It’s a part of learning languages I’ve always had problems with. When you look at a dictionary and see things like ‘pro⋅nounce [pruh-nouns]‘ I would end up pronouncing that like the posh plural of pronoun.
So where does this actually fit into roleplaying and it’s ilk?
When I was 14 and heavily into wargaming of any ilk and particularly into Warhammer 40k I had a huge Dark Angels Space Marine Army. I say had but I actually still have it. This was back when the rulebook had the Dark Angels with their black power armour before they were giving a back story and everything changed to green. Anyway for those that have never played the game before one of the characters from the Space Marine armies are the ‘magicians’ or psionisists as they are preferred to be called. They have a very regimented life and as with most things in the imperial and Space Marines its all very religious and monk-like. So can you guess what they are called? Librarians. The head psyker is actually called the Chief Librarian.
It’s a simple word. It’s one I used at least weekly if not daily thanks to being a regular user of my local library. Can you guess why I actually called them? It took my friends three years to point out to me that they weren’t actually called Librians. You could possibly blame my dyslexia but that would be a cop out I feel.
Now it wouldn’t be so bad if that was a one off.
About 15 years ago I sat down with a few friends and a few beers to learn a new gaming system one night. It was a game about vampires which was a tangent for us and I took a fancy to a rowdy group that ticked every box for my generic tastes. It took ten years and another gaming group to point out that I was indeed mispronouncing Brujah. Even after cringing whilst watching Arron Spellings Kindred: The Embraced we just put the correct pronunciation down to the fact that the show stank. Even to this day I still pronounce it as Broo-Jah rather than the bad attempt at an evil laugh. And before anyone gets the hump I know it comes from the spanish word so it’s pronounced that way.
Just don’t get me started on other peoples pronunciations. My main bane is those people that insist minotaur is pronounced mine-a-tar rather than min-uh-tawr. It’s not like people fighting over tomato or tomato or the differences in British/US pronunciations. These are ancient mythical creatures for gods sake! Not some new fangled bit of metal that we like to call by different names or as Eddie Izzard points out there is an H in herbs.
I still shake my head at the librian mistake whenever I think about it though.
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I love reading rule books and I love reading campaign settings even more. I’ve went on before about how I write campaign settings just for myself even if no one else will ever actually play them so it comes as no surprise that I’ve got a little fed up rereading the D&D 4e books and that I’m looking for something ‘new’.
Coming home from my dyslexia testing on Monday I stopped by one of the larger book store chains in Glasgow to see if there was anything worth picking up. Usually I head in there just to see if they have a specific book but this day I decided just to have a look around the fiction areas as well. They have a small section for RPG books these days and it’s never really been stocked that well. They have the usual D&D books as well as the occasional TV related system such as the Firefly or Battlestar Galactica books but apart from the occasion WoD or Cthulu book thats it.
What they did have though was a few of the Scion books. I’d heard a little about them before and to be honest what I had heard didn’t tickle my fancy but after a quick flick through it is very similar to a setting I tried to write about 10 years ago using the old WoD system. I stood for a good 20 minutes reading the fluff that goes along with the Hero book. Why can’t games be released with a backstory this rich all the time? Needless to say I’ll be picking up the books on my next trip to the gaming store even if it is only to read them and never actually get my players into a game.
What other systems are there out there that go into the backstory in this much detail in the main rulebooks?
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Let me introduce the Gelatinous Cube’s Irish cousin
Black Stuff – Level 7 Elite Brute
Large natural beast (blind, ooze) XP 500
Initiative +4 Senses Perception +3; tremorsense 5
HP 170; Bloodied 85
AC 18; Fortitude 19, Reflex 11, Will 11
Immune gaze; Resist 10 acid
Saving Throws +2
Speed 2; see also engulf
Action Points 1
Slam (standard; at-will)
+10 vs. Fortitude; 1d6 + 4 damage, and the target is immobilized
(save ends).
Engulf (standard; at-will) ✦ Alcohol
The black stuff attacks one or two Medium or smaller targets; +10 vs. Reflex (automatically hits an immobilized creature). On a hit, the target is grabbed and pulled into the stuff’s space; the target is dazed and takes ongoing 6 damage until it escapes the grab. A creature that escapes the grab shifts to a square of its choosing adjacent to the cube but is intoxicated for a number of hours equal to the number of rounds they remained within the stuff. The black stuff can move normally while creatures are engulfed within it.
Foam Head
Due to the creamy foam found on top many adventurers walking through a dark dungeon do not see the black body hanging below.(Perception DC 25) or until it attacks. Creatures that fail to notice the black stuff might walk into it, automatically becoming engulfed.
Alignment Unaligned Languages —
Skills Stealth +5
Str 16 (+4) Dex 12 (+4) Wis 11 (+3)
Con 17 (+5) Int 1 (–3) Cha 1 (–3)
Black Stuff Tactics
Black Stuff tend to stand in corners gentle swaying but when they move they never go in a straight line. Staggering one way and then another with no real direction is it’s general mode of travel so it is very hard to predict it’s movements.
St Patrick’s Day RPG Carnival
The Game Traveller is hosting a day long blogging Carnival for St Patrick’s Day. Anything Irish and RPG related is game so get along and get your own entry posted.
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