A Gift from the Gods

Gifts of the Gods is the theme for this month's RPG Blog Carnival kindly hosted by the Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal.

A Clash of Titans

Whenever I think about divine artifacts I am reminded of Clash of the Titans (1981) where Perseus is gifted:

• A helmet of invisibility - given to him by his father Zeus
• A magic sword - gifted by Aphrodite
  
• A magic shield - given by Hera

This trio of powerful magic items would make most PCs wet themselves, particularly if given to a relatively low level character as in Perseus case.  However, what we must also recognise is that Perseus is a demi-god.  I very much doubt that this sort of largess would be shown to a mere mortal so why should you do the same for your PCs?

Clash of the Titans (1981) - Release The Kraken

A Pawn of the Gods

The Gods play games from their lofty home of Olympus.  In the movie Zeus is bound to honour the laws of Olympus which means he must allow Andromeda to be sacrificed to the Kraken but he does not have to play the game fairly.  We mere mortals cannot fathom the machinations of Gods, but we do know that Perseus is his pawn in that game.

When contemplating granting a PCs a gift of the Gods, it should definitely come with strings attached.  A great evil must be defeated, a quest achieved which benefits the Gods in some way.  It could even be a wager between two Gods.  Whose champion will be first to succeed the trials and rescue the maiden?

Have a warlock in your party?  Well in order to receive their power they need to have made a compact with an eldritch power.  The PC is a manifestation of that power and must obey the whims of their master.  Power does not come without consequence so exercise some consequence now and then.  

These could all be great epic story arcs in themselves and would certainly add flavour to any mythical campaign.

Single use Deus Ex Machina

Another way to resolve the dilemma of giving PCs uber powerful magic items and turning them into OP Murder Hobos is to make them single use.  It is not unusual for an item to be crafted with a sole purpose in mind and once that purpose is achieved it is destroyed or loses its magical properties.    

The Gift of Information

Information can often be the most powerful weapon of all and having a God visit you in your dreams or answer your prayers with knowledge can be a blessing.  When faced with insurmountable odds or an impenetrable fortress, the knowledge of a secret entrance to the big bad guy's inner sanctum would be just as effective as hiding inside a wooden horse.

Blessings and Curses

Having a God backing your cause can be a real boost.  In fact why not give your PCs temporary stat increases or something visible to others like a glowing aura, a halo or give them perfect hair.  If your game is set in a quasi medieval world where everything is caked in a layer of grime, make your blessed PCs stand out from the crowd by mud literally not sticking to them.

"By The Gods..." is a popular invocation among PCs.  How about you actually give PCs the power of minor curse.  Alternatively, you could bestow the power of curse reflection upon your characters which could lead to some interesting interactions with local NPCs.   

By the Power of the Pantheon

Of course playing with Divine Items requires you to have at least one God or better still a Pantheon as part of your setting.  If your games are set in one of the many published settings like Forgotten Realms you have a cavalcade of Gods to choose from.

Otherwise treat this as an opportunity for some world building with your pious PCs.  If like me you are a fan of Terry Pratchett, you may have read Small Gods, a satire upon religion and politics.  The power of the Gods is directly related to the size of their congregation. In the book Om is a once powerful God stuck in the body of a small turtle and the novice acolyte Brutha is his one and only true believer.  What better personal mission for the party's Cleric than to spread the word of their God and convert believers as they move from town to town.

Plot and Personal Quests Breeds Engagement

I have always been a firm believer in incorporating elements of PC backgrounds into my plots to give every player around the table a real tangible reason to be engaged in the story.  If players include a deity in that background then why not use it.  Your players will feel rewarded when part of the background that they have created becomes a central motif to the weeks play. 

How Do you Deal with Divine Gifts in your Game?  

I don't have all the answers (that would be omniscience) and to the point of writing these blogs is to share ideas.  If you have any cool examples of how you gifted a player a divine artifact then please leave a comment in the box below.

Geeks and Gamers Social Media Calendar

My day job is a digital marketing manager and one of the critical elements of this is social media.  

Knowing what and when to post is a massive help when you are trying to create content and reach new audiences.  This principle is no different when running a gaming blog so here's my Geeks & Gamers Social Media Calendar. 

January 

2nd January - Science Fiction Day - Isaac Asimov's birthday is the perfect day to celebrate all things Sci-Fi.  Have a game of Robo Rally probably the most anarchic robotic fun you can have this side of the Foundation.

12th January - HAL Day - On this day in 1997 the murderous computer HAL 2000 was born.  Interesting fact: take the letters of IBM and shift them down one character and you have HAL.

17th January - Star Trek Day - The Enterprise has the designation USS1701 which makes this the perfect date to celebrate going boldy.

29th - International Puzzle Day - celebrating all things puzzle such as jigsaws, logic puzzles, riddles, mazes, dexterity puzzles, and the sorts of things Chris Ramsay spends thousands of dollars on.

February 

4th February - George A Romero's birthday - celebrate the life of the man who brought zombies to life in Night of the Living Dead with some zombie related memes.  Watch Warm Bodies one of my favourite zombie films and a great love story.

5th February - H.R. Giger's birthday - Without Giger's unique artwork the Alien franchise would probably be just a footnote in pop culture.  His first published collection of work Necronomicon was given to Ridley Scott before filming on Alien began.  He hired him and the rest is cinematic history.

H R Giger Space Jockey

8th February - Jules Verne's birthday - The grandfather of Science Fiction and master story teller was born on this day in 1828.  Who would have guessed that we would stilll be mining his work some 193 years later.

9th February - Frank Frazetta's birthday - The maestro of mucled men and scantily clad warrior women was born today in 1928.  His art pretty much sold a gazillion Conan paperback books and his collaboration with Ralph Bakshi on the cartoon Fire & Ice (1983) is the stuff of legends.

March

4th March - Gamesmasters Appreciation Day - Show some love for your gamesmaster and send them a nice meme.  They put in an awful lot of work behind the scenes so you can have a great adventure.  Want to become a Gamesmaster? Read some of my Gamesmastery articles.  

6th March - Dude Day - Put on your cardigan, don your sunglasses and raise a glass of White Russian to The Big Lebowski.

The Dude raises a glass of White Russian in The Big Lebowski

17th March - William Gibson's Birthday - The father of Cyberpunk was born on this day in 1948 and he is still churning out great stories which capture the zeitgeist of humanity dealing with an every changing digital landscape.

25th March - Tolkien Reading Day - The grandfather of Fantasy literature.  JRR Tolkien literally wrote the rule book on epic fantasy storytelling.  "You shall not pass" until you have commemorated his work.

April

2nd April - Hans Christian Andersen's Birthday - Born in 1805, Danish author Andersen wrote many of the fairy tales that are ingrained in our cultural heritage.

5th April - First Contact Day - The date that Ephraim Cochrane successfully achieved Warp 1 in the Phoenix and humanity was visited by the Vulcans. 

28th April - Superhero Day - What is more heroic than supporting your community and protecting the lives of innocents?

May 

4th May - International Star Wars Day - Surely everyone knows this one. Show your appreciation for the Galaxy far, far away and May the 4th be with you.

5th May - Revenge of the 5th - Because one day is just never enough to celebrate Star Wars.

25th May - Towel Day - Douglas Adam's The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy says that a towel is "about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have".  Aside from its purely practical uses, a towel has immense psychological benefits for the user.  A hitchiker should always know where his towel is. This is also Geek Pride Day so what better way to celebrate both by sharing a photo of you and your towel.

June

1st June - International Table Top Day - The one day on which everyone should dig out a boardgame and enjoy the simple pleasures of gaming with friends and family.

18th June - Clark Kent's Birthday - Celebrate Superman's alter ego and the archetypal everyman.

29th June - Ray Harryhausen't Birthday - The master of stop motion animation was born on this day.  Celebrate the man who brought mythical monster tales to life on the silver screen such as Jason & The Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of The Titans

July 

2nd July - UFO Day - I know they don't exist, but they are a Sci-Fi staple from The Invaders to The X-Files the world would be a much duller place if we didn't have UFO Conspiracies

4th July - Independence Day - Is a double holiday when we can celebrate the day a rag tag band of survivors banded together to defeat an alien invasion and raise a glass to yours truly as this is also my birthday. 

27th July - Gary Gygax Day - Gary Gygax was born on this day in 1938 and alongside Dave Arnesson created the phenomena which is Dungeons & Dragons and spearheaded the popularity of Role Playing Games.  RPGs have been part of my life since I first discovered them aged 7 so I for one will be toasting Gary and the many years of joy his creation has brought to me over the years.

August 

19th August - Judgement Day - The day that Skynet becomes self aware and humanity is brought to its knees by our new robot overlords in The Terminator (1984).  This is also the birthday of Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry so there's another thing you can celebrate.

20th August -Lovecraft Day - Celebrate the master of Eldritch Horror born on this day in 1890.  H.P. Lovecraft had a tragically short life but managed to change the face of literature with his many works.

September

8th September - International Literacy Day - Reading is a life skill that unlocks worlds of possibilities.  Read something, anything. Philip K Dick, Terry Pratchett, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, William Gibson, Peter F Hamilton and Raymond E Feist all come highly recommended.

19th September - International Pirate Day - Your chance to share pirate related memes shout "Avast Ye Landlubbers" and celebrate this Pastafarian Holyday because all pirates are divine beings.  What better way to celebrate than to play one of the many pirate themed boardgames you can find on boardgamegeek.  rAmen.   

21st September - Batman Day - Why? Because "I'm Batman!".

October

1st October - Dave Arneson's Birthday - Celebrating the other half of the team that brought us Dungeons and Dragons.  Read an RPG Book in Public and let everyone know that you are an RPG fan.

13th October - World Zombie Day - Go for a slow walk in search of brains.

21st October - Carrie Fisher's Birthday - Everyone's princess was born on this day in 1956.

November 

17th November - Life Day - Immortalised in the terrible Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), Wookie Life Day is yet another opportunity to get your Star Wars geek on and pretend that your local woodland is the wookie homeworld Kashyk.

23rd November - TARDIS Day - The first episode of Dr Who (An Unearthly Child) aired at 5:15 on Saturday the 23rd November 1954.  One of the longest running TV franchises in history everyone has their Doctor (mine's Tom Baker) so show your love for timey wimey wobbly walls sci-fi fun.

The Doctor explains how easy it would be to exterminate the Dalek race

25th November - Gazpatcho Soup Day - Fans of Red Dwarf will know exactly what I mean.  Celebrate with a bowl of tomato soup served piping hot naturally.

December 

16th December - Arthur C Clarke's Birthday - A prolific sci-fi writer, futurist and the inventor of geostationary orbits which made global satellite communications possible.  You probably wouldn't be reading this without his contribution.

24th December - Christmas Eve - The night before christmas is of course an amazing Tim Burton movie but it is also the day that John McClane single handedly defeated Hans Gruber and his gang of Terrorists. Yipee Kay Yay Motherlover.

28th December - Stan Lee's Birthday - Probably the greatest thing to ever happen to Superhero comic books.

Miniature Milestone - Over 100 Reaper Bones Painted

 A long overdue post to mark the milestone of passing 100 painted Reaper Bones miniatures.

100 Reaper Bones Miniatures Painted

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 109

Related Posts

• Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats.
• Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds.
• Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons.
• Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.
• Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini.
• Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture.
• Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs.
• Reaper Bones #8: Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack - Another mini LED lighting project.
• Reaper Bones #9: Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard - Another PC mini.
• Reaper Bones #10: Horace "Action" Jackson - A Baddass disco dancing Motherfucker.
• Reaper Bones #11: Pirate Captain Thorin Stoneheart - A Swashbuckling Philanthropist.
• Reaper Bones #12: Monstrous Menagerie - Clay Golem, Eye Beast, Griffon, Owlbear, Marsh Troll.
• Reaper Bones #13: Giants - Male Storm Giant and Female Cloud Giant.
• Reaper Bones #14: More Monsters! -Ape-X, Female Demon, Two Golems, Oxidation Beast.
• Reaper Bones #15 - The Road Warrior - Mad Max - 50 bones painted at last.
• Reaper Bones #16 - A Patrol of Orcs - 5 orcs out hunting your party.
• Reaper Bones #17- Personalities - Player Characters, NPCs or a villain or two.
• Reaper Bones #18 - Furniture
• Reaper Bones #19 - Townsfolk - 4 resident NPCs
• Reaper Bones #20 - Devil Women - A couple of Hellborn beauties.
• Reaper Bones #21 - Nova Corp & IMEF Soldiers - 15 Sci-Fi Badasses in heavy armour
• Reaper Bones #22 - A Flurry of Familiars - 11 teeny tiny magical friends
• Reaper Bones #23 - Vermin - Beetles, Scorpions and Spiders
• Reaper Bones #24 - Kyra, Iconic Cleric - An Arabian Holy Woman 
• Reaper Bones #25 - Ghostly Summons - aka A Watery mistake
  

Max Headroom and Blank Reg - The Original Cyberpunk

When I blogged about Hawk the Slayer I highlighted the always amazing William Morgan Sheppard and I just wanted to share my favourite role that he ever played:

Blank Reg

The owner and anchorman of the pirate TV Station "Big Time TV" Reg is an old punk.  He never gave up the punk DIY ethos and this has extended to everything he does.  His pirate radio station is run out of an old airstream caravan and it is not until he acquires a strange box and hooks it into his station that he hits on something big...  Max Headroom. 

What is a Blank

Reg is a Blank, someone who operates off the grid and outside the corporate identity system.  The off-grid unmentionable rebellious archetype is a popular trope featured in many sci-fi shows.  Reg plays the trope to a tee, doing things in his own maverick way despite the protestations of his long suffering wife Dominique who just wants to be able to pay the bills.  They make a classic odd couple like Stan & Hilda Ogden (Coronation Street) or George & Mildred.

Blank Reg and Dominique - Max Headroom

The Meteoric Rise of Max Headroom

Max Headroom (Matt Frewer)

Max Headroom is most famously remembered as the titular glitching digital host who popped up at the end of videos on MTV.  The character had a meteoric rise and at one point in the 80s you couldn't move without seeing Max advertising this that and the other.  He certainly tapped into the zeitgeist that was the nu wave of TV shows like MTV and Sunday morning experimental yoof programming like Network 7.

This was of course entirely the result of Matt Frewer's amazing acting chops and as Mr. Tyrell says "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long" and Max burned ever so brightly.

He had two TV Shows (one in the UK and one in the US) and this UK made for TV movie.

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future tells the story of 24 hour news reported Edison Carter (Matt Frewer) and how he stumbles upon the deadly Blip Verts.  These hyper condensed adverts are an extremely effective way to blast commercials into the brain with the unfortunate side effect that particularly sedantary viewers spontaneously combust.  

This scandalous discovery puts Carter directly in the spotlight of the evil Network 23 TV exec trying to sell the Blip Verts to unsuspecting companies.  The exec orders a hit on Carter and as a result of a motorcycle accident evading the comedy hitmen he is killed.  The teenage genius behind Blip Verts Bryce Lynch downloads Carters brain into a simulation in a box inadvertently creating Max Headroom.  

It's certainly a must watch if you are into Cyberpunk or Judge Dredd.  

Hawk the Slayer

I can't believe that I've been running this blog for 11 years and never written about Hawk the Slayer. 

Hawk the Slayer Poster by Les Edwards - Buy on eBay

 Released in 1980, this low budget sword and sorcery movie was written and directed by Terry Marcel and starred John Terry as the eponymous hero, Hawk, seeking revenge against his evil brother Voltan (Jack Palance).

Hawk is your classic do-gooder protecting the weak and the innocent.  We see him kill a couple of bandits who are torturing a witch and he saves the one handed warrior Ranulf (William Morgan Shepherd) from bandits who are using him as a target in their axe throwing game.  A grateful Ranulf tells Hawk that he has been looking for him for weeks.  He needs help defeat evil Voltan the Dark (really?) and to save the Abbess of the Convent of (Annette Crosbie, One foot in the Grave).  Hawk suggests that they recruit some old friends,  an unlikely bunch of adventurers in the shape of Gort the Giant (Carry On star Bernard Bresslaw) Crow the elf (Ray Charleson) and Baldin the Dwarf (Peter O'Farrell).

Hawk visits the witch who uses flash powder and two reflective hula hoops to transport him to the locations of each of his friends where they get their own little montage to show off some of their character and special skills.  Once together they relieve Sled the Hunchback and Slavemaster of the river Shale of his ill gotten coin to pay the Abesses ransom.  They then hole up in the convent and wait for Voltan to turn up.

Meanwhile Voltan's son Drogo decides he wants a bit of the limelight so on hearing that Hawk is at the convent he decides to barge in, take the gold and kill our hero.  Predictably he is hopelessly outmatched and suffers a mortal blow.  The merciful Hawk lets two of the survivors drag Drogo back to Voltan's camp and tells him he is waiting for him with the gold.  Voltan is grief stricken at the death of his son and kills the two survivors in rage.

Questions I Couldn't Help Asking (Plot Spoiler Alert)

1.  So if he hates his brother so much (he killed his father and his wife after all) where has Hawk been all this time.  We know he has been adventuring with his three compatriots, but they haven't been with him for some time as they tell us this when they are reunited.  Surely he can't have been on a long moody horseback ride all this time, there's only so many murky and bubbling fetid lakes you can ride past before you get bored.  Shouldn't he have been busy ridding the land of his evil brother and not letting him wreak havoc across the land leaving countless dead innocents in his wake?

2.  In my opinion the order of the flashbacks should have been reversed.  Voltan kills Hawk's father after he kills his bride as evidenced by him wearing the helmet covering his burned face.  Maybe that would have given him enough impetus to hunt him down straight away.  Unless he is a big fan of revenge being served cold (like Gazpatcho Soup).

3.  To be honest Voltan is a bit of a confusing villain.  One minute he is threatening to kill his own son the next he is blind with grief and kills the only two people who can tell him the size of Hawk's force.  I put this down to Jack Palance's overacting.  Not so much "pick up the gun" as "pick up the sword" and we all know how that turns out.

Why is Hawk so Great?

This is early sword and sorcery cinema.  It predates Conan the Barbarian and the plethora of wannabe's by about 2 years.  It is also the most faithful representation of a typical fantasy RPG plot.  A bunch of diverse heroes from different backgrounds, races and skills band together to fight off a great evil and protect the innocent and weak.

It's squarely aimed at an adult audience.  There's no cute puppets here, only marsh goblins and mis-shapen men.  One of my favourite characters is Sped the Hunchback played by Decland Mullholland who Star Wars fans will instantly recognise as the guy who played Jabba the Hut before they decided to replace him with a giant slug.

Declan Mullholland discusses motivation with Han Solo

The characterisation of Crow the Elf as a smaller than human figure is bang on point for early D&D which distinguished itself from Tolkien's lofty elves.

The interplay between Gort and Baldin is fantastic.  We often see Dwarves as these stoic sturdy types who are not the sharpest tools in the box, but Baldin is a rogue and his weapon of choice a whip.  He is as quick with it as he is with his whit.  The two have an antagonistic relationship but are true friends until the end.

The film poster was painted by the legend that is Les Edwards and is one of those instant classics which would look good on any fantasy fan's wall.  This one included

Cast Highlights

• Roy Kinnear turns in a classic performance as the frightened innkeeper.
  
  
• Warren Clarke does a fantastic turn as a bandit.  He would later go on to bring Det. Supt. Andy Dalziel to life.
  
  
• Declan Mulholland gets a credited role as Sped the Hunchback.  His performance as Jabba the Hut wouldn't be seen for years until the cut scenes from Star Wars were included in the Special Editions.
  
  
• Maurice Colbourne plays one of the axemen.  He would later get his big break playing Tom Howard the title character in the south coast shipyard TV soap opera Howard's Way.
  
  
• Annette Crosbie as the Abess.  A national treasure who would later go on to play Margaret the long sufferring wife of Victor Meldrew.
   
• William Morgan Shepherd - Character actor who played many 90s scifi and unforgettably was Blank Reg the punk pirate TV station host from the short lived but awesom Max Headroom.