Bringing Sexy Back: Female Imagery in D&DNext

Reblogged from The Evil GM:

• 
• 

This might be mildly NSFW. Today we’re going to look at how women are depicted graphically in fantasy roleplaying games (as distinct from sexism or misogyny). Let’s start with some basic assumptions. It would be nice to have more women playing D&D. The surveys, which you can still take, suggest that women make up only about 15-20% of the player base (though, to be fair, that’s an average of about one woman per 5-person group). Having so few women changes the flavor of the game. Unrealistic and …

The issue of women and the image portrayed in fantasy games is on the rise, boys and girls. Read more here.

The Tomb of Xagyg

This is a brief, truncated version of what occured during our first session in my Homebrew AD&D campaign. If I recall correctly, we had eleven players: 7 adults, 2 teenagers, and 2 kids. Life kicked in during the session, and several people had to leave. One of the kids lost interest during role-playing encounters. But all in all, it was a lot of fun for me to tell the story. I hope all the players had fun too.

1. Arriving in Milbourne

• Characters became aware that the town was being raided from time to time by bands of orcs and goblins. These creatures are well organized, larger than normal, and well armed. Milbourne gives no resistance. The raiders usually steal some cattle or pigs, and then go on their way.
• The arrival of the Prince met with much fanfare. However, he and his company have been missing for nearly 12 days. The Mayor wants to keep things hush hush because he doesn’t want to be the one who has to report to the local Lord that the Prince is mission or possibly dead.
• The only survivor of the original company is a bard named Trisdan. He not only seems to be less than injured, but also is bragging in bawdy songs that he is an outright hero. Additionally, he’s using his magic to charm the folks of the small town into believing his boasts.
• The party decides to capture the bard and interogate him. He attempts to charm them as well, and fails. He is dragged to the Old Grizzled’s barn for some old fashion heart-to-heart chit chat enforced with a hot branding iron. Barely escaping beheading from the Fighter named Den, the bard spills his guts. Apparently, he fled at first sign of combat with the Goblins at the Tomb of Xagyg, and returned later to find the company killed, the Prince missing, and all their belongings piled up near the Tomb. He took the Prince’s necklace, ring and dagger for “Safe Keeping.” He then retreated back to Milbourne making up lies to cover his shame.
• Keeping the bard on constant watch, the party decides to get some rest before making the trek to the Tomb. Through the night, the bard tries to convince his captors to release him. The closer it gets to Midnight the more he turns from asking to begging for release. It becomes obvious that something is going to happen at Midnight, or in the early morning.
• They discover a small band of Goblins drifting on the nearby river, shooting flaming arrows from time to time into the air to signal the bard to come to them. The bard is goaded into revealing that he has accepted payment from a “priestess of the Lord of Skulls” to hand over the Royal artifacts and lead the bad guys to the Tomb. Trisdan revealed that the leader was a woman named Murdergrave, but this was only a nickname roughly translated from the Goblin language. Trisdan also bragged that Murdergrave planned to use a “powerful spell” to teleport the bad guys to the Tomb.

2. The Ambush

• The party gathered by the river, cloaked in darkness. The druid stepped forward and called out to the boats (after having Ventriloquism cast on him by Seraphina Knights, the female elf mage.) Murdergrave shouted out angrily, and ordered the boats to shore to collect the druid. That was when Tathar tossed a Fireball in the midst of the boats, and almost everyone else started firing missiles into the surprised Goblins who found themselves rattled, flailing in the water with magical fire licking at their flesh with a hail of arrows tearing into them. Den stood at the shore, pulling any creatures who made it to shore out of the water, and ending their pitiful lives with the stroke of a sword. One of the Elf Fighters, Gaelion Ranor, scored a perfect hit on Murdergrave. Her body was pulled from the river, an Elven arrow lodged cleanly in her throat. A quick search of the bodies revealed no treasure, a few weapons of average make, and enough provisions to last about a week. Murdergrave’s body had a small dagger, a silver amulet engraved with the symbol of a skull, and a leather case containing a single Scroll of Teleportation.

3. Teleporting to the Tomb

• The party donated the weapons liberated from the Goblins to the Milbourne Militia, and confiscated a moderate sized fishing boat. Etienne Navarre, the Ranger, proudly navigated his horse into the middle of the boat and the rest of the party crowded in around the Warhorse. Seraphina Knights managed to muddle through reading the scroll, and the group was teleported into a deep crater that resembled an open-pit mine. At the base of the crater sat the entrance to the Tomb of Xagyg. It had to be an amusing sight to see the party teleport into the mine crowded into a fishing boat with Etienne and his horse stuck right in the middle.
• The party found that the area they teleported into was the scene of a mighty battle. The bodies of Goblins, Humans, and Elves littered the ground. After some investgation, they located a magical key hidden in the base of a statue of Xagyg himself. This key unlocked the Tomb’s large iron doors, and then the key teleported itself back into the base of the statue.

4. Entering the Tomb

• Den pulled on the iron rungs of the large doors, dragging them open by a few inches. Immeadiately, the corpsified hand of a Zombie thrust out raking at the air in front of the Fighter. Within seconds, ten Zombies were at the door trying to force their way out while the party attempted to force the doors shut. With coordiated effort, they managed to work together to destroy the Zombies. The only casualty of the attack was Etienne’s leather armor which was torn and tattered by Zombie claws. (Although Den did manage to drop his sword a few times during the fight, and Etienne managed to shoot the doors more often than he shot the Zombies.)
• Defeating the ombies revealed another lurking threat standing just inside the door shrouded by darkness. They watched as the man-sized being lurched side to side, moving as if drunk. Within moments, they recognized the fine clothing and the tabard worn by the creature in front of them …. the Prince was a Zombie!
• Closing the doors, they gathered their wits and decided what to do. Kill the zombie? Bring back its head as proof that the Prince was now undead? No … they would capture the zombified Prince and take him back. They devised an elaborate plan to capture the Prince, only to have the doors fly open and reveal the true threat: a hovering Mindflayer.

5. Battle with the Mindflayer

• Although most of the party did not want to fight the Mindflayer, Den charged the monster. Lucian grabbed Den, stopping him for long enough to allow Tathar to cast Sleep on Den. However, Den shrugged off the spell and pushed Lucian away. With Den rushing the Mindflayer, the other Fighters followed suit to attack the creature. The others provided support with their missile weapons and spells.
• In the end nearly half of the party was on the ground near death, but the Mindflayer was defeated. When the beast collapsed dead on the floor of the Tomb, the Prince was released from its psionic powers. He collapsed on the floor, alive but severely drained of both physical, mental, and spiritual energy. Wait … the Prince was NOT a zombie!
• The surviving members of the party treated the fallen, stablizing them the best they could using their meager medical supplies and a few of the Druid’s remaining Cure Light Wound spells. They rigged the boat to the warhorse, loaded up the wounded, and headed out to find a suitable place to make camp in the shelter of the wooded hills near the Tomb.
• They would return the body of the Prince to Greyhawk City as they had been ordered.

Image via Wikipedia

AD&D: HOMEBREW GREYHAWK

The kingdom of Blackmoor is in turmoil. Since the departure of King Henry to lead his army against the forces of evil in the Bloodstone Wars, Prince Richard has ruled in his stead. The Prince has adjudicated well in his father’s adsence, but the some of the eight lords have been less than cooperative. Talk of rebelliion and uprising against the Prince has added chaos to the already troublesome task of defending the kingdom from raiding bands of orcs and goblins. The Prince has had only one true ally during it all, Lord Faedorn of Alfheim.

In what some called “an act of desperation” and others “foolish heroics of a young man,” Richard began to pour through ancient tomes seeking any source of a relic or artifact that could give him an upper hand in securing his father’s kingdom. His search proved fruitful in the finding of a journal recorded during the reign of his great grandfather. Richard became fixated on seeking out a legendary weapon hidden from humanity in a nearly forgotten tomb. Richard left his throne behind and departed the city of Greyhawk. He took with him the best of his men-at-arms along with a small group of Elves from Alfheim. Although the journey was fraught with peril, the path led them to an out of the way farming community known as Milborne. It is not known what has happend since the Prince and his company arrived in Milborne. However, what you do know is that messages arrived to you by secret curier, requesting that you come to Milborne to assist the Prince. You are urged to report immeadiately, and tell no one of your depature. The journey to Milborne will be a long one … you have no time to waste.

That was the introduction for yesterday’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons session. With the prompting of a few friends, I put on my Dungeonmaster‘s hat and told a story. We had eleven players: 7 adults, 2 teenagers, and 2 kids (around the age of 8.) The story took around 8 hours to play through, but that included settling in,smoke and snack breaks, and bathroom runs. All in all, I had a great time. I hope the players did too.

I’ll be adding another post to WRECKMARKER discussing what happened during the story that I called “The Tomb of Xagyg.” It was an adventure geared for characters of 1st level in my homebrew version of Greyhawk.

Corsets can be Comfortable

Reblogged from Festooned Butterfly:

So some of you may have seen this article today, “Everything you Know About Corsets is False” by Lisa Hix. It is a good article and touches on many of the things I find myself answering while at conventions. You should read it. I appreciate many of the things she brings up in her article. I find that so many women and men don’t really understand corsets. They look at them like a costume piece, not as an actual garment that has a purpose. Add to that, the ill fitting badly made “corsets” that are sold at …

Festooned Butterfly is awesome. Just sayin’. My wife bought some of her Steampunk gear from them at TempleCon a couple years back.

Another Over Inflated Opinion About the Lord of the Rings

Reblogged from Warp Signal:

Like most fantasy/gamer types I have a long and personal history with the Lord of the Rings in all its forms.  Lately I’ve noticed a bit of negative feeling towards J.R.R. Tolkien and his books.  I’ve even been a source of it myself over the years.  This blog post here at The Realm of Dungeons and Dragons is a pretty good example of what I mean.  Also, the other night I was having dinner with some friends (all genre fans and gamers) and three out of four of us admitted to not liking the Rings all that …

Here is a short article I enjoyed. Check it out.

Combat and Clothespins – DnD 4e Combat Speed Tips

This is a great idea intended to speed up combat in D&D 4e, but can be modified for any edition of D&D and probably any RPG.

Check it out … and bring some Clothespins ….

Combat and Clothespins – DnD 4e Combat Speed Tips.

 

FIRST GAME OF THE YEAR

I started the year out this week by playing my first game of Malifaux against my friend John. He used Sonnia Criid and I played with The Viktorias. We used our friend Dwight’s fancy Terraclips set. No, we didn’t take any pictures, but I plan to start bringing along my camera to snap off a shot or two in the bowels of the G.O.D. Gaming Club HQ basement.

The scenario for the game of simple enough. Split the board into four equal parts, and by turn 6 have more surviving models in each section that the dude you are playing against. No problem, right? I started to wonder when I noticed that John had about three more models than I did. That could be a problem.

He won the flip to go first, so we started putting down miniatures.We deployed to corners. In the end, he had put all of his guys into a brick on the middle of his deployment zone, and I had mine spread out along the front of my zone with the idea that I’d come at his from two different directions.

I put the Viktorias and Johan to the right, Convict Gunslinger and Taelor to the left. Bishop was going to limp right down the middle across a bridge.

The first turn was simple enough. Everyone Double Walked forward, seeking cover and ood LOS vantage points. My models on the left stayed on the ground, moving under the bridge towards a set of stairs that would bring them into John’s deployment zone on his right flank. Bishop went across the bridge which would bring him out in front of the brick. Johan and the Viktorias started up the stairs which would lead them to John’s left flank.

Turns two and three were bad for me. John had won the flip to go first all three turns. Sonnia used magical fire spells to toss three wounds on to Taelor, and Bishop died trying to cross the bridge thanks to shots from the Witchling Stalkers. Samuel tried to Rapid Fire the Convict Gunslinger but luckily all three shots were misses. By turn three, I was still moving the Crew into position to come at Sonnia from all directions, and had only landed a few Weak damage flips on a Witchling or two thanks to shots from the Gunslinger.

Turn four was deadly. I won the flip to go first, but John used soulstones to cheat his way into going first for the fourth time of the game. He managed to kill one of the Viktorias with Sonnia, and Johan went down to the combined shooting of Sonnia’s minions. On my turns, the Convict Gunslinger managed to kill two Witchlings, and Taelor killed a third. Viktoria would have liked to have charged Sonnia but a magical wall of fire stopped her from doing so.

Turn four and is where I started to shine. John’s flips were coming up with low numbers, and all mine were high. Viktoria charged in and killed Sonnia after triggering Whirlwind. And yes, the Red Joker showed up just in time in my favor. Taelor smacked Samuel and triggered a Knockback, tossing him away. She followed up with a smashing blow to kill a Fire Gamin, sucking up the damage that it gave her as it died.

Turn five saw Viktoria being charged by a Fire Gamin. This put me in a rough spot because killing it would also kill Viktoria due to her remaining Wounds being low at this point. However, John couldn’t get his cards to agree and basically did nothing to my models. My models didn’t score any more kills, but they didn’t need to.

Turn six was uneventful, but led to mu victory as I managed to have more models in the different sectors than John.

Victory was mine!

Winning my first game of Malifaux for the year was encouraging. I remain undeafeated with the Viktorias, and I’m ready for my next opponent!

Keep rollin’ sixes … or in this case … flipping high!

Cool stuff: Warmachine/Hordes Dictionary

Reblogged from Miniature armies, huge time sink:

Here’s a new feature I’m going to be starting (although I’ve already brought you a few posts like this last year) where I bring you things that are interesting, just plain cool, or otherwise note-worthy.  All related to Warmachine/Hordes of course… Don’t have time to sift through the abundance of “stuff” out there?  I’ve got you covered. The mean people in your computer scare you?  I’ve got you covered. Just need someone to tell you what to look at?  I’ve got you covered. To start us off this year, I …

Check out this WARMACHINE dictionary covering the words that we miniature gamers use while playing the game.

GOODBYE, STAR WARS!

Image via Wikipedia

Next week, on Tuesday:

Join the Massively Staff in-game or in the livestream chat, to say a fondfarewell to Star Wars Galaxies. It is a sad time as an epic closes its doors after many years and the sun sets for it, but Everyone will be there to say goodbye to a classic MMO that players loved for many years. This is the closing of a major chapter in MMOs.

http://massively.joystiq.com/livestream/

NEW PATHFINDER STUFF

The Pathfinder Society aims to win in the upcoming Ruby Phoenix Tournament (some agents might add “by any means necessary” here), and to that end, as a Pathfinder Society agent, you’re sent to far-off Tian Xia. In “The Edge of Heaven”, agents ascend into the heights of the mountain range known as the Wall of Heaven, seeking an abandoned monastery of Irori. Long abandoned, the monastery holds an ancient artifact that the leaders of the Pathfinder Society feel is key to gaining the upper hand during the tournament. Recovering the artifact puts the PCs on an unexpected course, and is the beginning of The Quest for Perfection three-part campaign arc!

For some, the path to life eternal lies down the dark road of undeath, but in the land of Thuvia, the alchemical wonder known as the sun orchid elixir changes that. Only six vials of this precious substance are made every year, commanding astronomical sums from prospective buyers, each drop extending the lifespan of its imbiber. In “The Immortal Conundrum”, the guardian of the elixir is holding a dinner party at the Thuvian embassy in Absalom, and the Pathfinder Society has received an invitation—and you’ve been chosen to represent the Society! The phony smiles and fake hellos, in this case, hold a valuable purpose—gaining access to the vault known as the Conundrum. The dangers and treasures that might lie within are of great interest to the masked leaders of the Society, but the landscape of Absalom’s social elite is just as dangerous as any battlefield, and ridicule (or worse) await those that don ‘t tread lightly.

Check out all of the third season’s Pathfinder Society Scenarios here!

THE ORTEGAS

Last night, I accepted a challenge from a good friend of mine named John. He wanted to play me at a game of Malifaux, and that sounded like a lot of fun to me … so I accepted. I decided to break out my new and never before used Ortegas crew (with Sam Hopkins added) to use against his Neverborn. He used the Lillith boxed set along with Nekima.

Long story short, the Neverborn ate my dudes alive. Literally.

Neverborn are fast little buggers, so I should have been finding areas of cover, digging in, and playing sniper with most of my crew. Instead, I was playing aggressively and moving forward and shooting. What I failed to realize was the low, low DEF that the Gunslingers have and their lack of effective melee. They need to stay back and shoot. Period.

Nino and Francisco went down first. Although they got off a few nice hits on a Young Nephilim, and Nino even triggered a Head Shot … Nekima showed up and ruined their fun. Nekima flew over a building, charged Nino thus ending up also engaging Francisco. Nekima managed to make short work of them due to some nice cards drawn by John. I didn’t expect Nekima to fly up over the building for some reason, silly me. Next time, I’ll use some smarts with that one. Both of these guys should have been on elevated terrain, shooting like crazy. Since Neverborn can fly, I should have been using Companion to gang up on them and take them out.

Papa Loco has a little fun tossing dynamite, but ended up getting engaged on a bridge with a Terror Tot. After some back and forth for about three turns, the Tot killed Papa, thus setting off BOOM! which killed the Terror Tot. Papa did what he was supposed to do … in my eyes … wade in and cause some havoc. Force the opponent to deal with him and hope to take some of the baddies out when he goes down.

WIP ~ Papa Loco ~ 6/2011

Samael is a pretty cool model, but I didn’t use him to his potential. He spent the first two turns getting into position under a bridge and then walked out to attack Lillith. However, thanks to some terrible card flips, that tactic went south very quickly. He was then engaged by a Mature Nephilim. Despite some good effort on Sam’s part, the combination of Black Blood and Neverborn badassness put him in an early grave. Again, I was caught off guard with the Flight ability. Those Neverborn are fast!

Santiago is a badass. He has a bunch of special abilities. He managed to do some decent damage to the Mature Nephilim and a Young Nephilim. His a ability to do critical damage along with burning two Action Points to get three shots is excellent. He put up a damn good fight, but there were just too many Neverborn hitting him at once. He finished the game with three remaining boxes. Not bad.

Last but not least we have Perdita. She’s a fun Master to play. Her defense is good, and she can hold her own in a fight. Oh, and Gunfighter is great in case you wondered. Although this is the first time I played her, I enjoyed using the Obey spell. I kept a card in my hand to get the spell off. I chose to target Nekima, and flipped the Red Joker. Of course, Nekima was sent off to charge Lillith and caused four wounds. Nice. I plan to use this trick more often. Perdita took 1 damage from Black Blood.

The game ended with a scenario win to John. I believe the scenario was Land Grab. A point was marked on the Board and he finished the 6th turn with more of his dudes by the marker than me. My mistake was trying to get close to the marked point for the scenario. I should have stayed back, and shot the hell out of everything.

Next time, I will plan on using Companion to activate the majority of my crew to center on one target, and shoot the hell out of it. I think that’s the best way to handle Neverborn anyway. Isolate a target, activate all at once, and shoot it dead.

I look forward to reading more about Gunslinger tactics, and getting some more games in with the Ortega crew. If you’ve played these guys and want to offer some advice or tactics, please use the comments below to give me some sage advice. Until next time, keep rollin’ sixes …. or in this case … flippin thirteens.

HELP TEAM MASON

Image via Wikipedia

In honor of World Alzheimer’s Day, Please make a donation to support Team Mason in its fight against Alzheimer’s disease. By helping to fight Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, we are getting closer to helping fight all of the many different types of dementia.

Team Mason is participating in a Walk on Oct. 2 to help keep memories alive for those with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Please make a donation online by linking to the page at http://2011walktoendalz.kintera.org/dubois/marybethmasonbaughman322

RSS Feeds

I am cleaning out some of my RSS Feeds. If the Feed hasn’t been updated for awhile, it’s out of here. So if you have a couple good Feeds that you can suggest that relate to WARMACHINE, HORDES, Steampunk, or something cool … drop me a Comment below.

Have a nice day!