NPC Brigade - Sir Gorn Halcos

Welcome to a new feature I just decided to institute: The NPC Brigade!

Every once in an irregular while, I'll post NPCs from my very ancient AD&D/Homebrew campaign, Alta. Just a note about some of the character rules in effect… Unearthed Arcana is allowed, for the most part (mostly weapon specialization and new spells). I also use(d) a form of Chaosium's Basic Role Playing rules for non-weapon proficiencies: Percentage chances to perform an action, skills go up through use, etc.

So, without any further ado…

Sir Gorn Halcos, Warriors' Guild Master in the city of Dinas Powys
Human
Align: NG
Thief 4/Fighter 12
AC -3 (-6 w/ shield)
91 hp.
Str 18 (92)
Int 13
Wis 15
Dex 17
Con 17
Cha 15
Pick Pockets 50%, Open Locks 47%, Find/Rem Traps 35%, Move Silent 38%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Hear Noise 15%, Climb Walls 88%, Read Languages 20%, Ride (Horse) 85%.
Missing left eye, -2 on missile attacks.
Items: +3 plate mail, +2 shield, +3 Frost Brand bastard sword (specialized), long composite bow (customized for his Str), 12 +1 arrows, ring of protection +2, potion of superheroism.
Backstory: He is the bastard son of King Elidure Ceredigiawn of Ardudwy by a serving maid who died in childbirth. He knows of his parentage, although the king does not. By necessity a self-made man, after an early life on the streets he enlisted in and moved up the ranks of the city militia. He is an excellent horseman, and is often seen at the lists during tourneys. Generally good natured, Sir Gorn is also prone to occasional drinking bouts and fits of melancholy. He was a awarded a commot (an estate) consisting of 30 households due to his service to the city and the crown. His seat of residence is Paraveth Keep north of Dinas Powys.

Wizard World Comic Con Sacramento 2014

Sorry for the delay in posts, but I was away last weekend and I'm still recovering; 5 1/2 hours up, and 5 1/2 hours back in less than 48 hours take their toll, believe me. But, what was I doing up there, you ask? I hope you do, anyway. Long story short, the folks at Wizard World reached out to see if I would like a table at Artists' Alley, completely gratis. "Okay," I thought, "but aren't those tables for, like, artists?" Now, I'm freelance writer by trade--screenplays, video game scripts, the odd RPG supplement--but what they were interested in was my most recent book: 300: Rise of an Empire: The Art of the Film (that's a lot of colons, I know). Hmmm… Free entry to a geek convention and a chance to get rid of some of the free copies of books publishers send you (and you've run out of relatives to gift them to)? Sign me up!

I figured if I drove and just stayed one night, there was a possibility I could sell enough merchandise to break even. So, I packed up those (as well as some other books I've written), and hit the road at holy-shit-is-it-early on Saturday morning. With only one stop for a bathroom break and gas (the second not strictly necessary, but the first was), I cruised into the Sacramento Convention Center in the shadow of the state capitol just after 8:30 am and was soon ensconced in my own little "booth" (a table and two chairs, but hey the table had my name on it!).

Here is my view across the way of Julie Benz's (Dexter's <SPOILER ALERT> murdered wife) and James Marsters' (Spike from Buffy) autograph signing kiosks, as yet unoccupied by said celebrities.

I was snug between a punk comic/record collective on one side (Silver Sprocket Bicycle Club--check 'em out!), and a pair of talented concept artists on the other. I spent the day smiling and saying hellos to passersby (uncharacteristic behaviors for me, I assure you) and fielding lots and lots of questions--mainly from confused folks asking about why I was there. Surprisingly, a number of younger fans (of the movies about which I have written books, not fans of mine) seemed to think I had written the graphic novels 300 or Watchmen; no, I do not resemble Frank Miller or Alan Moore, although some people have told me I remind them of Dan Aykroyd (which is perfect, because I had an uncle who sort of looked like Harold Ramis). I was perhaps even more surprised by the number of folks who wanted me to sign their books, but I suppose you never can tell what might be worth something someday. ;-)

I nearly fell asleep in my beer and burger that night, but was at it again bright and early the next morning. In the end, despite the identity confusion, I managed to sell all my books, and headed back down the 5 for the long trek home (after a slight detour to West Sacramento when I misread my Google maps).

   


Silk Spectre II and Dr. Manhattan dropped by to say, "Hi."
(That dude was freezing.)

My, that's a big axe you have… It is an axe, right?

It wouldn't be any sort of Comic Con without a sexy "Slave Leia" sighting.














Would I do it again? I didn't get as much time wandering the floor as I would've liked, but on the other hand I met a lot of cool people. Still, I probably wouldn't do it again until I have my own graphic novel or film to hawk--unless I could go as a pure spectator.

Anyway, I promise to get back to the games, sooner rather than later!

My latest RPG release… for Pathfinder

Yes, I'm aware that this is not an old school RPG, but it's a damn fine system (objectively speaking, of course).

Five Families: Criminal Organizations for Every Campaign World is a little .pdf I did for Adamant Entertainment. Besides the five detailed organizations, you get rules to create your own and delineate their powers and influence. If you're in the market for an underworld populated by insidious groups besides Ye Olde Thieves' Guild, you should check it out. Works pretty well with D&D 3.5, too.

Wizard World Comic Con Sacramento

Here's one of those exciting projects I mentioned earlier. I will be at the above-mentioned con March 8-9 (that's Saturday and Sunday) in the Artists' Alley section, selling stuff and signing books and posters whatever else you might have. Look for the 300: Rise of an Empire and Watchmen posters near Julie Benz and James Marsters. I will not be in zombie attire.

http://www.wizardworld.com/home-sacramento.html

Look for (semi-) live updates and photos from the convention floor!

The Lexicon, part 1: Overview

What drew me to the Lexicon when I was a dorky freshman exploring a cramped game shop tucked away in Boston's Back Bay wasn't the cover illustration. I was at that time firmly entrenched in the mindset that "fantasy RPG" only meant your standard vaguely-medieval-Europe-but-infinitely-more-tolerant sort of setting. Ideally, someplace where Bilbo Baggins, Elric of Melnibone, and the Grey Mouser could hang out and be buds. But here was a Middle Eastern bazaar with a tiger dude playing kissy-face with a cobra and some kind of dove boy hawking shrunken heads and shards of glass; on the back there's a pygmy tribesman and a guy who looks like Skeletor's cousin holding a lightsaber. There wasn't a proper suit of plate mail or a glaive-guisarme in sight. But the subtitle of the Lexicon was "Atlas of the Lost World of Atlantis." So, I had to crack it open.

You see, I was an archaeology major and this was the Golden Age of Indiana Jones. I was pretty much contractually obligated to check it out, you know, for academic purposes. It turned out, "World" was right. Within its 127 pages is detailed every country on this alternate Earth -- and it should be noted that every place mentioned is based on one that actually existed at one time, or was a place people actually thought existed at one time. What is a little strange is that within the Lexicon they all exist at the same time. A resurgent Atlantis can trade with an an Arthurian kingdom, while Mayanesque and Azteckish folk might find themselves doing battle on the high seas with pseudo-Egyptians.

Still, they managed to cram quite a bit of accurate historical nuggets inside the volume, many of which I encountered in my "Intro to..." classes, and which make for interesting reading to this day. Of course, given that it covers the entire world, most entries aren't super detailed and mainly serve to give DMs hopping off points for their own adventures with general descriptions of flora, fauna, landmarks, and the (mostly) human inhabitants. You won't find any NPCs in the Lexicon, nor any stats besides the costs of goods and services; of course, one of the beauties of the book is that you can use it for any RPG system. There are, however, fairly comprehensive guides to some of the major cities of the world, such as Atlantis, Tang, and Tartessos. I found the book pretty inspirational, such as imaging how a land might have been twisted by an ancient, epic clash between Atlantean sorcerers and Qaddani necromancers, and what treasures might remain to be rediscovered. If anyone's interested, I've found surviving examples of the Lexicon on the web from anywhere from $6 to $185.

I only ended up using a relatively small portion of the world in my own games -- which I did with tons and tons of revisions and unnecessarily meticulous additions of my own. The result was a campaign world I called Alta, and it survived through something like three and a half editions, in one form or another. I'm sure you'll hear more about it than you really wanted to at some point.

One gripe regarding cartography: There's a nice foldout map in the back, as well as more detailed maps of the individual regions at the front of each chapter. For whatever reason, mine had an error where the words and the landforms on the North Sea Region map were flipped 180º out from each other. I ended up making two copies of the offending map, whiting out the words on one and the land on the other, and turning the one with only words into a transparency. I then laid the words over the land the right way and made another copy. Ah, perfection at last. Okay, perhaps that was a little obsessive...