Oh my… things sure can change in a week can’t they? We got together this Saturday to continue the Wyrmwick campaign (and again on Sunday, but that’s for later) and this was quite the pivotal session. There were plenty of battles, instantly memorable conversations, and a rather interesting metamorphosis. With that kind of buildup I really can’t waste time dicking around, so let’s get right into the recap!
So the session picked up right where we left off: our party was in Zelayla’s Crypt searching for Zelayla’s Staff, and after a nice extended rest we were back on the classic adventurer pastime of murdering everything. The first victim was a Fire Elemental, but to our shock and bewilderment, this monster didn’t seem interested in murdering us right away. In fact he was pretty kosher with just chilling while we walked around. Dhother performed his ritual to Comprehend Language, and heard the monster saying that he was “part of [a] key”. With no way to understand what else that might mean, we attempted to see if we could provoke the monster. Caitlin drew her swords and instantly the elemental got ready to battle. It was a short but thrilling battle than ended when the elemental teleported away, and then Caitlin took it down via throwing dagger. It was a totally ninja moment.
When the elemental died it left behind a talisman that was set ablaze. The party was a bit too cautious to touch it, but eventually Caitlin grabbed it. Instantly it set her hand on fire, but eventually the fire started to subside and instead left her with a strange tattoo of a snake wrapped around a flame. Cue people already getting ready for the idea that my character is cursed and it’s the Book of Morgana all over again.
After a bit more exploring we found an Air Elemental, and started to sense a pattern. Before fighting we found that Caitlin could now understand the elemental’s speech indicating that she could now speak Primordial. Probably not a great sign, but it allowed her to her the Air Elemental speaking about also being part of a key. Cue the battle, and Caitlin sorta-kinda raped the elemental. I crit on my Rapier attack and then rolled near max damage on my Power Attack and follow up short sword attack meaning my damage clocked in at around 48. It was rather disappointing to come that close to 50 and fail, especially since I forgot to roll my 1d6 for criting, but it was still pretty cool. After the elemental died it seemed to become absorbed in my hand, and now my tattoo shifted from flames to a tornado. Again, we’re sensing a pattern.
With two of the elemental keys in hand (quite literally), we ventured down the only path not traveled which sounds like the lyrics to a Johnny Cash song. After opening the gate we found evidence of a Gelatinous Cube in the area, and for those new to D&D Gelatinous Cubes are basically big moving cubes of Jello filled with acid, so in other words not something you want to be surprised by. Thankfully Caitlin has a high enough Perception to notice the cube was actually standing right in front of us, so we avoided being surprised and thus digested by the blocky blob. Instead we battled it, and there was no love lost for this fiend as we rather mercilessly pummeled it which was rather sad when you consider the Cube only has an Intelligence of 1 so it pretty much just exists to glomp. All he wants to do is hug! Too bad we killed him before he could really hug any of us, but luckily the Cube gets his satisfaction through fanart.
Moving along we found a strange room filled with three altars each carved into the shape of a dragon and containing a copper chalice full of a strange unfamiliar liquid. In addition there was a tiny piece of glowing moss in the middle of the room that Jason noted was “unnatural”. To me I figured that meant it was the third elemental, Earth, but instead Jason meant it wasn’t naturally glowing moss and instead it existed to illuminate this room. We didn’t find that out until much later—far after we had started pouring the liquids on top of the moss expecting it to change into some golem of dirt and mud. Whoops. At that point we couldn’t figure out what we were expected to do with the liquids and figured we’d need more clues to complete this puzzle.
Not to be stumped, we continued on in hopes of stumbling upon some clue to enlighten us to the mystery behind the cups, but instead we stumbled upon our third elemental: Water. To sum it up: Caitlin heard the elemental talk about being part of a key, we kicked ass, and the essence of the defeated elemental was absorbed into Caitlin’s hand. At this point Caitlin was just two elements away from being Captain Planet.
Through another corridor we found a Bulley Pit. Well, I don’t know how to spell their names, but apparently they’re like land sharks, so in complete terror our group ran through the pit waiting for the Bulley to pop out at any minute. They didn’t, and instead we found the diary of Wesley clutched in the hands of a skeleton. Through this diary we found out the secret history between Wez, Owayn, and Zelayla. Turns out the former two were pupils of Zelayla, but Owayn tried to seize control of everything she built and killed her. Wez had mastered a ritual that would allow someone to transfer their soul over to a new body hopefully to revive Zelayla, but he had to use the ritual on himself to survive.
Beyond that we didn’t get too much from the Diary, but we did learn quite a bit more about Wez. Sadly nothing regarding that dragon altar puzzle which was disappointing. Instead we stumbled upon the last elemental, and thanks to an early crit, defeated him rather easily (the only way to defeat the earth elemental was to crit against him). With the earth elemental absorbed, we know had all of the keys… unless we were also using fake elements like lightning, ice, mud, light, darkness, poison, love, dragon, normal, and iridium. Oh wait, that last one actually is an element… nevermind.
We found another chest containing seven golden daggers, and whenever Caitlin held them they seemed to respond to her tattoo and let off a particular feeling that corresponded to one of the elements: fire, water, earth, air, light, darkness, and chaos. We figured they’d be some part of the puzzle later on, so Caitlin held on to them. After that we came upon a coffin with a vampire sleeping in it. Figuring we’d probably have to kill her anyway, Caitlin decided she’d take the dagger of light and try to plunge it into the vampire’s heart before she woke up, but as you can imagine the vampire was well aware of what we were doing and bit Caitlin as she tried to attack.
Thankfully one bite doesn’t make a vampire, so Caitlin was spared vampirism on top of the other conditions she received in this dungeon, but we’ll get to those in a moment. As it is now, the party vanquished the vampire, Dhother swiped her rosary in case it came in handy, and the group used the seven daggers to open a door leading to a room with a massive chasm. On the other side of the pit was a golden coffin, but sadly no one in the group could figure out how to get across. After deliberating Caitlin decided to test her luck and tried drinking from one of the cups on the altar. It caused her to double over in pain, writhe in agony, and grow a pair of dragon wings. Yes, I am quite serious; Caitlin grew a pair of dragon wings.
With these new wings she flew over to the other side of the chasm (with a rope attached so she wouldn’t fall just in case the wings failed). After crossing, she opened the coffin to find a spectral Zelayla and her staff sitting in a pile of her ashes. Zelalah was waiting for someone to bring her a body, but since Caitlin didn’t have one, she instead demanded to take the elf’s body instead. With that demand Caitlin acted quickly, and grabbed the staff, avoided the ghost’s grapple, and was pulled back over the pit with the staff in hand. The entire conversation was much more humorous and you can find the entire conversation here.
With the staff at hand we tried one last time to figure out our predicament regarding the dragon altars. Drew and Jonn both tried drinking from the chalices (one of the altars refills the cups) hoping to see if they also received draconic transformations, but instead it just poisoned them and knocked them out. Dhother tried to feed them the moss from earlier but well… Okay I think we can safely say this group is Dethklok Part II. Dhother fed them glowing poisonous moss and surprisingly their conditions didn’t improve. After they woke up we found that Caitlin’s tattoo allowed her to move the statue blocking the entrance, and after collecting a cup of the liquid for study, the group left the crypt. Thankfully Wez was sleeping peacefully in the elevator the whole time, so we collected him, returned to Wyrmwick, and reported back to Khan Muzarog.
Well actually we returned to Alpert first so that Caitlin could reveal her new wings to him (which he responded was “kinda hot”), but the conversation mostly turned to Muzarog where we presented him with the staff and a crystal we found inside the cavern that is used to charge it. Unfortunately we learned the only way to recharge the crystal is to power it with someone’s soul. Since that wasn’t very appealing to the group of mostly good characters, we were told to investigate the weapon more thoroughly and the mages at Colingrove were our first stop. However after arriving we received bad news from Duke Ned: Timmy has been taken hostage by Owayne who is still waiting for the party to kill Thoran Hawklight. Dun dun DUUUUUUUN!!!
There was a bit more to this sessions including a conversation with an annoying mage who couldn’t get over the fact that Caitlin was an elf with wings, but this recap is already long enough. I suppose I should use this change to address Caitlin’s changes because they’re far from your normal fair. To be frank, I like that Caitlin has this story bit. Sure it’s never fun to see your character undergoing a transformation you can’t control, but at the same time there’s a lot of enjoyment to get out of character development you don’t have total control over. I like the way things are going with Caitlin and I’m curious to find out the root of all of this. I just hope that until we discover what the dealio with her dragon-ification is we don’t run into even more problems.
Credit for the images go to DarkVolt.
Until next time, Namaste!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Building Character: Starting at Scratch
Since I started posting my character backstories and the From Their Eyes series I’ve been receiving compliments on the way I build and craft my characters, and I figured I could take advantage of this praise and give it back. See, I know a lot of people struggle to make their characters anything more than assorted numbers assigned to different stats, and they’d like to build a character with y’know… character. I want to help in this aspect, because if those people appreciate my characters, then they might also be able to learn from the process I use to make them. That’s what this short series, Building Character, is all about. I want to take you all through a step by step process of how I build my characters (with Caitlin Cormac as the headline example), and how you can get into the roleplaying aspect of the character during any part of the process. Without further adieu, let’s start at the beginning of character creation: conception.
Before any idea comes to fruition it is first thought up, and since I’ve yet to reach a point where I can manipulate the fabrics of the dimensions of time and space I am also bound by these rules. When I decide to create a character I decide whether I’m building this character to compliment or contrast an existing party, or if I’m building whatever the fuck I want. Some players subscribe exclusively one way or the other, but for me I try to go based off of the party composition and who has decided on what. If no one has any clue and isn’t in any rush to decide I usually take initiative and create what I want, but in general I find I enjoy characters the most when they’re pigeon-holed during the creation process as it often lets me come up with concepts I might not normally consider.
In the case of Caitlin I built her to fit into what the party needed while also building her partially to be own whims which I’ll get into down the line. To explain what I mean you have to notice the party’s composition: Dhother (Controller), Denora (Leader), Drew (Striker), and Jonn (Defender). With all of the major roles covered I had the ability to pick any role I wanted. I eventually settled on either a Striker or a Defender as it had been a while since I played a Striker and I just love playing Defenders. After doing some test builds I decided upon three “Test” characters: a Drow Sorcerer, a Human Swordmage, and an Elf Scout. At this point these characters were labeled “Test 1”, “Test 2”, and “Test 3” respectively, but character was still on my mind as I’ll speak about in a moment. First I want to note why I picked those classes.
For Sorcerer and Swordmage I decided upon those classes so the party had someone arcane related in the group. I’ve noticed that Arcana checks can be quite important to the game from a mechanical and storytelling perspective, and I thought it would be essential for the group to have someone skilled in that art. At the same time I saw that Nature checks can be just as important, and without Kithra the party really didn’t have any character well versed in Nature. There was also a secondary bonus to the Sorcerer class because their main stat is Charisma and the group also lacks a CHA-based character to help with Diplomacy and Bluff checks. All of these characters fit a purpose in the party, and could be essential to the group dynamic.
In addition the races also held a bit of importance, or at least the Drow did. When I looked at races I tried to find races optimized for what I was trying to do because while I’m not necessarily a min/maxer, I do try to build strong characters so I get to enjoy playing them in the inevitable encounters. For the Storm Sorcerer I was building I found the Drow to be perfect and after thinking back to the second session of the campaign I figured I could work the history very easily into the Drow slaving angle. I even had a vague backstory that my character was taken from his/her home as a slave but escaped via their natural magic with the added twist that in order to escape in time he/she would have to leave a very close friend or family member behind. I even came up with an added twist on top of that, but I’ll keep that one in my pocket.
I came up with stories for the other concept as well, but again these were vague. For the Swordmage I just had the idea that this character was a soldier who came across an ancient lost magic either by accident, or it was forced upon him/her by an old mage. For the scout all I decided on was that I wanted to be a soldier of some kind, but more royal and urban in concept than some mercenary who spends their lives living in the woods. As you can see, these backstories were far less detailed during the conception phase because they didn’t work off of something established by the campaign. Usually working off what the DM has already set up works far better than trying to introduce a new concept into the campaign. If the campaign is one where Dwarves are a forgotten race that hasn’t been seen in years, try playing a Dwarf. If Warforced are mechanical golems built by the Dwarves as guardians (as they were in my brief campaign a few months back), try playing a Warforged. If it seems like the way a story is built excludes a creature, work with your DM to come up with a way to work around that rule, like the Drow above; he/she was going to become a slave, but he/she escaped.
So when I narrowed it down to those three concepts I eventually eliminated the Swordmage for solely one reason: the race. I am tired of playing Humans, and I couldn’t find another race that worked well with what the Swordmage needed to do that wasn’t outrageously silly. For example I could have been a Genasi, but then I force Jason’s campaign to justify why walking physical manifestations of elemental chaos are chilling with the humans and half-elves. I’ll explain more in a later edition of this series why the Human thing bothered me so much, but suffice it to say I was tired of playing Humans and thus I turned down the Swordmage.
Looking between the Scout and the Sorcerer I had a hard time picking. The Sorcerer, by nature, was far more useful to the party in my eyes. Their main attacks key off Charisma which would help with Bluff and Diplomacy, their arcane power source meant he/she would have at least a tolerable Arcana check, and at the time I was under the impression that Drew was solely a front line fighter (I forgot he did the crossbow stuff), so being in the back would be beneficial. Still the Scout had advantages too: high Nature and Perception checks to help out the party, added bonuses to Stealth and Acrobatics which might come in handy, plus the overall simple nature. I’ve been falling in and out of love with 4E recently, and the Essentials Scout felt like a nice step away from the massive assortment of powers I had to debate on picking for the Sorcerer.
The Scout was simple. Pick a few class features, and then go to feats. I would love for the Scout to get supplemental material down the line (especially for their piss poor Wilderness Knacks), but I appreciate the simplicity in building a class who simply uses MBA (Melee Basic Attack) each round and works from there. Obviously I don’t need to tell you which class I picked unless for some reason you were convinced Caitlin was an albino Drow who her manifested lightning into pointed blades and decided to run into the frontlines of combat like she had a death wish. Why did I choose Scout over Sorcerer though? Again, Sorcerer really had more advantages to it especially with the added Drow backstory, but I just really wanted to pull back from the heavy power emphasized classes that I’ve become a bit overwhelmed by. Also I have a soft spot in my heart for the Scout class because it was the first class I ever played in D&D… but that’s a story for another day.
So how do you turn this concept of a character into a story? Simple. As I’ll say often during this series, ask questions while you make the character. When I first picked Drow for the Sorcerer I asked “How would this character react to the Drow slavery” which then got me to asking “What if this character was involved with the Drow slavery?” It really doesn’t have to be specific as that though. This is the concept stage and at this point you should have a vague idea. Consider your character to be a round featureless blob. By the end of conception you should see contours and curves along the circumference to show that progress is being made, but save the big stuff like details for later on. Right now, keep it blob-like because marrying yourself to a story at this point might shackle your own creativity.
That’s all I’ve got to say on conception right now. This stage is basic, but the principle is important: play what you want. Even if you’re building the character to fit into the party’s dynamic, make sure you’re allowing your own personal preferences to influence the decision; otherwise you’re just wasting your time. However at the same time, be open to experimentation. Even ideas that seem bizarre or out of your comfort zone can be a lot of fun and help expand your ability to be creative. Give certain obstacles a try, and remember to have fun. I shall return again soon with the topic on how to turn mechanics into character.
Until next time, Namaste!
Before any idea comes to fruition it is first thought up, and since I’ve yet to reach a point where I can manipulate the fabrics of the dimensions of time and space I am also bound by these rules. When I decide to create a character I decide whether I’m building this character to compliment or contrast an existing party, or if I’m building whatever the fuck I want. Some players subscribe exclusively one way or the other, but for me I try to go based off of the party composition and who has decided on what. If no one has any clue and isn’t in any rush to decide I usually take initiative and create what I want, but in general I find I enjoy characters the most when they’re pigeon-holed during the creation process as it often lets me come up with concepts I might not normally consider.
In the case of Caitlin I built her to fit into what the party needed while also building her partially to be own whims which I’ll get into down the line. To explain what I mean you have to notice the party’s composition: Dhother (Controller), Denora (Leader), Drew (Striker), and Jonn (Defender). With all of the major roles covered I had the ability to pick any role I wanted. I eventually settled on either a Striker or a Defender as it had been a while since I played a Striker and I just love playing Defenders. After doing some test builds I decided upon three “Test” characters: a Drow Sorcerer, a Human Swordmage, and an Elf Scout. At this point these characters were labeled “Test 1”, “Test 2”, and “Test 3” respectively, but character was still on my mind as I’ll speak about in a moment. First I want to note why I picked those classes.
For Sorcerer and Swordmage I decided upon those classes so the party had someone arcane related in the group. I’ve noticed that Arcana checks can be quite important to the game from a mechanical and storytelling perspective, and I thought it would be essential for the group to have someone skilled in that art. At the same time I saw that Nature checks can be just as important, and without Kithra the party really didn’t have any character well versed in Nature. There was also a secondary bonus to the Sorcerer class because their main stat is Charisma and the group also lacks a CHA-based character to help with Diplomacy and Bluff checks. All of these characters fit a purpose in the party, and could be essential to the group dynamic.
In addition the races also held a bit of importance, or at least the Drow did. When I looked at races I tried to find races optimized for what I was trying to do because while I’m not necessarily a min/maxer, I do try to build strong characters so I get to enjoy playing them in the inevitable encounters. For the Storm Sorcerer I was building I found the Drow to be perfect and after thinking back to the second session of the campaign I figured I could work the history very easily into the Drow slaving angle. I even had a vague backstory that my character was taken from his/her home as a slave but escaped via their natural magic with the added twist that in order to escape in time he/she would have to leave a very close friend or family member behind. I even came up with an added twist on top of that, but I’ll keep that one in my pocket.
I came up with stories for the other concept as well, but again these were vague. For the Swordmage I just had the idea that this character was a soldier who came across an ancient lost magic either by accident, or it was forced upon him/her by an old mage. For the scout all I decided on was that I wanted to be a soldier of some kind, but more royal and urban in concept than some mercenary who spends their lives living in the woods. As you can see, these backstories were far less detailed during the conception phase because they didn’t work off of something established by the campaign. Usually working off what the DM has already set up works far better than trying to introduce a new concept into the campaign. If the campaign is one where Dwarves are a forgotten race that hasn’t been seen in years, try playing a Dwarf. If Warforced are mechanical golems built by the Dwarves as guardians (as they were in my brief campaign a few months back), try playing a Warforged. If it seems like the way a story is built excludes a creature, work with your DM to come up with a way to work around that rule, like the Drow above; he/she was going to become a slave, but he/she escaped.
So when I narrowed it down to those three concepts I eventually eliminated the Swordmage for solely one reason: the race. I am tired of playing Humans, and I couldn’t find another race that worked well with what the Swordmage needed to do that wasn’t outrageously silly. For example I could have been a Genasi, but then I force Jason’s campaign to justify why walking physical manifestations of elemental chaos are chilling with the humans and half-elves. I’ll explain more in a later edition of this series why the Human thing bothered me so much, but suffice it to say I was tired of playing Humans and thus I turned down the Swordmage.
Looking between the Scout and the Sorcerer I had a hard time picking. The Sorcerer, by nature, was far more useful to the party in my eyes. Their main attacks key off Charisma which would help with Bluff and Diplomacy, their arcane power source meant he/she would have at least a tolerable Arcana check, and at the time I was under the impression that Drew was solely a front line fighter (I forgot he did the crossbow stuff), so being in the back would be beneficial. Still the Scout had advantages too: high Nature and Perception checks to help out the party, added bonuses to Stealth and Acrobatics which might come in handy, plus the overall simple nature. I’ve been falling in and out of love with 4E recently, and the Essentials Scout felt like a nice step away from the massive assortment of powers I had to debate on picking for the Sorcerer.
The Scout was simple. Pick a few class features, and then go to feats. I would love for the Scout to get supplemental material down the line (especially for their piss poor Wilderness Knacks), but I appreciate the simplicity in building a class who simply uses MBA (Melee Basic Attack) each round and works from there. Obviously I don’t need to tell you which class I picked unless for some reason you were convinced Caitlin was an albino Drow who her manifested lightning into pointed blades and decided to run into the frontlines of combat like she had a death wish. Why did I choose Scout over Sorcerer though? Again, Sorcerer really had more advantages to it especially with the added Drow backstory, but I just really wanted to pull back from the heavy power emphasized classes that I’ve become a bit overwhelmed by. Also I have a soft spot in my heart for the Scout class because it was the first class I ever played in D&D… but that’s a story for another day.
So how do you turn this concept of a character into a story? Simple. As I’ll say often during this series, ask questions while you make the character. When I first picked Drow for the Sorcerer I asked “How would this character react to the Drow slavery” which then got me to asking “What if this character was involved with the Drow slavery?” It really doesn’t have to be specific as that though. This is the concept stage and at this point you should have a vague idea. Consider your character to be a round featureless blob. By the end of conception you should see contours and curves along the circumference to show that progress is being made, but save the big stuff like details for later on. Right now, keep it blob-like because marrying yourself to a story at this point might shackle your own creativity.
That’s all I’ve got to say on conception right now. This stage is basic, but the principle is important: play what you want. Even if you’re building the character to fit into the party’s dynamic, make sure you’re allowing your own personal preferences to influence the decision; otherwise you’re just wasting your time. However at the same time, be open to experimentation. Even ideas that seem bizarre or out of your comfort zone can be a lot of fun and help expand your ability to be creative. Give certain obstacles a try, and remember to have fun. I shall return again soon with the topic on how to turn mechanics into character.
Until next time, Namaste!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
WrestleMania 27 Thoughts & Review
So yeah, on Sunday night I watched WrestleMania as is my tradition ever since I first watched it back in 2001 with WrestleMania 17. WrestleMania 27 is getting a lot of mixed reviews from great to god awful. I’ve heard described as brilliant by some and then a clusterfuck by others. My thoughts range somewhere in between the two extremes. While it certainly wasn’t my favorite WrestleMania, I've seen much worse (WrestleMania 20 anybody?). This was an up and down show, but in general I liked it so let’s get to the card.
U.S. Title Match: Sheamus VS Daniel Byran – Taken off the card at the last minute, and never actually happened as advertised. It’s a shame because I was really looking forward to this match and I thought it would have been a great opener to get people excited, but alas… I can’t get too upset mostly because this is not the first time a good match has been bumped from the Mania card. Heck, Lance Storm never got to wrestle at a live Mania because both times he got bumped. Once for the Miller Lite Catfight girls. No, seriously. Shame we didn’t get to see it. Heard these guys were having great house shows.
World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge VS Alberto Del Rio – This was a strange match to start the night off with and honestly I thought this match would have been better in the middle of the show. As it was this was a fine match, but it was a bit too slow to work as the opening match. Del Rio actually looked very credible in this match, and considering what happened in the main event I’m glad Smackdown’s new heel is being booked as a threat. Great ring work with some nice spots and it ended with Edge getting the pin off a Spear. A bit anti-climactic, but it worked. Solid match.
Cody Rhodes VS Rey Mysterio – This match was amazing and honestly might have been my favorite of the night. The storyline leading to this was stupid, and I’ll continue to say this would have been more interesting if Cody’s face was kept hidden most of the match only to reveal mid-match that it was fine. Still, Cody looked very impressive in this match, and Mysterio got Rhodes over big time. I actually sort of like Rhodes’ gimmick now as he’s a bit more mysterious and psychopathic which could work wonders for him in the future. The finish saw Rhodes taking off Rey’s knee brace, then sliding out of the ring to hit him with it while the ref was distracted. A great finish and these guys put on one hell of a match for something that really didn’t interest me going in.
CORRE VS Big Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi – A squash match essentially, but for the wrong guys. The current Intercontinental and Tag Team champions were utterly destroyed here in a match that was basically one hot tag. Some nice athleticism from Kofi, but that’s about all I can say positively about this match. Even if they had to make CORRE lose this match, they should have lost with a bit more style. You’d never realize that three guys in that match were champions, and the fourth guy they’re trying to build as the next Batista. Very poor match.
Randy Orton VS CM Punk – As I’ve said plenty of times, Randy really is a bad face--even if he is a tweener. It’s tough to really root against Punk considering this feud all started because Orton was a dick two years ago, and the build has been Orton systematically killing Punk’s partners. Still, I thought this was a great match due to some amazing ring psychology. CM Punk is amazing at this and he worked the leg all night long. Orton sold it great too and he really looked crippled out there. The finish saw Orton going for the punt then falling, and Punk narrowly escaping a surprise RKO. He attempted a diving crossbody only for Orton to come out with another surprise RKO. It was a great ending showing Punk narrowly avoiding one move just to fall into it again, and it really sells the RKO as the new Sweet Chin Music—i.e. a finisher that can come from anywhere. I heard reports saying Orton was pissed that this match was so low on the card and a bit shorter, but honestly I thought it went great. A nice mid card battle with some great ring work. Kudos to both men.
Jerry Lawler VS Michael Cole w/ Special Guest Referee Stone Cold Steve Austin – This was both a great and awful match. On one hand Michael Cole got the living shit beat out of him at WrestleMania which was the only thing anyone wanted. On the other hand this match was painfully long during Cole’s offensive, and the ending was baffling. They had the chance to kill the Cole heat at Mania, but instead they’re giving Cole the overturned win via DQ which suggests this feud will continue. I don’t know how it could, and honestly it was a pretty big downer ending to match that should have been a feel good “everybody leaves happy” sort of match. Very strange.
Triple H VS The Undertaker – This was an amazing match put on by two great veterans. You can tell these guys aren’t as fast as they once were and some of the time things didn’t go perfectly, but honestly Taker just can’t do a bad Mania match anymore. The emotions were overwhelming in this match and Taker, God bless him, absolutely destroyed himself for this match. Seeing Taker kick out of a Pedigree and a Tombstone Piledriver was amazing—even I thought HHH was going to win once he hit the Tombstone. The finish wasn’t as impressive just because it didn’t look like Taker got the Hell’s Gate locked in correctly unless I was mistaken that it was supposed to look like a chokehold. Triple H tapping for the finish was great though, and I can’t say anything bad about this match that wouldn’t be nitpicking. Some people think the end wasn’t planned and they had to cut the match short because Taker was hurt, and that’s entirely possible, but if that is the case then even more props to Taker and HHH because that definitely looked planned. A fantastic match.
Dolph Ziggler & Laycool VS John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki – People were dreading this match as soon as it happened, but I actually was surprised by it. First of all this was really Trish Stratus VS Laycool featuring others, and it was very refreshing to see Trish in the ring again. She looked sharp, she was entertaining, and it all flowed rather well. The finish saw Snooki getting the hot tag and doing some cartwheel moved to pin Michelle McCool. I was actually impressed by this because Snookie could have totally gone the easy way out and done some stupid slap or horribly botched DDT. What she did didn’t exactly look threatening, but it took some athleticism, and I can appreciate that.
WWE Title Match: The Miz VS John Cena – This match was terrible from almost the very beginning. It started off actually pretty nice with a promo for Miz showing his time on the Real World intercut with scenes of great Mania moments. It built him up as this new heel that, like it or not, was going to make a WrestleMania memory. It was all downhill from there. Cena then had his own promo and honestly it was a complete clusterfuck. It was this very religious prayer played over images of Cena that came off extremely awkward, and throughout the match Cena looked distracted. For a promo all about him being an inspiration and a symbol for children, Cena pretty much ignored the crowd which did nothing to help the already dreary energy of the night. People wanted excitement, but more than that people wanted The Rock. Instead we got a very boring match full of way too many pinfalls. Every few seconds someone would go for a pin, and it really killed the match’s tempo. The only cool spot of the match came when Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment, and then Miz kicked out. That sole moment made Miz look credible, but it ended after that. The “finish” came with Miz attempting to leave the arena when Cena attacked him and the two got counted out. A double DQ was not going to sit well with the fans, so The Rock came out, ordered the match to restart as a No DQ match. He then Rock Bottom’d Cena, and Miz scored the win.
Again, this was a clusterfuck. The match itself was boring and filled with too many pinfalls on banal maneuvers that killed the tempo for me. The match absolutely destroyed Miz’s chance to look credible which he honestly desperately needed. Miz needed to look good here to come out looking credible, but instead he was your standard chicken shit heel. He didn’t look dominant or memorable, and aside from kicking out of the AA he was mostly forgettable. The end just stank and again, killed Miz’s credibility as he only won after having the match restarted and The Rock laying out Cena for him. I thought this was a terrible match and honestly the worst way to end the night. Even ending the night on the shitty 8-Man tag match would have been better because at least the faces won. Nobody got what they wanted here. Cena fans saw Cena lose. Cena haters still had to endure Cena looking like the dominant combatant. Miz fans can’t really cheer this win as a legitimate victory, and Rock fans can’t cheer because honestly he came off like a heel.
This was a horrible way to end Mania and really dropped the show’s appeal in my eyes because even more than Taker & HHH, this was the most important match. Taker/HHH was a match that defined a generation, but Cena/Miz should have been a match to showcase the next generation, but honestly came off looking flat and pointless. Overall I still liked WrestleMania 27. I loved the Rhodes/Mysterio, Punk/Orton, and Taker/HHH matches immensely, and the rest were relatively good. All three of the above matches were WrestleMania caliber to me, and I’d definitely love to see those programs continue—though I doubt the latter will. I’d give WrestleMania 27 a 7/10 or a B if you will.
Until next time, Namaste
U.S. Title Match: Sheamus VS Daniel Byran – Taken off the card at the last minute, and never actually happened as advertised. It’s a shame because I was really looking forward to this match and I thought it would have been a great opener to get people excited, but alas… I can’t get too upset mostly because this is not the first time a good match has been bumped from the Mania card. Heck, Lance Storm never got to wrestle at a live Mania because both times he got bumped. Once for the Miller Lite Catfight girls. No, seriously. Shame we didn’t get to see it. Heard these guys were having great house shows.
World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge VS Alberto Del Rio – This was a strange match to start the night off with and honestly I thought this match would have been better in the middle of the show. As it was this was a fine match, but it was a bit too slow to work as the opening match. Del Rio actually looked very credible in this match, and considering what happened in the main event I’m glad Smackdown’s new heel is being booked as a threat. Great ring work with some nice spots and it ended with Edge getting the pin off a Spear. A bit anti-climactic, but it worked. Solid match.
Cody Rhodes VS Rey Mysterio – This match was amazing and honestly might have been my favorite of the night. The storyline leading to this was stupid, and I’ll continue to say this would have been more interesting if Cody’s face was kept hidden most of the match only to reveal mid-match that it was fine. Still, Cody looked very impressive in this match, and Mysterio got Rhodes over big time. I actually sort of like Rhodes’ gimmick now as he’s a bit more mysterious and psychopathic which could work wonders for him in the future. The finish saw Rhodes taking off Rey’s knee brace, then sliding out of the ring to hit him with it while the ref was distracted. A great finish and these guys put on one hell of a match for something that really didn’t interest me going in.
CORRE VS Big Show, Kane, Santino, and Kofi – A squash match essentially, but for the wrong guys. The current Intercontinental and Tag Team champions were utterly destroyed here in a match that was basically one hot tag. Some nice athleticism from Kofi, but that’s about all I can say positively about this match. Even if they had to make CORRE lose this match, they should have lost with a bit more style. You’d never realize that three guys in that match were champions, and the fourth guy they’re trying to build as the next Batista. Very poor match.
Randy Orton VS CM Punk – As I’ve said plenty of times, Randy really is a bad face--even if he is a tweener. It’s tough to really root against Punk considering this feud all started because Orton was a dick two years ago, and the build has been Orton systematically killing Punk’s partners. Still, I thought this was a great match due to some amazing ring psychology. CM Punk is amazing at this and he worked the leg all night long. Orton sold it great too and he really looked crippled out there. The finish saw Orton going for the punt then falling, and Punk narrowly escaping a surprise RKO. He attempted a diving crossbody only for Orton to come out with another surprise RKO. It was a great ending showing Punk narrowly avoiding one move just to fall into it again, and it really sells the RKO as the new Sweet Chin Music—i.e. a finisher that can come from anywhere. I heard reports saying Orton was pissed that this match was so low on the card and a bit shorter, but honestly I thought it went great. A nice mid card battle with some great ring work. Kudos to both men.
Jerry Lawler VS Michael Cole w/ Special Guest Referee Stone Cold Steve Austin – This was both a great and awful match. On one hand Michael Cole got the living shit beat out of him at WrestleMania which was the only thing anyone wanted. On the other hand this match was painfully long during Cole’s offensive, and the ending was baffling. They had the chance to kill the Cole heat at Mania, but instead they’re giving Cole the overturned win via DQ which suggests this feud will continue. I don’t know how it could, and honestly it was a pretty big downer ending to match that should have been a feel good “everybody leaves happy” sort of match. Very strange.
Triple H VS The Undertaker – This was an amazing match put on by two great veterans. You can tell these guys aren’t as fast as they once were and some of the time things didn’t go perfectly, but honestly Taker just can’t do a bad Mania match anymore. The emotions were overwhelming in this match and Taker, God bless him, absolutely destroyed himself for this match. Seeing Taker kick out of a Pedigree and a Tombstone Piledriver was amazing—even I thought HHH was going to win once he hit the Tombstone. The finish wasn’t as impressive just because it didn’t look like Taker got the Hell’s Gate locked in correctly unless I was mistaken that it was supposed to look like a chokehold. Triple H tapping for the finish was great though, and I can’t say anything bad about this match that wouldn’t be nitpicking. Some people think the end wasn’t planned and they had to cut the match short because Taker was hurt, and that’s entirely possible, but if that is the case then even more props to Taker and HHH because that definitely looked planned. A fantastic match.
Dolph Ziggler & Laycool VS John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki – People were dreading this match as soon as it happened, but I actually was surprised by it. First of all this was really Trish Stratus VS Laycool featuring others, and it was very refreshing to see Trish in the ring again. She looked sharp, she was entertaining, and it all flowed rather well. The finish saw Snooki getting the hot tag and doing some cartwheel moved to pin Michelle McCool. I was actually impressed by this because Snookie could have totally gone the easy way out and done some stupid slap or horribly botched DDT. What she did didn’t exactly look threatening, but it took some athleticism, and I can appreciate that.
WWE Title Match: The Miz VS John Cena – This match was terrible from almost the very beginning. It started off actually pretty nice with a promo for Miz showing his time on the Real World intercut with scenes of great Mania moments. It built him up as this new heel that, like it or not, was going to make a WrestleMania memory. It was all downhill from there. Cena then had his own promo and honestly it was a complete clusterfuck. It was this very religious prayer played over images of Cena that came off extremely awkward, and throughout the match Cena looked distracted. For a promo all about him being an inspiration and a symbol for children, Cena pretty much ignored the crowd which did nothing to help the already dreary energy of the night. People wanted excitement, but more than that people wanted The Rock. Instead we got a very boring match full of way too many pinfalls. Every few seconds someone would go for a pin, and it really killed the match’s tempo. The only cool spot of the match came when Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment, and then Miz kicked out. That sole moment made Miz look credible, but it ended after that. The “finish” came with Miz attempting to leave the arena when Cena attacked him and the two got counted out. A double DQ was not going to sit well with the fans, so The Rock came out, ordered the match to restart as a No DQ match. He then Rock Bottom’d Cena, and Miz scored the win.
Again, this was a clusterfuck. The match itself was boring and filled with too many pinfalls on banal maneuvers that killed the tempo for me. The match absolutely destroyed Miz’s chance to look credible which he honestly desperately needed. Miz needed to look good here to come out looking credible, but instead he was your standard chicken shit heel. He didn’t look dominant or memorable, and aside from kicking out of the AA he was mostly forgettable. The end just stank and again, killed Miz’s credibility as he only won after having the match restarted and The Rock laying out Cena for him. I thought this was a terrible match and honestly the worst way to end the night. Even ending the night on the shitty 8-Man tag match would have been better because at least the faces won. Nobody got what they wanted here. Cena fans saw Cena lose. Cena haters still had to endure Cena looking like the dominant combatant. Miz fans can’t really cheer this win as a legitimate victory, and Rock fans can’t cheer because honestly he came off like a heel.
This was a horrible way to end Mania and really dropped the show’s appeal in my eyes because even more than Taker & HHH, this was the most important match. Taker/HHH was a match that defined a generation, but Cena/Miz should have been a match to showcase the next generation, but honestly came off looking flat and pointless. Overall I still liked WrestleMania 27. I loved the Rhodes/Mysterio, Punk/Orton, and Taker/HHH matches immensely, and the rest were relatively good. All three of the above matches were WrestleMania caliber to me, and I’d definitely love to see those programs continue—though I doubt the latter will. I’d give WrestleMania 27 a 7/10 or a B if you will.
Until next time, Namaste
Monday, April 4, 2011
Caitlin's Backstory
Since people seemed to enjoy Juliet’s backstory and From Their Eyes was popular enough to make it a full-time series, I figure I’d indulge those curious about Caitlin and her backstory. Admittedly her story is a lot less whimsical than Juliet’s which is a big reason why I have no real qualms about spoiling it—it’s really not something will come up naturally in the story, and even if it did we wouldn’t be able to see it from the perspectives that matter, so instead I’ll share it with everybody. Hopefully you guys dig it. Without further adieu, let’s get into Caitlin’s backstory.
Caitlin Cormac was only a child when her parents left the Glitterhold Forest in their attempt to find a new way of life. With very little to their name they made the long arduous journey overseas, but due to dire circumstances regarding funds they were not able to procure a direct route to Wyrmwick and instead had to settle for reaching the continent and walking from there. Though perilous, Caitlin’s parents felt it was in their daughter’s best interest to be able to grow up in a society where her future wasn’t dictated to her by the whims of one man, however such an exodus came with risks—not only were Caitlin and her parents declared as heretics for abandoning the forest, but the road to Wyrmwick was rife with danger not suitable for a child and two adults who were far from proficient with a weapon.
It seemed as if fortune would shine upon the couple though as they found themselves only a few miles outside of Wyrmwick and had yet to encounter a single problem. However the elves let their guards down, and were completely unaware of the predators following them. Stalking the family was a trio of beasts with mangled teeth, knotted muscles of flesh, and crocked claws leaking lethal venom. Just as the Cormac family thought they were safe the beasts attacked, and in mere moments the situation became chaos. Caitlin’s father, moderately sized for an elf, was the first target, and before anyone could recognize the dangers at hand he had been stricken several times. With his brief knowledge of medicine, Caitlin’s father recognized the venom he was now infected with was very deadly, and without much time to grieve he accepted that his fate was already decided. In the brief moments he had left he wanted to ensure his family escaped, and he desperately tried to hold off the beasts while ordering his wife to escape. Though it pained her to do so, she knew her husband’s conviction wasn’t worth questioning and she began to flee with Caitlin. Unfortunately one of the fiends managed to strike Caitlin’s mother in the back as she ran, but due to the final efforts from her father, the beast was held back for the mere moments necessary for Caitlin and her mother to escape, and for the beasts to decide to finish off the meal they already had.
A mile outside of Wyrmwick, Councilman Alpert stared down at a grave. His wife, Moyria was six months pregnant with their child when she was stricken with an illness. Even for a man with as much money and power as he, curing her was just impossible, and all too suddenly he lost the family he never had. It had become habit for the Councilman to wonder out to the cemetery and stare at his wife’s grave for hours, and people were starting to question the sanity of the recently widowed husband. But fate has a strange way of working as Alpert heard the strained breathing of a woman staggering towards him with a child tucked tightly in her arms.
Alpert stared at the woman who seemed to be stuck in a horrible fever. Thick beads of sweat pouring down her face already tinted a faint red. Her eyes seemed barely focused, and she was muttering something in elven—a lullaby. The image was an all too painful reminder of his own wife’s final moments, and quickly the councilman wrapped his jacket around the mother and tried to diagnose her problems based off his own limited knowledge of medicine. His efforts were in vain though, and Caitlin’s mother died less than an hour outside of Wyrmwick. Now an orphan, Caitlin was all alone in the world, and Alpert knew it. He couldn’t stand witnessing someone else endure the tragedy of living alone, and thus he employed the young Caitlin to be his servant so that she would have a home to stay in and a life inside of Wyrmwick.
However the relationship between Alpert and Caitlin extended far beyond a simple handmaiden. As she aged Alpert would employee elves to help teach her the ways of her people. She was taught the ways of the hunter, the ranger, and the scout. Due to her near constant supervision by either Alpert or one of her trainers, she adapted quickly to the ways of combat, and at the age of fifteen she was hired on as the official bodyguard of Councilman Alpert. She always knew she owed her life to him, and never questioned any task he asked of her. To her, Alpert was an amazing mentor—far more magnificent than any she deserved. To Alpert, Caitlin was the child he lost years ago, and the chance to live a life with a real family.
On her twentieth birthday Alpert pooled together a large amount of resources to have Caitlin built a custom rapier forged by true elven blacksmiths in the style of her people. This sword, called Corellon’s Thorn, holds very significant meaning to Caitlin. Not only is a treasured gift from the man she respects more than anyone else, but it was custom built for her, and the names of her parents are carved into the inside of the hilt.
Caitlin would do anything for Alpert which is why she never questioned him when he asked her to lend her skill to the resistance armies battling the demon horde. Though it pained him to send Caitlin, Alpert knew that the city of Wyrmwick needed her strength more than he did. Without hesitation she left her home behind to find what remained of the resistance army, and bring the threat of the Demon Baron to an end.
So yep, that’s Caitlin’s backstory. Less thematic than Juliet’s, but I still like the emotion. If you guys enjoyed reading this, I encourage you to check back in the next few days as I’m going to detail my process for creating Caitlin from start until finish. Hope you guys enjoyed.
Until next time, Namaste!
Caitlin Cormac was only a child when her parents left the Glitterhold Forest in their attempt to find a new way of life. With very little to their name they made the long arduous journey overseas, but due to dire circumstances regarding funds they were not able to procure a direct route to Wyrmwick and instead had to settle for reaching the continent and walking from there. Though perilous, Caitlin’s parents felt it was in their daughter’s best interest to be able to grow up in a society where her future wasn’t dictated to her by the whims of one man, however such an exodus came with risks—not only were Caitlin and her parents declared as heretics for abandoning the forest, but the road to Wyrmwick was rife with danger not suitable for a child and two adults who were far from proficient with a weapon.
It seemed as if fortune would shine upon the couple though as they found themselves only a few miles outside of Wyrmwick and had yet to encounter a single problem. However the elves let their guards down, and were completely unaware of the predators following them. Stalking the family was a trio of beasts with mangled teeth, knotted muscles of flesh, and crocked claws leaking lethal venom. Just as the Cormac family thought they were safe the beasts attacked, and in mere moments the situation became chaos. Caitlin’s father, moderately sized for an elf, was the first target, and before anyone could recognize the dangers at hand he had been stricken several times. With his brief knowledge of medicine, Caitlin’s father recognized the venom he was now infected with was very deadly, and without much time to grieve he accepted that his fate was already decided. In the brief moments he had left he wanted to ensure his family escaped, and he desperately tried to hold off the beasts while ordering his wife to escape. Though it pained her to do so, she knew her husband’s conviction wasn’t worth questioning and she began to flee with Caitlin. Unfortunately one of the fiends managed to strike Caitlin’s mother in the back as she ran, but due to the final efforts from her father, the beast was held back for the mere moments necessary for Caitlin and her mother to escape, and for the beasts to decide to finish off the meal they already had.
A mile outside of Wyrmwick, Councilman Alpert stared down at a grave. His wife, Moyria was six months pregnant with their child when she was stricken with an illness. Even for a man with as much money and power as he, curing her was just impossible, and all too suddenly he lost the family he never had. It had become habit for the Councilman to wonder out to the cemetery and stare at his wife’s grave for hours, and people were starting to question the sanity of the recently widowed husband. But fate has a strange way of working as Alpert heard the strained breathing of a woman staggering towards him with a child tucked tightly in her arms.
Alpert stared at the woman who seemed to be stuck in a horrible fever. Thick beads of sweat pouring down her face already tinted a faint red. Her eyes seemed barely focused, and she was muttering something in elven—a lullaby. The image was an all too painful reminder of his own wife’s final moments, and quickly the councilman wrapped his jacket around the mother and tried to diagnose her problems based off his own limited knowledge of medicine. His efforts were in vain though, and Caitlin’s mother died less than an hour outside of Wyrmwick. Now an orphan, Caitlin was all alone in the world, and Alpert knew it. He couldn’t stand witnessing someone else endure the tragedy of living alone, and thus he employed the young Caitlin to be his servant so that she would have a home to stay in and a life inside of Wyrmwick.
However the relationship between Alpert and Caitlin extended far beyond a simple handmaiden. As she aged Alpert would employee elves to help teach her the ways of her people. She was taught the ways of the hunter, the ranger, and the scout. Due to her near constant supervision by either Alpert or one of her trainers, she adapted quickly to the ways of combat, and at the age of fifteen she was hired on as the official bodyguard of Councilman Alpert. She always knew she owed her life to him, and never questioned any task he asked of her. To her, Alpert was an amazing mentor—far more magnificent than any she deserved. To Alpert, Caitlin was the child he lost years ago, and the chance to live a life with a real family.
On her twentieth birthday Alpert pooled together a large amount of resources to have Caitlin built a custom rapier forged by true elven blacksmiths in the style of her people. This sword, called Corellon’s Thorn, holds very significant meaning to Caitlin. Not only is a treasured gift from the man she respects more than anyone else, but it was custom built for her, and the names of her parents are carved into the inside of the hilt.
Caitlin would do anything for Alpert which is why she never questioned him when he asked her to lend her skill to the resistance armies battling the demon horde. Though it pained him to send Caitlin, Alpert knew that the city of Wyrmwick needed her strength more than he did. Without hesitation she left her home behind to find what remained of the resistance army, and bring the threat of the Demon Baron to an end.
So yep, that’s Caitlin’s backstory. Less thematic than Juliet’s, but I still like the emotion. If you guys enjoyed reading this, I encourage you to check back in the next few days as I’m going to detail my process for creating Caitlin from start until finish. Hope you guys enjoyed.
Until next time, Namaste!
Wyrmwick Log: Session 6
Alright, so before I get into this week’s D&D recap I want to address something—mainly the same thing I imagine a few of you are also wondering. “Didn’t you just make a blog like two weeks ago saying you were done with D&D?” Yeah, I did, and now I’m back and I feel I should explain why before I start to come off like a YouTube personality who says “I’m quitting YouTube” just to come back a week later and act like it never happened *coughPhillyDcough*. The reason I left D&D was to hopefully alleviate some tensions between the players. I had hoped that my lack of presence would allow some personalities to calm down and get back to playing a game we’d enjoy, but sadly that didn’t happen. Within the week things fell through and more people left the group. Considering the people who left were the ones I had a problem with, there was really nothing keeping me from playing, and honestly a lot of people wanted me back. I didn’t go emo or make the blog post to get traffic—I was honestly dead set on not coming back, but things changed. They just weren’t in the way I had planned.
I still have no plans to return to the Dethklok campaign, though from what I’m hearing it sounds like that won’t be returning either—at least not in any recognizable form. But that’s coming from someone not playing in the group, so I don’t know. What I do know is that this past week we had an amazing session in the Wyrmwick campaign, and I’m going to recap it right now.
So this session was my return to the game, and since ArcLight rolled up Denora, a Half-Elf Suncleric to replace Eli last week, I rolled up a new character so as not to overlap two characters essentially doing the same thing. My new character is Caitlin Cormac, an Elf Scout from Wyrmwick who I honestly had a lot of fun playing. She’s a bit more to the point than my past characters, and in general I just really enjoyed the change of pace. The chat really seemed to dig her as well which was a pleasant surprise. Plus this was the first time since Sayid that I got to play a Striker character! We’ll see if I can beat Sayid’s session count of “two” next week.
The session began with Caitlin arriving to meet the rest of the party after their escape/investigation of the south tower. She was to the point. After meeting with the rest of the group and learning that Khan Muzarog had returned to Wyrmwick, the party was told to head north to Collinsgrove to speak with Duke Ned about the fate of the resistance army and to request aid. The party headed north, and on one night they came upon an abandoned camp ground. After investigating, the party found it completely abandoned. It seemed like a good place to sleep, but the party felt it was too convenient to risk it, and there was nothing wrong with the way they were sleeping. That night Caitlin spotted a group of thieves approaching the camp asking why we didn’t take the bait. Yeah, we sorta avoided being ambushed and attacked in our sleep, and the chat was quick to praise our “underp” moment to me rejoining the group. I don’t think the group would have slept there regardless, but I did find it funny we just left after that. I hesitate to think LordKaT set up an entire encounter for us, and we just decided to walk right passed it.
So on our way to Collinsgrove we spotted what looked like refugees on the side of the road. Most of them were battered and mangled, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. We were allowed entrance to Collinsgrove and we spoke with Duke Ned, the dwarf. He asked for our report and then told us to stay around and speak to him again the next morning. After that we did some shopping leading to two infamous moments: Jonn asking for “defensive” armor, and Bomar the baker who was too stupid to be bluffed. Both segments were hilarious, but this recap is already going to be long, so we’ll skip over them for now.
The next morning we returned to Duke Ned to find out what was going on with the resistance army only to be told that Wyrmwick was attacked and the refugees outside were actually from Wyrmwick. This was sort of a big deal to Caitlin as someone very important to her named Alpert lived in Wyrmwick. In fact the entire party seemed devastated by this news, but there was very little they could do about it as it seemed we’d be screwed if we attempted to invade Wyrmwick directly to find out what happened. Duke Ned wanted us to stay to bolster the defenses of Collinsgrove, but again, telling us Wyrmwick was destroyed meant a few of us were in a rush to get back and see what befell of the city. Before we could leave though we were interrupted by the Duke’s son, Timmy who told us about a staff of power held in the crypt of some mage. After more questioning we learned that crypt was now in Owayn’s Hold, and we made Owayn’s Hold our next destination. Caitlin at first suggested stealing a ship to get there, but the rest of the party remembered how well that went over the first time. Instead we asked Duke Ned for a ship, but he only allowed the party a trip to an area about a day’s away from Owayn’s Hold which we were forced to accept. Before leaving I muttered “eat shit and die” under my breath, which apparently set off Duke Ned’s very fragile relationship with his son which before we left deteriorated to Duke Ned threatening to beat his son with his dick. I love this campaign.
We were let off a mile away from Owayn’s Hold and were forced to walk through the swampy marshlands to get there. We rested for an evening in the swamplands only to be attacked by a vicious spider during the evening. This bastard spider was actually a tough one to take down mostly because it had a high attack and whenever it hit it would knock you unconscious. It happened quite a few times to Caitlin, but thankfully Dhother and Drew managed to avoid being hit (for the most part) and collectively took it down while Denora spent time bringing Caitlin and Jonn back up whenever they got knocked out. It was good team work, and we found a bag full of money in the spider’s belly that totaled to 130 GP which we desperately needed.
After that we finally reached Owayn’s Hold, but to our shock it was completely barren. No one in sight, and even Owayn himself seemed to be resting peacefully. We ignored him and used the elevator to head into the basement where we found the crypt that contained the artifact of power we were looking for—presumably. We couldn’t open it, and the only way to open it seemed to involve a key held by a “Wesley” and yes, that meant we had to return to Wyrmwick to find good old Wez the Mad. Luckily we managed to find a portal in one of the other chambers in the hold that took us back to Wyrmwick, and from there we quickly discovered that only the poorer districts were destroyed by the Chain Devils, and the rest of the city was fine. We reported back to Khan Muzarog (after speaking briefly to Santa Claus—er… Alpert), who basically told us that they fended off the first attack, but surely more would be coming. Until then however, we were free to pursue whatever mad fables we wanted, and so we took Wez with us to visit the tomb back in Owayn’s Hold. After Wez turned Caitlin’s weapon pink of course. Fucking Wez.
So we took Wez to the crypt, and to our surprise he seemed to react with the statue in the room and before long found himself surrounded by a strange energy. The statue lifted into the air revealing a staircase that descended into the lower crypts. Unfortuantely we couldn’t figure out a way to bring Wez with us, and when we descended the stairs Wez ended the spell and the statue fell, sealing us in the crypt. Kinda messed up on that one, but we had no choice if we wanted to move forward. Don’t in the crypts we found a collection of wraiths and skeletons that we did battle with, and it was quite the epic encounter—except for poor Dhother who failed almost constantly to make an attack that would hit. His effects were still appreciated, but he had bursts that would attack several enemies at once, and he’d still miss. Also the same bad rolls spread to Denora, but thankfully she was amazing at support. She even handed Caitlin a +4 bonus to her attack rolls for a turn which for a Scout translated to +8 damage. Yep. Pretty fucking sexy. Not as sexy as this though. Sorry, just had to reference that picture in here somewhere. And then this follow up picture. Okay, I'm good.
In general everyone filled their roles excellently. Caitlin and Drew laid some big damage down, Jonn took a beating and kept the agro on him, Denora kept everyone in the party from going down, and Dhother, despite missing, still did an excellent job controlling the battlefield. I actually thought we had great tactics, and our team was very anti-derp for the first time in a while. We ended the game shortly after that, but this game ran about five or six hours. Thankfully even combat seemed to flow a lot faster I think due to partially to the fact that three of our characters are Essential classes so they’re rather straightforward and the fact this party isn't nearly as large as Dethklok's. I had an absolute blast playing this session and it felt very reminiscent of the early sessions of the Spoony campaign where everything just felt a lot more enjoyable. Great atmosphere, great friends, and a great game. I’m very eager for next week.
Now before I sign off, I want to give a bit of heads up on what’s coming up for me. I have plans to reveal Caitlin’s backstory either today or tomorrow so that you all can see what’s the deal with her and Alpert. I also plan to do an article detailing how I came up with Caitlin as a character from a mechanics and storytelling perspective to give people some insight into the way I make characters. I also plan to do an article regarding my thoughts on WrestleMania 27 tomorrow. Busy week, but I should also have a new episode of Weekly Manga Recap this Sunday. Fingers crossed.
Credits for the images above go to DarkVolt and CallingCthulhu.
Until next time, Namaste!
I still have no plans to return to the Dethklok campaign, though from what I’m hearing it sounds like that won’t be returning either—at least not in any recognizable form. But that’s coming from someone not playing in the group, so I don’t know. What I do know is that this past week we had an amazing session in the Wyrmwick campaign, and I’m going to recap it right now.
So this session was my return to the game, and since ArcLight rolled up Denora, a Half-Elf Suncleric to replace Eli last week, I rolled up a new character so as not to overlap two characters essentially doing the same thing. My new character is Caitlin Cormac, an Elf Scout from Wyrmwick who I honestly had a lot of fun playing. She’s a bit more to the point than my past characters, and in general I just really enjoyed the change of pace. The chat really seemed to dig her as well which was a pleasant surprise. Plus this was the first time since Sayid that I got to play a Striker character! We’ll see if I can beat Sayid’s session count of “two” next week.
The session began with Caitlin arriving to meet the rest of the party after their escape/investigation of the south tower. She was to the point. After meeting with the rest of the group and learning that Khan Muzarog had returned to Wyrmwick, the party was told to head north to Collinsgrove to speak with Duke Ned about the fate of the resistance army and to request aid. The party headed north, and on one night they came upon an abandoned camp ground. After investigating, the party found it completely abandoned. It seemed like a good place to sleep, but the party felt it was too convenient to risk it, and there was nothing wrong with the way they were sleeping. That night Caitlin spotted a group of thieves approaching the camp asking why we didn’t take the bait. Yeah, we sorta avoided being ambushed and attacked in our sleep, and the chat was quick to praise our “underp” moment to me rejoining the group. I don’t think the group would have slept there regardless, but I did find it funny we just left after that. I hesitate to think LordKaT set up an entire encounter for us, and we just decided to walk right passed it.
So on our way to Collinsgrove we spotted what looked like refugees on the side of the road. Most of them were battered and mangled, and it wasn’t a pleasant sight. We were allowed entrance to Collinsgrove and we spoke with Duke Ned, the dwarf. He asked for our report and then told us to stay around and speak to him again the next morning. After that we did some shopping leading to two infamous moments: Jonn asking for “defensive” armor, and Bomar the baker who was too stupid to be bluffed. Both segments were hilarious, but this recap is already going to be long, so we’ll skip over them for now.
The next morning we returned to Duke Ned to find out what was going on with the resistance army only to be told that Wyrmwick was attacked and the refugees outside were actually from Wyrmwick. This was sort of a big deal to Caitlin as someone very important to her named Alpert lived in Wyrmwick. In fact the entire party seemed devastated by this news, but there was very little they could do about it as it seemed we’d be screwed if we attempted to invade Wyrmwick directly to find out what happened. Duke Ned wanted us to stay to bolster the defenses of Collinsgrove, but again, telling us Wyrmwick was destroyed meant a few of us were in a rush to get back and see what befell of the city. Before we could leave though we were interrupted by the Duke’s son, Timmy who told us about a staff of power held in the crypt of some mage. After more questioning we learned that crypt was now in Owayn’s Hold, and we made Owayn’s Hold our next destination. Caitlin at first suggested stealing a ship to get there, but the rest of the party remembered how well that went over the first time. Instead we asked Duke Ned for a ship, but he only allowed the party a trip to an area about a day’s away from Owayn’s Hold which we were forced to accept. Before leaving I muttered “eat shit and die” under my breath, which apparently set off Duke Ned’s very fragile relationship with his son which before we left deteriorated to Duke Ned threatening to beat his son with his dick. I love this campaign.
We were let off a mile away from Owayn’s Hold and were forced to walk through the swampy marshlands to get there. We rested for an evening in the swamplands only to be attacked by a vicious spider during the evening. This bastard spider was actually a tough one to take down mostly because it had a high attack and whenever it hit it would knock you unconscious. It happened quite a few times to Caitlin, but thankfully Dhother and Drew managed to avoid being hit (for the most part) and collectively took it down while Denora spent time bringing Caitlin and Jonn back up whenever they got knocked out. It was good team work, and we found a bag full of money in the spider’s belly that totaled to 130 GP which we desperately needed.
After that we finally reached Owayn’s Hold, but to our shock it was completely barren. No one in sight, and even Owayn himself seemed to be resting peacefully. We ignored him and used the elevator to head into the basement where we found the crypt that contained the artifact of power we were looking for—presumably. We couldn’t open it, and the only way to open it seemed to involve a key held by a “Wesley” and yes, that meant we had to return to Wyrmwick to find good old Wez the Mad. Luckily we managed to find a portal in one of the other chambers in the hold that took us back to Wyrmwick, and from there we quickly discovered that only the poorer districts were destroyed by the Chain Devils, and the rest of the city was fine. We reported back to Khan Muzarog (after speaking briefly to Santa Claus—er… Alpert), who basically told us that they fended off the first attack, but surely more would be coming. Until then however, we were free to pursue whatever mad fables we wanted, and so we took Wez with us to visit the tomb back in Owayn’s Hold. After Wez turned Caitlin’s weapon pink of course. Fucking Wez.
So we took Wez to the crypt, and to our surprise he seemed to react with the statue in the room and before long found himself surrounded by a strange energy. The statue lifted into the air revealing a staircase that descended into the lower crypts. Unfortuantely we couldn’t figure out a way to bring Wez with us, and when we descended the stairs Wez ended the spell and the statue fell, sealing us in the crypt. Kinda messed up on that one, but we had no choice if we wanted to move forward. Don’t in the crypts we found a collection of wraiths and skeletons that we did battle with, and it was quite the epic encounter—except for poor Dhother who failed almost constantly to make an attack that would hit. His effects were still appreciated, but he had bursts that would attack several enemies at once, and he’d still miss. Also the same bad rolls spread to Denora, but thankfully she was amazing at support. She even handed Caitlin a +4 bonus to her attack rolls for a turn which for a Scout translated to +8 damage. Yep. Pretty fucking sexy. Not as sexy as this though. Sorry, just had to reference that picture in here somewhere. And then this follow up picture. Okay, I'm good.
In general everyone filled their roles excellently. Caitlin and Drew laid some big damage down, Jonn took a beating and kept the agro on him, Denora kept everyone in the party from going down, and Dhother, despite missing, still did an excellent job controlling the battlefield. I actually thought we had great tactics, and our team was very anti-derp for the first time in a while. We ended the game shortly after that, but this game ran about five or six hours. Thankfully even combat seemed to flow a lot faster I think due to partially to the fact that three of our characters are Essential classes so they’re rather straightforward and the fact this party isn't nearly as large as Dethklok's. I had an absolute blast playing this session and it felt very reminiscent of the early sessions of the Spoony campaign where everything just felt a lot more enjoyable. Great atmosphere, great friends, and a great game. I’m very eager for next week.
Now before I sign off, I want to give a bit of heads up on what’s coming up for me. I have plans to reveal Caitlin’s backstory either today or tomorrow so that you all can see what’s the deal with her and Alpert. I also plan to do an article detailing how I came up with Caitlin as a character from a mechanics and storytelling perspective to give people some insight into the way I make characters. I also plan to do an article regarding my thoughts on WrestleMania 27 tomorrow. Busy week, but I should also have a new episode of Weekly Manga Recap this Sunday. Fingers crossed.
Credits for the images above go to DarkVolt and CallingCthulhu.
Until next time, Namaste!
Friday, March 25, 2011
From Their Eyes - Juliet (Dwarven Gut Buster)
“It’s not that hard of a plan guys.” That’s what Lord Vane uttered countless of times, but as I fidgeted in my seat I got the feeling that not only were we not on the same page, but I don’t even think we were reading the same book. Viktor, the mercenary, sat next to me but he seemed far more at ease in such a rowdy establishment. Maybe he grew up in taverns like this, but this was the first time I had ever stepped foot in such a place—let alone one with such surly company and with such a cryptic assignment at hand.
“So we are supposed to buy the sand?” Viktor asked, his thick accent dripping over his words in all too exaggerated fashion. Sometimes it almost sounds like he’s desperately trying to remind everyone that he’s foreign, but I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a certain exotic charm to it.
“Well we need to find their dealer, so I guess we have to at least ask for some. How we do that though I have no idea.” I said, drumming my index finger against the table.
“That is easy. We blend in, and when the time is right, we ask. All we need to do is play it subtle.” Easy for him to say. Maybe these are his kind of people, but I’ve never interacted with someone who wasn’t carrying a pitchfork before, and blending in was already difficult when your attire and gender stuck out like a sore thumb in a room full of raffish drunkards and brutish dockhands.
“What will you be having?” asked the waitress with a dull stare. I fumbled around words for a while before blurting out, “Give me something strong.” Both Viktor and the waitress responded with perked eyebrows, but well, I panicked. The waitress quickly left to grab the drinks, leaving me alone with Viktor’s confused glare. “I don’t know. I figured we’d blend in if we asked for a tough drink.”
“We cannot blend in if you are crying and vomiting in corner.” Was liquor that strong? By the time the waitress returned with a tankard of mead I was already having second thoughts, but it would seem even more suspicious to order a strong drink and then leave it sitting there untouched. I took a glance over to Viktor who responded with a solemn nod, and without much more hesitation I ingested the brew and awaited the inevitable stomach churning reaction. But after a moment passed, I felt nothing. In fact, I barely even noticed that I drank it at all. Was this what people were so cautious about? Yesh, people can be such babies.
“Another.” I said with a grin having momentarily forgotten that I was here for a mission. The thrill of the moment took over, and the moment the next tankard arrived at the table I was already chugging. After I slammed the empty mug into the table with an audible thud and wiped the foam from my lips I glanced back to the waitress. “I didn’t say stop.” With that comment I caught the attention of a few patrons eager to see the delicate new customer get her payback for such overzealous drinking, but to their bewilderment I easily downed the next glass as well, and the one after that. I was starting to become a spectacle for the locals and more and more they were turning their attention to our table. I even attracted the attention of the bartender, a grizzly old veteran who looked upon my performance with a laugh.
“Enjoying yourself lass?” He uttered with a chuckle.
“I am, but do you guys have anything stronger?”
“Stronger?!” the barkeep laughed as his customers joined in. “Lass, I got something stronger alright, but you don’t want any part of it.”
“Well I’ve been drinking the stuff you call strong all night, and so far nothing, so why don’t you try me?”
I saw the barkeep’s eyes turn from skepticism to amusement as he raised his hand up to his chin. He gave me a once over before turning his gaze to Viktor, and then back to me. All the while he seemed to be measuring us up and trying to place exactly who we were, but it seemed even he was at a loss for words. “Alright then lass, then who shall we toast this drink too?”
“Bosco.” Wait, what? Why the hell did I say Bosco? Viktor seemed to be thinking the same thing as I swore he mouthed a foreign expletive at me. I don’t know why I didn’t use my real name, or if I absolutely had to come up with a fake name why I didn’t come with something less bizarre than Bosco, but it was too late to take it back.
… I don’t even know a Bosco. Sometimes I have to question my own sanity if these are the first things popping into my head.
“Bosco, eh? Well alright boys, let’s see if ol’ Bosco here can take the Gut Buster!” The tavern erupted into cheers and laughter as the barkeep disappeared into his back room only to emerge with what I can only call the most fiendish concoction ever put in a mug. If it’s murky swamp-like coloring or overwhelming scent didn’t test your resolve, the bubbling foam and visible emission of steam certainly did. He slid the drink in front of me before he began to share the tale behind the Gut Buster. “Dwarven Gut Buster, the strongest ale you’re going to find outside of a Dwarven wedding! Lotta tough men ’ve tried to drink this before, and it didn’t turn out so well for them, ain’t that right boys!”
The tavern responded with a united “Aye!” before the barkeep continued. “The ol’ Concord whelp thought he was tough enough for this drink, and you want to know to know what happened? He took one sip and fell over! Didn’t wake up for a week!” The room filled with laughter as the barkeep raised his voice even louder to speak over his compatriots. “Oh, or what about Dreher!? He thought he could prove us wrong, but he took one gulp and now the poor fool can’t drink milk without retching!” Once again the bar was filled with uproarious laughter. The barkeep lowered his voice so that only I needed to hear his words, and told me to back down and that it wouldn’t be so shameful if a lady lost her nerve and ran away.
By this point I probably was feeling the effects of my earlier chugging, and suddenly my patience was reaching its end. I didn’t care much about the comments regarding my gender, but I didn’t appreciate their efforts to scare me off. Despite Viktor’s barely audible protests, I clutched the mug and began to guzzle the legendary brew. Instantly I felt the ale choking me as it tried to pass through my throat. Quite a few times I felt myself gagging at the taste, but I ignored my body’s warnings and finished the entire tankard, slamming it into the table with my face following shortly after. My senses turned into a blur, and what little I could perceive became muddled by the “Bosco” chants that drowned out the tavern. What happened to my body after that was a complete mystery. I remember standing up to celebrate, and then I remember singing a song about knobs and wizard’s staves, but the next thing I remember was stumbling outside in the street with the rest of the party and hearing Lord Vane berate Viktor and myself.
I don’t remember what they said very much, but Vane did order Viktor to take me to the inn as I would be no more help. They left shortly after, and Viktor proceeded to lead me back into the city despite my best efforts to pass out in the street. My stumbling must have become incredibly distracting because the next thing I know Viktor is carrying me in his arms. “You’re a nice guy Viktor.” I mumbled in much less coherent fashion.
“Yes, and you are very drunk.”
“Can I kiss you?”
“No.”
“Aww…” It’s baffling what liquor can do to a person. I’m not quite sure why I would say those things or afterward rest my head against Viktor’s chestplate, but liquor makes you do the things you’d never do without influence right? It was just an out of character sort of moment I suppose, and I don’t think either of each put much stock into it. Well… I assume. I passed out shortly after.
From what I heard the next morning, it was a good thing I did. All I remember was Grae muttering “fucking Halfling” all the way to Ihestas.
“So we are supposed to buy the sand?” Viktor asked, his thick accent dripping over his words in all too exaggerated fashion. Sometimes it almost sounds like he’s desperately trying to remind everyone that he’s foreign, but I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a certain exotic charm to it.
“Well we need to find their dealer, so I guess we have to at least ask for some. How we do that though I have no idea.” I said, drumming my index finger against the table.
“That is easy. We blend in, and when the time is right, we ask. All we need to do is play it subtle.” Easy for him to say. Maybe these are his kind of people, but I’ve never interacted with someone who wasn’t carrying a pitchfork before, and blending in was already difficult when your attire and gender stuck out like a sore thumb in a room full of raffish drunkards and brutish dockhands.
“What will you be having?” asked the waitress with a dull stare. I fumbled around words for a while before blurting out, “Give me something strong.” Both Viktor and the waitress responded with perked eyebrows, but well, I panicked. The waitress quickly left to grab the drinks, leaving me alone with Viktor’s confused glare. “I don’t know. I figured we’d blend in if we asked for a tough drink.”
“We cannot blend in if you are crying and vomiting in corner.” Was liquor that strong? By the time the waitress returned with a tankard of mead I was already having second thoughts, but it would seem even more suspicious to order a strong drink and then leave it sitting there untouched. I took a glance over to Viktor who responded with a solemn nod, and without much more hesitation I ingested the brew and awaited the inevitable stomach churning reaction. But after a moment passed, I felt nothing. In fact, I barely even noticed that I drank it at all. Was this what people were so cautious about? Yesh, people can be such babies.
“Another.” I said with a grin having momentarily forgotten that I was here for a mission. The thrill of the moment took over, and the moment the next tankard arrived at the table I was already chugging. After I slammed the empty mug into the table with an audible thud and wiped the foam from my lips I glanced back to the waitress. “I didn’t say stop.” With that comment I caught the attention of a few patrons eager to see the delicate new customer get her payback for such overzealous drinking, but to their bewilderment I easily downed the next glass as well, and the one after that. I was starting to become a spectacle for the locals and more and more they were turning their attention to our table. I even attracted the attention of the bartender, a grizzly old veteran who looked upon my performance with a laugh.
“Enjoying yourself lass?” He uttered with a chuckle.
“I am, but do you guys have anything stronger?”
“Stronger?!” the barkeep laughed as his customers joined in. “Lass, I got something stronger alright, but you don’t want any part of it.”
“Well I’ve been drinking the stuff you call strong all night, and so far nothing, so why don’t you try me?”
I saw the barkeep’s eyes turn from skepticism to amusement as he raised his hand up to his chin. He gave me a once over before turning his gaze to Viktor, and then back to me. All the while he seemed to be measuring us up and trying to place exactly who we were, but it seemed even he was at a loss for words. “Alright then lass, then who shall we toast this drink too?”
“Bosco.” Wait, what? Why the hell did I say Bosco? Viktor seemed to be thinking the same thing as I swore he mouthed a foreign expletive at me. I don’t know why I didn’t use my real name, or if I absolutely had to come up with a fake name why I didn’t come with something less bizarre than Bosco, but it was too late to take it back.
… I don’t even know a Bosco. Sometimes I have to question my own sanity if these are the first things popping into my head.
“Bosco, eh? Well alright boys, let’s see if ol’ Bosco here can take the Gut Buster!” The tavern erupted into cheers and laughter as the barkeep disappeared into his back room only to emerge with what I can only call the most fiendish concoction ever put in a mug. If it’s murky swamp-like coloring or overwhelming scent didn’t test your resolve, the bubbling foam and visible emission of steam certainly did. He slid the drink in front of me before he began to share the tale behind the Gut Buster. “Dwarven Gut Buster, the strongest ale you’re going to find outside of a Dwarven wedding! Lotta tough men ’ve tried to drink this before, and it didn’t turn out so well for them, ain’t that right boys!”
The tavern responded with a united “Aye!” before the barkeep continued. “The ol’ Concord whelp thought he was tough enough for this drink, and you want to know to know what happened? He took one sip and fell over! Didn’t wake up for a week!” The room filled with laughter as the barkeep raised his voice even louder to speak over his compatriots. “Oh, or what about Dreher!? He thought he could prove us wrong, but he took one gulp and now the poor fool can’t drink milk without retching!” Once again the bar was filled with uproarious laughter. The barkeep lowered his voice so that only I needed to hear his words, and told me to back down and that it wouldn’t be so shameful if a lady lost her nerve and ran away.
By this point I probably was feeling the effects of my earlier chugging, and suddenly my patience was reaching its end. I didn’t care much about the comments regarding my gender, but I didn’t appreciate their efforts to scare me off. Despite Viktor’s barely audible protests, I clutched the mug and began to guzzle the legendary brew. Instantly I felt the ale choking me as it tried to pass through my throat. Quite a few times I felt myself gagging at the taste, but I ignored my body’s warnings and finished the entire tankard, slamming it into the table with my face following shortly after. My senses turned into a blur, and what little I could perceive became muddled by the “Bosco” chants that drowned out the tavern. What happened to my body after that was a complete mystery. I remember standing up to celebrate, and then I remember singing a song about knobs and wizard’s staves, but the next thing I remember was stumbling outside in the street with the rest of the party and hearing Lord Vane berate Viktor and myself.
I don’t remember what they said very much, but Vane did order Viktor to take me to the inn as I would be no more help. They left shortly after, and Viktor proceeded to lead me back into the city despite my best efforts to pass out in the street. My stumbling must have become incredibly distracting because the next thing I know Viktor is carrying me in his arms. “You’re a nice guy Viktor.” I mumbled in much less coherent fashion.
“Yes, and you are very drunk.”
“Can I kiss you?”
“No.”
“Aww…” It’s baffling what liquor can do to a person. I’m not quite sure why I would say those things or afterward rest my head against Viktor’s chestplate, but liquor makes you do the things you’d never do without influence right? It was just an out of character sort of moment I suppose, and I don’t think either of each put much stock into it. Well… I assume. I passed out shortly after.
From what I heard the next morning, it was a good thing I did. All I remember was Grae muttering “fucking Halfling” all the way to Ihestas.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Inside the Koma: Soichiro Yagami (Deathnote)
I loved Deathnote back when it first came out. When the manga was just starting its English translation it was an unknown gem that was a refreshing change of pace for Shonen Jump and a fascinating series that encouraged interesting debate and analysis.
… then the anime came out, and now you can’t mention Deathnote without some fanboy screaming “Kira was right” or “L should have won”. Trying to convince a Deathnote fanboy that both of the characters were flawed is like trying to convince a Naruto fanboy that Sasuke is a broken character—i.e. you’d have better luck convincing Ronald Regan that Rega-nomics were a bad idea and he’s dead. I’ll admit I don’t enjoy the series as much anymore mostly because the fanbase has really made it hard to be taken seriously when you say you enjoy Deathnote, which is rather upsetting because Deathnote is a great series. I think most infuriating is that when you say you like Deathnote you must automatically get drafted to a side like Team Jacob or Team Edward. What if I didn’t agree completely with the way Light or L tried to issue justice? Yeah, that’s right, I thought both of them were rather flawed and the character who I supported all the way through was none other than Light’s father, Soichiro Yagami.
Soichiro Yagami is police officer who is made leader of the Kira investigation team once the series of mysterious deaths began to sweep Japan. Obviously having his father as a police officer made it so Light could easily use his connections for his advantage, but things take a turn for the worse when L deduces that this connection could easily make Light and his sister prime suspects in the Kira case—thus Soichiro must authorize surveillance equipment be placed in the rooms of his children because there’s a chance one of them might be a serial killer. Just imagine being placed in a position like that and you can start to see already what makes Soichiro so appealing. Though eventually Light’s own clever planning manages to convince L to remove the surveillance equipment, it’s not enough to fully convince L that Light isn’t Kira, and this is a constant fear that Soichiro must live with as we’ll see later.
The stress of dealing with the idea that his son is murderer weighs heavily on Soichiro’s mind, and as the manga continues you can see him start to lose weight and become more haggard as time goes on. I feel depressed just writing about him again because the toll this case takes on Soichiro is massive as evidenced by the heart attack he has that hospitalizes him just as the idea of a second Kira starts to take. But the reason his tragic self-destruction is so hard to watch is because he never lets his sense of justice falter even after his health plummets and he has to investigate his own son. Why I respect Soichiro so much is that unlike Light or L who seem to be participating in a game of Chess, Soichiro is in constant pain and suffering but he never lets that stop him from pushing forward.
This is best shown during his time hospitalized following his heart attack. While he’s laid up in bed the rest of the investigation team has to deal with a new attack by Kira where the killer seems to be picking off seemingly innocent people using a broadcast from a local television studio. Obviously they try to stop it, but it seems anyone who gets close to the TV station dies as they try to enter. It appears Kira now has a way to learn people’s names on sight and anyone who enters the studio is doomed, meaning that Kira’s horrid message will continue uninterrupted. L, the world’s greatest detective, is at a loss at what to do, but this is where a policeman willing to do anything for the case comes in handy. See, Soichiro gets out of bed, leaves the hospital, steals a police van, and then crashes it into Sakura TV so that he can get inside the building without Kira seeing him.
This is awesome in so many ways. First, it’s crashing a van into a building, and destruction is always cool. Second, it’s brave because there are still a lot of unknown things about Kira, and a simple slip up will cost him his life. However the biggest factor in making this a Crowning Moment of Awesome is the fact that this is a man still recovering from a heart attack who only hours ago was laid up in a paid with IV fluid pumping into him. This is what I mean about Soichiro being so awesome yet so tragic. You gotta realize his health is in complete shambles at this point, but that’s not what is on his mind. He’s a self-sacrificing policeman who will do what needs to be done to serve justice. Also the ending to his adventure might be the coolest thing ever drawn in a manga. After crashing the bus into the studio so he could take the tapes Kira sent to Sakura TV, he now has to deal with escaping. How can he possibly get out when Kira can see everyone who enters and leaves?! Oh simple, the rest of the police force will show up to form an enormous shield to keep him safe. Bad. Ass.
At this point I feel I should comment on Soichiro’s mortality because well it was obvious he wouldn’t live through the series. The fact that he was so close to Light but unaware meant that at some point or another he’d die. There were plenty of opportunities where it seemed Soichiro was destined to die, but he pulled through and remained a pleasant surprise… up until Mello came along. Sadly, Soichiro couldn’t live forever, and he died after taking a fatal wound during a dangerous mission to investigate Mello’s hideout and apprehend the criminal.
The tragic part is how he died though. He was recovered from the wreckage of Mello’s hideout and taking to a hospital where Light got to see him one final time. Light, now far passed the point of sanity, can’t even focus on the idea of his father dying but is instead desperately trying to get his father to write Mello’s name in the Deathnote. Soichiro however uses this opportunity to look at Light using his Shinigami Eyes that reveals the lifespan of everyone not in possession of a Deathnote. That means that if Light was Kira, he wouldn’t have a visible lifespan. However Light had spent years manipulating the loopholes of the Deathnote, and while he was indeed still using the book to kill criminals, he wasn’t an “owner” and thus his lifespan was visible meaning that after years of doubt Soichiro finally believed his son was innocent.
He died almost immediately afterwards, and his death really carried a lot of mixed emotions. Obviously frustration and sadness from seeing such a noble character die, but there’s a disturbing charm to it in that even though it was a lie, Soichiro finally got to feel peace and believe his son was innocent all along. For a man who had been through so much and endured so much pain as his children were constantly being put at risk, you have to feel at least somewhat happy that he died with a smile and his mind at ease, and yet we as readers know it’s a horrible lie and that Light has been everything his father feared. Scenes like this remind me why I love Deathnote so much and why I hate it when a discussion about Deathnote derails into a debate of Kira vs L. Deathnote is much more than that.
For me, the fact is that Soichiro was just a lot more relatable than either “protagonist”. He wasn’t born with superhuman intelligence or the ability to deduce motives and complex logic in mere moments, but rather he possesses a strong conviction and a morally upright sense of justice. Even Ohba himself has stated that he feels Soichiro was the most “pure” character in the series, and you can see why. He constantly sacrifices himself both physically and mentally for his job, and yet he only seems to suffer more for it. Soichiro is easily my favorite character in the series, and one of my favorite tragic characters of all time. His death easily ranks on my saddest deaths list, and his heroic efforts at Sakura TV easily put him near the top of my Top 10 most badass moments list as well.
It really is a shame that the Deathnote fanbase has made it so difficult to discuss the series amongst fans, but luckily the series does have enough content that you can create a coherent discussion without resulting to a morality debate, and when it does bring up Soichiro and see what everyone says. At least it would be a more interesting discussion that “if you agree with Light you’re Hitler” or “everyone who agrees with L is a cowardly liberal”. And yes, sadly I have honestly heard those arguments multiple times.
Until next time, Namaste!
… then the anime came out, and now you can’t mention Deathnote without some fanboy screaming “Kira was right” or “L should have won”. Trying to convince a Deathnote fanboy that both of the characters were flawed is like trying to convince a Naruto fanboy that Sasuke is a broken character—i.e. you’d have better luck convincing Ronald Regan that Rega-nomics were a bad idea and he’s dead. I’ll admit I don’t enjoy the series as much anymore mostly because the fanbase has really made it hard to be taken seriously when you say you enjoy Deathnote, which is rather upsetting because Deathnote is a great series. I think most infuriating is that when you say you like Deathnote you must automatically get drafted to a side like Team Jacob or Team Edward. What if I didn’t agree completely with the way Light or L tried to issue justice? Yeah, that’s right, I thought both of them were rather flawed and the character who I supported all the way through was none other than Light’s father, Soichiro Yagami.
Soichiro Yagami is police officer who is made leader of the Kira investigation team once the series of mysterious deaths began to sweep Japan. Obviously having his father as a police officer made it so Light could easily use his connections for his advantage, but things take a turn for the worse when L deduces that this connection could easily make Light and his sister prime suspects in the Kira case—thus Soichiro must authorize surveillance equipment be placed in the rooms of his children because there’s a chance one of them might be a serial killer. Just imagine being placed in a position like that and you can start to see already what makes Soichiro so appealing. Though eventually Light’s own clever planning manages to convince L to remove the surveillance equipment, it’s not enough to fully convince L that Light isn’t Kira, and this is a constant fear that Soichiro must live with as we’ll see later.
The stress of dealing with the idea that his son is murderer weighs heavily on Soichiro’s mind, and as the manga continues you can see him start to lose weight and become more haggard as time goes on. I feel depressed just writing about him again because the toll this case takes on Soichiro is massive as evidenced by the heart attack he has that hospitalizes him just as the idea of a second Kira starts to take. But the reason his tragic self-destruction is so hard to watch is because he never lets his sense of justice falter even after his health plummets and he has to investigate his own son. Why I respect Soichiro so much is that unlike Light or L who seem to be participating in a game of Chess, Soichiro is in constant pain and suffering but he never lets that stop him from pushing forward.
This is best shown during his time hospitalized following his heart attack. While he’s laid up in bed the rest of the investigation team has to deal with a new attack by Kira where the killer seems to be picking off seemingly innocent people using a broadcast from a local television studio. Obviously they try to stop it, but it seems anyone who gets close to the TV station dies as they try to enter. It appears Kira now has a way to learn people’s names on sight and anyone who enters the studio is doomed, meaning that Kira’s horrid message will continue uninterrupted. L, the world’s greatest detective, is at a loss at what to do, but this is where a policeman willing to do anything for the case comes in handy. See, Soichiro gets out of bed, leaves the hospital, steals a police van, and then crashes it into Sakura TV so that he can get inside the building without Kira seeing him.
This is awesome in so many ways. First, it’s crashing a van into a building, and destruction is always cool. Second, it’s brave because there are still a lot of unknown things about Kira, and a simple slip up will cost him his life. However the biggest factor in making this a Crowning Moment of Awesome is the fact that this is a man still recovering from a heart attack who only hours ago was laid up in a paid with IV fluid pumping into him. This is what I mean about Soichiro being so awesome yet so tragic. You gotta realize his health is in complete shambles at this point, but that’s not what is on his mind. He’s a self-sacrificing policeman who will do what needs to be done to serve justice. Also the ending to his adventure might be the coolest thing ever drawn in a manga. After crashing the bus into the studio so he could take the tapes Kira sent to Sakura TV, he now has to deal with escaping. How can he possibly get out when Kira can see everyone who enters and leaves?! Oh simple, the rest of the police force will show up to form an enormous shield to keep him safe. Bad. Ass.
At this point I feel I should comment on Soichiro’s mortality because well it was obvious he wouldn’t live through the series. The fact that he was so close to Light but unaware meant that at some point or another he’d die. There were plenty of opportunities where it seemed Soichiro was destined to die, but he pulled through and remained a pleasant surprise… up until Mello came along. Sadly, Soichiro couldn’t live forever, and he died after taking a fatal wound during a dangerous mission to investigate Mello’s hideout and apprehend the criminal.
The tragic part is how he died though. He was recovered from the wreckage of Mello’s hideout and taking to a hospital where Light got to see him one final time. Light, now far passed the point of sanity, can’t even focus on the idea of his father dying but is instead desperately trying to get his father to write Mello’s name in the Deathnote. Soichiro however uses this opportunity to look at Light using his Shinigami Eyes that reveals the lifespan of everyone not in possession of a Deathnote. That means that if Light was Kira, he wouldn’t have a visible lifespan. However Light had spent years manipulating the loopholes of the Deathnote, and while he was indeed still using the book to kill criminals, he wasn’t an “owner” and thus his lifespan was visible meaning that after years of doubt Soichiro finally believed his son was innocent.
He died almost immediately afterwards, and his death really carried a lot of mixed emotions. Obviously frustration and sadness from seeing such a noble character die, but there’s a disturbing charm to it in that even though it was a lie, Soichiro finally got to feel peace and believe his son was innocent all along. For a man who had been through so much and endured so much pain as his children were constantly being put at risk, you have to feel at least somewhat happy that he died with a smile and his mind at ease, and yet we as readers know it’s a horrible lie and that Light has been everything his father feared. Scenes like this remind me why I love Deathnote so much and why I hate it when a discussion about Deathnote derails into a debate of Kira vs L. Deathnote is much more than that.
For me, the fact is that Soichiro was just a lot more relatable than either “protagonist”. He wasn’t born with superhuman intelligence or the ability to deduce motives and complex logic in mere moments, but rather he possesses a strong conviction and a morally upright sense of justice. Even Ohba himself has stated that he feels Soichiro was the most “pure” character in the series, and you can see why. He constantly sacrifices himself both physically and mentally for his job, and yet he only seems to suffer more for it. Soichiro is easily my favorite character in the series, and one of my favorite tragic characters of all time. His death easily ranks on my saddest deaths list, and his heroic efforts at Sakura TV easily put him near the top of my Top 10 most badass moments list as well.
It really is a shame that the Deathnote fanbase has made it so difficult to discuss the series amongst fans, but luckily the series does have enough content that you can create a coherent discussion without resulting to a morality debate, and when it does bring up Soichiro and see what everyone says. At least it would be a more interesting discussion that “if you agree with Light you’re Hitler” or “everyone who agrees with L is a cowardly liberal”. And yes, sadly I have honestly heard those arguments multiple times.
Until next time, Namaste!
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