be67 Teaser: Full example of Combat in a Sixties Grindhouse Universe

So before we go into analysing motivations to play a bit more, I got to finish another important part of the rules for be67: there is a complete example of how combat works in the game and as of today, it is written. Since (I assume) lots of people reading this blog are familiar with the D&D RC or some clone of it, I thought it'd be a nice idea to share the example with you for reference and with some context, where needed. I think it is a good representation of how this will resolve at the table and can give you an idea why and how it produces a different playing experience than what you'd expect from a D&D game while using the same rules and principles. If nothing else, you might enjoy it for the story it tells ...

First things first, here is the character sheet of the game:

Open in new tab for more details ...

As you can see, all of it is D&D. Where it diverges, it does so to enhance it's themes. xp are mostly awarded for damage instead of for treasure, that's the main one. But the Token economy the game presents is important in that it allows to factor in two major features a "modern" game needs to address, which are, of course, guns and vehicles. Therefore, AC is opened up to be more flexible, if you spend the Tokens and they aren't countered and using machinery will give a character Vehicle Tokens to do even more in a round of combat (more damage, more movement, more protection, all depending on what you are using).

Long-time readers might be familiar with some of the ideas here from taht other game I'm writing, Lost Sogs of the Nibelungs (which is still happening, I assure you). If you'd like to see some more details, check out this post about be67. It explains the basics (some of it revised now, but it still will give you a more than complete picture). Echo and other little details explained here.

With the above and the example I'm about to share, you should get a pretty complete picture, so here we go (unedited, as of yet):

Example: Violet Flemming (The Spy), Sam O’Leary (The Saboteur) and Joel Maddox (The Outlaw) are attempting the assassination of a streetgang boss that dabbled in Voodoo enough to pose a problem for some Californian fey because Joel owed them big time (long story).

They decide for a low effort drive-by shooting. Joel is the driver, Violet is the one with the rifle riding shotgun and Sam is in a hide-out across the street observing that dive the gang uses as their headquarters.

The GM calls for Initiative when Sam informs the others via phone box that the gang is preparing their choppers to leave and Joel puts the pedal to the metal to get around the corner into the street the bar is in. They need to move fast now.

This fight has 5 Combat Units: Violet, Joel and Sam, 5 gang members (one Unit) and the Voodoo Gang Boss. Initiative is rolled and declared. Joel ends up with the lowest Initiative (3), Violet (7) is faster than the gang (6), but not as fast as the boss (9) or Sam, who is the fastest (12). Since Sam is in hiding and the car is not yet in the street passing the bar, this is handled as a Surprise Round.

Violet had already stated that she’d hide the gun until the last moment. The GM says it’s a tough one to call, since all the gang can be aware of is a car speeding around the corner and in their general direction, so the Saves will have a penalty of 3. Neither the gang nor the boss make their Save versus Supernatural regarding Joel’s intentions. However, the boss had also been faster than Violet, so he is allowed a second Save to see if more danger is afoot. A 19! Their eyes meet as the car shoots around the corner and he sees the death in hers ...

Next, the Actions are declared in order from slowest to fastest:

(Joel, Initiative 3, 2 Tokens, 3 Vehicle Tokens) Joel’s Free Action is driving the car fast and safe past the bar while bringing Violet into a good position to shot. He gives Violet 1T Aid and 1T Damage, uses 2VT for Movement and 1 VT for Armor Class, cowering behind the wheel for cover.

(The Gang, Initiative 6, surprised) They keep getting ready to hit the road, completely unaware.

(Violet, Initiative 7, 3 Tokens, 1 Vehicle Token) Violet’s Free Action is her Attack (since her cover is blown), she is using 2T for Armor Class, 1T Aid for Joel’s driving and uses the 1VT she got as additional Damage Die (it’s a drive-by shooting, after all … the GM allows it).

(Jamal The Boss, Initiative 9, 3 Tokens) Jamal’s Free Action is Casting a Spell on Violet to confuse her. He spends 2T for AC ducking for cover (just in case) and 1T Movement to draw his gun while shouting at the Gang that shit is going down.

(Sam, Initiative 12, 4 Tokens) Sam skips his Free Action. He wants to be on top of the situation next round if this goes sideways. He gives Violet 1T Aid for her Save versus Supernatural (the Spell Jamal is preparing) and 1T Damage, just to be on the safe side. The remaining 2T go into Countering Jamal’s ducking for cover completely. He describes his support and counter as “Shouting at Jamal from across the street and giving him the finger”.

Example (cont. from p. XX): Initiative is resolved from fastest to slowest. Sam skips his Free Action and uses his Tokens to hinder Jamal from taking cover and supporting Violet’s Save versus Supernatural (by shouting and giving Jamal the finger). Since he is the fastest, no one can counter his Combat Actions and it works out as described.

Next up is Jamal. The Spell can’t be countered with Combat Actions, since it’s a Free Action, so this happens unchallenged a well. Violet feels like she’s getting lost in Jamal’s eyes and starts hearing drums and ecstatic singing in foreign voices in the distance. To avoid the effects of the spell, she’s entitled a Save versus Supernatural and has Sam’s support, so she rolls 1d20+1d4 … an 18 and a 3! So she shakes it off and lifts her rifle to take her shot while Jamal is checking out who strange guy across the street is and why he’s so mean to him. Doing that, he totally forgets to jump for cover (no additional AC), but he manages to warn the gang and gets his shotgun ready for next round.

Violet is next, but since Joel’s driving roll is necessary to get her into position (and might fail at that), Joel has to resolve his Free Action first (driving the car as fast as possible past the bar).

Joel has a DEX of 13 and a bit of a past as a Demolition Derby driver that brings a +4 to the Skill Test and there's another 1d4 Aid from Violet as well, so the roll is 1d20+13+4+1d4 versus a difficulty the GM declares to be 30 … and ends up rolling a 3 with the d20 and a 4 with the d4, which leaves him 6 points short (3+13+4+4=24). Not good, but no one is offering to sacrifice Funk for this, so the group accepts this as being a failure.

The GM declares that Joel miscalculates the turn, overwinds the steering wheel, botches his gear shifting and ends up rolling down the street towards the bar with a stalled motor. Violet’s shot will get a -2 as well, as this, if nothing else, annoys her as hell.

Still, this might work out after all, them still having surprise, so next is Violet with her pistol versus Jamal’s AC of 9. She gets to roll 1d20 with a +3 for her high DEX, a +1d4 due to Joel supporting her (he at least steers her enough into position to get a proper shot) and the -3 for Joel being an idiot driver. Her d4 turns out to be a 1, but the d20 is critical, a 20! And she is on a roll, as the d12 for Echo is a 12, which leads to the second Echo Roll (a d10) and ends the streak with a solid 8. That is another 20 to her result of 21 (20+1+3-3), all in all a brutal 41.

There was much rejoicing at the table.

After a critical result like that, a lot is happening, so the GM starts with the 20 and its Echo results: the 12 is the death sentence and also comes with an extra attack. Jamal is gone for good. Since he had his declared Actions already, the Voodoo Priest doesn’t even get a chance for his Dead Man’s Ten. The 8 has Violet in the highest possible, so she receives Double XP for learning something there, earns a permanent +4 circumstantial bonus against streetgangs. She also gets to describe this fatal blow and all gang members in sight have to make a Morale Check with a penalty of 4 to not flee in terror. It even leaves her with a Nickname (the group is undecided between “Voodon’t” and “Voodoo Chill”) and she gets to have an additional 1d6 with her next Initiative, with enough time to have a victory dance as well. The GM makes a note that the fey will give her a special little something for the beautiful work she has done here. A death so beautiful, generations to come will tell its tale …

Anyway, next for the Damage proper, as there are xp to be had for it. Her Small Ranged Weapon Mastery is at d6, Sam had spent a Token to raise that, so for this hit it is a d8. The height of the result determines the number of d8, so that’d be 6d8 with her result of 41. But she’d used 1VT for an additional Damage Die, so she rolls 7d8 for 35 points of damage. Jamal was a 5HD+2 Voodoo Priest with 21 Hit Points, which means 14 Points are left as Environmental Damage.

The player’s description: “So while Joel is driving like an idiot, working hard on making this mission a failure, a great calm comes over Violet as she lifts her pistol and focuses on that priest. That spell does nothing to her. If anything, it helps her focusing. Time slows down and she sees the paths of the bullets before they leave the barrel. Almost leisurely, she empties the gun into the guy. The giant bar window in the background explodes around his convulsing body and I’d say she even hits some neon sign behind the window, adding sparks to the whole scene (the GM allows it). But the kicker is that the Voodoo gangster is standing right next to one of those bikes and the tank is hit as well, which makes the bike go ‘BOOM’ and engulfs him in burning oil. So now he’s also burning and stumbling towards his gang before he falls down twitching. He’s not screaming anymore, as his lungs are burnt, but the black smoke rising above the burning body looks like the faces of some damned souls or something because he’s a Voodoo Priest, you know, and there is a wheezing sound no one can explain … That should do it.”

And indeed, none of them make their Morale Check, they all flee in terror.

The player also announces that she’d use her second attack to blow up one of the other bikes as well, at best one in the middle so that an explosion could have them go boom as well. Since this actually resolve the whole Combat, the GM decides that no more rolls are necessary for that to happen. Joel panicky restarts the car with Violet screaming into his ear to get moving while emptying another magazine into the row of motorcycles while Joel is making a more subtle exit. They accelerate past the bar while the bikes start showing some flames from the hail of bullets and as they make for the corner away from the bar, all of the bikes explode in a ball of light and smoke while Violet is having her victory dance in the car.

It earns Violet the INSTANT KILL and the CINEMATICS AWARD (see Character Progression, p. XX). Fun was had.

Fun was had, indeed ... [source]

So now you know why I call it a "Retroclone Mutant" ... it is the D&D RC but with a twist (my revised house rules, basically). Players will get awards for spectacularly bloody murder and grindhouse-worthy theatrics in what plays like an adult sixties urban fantasy setting. It'll also feature 7+ new classes with some tools to do your own and rules to integrate existing classes into the game as well as rules to alter existing modules and gaming materials into be67.

If that tickles your funny bone, this will be a treat for you. For sure. It's a bit more complex than your average "old school" D&D, but not more so than, say, proper AD&D would be if played RAW. I like it that way. I know I'm not alone.

Anyway, that's it for today. I hope this will generate some interest for the game. As always, I'll be happy to get some feedback on this, so what do you guys think?

------------------------ 

While we are at it: You can check out a free preview of Ø2\\'3||, that other rpg I wrote, right here (or go and check out the first reviews here). I'm still doing a sale on the game proper ...

If you already checked it out, please know that I appreciate you :) It'll certainly help to keep the lights on here! I'd love to hear about that, too.

Just look at that beauty ...

 ------------------------

Ø2\\'3|| - A little play-report with notes (Season 1, Episode 1: Deadly Electric Pussy-Cat Fart)

I had an opportunity to DM Ø2\\'3|| the other day, first session of a two-session gig (favor for a friend, nice people to game with). Other than having the pleasure to get some more gaming going (aside from play-testing THE RISE OF ROBO-HITLER), it was the first time I was able to use the printed book for the game, which was all kinds of interesting in itself. Since that first session went (imo) exceptionally well, I thought it might be a good idea write a play-report and give you guys an idea what Ø is like at the table and why ... I'll write this up as it emerges for the players, general description of the setting aside (which you can read here, if interested).

THE SETTING

Using the District Generator the game comes with, I created the basic hex where the characters reside and the six neighboring districts. 3 hexes (including the main one) stick out to be some sort of play ground for a game I ended up calling "The Vales of Evardonn". Main hex is a poor area that is used to initiate new citizens ("NuPees") into their citizenship under the United States of Europe (USE, for short). I decide to make this the District Grünau in the greater Berlin-Leipzig city cluster. Here NuPees will train to join the "Halls of Heroes" in the District Friedensaue located just NW of Grünau, which would allow them access to the vales in the NE.

Basically, the characters believe that they are part of a huge, real life MMORPG, which is nothing more than the state and big corp gamifying work through all-encompassing augmentation. Since citizens are already indoctrinated in the artificial womb they are raised in (think Matrix meets Teletubbies), they actually believe that what they see is reality. They might believe they are hunting down goblins for xp, while in reality they are slaughtering, for instance, some illegals or commit other atrocious acts without even realizing, since it's all nicely augmented. Rainbows included.

So while the characters live an extended Anime experience on a sugar rush, training to be "heroes", reality is a dirty and improvised mass living complex under the totalitarian regime of The Family, looking a bit like this:

This will be available as a poster, eventually ...

THE CHARACTERS

Character creation begins with the characters realizing tat they are being lied to and how they react to that (blue pill/red pill moment). The players describe how they'd been playing when a terrorist attack took away the veil. They saw reality for the first time, didn't like it and decided to take care that somethng like that won't happen to them again. They told the officials the same, hoping to be recruited as terrorist hunters or something like that.

Since they didn't opt for a higher social status (which would have been costly), they remained being small fish, but seemed content with playing the game and supporting the family (making life miserable for others if opportunity arose, for sure).

And that's the set-up. After that the players described how they imagined their characters to be. We ended up with:

PAULINE - Augmented, she looks like a nice little girl in a white dress, behind that veil, the dress is less glorious (more like ripped, bloody and dirty) and half her face as well as one arm are replaced with cyberwear.

[source]

MR. SMITH (aka Boss Baby) & MR. NOBODY (modified Smart Assisstant) - Chubby little guy (puberty blockers and a sugary diet will do that to you) with a black suit and sun glasses, capable Hacker. The augmented version is way more slick and cartoonish than the meatspace version.

GRUBS & POOPSIE - Augmented Grubs looks like a little cherub, wingy and all. In reality it's a fat little kid carried around by huge, spidery legs implanted in his back. Too lazy to walk, in his hands always something sweet and an energy drink. Poopsie is the electric cat he carries around in a duffle bag.

They assign their potentials and roll for Anger (9, 11 and 14, not Falling Down, but still quite angry ... good). With that, the character creation is done. The basic idea is that they can be whatever they want in the scenario as long as all agree and they are willing to make the DM stronger when they describe powerful character features (which they did ... I ended up with 14 Pennies to start). I also gave a short introduction to the rules and after that we were ready to roll.

Season 1, Episode 1: Deadly Electric Pussy-Cat Fart

DISCLAIMER: What follows is the mash-up of the established setting with the characters in it, the Narrative Encounter Generator (NEG, based on this, but specified to emulate dystopian fiction with an Anime bent) and a SF-Fluff table the game offers. The NEG offers a direction, but the characters are free to act as they please. It is a sandbox with narrative impulses ... It is also SATIRE. You have been warned.

We start on a September evening. The characters are enjoying their free time hanging out at their apartment when an explosion shocks the building and the augmentation starts stutering, interwoven with the message, that their existance is a LIE and that they need to WAKE UP ... Of course, it's those damn domestic terrorists again. Normaly The Family would just activate the population to act as D/escalation Troops (the chip every citizen has implanted in their brain would activate to change them into mindless drones), but the explosion seems to interfere with that as well and the characters see their opportunity to finally shine!

Mr. Smith tries his hands on finding out where exactly the explosion has occured, but the roll fails and nothing he could come up with would change that (which makes him slightly more angry: Anger is raised by 1). They decide to just follow the destruction. Mr. Smith wants to go armed, so he grabs the one weapon in his possession. His roll comes up with a gadget that has two usages left before being useless ... a boom stick! That'd be his second Slot. They head for the door.

Outside the apartment they see some smoke and some scared neighbors (flickering between weird cartoon zoo and chubby-dirty freaks, as the state augmentation keeps switching on and off). They follow the trail of smoke to find a huge pile of rubble and a whole in the ceiling, several stories above. Had been a long time for them to see the blue sky. The whole district is one big building, basically, with no real infrastructure but the one big corp installed throughout the district, which no one living here is able to use due to the low social status citizens living here have.

In the middle of the free space the bomb created, they see a digital graffiti that says YOU ARE ALL SLAVES OF THE SYSTEM. No other signs of the terrorists, but Mr. Smith wants to try his hacking skill on the signature, with the hope that it might lead to the terrorist cell responsible for the bomb and interferrence.

The roll's a close call, so Pauline decides to offer a Relief Die for support. She connects herself to Mr. Robot, rolls the dice and it's a Double 10! That adds 20 against the difficulty, more than enough to know EXACTLY where the terrorists hide (somewhere on the roof, in a secret hideout between giant air conditioning vents). Pauline also gains an Achievement for the Double: it'll be easier for her to track down those terrorists from now on.

They decide to climb the rubble up to the roof, creating new Slots along the way: Pauline can shot her cyborg hand as a grappling hook and the spiderlegs coming out of Grubs' back are quite capable of climbiung almost every surface (to keep the illusion up that Grubs is a flying cherub, of course). They see military transport helicopters crossing the hole in the roof as they make their way up.

Mr. Smith resorts to just climbing, but as soon as they arrive on the roof, he's left behind fast by the other two speeding towards the hideout and what sounds like gun-fire and explosions. He hacks himself a ticket for a flying taxi to catch up with Pauline and Grubs at what seems to be the border of a prohibited area the military set up digitally as they engaged with the terrorists.

They approach the hideout and only find signs of battle. The prohibited area seems to have moved with the battle. Grubs sends Poopsie to scout. The cat does cat things while going through the rooms and ends its scouting at a huge hole in one room that leads outside again. In the distance the cat sees a dog fight (ha! sorry ...) between military and terrorists in front of a massive shopping mall that displays an insane shoppingspree-lightshow on its outside.

[source]

The group assumes that there's still a chance to help, so they move on towards the battle. Shortly after that, the whole block goes into Lockdown as the battle seems to shift down into an urban canyon (I had to spend 10 Pennies due to a high Oppression Die result, they had to go somewhere ...).

With the circumstances changed like that, they need to find a Safe Space or an excuse really fast, as drones are already swarming the area and they see D/escalation Troops appear on the roofs as well as a Bias Judge crawling towards the scene of the skirmish. They decide to go for an excuse. After all, they still want a chance to get those terrorists!

So it turns out Grubs is still in good contact with the Family beaurocrat that debriefed them after they had experienced that first terrorist attack (he created a Contact Slot for that). Isabel, that's how she identifies, likes the chubby little cherub and would love to help, but giving military authority is no easy task and she plays coy about it. Grubs decides to put some preassure unto her, burning the contact for that Season, but giving his roll a whopping +18.

It'll take a while and some nice cherub pics to get her back in the friend zone, but the test is made and the authority to hunt for the terrorists is given. Just in time, as they are already approached by some D/escalation type. Now the frowning smily on the mask turns into a smile and the meat-drone turns away, looking for other dissidents and trouble makers.

 

A short sigh of relief later they are already looking how to exploit their new powers. They have some access to the military feed and at least know where the conflict is hot. This is where Pauline's Achievement comes in handy: she finds some terrorists hiding in a nearby club with a bavarian alp theme (based on some crazy tv show). There are six of them and they seem to have some skilled hacker among them that was able to shield their presence from the military.

Bad luck for them that Pauline had rolled that Double ... 

It doesn't take the group long to come up with a scheme that does not involve direct assault. They hack into the video feed and see those criminals in the main club room, waiting it out, laying on the fake meadow that is the floor while lazily waving away some nanite flies (it's an all-in "authentic" alp-feel club house). The hacker seems busy keeping the fuzz away.

It all lines up beautifully for the characters, it seems. The plan is to send Poopsie inside, as part of the scenery (fittingly so, it appears). Grubs also explains that he had that cat "weaponized" with a fart canon of sorts (creating a Gadget Slot for that), which turns out to be quite weak (just Stage 1, not even enough to make damage). However, if they succesfully hack the cat, they could actually do some damage, weakening the opposition in the process. Not a problem, is what Mr. Smith says. The others are on stand-by to support the roll with Relief Dice, if need be.

Alas, Mr. Smith comes up with a Triple 8! That's not only 24 as a result, it's also a Season Highlight (which creates a DM Slot and counts as absolute success)! Mr. Smith added another 14 Anger Points to the result (he had gained three more Anger points in a failed test before, so he had 4 remaining) and using the cat gave another 6. It resulted in enough damage to take the room out (and was quite satisfying to get all that anger out of the system). That cat was weaponized with a fart from hell.

I think we took ten minutes to describe how it all went down because we laughed so hard: the cat would enter the room and do cat things, like sweeping some legs and looking for attention. When in the middle of the terrorists, the gas would be released, and one would imagine that they first looked around who might be the culprit ... then the dying would start :D

[Source]

It was glorious, and pretty much where we ended it. They called the authorities and Mr. Grubs took care to make a "cat video" of the incident and put it online (to some effect, it raised his Social Status a bit as people seemed to like what they saw), and that was that. The DM received two Pennies since the other two players forgot about their Social Media presence (if you aren't posting regularly, the state gets suspicious, too).

Thoughts

It turned out to be sufficiently "cyberpunk". The players ability to come up with skills, gadgets and contacts as they need them allow for a wide range of wild results, all with individual touches.

The district generator already gave me lots to work with, the NEG and Fluff results added to that. They gave me the opportunity for the characters in the beginning, the signs of the gun battle, the dog fight in the distance in front of a huge building going crazy with advertisement, the struggle in the end, the nanite flies ... all those little bits and pieces I could use to build on and make it a rich experience with relativeley little preparation (and completely flexible ... I had no idea where this all would go).

Pretty much what I'm writing about here.

I had to put more work into getting my brain around the system again as I thought I would (I'm balls-deep into be67 right now and this was rather short notice), but once it clicked again, I found a new rhythm quite fast. The game seems complex in the beginning, but as soon as you see it all realized at the table, I'd wager it'll all fall into place quite easily.

The tools provided in the book did their job, which was great. However, I already saw some room for improvement. I think one of the future supplements should be a DMs Guide, or something like that. The DM part in the book is already extensive and full of examples and all that, but I found there is still more to say, and maybe room to discuss some tricks and traps (and, maybe, an errata of sorts, if I find any really bad hickups). 

All in all, it ended up being satire again, which is also nice to see. The setting is so dark that people seem to gravitate towards humor to lighten the mood. Just as intended. That critical fart was just plain random luck, though. You couldn't come up with that :D

I'm looking forward to the next Episode. I'll send this to the players as well, and maybe they'll add their thoughts and impressions in the comments :)

------------

In other news, I will keep the discount on Ø2\\'3|| up until end of July and you can check out a free preview of the book right here (or go and check out the first reviews here).

If you need more convincing, maybe this post might get you there. If you already checked it out, please know that I appreciate you :) It'll certainly help to keep the lights on here ...

 

Update & some calm Short Fiction (because we need calm right now)

Hey folks, I hope you are alright out there in a world turning for the worst every next minute you look away. We are okay here in Leipzig, although it feels as if the hammer could drop any minute. Some hammer ... it seems like the world is coming apart at the fringes. Anyway. I'm still here, writing stuff towards completion. Gaming on and there might be some more blogging in the near future. Until then I'd like to share a some micro fiction I wrote (I know, I do that rarely here). It's nothing special, just a little story about a little boy exploring the forest behind the house. Something straight forward and simple to keep sane. I hope it does a little bit of the same for you guys out there. Stay safe, friends and neighbors.

Neal’s Day out in the Wild

Neal’s plan had been foolproof: he’d sneak past the kitchen where his mom was doing some cooking. The half unwrapped packing boxes in the hallway would provide plenty of cover. Once he was on his way out he’d give his mom a call that he’d be out and he’d be way over the porch before she could tell him otherwise. Definitely far enough away to claim he didn’t hear her!

He came as far as the shoe rack, but one of his boots betrayed him and made things difficult so that he stumbled back a bit against one of the bigger boxes and grunted even.

“Neal? Is that you?” asked his mother from the kitchen. “Yeah, mom, just wanted to go out for a bit.” he was still struggling with his shoe. Not all was lost … there! He made a run for it, the shoe laces still unbound. He could do that later, now gaining distance was the prime directive. His mom was on his case, though: “Did you unpack in your room Neal?” Still to close, he couldn’t ignore it: “Yeah, mom, gotta go ...” He couldn’t let his shoes unbound either, so he stopped on the porch to bind them. He heard his mother moving some dishes in the kitchen. “Don’t be too long, love, there’ll be cake later.” That was good news. The tree line just across the lawn was calling him. He was good to go. “Take Boomer with you!”

And off he went, calling over his shoulder: “Yes, mom. Boomer! Come!”

The head of the golden retriever appeared around the corner of the house, the ears all perked up. Neal laughed. “Come, Boomer, we go exploring!” He was half across the lawn when the dog caught up, making little enthusiastic jumps. Together they entered the forest behind the garden for the first time and the world around bloomed with possibilities. “Where should we go, Boomer?” asked Neal, not slowing down. Boomer barked, but had no other say in the matter. Neal scanned his surroundings for opportunities. “We have to gain higher ground. Follow me!”

Running up slowed them down a little bit, but not much. They scared a squirrel and Neal laughed with joy as the squirrel cackled it’s anger from high up in a tree. “Sorry, Mr. Squirrel.” And then they where high on the hill behind the house. He climbed a small rock to get an even better view turned around and saw the little town they had moved to and a bit of the coast with some white boats in the harbor. There was their new house just below. His father and brother had come back with another car load of stuff and they where carrying boxes into the house, all small and in the distance. Ha! He had dodged that bullet.

The dog was at the foot of the rock looking up and barking. “Yeah, you are right, Boomer. We have not come here to look at the boring town. Just a second. Let me take a look. Good boy!” On the other side of that hill was what he came here for. What would he see? Old Ruins? A mysterious shack? An abandoned junk yard? He couldn’t wait to find out.

At first glance nothing jumped to his attention, though. All he saw was rolling hills with lots of tree tops and playing birds below him in the evening sun. The forest wouldn’t give up its secrets that easily! He had to change positions, so he climbed down the rock and up a gnarly fir to look a little bit more to the east. Boomer followed him to the tree, paying attention and wagging his tail. “Look, Boomer! We found something!”

There was a small lake just down the hill and it had a little island. An island! Maybe it had rafts, too, and the could paddle there. Who knows what could be hidden on an island! He regretted that he’d left his pirate hat at home. That would have been something! But it was definitely lost in one of the boxes in his room and he’d never see it again. No matter! He would go see that island. “Come on, Boomer, we have to check that out!” He took the last meter of the tree with a jump and went off downhill, jumping, dodging and laughing, every now and then checking if Boomer was still with him, motivating him to go faster. Not that the dog needed much motivating. He was having a blast too.

Soon the lake appeared between the tree. At first glance no rafts or boats, but maybe he could improvise something. He went through his options as he closed the distance. He could build a raft, he thought, and already imagined himself on a small boat with a sail, heading towards the island. However, without a crew the endeavor was pointless … and then he reached the lakeshore, checking left and right. No boats, no rafts. He took a closer look at the island, making himself as big as possible in the hopes he’d see something interesting. Nothing.

Swimming over there was out of the question, but his eyes where already looking for alternatives to do on this side of the lake. And sure enough, there was a big rock just on the shoreline, half hidden by reeds, and something moved on it. He immediately went into a crouch and shushed Boomer, who seemed to contemplate jumping into the lake. Neal silently moved towards the rock, a smile on his lips. He grabbed a stick lying there. Just In case. Boomer made a little jump, expecting some flying wood in his immediate future, but got shushed again. What was moving on that rock? Neal needed to know.

He whispered to Boomer to stay and kept the reeds between him and the rock as he sneaked forward to get as close as possible before he could be made. It was dark green and as big as a football, but he couldn’t see any details until he bent a little to the side. It was a turtle! Lying there, enjoying the heat of the stone, blinking into the sun, just one meter distance from where he was. He couldn’t help but whisper “Woah!”, but it was enough to have the turtle glide into the water immediately. Neal half jumped on the rock to see it swim, and caught a glimpse of it diving away.

He turned to Boomer, smiling: “That was something, wasn’t it?” The dog was sitting there, wagging his tail in some dry leafs, looking at the stick in Neal’s hand with intent. “You want the stick?” the dog made a small leap and sat down again, still wagging his tail, looking for possible stick landing zones and back to the stick. So they played fetch for a couple of minutes before Neal decided it was time for some iced tea ... and something else nagged on his mind. Something his mother had said. He just couldn’t remember, shrugged and called Boomer. He’d find out soon enough.

He considered going back over the hill as boring and decided that going left looked more interesting than going right. They took their time and Neal hit bushes and low hanging leafs leaves with his stick. Boomer was sniffing all over the place and marking territory. They were half around the hill when they heard the laughter. It was a bright and young kind of laughter. A girl. Close by. Neal changed course to check it out.

Nearby was a glade with some big rotting lugs and a small group of kids was huddling there between some high grasses. One of them was a brown haired girl with a yellow dress. She must have been the one who had laughed. Neal hid behind some bushes, hoping to get a glimpse of what those kids where doing. He heard some whispered talk and giggling, but could glean nothing.

He was so fixated on the scene on the glade, that he’d totally forgotten about Boomer and the dog wasn’t having that. As dogs would, he got a little agitated, hoping for attention. Seeing that being wiggly didn’t work, he did the next logical thing and barked. Way too loud. All time stopped. Neal froze down, the group froze down. Boomer wagged his tail, waiting for a reaction. The girl reacted first. She stood up and looked in the direction the bark came from, while the other sheepishly stayed down and tried to sneak a peak, obviously hiding something. She must be his age, Neal thought, probably younger. Nine, maybe. She looked nice, for a girl. He stood up as well and waved at her. She waved backed, still a questioning look on her face, which was exactly the moment Neal remembered the cake. So he waved her goodbye, said “Gotta go. There’s cake!” and ran off into the woods.

He’ll like it here, he thought while running back home. 

Found this AFTER writing the story ... nice :) [source]

And that's that. Some proper content and announcements will hit the blog in the near future (I hope ... this shit is stressing me out and I'm not as productive as opportunity would dictate, I'm afraid). Until then I'd like to remind you nice and beautiful people that Monkey Business, the extensive jungle crawl adventure module I published a couple of years back, is still out there and PWYW. That should keep you busy for a while ...

Star Wars Episode 7: TBA (exercise in reimagining the story never told)

First of all: I have no idea what I'm doing here. Is this an attempt in fan fiction? No. Well, yes, but more like the outline of a campaign if what Lucas started had been a campaign for a a role playing game and I were to finish it (which will never happen and has happened, but might also really only happen like below in a parallel universe). What follows are the outlines of a script or the re-telling of a movie that never existed.

I couldn't help but imagining this

[skip this part if you just want to read what I imagine Ep. VII could have been like] SWIX is all the hype now. People love hating it and making that public. I saw Ep. VII once and didn't bother afterwards. From all I heard, it turned out to be a re-imagination of the original material with the same score, better visuals and worse stories telling the same and with very bad decisions about the original cast.

I can't help but think that Lucas did make a mistake when he abandoned his vision like that. However: 1. Who could blame him after the blind hate people voiced about the prequels (unjustified, imo) and 2. I guess he didn't think it'd turn out as ugly as it did (there're rumors that the evil mouse promised him creative agency and forgot about it before the ink was dry on the contract).

Anyway, I don't go to see the movies, but I follow the discussion. Mainly because lots of people have interesting opinions and insights on the subject. There's nostalgia in there, too. I love Star Wars and its Expanded Universe. I've played the games, read some of the books (intending to read more of the old ones) and I will never cease telling people that they can have all the Star Wars they want and the way they want it FOR FREE just a download away.

Enough SW for several lifetimes [source]

In a way, this is the peanut gallery talking here, but my point is that we shouldn't be afraid to tell those stories the way we want them to be told, especially after a soulless corporation had made a public sacrifice of the franchise to their god Mammon.

I know this isn't something I do often on the blog, but I am a DM and a storyteller. Things like this happen in my brain every so often and since this specific story came together over the course of a couple of hours without me doing anything but writing down some highlights, I couldn't help but sharing it here.

I'll add that this is written under the assumption of fair use: it earns me nothing and it teaches the reader about how to structure a story (for movies or books or role playing campaigns).

It's also what I'd like to see, not necessarily what others would have liked to see (ok, so it is fanfiction :P ).

A long time ago, in a Galaxy,  far far away ...

Setup - The story is set 20 years after the death of emperor Palpatine. The Republic is in a bad state and still hasn't recovered from the war and the harsh rule of the empire. They have made the public trials, they've hunted down some of the perpetrators but billions of credits are missing and the Dark Sith Lord had left some very effective contingency plans that resulted in a dangerous Deep State manipulating and pushing the new Republic to make all the bad decisions they could make.

People are unhappy. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and all injustices are disguised as well intended or the right thing to do. Corruption is a massive problem.

Politics was a big thing in the prequels and the EU (Clonewars, for instance), so this would be an opportunity to add some more perspectives. I call it The Deep State Arc and some of it would the classic Star Wars Prologue (the yellow floating text disappearing into the distance ... you know the drill), some of it would serve as the stage for the story.

Galactic Senate, reinstated [source]

Story 1 - This would be the main story. It'd be about Han, Leia and their daughter (let's just call her R. for no particular reason). The family is all but broken apart. Han is in prison for a crime no one talks about (which will be hinted towards and get important in Ep. VIII, for now he's just bitter and broken and old). He ignores the Hologram messages Leia is smuggling in there (with a cute little robot that might have a little arc himself, obviously) and seems to grief (for reasons explained later in the story).

Princess Leia is back in politics and tries to fill the shoes of her mother, which is the main reason for the scorn she receives from her daughter (who is around 20, a student and activist).

In the beginning they just have video conferences where they don't get along while being busy doing what they do (the princess being in the senate, the other being on demonstrations against one injustice or another). In the best sense they offer "show don't tell" as the reader/viewer/player explores the changes in the universe through their eyes and conflicts (instead of just being told).

Anyway, this changes as some assassins try to kill R., who barely gets away (she has a Jedi protection detail getting the job done ... first time lightsabers should make an appearance). It'll get obvious that R. is not taught how to be a Jedi but instead forbidden to even address the topic.

Well, after the assassination attempt she is sent home to her mother. There, surrounded by pictures and signs of a happy childhood (with a father and an uncle and a happy mother), the rift between her and Leia will be all the more obvious. It escalates one evening when R. confronts her mother about not being allowed to use the force.

Turns out, Leia had to make political concessions that denied the Skywalker bloodline access to the Jedi order. Gaining the knowledge from anywhere else would be considered a crime. It's another reason for R. having a Jedi Protection Detail: they keep her in check. It also forced Luke into exile. He and Leia parted in bad blood over this, it seems.

While this happens, R. decides to stay true to the rebellious daughter theme and starts investigating the attempt on her life. She goes places she shouldn't and asks questions she shouldn't, all without supervision, of course. That'd be the middle part of the story. A bit of action, some close calls and little revelations to keep the tension up.

Her first big clue is a guy she keeps recognizing being close to her in all the footage she can gather (she starts with the night they tried to kill her and works her way back to public announcements and demonstrations and all kinds of places where she was in public and filmed ...). He's the pattern and a ghost. Information about him seems to be protected by the Jedi order (which makes her distrust the order even more). He's about her age, has a limp and features a mean facial scar (let's call him K. for no obvious reason).

The guy is an enigma. What she can glean is ambivalent. He seems to be a good guy, but his hate towards her is also proven somewhere down the road (it'd be one of the revelations, maybe a room he had rented with lots of pictures of her, some mutilated ...).

She's also followed by a hooded figure. One time she sees the figure by chance, a second time she follows him (or her) but he escapes.

Somewhere in between it'll become obvious that she has talent in the force, but keeps it hidden, mainly using it when she is on her own.

All the way through someone is planning another go at killing her. K. seems to be involved, but there's also a figure in the shadow pulling strings.

So there's a lot going on. At some point she decides that she wants to set up a trap for the guy she is convinced planned her death. She makes contact with some of her activist friends and organizes attending a demonstration (setting: a continent devastated by a fallen Imperial Star Destroyer // Ruins of a City, leakage and radiation zones and wreckage).

Something like that ... [source]

K. appears and follows R., being all sinister and shit. She dupes her detail, making sure he follows. She confronts him in [some iconic piece of a Star Destroyer] and asks him why he wants her dead. He tells her that he had survived her grandfather's attack on the Jedi temple (BIG revelation, shifting the perception the readers/viewers/players have of the character ... there should be a flashback to that scene in there somewhere). Barely so, as proven by the scars. His parents had not been so lucky, and he wanted revenge. He planned revenge ... but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

So the next thing we learn is that he wasn't the one behind the assassination attempt. He tried to find who it was, but couldn't find the culprit (maybe he has another piece of the puzzle, but it tells us nothing without context). Both leave the encounter confused. They have some chemistry, but he is a monster and hates her.

She is about to leave the wreckage they have met in, when the true assassins make their move. The odds are against her, but K. comes to her aid and they can overcome the mercenaries sent to kill her. That's, of course, when the puppeteer makes an appearence, lightsaber and all. It's a Sith and he makes known how annoying he thinks they are. Takes his time, too, maybe tells some of his plans.

K. is paralysed, almost catatonic when confronted with a lightsaber. R. makes an attempt to attack with the force, but is shut down hard, K. tries to overcome his fears and charge, but is stabbed and stays down. Before the Sith (S. seems to be appropriate, for no reason at all), the last little mystery is solved and the hooded figure intervenes.

It is a Jedi and there'll be impressive and brutal swordplay and force shenanigans, escalating to an explosion that causes a panic at the demo. S. is killed. The Jedi is, of course, Luke Skywalker, protecting his niece.

L. Skywalker, Mickey Rourke version [source]

He tells her about the Deep State and about the conspiracy's plan to annihilate the Skywalker bloodline for good. They are all in danger, but he says the time to wait is over. She wants to go with him, learn how to use the force and find the fuckers responsible for this. They leave in the chaos and take the unconscious K. with them.

I call this The Beauty and the Beast Arc and it will carry into the next Episode.

Now, that was the climax of the first part. Let's set up the next.

Leia is told by the Jedie protection detail that her daughter is lost and most likely died in the explosion. It's unclear why they don't know better or why they are lying. She is distraught and goes to a place where she can be alone (what place this woulod be should be established some time before). Here she can let go and cry. But she is a Skywalker and the force is with her. She has a vision of her daughter and her brother (maybe training?) and it gives her hope.

The last scene of the story/movie/campaign would be her and Lando helping Han escape from prison ...

Story 2 - This basically sets up part of Ep. VIII and builds the mystery about why Han went on that last mission, how he ended up in prison and what happens there. It's not a lot I have there, but main reason for his grief is that Chewbacca died because of it. I'm thinking, they went after a politician that was big back with the empire but it went horribly wrong. His reasons would stay iunclear, though (it's that trope where what he did seems wrong, if seen out of context, a bit like what with K. happens).

Story 3... - There could be other side-plots that establish characters that might get important later on. From what I've heard, Lucas planned this thir trilogy to be a spiritual journey, so that would be a place to start. But I'll leave it at that for now. However, to give this the space opera fee, it'd be necessary to have spectacular settings, weird customs and interesting cultures and a huge cast (imo).

Well, ok, that's that. I needed to get this out of me, so to say. It has conflict over 3 generations, it has potential and tension, the old characters are still around and have to work a little for another happy end, the new characters are set up for a journey and the world is in enough turmoil to go several directions.

An Episode 8 would have the spiritual awakening as a theme and how R. and K. find each other. It would prepare and end with a huge escalation of the conspiracy, definitely gearing towards some sort of war. The 9th would be the final confrontation and the redemption of the Skywalkers. Maybe Anakin gets to apologize to K., wouldn't that be something?

[source]

Depending on the medium this would play out in, you'd have to focus on several different things here. A book would need more expostion and more characters and more arcs and introspection. Film would need lots of set design and effects and choreography, computer games would need several outcomes and an adventure structure and a combat system, skills, the works. A role playing campaign would need opportunities for the players to accompany the main characters (assuming taht the main arcs play out as the characters are around to have an impact on things).

But in the end, that'd be the story I'd have told. If you've read this far, I hope you've enjoyed it.

Epilogue

I know, this was strange. As I said above, I don't do this often, and don't think I'll do it more often in the future ... but I keep thinking that doing something like that can help setting the world a bit right after the injustice big corp did the franchise.

Actually, it's a well ignored fact that the original Star Wars rpg had a crucial part in keeping the franchise alive. More so than anyone would have (or could have) imagined. 

So I'd go one step further and offer that I'd be interested to flesh this out for REUP, make it a campaign for real, with the story above being the stage for the characters to make a difference and bear witness how the Skywalker saga ends. I just wouldn't do it alone. It'd need art and editing and all that jazz, even if it just were to publish this guerilla-style and for free (because, the law).

Since I don't think that that's going to happen, I'll leave it at that for now and hope you found some enjoyment in my take on how one could have spun that story beyond episode 6. I sure as hell liked the theatre in my mind more than what I've seen from the official version :)

The true story ... [source]

UbiquiCity Book 2: Undercurrents (now in stores!)

A cyberpunk/science fiction story I wrote got published as part of an anthology. If you dig what I'm doing here, you might want to check that out, too! Here, have some details (a fair warning though, as an author of one of the stories, I get my share for each sold copy):

I'm so happy about this right now. When Tod Foley put out an open call for authors in his second UbiquiCity Anthology, I tried my hand and he actually gave it a shot. I mean, you write and write for years to get an opportunity like that and there it was all of a sudden. I gave it my best.

However, that shouldn't be the only reason to go over to amazon or rpgnow to get that collection of sci fi tales. And it needn't be. As far as I can tell, all those stories are great, every one of them carrying nuggets of inspired (and inspiring) ideas and concepts, as you'd wish from a collection of sf stories.

Found at amazon or rpgnow!

They are also part of a huge universe that Tod is in the process of creating for the last couple of years. It started with the first UbiquiCity anthology, keeps growing on the dedicated website thisisfractopia.com and will ultimately lead to a big and universal rpg sourcebook about that city the stories are set in. It's all connected (and brim full with easter eggs as well as a growing history). From what I have seen, it's a thing of beauty.

There you have it: a great collection of stories of which I have the honor to be part of, with lots more to discover where that came from and yet more to come (although it all stands well on its won, if you don't want to dive into it that deep ...).

Just don't take my word for it (beware the author, see above). If you are in the mood for some science fiction, check out the preview that is provided by the vendor of your choice instead (which will give you a good part of the excellent first story!).

If that tickles your fancy, the rest might as well. If you need a bit more convincing, check out two more stories I wrote for this setting over at thisisfractopia (for free, you can find the first story here and the second story here, a third is already in the works).

It goes almost without saying that I'd be very happy to hear your thoughts about it. Sharing and spreading the good news is also very appreciated, naturally :)

Week of Vengeance: A Tale of Carnage and Revenge

I thought I'd do something special for the vengeance project and wrote a short story based on a setting I'd been working on. It's the first time I do so on the blog and in zee Englisch, so please be gentle ... OR I'LL TAKE MY BLOODY REVENGE ON THEE. Ahem. But let's be civil about this, dear readers. No one has to die today. Although it's the

Click the picture and follow the trail of blood to
EVEN MORE BLOODY VENGEANCE!!

WARNING: This is not for the weak of heart, strong language is used and

the violence is excessive. There is an abundance of sex, though (sorry, guys). 

__________________________________

REVENGE

“Anyway, it hadn’t been long after they’d discovered those portals that people went and found out what lay beyond them. Believe the news on this one, pal. Fairies, centaurs, that whole elves and dwarfs bullshit. The shit the kids like to play on computers these days. I couldn’t care less. So what, it’s fuckin’ Disneyland, I’d say. But it wasn’t long after that and the rumors about gold started making the rounds. Now, that’s where it got interesting, I tell you.

Well, after some tours in Afghanistan I’ve earned my fair share as a gun for hire in the last years. Believe me, there’s more than enough work for guys like me. Ask no questions, do what you are paid for. Simple as that. Makes a living, as they say. But that new deal was almost too good to be true. I’d only heard stories about the first wave. Shit, who hasn’t! You switch on a TV and you’ll see stupid smiling assholes with hands full of gold and jewels. Oh yeah, those goblins got teeth and knifes and whatnot, but the fuckers had yet to learn what a machine gun was. Easy pickin’s, they’d tell you, and I wanted in on that action.

When I arrived at the site in Czechia it was almost as big a town as it is now. I’ve never seen anything like it. A genuine fuckin’ boom town, like you’d see in the movies, growing every day. Freelancers, corporate, military, you name it, they all wanted a piece of the cake. Man, believe it or not, there even were people ready to settle on the other side. Whole families, waiting their turn to herd their fuckin’ cattle through the portal.

It was a mess. Still is, I suppose. An ill mix of people getting rich fast and even faster poor again, with no law to speak of, I might add. Gambling, cheap drugs and even cheaper whores did their best to keep it that way. Shit, so many stupid assholes … breaking bones almost kept me from getting a real job, it was that crazy. Anyway, the first gig I could get my hands on had been a rescue mission. Nothing fancy, but good for the contacts and the first legal permission to go to the other side.

Let me tell you this much, that first tour into the new frontier had been something else. Beautiful country. Pictures just won’t do it justice.

Well, it’s not important. By then I was in with a good crowd. Mostly ex-soldiers. My kind of people, you know. One of them, Dominguez, had been with the Navy Seals before, clever bastard, too, and an artist with the knife, but his real talent had been with the ladies. He’d smile and they’d get their panties all twisted. You’d know the type, I guess.

So one day he’d tell us about this chick from some university or another. Totally in over her head, but well funded. Can’t right remember what she was supposed to do there … learning their language or some such horseshit. Back then it was very difficult to get through the portal without an official contract. They’d just take what you got before they allowed you back in. So you’d either pay horrendous bribes to some glasses wearing monkey in a suit or you’d get ripped off on your way back. Sometimes they’d rip you off anyway. You see now, going legal with a controllable contractor was a hell of a sweet deal and she was more than ready to make it happen.

Didn’t take Dominguez long to convince her that she needed all the artillery she could get if she wanted to go beyond, the new frontier being fucking dangerous and all that. Shit, for all we knew he didn’t even lie about it, too. Almost ironic that it turned out to be much worse. We had scared that poor girl shitless to get our ticket and now I’m sitting here, drinking one shot after another, still trembling from what went down all those months ago. We just couldn’t have known …

Yeah, I’d have another … ah, that’s better. Now, where was I. Yes. It was just the opportunity we had been waiting for, since we already had some solid intel where we could make our first big claim. A treasure map, if you can believe that, but from a reliable source. From a first wave veteran, if you wanna know. All we had to do now was pushing that geek squad in the right directions and we’d get our chance.

I won’t bore you with details of the travel, since that’s not what you’re buying the drinks for. It’s the dragon’s hoard you want to know about. So yes, that’s where the map was supposed to lead us to. There had been a small village near the location and the eggheads had been more than happy to start there whatever they’d come for. Once we got rid of them, we headed straight for the nearby mountains.

If you’ve seen one military operation, you’ve seen them all. We were careful and professional about it, did our recon and all that, you know. We went through the motions. The target location had been the ruins of a castle of sorts, some fifty miles away from that village we’d dumped the geeks in. We found it easy enough and made camp at the foot of the mountain. We took our time, almost two days, to get a clear picture of the structure, the best ways to get in and out, stuff like that. When we made our move, we came prepared. But there had been no resistance at all. No signs of life, really.

We already started doubting our source, but then we’d entered what was left of the main building and saw a pile of gold and jewelry bigger than any of us had brains enough to dream up: the fucking hoard of a dragon. And what a damn magnificent sight it had been! Jefferson was the first to break formation and made a dive for it. He was the first to go, too. Didn’t even have time to scream. One moment he was up to his ass in treasure, hiding his erection, the next he was gone and the gold started turning red where his stupid face had been seconds ago.

That kind of killed the good mood right there. I believe it had been Alvarez who started shooting at the heap of gold, but it wasn’t a heartbeat after that and we all screamed metal into it. But this was a cunning son of a bitch, waited till we ceased fire, waited even for the last piece of gold to settle. Then he came over us, in an explosion of coins and claws.

See that scar? Yes, it ain’t pretty. Almost lost my eye, too. The fucking claws of that beast. But the fire was the worst. I know, it’s all in the fairy tales and shit, but let me tell you, once you’ve seen the fucker do his thing, you’ll take the image to the grave. If you’re not toast right then and there. You know, that’s how Dominguez bought his ticket. Nasty way to go if I’ve ever seen one. That fire seemed to keep the guy alive while burning his flesh of. He had already been screaming for what must have been 20 minutes when I got my chance to beat it. For all I know, he might still do so right now.

How I got away, you ask? I’d like to think that it’s a soldier’s instincts that keep him alive and I just know when I have to take my leave. But who am I kidding? Fucking luck, that’s what it was. Somehow I managed to get out of that main building and went hiding behind the walls of what must have been, I don’t know, stables or whatever. Mostly it had been just walls. There was still some gunfire and screams from back where I came from, but that went silent fast and only the screams were left. I know, it doesn’t sound like the brave thing to do, but half my face was in bloody ruins and I couldn’t adjust my one eye right. I was out of that fight, if I wanted to or not.

I kept my good eye on the entrance and switched from ak to shotgun. Don’t know why I waited. Maybe I’d hoped that the guys catch a lucky break and we’d have a happy end after all. Yeah, right. What I got instead was a good look at that dragon. Long as a school bus, but slender and moving like a panther. That was a mean looking bastard, I can tell you that. All teeth and scales and claws and wings. Couldn’t make out any bullet holes, though. No sir, that son of a bitch was uninjured, pissed and looking for me. I was sure of it.

I shouldn’t have gotten out of there alive, but in the end the stupid fucker fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book. While he was out in the open, looking for me, I took a stone from the ground and threw it some twenty feet away from me. He went for the noise, even went right over my head. But damn, was that creature fast! Anyway, I took my chances and gave him one with the shotgun. And a good one, too, at that. Next thing I know is that the beast screams in pain and crashes into the ruins out of sight.

If I know where I got him? Well, of course, but telling stories is such thirsty work … yes, please … much obliged. Yeah, that was a strange one. Although I couldn’t get another good look at the beast, I had two of its claws lying right in front of me. Must have shot them clean off of his right paw. Anyway, I had overstayed my welcome, so I got out of there without learning anything else.

If I got one of those claws with me to proof it? Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. And yes, I’ll show you, my friend. Soon. Anyway, I made my way back to camp. No one else had made it. I took what I needed, left camp and tended to my wounds as good as I could in the middle of nowhere. Sure enough, that dragon came looking for me.

Taking the car back hadn’t been an option, even if the dragon had left anything of it to work with. So I kept a low profile and walked as much off track as I could. When I reached the village, it was already burnt to the grounds. No sign of life, just corpses. The geek squad didn’t make it, too. All in all it took me short of three weeks to get back to the checkpoint. That stubborn fucker almost got me two times. Even attacked the checkpoint, if you can believe that.

So I got out alive. The only thing I got to show for is that stupid claw I took with me. Well, I guess that’s alright, as long as it keeps filling the glasses. If I believe in magic, you say? No. Let me tell you something. I know the stories. Dragons can talk and change into humans and whatever other stupid bullshit people can come up with. But when all is said and done, it was just a dumb animal. Cunning, yes, and fast, but a stupid fucking animal nonetheless. Nothing more.

Anyway, I won’t go back there and find out. I’m done. Come again? Really? No, I don’t think so. Nothing gets from there to our side. Have you seen one of those checkpoints? They got the heavy guns there. Don’t give it another thought. Those creatures will stay where they belong to or they get shot to pieces. Nothing to worry about. Well, that’s my cue. The story is told. You wanna see the claw now? Here you go. ... Sure, you can hold it, if you want. That’s something, right? The bill’s on you, I hope? Thanks. ... You’re welcome. And now I’d like to have that claw back. ... Well, that's it, then. Take care, my friend.”

As the scarred ex-soldier made his way towards the door, the young man that had listened to his stories signaled the barkeep that he’d like to pay now and left shortly after. The barkeep didn’t spend a second thought on his casual observation that the young man indeed had two fingers missing on his right hand.