Bamboo Biscotti

One of the things I lament the most about Bishrook's passing is that I have come across soooooo many cool games that she would have loved, or that I think would have been majorly fun were she involved.  (We never did agree on S7S, used a Wushu derivative for most of our projects, but our last one was indeed PDQ#.  She liked Yesterday's Tomorrow by John Wick, and we had a sort of homebrew mashup with that and Wushu in the works.) One of the little things I think she might have really liked, and one which I really enjoy as a concept is Anima Prime from Berengad Games.  (Not to be confused with Anima from Fantasy Flight Games, which is a whole 'nother ball of wax.)  Two of the things I enjoy most about AP are its flexibility (the core rules include material on building your own settings, after all) and the emphasis on an evocative setting rather than a comprehensive one.  In that, it's rather like Story Now or any of Ed's miniatures games, where book-keeping is m...

Horribly so. Incredibly, horribly, terribly so. But one of the projects I helped kickstart has finally gotten off their feet and started beta production, so I can share. Hero Forge dot com does custom 3D printed miniatures (check em out! https://www.heroforge.com/ ).  Needless to say, I jumped on that bandwagon tout de suite in hopes of finally getting something a little closer to what's in my noggin for certain characters.  And as it turns out, one of the miniatures I've designed (eventually to be shipped--I'm waiting for some additional features to be ready to complete the build) was deliberately and with homage aforethought one of bishrook's characters. I give you one private investigator Octavia Blake, ready to wander the mean streets of a modernish or sci-fi city in search of mischief and miscreants: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config=49840 Regrettably, her hair just wouldn't work out right, so I went with a tight braid (if I remember Steph...

As promised once upon a blog post, here's Aledys, PDQ Sharp style!  Or at least one version of her. My Name? They call me … Aledys van de Zeldenthuis I must confess, I’m known to have a Foible or two …Tomboy in a Man's Job. My strongest desire, my greatest hope, my Motivation (Good [+2] Forte) is …Wealth! And my Past (Good [+2] Forte), which has helped make me what I am today, is …Failed Novice. You might say that my Swashbuckling (Good [+2]) Forte is …Fencing Fortes? Why yes—I’ve several! Good (+2)  Pirate Good (+2)  Gear--Grandfather's Rutter Good (+2)  Gear--Letter of Marque Good (+2) Winning Smile And Techniques? Certes, monsieur! Idiom: Daring (chained to Fencing) Weapon: Cutlass (chained to Fencing) Situation: When Outnumbered (chained to Fencing) Situation: When Commanding (chained to Pirate) Not enough of me yet? Ah yes, I know the feeling… Perhaps this assortment of Miscellany will tide you over, hmm?  Tall, solidly built, blonde and...

First of all, a quick recap... Aledys and her happy band of misfit miscreants are prowling around this particular bit of Lemuria (Area 6): And her current fleet consists of Lily of Anjou (now under the capable command of English Edward, a Rep 4 Born Leader) and the new flagship Gertrude of Ulm , which used to be a Lung Ho junk. As usual, we start with the Random Event check, and the results are not doubles, so there's nothing special about May.  This is probably a good thing. After some consultation with her new crew and some griping and complaining about having to risk curried food on any new prizes, Aledys and Edward decide that it would be better to get away from the Lung Ho and Chang Wang for a bit (just in case) and so set sail for Area 5. This gives a whole new couple of vict...er, possible encounters, being in the main the largely Hindi kingdom of Alawar and the Sikh kingdom of Vendya .  None of these worthies are exactly easy pickings, but they...

Note the lack of update.  This will give you some idea of how busy things are over here! When I'm not trying to find a moment to look over the PI stuff for Urban Renewal, taking notes for another side project involving the a Quarter-ton Reconnaissance Truck and velociraptors with shotguns, scribbling notes for the other swashbuckling project in the works for a Frisian Tomboy running amok in Edenstein, or generally muddling about with a Zhuh-Zhuh battlecruiser dubbed The Big Banana for its bright yellow paint job...I'm suffering the slings and arrows of springtime allergies because the trees are very happy, getting smacked with yet another nasty cold making the rounds of the office, or just plain being exhausted. In the meantime, Ed has presented me with a beta copy of his new supplement for Bottle of Rum.  And it rocks.  All I will tell you is that shore leave has now gotten a little more interesting!  I'm going to wait until this is officially published before ...

I mentioned earlier that there will be more than just a piratical tomboy running amok in Lemuria, yes?  A few data points in this general trend. One, not long after my birthday, Ed officially released the next version of 5010: New Beginnings, which is called Urban Renewal.  Along with Urban Renewal, he put together a supplement to handle private investigator gaming, Ed-style.  And if there's one thing Bish loved more than swashbuckling, it was a good bit of pulpy noir with strong sci-fi touches.  My copy is currently in the mail, winging its way to me, and when it arrives, I shall have to dedicate some time to cobbling something together. Two, Ed is hard at work on an expansion to And A Bottle Of Rum.  He himself warned me to be on the lookout for a few After Action Reports on the subject.  Guess what's now on my wish list? Two point one.  By Savvy and Steel is set in 1620 or thereabouts, and Bottle of Rum starts in 1660, so the other Frisian Tom...

I'm leveling up tomorrow, going from 42 to 43, and for various reasons haven't had the time to do another month in Aledys's exploits.  Next week, though! In the meantime, as my birthday present to myself, I added two more of Ed's games to my collection, one of which WILL be showing up.  I already had Larger Than Life and Adventures In The Lost Lands, and now I have Motor City BC to go with them!  Because nothing says furious pulp action like dinosaurs and Caddy convertibles!  So far I think my favorite thing in Motor City is the "Where's the Yum?" table, which comes into play when Mister T-Rex realizes that chomping on the outside of an M4A3 Sherman Tank doesn't taste very good. Motor City is, by the by, an excellent example of why I like Ed's work so much.  According to the author's notes, it came about because Ed posted an AAR about a T-Rex meeting a Sherman Tank and the author (John Cunningham by name) asked if that was really how thing...