Uncategorized – Page 105 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: second day

[NOTE: this is part five in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

At the Returner hideout…

BANON: Right… We all know that the Empire is using Magitek power in
battle. The point is, how has the Emperor created it?

EDGAR: I had LOCKE look into the rumor that the Empire is forcing the
world’s finest scholars to study Espers.

LOCKE: All the trouble in Narshe is over an Esper, too…

TERRA: You mean there’s some connection between Espers and Magitek?

BANON: I can only recall one thing linking Espers with Magitek
power…

EDGAR: You don’t mean…

BANON: Indeed! The ancient War of the Magi…

SABIN: No! It can’t be!

LOCKE: My Grandma used to tell me stories about magical machines…
Could they have been true?

EDGAR: Could that ancient tragedy be playing out once again…

BANON: It’s just speculation… But historical studies have provided
a number of conflicted and frightening theories… According to one
theory, humans and machines were imbued with powers drained from
Espers…

TERRA: That could explain Magitek power…

EDGAR: We can only fight Magitek enemies with Magitek weapons…

BANON: It’s risky, but if we have TERRA…speak with that Esper, it
might just wake up…

EDGAR: I wonder if that’s wise…?

BANON: Who can say? Regardless, we need TERRA’s help.

LOCKE gets up and walks over to TERRA.

LOCKE: TERRA…

TERRA: I’ll do it!

The front door opens.

BANON: What? What’s that noise?

RETURNER SOLDIER: Emergency! Sir Banon…

The soldier collapses.

SOLDIER: S…South Figaro…

BANON: What’s going on? What happened?

SOLDIER: S…South Figaro… E…Empire…took Figaro… Coming…this
way…unnnh…

BANON: They’ve found us… We haven’t a moment to lose!

The Returners evacuate not a moment too soon. Reinforced with their divisions from Thamasa and Doma, the Imperial Army now focuses all of its strength on Narshe, the coal-mine city of the North. Imperial spies have scouted out the Returner hideout, and a whole brigade of elite Imperial Magitek troops now storms through the mountains, ready to take them out.

All of these troop movements on the eastern continent have driven several of the wild animals out of the Veldt, into more settled country. Forced to defend themselves from the onslaught of man-eating monsters, the people of Mobliz send animal hunting parties by day, returning to the protective barricades around the city by night.

On one of these pre-emptive hunting expeditions, the hunters come across a strange, wild beast…

GAU: Uwaoo~!! Ooh… I’m hungry!

The trigger-happy citizens shoot before the beast has a chance to reveal himself. When the dust settles, they find the mangled corpse of a young boy, draped in monster hides, shining, intelligent eyes glossed over in death…

Innocents lynch CptSqweky, an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky (innocent)
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen (innocent)
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17 (innocent)

Among them: 1 necromancer (Banon), 1 detective (Terra), 1 assassin (Shadow), 2 mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial agent).

Day at noon tomorrow. Mafia, detective, assassin, please take note and get in your requests ASAP.

NIGHT

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: second night

[NOTE: this is part four in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

Terra, Locke, and King Edgar arrive at South Figaro, where they resupply and head north through the mountains toward the Returner hideout. On the way, they meet up with Edgar’s long lost brother, Sabin, who has trained extensively in the martial arts. They arrive at the Returner hideout without incident.

Meanwhile…

Following the conquest of Doma, Emperor Gestahl orders the main force of his army to reinforce Kefka’s expeditionary force in South Figaro. An informant in the capitol betrays the city, allowing Kefka to occupy the whole of the country.

Soon, however, Kefka becomes bored again.

Following the lead of Imperial spies in Mobliz, Gestahl orders General Leo to investigate the island of Thamasa. According to the spies, an obscure clan of magic users inhabits the island, and Gestahl wants to discover the secrets of their powers.

At the last minute, Kefka boards the ship and joins the force, much to General Leo’s dismay. The noble general prefers to peaceably conquer the defenseless village, but Kefka orders the troops to use force:

KEFKA: I don’t care for the appearance of this pitiful little
hamlet… So burn it!!

LEO: Kefka! No!

KEFKA: Shut up!

Thamasa is destroyed. Some escape; many do not. Among the dead is a precious little girl, barely ten years old, still clutching her cherished paintbrush…

Mafia kills PharaohsQueen, an innocent.

At the returner hideout, Terra meets Bannon, who urges her to join them in the resistance against the Empire…

BANON: Perhaps you’ve heard this story? Once, when people were pure
and innocent, there was a box they were told never to open. But one
man went and opened it anyway. He unleashed all the evils of the
world: envy… greed… pride… violence… control… All that
was left in the box was a single ray of light: Hope.

TERRA: ……

BANON: We now confront those evils… And you are that last ray of
light, our only hope…

TERRA: Hope… How can anyone put their hope in me?

BANON: I understand your unease. But even as we speak, innocent lives are
being lost… Please. We need your abilities.

Terra asks for some time to think it over. While the others wait for her to make a decision, she scopes out the Returner hideout for Imperial agents. Finding none, she accepts Banon’s offer and joins the resistance!

Detective checks an innocent.

Meanwhile, Thamasa is not forgotten. A man in black, running from a dark past, remembers the last time he left this place…

INTERCEPTOR: Woof! Woof!

SHADOW: You came to fetch me… But I won’t be coming back… I want
you, and the girl, to live in a peaceful world…

Upon finding Relm’s dead body, Shadow goes into a blind rage. Blaming the girl’s grandfather for her untimely death, he hunts the old man down. Strago is found in the morning with a shuriken buried in his heart.

Assassin kills Zeromoon17, an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen (innocent)
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17 (innocent)

Among them: 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 2 Mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial Agent)

DAY

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: first day

[NOTE: this is part three in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

While Terra recuperates at Figaro Castle, Emperor Gestahl sends Kefka with an expeditionary force on a recon mission to find the mysterious magic user and bring her back to Vector. When Kefka arrives at Figaro Castle, he finds King Edgar cordial but evasive. Bored with diplomacy, he decides to take a more hard-line approach and orders his troops to attack the castle.

EDGAR: What’s happening?

KEFKA: Bring me the girl. Now!

EDGAR: I don’t know what you’re talking about!

KEFKA: Then…welcome to my barbecue!! Uwa ha ha ha!

EDGAR walks up to the throne room door and talks to a Soldier.

EDGAR: Get ready…!

FIGARO SOLDIER: Yes, Sir!

Soldier walks into the door.

KEFKA: Changed your mind…?

EDGAR: I guess I have no choice…

EDGAR whistles for a three Chocobos and jumps off the side of the
castle wall onto one of them.

EDGAR: Or maybe I do!

KEFKA: Ackk! Shameful that a king should flee, leaving his people
behind! How utterly delightful!

EDGAR takes the Chocobo around the other side of castle, where LOCKE
and TERRA are waiting.

EDGAR: Jump!

LOCKE and TERRA jump onto the Chocobos as they ride past, and they
proceed to ride off.

EDGAR: OK! Dive now!!!

LOCKE: Yahoooo!

Figaro Submergance Code Engaged!

The castle starts to pull together by itself.

CHANCELLOR: Into the golden desert Figaro Castle nobly descends!

Chancellor lowers into the castle, and it submerges. Kefka is wiped
out on the surface of the desert sands.

KEFKA: Go!! GET THEM!

Avulsion never asked to come on this mission. He felt humiliated every time he had to wipe the sand off of Kefka’s boots. All the same, he thought it would be easy to take down the three Chocobo riders with his Magiteck armor suit.

He was wrong.

Innocents lynch Avulsion, a mafioso.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 2 Mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial Agent)

NIGHT

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: first night

[NOTE: this is part two in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

On the banks of the Doma river…

KEFKA: Hee, hee! Nothing can beat the music of hundreds of voices
screaming in unison! Uwa, ha, ha!

Meanwhile, inside the castle…

DOMA SENTRY: Sir CYAN! The Empire’s base is bustling with activity.
Something must be up!

CYAN: Huh? The water looks odd…

Seven posted Doma Sentries collapse and die.

DOMA SENTRY: Sir CYAN!

CYAN: This is…POISON!

With everyone dying around him, Cyan runs to save the king. He arrives too late to save his liege. The king tells him to save his family, but when Cyan runs into their quarters to rescue them…

CYAN: Elayne! Elayne! Wake up!

Elayne, Cyan’s wife, dies.

CYAN: This… This…can’t be happening!

From the other side of the room, Cyan hears a cough…

CYAN: ! Owain… NOT YOU TOO! Son…you can’t BOTH leave me!

Owain, Cyan’s son, dies.

CYAN: D… Dear me… <cough> <cough>

Cyan tries to escape the castle, but the poison is too strong. He collapses and dies with everyone else.

Mafia kills Drakon, an innocent.

Acting on behalf of the Returners, Locke rescues Terra from Narshe and spirits her away to Figaro Castle, where she meets several strange new people…

EDGAR: So…you’re an Imperial soldier! No problem. Figaro and the
Empire are allies! Please relax while you’re here. It’s not in my
blood to harm a lady.

TERRA: Look, why are you helping me? Is it because of my…abilities?

EDGAR waves his finger.

EDGAR: I’ll give you three reasons: First of all, your beauty has
captivated me! Second…I’m dying to know if I’m your type…

EDGAR walks away a bit.

EDGAR: I guess your…abilities…would be a distance 3rd.

TERRA: ……? What’s with you, anyway?

Suspicious, Terra checks out the castle for imperial agents. Instead, all she finds are maids, soldiers, and scholars studying the ancient arts of magic. Silly people, scholars.

Detective checks an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: Bannon (Necromancer), Terra (Detective), Shadow (Assassin), 3 Mafia (Kefka and 2 Imperial Agents)

DAY

FF6 Werewolf Tribute: game start

[NOTE: this is part one in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf. The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

Long ago, the War of the Magi
reduced the world to a scorched wasteland,
and magic simply ceased to exist.

One thousand years have passed…
Iron, gunpowder and steam engines
have been rediscovered,
and high technology reigns.

But there are those who would enslave the world
by reviving the dread destructive force
known as “magic.”

Could it be that those in power
are on the verge of repeating
a senseless and deadly mistake?

PLAYING:

Avulsion
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 3 Mafia (Emperor Gestahl, General Leo, and Kefka).

We will use the modified standard rules. Each player starts with 5 GP which disappear after the round is over.

NIGHT

Final Fantasy VI Werewolf tribute

Heh. Sorry for not posting in so long. I’ve been somewhat…preoccupied (and my last post said “building momentum”–ha!).

For this past week, I’ve been GMing a game of Werewolf on the Quark website. Werewolf is a forum roughly based on Mafia, but much more complex, since the online aspect gives it some very interesting dynamics–makes lying easier, gives it more strategy, more player roles, like “assassin” or “detective” or “necromancer,” etc. I’ve been playing for about a year now, and it’s lots of fun!

On the last round, about two weeks ago, I became the dirty lawyer (ie a traitorous innocent playing for the other team) for the assassin, a role that’s almost impossible to win. Previous to that round, it had only happened once–once, in almost four years of Werewolf rounds. Well, long story short, WE WON! Yeah!

So, having cut my teeth on the game (I haven’t played that many rounds of Werewolf, and some of the players are much more shrewd than me), I decided to GM the round. Out of a spontaneous impulse, I decided to theme it off of Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

Let me just say, that was either the best or the worst decision I’ve made all week.

I’ve been completely absorbed in this game. Completely. It’s been awesome, moving the story along, throwing in just the right cutscenes to represent different actions taken by either side, getting into character, showing Kefka’s gradual descent (or, should I say, ascent?) from deranged lunatic into Evil Force of Nature, etc etc. It’s been glorious! Absolutely glorious!

<sigh> I love Final Fantasy 6. It’s been years since I’ve played it (well, only a couple, since I was a college freshman when I first played it <blush>), but GMing this round has brought back all the old feelings for that game.

It is epic! Truly epic! The best game in the Final Fantasy series–so emotional, so poignant, so cliche and melodramatic BUT IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY!!!!!!

……….

So anyway, I have a confession to make: that round of Werewolf totally absorbed my life this past week. That’s why nothing’s happened. I’m debating posting some of the best moments of it on this blog, but I don’t know. Maybe I’ll end up doing it.

In totally unrelated (and a little bit more professional) news, I got an internship offer with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy a few days ago. Looks like an awesome place! I’m seriously considering accepting it. Dr. Bowen tells me they’re pro-Israel and right of center, but at the same time, very moderate–not the kind of partisan place that’s going to lock me into a Republican-only or Democrat-only career for the rest of my life. Also, I hear they’re extremely influential with policy makers…could be interesting, inshallah.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

It was said that God, in order to test mankind which had become swelled with pride as in the time of Noah, had commanded the wise men of that age, among them the Blessed Leibowitz, to devise great engines of war such as had never before been upon the Earth, weapons of such might that they contained the very fires of Hell, and that God had suffered these Magi to place the weapons in the hands of princes, and to say to each prince: ‘Only because thine enemies have such a thing have we devised this for thee, in order that they may know that thou hast it also, and fear to strike.’

But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: ‘If I but strike quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy those others in their sleep, and there shall be none to fight back; the earth shall be mine.’

Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge…

In the new dark ages of man following the nuclear apocalypse, an order of Catholic monks preserves the last vestiges of civilization: a shopping list, an electrical diagram, and other assorted scraps of a long-dead world. As mankind rises from the dust, inevitable tensions arise between the church and the world, between Jerusalem and Babylon, Christ and Lucifer.

This book is epic. Epic. I can’t begin to describe how incredible it is. Virtually every page, especially towards the end, is packed with meaning. A cautionary tale of the folly of man in this fallen world, this story held me captivated right up to the chilling final chapter. Bravo.

As I understand it, Walter M. Miller Jr. wrote this book in the late 50s / early 60s, during the height of the Cold War. Science fiction at that time was both sweepingly visionary and frighteningly pessimistic about the future of mankind, and this book successfully captures both extremes. Like Asimov’s Foundation series, it reads more like a collection of elongated short stories, but Miller’s characterization and attention to detail is superior, in my opinion, to Asimov’s.

The most fascinating aspect about this book is the way that Miller hearkens to the past to give us a vision of our future. Many of his ideas are straight out of Augustine and Aquinas–indeed, in several places, the story feels like it’s set in 3rd or 4th century Europe, which only adds to the delicious irony.

Yet, while this book has a strong Catholic feel, I never felt alienated or excluded from its intended audience. Maybe it’s because my Mormon heritage is more compatible with Catholicism than other religious beliefs, but I don’t think it’s just that; the issues in this book are human issues, not just religious issues, and by focusing on that fact, Miller makes the story much more universal.

Even with all the deep, philosophical elements, this story is wonderfully entertaining. Irony abounds, especially in the first section, in which a young novice takes a simple electrical diagram from the pre-deluge world and, completely unaware of its significance (or lack thereof), spends the rest of his life making a beautiful illuminated manuscript of it. Even though the sections were short, I quickly fell in love with the characters in each one, and connected with them almost instantly.

The final scene, in particular, was incredibly touching. I won’t spoil it for you, but let me just say, if you are or ever have considered taking your own life, read this book, just for the final scene. The degree to which the last abbot clings to life, even in the face of so many good reasons to give up, is just incredible. And the final scene, in which…I won’t ruin it for you. Just read it!

A Canticle for Leibowitz is one of the most powerful, meaningful books I have read in my life. It is more than a good read, more than epic. I class it as one of the best works of fiction this genre has ever produced. If you have ever wondered about the destiny of mankind, or the proper relationship between the secular and the spiritual in our modern age–read this book!

back in Provo

Just arrived in Utah, after a LONG drive. Nevada is so freaking huge…and empty. Blegh.

Considering I need to be in class at 9am tomorrow, I’m going to post this and go straight to bed. Goodnight.

more later

Saturday was a great day. I wish I had the time to blog all about it, but unfortunately I need to get up a little early tomorrow and I need the extra sleep. More later, though–I promise!

T minus 5:08:37…

Business cards…check.
Clean clothes…check.
Clean shaven…check.
Soap and toiletries…check.
Batteries…check.
Battery recharger…check.
iRiver 800…check.
Music…check.
Computer…check.
Camera…check.
Tentative convention program…check.
Map and directions…check.
Snacks and lunch…check.

Five hours to liftoff and counting. This time tomorrow, I’m going to be in California! Yay! And holy cow, did I mention that I’m nervous?

World Fantasy 2009, here we come!