Creation Myth- the Beast of Knowledge

Long ago, before there were men, there were demons, gods and beasts. Each lived in their own world, but visited frequently and peaceably. Above them were Titans, powerful beings neither beast nor demon nor god, but fathers and mothers to all. Queen and mother to the Titans, and thus to all things, was Talahm, for she was the first Titan born and made of the world. And Talahm loved her children and wanted to see their works.

As Talahm searched her domains she found a cave that glowed with light. Inside she found a strange beast. It had four arms, four legs, four eyes and ears, two mouths, but a single heart. This beast was not hunting or resting, but rather striking stone upon stone to produce fire. As Talahm watched this beast, she grew fascinated and approached. "Where did you learn to do that?" Talahm asked.

"A demon taught me," said the beast, "but the demon is gone. It ran laughing, because it knew that I, the Beast of Knowledge, could never be happy knowing only one thing."

Talahm loved the demons and their cruelty, but she also loved the beasts and their arts. If a bear could not slumber or a tiger could not kill, it would be just as cruel as a Beast of Knowledge not learning all things. Thus she smiled on the beast as she extended her hand. "Come," she said, "I shall bring you before the beasts of the wild, the gods of the aether and the demons of the wake. For I am their mother and queen, and can make all teach you their arts."

And so the Beast of Knowledge and Talahm courted gods, beasts and demons to learn their arts. From the beasts were learned all manner of physical skill and prowess. From the gods were learned feeling and the manipulation of spirit through song and magic. From demons were extracted thought and logic, craftsmanship and weapons of the mind. All these things did the Beast of Knowledge consume and incorporate into its being. As Talahm watched the Beast grow and mature, her love for it grew as well. Before all other creations, or ever her Titan kin, the Beast of Knowledge had secured a position in Talahms heart as her favorite in all the world.

At last the Beast of Knowledge had learned all things from beast, god and demon. Talahm asked Torm the Doom Maker, chieftain of the An Chead Dia clan of gods, to accept the Beast of Knowledge among them. "I cannot," doomed Torm, "for god and beast cannot be kin."

"But the Beast of Knowledge has learned divine arts," said Talahm. "Is he not a god already? Does not knowledge of your ways make him equal?" Torm sat upon his throne and pondered is response, for the the word of Torm is doom and cannot be gainsaid. Talahm squared her jaw and pressed her position. "If you are to remain quiet, allow me to propose replacement. Let me strip yonder god of their divinity that the Beast of Knowledge may use it. No god is lost, and you gain the Beast's knowledge."

"Nay, Mother of All!" thundered Torm. "If you or your kin harm my brethren in divinity, I shall call all my kin to bring an end to yours."

Torm's doom spoken, Talahm wept and told the Beast what had transpired. "I know the Doom Maker cannot be gainsaid, for Torm's word is doom. But I am the Beast of Knowledge, the beast that learns all that the world offers." The beast lifted Talahms face to his. "The arts of gods, beasts and demons are known to me, but the arts of your kin remain to be known. Teach me how gods are made, that I may create a son worthy of my arts."

Talahm agreed, and lay down with the Beast of Knowledge for one hundred days and one hundred nights to create a god child. The child she named Creideamh, and passed on her newest son to the Beast that the father may bless his son. The Beast of Knowledge smiled and held his son aloft, chanting words Talahm had not heard before. It was not until the Beast slew her babe the Talahm knew what had happened, for the Beast had twisted god magic with demon logic, preparing the son for consumption via beastly arts. This foul ritual had transferred the divinity of the child Creideamh to the Beast of Knowledge, thus transforming him from beast to god.

Talahm howled in rage and grief, heart broken and bleeding in the wake of betrayal. She seized the Beast and Knowledge and tore him in two, casting aside the the bloody and squealing halves. Thus, Talahm had doomed the Titans to war with the gods.

But gods are never so easily slain. The Beast of Knowledge, in pain with a loneliness he had never known, crawled until the two halves met and attempted to rejoin. The union was imperfect, clumsy and could never be maintained for long, but still the Beast tried. Each union was a failure, and each failure bore a copy of one half or the other into the world. The beast noticed them after his cave became too crowded for another joining to commence. Worse, he noticed these duplicate halves were also attempting their own joinings, and producing yet more of their kind. He named the beings that resembled his right half men, and those like his left he called women. He taught them the arts he had learned from gods, beasts and demons, but none could learn all he had gained. Still, the Beast of Knowledge withheld from his children the Final Art he had stolen from Talahm, lest it ever be used to destroy him. Men and women left the cave of the Beast of Knowledge, to take the gift of knowledge and use it to make their way among gods, beasts and demons.

Forcing Myself to Write- Day 1

So, how did I get started?

Honestly, I first got interested in the game because of the Knights of the Dinner Table. I was about eleven, had just moved to a tiny village away from all my (probably imaginary) friends, and my parents had gotten some copies of the Bundles of Trouble as a gift. They had played D&D and laughed about the comics as they were intended, but I laughed because these were comics about some guys hanging out and talking about wasting dragons with crossbows and fireballs. I wanted friends, and I wanted to talk about made-up fantasy worlds, so the type of game they were playing seemed like a thing worth checking out.

So, my parents picked me up a copy of D&D 3 and we ran some games. I had little to no clue how to play, my GMing was terrible, and it took me almost eight years to figure out that I was playing the game wrong. KoDT was funny because the play style they represented was the worst way to go about playing any RPG. The GM and players are not supposed to be antagonistic, the rules lawyer is the worst player at the table, and Sara should have left the table years ago.

I should probably reread the comics again. They were funny.

On Shit

My wife and I had a conversation about conversing with my dad. For context without violating trust, let it be enough that my wife is someone who had lived through violent experiences as a child. My father had grown up starving and poor, and has today built an entire business that teaches others how to protect themselves from violence. In short, both have been through shit.

So when I told my wife that this is the reason that I felt that her opinion would forever be more valid to my father than mine, she felt a need to reassure me. This launched an entire conversation about simple observations I had made.

First, I want it to be understood that I am autistic. I am high functioning and have refused to be on any form of disability program past high school to prove to myself that I can use this as a superpower. As a result, I forced myself to learn about human behavior and social cues. But every now and again I find someone else who is autistic. The Highlander sense activates: we both notice each others presence, we both know that we are both aliens born on another planet in the form of humans (that really is how it feels to be autistic) and thus we know that we are alike in some way. It is two-way, it seems innate, and it seems to serve as a means to establish a baseline for communication. This is important later.

Second, there is a difference between having gone through shit and being in shit. This is mostly my wife being smarter than me, but she pointed out that these two classes of people who have had horrible events in their lives are what defines a survivor and a victim. She summarized it as like looking at two doors out of a shitty situation, labeled "bottle up and wait," and "let's get through it." Victims chose that first door. Victims do not get out of the shit, they just wallow in it until something outside of themselves pull them out. It is easy, it is unintentional, and if you get out you are still covered in shit that you still have to deal with. These people stink from a mile away. I am not programmed to pick up on social cues and can still pick them out. In high school I dated these people to try and save them. And of course this ended up just dragging me down into the shit with them.

Third is the people who chose the "let's get through this" door. They have been through shit. It was hard work and more than a little personal growth. Survivors are strong because they had to be just to crawl out of the shit they had been through. They think differently then others, they plan, they look for ways to get better at anything... they are all-around bad-ass. I believe that this leads to different wiring of their thoughts. They are human, but in more of a next-gen kind of way. More importantly, they seem to recognize each other. If autistic people are like aliens among humans, survivors are like mutants: they were human, but they are not so much anymore, and developed a Highlander sense so they could recognize and communicate on the same baseline.

I lived a good, safe life thanks to my father, so never needed to become a survivor. So I think he and I talk just because a condom broke that one time and he made me. My wife is a survivor, like my father, so they can share a baseline that makes communication easier between them. So in a way, my wife assuring me that my opinion holds just as much value as her does in my fathers mind just ending digging up proof that nope, not really. It's kinda fucked, but because I understand it better it doesn't bug me as much.

P.S. My wife is assuring me that he still loves me more. Eh...

Some Notes for a Game

Objectives:

• Playable in a car (diceless and/or paperless)
• Playable while driving
• Easy to memorize
• Little to no notes (could fit adventure entire on napkin)

Character (/Monster?) Gen 

Traits (Pick Two)

• Strong
• Tough
• Smart
• Fast
• Perceptive
• Determined
• Coordinated
• Commanding

Job- either Good at one Job or pick two Jobs (can be anything, race/species is included if important)

One Cool Thing (optional?) (pretty much anything, from background info to special snowflake bullshit, that can be described in one sentence)

License Plate System

Random generation use license plates of next passing vehicle
0 Automatic Pass
9 Pass with a bonus
8 Pass
7 Pass with relevant job
6 Pass with relevant trait
5 Pass if Good at job
4 Pass with relevant job and trait
3 Pass if Good at job with relevant trait
2 Recoverable failure
1 Automatic failure

(need to work in systems for encounters a-z) (vanity/military/out of state plate bonuses?)

Looking Forward

I just saw The Force Awakens.

It was an okay movie. It does not live up to the hype.

But then again, it never could have. It was the Duke Nukem Forever of movies: something that had been bouncing from production to production that we all wanted and were excited about, but came many years too late. If the idea of what something could be stays in your creative mind long enough, what it turns out to be can never be as cool.

But I see something in this movie. I see a promise. Disney is promising that it will not lose the spirit of episodes IV through VI. J. J. Abrams is promising us skill and good direction in the future films he works on.

I see that in the end, VII is the not the movie we were looking for. It is a promise that VIII will kick it's ass and blow our minds.

I'm holding everyone involved to that promise.

How I Run

I ran across an article that had a questionnaire I felt obligated to fill out, found here. I reason that the only way to really examine how you feel about running a game is to sit down and actually write out the house rules you use. The original article is in blue, answers are in red.

Jeff Rients has a great list of 20 quick questions to add detail to your campaign setting in ways that are likely to affect actual play. I was thinking, based on this other post by Jeff about treating all editions of D&D as a toolbox and this post by JB over at B/X Blackrazor about creating his own version of D&D, that it would be useful to have a list rules that often change from campaign to campaign.

Here are 20 rules clarifications that are likely to be needed anyways at some point.

1. Ability scores generation method?

Pathfinder, D&D and others like it- Roll 4d6, remove the lowest, and arrange as you like. Anima- roll 2d10, keep the highest, arrange as desired. I do not allow rerolls.

2. How are death and dying handled?

Depends on the game, but in general there are negative hit points that tick away at a rate of one per round until you die. Successful first aid can stabilize you.

3. What about raising the dead?

Generally, not a thing in any game I run, though I can run a quest type adventure to find a means of doing so. Otherwise, tough shit for the dead.

4. How are replacement PCs handled?

If at all possible I will try to find context for introduction and work with the player in question. Otherwise it is usually via in game circumstances. Beware of my deals, though…

5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else?

Group if at all possible. In most games it will be via a d6. In games like Anima that use weapons speeds and similar shit, one player rolls and the others add their modifiers to that one roll.

6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?

Yes. Unless the game system has something better built in, a critical is usually double damage OR damage plus a disadvantage, chosen by the attacker. Fumbles are usually a penalty of some sort, often slipping, dropping a weapon, or open to a counter attack.

7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?

Unless the game has something better, a helmet lets you keep your armor bonus if you peek around something and are subjected to an attack.

8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?

Yup. Anything that provides cover will, an if the dice say the cover is the only thing that stopped the attack, the cover is hit. Even allies.

9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?

In many cases, run if you can. I let the dice fall where they may, even if they say an adult dragon spotted your first level party and is hungry. If you plan like a fucking boss, you might just be able to kill almost everything, but I can safely say that in my games charging into battle is not recommended.

10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no?

If they are there, they are there.

11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?

Yup. The dice shall fall where they may.

12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?

In as much detail as possible, I ask that players record what they have and where. As far as encumbrance goes I tend to eyeball it, but it is a factor. Just expect me to declare bullshit if you say that you are somehow lugging around thousands of gold coins and have only a backpack and ordinary strength.

13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?

As a rule, it happens at the end of an adventure or session, whichever comes first, as leveling to me is an epiphany moment when activities and training done during down time suddenly pays off and makes sense. Only note that games with built-in training systems do overrule this judgement.

14. What do I get experience for?

Impressing the hell out of me. I am impressed by surviving combat, stealing legendary treasures, outwitting your enemies, clever plans, and bold insights into the nature of the game world and your character’s place within it.

15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?

Description followed by dice roll. As evidenced in my own house, sometimes the most thorough grid search of a room cannot turn up successful if the one searching is imperceptive, while sometimes all a perceptive person needs is a glance. However, if you give more than “I search for traps” I will be more inclined to lower the difficulty depending on what you give me.

16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?

I encourage them. Basically they are NPCs that I run like living beings with needs, wants and fears. If your torch bearer is a ten-year-old boy, he will probably run and hide if something dangerous shows up.

17. How do I identify magic items?

If you have a way to see magic, by studying the auras of the thing. If not, hardy experimentation with a dose of trial and error.

18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?

As a rule, no. Some potions and scrolls might be available for sale in limited supply. Otherwise, I will run it like trying to commission a one-of-a-kind item only one artisan can produce that may turn into an adventure in and of itself.

19. Can I create magic items? When and how?

If you have the skill, probably. You cannot just slam gold down and expect to have everything you need, though. You will require materials, those material will be rare and difficult to get, and will cost gold and/or time to acquire.

20. What about splitting the party?

All the fucking time. I will run a session with each group in the split as I gauge interest. If you went off alone to shop, expect little to no screen time if the other guys are busy burning down an inn or sack tapping goblins or trying to escape from a dungeon or some shit.

All in all, I'm glad my style of running the game looks like this.

Starting Over

I killed them. I have killed almost all of them. One I left alive, for it has family else where, and while it wold not be necessarily cruel to take it from this world, I felt it still has a place in this world. The rest did not, so they are gone.

I have changed. That is good, I believe. Only dead things do not change. I have forgotten this blog and read the old articles. I hated them. The one I have kept alive was still good and true, and there were some good and true things in the others. The fact was that who I was before was incompetent in expressing the true, bogging it down with short-sighted shit and half finished ideas.

It is not enough. I want to write, and I want that writing to be well thought out. So here I shed away the dead layers that bury what truth I have, letting the rotting remains of my older, more inept self becoming compost for better writing tomorrow.