[After Action Report] MidsouthCon 2025

This year would be an experience I hadn't had in a few years... As I would fly solo - without ActionMan (who now has a job).

Friday I left home a little before 11AM, and drove to Olive Branch MS (south of Memphis TN). A nice trip on a warm spring day. I good music playing and got there on-time to check in before my first panel. "Funny" story... I realized the character sheet for my two games stayed in my folder at home... So I had to scramble to find a printer. But, thanks to the staff of the Conference Center, they printed my sheet.

Situation saved!

I participated in a panel on "RPGs and History." with Logan and Keeley. It was a lively discussion that weaved different game systems: from D&D to Call of Cthulhu and Vampire.

Next, I sat in on a panel on Using AI for Writing and Creation. The panel was quite divided in the "Not any" to "Yeah, you can use it." My own position is somewhere in the middle. I have been using AI, mostly for reviewing, summarizing, and generating art.

My next panel was on Villains and how to make them good. I started with the following statement that drove the discussion for the next hour... Darth Maul does nothing evil during the Phantom Menace.

I went to the RPG room and joined a table of Monster of the Week. I was "Wilma" who that the creepy local goth 12 year old traveling with my "Uncle Scraggy" in his van. (Later, Grandman joined us.) We had a short, but fun adventure fighting a local creature rising from his grave. One of my highlights included me making the van's bumpers magical.

Saturday I offered two table of Ozaka: Sound of a Biwa Some of you with eagle eyes will say "JP, isn't that your Gencon adventure?"

Indeed.

My morning game did not go off, so I jumped into a game of Mission Accomplished. That is a story game where your mission was accomplished and you succeeded. The game takes place in a HR debriefing where the PCs have to blame/ cover your own rear end. In the end, someone gets a promotion and someone gets shot. This is a very funny game and a love letter to the TV show "Archer"

My next slot, I ran my adventure, playtesting it. A few things came up - paths I hadn't considered, making the adventure better overall - YAY!

For the evening, I was scheduled for my first game of Kult, but the GM never showed up! So I jumped to a game of Call of Cthulhu, ran by Keeley! It was an adventure I ran "way back" of which I only remembered the high-level details. Fun stuff. I survived by the skin of my teeth despite failing several important checks.

I will say this new edition removes the "charm" of the era in favor for an "Afternoon Special" version where people of Lovecraft Country look like modern day Los Angeles, being a mosaic of people. There is a charm of playing the 1920s, with its idiosyncracies - which includes sexism and racism. Thus playing a woman in the 1920s as an engineer SHOULD raise eyebrows, and this SHOULD be used for the game, forcing players to be creative to play AROUND these barriers.

Sunday I participated in a Pro Row. Then I jumped in the car and returned home.

The biggest lesson I take away is to make sure "5e" is in the title of the events.

Another lesson is to plan to join panels on Sunday in addition to Friday. Keep Pro-Row for Saturday morning or Friday evening.

[Kinda Book Review] Essential Xmen 7

Continuing the run of my youth... with this new chapter.

Here we start after the Mutant Massacre and it's fallout. The XMen are on the run, with many wounded mutants and team members. It's a good follow up and has some decent emotional moments.

Here the team adds Psyloche before she becomes Asian with the psychic knife. She's a blind woman with cyber eyes given to her by MOJO. That is a crazy look ahead to reality TV and 24h cycle of TV. I remember reading that in the 80s and thinking how crazy and farfetched it seemed in 87 or 88...

And now...

This book concludes with the Fall of the Mutants, which kills the xmen and returns Storm's power to her (finally). But it left an ashen taste in my mouth... I remember reading then and thinking it was cool... having missed a lot of the buildup. But while binge reading it... it feels like a quick and forced cross title. Unlike the massacre, the titles had nothing to do with each other. It was... another story...

Still no one gives a crap about Rachel...

I wondered about giving this a rating... it include the very good Fantastic Four vs Xmen where they save Shadowcat from becoming a ghost and vanish. A very good story all around...

With the highs and lows together, I will give it a 3/5.

[Kinda Book Review] La Reine Etranglee by Maurice Druon

One of the best-known series of historical fiction books in French is "Les Rois Maudits" (the Cursed Kings) which deals with King Philippe IV Le Bel (The Fair) and his children. His three sons all ascended to the throne and were the last kings of the Capetian Dynasty. Starting with Philippe VI, power shifted to the House of Valois. King Philippe Le Bel is best known for bringing an end to the Knights Templars and the trials that end with the death of the last Grandmaster. He was a massive reformer and someone with strong ideas and the personal power and charisma to get it done.

A few years back, I read the first one of the series, which started with the execution of the lords of the Templars.

I kept this one for later... Finally I sat down and read it.

The first book of the series was pretty good (oddly enough, it seems I did not put a review on this blog...). But this one... It was... Fine. Not great. As the book title indicates, deals book deals with the strangling of a queen - here Marguerite de Bourgogne (Margaret in English). Interestingly, after Philippe le Bel's death, his son Louis X (dit le Hutin or the Quarrelsome).

The book opens with the death of Philippe le Bel and the ascension of Louis X. Louis' wife Marguerite is kept in Chateau-Gaillard up the Seine River because she was found guilty of adultery (in Book 1). The plot deals with Valois and d'Artois arranging for Louis to find a second wife (Clemence de Hongrie).

My biggest issue with this is that the characters are very one-dimensional. D'Artois is manipulative, Valois is impotent, Louis is unsure of himself and quarrelsome, the Italians are affable, Blanche is candid and vapid, Marigny is honorable, and Marguerite is a defeated woman. There is little to make these people (Louis and Marguerite are the only ones with a little depth). So it's very black vs white.

This era is France's equivalent of the War of the Roses and generally fascinating. Each characters could be seen one way or another. This is not what you will find here.

I will settle on a 2/5 for this one. I enjoyed it more than most other I rated 2, but the almost cartoonish villains cheapens the interest. If I were to use this for D&D, I may bump it up to 3. But nah... it's a solid 2.

[Kinda Book Review] X-men Essential Vol 6

Still going through the first ~250 issues of the X-men and now with volume 5.

Okay... The X-men and New Mutants return to Asgard where everyone gets some cool development again. Now we have a Secret Wars II crossover with Rachel receiving the Phoenix from the Beyonder, the introduction of Mojo, Lady Deathstrike, Freedom force, and the Mutant Massacre.

Now... If you never read those comics (they cover X-men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Power Pack, and Thor), this is at once, a delight to read and an absolute horror.

The delight coming from the delicate and complicated ballet where some groups come in and out of the Morlock tunnels, in small groups, a few at a time, then exit. Others (Thor) do things that affect everyone in the tunnels.

Horror because of the subject matter. A lot of people die. Not only "unnamed morlocks" but some that are known too. Even heroes do not escape unharmed: Shadowcat becomes insubstancial, Nightcrawler in a coma, Colossus is paralysed, and Angel gets pinned to a wall.

Vicious. Brutal.

I mean being able to read the whole thing in one place was well worth the price of the cover. I could not let this down. Okay, I did because I had to sleep and go to work...

The one storyline that, again pissed me off, was Rachel. At some point, she disappears and the X-Men don't seem to care what happens to her. She leaves and they move on. Okay, the Massacre begins, but having a "Where'd Rachel go" would've been nice.

This one get a 5/5. This is a masterclass in Comic Book storytelling, across ~10 issues. When you're done, you are scarred as a reader. It's so sad...

[Kinda Book Review] Bound by Destiny by R MB Pearson

First off, let me say that I am a reader of romance stories. This story strikes all the beats you find in romance: hot girl, rich husband, destination wedding, money, a horrible event, friendships, tears, and laughs. Add complex, relatable characters, my favorites being Ron and his bros. Then add mystical forces and elements (the "bound by destiny" part...) that both serve as catalysts but that are not all-encompassing, leaving characters some measure of free will (some less than others). The magical elements flavor the story, giving it an added dimension, but it's NOT a fantasy/magical story.

But saying those elements define Bound by Destiny (BdD) would do it a disservice. I read this book several chapters at a time - getting to work late a few times.

What kept ME engaged is an artifice that RMB Pearson (RMBP) uses that made me go "MOOOOOOAARRRR!" from chapter 1: a tight and engaging story out of chronological order, told from different perspectives. It transformed what initially appeared to be a romance novel into a page-turner.

I give this book my complete total and endorsement. FIVE STARS! 5/5

This book is available from Amazon: Bound by Destiny.

[Kinda Book Review] X-men Essential Vol 5

Still going through the first ~250 issues of the X-men and now with volume 5.

This collection moves after Secret Wars 1, the arrival of Rachel (Phoenix II), a lot of Hellfire Club, Storm losing her powers, the New Mutants becoming a frequent feature, New York as a sword-and-sorcery setting, Nimrod, X-Men and Alpha Flight with the begining of the Asgardian series, the Hellions, Magneto becoming a good guy...?

Now here we start with a series of really cool events, where the payoffs from vol 4 are falling into place.

This one is pretty entertaining and fun. The characters undergo several personal arcs: Rogue coming to terms with what she did to Carol Danvers, Storm losing her powers, Shadowcat becoming a solid team member, and Nightcrawler becoming the leader.

One subplot I really disliked was the dropping of the Shadowcat-Colossus romance following Secret Wars I.

Another plot I didn't feel went anywhere was the Rachel-Phoenix... It never seemed to have any resolution. She could kick a lot of butt but never integrated into the team.

Still, I loved this volume and read it with great delight. I'll settle on a 4/5.

[Kinda Book Review] X-men Essential Vol 4

Still going through the first ~250 issues of the X-men and now with volume 4.

So here we have the Brood (a storyline I did not enjoy), the Morlocks are introduced, Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor's Wedding, Storm becomes the leader of the Morlocks, Kitty's almost-wedding, and the X-men vs Dracula.

While most of it is fine, this is not the best. A lot of the events here have payoff in the coming volumes, but on their own, it is as exciting as the previous (or followup) volume. The drawing is fine and the storytelling good.

The biggest piece is the brood (aka the aliens/xenomorphs) that story did not grip me.

I'll settle on a 3/5. It's fine, a bridge to greater storylines.

[Kinda Book Review] The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

I did not finish this one. I hated it.

My head spun from the most minute and insignificant of details, and the constant thief-jargon. It was not a fun experience to read.

I found myself constantly reading back to try and make sense of what I was reading. Needless to say, I did not like this book and when I put it down, I felt light and joyful.

I was looking forward to this one, after really enjoying Between Two Fires, I expected to like this one too.

Nope. 1/5. Not worth using as toilet paper.

[Olympia Campaign] Artemis' Island and the Keltoi

After many events, our heroes made it to the island of Thalassos, an island permanently wrapped in fog and dedicated to the goddess Artemis. They traversed a thick forest as they followed the pull of their stones deeper inside the island.

But as they traversed the island, several strange things happened that showed the closeness with the Feywild.

When they reached their destination, a lake filled with dead people and beasts with keltoi warriors devouring the scum from the lake bottom.

A fight quickly broke out... And that's where we are... In a massive clash between the keltoi and the heroes. One creature turned into a hulking version.

Note: The bamboo bases are not completely done, hence the pale bases. I'm working on them now... after the game.

[Olympia Campaign] Thalassia the Sea Witch... Again

Sailing away from Pyranthos, they expected some smooth sailing on the five-day trek...

When a sea serpent attacked them! A sea monster isn't as scary when several members run off with water walk... But SURPRISE! The real threat was not the serpent (even if it was dangerous), but the return of Thalassia the Sea Witch.

The party (well Alexi) showed off the pearl of tides they retrieved for her, but decided to keep for themselves. A tense battle that ended when the Sea Witch fled for the deep...

[Olympia Campaign] Village of Pyranthos

Our heroes recovered the Earthshard Amulet from the temple of Gaia in the Navel of the World (litterally). They were looking forward to sailing to the next island and recover the final item the Titan-cleric Nausicaa has yet to get - as far as they know.

Only for them to find three fire giants blocking their way. Diplomacy was... minimal and a fight broke out, with the PCs realizing there was an Amazon cleric in town. She summoned several skeletons, creating a three-way fight.

In the end, the amazon was defeated, diplomacy resumed and the giants left with the sacred bones they came to retrieve. Not as friends, but not as enemies either.

...And Eddy the mule was rescued from the village.

[Olympia Campaign] The Temple of Gaia

After a few weeks of exploration around the Navel of World where Gaia's temple rested, our heroes finally made their way into it where they found the entrance to Gaia's Temple. The massive temple was dominated by a "generous" statue of Mother-Earth herself.

Sarah's cat did not appreciate the dungeon section... And butt-pic'd us.

[Olympia Campaign] The (Current) Party

I was asked for the characters of the party and I generated some AI pics for each character.

Alexi

Male Demigod (Hermes), Artificer/Wizard (War mage)

Arboros

Male Titanborn (Cthonic), Druid (Shepherd)

Celeste

Female Nymph, Rogue (Thief)

Cenathon

Male Demigod (Apollo), Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)

Lethe

Male Human, Cleric of Hades

Logius

Male Demigod (Dionysus), Monk (Drunken Master)

[Review] Doctor Who: Joy to the World

I just finished watching this dumbassery of a car crash.

The first half or so... Was entertaining. But then... Pffff... He's always crying and he seems like the dumbest person on screen. There is a paradox that is never explained how he learned the secret combination. How he did that? Dunno! Who gave him the secret? Dunno! And the quick question about it is brushed away without questioning.

The "Companion" was the most stoic and emotionally stable character ever. She doesn't challenge anything, just goes with the madness as if she got on a bus on a Tuesday.

I never believed there was a serious threat and the resolution was pretty frikkin weak. I'm just so happy I did not pay to see that.

Would I rewatch? OOOOOOOOooooooh hell to the no! I had a tough time watching it to the end... So glad I'm not paying for that. I'll gladly watch the animated/ remastered versions of old Who. Unfortunately RTD's second stint is pretty craptastic.

Rating? 1/5 easy. It sucked. Everything was just... Bad.

[Olympia Campaign] The Sirens

As the party adventured, they came upon an island inhabited by sirens. The sirens gave them a run for their money as they had to swim towards the charming winged singers...

The sirens stood on small, sharp rocky islands and summoned the PCs to their side.

This pic was taken during the short time where Arboros summoned crocodiles to deal with the sirens... A great idea that ended with a failed concentration check...