Project Ragnarock

The Cydonian Chronicles

There's a whole bunch of fun stuff floatin' around about controversial images on Mars. I say 'controversial' only because conspiracy theorists want it that way. Officially, NASA, the JPL, even the ESA are pretty cut and dry about it, it's just rocks people. There are large sects that go way above and beyond, taking that whole "the brain sees what you want it to see", you think a face on Mars is something? They've got "proof" of dolphins, whales, turtles, and felines...for realz. I make light of it, but usually I'm the biggest sucker for these kind of things, especially space-related things. I also think of plausibility, and to myself, are a sphinx-like monument and few pyramids on Mars plausible, heh, sure, why not?

But, blah, blah, blah, as much as I'd love to sink my teeth into a vast, trans-planetary, martian/mesoamerican legacy, this is a geek blog, not a nut blog. How can we use all of this as a jumping off platform for a fun little sci-fi campaign? Obviously it'd be easier (and more in-depth) to use a role playing game as your medium, but you could do a miniatures game, although I think you'd have to really stretch the info quite a bit. Obviously, a system like d20 Modern would work great. It's super-flexible, and it's got plenty of supplements where you could throw in just about anything you can think of. I also like it because it's simple enough to make games quick and accessible, but offers as much bite as you can handle if you want something intricate and complex. I guess if you wanted all of the complexity, with none of the fun, you could always go with GURPS, but since ole Steve dissed the Lego game we devised a few years back, well, I'm not the biggest fan, heh. There's probably a dozen other solid systems to use, those are just the first two that comes to mind, and I'd do it in d20 Modern anyway without looking around too much. Everything we've run with that system has been a blast.

You can start with the above pic taken by one of our Rovers. Sure, somehow that pic leake dot the public, but have a bit more 'off camera'. This could be your first antagonist, or something less malign. A few high-res stills could flesh it out, literally. I'd also throw in some camera footage taken of it moving through the rocks. I don't know if I'd go so far as to have it attack the Rover, or anything quite so mundane, maybe have it at least investigate it, you know, sniff around a bit. Since the surface of Mars isn't the most hospitable, I'd have most of the guts of the adventure underground. Our feller up top could be someone who escaped something down below and in desperation went topside. Maybe they were exiled from their society, who knows. Maybe the subject was escaping captors or enslavers, setting you up with a true bad guy your players could tangle with. Whatever the case, you've got a critter running around on Mars...if you don't have a team already there, you may wanna check it out.



Last year, the orbiting surveyor satellite took some interesting pics that can only be determined as cave entrances that lead under Mars. Now, in real life, this is a big deal for us. We will be able to get all kinds of geologic samples from deep underground that the surface won't hold. In an rpg, this is where the action will heat up. Here's where we get into the vast underground complexes that would lead to all kinds of adventures. I don't know how far-flung I'd make the technology, maybe just slightly more than the tech level on Earth at the time. I mean, if they were super-advanced, they wouldn't be stuck underground now would they? I'd even go as far as having a second or third age of peoples living down there with leftover and bygone technology; generators with lifespans lasting for eons, inherited by relative newcomers. They may not understand it all, they might only be able to fix stuff occasionally, but they're the ones inhabiting a found civilization. Obviously they're not gonna be friendly to 'aliens' stopping by and disrupting the peace. Even better, you could just find vast empty vaults and remnants of what use to be. Maybe have some astral maps or markers showing where they went. The bottom line would be that what was once Mars is long dead, but there are clues where its inhabitants fled to. The BBC's got a decent little write-up on the caves as well. You couldn't ask for a better locale to use as your backdrop.



Ah, the beautiful panorama of the Plains of Cydonia. This dang Martian "face" has just gotta be a part of the campaign! There's plenty of other lumpy hills and such in the vicinity too, so here's where you stick your pyramids and sphinx. These are the ruins of the original Martians, and will be where the heroes find the nifty clues, jaw-dropping revelations, and the like. Heck, throw in a moon buggy chase and firefight for the sheer fun of it. They don't even have to be fighting aliens, think of a rival space agency or government. You could even do some type of delusional psychosis, temporary of course, due to the long term journey it would have taken to get there in the first place. I always liked the idea of planetary alignments, so I think I'd have to throw in some kind of portals or junctures or whatever that link Mars, Earth, and Venus. I might throw in Mercury and our Moon for the heck of it as well.

(even more) Guitar Hero

When I upgraded from the PS2 to the 360, I knew Guitar Hero would be on the checklist. Actually, when I went out the other day, I was looking for Rock Band. I guess I wasn't the only one, 'cause the three game shops I went to were all sold out. Since GH was also on the list, I picked it up instead. I went with the GH3 wireless bundle, which came with a wireless controller and the game. I also picked up just the game disc (no guitar controller) of its predecessor, GH2. Which I see was the 2005 "Music Game of the Year", well, just how many music games were there exactly in 2005?

GH2 played like I remember, and really, all it is a port of the PS2 version. Playing it with the new controller was nice, but more on that in a sec. There were a few new songs in the mix, and I noticed the track list was all mixed up, order-wise, as well. I cranked through it at a good clip on medium and beat it with five stars on all songs, it was about as fun as I remember. The painful memories of trying to beat 'Carry Me Home' on hard are still buried deep within my psyche. Okay, so now I was warmed up on part dos, so then I put in the new(er) one.

GH3 is nice, really, really nice. The graphics have undergone a brand new overhaul and just look so much better. The characters have so much more detail, and the extras are rendered beautifully. Plus, the interface in the game itself is updated as well, and the controls and meters 'n such are more user friendly and look a thousand times better too, and remember, GH2 wasn't bad either! It was near the end of the second set when freakin' Tom Morello comes out on stage and challenges me to some kind of "rock off". It was cool actually, and totally caught me off guard. Basically we trade licks on the guitar back and forth to see who's better, and you get little "battle mode power-ups" while you play. You can then use these power ups to sabotage your opponent while they play. All in all, pretty cool, I also battled Slash a short while later. After your 'boss' battle, you then both team up to play the encore. I'm only about halfway through the game I think, but wow, they somehow managed to make it more fun.

Did I mention the unlockable content? Some really cool stuff; as you beat the bosses, you can then unlock them in the store to use as characters. Plus, there are some pretty crazy guitars you can buy as well, most are over-the-top, but only a few are too goofy for words. For the characters themselves, you have a lot more options on their looks. You can 'buy' different styles, which are different than buying different outfits, and you also have a few choices in color combos to boot. I haven't played the bonus indie songs yet, but I have 'bought' them all, and it seems to have a ton more than what was on GH2, which is nice. Speaking of songs, if I ever get my 360 hooked up online, I guess I can buy even more songs from there. The songs themselves are pretty catchy, and a lot more seem to be the actual song by the artist, not a cover, which is hit and miss depending. A few that stood out as being fun were; Even Flow by Pearl Jam, Mississippi Queen by Mountain, and Holiday in Cambodia, by DK.

The controller is great, and the big thing is that it's wireless! The neck of the guitar also detached for storage. I was really getting into the game on one song, just rockin' out, and in a fit of inspiration I thought it'd be cool if I swung the guitar around my body on the strap, you know, Van Halen style. Yeah, umm, the strap came unhooked and the guitar flew about five feet behind me, crashing to the ground. It seems fine though, and I won't be trying that again, haha! For my 'career' mode I've decided to go with the rocker Axel Steel. He's about as pureblood "rock and roll (with a mix of metal)" as you can get. The name of my 'band' is Chthonian, not the most original, but it kicks butt! He's outfitted with good ole shorts, Chuck Taylor's, and Morello's "Arm the Homeless" guitar. It's all terribly geeky, but mega-fun while you're at it. There's apparently a co-op career mode as well, but I haven't checked that out just yet. So, all in all, a big thumbs up for the new Guitar Hero and a new system to play it on...

Steve Zissou

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I'm going to set out to find the shark that ate my friend and destroy it. Anyone who wants to tag along is more than welcome."

"Encounter with highly abnormal shark-like fish! Ten meters in length! Irregular markings! I tagged it dorsally with a homing dart!"

"You might be on "B" Squad, But you're the "B" Squad leader."

"You know I'm not good at apologizing, so I'll just skip it if it's all the same to you."

MLK Day

(shamelessly lifted from the Brothers Brick)

Name: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dates: 1929-1968

Biography:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the primary leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. Beginning as a Baptist minister, King led the struggle to end racial injustice, including segregation.

Inspired by his Christian convictions and the non-violent philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, King organized acts of civil disobedience, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 and the March on Washington in 1963, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1967, King voiced public opposition to the Vietnam war.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. He left behind his wife Coretta Scott King and four children. Mrs. King carried on her husband’s work until her death in 2006.

Jon's New Hobby

Ah yes, to see such an array as above really warms the heart, haha. I've mentioned Jon a couple times before in the posts about gearing up for some Warhammer Fantasy, he's the rpg gamer who got hit on the head and woke up one day deciding to try his hand at minis. Well, it looks like he's gone and got himself outfitted now to fully dive headlong into miniature gaming. He's got a varied palette of craft paints, which work just as well as the more expensive 'official' paints, a great hobby lamp, glues, epoxies, brushes, clippers, and of course the minis themselves; a bunch o' Wood Elves. Pics of people's work areas are always popular, so I thought I'd post his here. Rock on...

DnD v4.0 Race Swap

Apparently they're going to be taking Gnomes out of the Player's Handbook in 4th edition, hmm. I thought it was just a rumor, they couldn't possibly get rid of Gnomes, but yeah, that's what they did. It's kinda weird since I happen to be playing a Gnome right now in our Forgotten Realms game, hopefully he comes off a little less annoying than the one in the video, haha. The above is a clever little flash animation put out by WotC. I always thought Tieflings were a level-adjusted race, but if they're now in the core book, I guess they fixed it somehow. Anyway, enjoy the geeky laughs..."I have a lair!"

WIP: Dwarves

Happy New Year!

Here's a couple of Cthulhu funnies to break in the new year with, and only a couple o' days late to boot. Nothing much to say, 2008 looks to be a pretty rockin' year though! Nothing to report on the geek front either, I've just been working on my Dwarf regiment, which, with a little luck...should be done by the weekend maybe? I also beat Halo 3 the other night, which was cool, but seemed a tad brief. That's about it, I'll post some WIP pics soon. Rock on.