On Saturday, 30 April 2011, I attended the Boston Comic Con. The show moved from the Westin Boston Waterfront to the larger Hynes Convention Center downtown. There were numerous artists, vendors, and costumedfans, and I’m glad the modest show moved to a larger venue.
Among the artists I spoke with were Frank Cho, who I’ve followed since The Washington Post ran Liberty Meadows; Joe Quinones, whose expressive and retro renditions of Green Lantern were phenomenal in Wednesday Comics; and Stephane Roux, whose work I’m currently enjoying in DC’s Zatanna.
The comic book writers and graphic artists were accessible, the back issues were fairly well organized and priced, and there were also panel discussions. It may not have had the attendance of last month’s Anime Boston, but I hope that events such as the Boston Comic Con and Wizard World’s New England Comic Con continue to grow and prosper.
Hollywood has kept mining comic books and graphic novels for ideas, and I look forward to this week’s opening of Thor, as well as GreenLantern and Captain America: the First Avenger. Janice and I had hoped to get to Dylan Dog: Dead of Night last weekend, but the movie (based on an Italian supernatural horror/comedy title) wasn’t playing anywhere nearby.
I’m less interested in X-Men: First Class and the Spider-Man reboot, since they take more liberties with the continuity established in both the source material and the previous films. They and the planned Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, and Hulk movies seem more intended for Sony and Fox to hang onto their licenses rather than let them revert to Disney/Marvel control. Other than Chris Nolan’s profitable Batman series, Warner Bros./DC Comics has some catching up to do!
Back in print, I’m also looking forward to Free Comic Book Day, which is this Saturday, May 7. I’ve thinned out my monthly “pull list,” or subscription, at New England Comics in Norwood, Massachusetts. I’ve dropped The Avengers, Batman, Batman and Robin, Streets of Gotham, and the proliferating Green Hornet titles, but I’m still reading many others, which I’ll try to review in the coming months.
After encountering robotic probes, regional warlords, and other horrors in an old battlefield and the Ghanki undersea station, a band of grifters and near-humans escaped to the Shepard 2 orbital city. It conducted a successful heist in the Lunar Free State and was involved in medical disasters in the Venusian colonies before returning to Earth…..
>>”Vortex” Team 2 (5b), crew of the Appomattox, as of spring 2011:
-“Gabriel Adams” [Paul J.]-male North American Terran near-human with telepathy, courier and pilot
-“Hector Chavez” [Beruk A.]-male Latin American Terran human, “burned” operative and communications expert
-“ARTHERR” [Greg D.C.]-Advanced Resonance Theoretical Heuristic Exploration and Research Robot created by megacorp Vimeco
-“Jasmine” [Sara F.] female Martian Felinoid (Synth, “Uplifted” tiger), former professional pit fighter
-“Dr. Richmond Garrett” [Dave S.C.]-male Southern American Terran human, space snake-oil salesman and social climber
-“Dr. Dieter Klein” [Rich L./absent]-male European Terran human, semi-retired physician, altruist and thrill seeker
-“Nero Bartholomew” [Non-Player Character]-male Terran human, former owner of the “Fortune’s Fool,” ship’s cook
“23 to 25 September 2194 A.D./C.E. or 0 Terran Galactic Era:” After hosting a night of gambling to gather leads on a faster-than-light (FTL) drive, the crew of the Appomattox follows up with its contacts and begins making heist plans.
Capt. Gabriel Adams maneuvers the yacht/smuggler in Earth orbit, and Hector Chavez asks his onetime handler Max for more information on magnate Feng Ruying [think Richard Branson]. ARTHERR recommends simply asking Feng for access to an FTL engine, but the robot’s more larcenous companions don’t think he’ll see the benefit “for all mankind.”
Jasmine is reluctant to be involved in more criminal activities, but “Dr. Richmond Garrett” is confident that his increasingly elaborate confidence schemes will work. The adventuring party had learned from Capt. Brandon Morgan about the Enlightened Flower, Feng’s experimental ship merging Terran technology with FTL systems from the Olvar (mammal-like arboreal aliens).
Gabriel, whose fixer Lilian Morrisey referred Capt. Morgan, notes that the Enlightened Flower is under construction at Feng’s private dock near Blackrock Station, in orbit opposite the Moon. Hector finds that although the inventor’s public record is exemplary, he is under investigation by the United Earth Authority (U.E.A.) for trying to obtain restricted extraterrestrial technology to corner the transportation market in the outer Sol system.
ARTHERR asserts that FTL technology should be freely available to humanity and looks for anarchist groups on Terran information networks. He finds several, including the Xox Memes, Shadow Orphans, Autonomist Alliance, and the Prometheans. Some include fellow rogue artificial intelligences (A.I.s).
Jasmine is wary upon learning that Feng has hired Systemes de Recuperation Executif Cie (SRE, or Exective Retrieval Systems Inc.), from whose warehouse in Kalam Spaceport in the Lunar Free State the group had stolen other parts for its ship. ARTHERR verifies that an FTL drive can be installed in the Appomattox.
Richmond finds that Brad Ogden of Transport Conglomerates is a rival to Feng and that the Ru’ulok (heavy-gravity reptilian aliens) are competing with the Olvar for influence on Terran trade. He invites Gorvek Beezo and “Rabak Porset” [Non-Player Character/Rich L.], two Ru’ulok he had gambled with, back to the Appomattox, but before they arrive, the ship receives containers from fixer “Ramon Sanchez” [Josh H./Greg D.C./N.P.C.]!
Unable to contain his curiosity, Gabriel begins circumventing the security on one of the containers, even though ARTHERR notes that they’re pressurized and climate-controlled. Hector scans and detects wood, cloth, and precious metals rather than the contraband tech he was expecting.
Underworld courier Gabriel opens one lid and finds a trove of paintings, sculpture, and books. ARTHERR cross-references art databases and finds that they’re from the Vatican museums but are not listed as lost. The robotic scout scans the other containers and finds similar artifacts, including priceless texts thought lost with the library of ancient Alexandria.
Richmond appraises the items, and Gabriel says that Ramon is underpaying for their transport to Epsilon Eridani. ARTHERR and Jasmine are unsure of why such relics would need to be smuggled out of the Sol system, but as the two Ru’ulok hail Hector, the group hastily closes the container and goes to meet them.
Dr. Garrett takes Gorvek and Rabak to the ship’s lounge, as ex-spy Hector scans them for hidden transmitters. Former wrestler Jasmine keeps an eye on the reptilian traders, who agree with ARTHERR that FTL technology should be freely shared with humanity, despite the U.E.A. and Kharvamid Alliance’s rules.
Gabriel orders Nero Bartholomew and Averki “Deep Dish” Dyashenko to prepare food and drinks for the Ru’ulok, who turn out to be carnivorous. They repeat their offer of information regarding an alien ship just outside the Sol system, saying that the worst the humans can expect are Gustrall (raptor-like, orange-furred alien) sentries.
Richmond says that he is considering Rabak’s mission among others, including the salvage of a derelict Terran vessel referred by Max. The snake-oil salesman and ARTHERR (resisting his Vimeco programming) boldly suggest that if an extrasolar FTL drive was somehow stolen, its plans could be leaked, covertly helping both the party and the Ru’ulok. Gorvek says he’ll consider the plan and try to contact friendly pilots.
After Gorvek and Rabak leave, Richmond and company shift their plans from getting close to Feng Ruying to steal the Enlightened Flower to hijacking an FTL drive from an underguarded Ru’ulok ship near Earth. Gabriel will pilot the Appomattox and move the nonaligned ship away from orbital stations. He buys pirate garb for the team.
Hector and ARTHERR intend to hack security systems and remove the engine, while Jasmine will look out for reinforcements. The tiger woman dyes her fur to resemble an Olvar. Richmond (who already looks like a young Col. Sanders) plans to bring fried chicken laced with sedatives from Dr. Dieter Klein, who has been visiting friends in the orbital cities.
ARTHERR contacts the brokers at Xox Memes as “Masters of Earthly Lubricated Information Network,” or MERLIN, to help distribute the FTL plans, in return for future help. Oceanic A.I. Gordon agrees.
Gorvek contacts the crew of the Appomattox with the names of two ships: the Star Shark (as translated from Ru’ulok) of Capt. Droata and the Red Manta of Capt. Dorno. Both of their crews are mostly on shore leave, but they are not yet aware of plans to take their engines. The would-be pirates head toward the Ru’ulok traderStar Shark….
Fellow role-players, here is my update for Session T3.25 of the latest adventuring party in my “Vanished Lands” heroic fantasy campaign setting. The teleconferencing team met on Sunday, 1 May 2011, and has been using Pathfinder, Skype, and an online dice roller.
After meeting in the Wisalef Forest, an unlikely band of adventurers encountered the hostile Centaur followers of Vappu Lahja on the Plains of Sathendo….
>>Telecom party Player Character roster, as of spring 2011:
-“Gawain Keary” [Paul J.]-male Saganim human Illusionist (proto-Celtic Wizard); NGc, Age 20, Lvl. 2
-“Kovar” [Beruk A.]-male Half-Orc/Saganim human Paladin of Mithras, god of contracts and brotherhood; LGn, Lvl. 3
-“Davven ‘Digger’ Hollysharp” [Robert A.S.]-male Faldine Halfling archaeologist (Tallfellow Rogue) from a pipeweed farm in Tarken; CGn, Age 45, Lvl. 3
-“Asish Chen Ti” [Byron V.O.]-male Tsucharim human archer (Mongol-style Ranger), escaped from the kingdom of Gokuri; owner of Akita dog Genghis and horse Onimusha; NGl, Age 20, Lvl. 3
-“Jovinda Halflight” [Sammy H.]-female Half-Elf (Grugach/Hifalendorin) Cleric of Mekkil, goddess of nature; owner of horse Wyth-Amoi, or “Wind Spirit”; NGl, Age 23, Lvl. 3
-“Kazuo Takenaga” [Taum D’A.]-male Nezumi (Rat-kin) Monk from the Zedu kingdom in the Therud Forest; LNg, Age 20, Lvl. 3
“25 to 26 August 1229 B.C.E.:” After a few days in the Hifalendorin (proto-Western European) human city of Nadwi, the adventuring party continues gathering information and weighing options for missions. Curious Gawain and Digger spend most of their time at the libraries of the Magisterium (magic school), palace, and various temples.
The Wizard hopes to learn more about the mysterious Vappu Lahja and mage Octavius Karstus, while the Halfling scholar studies local lore, geography, and ancient languages. Kovar and Jovinda walk down Mercantile Row, where they find the smithy of Hill Dwarf Yohann Karsh.
The gruff metalworker is surprised to find a Half-Orc and an Elf, but he welcomes them just the same. Kovar explains that he wants to learn about forging high-quality armor and weapons but has little money. Yohann agrees to begin teaching the Paladin of Mithras his trade in return for help around the shop. Jovinda is fascinated by the smithy’s water and wind-driven machinery.
Meanwhile, Asish and Kazuo go to the Arena of Arrakis, where they watch young archers finish the morning’s practice. Among the people readying wooden practice weapons are a Hifalendorin woman, a Dragonborn (reptile woman Tu’Rokk) gladiator, and a Shengtese Kensai (eastern swordsman).
Young Asish notices an attractive woman of Shengtese and Saganim descent, and he asks Kazuo to buy some dumplings from the Halfling vendors/bookies working the bleachers. Jade Xi introduces herself, and the smitten Ranger soon learns that she has already met Gawain and Kovar and is an old classmate of Digger’s! He tells her of his own travels. (Somewhere, an archaeologist cries out in pain….)
Down on the sandy arena floor, Kylea Draconda [Taum/Non-Player Character] faces off with Kezui Ochima [Beruk/N.P.C.]. The Hifalendorin and Shengtese humans spar with quarterstaffs as the scattered audience cheers. Eager to prove himself, Asish ignores wise Kazuo’s caution and enters the competition, wearing a bracelet from Jade.
The Tsucharim scout challenges Kezui, who picks the shinai over the bo-ken. Although Asish does strike the Kensai once, Kezui makes quick work of him with three hits, as Kazuo and Jade chat in the stands. All four easterners find that they are equally strangers in a strange land.
Somewhat humbled, Asish dusts himself off and returns to Jade, and Kazuo goes to challenge Kezui. The Nezumi Monk fares better than his companion, both with the shinai and unarmed grappling, earning the Kensai’s respect.
Jade agrees to watch Asish participate in a demonstration of mounted archery the next day, and Kazuo and Kezui part as honorable (if not particularly tactful) opponents. Elsewhere in the city, Jovinda and Kovar find the shop of a Gnome named “Pip….” surrounded by ringing wind chimes, tin pinwheels, and other shiny artwork and gadgets.
Burly Kovar steps gingerly into the store, but Jovinda gets a windup bird caught in her feathered hair. Pip rides to them on bulldog Bruce and talks about his silver and clockwork wares. The Cleric of Mekkil asks for help locating her tinker father, and Pip says that he’ll look at his piles of correspondence.
Asish asks tanner Beredoc to save scraps of the unusual hides he’s using for barding to give to Gawain for magical scrolls. The Ranger also names the team’s mules “Miso,” “Basan,” and “Kishin” after eastern monsters and offers to take Jovinda to Saganim consul Lady Megan McDonnel to learn more about her missing father.
Jovinda, Asish, Kazuo, and Gawain meet at the “Deer’s Heart” tavern to compare notes over dinner. The wanderers are also waiting for an audience with the city council about the haunted village of Alarn to the north and the threat posed by Vappu Lahja’s Centaur followers….
If I left anything out of this update, please post to the Google Group message board for Rob, Paul, and Dexter. Rob, thanks again for your patience, and I hope you’re feeling better! Byron, I’m sorry that you’ll be missing our next game on Mother’s Day, but please give Cindy our regards!
Also, everyone should update their Player Character records and let me know your availability for Memorial Day weekend. Beruk and Paul, I’ll see you at Team 2’s FATE 3e Starblazer Adventures: “Vortex” space operasession. Have a good week, -Gene
I liked the interplay between Matt Smith as the eponymous Gallifreyan, Karen Gillan as perky companion Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill as Amy’s stalwart husband Rory. Guest stars included Alex Kingston as the glamorous and mysterious Dr. River Song and genre veterans Mark Sheppard and his father as former FBI agent Canton Everett Delaware III. Even President Nixon and Neil Armstrong figure into the story!
The heady plot of the two-part season (or series, as they call them in the U.K.) opener involves Moffat tropes including nightmarish aliens, personal secrets and perils, and of course, some romping through time and space. Who is Amy’s child? Could Dr. Song be a Time Lord? I haven’t figured out all the puzzles yet, but I look forward to episodes that balance childlike wonder at the universe and human nature with darker themes such as mortality and betrayal. Oh, and Stetsons are cool.
After enduring xenophobic attacks on Earth, two alien explorers and their human allies were embroiled in megacorp intrigues in the Lemuria orbital city and the Lunar Free State. The group then visited the Mars Confederation and obtained a faster-than-light ship in the Asteroid Belt from the Olvar Star League….
>>”Vortex” Team 1 (5a), crew of the Blackbird, as of spring 2011:
-“Syzygy” [Brian W.]-Trinoid (trilateral amphibious alien) xenologist with an organic laboratory and a pet cat named “Mr. Sniffles”
-“Tela” [Sara F.]-female Tharian (winged reptilian humanoid alien) escapee from the Encegulans, engineer
-“Chris McKee” [Josh C.]-male North American Terran cyborg human sniper working for eugenics conspirators at Black Box Security Co.
-“Aughest-vor” [Jason E.R.]-male human from the Lemuria orbital city, onetime dilettante, solar-sail regatta pilot
-“Lt. Kevin Reese” [Bruce K.]-male Terran human, burned-out officer and explorer in the Interplanetary Patrol
-“Gombo Shisel” [Rich L.]-male Mongolian/Martian human, former horse rancher and wilderness survival expert
-“Dr. Bucket” [Non-Player Character]-United Earth Authority astromech robot assigned to the Blackbird
-Game dates: “8 to 14 September 2194 A.D./C.E. or 0 Galactic Era”
>>Scene 1: Eclipse Station
The Blackbird docks at a colony in orbit around Saturn’s moon Titan. The scout ship’s crew finds the docking terminal sparsely populated and goes to the Ringtown Diner to find out about local affairs and potential sellers of used military drop ships.
Syzygy drinks copious amounts of water and orders a full leg of lamb for his xenobiology lab. Tela enjoys a fish burger, kelp pie, and the lack of surprise from station inhabitants at seeing aliens. The Tharian engineer also talks to the jukebox/robotic cook.
Chris McKee orders a multicolor pizza and washes it down with Golden Rings ale. Lt. Kevin Reese sees a Ru’ulok (heavy-gravity reptilian alien) patron eating a real hamburger and asks an android waitress wearing 1950s style garb to bring him one, no matter the cost. Aughest-vor… also drinks a strong beer and notices a Chim (“Uplifted,” or genetically modified, chimpanzee) in mechanic’s coveralls.
Tela, wary of bounty hunters, throws a piece of Chris’ pizza at the Ru’ulok but hits the Chim! She and Syzygy duck under tables as the mechanic angrily confronts the armored alien. Aughest slips out to the Lucky Garden Casino down the hall, while Chris readies his holdout pistol. Lt. Reese pulls out his Interplanetary Patrol badge and persuades Faisal Batar to leave. Ralek, the Ru’ulok, thanks the officer and says he can be reached aboard the Bloody Drover (Bay 19).
Aughest-vor is accosted by the attractive Tanya Montana as he enters the smoke-filled gambling den. Giving his name as “Zach Urku,” the onetime playboy is guided to a back room, where he loses his first few hands at poker before his companions rejoin him. They are harangued by Rev. Winston outside a mall chapel, and Syzygy finds that the air in the casino is laced with euphoria-inducing drugs.
The explorers return to the Ringtown Diner in time to meet Dimitri Parvis, a cyborg mecha driver who offers them a Cheyenne-class drop ship for a few hundred thousand credits (which they obtained as part of the Tyche trade deal). They agree to meet metal-limbed Parvis on Titan for a test drive the next morning.
Pilot Aughest also contacts Amir Mukhtadi about a Tau Orca-class vessel. The Blackbird‘s crew plans to nest the Tiger Hawk Sandstorm modular ground-effect vehicle in its drop ship. Back at the Star League ship at Berth 13, Gombo Shisel and Dr. Bucket prepare the launch bay, play cards, and monitor communications (including news of the Venusian virus and ensuing civil unrest, casualties, and United Earth Authority quarantine [see Team 2 notes]).
Kevin returns to the Lucky Garden to spend an evening with Tanya and Galia, even though Syzygy has identified them as synthetic humanoids. Tela and Chris go to the shop of provisioner Hassan, who turns out to be the brother of Amir. The glider-winged extraterrestrial buys coffee and some goldfish as pets, while Agent Prometheus loads up on guns and ammunition.
Syzygy learns that a Trinoid “sharer” is at Arhus University, coinciding with Black Box Security Co.’s orders to Chris to report to Jamila Sahdai, an agent also in New Syria. They take the Blackbird down to Titan, leaving behind Kevin, who has to catch up on a redeye shuttle to Saturn’s frigid moon.
>>Scene 2: New Syria
Syzygy, Tela, Aughest, and Kevin go to Arhus University, where they find Solipsy in a laboratory filled with strange life forms. Syzygy and Solipsy embrace tentacles, sharing information, while the humans and Tharian cautiously explore the archives.
Meanwhile, Agent Prometheus goes to a nearby hydroponics farm, where he encounters two naked people emerging from hibernation chambers! They subdue him, and Sahdai replaces an implant in his skull just as Lt. Reese gets permission to scan the area using Solipsy’s equipment (in return for going to the neutral Oasis Station, about 40 parsecs from Sol, on behalf of the Kharvamid Alliance).
The adventuring party rushes next door, only to find Chris standing and with no recollection of being operated upon. Syzygy confirms that he has a new cybernetic implant, and Kevin and Aughest recommend that Chris have it removed.
>>Scene 3: Test drives and potential missions
Back at Eclipse Station, Lt. Reese reports to Lt. Yasmine Al-Ghuj and Capt. Garzan Cisneros, who tease him with surveillance images of him in his red and black Blackbird uniform (provided by Aughest) with Tanya and Galia. They ask the burned-out cop to remember that they need to earn the miners‘ respect.
Capt. Cisneros, commander of the U.E.V. Kindjal, also asks Kevin to bring supplies to Tiger Squadron, which is stationed at an observation post near Alpha Centauri. Since it’s only a few days’ detour from Oasis Station, the crew of the Blackbird eventually agrees to help.
The group meets with Parvis, and Aughest flies the Cheyenne-class drop ship. Tela finds it to be spaceworthy, and Chris and Kevin verify that the craft was once used by Jovian forces. Syzygy expresses concern that it is a warship rather than a scout vessel, but his companions claim that they’ll need to protect themselves when leaving the Blackbird.
After some haggling, Parvis sells the drop ship and includes weapons systems rather than allow the team to meet with competitor Amir Mukhtadi in New Quebec. He also recommends “Fingers in Shadow,” supposedly the best surgeon in the Saturnian colonies and a member of Capt. Robert Stone’s crew.
The wanderers go to the Lucky Garden, where they find Capt. Stone and an unsettling “octoparrot” on his shoulder. The cyborg pirate offers to have his doctor remove Chris’ implant in return for the Blackbird distributing a Terran videogame called “Defeat the Fleet” to extrasolar customers. After some consideration, the group declines in favor of finding another surgeon.
After taking possession of the drop ship, which Tela rechristens the “Dragonfly” [to be statted out], the crew of the Blackbird prepares for its first interstellar voyage. Syzygy synchronizes data with his lab and the ship’s computers, and Lt. Reese asks Capt. Cisneros for more information on Tiger Squadron.
Agent Prometheus, unsure of what’s in his head, loads the weapons locker and watches for Ru’ulok slavers. Aughest-vor… plots a course to Alpha Centauri, and Tela readies the REM faster-than-light drive….
Josh will be writing up his own notes as “Chris McKee.” Let me know if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing some of you at the cross-group cookout in mid-May! -Gene
Gene's Worlds 