I have been away...

And a little busy:

A late mothers' day present

Well, technically my wife was busy, and I was flailing around trying to help her.  With two in the house now, our free time has declined somewhat.

Anyway, I have not touched a miniature for weeks, and have not been keeping up with blogs either.  It seems like plenty of good things have been going on in the ol'blogosphere, but I have not caught up with it all yet.

I did manage to read almost all of the Grant Morrison JLA books, and the second Carson Napier on Venus book, and have just started the final Wheel of Time book... so plenty more to discuss once I get into the swing of things again.  It might be a while though!

Dungeon Master's Guide II

Last week I finished reading the Monster Manual II (MMII), published in the far off year of 1983, when I was too young to read this.

Most of the thoughts I had of II are the same as of the original Monster Manual, although I will say that the art is over all much better in MMII (and apparently they had more than $5 to pay for the cover art this time around). However, the selection of monsters feels pretty weak to me.  If you are not in to planar adventures, then about 60% of the content is cut, and most of what is left is strange variations of previous monsters.

I did like the Derro (even though they are basically evil dwarves), the cloaker, and the rules for animal skeletons, as all of these are things which could feature in a more low powered game.  Even better, Reaper has some great Derro figures, sculpted by Derek Schubert.  These certainly need to feature in a future campaign (avert your eyes players!)  There are also some now-classic monsters from the various adventures published prior to this book, including the Driders, which of course have become popular since then. (Reaper has some stand ins for those too).

Pirates of Venus

I just finished reading Pirates of Venus, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Published in 1934, it is the story of Carson Napier, a wealthy young adventurer, who builds a space ship to travel to Mars.  As it happens, he goes to Venus instead, and there encounters a race of humanity not too unlike our own, and has various adventures, while trying to reach the object of his affection.  After the Barsoom books, much of this seems familiar; however, the unusual and novel aspects of Venus are interesting, and Carson is quite a bit better than John Carter. 

Figures wise, most of the stuff used for Barsoom games could translate over to Venus, although some care would have to be taken with the weaponry, and the women wear a specific garment that may be difficult to find in the usual places. (possibly Roman or Greek women?)  The Venusian ships would be interesting to see as well, as they are nuclear powered pre-dreadnaught cruisers which can none the less be carried by boarding action.

I got the book from the library (as I do with most books), and not only was it first edition, but it still had the little cards in the back from the pre-barcode lending era.  It was pretty interesting to see how frequently (or not) this book was read over the nearly 80 years that it has been in the possession of the library.

In another interesting tidbit, a Carson of Venus movie is in the offing...  so provided that comes to fruition, and is popular, there could be some more interest in this setting.

The next book in the series is Lost on Venus, which I have on order for an inter-library loan, as the local library system does not have it. Looking forward to it, since this one ends on a cliff hanger!

Inquisitor d1000 Part 8 - Secret

Here is a d100 table of Secrets as part of the d1000 inquisitor attributes project. Go back and read that post if you want to know what this is about.

In this list I am trying to get at the secret parts of an Inquisitor, either physical, historical, or mental.   It took me longer to come up with this list, as it was harder for me to think of than equipment or weapons, both of which have historically been more exciting for me.

D100	Secret
1	Abhuman heritage (Squat, navigator, ratling, ogryn)
2	Addiction (d10 'flects, 'Lo, tabac, alcohol, Obscura, stims, vids, jelly babies, call girls/boys, daytime vids)
3	Aetherphobia
4	Agoraphobia
5	Alliance (inquisitor, Ordos, chaos, rebels etc.)
6	Ambition
7	Ancestors
8	Atheist
9	Beautiful singing voice
10	Brand, slave mark
11	Cadaver organs
12	Charcoal lung filter
13	Child
14	Claustrophobia
15	Collection (teeth, ears, hair, girls, servo skulls, rings)
16	Count down clock
17	Credit reserves
18	Crush
19	Daemon possession (minor)
20	Detachable fingertip garrote
21	Downhive interests (street meat, NASCAR)
22	Eating disorder
23	Excessive faith
24	Failure of duty
25	Financial interests
26	Gambler
27	Gender
28	Glutton
29	Growth
30	Gullibility
31	Hallucinations
32	Heinlein Enslaver Beast
33	Heretic
34	Hexogramic wards
35	Hideout
36	Hobby (throne collecting, hive fishing, avian watching etc.)
37	Honor
38	Hunger (flesh, ulsios, bacon butties, power)
39	Identity
40	Illicit connections
41	Implanted frag grenade belt
42	Implanted tracker beacon
43	Infernal pact (minor)
44	Kleptomania
45	Krovandian intestinal worm
46	Language (e.g. glossia, battle sign)
47	Longevity
48	Lucky two throne coin
49	Machine sprit possession
50	Master
51	Member, conclave
52	Member, cult
53	Member, hair club
54	Mnemonic molar markings
55	Meruvian Lung grubs
56	Mindwiped previously
57	Mutation
58	Name
59	Nemesis
60	Obsessive compulsive
61	Ocular pictor implant
62	Ordos
63	Origin
64	Pacemaker
65	Poet
66	Poison pill tooth
67	Post traumatic stress
68	Primarch fetish
69	Prisoner
70	Psyker
71	Pyromania
72	Recording device (d4 hours)
73	Rival
74	Scarring, enemy's name
75	Scrimshawed phalanges (d10)
76	Seed
77	Servant
78	Smuggling chamber in bowels
79	Stim injector
80	Storage chamber in forearm (right/left)
81	Subdermal flesh wasp nest (d8 wasps)
82	Suppressed memories
83	Surgically altered endocrinological system
84	Tattoo, bawdy
85	Tattoo, Cult
86	Tattoo, Gang related
87	Tattoo, memorial
88	tattoo, ransom bearer bond
89	tattoo, regrettable
90	Tattoo, religious
91	Tattoo, slave mark
92	Tattoo, system password
93	Trainspotter
94	Twin
95	Unsavory past
96	Vox receiver implant
97	Whisperer (daemon, psychosis, implant, vestigial twin, Saint)
98	Xeno organ replacement (known/unknown)
99	Xenophile
100	Possession, major

Let me know what you think, or if you have any more ideas.