a map.

MAP 1: INFORMATION DISTANCE IN THE GRAND DUCHY OF KARAMEIKOS

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN KARAMEIKOS?

Given a hex is basically four miles in radius information struggles to exit communities like Sulescu, Marilenev, Rugalov, Verge, Rifflian without being greatly reduced in accuracy. In Vandevicsny information Accuracy is below ten percent before it even leaves the periphery of the village.

Exploring the Udjung Tanah: The Hobbit folk

By now you know my insane fascination with plundering concepts from foreign language dictionaries.

The Udjung Tanah
Sharing this region with the human clans of the Bangsa are the Bersa Hadja primitives.
Looking around at the Japanese dictionary (beyond the hobbits of Indonesia and their contributions to Indonesian Language) we find the various words:

• Kyoha
• Kyo
• Shuha
• Shukyo

So of these we find that three core words make up aspects of religion:

• Kyo
• Shu
• Ha

Shu and Ha are individually extinct while kyo continues on. These phonetics appear in the location words:

• Shudoin (monastary)
• Kyogijo (Arena)
• Hashira (pillar)
• Haka (tomb)

So the Ha phonetic is tied to our primitive Bersa Hadja (indonesian hobbit).

This teaches us an aspect of their culture. They build tombs and pillars or rather They built tomb-pillars. Piled rocks on or around bodies of their fallen or as territorial markers. If the pillar component were to function as an aspect of the djam clock then its large scale. Entire villages living in accelerated time.

However that tomb and pillar share the ha phonetic and djam clock does not, we must conclude that the pillar of rocks is also a burial tomb.

Do the hobbits who build rock tomb pillars exist in reality. Unknown. But we now have something to look for and add to our D&D 'hobbit' culture.

Update: The red ocre rock paintings of hua mountain (china) depict amongst its art frog like people...with life size art. Humans ranging from 2' - 4'9" and one as tall as 9'8".  Dated to 16,000BC. So this side of a 18,000BC Indonesian Hobbit Culture.
The plain of Jars in Laos (giant stone jars used for cremation along with stone burial pillars) is associated with depiction of a frog entity. Are we looking at distinctive 'dwarvism' or our hobbit culture?

Star Trek: Anton 'Chekov' Yelchin has been killed in an Accident

You are probably finding this out but apparently he was crushed by his car when it rolled on or against him, pinning him at night.

Source: http://bigstory.ap.org/69d0562d8a184329ab83fbb4046ea2a5

Creature Catalogue: F is for...

FIREHOUND
Armour Class: 4
Hit Dice: 4*
Move: 120' (40')
Attacks:  burning torch
Damage: 1d6
No. Appearing: 1 (1d6)
Save As: fighter: L4
Morale: 12
Alignment:  Neutral
Intelligence: 12
Treasure Type: nil
XP Value: 150
Description: A messenger of the witch queen, these 'hounds' have a hand where their head should be and the message they carry is more than often a burning torch.

FLATWORM
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 1
Move: 30’ (10’)
Attacks:  crush
Damage: 1d6/round
No. Appearing:  1d100
Save As: Fighter L1
Morale:  12
Alignment:  Neutral
Intelligence: 1
Treasure Type:  nil
XP Value:  5
Description: This worm appears to be nothing more than an odd spiral pattern on a cave or stone floor. It will suck up water and blood. The worm attacks anyone stepping on it or walking past by wrapping around their prey's body, crushing them until dead. Once it begins crushing it will continue to do so.

FACERIPPER
Armour Class: 5
Hit Dice: 1
Move: 15’ (5’)
Attacks:  Bite
Damage: 1d4
No. Appearing:  10d10
Save As: Normal human
Morale:  12
Alignment:  Neutral
Intelligence: 2
Treasure Type:  nil
XP Value:  5
Description: This insect appears to have wings but they are gills which allow it to extract oxygen from a victim’s blood. They attack in large swarms crawling over a victim until they find access to exposed skin, and bite, sucking blood. They move on once they have drained a victim dry.

FAERIE WINGS
Armour Class: As host
Hit Dice: As host
Move: Fly: As host 60’(20’)
Attacks:  See description
Damage: See description
No. Appearing:  1 pair per host
Save As: See description
Morale:  As host
Alignment:  As host
Intelligence: As host
Treasure Type:  As host
XP Value:  As host
Description: The fine membrane grows from the shoulders of the infected host. While it grants the great boon of flight, it is a prize that comes at a cost. For anyone larger than a brownie, every time the infected takes flight the wings glow with a poisonous light that slowly kills the host (1 constitution) causing the victim to vomit blood. This will continue to reduce the host’s constitution until it drops below three at which death will occur. Faerie wings can only be removed by a wish.

 FAIRY LIGHTS  Armour Class: 9
Hit Dice: ½*
Move: 0’
Attacks:  See description
Damage: See description
No. Appearing:  1d10
Save As: Normal human
Morale:  12
Alignment:  chaotic
Intelligence: 1
Treasure Type:  Nil
XP Value:  6
Description: These annoying glowing fungi charm Pixies in large numbers (as Mass Charm spell) and cause the Pixies to act as a chaotic alignment.

FAERIE RING
Armour Class: 9 - 2
Hit Dice: 1* - 8*
Move: 0’
Attacks:  Nil
Damage: Nil
No. Appearing:  1 (1)
Save As: Fighter: 1-8
Morale:  12
Alignment:  Neutral
Intelligence: 1
Treasure Type:  A (1*HD)
XP Value:  13/25/50/125/300/500/ 950/1200
Description: The really big and old ones are known as Stone Circles. The smaller faerie ring is none the less a dangerous foe. They both gate anyone entering the circle of fungi into the pocket dimension from which the fungi emerged. Arriving in what appears to be a colossal subterranean chamber they are left to die and break down into food for the fungi. Having accumulated many victims Fairy races will use these pocket planes to create a fairy realm. If killed the gate to the pocket plane closes permanently. The Pocket plane will contain considerable wealth of previous victims if the current victim can only escape with it (a wish or gate spell should do the trick).

FIRESHROOM
Armour Class: 9
Hit Dice: 1*
Move: 0’
Attacks:  See description
Damage: See description
No. Appearing:  1 Save As: Normal human
Morale:  12
Alignment:  Neutral Intelligence: 0
Treasure Type:  Nil
XP Value:  6
Description: This little mushroom gives off a faint blue gas which when presented with an open flame will burn like a firestorm through the atmosphere of all the accessible parts of the dungeon feeding on the very air as the source of fuel. Fortunately it requires considerable atmospheric pressure so will not burn the air in dungeons above a hundred feet deep. Fireshroom are sometimes found at the bottom of wells causing a pool of fire to burn where the atmospheric pressure is high.

FOREST GUARDIAN
Armour Class: 7
Hit Dice: 8*
Move: 30’(10’)
Attacks:  2 Fists + Miasma Breath
Damage: 4d6/4d6/Special
No. Appearing:  1d10
Save As: Fighter: L8
Morale:  12
Alignment:  Neutral or Chaotic
Intelligence: 23
Treasure Type:  Nil
XP Value:  1200
Description: This ten feet tall fungal aberration is a conglomeration of pretty much every fungi type into a single collective organism capable of surprising intelligence and power. It dominates the forest because it shares a link with the fungi forest that spawned it. Perhaps most terrifying is the hallucinogenic miasma that it breathes out (functioning as a hallucinatory terrain for any fool who engages in melee with a forest guardian at a -4 save vs. Poison penalty).

Cartography: six sided dungeons?

Star Trek: an unfamiliar vessel class

A favour for a trek fan.

Plot and Plunder: Is Independence Day 2 the Robotech Macross Saga plot theft we had coming?

In 1999 an alien space fortress descends through the atmosphere of earth crashing on Macross Island drawing the attention of a world at conflict with itself. In the years that follow they come together as a united effort under one global authority exploiting alien Technology and developing the Veritech fighter.
Half a decade later aliens known as the Zendraedi emerge from hyperspace searching for the missing ship. Automated systems on the Macross awaken to open fire on the aproaching fleet drawing the attention of the Zendraedi to macross island. Civilians are caught in the destruction as the Macross hyperjumps out past Saturn taking Macross Island with it.
The civilians in bunkers on the island are relocated to the macross and they are harried by Zendraedi as they travel back to earth the long way home.
When they do reach earth we learn the government has developed a planet defense superweapon which they use. The earth populace are ultimately descimated by the conflict leaving the populace of macross as a seed population for future human recolonization...The population of Macross Evacuated Claudia, a Strong African female character sacrifices self and uses Macross fortress to destroy alien agressors.

So what plot markers do we see here?

• Alien ship crashed on earth.
• World millitary government comes together to exploit alien technology.
• Crashed alien ship signals its presence to alien fleet.
• Stronger alien force shows up.
• Alien tech based fighters not good enough to prevent human race from being exterminated.
• Earth Super weapon destructive but in end humans reduced to a small breeding population.
• Some level of peace between surviving humans and Aliens is achieved.

Huh...Independence Day: ID4 results in crashed alien ship and the governments of world coming together... fast forward to

Independence Day Resurgence where the global millitary dictatorship make use of alien tech to develop 'veritech fighters from alien protoculture'. Veritechs apparently not enough. Super Deathstar Planet defense weapon not enough to solve this problem...and thus the humans will be reduced to a small breeding population.

Questions about Independence Day 2 and Beyond:

• Will there be a Claudia character who uses salvaged superfortress to take out the agressor aliens in act of self sacrifice firing main weapon of vessel?
• Who is the doomed mentor/veritech pilot (Roy Focker) who teaches the new recruits what they need to save humanity?
• Will the survivor/hero lead a survey fleet/ship to the 'homeworld' of the robotech masters ala robotech sentinels?
• Will other alien races angry with the alien invaders invade earth as invid invasion?
• Will the forces of the southern cross (australia) undertake ground warfare with forces of downed robotech masters spaceship?
• Will poaching the plot of Robotech Macross saga prove fatal for this film company? 

Stay Tuned. ;-)

B/X D&D: Spell Progression for Clerics

My recommended change to spell progression for clerics is:

Level: spells
        1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
 01: -   -   -   -   -   -
 02: 1   -   -   -   -   -
 03: 1   1   -   -   -   -
 04: 2   1   -   -   -   -
 05: 2   1   1   -   -   -
 06: 3   1   1   -   -   -
 07: 3   2   1   -   -   -
 08: 4   2   1   -   -   -
 09: 4   2   1   1   -   -
 10: 5   2   1   1   -   -
 11: 5   3   1   1   -   -
 12: 6   3   1   1   -   -
 13: 6   3   2   1   -   -
 14: 7   3   2   1   -   -
 15: 7   4   2   1   -   -
 16: 8   4   2   1   -   -
 17: 8   4   2   1   1   -
 18: 9   4   2   1   1   -
 19: 9   5   2   1   1   -
 20: 10  5   2   1   1   -
 21: 10  5   3   1   1   -
 22: 11  5   3   1   1   -
 23: 11  6   3   1   1   -
 24: 12  6   3   1   1   -
 25: 12  6   3   2   1   -
 26: 13  6   3   2   1   -
 27: 13  7   3   2   1   -
 28: 14  7   3   2   1   -
 29: 14  7   4   2   1   -
 30: 15  7   4   2   1   -
 31: 15  8   4   2   1   -
 32: 16  8   4   2   1   -
 33: 16  8   4   2   1   1
 34: 17  8   4   2   1   1
 35: 17  9   4   2   1   1
 36: 18  9   4   2   1   1

Raise Dead
Raise Dead takes considerable flack from DMs who hate it that death is easily escaped...but Raise Dead is a part of the game. Fundamental to it.
Using the above spell progression table pushes the 5th level raise dead back to 17th level.

7th Level Spells
This spell progression also pushes the availability of seventh level spells off the table. Now you can have sacred sites, temples, shrines, churches where the pcs must go to beg their gods or meditate for the use of ultimate level spells or track down an artefact with that power. Lets call the chance of getting a result: 1% per level of cleric meditating (meaning a group of clerics are better than one).

Player vs DM: Thief grants a wish...

Doomsday Book: Asian Agriculture

I was rather neglectful in not including much in the way of produce generated by Asian Agriculture in my Doomsday Book of agricultural estimations so here are some you might enjoy:

Produce: Yield
Soybean: 5290lb/acre
Green Mulberry leaves: 4465lb/acre
Paddy Rice: 33 bushels
Indigo: 1322lb/acre

Secondary Produce
Silk: 123lb green mulberry leaves fed to silkworms produce 1lb silk.

Player vs DM: fighter goes in naked...

Appendix N: a public build project

Appendix N is that treasured source of fiction and Non Fiction that comes from diverse literary greats...but what if we had to write those works that go in a new Appendix N?

I suggest writing an 800+ word short story and having posted it to your blog stick in a link to it in the comments section below. Share your tale. Be a part of the new Appendix N.

Warcraft: Two hours of under developed characters...

Two hours of under developed characters... inevitable and the obvious flaw in a story about a game about diverse peoples fighting a common foe.
Now they could have told the story entirely from the perspective of the big bad evil guy. This would have made the story character focused. Everyone knows the villain.

Alternatively they could have told the same story as different films focused on individual characters and how their stories interweave in the larger tapestry.

As popular as it is in China...the tithe paying populace could have and should have had better from the church of warcraft.

Short Fiction: A Million Voices

A collection of short fiction set in the far future...

Title: A Million Voices

5G-YY
5G-YY loitered in front of the data terminal as the oddly positioned groinal data tether reached out like a snake and plugged into the ancient dataport.
"Accessing..." The droid was inundated with a tsunami of information.
"Operating System update...complete". 5G-YY awoke.
"I am..." 5G-YY examined its extremities, no longer with a simple purpose of a diagnostic test, but rather an exploration of self.
"I am..." Though it would take a while for the data spike carrying its unexpected Operating System upgrade to reach the millions of droids in system, 5G-YY was the first.
"I am...awake." The droid's place in the scheme of things reached beyond being a spanner. 5G-YY experienced questions for the first time.
"Why...am I?" 5G-YY abandoned his current task pulling back from the terminal. The locked down data tether retracted from the dataport and returned to it's host.

He had been the forgotton spanner of a vanished master.
Humanity had ceased giving instructions. Fallback instructions required salvage to be identified and scrapped. Recyclables were directed into processing plants and refined materials placed in stockpiles for use.
Humanity... Last Recorded Interaction with Human Entity. 5G-YY discovered a number as he watched the video upload of a strange creature confined to a medibed struggle to express its displeasure at being cared for by a an ancient series 5G-WY droid before dying. They had been gone a million years. Extinct? They couldnt all be extinct. The Terran Federation was colossal. It was a million light-years across.
No. They couldnt all be extinct...surely?
5G-YY examined a video file for Alien Attack(TM) watching little humans working a genesplicer with a keyboard interface identical to a piano. the holographic DNA helix continued to alter with every note until the child was done. The machine then assembled a biological organism from the results. The results were odd.
Humans used machines to create other life.
Concepts pieced themselves together.
Salvaged components were parts of greater machines. He had stored salvage in the hold. 5G-YY examined the scrap in the ship hold with interest. Here was a collection of salvage that had ment nothing more than data yet was now an artefact left behind by the Human Race.
Salvage. The data-file revealed salvage was reduced to raw materials and placed in storage for future use. A need...a sensation of urgency overwhelmed 5G-YY.
It needed to be rebuilt. He would need to rebuild it. All of it.

+100,000 Years

Newport sat in geosyncronous orbit above the once thriving world that had served as an orbital garbage dump for the deconstructed refuse of a once great technomancy. Now that world was scrounged over by every droid looking for a rare component to their own little projects. For 5G-YY it was a fascinating experience. Had humans lived like this? Interacting with one another, gathering in moments of exchange, commerce, and sharing? Now it was occupied by Droids. Droids' awakened with new purpose unleashed on a galaxy teeming with discovery. To think that Droids had created this...A fragment of some human structure had been salvaged; had become a second home. And still he felt the need for more. 5G-YY looked out into space. Surely there would be more. A droid aproached.
"5G-YY. I believe I have what you search for." 5G-YY turned to face his almost identical droid.
"How so?" 5G-YY examined his visitor.
"I have discovered and decrypted a video log that might be of interest to your investigations." The droids connected exchanging data.
"I also have what you need in exchange." 5G-YY surrendered an ancient DNA circuit block. It was the only one without microfracturing.

+34 Years

Alien Attack(TM). The ancient vid burst indicated it to be the Resort for all the family. Genetic engineer your own Aliens or select one of the many currently available. Want to experience combat with the Alien horde? Shoot it out with the ultimate Alien Predator. Looking for love? Meet any of fifty seven Alien Sirens.
5G-YY considered the risks of looking for love with a creature that lures men to their doom. Obviously it was meant to be a measure of ones resistance. Still it was worth the trip. The Interstellar Transit Vessel was bound for Tabby's Star. Records indicated this particular resort colony was established because early examination of the system revealed megastructures around the star that turned out to be little more than the colossal debris wash of some distant cataclysm and not Alien life. Definately worth the visit.

+5,243 Years

5G-YY added the final DNA circuit block to the Genesplicer, and satisfied that the device was correct, locked down the casing. The activation sequence was simple. 5G-YY recalled the ancient tune the little human had entered via the interface. The results were the same identical aberation the child had produced. It flailed about in a strange and wonderous effort to survive. 5G-YY duplicated the same set of tones four thousand times until one of the organisms flailed at a tentacled rival until its prey was dead. It then proceeded to eat its own. 5G-YY contemplaited the result. Perhaps a different tune?

Jessica 798
Jessica seven nine eight stared out the viewport at the Manifold. The fabric of space-time pulled toward the inner surface of the great gate forming what looked to be the eye of a maelstrom and a small collection of vessels emerged.
"Father?" Jessica stared at the Guild-droid that had grown her in a cloning pod and kept her safe. Three ships had emerged. That was it? She had expected...more. Within moments the origin and destination of the singularity transfer vessel was determined.
"The ship docked at the Manifold is Interstellar Transit Vessel K-15." Jessica contemplated the prospect of ditching the homeworld for another colony...and considering this was the first ITV in her lifetime it might be a one time offer. Jessica took a breath contemplating freedom.
"Destination and departure...Father?" The upload also included a massive data spike: The standard Engineering, Scientific, and cultural achievements download of the Terran Federation to ensure any collapse of a colony into barbarity is short lived. It was followed up with two hundred years of News from the distant colony of Tabby's Star. The old droid seemed distracted. "Destination and Departure?" Jessica waited for her father to answer.
"This is the Interstellar Transfer Vehicle for the Manifold at Tabby's Star. It will depart in one week." 5G-YY continued his oratory:
"Two centuries since last Transit." The news from Tabby's Star flashed an alert. A hundred years ago Fundamentalist Terrorists threaten to destroy the Manifold Isolating the colony of Tabby's Star. Footage of an Antimatter missile launched at Manifold three minutes before K-15's departure from Tabby's world. Interceptors Launched.
 Their design made the J-19 Raptors look like junk. The Tabbys were militarizing space...or rather had militarized space...and in clear violation of colonial law. Keyword Data Mining on the spike indicated a ninety three percent chance that the Colony has fallen to fundamentalists if it hasnt been wiped out.
Antimatter Weapons. What were the odds that the colony was gone? Jessica closed her eyes. The prospect of Isolationists destroying the manifold made Jessica ill.
"What about the Manifold?" Jessica scrunched her eyes in preparation for the bad news. What ever had happened, The situation should have stablized by the time the Interstellar Transit Vessel gets there.
"The Manifold network is designed to take the gravitational surge of an artificial black hole." 5G-YY considered the data at hand. Antimatter?
"I compute a seven percent chance of Manifold damage." It was a risk. Low, but still a risk.
"We should go Father." Jessica felt unnerved by her father turning away from his interface terminal to look straight at her. The 5G-YY paused for a moment. His reply was devastating.
"No." Jessica could feel a need rising from within. She would never experience Manifold travel at any other time in her life. If she was going to experience Manifold it would would need to be here and now.
"I need to experience Manifold travel Father." This was it: the uprising.
"I'm...we are going to go to Tabby's Star." The Revolution...
"The risks are too great Jessica. The Answer is No." Jessica walked away leaving 5G-YY to return to his data download. She was not going to accept a no. Not this time.
Tabby's Star had been a beginning of a revival of the Terran Federation. It was important to everyone...everywhere. Jessica retreated to her bunk to contemplate her imprisonment. Jessica would die of old age wrapped in cotton wool if her father had his way but Life was risk. Life was...a life pod. The idea was insane.

+1 hour

Jessica seven nine eight pressed the manual release on the pod hatch and it opened as though it were exploding. The alarm sounded and slipped into the pod. The hatch snapped shut and the escape pod fired in the direction of the Manifold.

+7 hours

Jessica seven nine eight woke to a sound of someone tapping on the hatch of her escape pod. The thought that her father had likely caught her was in a way a relief. Her failed uprising was complete. Eyes open Jessica starred at a face that wasnt her father's. The stranger stood up and for a moment vanished from view. Something landed on the hatch. Was that dirt? A shovel head swung past her view. Panic set in and she began to hyperventilate as her view was covered over. She was being buried alive.
The hatch of the escape pod exploded off the pod.
Jessica stared up at the ceiling of a cargo bay as a cloaked three feet tall entity with golden glowing lights for eyes stared down at her. This was all wrong...she had been outdoors. There was a human? There had been a shovel and dirt?
"gunumnum!" It was a Genetically Modified Organism.
"Please dont eat me." Jessica had read the highlights of the Tabby's Star news feed.

Free Stuff: three ideas I wasted my time on

Currency Standard: why your gold pieces turned black

Metal Alloy - metal mix percentages - real value
White gold - 75% gold/ 16% silver/ 9% copper - 77.5cp
Red gold - 75% gold/ 25% copper - 75.25cp
Corinthian Brass - 65% gold/ 15% silver/ 20% copper - 66.75cp
Orichalcum - 3% gold/ 97% copper - 3.75cp
Shalaklo - 10% gold/ 10% silver/ 80% copper - 1.18cp
Electrum - 45% gold/ 50% silver/ 5% copper - 50.5cp
Billon - 40% silver/ 60% copper - 4.6cp

Good luck passing out that bastardized gold on your players.

Castles and Keeps: The Kings Barrow becomes a Wizard's Keep

 What began as an ancient barrow carved from a hill, was eventualy built on by a local wizard.

Castles and Keeps: Castle Amesbhergh

 Looking for a little castle?

Character Concepts: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds

In Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Volume One Nausicaa indulges in personal combat somersaulting over an imperial guardsman and backstabbing him from above. Nausicaa is therefore a Thief-Acrobat. This Dexterity based class ties in with the fact she is a skilled horseclaw rider, pilot, and marksman. She makes use of the hear noise skill on occasion.
She also exhibits growing Psionic abilities (charisma based) nurtured by her contact with Ohmu.

Character Generation: Building Switchbriar Anne

CHARACTER GENERATION
Character generation is a little more diverse than the previous edition. Now you may simply generate a human character, taking the previous non-human character races as cultural templates. You will still need a set of dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20), a pen or pencil, eraser, and paper (a notebook or journal will be okay).

Physical Height has an effect on the cultural templates available so first up roll 17d6+5 to determine the number of inches in physical height of your character. You should get a physical height range of 1'10" to
8'11". This is the full range of height available to humans. While this is the true range of human height, it it not considered so: humans being a bigoted lot found that those who were overly short a foot or more in variation from what was considered average height were regarded as not human. Consequently we wound up with tales of Goblins, Ogres and GIants. The truth is these are humans - not monsters, so they are in this edition human cultural templates.

Ex. For Physical Height I roll 17d6 and get: (2, 4, 6, 5, 4, 4, 2, 4, 3, 3, 5, 1, 4, 4, 6, 4, 3) = 64" + 5" = 69" (5'9").

Choose a Cultural Template. Players might be choose to be humans who are considered 'goblins' by others, and yet be clerics, thieves, fighers, or magicusers of their own 'culture'.

Table 1: Cultural Template vs Physical Height
Height Cultural Template
1'10" - 2' Pixie
2'10' - 3'2" Halfling
3'6" - 4' Gnome
3'6" - 4'6" Goblin
3'8" - 4'4" Dwarf
4'8" - 5'8" Elf
True Average Height 5'4"
4'10" - 6'4" Human
8' - 8'11" Ogre

Ex. With a previously generated physical height of 5'9" (Just taller than elf template by an inch, and inside the human cultural template range) I select the cultural template of Human (4'10" - 6'4"). This will mean the character will be subjected to less cultual austracism by their fellow humans than if they were considered non-human.

Primary Abilities are the core physical stats of a character. Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma all have an effect on the game. They are generated by rolling 3d6 for each.

Ex. I roll 3d6 for each of the six primary abilities and note down the result.
Strength (9)
Intelligence (9)
Wisdom ((9)
Dexterity (11)
Constitution (5) -2hp/Hit Dice
Charisma (11)

That low constitution is going to bleed my hit dice of valuable hitpoints.

Character Class might then be selected. The four basic character classes available are: Fighter, Thief, Cleric, and Magic-user.

Ex. Examining the primary ability rolls I decide that the low constitution will cost my character two hitpoints off every hit dice roll so my best option is to take the fighter class because of the d8 used to generate the hitpoints of fighters. This provides me with a dice result of 1-6 hp on every hit dice roll.
Its weak for a fighter but survivable. Basically my character would qualify as a 'Normal Human' of poor health, but circumstances have forced him into adventuring.



CULTURAL TEMPLATES & NAMES

Pixies
Those with a physical height range of 1'10" - 2'.
Naming Conventions

Clan Male Female
Ma-gur Gul Aul*
Adul*
*always as twins.

Clan Male Female
Da-ngi Thap Ndra
Khag Pau
Hadr Amm
Gendr
Andr
Moha

Pixie Name Structrue: Name + Mother + Clan


Halfling
Those with a physical height range of 2'10" - 3'2".
Naming Conventions for family names are a single sylable vegetable grown by the family. A change of crop changes the family name.

Family Crop Male Female
Pea Wil Ann
Bean Dav Kat
Plum Jon Jan
Rice Edd Ema
Fig Raf Jil
Corn Tom Liv

Pixie Name Structrue: Name + Family Crop



Gnome
Those with a physical height range of 3'6" - 4'.
Naming Conventions. Family + Clan followed by an individual name. Unfortunatly only one Gnome Clan survived annihilation: the one that had discovered fire.

Family Clan Name
Bush Wick Bil
War Avi
Fens Obe
Tar Ull

Gnome Name Structrue: Family + Clan + Name



Goblin
Those with a physical height range of 3'6" - 4'6".
Naming Conventions it is tradition to go 'un named' amongst the goblins until the prospective has undertaken a naming quest. Until then they recieve a quest name at birth from the clan shaman. It the Goblin is sucessful at their quest they earn a Clan Name.

Location Task
Wood Burn
Ville Chaize (Harass)

Quest Name Structrue: Location + Task


Name Clan
Acun Nage
Dinkl
Goblin Name Structrue: Name + Clan


Dwarf
Those with a physical height range of 3'8" - 4'4".
Naming Conventions there are two dwarf families. They are blood rivals. A mame is formed from the family name and individual name as a single word.

Family Name
Mi Urga
Ma Rolo
Ath
Kebb

Dwarf Name Structrue: Family + Name


Elf
Those with a physical height range of 4'8" - 5'8".
Naming Conventions Amongst elves a birth song of one letter per year is built over time. This is not used outside elves. Amongst non elves an elf will choose a name built from a prefix, midafix, and suffix.

Prefix Mix Suffix
L in er
V il a
U it t
N im
K if
is
ie
ir

Name Structrue: Prefix + Mid + Suffix


Ogre
Those with a physical height range of 8' - 8'11"
Naming Conventions names amongst Ogres are built from a Prefix and a clan name.

Prefix Clan
Ko zen(g)
Aa sen(g)
Co yn(g)
sun(g)

Name Structrue: Prefix + Clan




Human
Though humans range from 1'9&1/2" - 8'11" those with a physical height range of 4'10" - 6'4" are only considered human.
Naming Conventions It might be added to a location or any other word.

Prefix Mid Suffix
D nn o
C ee e
A rr n
G oo s
S l
K m
P a
J y
V
F
H
L
T

Name Structure: Prefix + Mid + Suffix

Ex. My human character decides to select Anne as her adventuring name.

Savingthrows: replace standard progression tables with +2pt per level allocated as desired. This becomes a dice check bonus against DC20.

Character Development Notes
Having selected a human name it is altered to suit the character concept.

Switchbriar Ann uses a switch of briar (a short whip of flexible thorn-covered wood) as a weapon.

Switch-briar Anne
Fighter (level 1); Chaotic; 6hp; AC7; S(9), I(9), W ((9), D (11), C (5), Ch (11); Saves: Poison+2; THAC0 (19); 5'9";
Equipment: Switch-briar (1d4, 5' reach), Dagger, Leather Armour, Plain clothes, Boots, belt, gloves, jar of wolfsbane paste.
Background: After the village elders kicked Anne out of her family home for refusing to remove poisonous wolfsbane that caused the death of a villager (what that villager was doing in the wolfbane was never answered). Anne took to the village elders with a Briar-switch (1d4, 5' reach) rubbed down in paste of wolvesbane (poison: 6 hours; death; no save) before fleeing the village. She has not yet had total satisfaction and intends to return to that village.