Run Completed

I finished up Shadowrun Returns and overall it was a pretty solid game, although a bit shorter than I expected. The first-act mystery -- someone is killing people who all received organs from the same donor -- was a creepy and memorable premise. I also really enjoyed a combat that occurred right after confirming the identity of the master villain behind that killer. I'll set the stage without giving away the plot. You and various NPCs are attending the funeral of an old friend. After some guests depart, you confront the master villain, who is also in attendance. That character escapes and unleashes mercenary teams that attack you and your NPC allies from multiple directions. It's a wild, chaotic battle, where you're hiding behind tombstones, sneaking around mausoleums, and trying desperately to avoid being surrounded. And then, to make matters worse, the gunfire awakens a pack of ghouls, who burst from their graves and start attacking everyone. Ah, good fun! 

Blind Shot

We had quite the epic moment in our Shattered Realm campaign today. The champions of the realm were responding to an urgent call for help from some of their closest NPC friends, and they arrived to find a beloved community besieged by army of ogres led by a hideous, hunchbacked hag. When the ogres breached the town gates, the heroes rushed to hold back these monstrous foes, but the hag herself perched upon the walls and bedeviled them with spells. Nathaniel's ranger spent most of the battle stunned (although his loyal animal companion proved to be quite an effective tank in a pinch), and Matthew's rogue was blinded more often than not. During one turn in which the rogue was blind, he nevertheless managed to fire a crossbow bolt that not only hit the hag high atop the wall, but scored a crit. It wasn't the hit that defeated this foe, but it was an absolutely absolutely legendary shot that we'll always remember!

Shadowrun Returns

I mentioned recently that Nathaniel was playing through the classic Mass Effect, which Matt had gifted me many years ago. Another game he graciously gifted me was Shadowrun: Dragonfall. I've been thinking about cyberpunk a lot lately with my city of Vesper under construction, so I decided to check out the predecessor of Dragonfall, Shadowrun Returns. It's been a while since I've played any video game that wasn't on an Evercade platform, and I'm really enjoying a return to the Shadowrun universe!

What Happened to Dolorous Edd?!

As a guy who grew up doing some pretty spot-on (if I do say so myself!) voice impersonations of the Muppets and other pop-culture characters, I appreciate a good voice. I've always admired the work of voiceover actors like Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, and the guy with maybe the best voice in the history of humanity, Keith David. As a gamemaster, I like to incorporate custom voices for key NPCs in my campaign worlds, perhaps most notably in the Druid Cycle setting; Cyfrinach, Iskander, Cerdyn, Pyrrhus, and many others have had very distinctive voices. 

Over the past year, I've been listening to the Song of Ice and Fire series on Audible. The books were narrated by the late, great Roy Dotrice and -- wow! -- did this guy have an amazing reading voice! Over the first three books, Dotrice built an immense variety of custom voices for the main characters. His work on this series wasn't just a reading, but a true performance. 

I'm now getting into the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, and, well, it's a different experience. I understand that Dotrice wasn't available to record this book when it first came out and then returned to read it many years after he had narrated the others in the series. The result is pretty jarring. There are major changes in how he pronounces names like "Catelyn" and "Petyr", but also in the voices he uses for the characters. Some of the biggest changes are to major players like Arya and Petyr. The one that really hit me the hardest, though, was the voice of my absolute favorite supporting character, Dolorous Edd. A member of the Night's Watch and close friend of Jon Snow, Edd provides a lot of self-deprecating wit and comic relief. Dotrice's original voice for Edd always put a smile on my face, but the voice used in Feast is so bland and undistinguished that I almost wince when I hear it. 

If I ever screw up the voices in our campaigns, please call me on it. An unexpected change to the voice of a character can really take you out of the moment!

Mass From the Past

Over a decade ago, Matt gifted me a copy of Mass Effect, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nathaniel found the whole series on Steam today at a mass-ive (!) discount, so now he's going to give it a whirl. Brings back great memories!

BGTV

Super excited about emphatically not watching this show...

Vesper Is Growing!

Back into the Funwhole! I picked up another big cyberpunk building set from Lumibricks. The mysterious city of Vesper is growing...

Gratitude

These days, I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my family. We had a quiet weekend at home, and free time enough to play all three active campaigns: the revived Shattered Realm campaign with Matthew and Nathaniel, the Zoom-based Druid Cycle game with the boys and their cousins in Michigan, and finally the Vanguard Saga campaign with the boys and Amy. Any weekend we can get together around the ol' RPG table is a blessing.