Synopses January 1999 - present

last updated 10/26/99

Well, I have moved to UCLA, and thus am no longer gaming with the usual crew. Luckily, Jason has taken on the onus of providing game synopses, so you can still discover what wonderfully insane shenanigans everyone is up to.
The all-new Gaming Synopses, from 9/13/99 onwards.

August Second

Game: Hero
Master: Jason
Players: Neal, Karl, Allen, Julie, Gerald
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "You don't know that he has two minds - a good, and and evil. No. An evil, and an evil which is opposed to us." - Karl
"Talk! That's not talking, that's screaming." - Neal
"Another thing you don'w want to hear in a torture chamber: 'I didn't say 'Simon Says''" - Gerald

The shaman Sanguine Bear summons powerful magics which regenerate our heroes back in their home universe, though leaving them hairless and pink. They then journey homeward, trying to discover what has become of their land. An unfriendly encounter with soldiers tells the party that their land has been turned into a theocracy, so they skirt the main city and retreat to Baron Tohan's northern lands, where the tribes have gathered to fight with the kingdom in exile to defeat the new government and put the rightful king once more on the throne.
Next Week: We put the king back on the throne. We hope.

July Twenty-sixth

Game: Call of Cthulhu
Master: Karl
Players: Neal, Jason, Allen, Kathleen, Geoff, Gerald, Joel
Characters: Edmund Alzon, Father Kepler, John Sebastian, Carol Barteloni, Jean-Luc Fermain, Lunette, ?
Quotes of the Evening: "Lets go to the ceremony - we can get some nookie with goth chicks." - Joel
"Someone starts licking your kneecaps under the table." "Are they good at it?" - Karl, Joel
"It's ergonomically designed!" "Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to get tennis elbow while on the demonic sex machine." "Not to mention Carpal Johnson Syndrome." - Geoff, Neal
"And is it red or white wine with sp*nk?" - Joel

While at a stargazing party at their friend Professor Molotov's, a strange explosion lights the roof of the house on fire. After it is doused, the guests notice that Molotev has run off to the neighboring Vulcher mansion, where a party is in progress. As John Sebastian had recieved ann invitation and costumes to the party, they group decides to go and recover their host.
The party is an orgy of most scandalous nature. All sort of depravities are descended into, including human sacrifice at a summoning of an Elder God's Incarnation. The sexual antics alone, however, are enough to cause insanity in the more normal of our protagonists, and though the evening results in the devouring of the head cultists and many of their legions by horrible monsters, it can hardly have been said to have concluded happily for the party or the rescued Prof. Molotov.

Next Week: Heroics in the Hero System

July Nineteenth

Game: Gemini
Master: Neal
Players: Karl, Gerald, Jason, Allen, Kathleen
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "I've heard they lock the doors in monastaries at night to keep the monks apart... but that's just city talk." - Gerald
"Well, after that I think your redemption is going to be just a little hotter." - Karl
"Armor is for people who aren't ready to join with the One." - Karl
"They are attacking you now, so I don't think that honesty was too high on their agenda before." - Neal
"Let's interrogate the knight who has his arm chopped off. He has an easy interrogation socket." - Jason

In the monastary where the party was assaulted previously, monks arriving on the scene accept the awkward explanations for the carnage, and the party resumes its attempt to sleep. The monk in the party is approached by the remaining evil members of the monastary, who recruit him to assist in finishing their evil work of slaying the rest of the party. With sudden combat, the evil monks are slain, and the party's monk burns down the library of evil books.

Next Week: We hear the Call.

July Twelfth

Game: Handle Magic
Master: Karl
Players: Jason, Kathleen, Allen, Gerald
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "Where do evil wizards find their architects?" "Demons with eyes that see in fourteen dimensions." - Gerald, Allen
"Is Gorgoleth hiring?" "Yes, and the hiring bonus is fantastic. The retirement plan sucks, though." - Gerald, Allen

Alambar lives! The players delay their return to Luthor in Marraketch to rescue their mentor from the prison island of Tantillian, a cursed place off the coast of Eremdor. They pass secretly through the occupied lands, on a hired boat, until they near the center of Gorgoleth's evil, east of Eremdor. The tiny rock of Tantillian looms treacherous in the darkness.
Gaining entry through a disused secret entrance, they soon realize the former inmates have taken over the island, and are living a life of eating rats and each other. They locate Alambar, but after extracting the unconscious wizard from his magical cell, they find Kthan arriving, and flee into the dungeons. There, and ancient evil attempts to solicit their aid, but they avoid it, and flee successfully with their mentor.

Next Week: Gemini

July First

Game: Dragonquest
Master: Allen
Players: Jim, Jason, Karl, Kathleen
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "Mmm... horse. Tastes like elf." - Jim

Hired by the chancellor to investigate the sudden lack of communication with a southerly fort, the party journeys to the far southern sea coast. They meet and agree to journey with a dwarf, who is returning to an ancestral fortification in the same area. Towards the coast, the river ferry reaches its last stop, and the party disembarks.
The fort, across the river, is destroyed, apparently by pirates or a similar agency. Investigating the dwarf's legacy, we stumble upon some magical traps, and a very hostile spider creature. Its cave is attached to the complex, apparently now inhabited by pirates - or it was until recently. The deceased remnants of pirates are everywhere in their well-furnished lair, and a roving hell hound is materializing in the summoning room! Investigation continues.

Next Week: Handle Magic

June Twenty-fourth

Game: Handle Magic
Master: Karl
Players: Neal, Kathleen, Allen, Jason, Gerald, Joel
Characters: Kaleak, Silvian, EricGreyfalcon, Hyric, Thulvian, ?
Quotes of the Evening: "My skills include woodworking, sewing, arts & crafts, and the ability to make a pipe out of anything" - Joel

After meeting Luthor and some other students of the academy, which was attacked and razed by the forces of evil shortly after the cataclysm, our heroes set out to find the last unlocated fragment of the Ruby, in the far Dragon Reaches of the West. Venturing too close the the now-occupied civilized lands, lured by the presence of a magical sword, our heroes are set upon by a griffin-mounted Kthan, who is sent to the depths of the sea. The party makes a hasty retreat.
In the dragon reaches, the corrupting magical influence of the dragons becomes ever more pervasive as the party heads west. On the ancient, dragon destroyed island of Duthanor, an abandoned ship is found, and in the ruins, the cabin boy tells a tale of dragon's fury at their attempted pilferage. Walking into the very center of ancient Duthanor, our heroes confront the dragon Vorgar, who bows to ancient propehsy, and trades them an armor and a box for the Emfield Ruby fragments, so that he may destroy the world as prophesied, and they may shape it. The cabin boy is revealed to be another dragon in disguise, Oslaf, who gives the party dragon's claws, allowing them to access the Tuev even through the evil of Gorgoleth, shadowing the world. Of course, the claws slowly exert a draconic influence on their wearers...

Next Week: Dragonquest!

June First

Game: Handle Magic
Master: Karl
Players: Gerald, Neal, Kathleen, Allen, Jason
Characters: Thulvian, Kaleak, Silvian, Eric Greyfalcon, Hyric
Quotes of the Evening: "Low on mana? Try new Mega-Mage!" - Neal
"Body servants, or baudy servants?" - Gerald
"Of course they weren't ready for that. No one ever prepares for bat-shit insane." - Neal
"Use Touch of Evil cologne." - Karl

Having been invited to stay at the floating palace, our heros dine with the Empress, who impresses them with her knowledge, power, and grace. Unfortunately, later that evening, a cataclysmic event shakes the world, as some dark power is released, destroying Talim Eremdor and severing all ties to the Tuev. Of course, the magic city comes crashing down, but slowly, as ancient magic items retain some power.
Armed with the fragments of the Emfield Ruby, the party journeys by flying boat back west, to discover what has become of their mentor, Alambar. On the way, they discover the civilized lands swiftly falling under the heel of the evil Kthan, who are if anything more magically powerful, and their hired thugs. In one island, our heroes stop long enough to drop their boat catastrophically upon one evil mage, freeing the populace. They they journey on.

Next Week: More world saving

May Thirteenth

Game: Gemini
Master: Neal
Players: Karl, Allen, Jim, Gerald, Jason, Kathleen
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "I'm the resort to violence sort of monk." - Karl
"You have to have a strength of sixteen to use a two-handed axe." "And you have to have a strength of twenty-three to use a three-handed axe." - Karl, Jason
"They've all taken vows of poverty and chastity. There's nothing for me here." - Gerald
"I'm Dead?" "Jason put his chamber pot in your room." - Gerald, Neal

Travelling to the capital city for various reasons, our heroes wait out a storm in a monastary. However, the monks behave oddly, allowing no access to the library. That evening, they lock the cell doors, and come to slay the adventurers in their sleep. Luckily, the adventurers are paranoid, and use illegal and dark magics to ambush the killers. Of course, then hell breaks loose.

Next Week: Handle Magic

May Sixth

Game: Kult
Master: Karl
Players: Gerald, Allen, Kathleen, Jason
Characters: John Smith, Harris, Rowan McAllister, William Pennyworth
Quotes of the Evening: "You know how eskimos have many words for snow? ISS has many words for truth." - Karl
"The world is about to take a big roll of the dice, and it doesn't even know it." - Kathleen
"We just lure them outside, and they de-animate." "Kind of like a zombie pied piper." - Jason, Kathleen

Chasing a golden stopper stolen from the "abandoned" church through several levels of fencing, our heroes finally steal it from the mafia-backed jeweler's safe it is in, and blow up the jewelry store to cover their tracks. Returning to the church, they avoid the zombies, replace the stopper, and fill the catacombs with poison gas, preventing the cultists from completing their ceremonies. This seems to solve the problem. Or does it?

Next Week: Back to the duplicitous Gemini

April Twenty-ninth

Game: Gemini
Master: Neal
Players: Karl, Jason, Allen, Kathleen
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "Magic in this system has attributes. For instance, Fireball is both Kinetic Energy and Fire. And Burning Zombie is Fire and Dead Matter." - Neal
"There are three strategies, Defense, offense, and feint." "Faint? What kind of strategy is that?" - Neal, Jason

The evening is largely spent in generating characters, and looking at the game system, though we do journey a ways.

Next Week: More research into Kult

April Twenty-second

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Jason, Allen, Geoff
Characters: Dr. Challenger, Arthur Beal, Reginald Oakley-Stringum
Quotes of the Evening: "These soldiers have been fed beer, and massaged." - Jason
"It's a statue of Napoleon on Josephine. Wait - Josephine isn't his horse?" - Jason
"So? Will you do it?" "Of course we'll do it. It's insanely dangerous." - Karl, Geoff

Both the Prussians and our protagonists realize the spear is in the churchyard of the town, but as the Prussians head out in force to the town to retireve it, our heros break into their camp and rescue the surviving members of the previous expedidion. They then head to town, where the zombie-like townfolks and the suddenly inclement weather are giving the Prussians difficulties. Late at night, the party steals into the church, finds the spear, and flees the zombie horde, returning to Vienna, and thence to London.

Next Week: We try Gemini

April Fifteenth

Game: Kult
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Kathleen, Neal, Jim
Characters: Harris, Rowan McAllister, Anthony Boyd-Wat, Andrew Keeley
Quotes of the Evening: "I think they are strip-mining human resources" - Karl
"Nothing unusual downstairs; just the door that sweats blood. Nothing else." - Jim

Our protagonists are loaned by their respective departments in Intelligent Security services to the education department, and to a Mr. Stone in particular, who asks them to go to Boston and investigate a series of disappearances from an ISS education facility there. Booked into a nice hotel downtown, they drive into a disadvantaged South Boston neighborhood, to the ISS facility, where youths are offered free room and board, provided they attend classes.
Thirteen kids have disappeared - a shocking number, save that at this sort of facility there is a high rate of turnover as kids get bored and leave, etc. However, one of the missing had turned up dead, and to our investigators, the "abandoned" church next door is emitting strange vibes. Historical records further show a similar rash of disappearances exactly one hundred years ago, and numerological coincidences are astounding. What could be going on?
A sneak into the church one evening reveals underground catacombs and strange rituals being condicted by otherwise upstanding members of the community. Further, a gold stopper was stolen by a youth from the ISS facility, which seems to have accelerated the release of a tremendously malevolent entity. Time to get the stopper back!

Next Week: more Falkenstein

April Eighth

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Allen, Jason, Neal, Geoff
Characters: Arthur Beal, Dr. Challenger, Nigel Horace Nelson, Sir Reginald Oakley-Stringum
Quotes of the Evening: "Let's tell her if she really needs to talk to Napoleon, we can get him." - Jason

Once more at the Grosvenor Club, our heroes are met with acclaimation for the recovery of the two artifacts. Alas, several other recovery parties have not returned, and after but a moment's debate, our heroes are off to the Austrian Alps to find Bors' Spear, and the four members sent to recover it.
In the tiny mountain hamlet of Hasestadt, near the Wecht castle where the spear was last known to be, Nelson, Beal, and Challenger encounter an old companion, Sir Reginald, who immediately agrees to postpone his hunting trip to accompany them. The townsfolk are behaving oddly, and a large Prussian expedition is found just below the Wecht castle, though the Wecht caretaker is certainly courteous enough. Now, where is that spear, and those other hunters?

Next Week: Kult

March Twenty-second

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Kathleen, Allen, Jason, Neal
Characters: Justine Marie St. Claire, Arthur Beal, Dr. Challenger, Nigel Horace Nelson
Quotes of the Evening: "You notice that the pirate crew is smaller than when you left." "Well, more treasure for each." - GM, Allen
From the fable Canadian Yukon, Dr. Challenger and Nigel Nelson have retrieved the Numean Dagger from a tribe of cannibalistic savages. Returning it to the Promethean League in London via Malbigonian, they are strangely transported to New Orleans, where they find Beal and St. Claire ready to depart with a crew of pirates for the island of Chizen Hodetzta, to retrieve the fabled Cross of Dumain.
They slip through secret bayou ways, avoiding the United States' blockade of Orleans, and head through the Gulf to the island. As they approach, they find the island shrouded in fog, which finally lifts to reveal an ancient Aztec city partially emerging from the sea, as though on a giant bubble. Man-like things swim in the water, terrifying the crew, and abandoned and decaying vessels are moored around the island.
Going ashore, our heroes fight off some giant fanged apes, reaching the temple at the center of the island, on the peak. Leaving some pirates guard, they enter the secret warrens of the temple, avoiding significant traps to emerge in the core of a volcano, above which is perched an ancient mummy and a more recent pirate corpse, clutching the cross in its hand. Upon retrieving it, at great risk of plunging into the lava, the mummy rises, and the volcano surges into life! Fleeing headlong, our heroes escape the temple passageways, and fight off apes as they flee to the ship.
Emerging triumphant from the mysterious fog bank, they are confronted by a flotilla of undoubtedly Prussian-backed US Naval vessals. But then danger overtakes them all, as the erupting volcano explodes, driving the pirate ship forward on a massive tidal wave, and swamping the US vessels. Far out into the Gulf, they turn towards Havana, where our heroes rendezvous with their Bavarian airship, and head for London.


Next Week: More Falkenstein treasure hunting!

March Fifteenth

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Kathleen, Allen
Characters: Justine Marie St. Claire, Arthur Beal
Quotes of the Evening: "She doesn't even have childbearing hips. What were you thinking, bringing her back to the hidden valley with you?" "I'm thinking... Jaguar God." - Kathleen, Allen

The Promethean League assembles a team to stop the Prussians from garnering all the clues to the whereabouts of the Black Cauldron of Annwyn. Justine and Arthur are sent to obtain the idol located on the risen Mayan city of Chizen Hodetzta, off the coast of the Yucatan, and a haven for pirates, monsters, and carnivorous apes. They have the assistance of Laurence Scrif, which is fortunate as the Prussians already have a head start.
They arrive in New Orleans to hire a ship (a pirate ship), to find a US blockade of all non-cargo ships going on. They meet with Justine's contacts, and find a captain, Rex, who will take them out past the blockade. A sinister Prussian agent, Dr. Schreier, proposes that they work together, and threatens dire consequences if they cross him. The day ends by meeting one Finkley, who has been to Chizen Hodetzta, and describes it as accursed.

Next Week: They pirate ship Flying Hind sails for Chizen Hodetzta.

March Eighth

Game: Medici, the Great Dalmuti
Players: Karl, Jim, Lauren, Allen, Jason

Card and board games.

Next Week:

March First

No gaming.


Next Week:

February Twenty-second

Game: Delta Green
Master: Neal
Players: Kathleen, Karl, Allen, Jason
Characters: ____(FBI), Harry Pretchyvotsk (FBI), _____ (U.S. Marshal), ____ (CDC)
Quotes of the Evening: "Let's be sure to bust them in time to see the concert." - Jason
"I have no idea what you're talking about." "That's my genre." - Neal, Jason

We raid the parents, who summon a truly mostrous entity, which causes massive amounts of san loss, though it ultimately succumbs to bullets. Lots and lots of bullets. The remainder of the evening is spent in fierce jurisdictional battles, and wiping off blood.

Next Week: Neal's off on honeymoon, so no gaming.

February Fifteenth

Game: Delta Green
Master: Neal
Players: Kathleen, Karl, Allen, Jason
Characters: ____(FBI), Harry Pretchyvotsk (FBI), _____ (U.S. Marshal), ____ (CDC)
Quotes of the Evening: "I'm so covert, even the GM can't see my character." - Karl
"I'm two hundred and seventy-five pounds." "Of course, a good third of that is tumors." - Jason, Karl

A series of murders sends our agents to New York City, to investigate the slashing killing of a prostitute. Much information is procured, including her boyfriend, her lifestyle, her parents, and a highly suspect club her boyfriend is to dance at. However, as we have a description of the car that picked her up the night of the murder, and it matches her parents' car, and they are major scumbags, we decide to investigate them first.

Next Week: We pay a visit to the parents.

February Eighth

No gaming.


Next Week:

February First

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Kathleen, Neal, Allen, Jason
Characters: Justine Marie St.Claire, Nigel Horace Nelson, Porthos Fontaine, Dr. Challenger
Quotes of the Evening: "Breaking the chains of ignorance - on Prussian heads!" - Dr. Challenger

The interrogation of the captured Prussians reveals the hideout holding the Professor, and the existance of the mysterious agent Number 6. Sneaking into the warehouse from underneath, our protagonists break through at trapdoor, and mayhem ensues! Number 6 turns out to be a woman, who had been masquerading as the professor's secretary, and who slips out, injured, as goons flood the building, only to be dispatched by the swords and fists of our heroes and the freed Professor Sturmberg.
However, the professor's notes have fled with an agent through the secret tunnels under the building, leading to a nighttime chase on one of the canals of Paris, and the apprehending of the spy on a party barge.


Next Week: Delta Green

January Twenty-fifth

Game: Castle Falkenstein
Master: Karl
Players: Kathleen, Neal, Allen, Jason
Characters: Justine Marie St.Claire, Nigel Horace Nelson, Porthos Fontaine, Dr. Challenger
Quotes of the Evening: "Crumbinology - this is not a croissant! This is an eclair!" - Neal
"I was in Prussia to visit my birthplace. No! Not my birthplace - my headquarters. No! Not my headquarters - a chocolate factory. Yes, I was in Prussia to visit a chocolate factory." - Neal

Sent to Paris by King Ludwig, Porthos Fontaine obtains the assistance of his previous comrades to recover the kidnapped Professor Heinrich Sturmberg, who had been a visiting professor at the Ecole Luminaire. Once more Lieutenant Duplois of the Paris police assists them as they gather clues. Suddenly, the assistant to Professor Sturmberg is kidnapped in broad daylight. Fortunately, the Paris police apprehend one of the kidnappers, who was wounded, and questioning him using her voodoo powers reveals other members of the conspiracy to our heroes.
Visiting the upscale residence at which one of these members is staying, our heroes narrowly avoid being poisoned, and manage to capture the elderly Prussian agent. They return with him to the station house, to discover that the police have rescued the assistant, and brought in his kidnappers. A Prussian plot is definitely afoot.

Next Week: The plot unravels.

January Eighteenth

No gaming.


Next Week:

January Eleventh

Game: Handle Magic
Master: Karl
Players: Kathleen, Neal, Allen, Jason, Jimmy
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "It's a new form of invisibility. The 'bright shiny object' spell. 'There they ar- ooh hey, a dime.'" - Jason

Deciding to search for the hermit magician Fozz and his fragment, the party travels to the far east, where it is discovered that enemies of theirs have already arrived on the island, and erected an anti-magic shell. The party lands and discovers the remains of a battle, as representatives from the floating Celestial Kingdom investigated and were slain or captured by the Kthan's men.
Those selfsame men are subsequently set upon by the party, who put them to sleep with gas and drive the others away with a giant bear. They then enter the ancient temple where Fozz has set up his hermitage, capturing some additional Kthan mercenaries, and discovering and bypassing many traps on their way in.
Fozz turns out to be highly eccentric and powerful, but happily parts with his fragment of the gem. The party then returns with the few survivors from the Celestial Kingdom to their mysterious home...

Next Week: more Falkensteinian goodness

January Seventh

Game: Handle Magic
Master: Karl
Players: Kathleen, Neal, Allen, Jason
Characters:
Quotes of the Evening: "He tried to escape, but we replaced his normal door with a mock door. Thud." - Neal
"Here at the school of medicine, we teach defensive skills first!" - Jason
"I cast awareness... oh, shit, I shouldn't have known that! Negate my frontal lobe! Negate it now! AIEEEE." - Jason
"Cletus, the INT 5 bard!" - Karl
"You guys are my backup." "And that's what we are doing - backing up." - Jason, Neal

Arriving on Shon to the usual miserable weather, the party sells their most recently created carpet, and obtains a room from which to plot the extraction of the gem fragment from the Ducal Fortress. A cunning plot is devised, and enacted. The players approach the fortress invisibly, remove a roof section, drop down inside, make a gem-sized hole in the interior wall, and extract the gem through it. Those awaiting their arrival immediately raise the alarm, but as they are in an unexpected locale, they make good their escape.

Next Week: Those fragments are getting tougher to obtain...

January Fourth

Gaming delayed until Thurs the seventh.


Next Week:
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