Raithe

Lets see, traversing the joys of transferring bits and pieces from my mothers old computer into a new one..then installing the assorted software and needed things.. The vet says the cat has conjunctivitis..and it's been playing up.. oh.. and the dog got dive-bombed by birdcrap while it was out in the garden... It's had that joyful monday start...

"For the ladies yield, and the ships go down.. or wait, is that the other way around? Ah-Hah, For I am the Pirate-King!" Some songs just stick to the mind and circle....

But does it have the sheer chutzpah of..: "We're men, we're men in tights. We roam around the forest looking for fights. We're men, we're men in tights. We rob from the rich and give to the poor, that's right! We may look like sissies, but watch what you say or else we'll put out your lights! We're men, we're men in tights, Always on guard defending the people's rights."

Keeping that regular supply line going when you have a handful of servants, then throw in blood bound fleshcrafted creations.. especially if that house plan takes off.. you'll need more then one body to stretch around there.... It all starts adding up... which makes hunting more important.. which can attract more attention...

But yes, to return slightly to the original aspect of this thread.. one of the troubles with tzimisce is keeping an eye on that blood budget and keeping the fleshcrafted minions and revenant servants ghouled.... .. and Minions are so darn useful...

Watched a rather good version of HMS Pinafore by Essgee Entertainment that was recorded back in '97... and ended with a surprise appearance of the Pirate King.. Heh, that's making me think about digging out that Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline in..

We used to combat the long haul by alternating.. one session would be the long-term campaign, and then one session would be something different.. several different short term things, not even playing the same system. That might be worth a try, or at least talking him into trying it to keep the long haul going. Used to know a AD&D gm who was great for low-level campaigns..but he was never interested in fleshing things out when you got to over 8th level.. so he'd basically start another 1st level campaign every time we reached that plateu in his games..

Now that's a bit shocking... 2 months is like.. a couple of adventures.. at that. Barely qualifies as a mini-campaign. Sure, there's a time and a place to run something short but still....

Keeping a campaign flowing for a couple of years can take some enthusiasm...

Ah, Switzerland.. always makes me think of the Harry Lime quote.. and Swiss mercenaries only allowed to work for the Vatican because the rest of Europe thought they were too dangerous to let roam..

Needed to unwind some last night.. so decided to have a stab at Secret Files: Tunguska for that adventure nostalgia..

I'm just not finding this one to be.. addictive. I'm managing to play an hour here.. an hour there.. but I haven't been pulled into some marathon session where I look up and go "crap.. its 7 hours later.." It's nice.. it's pleasant.. but something feels missing.

Some years back I played a Tzimisce in a campaign that went from the Dark Ages to Modern day. The GM used the Transylvanian Chronicles with his own twist. He even mixed in some elements from the Giovanni Chronicles as we went along.. That was.. quite epic..and disturbing.

I keep waiting for more news on Tron Evolution... now since it's supposed to be out before Tron Legacy hits the cinemas. (which it does in early December-ish).. I've been expecting to hear a little bit more about the game then is so far out....

Hm, as I recall.. Tzimisce FLeshcrafting... If you've got Vissiccitude at a high enough level, there's an ability that lets you conglomerate several different people/creatures into one being.. (there's also a Ritualised version using Koldunic Sorcery that does the similar). If you ghoul someone/thing by feeding them blood, they still need access to regular food, but they will start to get an appetite for more..bloodier things. Generally turning a little more predatory. But remember, the bigger the creature is..the more blood its going to require from you regularly to keep it ghouled... There was a Tzimisce Methusaleh who created the Cathedral of Flesh over millenia that sounds like what you want to do in a smaller scale.. and that actually fed by catching/eating animals/insects etc that wandered in... but that's going to be a little harder to try in London. I'm guessing you'll be playing in the modern day setting? The Victorian London is quite fun as well and had a few useful London maps.. Also one point to consider, if you're planning on really playing around with fleshcrafting in that sort of sense beyond the casual "yank and tuck" approach.. you will need to put some skill points in medicine to get a grasp of anatomy and such.. You can stretch the flesh and viscera, bone and sinew all you want (and it can be fun) and while the supernatural resilience of ghouldom helps.. you still need to keep some form of organs working... It's just that in mass-monsters you can have multiple hearts/lungs/stomachs etc all connected up in one big glorious mind-bending creation... Oh and since you're going Tzimisce, remember you could have access to the Revenant families.. (ghoul bloodlines the Tzimisce have cultivated over millenia...)

To be fair.. DA2 is meant to start off shortly after Lothering was razed.. so , hm, The Arch-Demon was around, and wasn't killed for some time.. So Hawke and family have escaped from Lothering and were fleeing elsewhere when they get attacked. With the whole.."narrative trick" that Bio seem to be pulling, let's make a stab at it and guess you have the exagerating storyteller talking about the Arch-Demon turning up..because some dragon-type arrived on the scene.. and since it's not that heroic that "Flemeth, that manipulative and quite possible evil witch-woman turned up in Dragon form and saved the hero's ass in exchange for future favors.." the story gets shifted into "the arch-demon turned up looking like a dragon".

Hey, Romeo Must Die is an amusing film. Maybe not a "good" film, but it's entertaining all the same... Aaliyah was a bonus for it.. and she's about the only reason to watch Queen of the Damned..

Something that's a more "general" approach rather than Roman specific.. I've got a copy of The Timecharft of Military History. I'd recommend it. The first half of the book is a continuous timechart from 3000bc to modern day, divided into geographical regions (The Americas, Europe, The Middle East, South-East Asia, India, China and Japan, and Africa), and listing key battles, the generals who fought in them, the kingdoms/empires/nations that were in existence at that point in time, and assorted useful info.. The second half is more of a breakdown, brief biographies of the "great commanders", key battles, and including a variety of maps of said battles, and a few further in-depth flowcharts of specific wars. Great for getting an overview, and narrowing down specific information to look into and research elsewhere.

To be fair to the French.. they actually had a much better reputation (military speaking) before the 20th century... With a couple of standout moments ..Quebec... Agincourt... They were actually quite competent for a fair few centuries. Although one of the funky things of historical posits.. If the French king hadn't spent so much money supporting the American Revolutionaries to spite the English, the French economy wouldn't have gotten so screwed.. and that, combined with the shining example of the American Revolution succeeding, was a big factor in the French Revolution kicking off.. which led to Napoleon rising to power. It can be interesting to trace some causes and consequences back..... The tv series Rome, yes it is good at providing the general sense and feel of the times..but they did mash up some of the history and characters a fair bit as it ran on..

I have to say.. the parents have to shoulder a large portion of the blame for the way that girl turned out / self-destructed / got pushed along...

It's always nice to see such careful thought put into responses..

And in fact a lot of the scientists of the day received funding from the Roman Catholic Church. I know it's a popular stereotype that the church was purely anti-science over the course of the middle ages and into the renaissance.... but that's more "mythic" then actuality. They had good days and bad days.

Hm... I just can't seem to keep playing more than an hour without taking a break from Civ V... Which just feels wrong for a game of Civ...

I recently came across this blog by an author I enjoy (L.E.Modesitt, Jr) and it made me ponder on this... I was curious what other forumites might consider on the art of political compromise in the 21st century..

I managed to keep my City of Heroes going for two years before letting it slip away..... I think the next mmo I'll dip my finger into will be SW The Old Republic.. just to see how it handles.. and to practice my SW Geek-on.. But thats safely some time away..