I just retired a third PFS character

It has been a long time since I retired a character in PFS. It was June of 2011 when Naadhira retired. Naadhira who is still being talked about in spite of having played a single adventure since that day.

This time, it is Sir Alexite von Crispin-Thrune a Chelaxian aristocrat and a man of many talents. From his first adventure - which was GM'd by Sean K Reynolds to yesterday, he was a character I built based off a favorite LG character of mine, the lecherous Mousset, who was a Bard/Rogue/Temple Raider of Olidammara. However, after a few adventures, it didn't feel right. So I dropped the lecherous aspect of him for a more "generic" dissolute dilettante.

He eventually turned into a pretty interesting Hellknight, but one who was not dour. He was happy, friendly and charming.

Perhaps the biggest thing people remember about his were the puffy pirate shirts and the foil parade hellknight armor.

Farewell Alexite.

JP

Under the Influence Day 12: Amiens 2000

One of the biggest influences on my gaming life, without a doubt the first convention I attended was a major influence. I posted my experience there in a previous post, which I will not repost entirely. But you can follow this link and read it all.

JP

Under The Influence Day 11: Star Wars

Is there any normal man who grew up in the 70s/80s who does not have a love affair with Star Wars?

Whatever you think Lucas did with the franchise with Episodes 1-3, doesn't matter. We got to see more Star Wars. And I enjoyed these movies. Again and again.

I spent my youth dreaming of flying my own starfighter in space, taking down evil-doers and attacking the Death Star. I mean, just like those ten years older than me had westerns, my eyes were turned to space. What better to give a little dreamer kid than a setting where he could live all kind of awesome stories?

Unfortunately, the world below still sucks as bad as we abandoned the stars. But that's a whole other rant.

Star Wars has always been - to me - a true fairy tale: a damsel in distress, a goodly rogue, a young hero on the verge of a quest, a dark and evil wizard. Really Star Wars takes the typical tale and sets it up in space. With awesome results.

To add to the awesomeness, I remember going to see "The Empire Strikes Back" at the theater with my sisters on the bus. And the most awesome part of it was that my little brother had to stay at home and he cried as we left.

Talk about a major win!

See Star Wars, go to the movie theater AND my brother crying because he couldn't tag along! To my child's mind, it was a perfect situation. It was awesome!

But don't worry, he has since seen the movie and I told him EVERYTHING about the movie later. I mean EVERYTHING.

Three years later, my sister took me to see Return of the Jedi for my birthday...

To this day, I try to get my kids to watch it with me. But they don't sit around long enough. But they will see it.

I trust in the Force.

JP

Under the Influence Day 10: Caesar's The Gallic Wars

Why some books come to us through the ages, while others disappear is a testament to their greatness and their importance. Once such book was written by one of the most influential minds of Western civilization: Julius Caesar.

Historians such as myself love to debate whether he brought about a great age (the Empire) or if he destroyed a system that was already failing (the Republic). For better or worse, he lived in a time where the Roman Empire saw massive expansion and the additions of provinces that would make it the most powerful, most populous, biggest and largest the world had ever seen.

Caesar was one of the figures that was central to this expansion. By hook and crook (let's be honest, he did not only do some nice things), he added Gaul to the Empire. As a way to self-promote, he kept a journal embellishing his deeds and turn his victories into triumphs.

From a historian's point of view, it is important to keep Caesar's words in their context: he sought election as consul, he was in a close race with other equally valued generals (Marcus Crassus and Pompey the Great), and he wanted to let the people know of the harshness of the conditions.

With that in mind the Gallic Wars is a veritable time machine: a geographic study, a history book, a manual of martial maneuvers, and direct insight into the Gaul of two millennium ago. Names, places and people now long gone have reached us through the ages.

At first, in spite of my great love of history, I must sadly admit that the idea to read this book never occurred to me until I was past twenty-five years of age. But when I began to read it, I could not put it down. Even translated, the narrative was interesting, quick and informative. I expected something much more literal and procedural - like a professor's lecture.

But it reads like a good war novel. I can say that Caesar is even more interesting that writers who have written something similar, I'll name Glenn Cook and his Black Company as an example.

For years now, I have been putting off reading the sequel - the Social Wars - where Caesar tells of his falling out with Crassus and Pompey on the path to him being named dictator. It's on my list, I'll get to it eventually. If the first one was interesting, the second one will also be a blast.

JP

Under the Influence Day 9: Le Canadien de Montreal

I was born in the 70s. The time when the Montreal Canadien Hockey team was the powerhouse in the hockey world. It was a time when their local nickname "Les Glorieux" took on its true meaning.

Though a little young to truly remember these days, I remember how hockey united everyone around me. How it was a true passion in Montreal.

Guess what? It still is! I still follow my team and will always do. I am now sharing this passion with my son. We both follow the habs when they come on TV!

GO HABS GO!

JP

Under the Influence Day 8: A Farewell to Kings by Rush

From the first melodic accords of this epic album, you are transported away from where you are and into Rush's fantasy land.

The sweet dancing notes on Alex Lifeson's guitar dance much like the sweet sound of water cascading in a brook. Then Geddy-through-Neal-Peart's-Lyric poses the question: When they turn the pages history, When these days have passed long ago, Will they read of us with sadness, For the seeds that we let grow. To my young history-loving mind those words echoed loudly. And I began to think not just in terms of today, but also in terms of "then-through-now". Things you do today affect tomorrow.

I'll mention the epic Xanadu and the space-traveling story of Cygnus X-1 as still on my regular playlist.

But mentioning this album without saying a word about Rush's anthem: Closer to the Heart which is also rooted in philosophy is one of the best loved song and a staple of any Rush show - and live album - since. One I find myself singing to any time it comes on.

JP

Under the Influence Day 7: The Citadel of Chaos

I've told this story a number of time, but the meeting I had with this book really opened my eyes to gaming. I read this book so many times that I ran it for people at a birthday party just a few days later.

From that day forth, there was no going back. I knew I was not alone in the world thinking of these kind of things.

My parents despaired.

The story is fairly classic: evil wizard in a tower, go and take him out. There are a number of really fun, nasty traps and the typical types of combats you find in these books. Fun. Fun. Fun.

As I was writing this, I managed to find a cheap copy of it on Ebay. Guess what. It is now mine!

MINE!

MUHAHAHAHAHA!

JP

PS: My wife will kill me for going on Ebay.

Under the Influence Day 6: Capitaine Flam

I spent my childhood dreaming of the stars. Of traveling from one planet to the next. Of solving mysteries and fighting villains. I spent my childhood watching Star Wars and late 70s anime (a few of them appear on this list).

One such show was "Capitaine Flam" or "Captain Future". This show was great, it featured a some-intelligent scientist/adventurer known as Capitaine Flam. According to the French generic,

Au fin fonds de l'univers
A des annees et des années lumière de la Terre,
Veille celui que le gouvernement intersideral appelle
quand il n'est plus capable de faire face a ses problèmes
quand il ne reste plus aucun espoir,
Le Capitaine Flam.

Which translates to roughly: In the deepest depths of space/ many light years from Earth/ lives the man who the galactic government calls/ when it cannot face his own problems/ when all hope is gone/ Capitaine Flam. I will refrain from making modern day politics reference, but I think he should be on speed dial.

One of the biggest and most unique elements of this show is that it was split into a number of 4-episode mini-series. Each of them had a number of plot twists that are still quite enjoyable as an adult. The animation is old, but the stories are still good. (Does it show that I recently re-watched a number of serials?). This many mini-series approach is one I really love.

The supporting cast was entertaining and had some interesting banter between them. He had a robot, an android that could disguise himself, a brain in a flying jar, the hot-looking gov. agent, and the kid. Plus a really sweet ship, that was the target of many lego-rebuilds.

I really like the stories, a number of them were a tad kookie, but not much more than some plot hooks I've encountered in games.

I gotta watch more episodes. Thank you YouTube!

JP

Under the Influence Day 5: The Non-Irish Gamers' Association

From 2000-02 I was in Ireland with a few trips back to France, the US or Canada. Dublin was "home" and to this day, I feel a strong attachment to the Republic of Ireland. Not the least of with is because of the many friends I met there during my stay.

The name "Non-Irish Gamers' Association" comes from the fact that most of us were not from the Republic! Darryl was from Northern Ireland (UK), Tammy was from Australia, Kristian was from Sweden, Christophe was from France, Mary was from Italy, I was from Canada. How could we forget our "token" Irishman: Oliver-E!

We would play every Tuesday and Thursday. Usually Legend of the Five Rings, but we played a variety of other games, such as 7th Sea, Vampire, Star Trek, and Shadowrun. We played a variety of things... Pretty much everything but D&D! We would attend local cons or travel together to them.

I'm sure Kristian remembers the two lesbians in Waterford who walked around naked while he and I were "sleeping". They had barely left the room that a "Dude, you awake?" was whispered (can't remember who said it, but we had both been watching the show). Hostels for the win!

Or Darryl remembers Gunner's "painted" bug horde army with that towering carnifex primed with that snot green and then having 2 color dots on the carapace to "identify" them. That was the "painted 3+ colors" restriction bypassed. Nice.

Perhaps the best and most recurring joke was the replacing of Oliver's D10s for D8s then seeing him fail and curse why he never rolled "10"s! Yes it was hours of fun.

Though most of the group has left Dublin, most of us for our homeland. Though Tammy married Darryl and Christophe disappeared, we still keep in touch through email and Facebook. These guys really weigh on my mind when I think "man, I would really like to play this this oto try it out." We were all willing and crazy enough to try it.

Miss you guys.

JP

Edit added link to Mary's Picture of the gang.

Hey Fans of the Confederacy!

I have been talking with a few great artists to produce some art for the patrons. There are very few good illustrations for a character like Brutcheck. I tried, but his unique appearance makes it rather difficult to find an image that's not custom-made. Here is how he is described in an adventure.

The cavian points to a kalisan seated at a table, a plate of meat cooling before him. He wears a jaguar skin cloak. His face is painted as a jaw with sharp teeth making his mouth appear extended from ear to ear.

So you can see. Not something people draw every day.

To give a "good" visual I once again resorted to my awesome art skills.

JP

Under the Influence Day 4: Hemispheres by Rush

In a man's life, only a handful of musical albums really makes him think about life and philosophy through clever lyrics and moving music. Not to mention the sheer epicness of an 18 minutes long title track.

I first listened to it - like many other albums in my teens - in the basement of my friend Francois-M's house when I was 11 or 12. The infamous "Cassette #9" which broke years later due to overuse. Ah... that tape had everything from Rush to Queen to Heart to things I can't even remember. But it was awesome. He was an avid music collector as my family wasn't really. My parents (and all my family for that matter) are far from Rush fans, so I listened to my albums by myself, dreaming of their evocation

Back to the title track, which is the 18-minute to the previous album's

The four tracks of the album still resound throughout. All of them are worth listening over and over. I could talk about it over and over, however, you can sample the album on YouTube before buying this phenomenal album.

I have spent days reading or swimming in the family pool listening to this album.

Oh and I dare you not to air drum to these songs.

Under The Influence Day 3: Les Trois Mousquetaires

If there is one book that has influenced me when I picked it up at sixteen, Les Trois Mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas would be that book. Not only packed with action but also full of fairly human emotions. The perfect reading material for a budding writer. I remember the excitement well. How will they get out of this trap? A fair amount of it deals with D'Artagnan trying to find money to eat and all the tricks he uses. Really funny but also very eye opening.

I know my players have accused me of never giving them any money as reward. That they had to take their loot from what was not anchored to the walls.

The three musketeers taught me that money is valuable and that people would rather barter.

The Kid in me

How could my sixteen year old self not identify with the struggles? The boy who comes to town and who gets into three duels on day one. Each one hour apart from the others. Yes, with Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. The story and plot unfolds at a speed someone likened to 24. The queen's jewels, the major focus of most movies is resolved around chapters 25-30 of the 70 chapters epic.

In some way, we are effectively told of a campaign. Because D'Artagnan starts off as a snot-nosed kid and grows into a man as the plot twists, turns, leaps and bounds. So that by the end of the book, he really is a seasoned adventurer. I would love to have a character live the same kind of adventures as D'Artagnan.

sigh.

Historical Fiction

Not only did this book turn the spark of interest in history into a bonfire, it also opened my mind up to a new genre I never knew existed until then: historical fiction. Early on in this blog, I wrote a number of posts about historical campaigns and how to bring them to life (this posts and its complement post).

The idea to mix of gaming and history stems from this book. At least for me. Although the swashbuckling action is great, the interactions and character development are really the core of the book.

The Villain

Another important lesson it taught me is on having a villain whose goal is not only the destruction of the world or killing the PCs for some nebulous reason. The Cardinal de Richelieu is such a villain. He opposes the queen but is a staunch supporter of the king and royal power. He understands that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and he uses every tool at his disposal to win. He is part time patron part time enemy.

Though reading the book you never get the feeling that most movies give him that he is a villain. He is a man of conviction with clear goals, but not really a villain. Not in a Manichean term. Shades of grey really apply here.

To this day, whenever I think of lawful evil his portrait comes to mind.

The Cast

Though the story of D'Artagnan, the book really gives us an overview of that slice of time of 1620-25. We don't just have the low gentlemen serving with the musketeers, but also their servants, the king-queen-cardinal, some common folk. In short, a whole piece of the world comes alive before us.

JP

NeoExodus Legacies launches new Legacy Records

We have been running for over a year now and during that time, we have learned a lot. Learned from our players, but also learned by working hard and finding pain points internally.

One such pain points, for me was the creation of the Legacy Records, an integral part of organized play campaigns.

Before I start telling all that I hated about our current LRs, let me preface this by saying that the design D'Anne made - LPJ and I made suggestions but she really did it all. The placement of the logo, the sidebar. I mean we spent a LONG time getting all our duck in order before coming to the current design.

A lucky few at SoCal Smackdown in Anaheim last year got some of the pre-released version with the rounded edges as we sought feedback from people about them. Plus we had to convince ourselves that it was the design we wanted. Taking in all the feedback, critiques and thoughts, she came up with the design.

Life was good.

Fast forward one year and many LRs later, any a few issues have cropped up. Here are some of them: (in no particular order)

- When I update any of the boxes, I have to redo the layout of everything.

- With our new imprint, we needed to put the FOE logo on there.

- As our adventures begin to encompass a wider range of APLs (In sickness and in health had 4 different APLs), the real estate became as a premium. With more rewards, and more complex rewards, I wanted some real estate.

- One thing I find difficult to explain is that favor points are tracked by faction.

- I always wanted to give a clear separation between story awards and favor points. Though I never really had an alternative way to present them.

Well today, I spent a little time playing with the file and came up with the following. Click on the link to see the new sample.

What do you think?

JP

Under The Influence: Day 2: My year in Paris

We all know that travelling is a great way to expand one's horizons. I cannot agree more.

The year was 1999, I had yet to be out of University for a full year when I changed job. My new job took me back to Paris, France. There, I returned to meet friends at the now-defunct Club Loisir Dauphine (CLD) where I integrated myself the best way I knew how: BY GAMING! I was lucky enough to be in a field where I could get paid to see the world. And I took that opportunity and rolled with it. In fact, one could say that I still do it to this day.

In those days, I would run a lot of World of Darkness and I ran a game of Vampire set during the days of the French Revolution. What better place to play in history in the city where everything happened? This closeness to the places where the events I read about took place really had me do a lot of on-the-spot research.

If you follow this blog, you already know that it was during that time that I attended my first convention, in the beautiful city of Amiens. (You can read all about it in this post from April 2012).

It was also during that first event that I participated in a convention as an organizer (Helios 2000) with the CLD. So many fond memories there...

Miniature Dreams

It was also during that stay that I took part in my first Games Workshop-sponsored event. The 3rd Edition of 40k had just come out not too long ago (about 8-10 months) and I really was into the game. The Paris-St-Michel (near Fontaine St-Michel in central Paris) was hosting this event. First you had to "qualify" by basically taking on an opponent of their choice. Then if you won, you were invited to play on the Saturday for knock-off stages.

I showed up with my vanilla marines - all painted - with Quebec flags and Fleur-de-Lys symbols all over them. I got the feeling the guys did not not really want this tall Canadian there to show up the locals. But I followed all the rules. So they paired me against their "champion" who was playing Chaos Marines. It was a hard-fought match, but I managed to prevail, Huzzah! They invited me back on Saturday.

Saturday morning I showed up early (I was attending another event to the south of Paris, so I hoped to get it done quickly). The guys there paired me against this kid who was playing dark eldar whom no one could beat. Poor kid... I proceeded to slaughter his army by shooting is lord and blasting through his shadow field with masses of bolter fire (in those days the field was a 2+ invulnerable save until it failed once). I kept his talos busy with my scouts for most of the game. By turn 4 he had his talos on the field. I won.

My next match was against another one of their favorites, a fellow playing Dark Angels. I wasn't given much chance to win that fight because "that guy had been playing DAs for many years." The match didn't start off well for me, but I did not panic. I had a plan to flank him with my bikes. As he focused on my scouts, my bikes flanked him and his army disintegrated as he had to deal with the bikes and his firepower stopped coming. I was on him in a flash and after many tense moments, I managed to eeke out a win by a single marine (or something like that).

The final pitted me against an eldar player. I'll say this: he played his army well and my dice were just horrible. I lost to someone who was on top of his form. I was given a few scouts (that I still have and use) and some random bitz. I was happy. First 40k tourney.

Social

Just a few words to say that it was during that time that spent one full year without TV. I had a computer but no TV. So I listened to the radio and discovered a number of bands. My musical horizons expanded a lot during that time. Neil Young, Noir Desir, Oasis, Blur, The Verve, Muse, and many others entered my musical library. Thanks to OUI-FM.

Touristing

What is better than to be a tourist on the weekends? I spent a lot of time at the Louvres, visited Versailles and the Invalides a number of times, getting a visitor's pass, you can enter a number of museums for "free" so I really took in a lot of what there was to see. Saw le Tombeau de l'Empereur many times.

Friends

But perhaps, the most enduring legacy of the time I spent in Paris in 1999-2000 resides in the many friendships I made. One of them, led to meeting my now-Brother-in-law and a year later, my wife, others I still speak to on a regular basis.

A piece of me now forever roots for "Les Bleus".

JP

Under the Influence: Day 1, my wife

I should come as little surprise that my wife is perhaps the number one influence on my gaming life.

For those who do not know Julie (that's her name), she is rabidly anti-gaming. Because of her, I actually have a life outside gaming. Really! Those weeks when I send her out to Canada in the summer, I tend to have a 6/week gaming schedule (I usually took a break one night a week where I veg-out and watch TV).

I first met her in 2001 in Paris when I flew from Dublin for her brother's wedding (I introduced her brother to his wife). I really tought she was beautiful and that her accent was just great. Of course, she will deny having an accent, but the Montrealer in me knew one when I saw one. The funniest thing about this whole thing is that I jokingly told my now brother-in-law never to introduce your friends to your sister, that you might be forced to see them at Christmas for the rest of your life.

The first view I had of her was on a quai with Notre-Dame-de-Paris just slightly in the background. The view not too dissimilar to the image below.

Funny? Yes. Did it happen? Yes.

Now my sister-in-law hates us because we stole her thunder by making out on the boat (the reception was on a boat on the Seine River).

I flew back to Dublin, she returned to Montreal. We kept talking on the phone and through IM. When I returned to Canada for the Holidays, we spent two awesome weeks together. When I got back in Ireland, I told my then-boss (Dave) that I would marry that girl. Came April, she joined me in Ireland and we've been together ever since!

Twelve years, one wedding, three monsters, 2 appartments, and 4 houses later, she can still tolerate me, which is something that really amazes me! She displays great patience with me as I disappear for long evenings in the basement, writing away on my PC (though I spend a fair amount of it playing games too). Of course, I do have to pay for it by taking her out regularly, for which I have to write more and more.

She also provides me with a lot of entertainment.

NO you dirty-minded pigs, I'm not talking about THAT!

She is one of the most colorful and funny people that I know. Plus she has the good sense of knowing how to take (and make) a joke. Only I know how many different versions of my wife have made it into the writing of a number of NPCs over the years. I can only tell you one thing: it's a lot.

There you have it, the biggest influence on every aspects of my life: My wife, Julie.

Je t'aime chérie.

JP