The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice XXXIV – Annotations of Anonymity

Charles didn’t know it – but his anonymous time was very rapidly drawing to an end… Like it or not, he’d simply meddled in too many things too quickly to remain in the background. The various groups on Yu-Shan and Earth might not know WHAT he was – but they were becoming quite sure that [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 201a – It Dropeth From Heaven Like Gentle Rain

Marty was taking advantage of Markov’s constant mental peeking at the hatchlings to peer a little deeper… The hatchlings were so ruthless, so driven to defeat each other, so vicious in victory. They were so YOUNG. Were they REALLY that… inherently cruel? Then why had Tethen become so… benign once enthralled? He’d written that sort [...]

Viva Le Revolution! Realms of the Banefire

Life… isn’t fair. A sizeable chunk of the population winds up holding the short end of the stick in early childhood, continue to hold it all their lives, and ultimately die with it jammed in some very uncomfortable place indeed. The promise to make it fair lies at the base of many faiths. “It will [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice XXXIII – City and Soul

After the tests, the Proctor very much wanted to talk to Charles… The minor antics of mortal and god-blooded thaumaturgic assistants could usually be safely ignored – but in this case, the child evidently had access to some quite exceptional artifacts – and his thaumaturgy (or at least his mastery of wards) was strong enough [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 200b – Markov versus Marty

Meanwhile, Markov had been trying to track down that fat mage who’d snatched Tokif – and apparently a few more of his enslaved offspring – right out of coalition territory! He’d called him fat! He needed to be tracked down and eaten! He burst in on the young slaves he’d gotten from that “Kadia” place [...]

Young Wizards Beta!

Young Wizards goes Beta! Tell your friends.   Yes, Young Wizards is now in the playable Beta version. This edition still lacks a few of the fancy details we mighty like, but it’s a working rulesset, with every spell ready for play. You can take a character through five full years or schooling and adventure. [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 200a – Flowers and Unicorns and Rainbows

Meanwhile, Valira – the formerly-possessed mouse-lady – and her two children had fled into the wilds of Kadia – although Kevin had sent a few Thralls after them to help them out. (A Thrall, in the form of a talking songbird) “Ms Valira Turner? Please don’t hide! You can get very lost in Kadia without [...]

Eclipse Questions – Reducing Action Types

Today’s query from Jasper Merendino is about reducing the kind of action required for various actions in Eclipse d20 – most notably, reducing Full Actions to some other kind of action and with respect to the Enhanced Strike abilities. This is one of the tricky ones, simply because most simple, generic, methods of reducing the [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 199 – Gold versus Red

With the creche under control, Markov elected to concentrate on building his coalition – with a focus on what his remaining local opposition (Ishvialsen, that gold who’d moved into the area) was up to at the moment… As it turned out, he’d enslaved the four reds near his territories, and they’d recruited one and enslaved [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice XXXII – The City of Crystal Dreams

After a few couple of weeks – and a dozen or so more rescues (which, with practice, were starting to go more smoothly – for the moment), Charles got a message from “a drunken shedu” up in Yu Shan. Terapishim (and “that other guy” – Gri Fel from the description) wanted to see him… Well… [...]

The Chronicles of Heavenly Artifice XXXI – The Bicyclist of the Unpocalypse

Now that Aden was more or less fully landscaped, it seemed a pity that there was hardly anyone there to enjoy it… Well… There were Yu-Shan gates all over the globe – including in a lot of troubled areas and places with natural disasters… Right then! He did have some contacts with the pattern spiders; [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 198c – Organizing the Creche

Marty frowned… It looked like Markov was likely to remain “untamed” for quite some time… How was that possible? Markov was just an Identity! A role he took while he was in the Dragon Empire! Was he using his own powers against himself? That would explain it – but only if Markov really did express [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 198b – The Voices of the Dawn

With Kevin quietly inveigling their latest evil necromancer, Mr Cartwright was quietly asking for an explanation of what was going on from Marty. (Marty) “Kevin just transported everybody to his personal dimension. I think he was going to try to build new bodies for the woman and the two kids bound to her.” (Cartwright) “And [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 198a – Yep! It’s Another Evil Necromancer!

Meanwhile, back with the Colony Council – in far slower time at the moment than the Dragon Empire (which was not helping the group maintain control of their identities there at all), the discussion on Kevin – and his contract – was still underway. The Unified Church, Escrimera (and presumably the Divine Heavens), and Marty [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 197 – Philsantias Versus Sanity

Meanwhile, still in fast-time in the Dragon Empire, Raphael as Philsantias (who currently had firmly suppressed most of the instincts, drives, and memories that went with the dragon identity) was relaxing a bit while his investigations ran, his defenses were set up and reinforced, and he considered how best to get the most reward for [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 196 – The Slave Rebellion

Felan was quite right. Markov’s errant daughters turned out not to have gone very far at all… They’d mostly attached themselves to some of his allies sons; the more dominant boys who had already passed their exams. How dare they steal from him! As hatchlings, the girls were no longer his property the moment they [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 194b – Future Concerns

The secondary characters got rather far into the future in this segment – hence posting it has been delayed a bit so that it’s closer to it’s proper point in the game timeline. In the Dragon Empire, Markov had turned his attention to expanding his coalition… It was easy enough at first! He was far [...]

Champions of the Gods

Champions of the Gods Sometimes, you need more than a character. You need a Champion, a hero for the ages. And as promised, here are a few select alternatives for the great and powerful, at least equal to Spellfire.   Descendant of Deities In ages past, Gods had a habit of enjoying the company of [...]

Federation-Apocalypse Session 195b – The Dragon Sculptor

In the Dragon Empire, young Felan was – rather busily! – looking for a way he could be allowed to keep more slaves… (Felan, to Markov) “Uhm… Father? If I can find something useful to contribute to the coalition could I count as a junior member?” Huh! That was fairly large indulgence! The kid must [...]

Eclipse d20: The God-Blooded Template

Quite a few myths and tales revolve around the sons and daughters of gods – but, oddly enough, such individuals are often little more than mortal. They often show some exceptional attributes or skills – but Gilgamesh, and Perseus, and Cuchulain, and Arjuna, and Oedipus (a fine example of why being a demigod often sucked), [...]