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Topic: Guns, Goblins, and Steel Monday Nights Campaign (Read 2278 times) |
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Smart Alec
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If you'd have asked him four months ago whether he believed in something like Destiny, he'd have said 'no, don't be stupid'.
But it was eye-opening. From a point of view. The bad guy had wanted to get us all out of the way, but what had he really done? Put us in contact with Lord Kelantis, a man prepared to do what he could to save what was left of Camar. And then, for an encore, he'd tried to throw Torrin and Vulcanos away into an inescapeable hell when all he'd done was take a man who could rebuild the Temple of the Father and a man who could run the Wizard's Tower and put them somewhere, where they'd be spared the slaughter.
It all fit together so neatly, it was almost impossible to think of it as anything other than Destiny.
But the man waiting for them at the end of this walk... it was as much his destiny as it was theirs, he supposed. Finally; the chips were down, all bets for off...
"Wouldn't have missed it for the worlds," he said airily, but in perfect truth. He really wouldn't have; there was nothing he could think of that he would not give for this one, shining chance to serve something greater than himself.
Even my life?
'No justice without freedom'. Jefferson might have said the same, long long ago in a world far far away. Even my life.
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TheBaldMan
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Phil worried. Oki was not getting fat like he thought. She was with child and according to Pappy some poor sap had lost his life in the process.
"Women will suck the life from ya boy! And god forbid one gets pregnant on ya...then your life is over for sure!" He could hear his Pappy's voice echo in his head.
But for the first time in his life that did not seem so scary. What Phil worried about now was what would happen to Oki and the child if they entered a portal to travel home. One thought came to Phil's mind when he thought of the portal: pain. He did not think that would be good for a pregnant woman.
He glanced worriedly at Oki. He was exhausted from the constant attack of undead. He hoped she and the baby would be alright.
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Lazybones
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Great campaign, all! Wonderful role-playing and memorable characters all around. I can't believe that this campaign has been going since September 2003... with a bit of turnover, of course.
Next week I'm going to run a one-shot in our usual slot, set in the GGS universe. Those who didn't "return to earth" last time are welcome to create a new army soldier for this game (let's say 14th level; I'll bump up Rusty and Adrian to match Joe). Gear will be all-new issued for the mission: a secret insertion into the mountains of Pakistan, to track down the elusive Osama Bin Laden, and put an end to him once and for all.
And then: X-COM!
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Gulfwulf
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Torrin smiled sadly as he watched his friends from another plane leave. He waved goodbye to Oki as she followed Ade on his travels throughout the planes. "Be well, Oki, and know that you'll always have a place here," he called to her as her form shimmered before dissapearing. He stared at the empty space they occupied for a few moments before sighing and turning to Phil. "Come, General, let us collect your gift" he said with a smile. The two exited the castle, Torrin leaning on his staff and Phil with a slightly bewildered look on his face, and made their way to the temple. Inside Torrin bade Phil wait while he dissapeared upstairs, coming down a few minutes later bearing an amulet bathed in a soft light that appeared to come from within. Torrin approached Phil and held out the amulet. "Phil, a general must be as wise as he his strong. This amulet is one of our most prized treasures: it grants its bearer great wisdom and insight. I wish for you to have it to grant you the ability to lead Camar into a new era of peace and harmony. Your coming challenges will be great, but your heart is pure and your spirit is strong; I do not doubt that you will be more than able to meet them." He smiled at Phil before continuing: "Thank you again for all that you have done, Phil, we have a dept to you we can never repay. For now, though, go and rebuild Camar; I shall call the heads of the other orders and usher in a new age of enlightenment and religous freedom and tolerance. The Father willing, we will learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeat them..."
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Jenniza
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I generally don't feel comfortable playing male characters; but, I am able to in certain circumstances of my choosing for particular reasons.
Are you sure that you can't get women to be able to wear the armor in GGS system?
I'm definitely not interested in playing a guy in X-Com; so, I hope you've made allowances for that.
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chiz
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Hey guys, sorry again to be out for the finale. Anyone want to clue me in on what happened, beyond "bad guy dead, good guys victorious"?
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Smart Alec
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Well...
***
After fighting their way through an advance guard of demons, the party came face to face with Aladon Jeriff himself - protected by a force-field generated by an evil altar, and with channelled power from two crystals - Maldrigar's crystals - keeping a planar rift open, from which issued forth demons. With a sinking feeling, the party ended up having to destroy the items that could have taken the Americans home in order to stop Jeriff's mad plan.
They did; and Jeriff was furious. Unleashing his clerical wrath, the party struggled to pin him down, but kept in the fight long enough to exhaust Jeriff's store of spells. Realising that he was being ground down, the mad cleric tried to flee, with the party's blades and bullets hot on his heels; and was eventually cut down by... Phil, I think.
Two weeks on, and the survivors of Camar are beginning to reach some level of normalcy, but for a squad of American soldiers and a FOX reporter, there's apparently no way home. The wizards, says Zala, have no clue - Maldrigar's lore died with him. Even though Lord Amar Kalantis offers each of 'The Squad' with a place in the new, democratic, religiously-tolerant Camar, Sergeant Nantle reminds everyone that they have a HQ back on Earth that's soon to come under attack, and expresses a willingness to wander this new world until he finds a way home to stop it. Lieutenant Abnett is about to agree, when -
- there's a visitor; the plane-walking dragonblood who the Squad rescued in the Abyss. Though he's apparently come for Oki, with an invitation to travel to his own world where he and the other dragons can acquaint her with the touch of dragon blood in both her and her babe-to-be, he's willing to transport the soldiers home. Sgt. Nantle is more than willing, Specialist Aguirre is dreaming of home, and Lt. Abnett recognises his duty as requiring him to go back to Earth, but Phil is less certain - and eventually expresses a wish to remain behind in Camar, partly afraid of going back to the 'real' world where he may have died in the ambush.
And so, with the good wishes and fond, bittersweet farewells of the people of Camar, Oki makes her preparations to embark on another new journey to another new world she can document; and the Lieutenant, his Sergeant and the Specialist are sent across worlds back to Earth - where they drop right back into their own HQ in Baghdad, just as insurrectionists have driven a truck bomb into the nearby gate and are pouring into the base. Standing their ground, the three soldiers engage and defeat the horde of gun-toting Iraqi, holding the gate and earning the astonished praise and curiosity of Captain Markham, the very man who sent them out so long ago on a recon mission to the backstreets of Baghdad...
***
... and with that, the session ended. Oki is set to see a new, draconic world; Joe, Rusty and Adrian face the challenge of re-integrating back into the 'real' world, and the American military; Phil remains a living legend and General in Camar; Torrin has his work cut out rebuilding both the Temple of the Father, and people's faith in Him; and Vulcanos might well have a similar job awaiting him when it comes to putting the Wizard's Tower in order. 
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| « Last Edit: on: Apr 1, 2008, 10:07PM » |
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Smart Alec
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It had taken all night to write the report. Firstly, because he'd had to dredge his memory for the details of exactly what had happened in those Baghdad back-streets four months ago, and yesterday. The broken radio, storming the house, finding 'Miss Takanawa'...
... how easily excited he'd been, back then. How eager, how grasping... how scared. He almost didn't recognise himself.
Secondly, without Oki's exhaustive documented footage backing them up, Joe had felt less than secure about handing in a report featuring time travel, a trip to another world and a battle against a mad holy man and his evil legion of monsters. He'd only just got back; he had no desire to sit out the rest of the war in a psych ward.
But these were lies and omissions that it was almost painful to make. Every time he wrote something appropriately bland and fabricated, the need to find some way to get a commendation for Nantle and Aguirre pressed upon him, and he'd ball up the paper and start again. With every line he wrote, faces would drift up; Maldrigar, Lady Tertullia... Amar Kelantis and Treyvex, Brannix and Aladon Jeriff. Torrin and Vulcanos. Oki, and Phil. The druidess at Bastion, the serving-girl whose name he never did find out, the sergeant at Seaguard, and - of course - Zala.
Farewell. Remember.
I don't think I could forget even if I wanted to, he assured the tailoress's image.
In the end, he'd done what he could, and left it at that. They'd come across intel warning of an attack on HQ, that much was truth. The death of his SINGCARS became the imperative that led to a chase back to the base; Oki and Phil were listed as 'becoming seperated from the unit due to enemy action', which was as much of a lie as he could manage, and as close to the truth as he dared to go. He'd contact their families, and... maybe confide something a little more satisfying, privately. He owed them that, at least.
He'd tossed and turned for the few hours before dawn before getting up and handing in the report, walking through the base like a quiet ghost, trying to remember where everything was while trying to look like he belonged there. He shook his head at the craziness of it, as he stumbled towards the mess tent for breakfast.
Phil was the wise one of all of us, Joe reflected. I fight to get back here for four months, and what do I feel when I get back? Homesickness.
He hunted for a quiet chair amongst the hubbub of the tent, and caught sight of two faces amongst the crowd.
But at least I'm not alone, he reminded himself.
A plate of powdered eggs in one hand, he walked over to where Nantle and Aguirre sat.
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| « Last Edit: on: Apr 1, 2008, 11:46PM » |
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chiz
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Hey, thanks for the recap. Wish I could have been there, but that post actually had me feeling like I know what happened!
Thanks also to:
LB for running this campaign - once again, great job, excellent campaign, setting, DMing, and fun!
My fellow players for your play. Having played with some the excellent players in past LB campaigns, I was expecting a possible drop-off, but you guys all did a great job, made the game come alive, and kept the fun level high.
Thanks again for a great campaign - you guys are all BiGs in my book!
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Jenniza
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CIA operative is perfect
would she be straight rogue, or would she be elegible for any of the prestige classes? assassin etc. no clue how you run it
--------
I sent all my GGS logs to every email I could find for all players (sorry Rusty, I don't have your email... if you want the 20+ logs, let me know, I could even upload it to my website if it's a problem)
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| « Last Edit: on: Apr 2, 2008, 1:24AM » |
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Lazybones
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on Apr 2, 2008, 1:20 AM, Jenniza wrote:CIA operative is perfect
would she be straight rogue, or would she be elegible for any of the prestige classes? assassin etc. no clue how you run it
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Assassin is all right but probably something of a waste, since no magic is allowed. Likewise no shadowdancer special abilities.
I'd go straight rogue with maybe a few levels of fighter for the feats/durability, or monk if you want the unarmed fighting skills/speed.
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Jenniza
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With a fond farewell to hose in Camar, especially Torrin, Vulcanos and General Phil, Oki and Ade left for elsewhere…
First stop for Oki was a solo journey for some loose ends and supplies… to Earth… to one person she could trust, her supervisor, Al, at FOX News. She shimmered into his office to his utter surprise. He happened to be looking right I her direction while he was on the phone when it happened. “Something came up, I’ll call you later,” were his only words as he quickly hung up the phone still staring at Oki’s form as he wouldn’t have believed it if anyone else had told him what he just witnessed for himself.
Al looked at Oki, then spoke, “Am I hallucinating?”
Oki smiled, “Trust me, I’m real; but, this has to be strictly Need-to-Know basis. If the wrong people find out I’m back and what I am now… I’m likely to end up dissected on a medical lab table somewhere. Can I trust you like always, Al?”
Al replied, “Of course. Please, have a seat. I’m guessing that Tom is the father somehow?”
Oki and Al sat down. Al had many questions, the easiest way to explain things to him was simply to show him a few of the reports she’d made right from the beginning in sequence. She explained that four months had gone by during their brief time she was reported missing and the squad and rescued her and there was a gap of news from there. Apparently about one to two hours had gone by since then.
Logically, only one short segment of footage from the insurgents’ house to the alley of the ambush would be the only footage that would ever be accepted as credible news. After that, the rest would have to be relegated as either a feature film or urban legend for the people of Earth. They simply would not be ready for such a concept as inter-planar travel no matter how credible the news source.
Oki had another loose end to tie-up - Phil's family. They deserved to know the real truth as much as her parents. She had his Pappy flown up so he could get the real truth from her lips and to see the copy of the videos after she was gone. He would need to live the life as the father of a war hero - not too far from the truth; but, not for the reasons the world would think.
Oki agreed to a physical, including a DNA test for her and her unborn baby, on the premises so that FOX News Infirmary staff could back-up the information when the story was ready to be passed on one day in the future. Also, her parents were secretly escorted into the building for a private reunion. Finally, Oki was equipped with updated/repaired equipment for her ongoing journeys.
There was a closed session interview of Oki. There were two endings to the interview filmed… the one that would be shown to the public: typical closing off of an interview… and the one kept for when the public was ready: Oki kissing her parents farewell and a prearranged portal with Ade opening up and taking Oki away.
-------
Everything had been rushed to get it on air before the story broke on other networks of the squad’s return from their mission.
FOX News played the heavily cut-down version of what had transpired as agreed. The squad’s rescue of Oki was shown along with their faces, if only briefly. She dedicated the interview in the memory of PVT (E3) Manfred “Phil” Filamento who saw her off safely out of the hotzone after they separated from the unit when she deemed the situation too unsafe and asked to leave the combat area. Oki’s interview was presented in such a way to never show her as pregnant… all top-shots only. The overall process was heavily sanitized to prevent world-wide panic, to preserve network credibility and to prevent her parents and friends from succumbing to a media circus.
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| « Last Edit: on: Apr 3, 2008, 6:53PM » |
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TheBaldMan
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on Apr 1, 2008, 11:55 AM, Gulfwulf wrote:| Torrin approached Phil and held out the amulet. "Phil, a general must be as wise as he his strong. This amulet is one of our most prized treasures: it grants its bearer great wisdom and insight. I wish for you to have it to grant you the ability to lead Camar into a new era of peace and harmony. Your coming challenges will be great, but your heart is pure and your spirit is strong; I do not doubt that you will be more than able to meet them." He smiled at Phil before continuing: "Thank you again for all that you have done, Phil, we have a dept to you we can never repay. For now, though, go and rebuild Camar; I shall call the heads of the other orders and usher in a new age of enlightenment and religous freedom and tolerance. The Father willing, we will learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeat them..." |
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Phil winced every time the word "general" was used with his name. He was stunned by Torrin's gift and a bit doubtful that a necklace would help him become a general. But he did not know how he could give the necklace back without insulting Torrin. So, he stood there as Torrin placed the chain around his neck hoping nothing would go wrong.
As the chain hit his bare neck his eyes widened and he felt an incredible surge of confidence. It was almost too much to handle all at one time and he became light headed and very nauseous. However, due to sheer physical conditioning he steadied himself and thanked Torrin.
Still doubtful about this entire general thing, Phil put on his best face and looked Torrin directly in the eye, "Torrin. . . what exactly do I do as general?" His brain swam with other questions but he thought, keep it simple Phil...simple seems to work best. He had always trusted Torrin and it was time to make this home.
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Gulfwulf
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Torrin smiled at Phil, the added years seemingly melting away from his face. "Phil, that I cannot tell you. I can tell you this, though: Camar will need your guidance now. Jerrif left a great scar that must be healed, but only time and the efforts of good men will bring that about. Go and speak to Amir about re-establishing our militia. Though our internal threat is gone, external threats still exist; our people must be protected from those that would do them harm." Torrin clapped a hand on Phil's shoulder. "I have faith in you, my friend, you will see us to a new era. Know that if you need my guidance, I am but a call away. For now, though, I must see to my church. Walk in the light, my friend."
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TheBaldMan
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Phil's brow furrowed,"I will do just that Torrin." Before he turned to go he stated matter-of-factly,"I will see you later this evening...I am sure I will have need of your guidance." He smiled. Phil's mind uncharacteristically began to calculate everything he would have to do. This was truly going to be a new life.
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Gulfwulf
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I don't know if it is just me, Jenn, but I couldn't hear any dialogue in that piece. It looked good otherwise.
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Anyways, LB plays a female character in the Sunday X-COM campaign, so a female character is perfectly viable. 