Truer20

Posted on February 14, 2022 by First Age

I haven’t been able to resist doing some prep for a future Greyhawk True20 game. True20 keeps calling to me, and this isn’t part of the plan. So, it might be an investment for a later time. The tweaks have been relatively minor but I think take the game to a simpler and smoother experience. For the True20 connoisseur, if there are any, we have two top main changes, and some familiar others:

  1. The skill list has been pruned down to a more manageable number. This is a matter of taste, and I’ll see how the game flows with the reduced list. It’s still in the twenties, but I prefer what I’ve come up with.
  2. The non-lethal wounds have been removed. There is now just one damage track, with an immediate reduction in conditions. As yet, other conditions have been untouched, but they will probably get pruned too.
  3. A further minor tweak is that the armour and shield penalty will only be half the protection value instead of all of it. I want to encourage people into armour to keep them alive.
  4. Armour ratings at the SRD level so a marginal increase.
  5. Two Hurts for a -1 to Toughness Checks.
  6. Minor increases to Toughness by level
Slimmer number of Skills

Simpler Damage Track

In a sign that I really want this to happen, I have applied all these changes to a new Role VTT sheet.

Role VTT sheet builder

The new VTT sheet is better than the last, taking advantage of some of the VTT improvements since the first sheet was built. With less going on it, and some entries rationalised, it is about as clean and workable  as I can make it. Of course it’s all a single d20 and so the how much the sheet will be used will be interesting to see. 

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Hinterspace Notes #3

Posted on February 6, 2022 by First Age

I’m still working on the two page spread for each mainworld system in my Eventide subsector setting. The plan is to have two pages in a standard format per system, with just over thirty systems to record. That gives a core of about 62 pages for the systems.

It’s coming…

The supplement will have some additional content of about 10-12 pages, outlining the subsector context from an astrographic and political viewpoint. Might lob in a starship or two and a career path (The Envoy). Altogether, I’m hoping it will make a nice primer for Hinterspace and, if nothing else, will provide some ready to use worlds for any Traveller game.

At some point I’ll need to decide if I can really get away with writing and presenting the whole book in Google Docs! It really needs to go into Publisher, but it’s not something I seem to find very easy.
Anyway, progress…

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A Return to Middle Earth

Posted on February 5, 2022 by First Age

More tingles as the Kickstarter for The One Ring 2e becomes a physical reality, forged to seduce mortal men

I wanted to say a bit about why I am excited to see this game re-emerge with an evolved and streamlined rules system.

The Starter Set is a delight, introducing the game through the eyes of adventuring hobbits around the Shire, with hooks throughout to introduce a further lightened set of rules to emblematic Tolkien concerns. It’s like you are playing the backstory to various Hobbit or Fellowship of the Ring chapters. Thank goodness these hobbits were about to ensure everything was alright.

The hobbit mini campaign within is full of wonders, and looks to be a great tutorial into the whole game. It carries much of the whimsey of Hobbiton within it, and I can see it forming a discrete stand-alone series for family. It also acts as a starting point for broader adventures across Eriador, the lightly populated western lands of Middle Earth.

Look

I am a big fan of the aesthetics of the 1e line, with its heavy velum look and consistent style to the illustrations, many in colour. The style continues throughout the line. The design of the 2e book is quite different and, for me, I think I prefer it. The lighter page smudged paper lifts the content off the page much more attractively. The colour splash pages are effective and the detail sketches, lavishly found throughout the book, are very good indeed. The framed borders look wonderful, giving the whole book an ancient feel, like a forgotten book, found deep in the old libraries of Minas Tirith.

Rules

Overall – leaner and easier to run, but preserving all the flavour through very similar mechanics. This is both an overhaul and faithful to the original, which is quite a feat to pull off. The interlacing of events, with impacts on the characters, modelled simply and effctively with various currencies, such as Hope and Shadow are all there and possibly play out easier at the table. 

The default Task number is now 20 minus the governing Attribute, rather than a 14. Using the Attributes in this way is really neat. Modifiers now affect the number of Skill dice ,which is just lovely. Favoured is still a thing but doesn’t affect Attriubutes themselves. Favoured Skills take the advantage of the best of two Feat Dice, and ill favoured the disadvantage of the lower of two Feat Dice. Looks to be a good move.

Council (Encounters as was), Travel and the whole ‘Fellowship Phase’ have all been described more straightforwardly, and I’m right at home with the nicely described D&D 4e skill challenges (let’s call them what they are). The same may be true of combat too, which preserves the excellent semi abstracted ‘stance’ based positioning with resolution that has plenty of options. It all looks familiar but a little clearer and easier..  

I anticipate that Adverseries are even easier to use in the game, preserving the simplified structure, but even more so. Being able to design your own Nameless Things, ancient evils that do not owe allegience to Shadow, but some more ancient force, is great fun.

Next

I am greedy for more Heroic Cultures, to quickly and easily expand the peoples that we can represent in play. So, it is particularly good news that the Lifepath system, that was unlocked as a stretch goal, is about to head into editing with Peoples of Wilderland not that far behind. Ruins of the Lost Realm is in the final stages of editing as well. Hooray!

As the line develops, I shall buy all of it. It shall make the table.

Tingle.

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Hills, Moors and Fantasy RPGs

Posted on January 15, 2022 by First Age

I had a happy day yesterday, walking the hills and moors around Derwent Edge and the resevoirs below. It’s a favourite site, beautiful surrounds and a mix between clear trails and out of the way walking on the edges. On the top you are enveloped by a wonderful silence that reminds you how much we are continually surrounded by noise.

Although this was largely a dress rehearsal for a post retirement walk, a taste of the simple delights to come, when I could be allocating a work portfolio to reorganised teams, my thoughts also turned to low fantasy RPGs. High fantasy is completely covered by my D&D 4th Edition collection, with other worthy contenders jumping up and down in the background. But lower powered fantasy, with a grittier edge has many options and most that I really like. My thoughts were turning towards a fantasy campaign for 2022, that acted as a counterpoint to the rich and magical fantasy of my ongoing 4e game. Perhaps one that would see expression through the ‘Carved in Stone’ of Pictland?

I thought about OpenQuest, with some of my own tweaks. A light d100 game,  or possibly Mythras itself. Woodland brought me to Sword of Cepheus, and my own proposed take on that. 2d6 and why not? As I returned from the marshy moors I remembered The One Ring and my yet to be fulfilled 2nd Edition Kickstarter books. The buzz around this version is that it has made a great game even better. I’m really looking forward to holding and reading the books. The final easy going trail had me mentally designing a simplified True20 game with 10 levels/advancements and a simpler skill progression system.
Only now, as I nurse tired ‘lockdown legs’, do I remember all the others that could find play. My embarrassing stack of Trudvang Chronicles remains a tempatation, and reckon I could make the system work well enough. Snowsaga could make for a great little campaign. Forbidden Lands is in the frame, which leans on that OSRy exploration and PC fragiity, but with the Free League system underpinning everything. Keltia is an obvious one to lift off the shelf, having had a lot of convention fun with it’s Viking game kin, Yggdrasil. Stonetop, a PbtA hearth fantasy is yet to come from Kickstarter, but already looks excellent. Out of the Ashes, Dr Mitch’s ‘Liminal’ expansion to a time of fantasy rebuilding has definite possibilities, and circles me back to a Cepheus engine inspired game.
So, writing my own low level fantasy game rules is a bit daft. I have lots on my shelves and lots still to come through the letterbox. The question is, which remote wilderness will the game get me wandering? 

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The Picts – A History

Posted on January 8, 2022 by First Age

 I’ve just read Tim Clarkson’s ‘The Picts – A History’, and really enjoyed it. In fact I finished it breathless and wanting more. At 206 pages, before launching into a useful set of appendices, you get a fly through of the key elements of Northern Brittonic history, always with time to take side glances at alternative suppositions and to highlight the uncertainty of sources. It’s a rapid journey from emergence in 3rd century AD through to the creation of Alba and the disappearance of the Picts from records in the very early 10th Century.

There is so much to dive into here: the warlord culture, matrilineal succession, the Scot and Pict interactions, the power of the English Northumbrians and the northern Brittons, and the potent effect of the Vikings in shaping the eventual social and cultural dominance of the Scots over the Picts. It could so easily have been the other way around.

Here’s a tentative reconstruction of the lost Pictish language, it is thought branched from other P-Celtic languages such as Welsh, Cumbric etc: 

Time to move on to look at recent archeaology to build out more of a picture and to test the timelines. Mostly though I need to get my walking boots on and go and visit the Tap O’Noth hillfort and breathe it all in.

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Hinterspace Notes #2

Posted on January 2, 2022 by First Age

Terraforming

The Terraformers of EOS are able to influence a world’s Atmosphere and Hydrosphere characteristics.

For every century of elapsed time, the terraforming process modifies either or both UWP characteristics by +/-1. Present techniques can modify up to +/-3. These modifications are only possible if the planet generation can support the terraform modfied characteristic, and typically only if the world is in the habitable zone of the main star.

The first terraforming projects were initiated in 2506. By 2600, with the advent of  TL13 ecosystem technologies, EOS initiated the Cradle Worlds terraforming programmes. As at 2995, our year of reporting, a substantial number of these programmes have now completed, switching into ecolibrium maintenance mode. The transformations have created a significant number of additional garden or near-garden worlds across the EOS sectors, improving citizens lives, providing natural and beautiful ecosystems through terraforming technology.

Eventide world map – a Hinterspace system

   

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A Return to Vimray

Posted on January 2, 2022 by First Age

 With Revelation 2022 games convention coming at the end of February, I thought I’d push the boat out and have a go at running a Forged in the Dark game. This also gives me a chance to return to one of my favourite gaming worlds, now being brought back with a new version: Tribes in the Dark, a new game system under playtest for Tribe 8.

This pushes me out of my GMing comfort zone, taking me further away from the regular traditional frameworks I am used to. I’ll take that to be a good thing as I want to keep trying new things.

Enemy of my Enemy

Sometime in our near future, our civilization is destroyed by the coming of the Z’bri. These long forgotten spirits, denied physical existence for eons, invaded in their pursuit of the The Seed. Taking on forms made of stolen human flesh and bone, the Z’bri revelled in newfound emotions and sensations, causing chaos and destruction that led to civilization’s collapse.

You are one of the Fallen, an outcast from one of the Seven Tribes, the last of humanity. Your Tribe—and the divine Fatimas that leads it—were everything you knew. Cast out into a harsh world, you have to find your place, but you are not alone. Together with other Fallen, you have formed the  Eight Tribe, forged by whispers of prophecy for a new future that drives your own destiny.

Vimray

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Hinterspace Notes #1

Posted on December 28, 2021 by First Age

Holiday Tuesday and I’m scribbling for my Hinterspace Cepheus Deluxe setting. Seem to have dallied on how longevity is managed, including newly available life extension treatments in the Empire of Stars (EOS), and unsuccessful attempts at sentience syphoning to quantum processing arrays, with ensuing somatic dissonance and psyche fragmentation.

Cyborgs and Androids are both being added into the mix. I’ll make sure they chime with the simple application of rules that comes with the Deluxe ruleset.

The nine major EOS noble houses have been sketched out, including houses Fayomi, Zendur and Meenoy. Together, the nine vie for supremacy in the TL15 Sphere, that is now stagnating, as the future is being driven by those in the wilds of Hinterspace. I’ve added a brief note on an EOS terraforming rule.

The six major Synthetic Intelligences have now been named and are known collectively as Nexus, as they appear to interact consistently and seamlessly, at least in comparison to the fractious noble houses.

And yet, these are all just backdrop considerations, which will produce echoes out into the TL12 fringe, and the Eventide subsector, where my 2022 game will be set.

The notetaking part of game preparation is, perhaps, my favourite. A creative blend of emergent ideas, without too much worry on final format.

Posted in Cepheus, Hinterspace, Traveller, Writing | Leave a comment

Looking Back and Forward to 2022

Posted on December 19, 2021 by First Age

This is a gaming review and some thoughts on what 2022 might bring for me. For context, I retire at the end of March 2022, so I will have much more time for everything, includng the gaming hobby. We head into the new year with the prospect of more lockdowns, as a new variant of the Covid virus takes hold. I remain hopeful that I will be able to get out to some conventions, even a grand processional of them, but let’s see how the pandemic develops next year.

Games Played in 2021

With the exception of the Furnace convention in October, I think all my sessions have been online, either regulars or online convention one offs. Eighty five sessions, with perhaps one or two in the offing before the year ends. I even have some vague aspiration of running a New Year’s Eve game to see in 2022.

Systems Played in 2021

D&Ds dominate, with most of my play being a 5e Strahd game run by Dom. This is another long form game, indeed much longer than I had expected, and I think it will be the main game that I find myself playing in 2022. Hopefully there will be a conclusion during next year, one way or another! Pathfinder 2e and D&D 4e have both been delightful. If anything, 4e has won my heart as the system I love the most, but they are both such quality high fantasy games. There is a good chance that 4e in particular will continue to run into the New Year.

I have lost none of my enthusiasm this year, the gaming has been a huge bonus for me. My work is quite heavy and drains my energy, so much so that I really had to stop something, and Pathfinder was put on pause for the foreseeable. I was sorry to do that, but it’s clearly the right decision for me; I’ve been so very tired.

Media Empire

As a further creative outlet I have been podcasting and YouTubeing. Enthusiastic game content about the things that are exciting me at that ‘time of recording’ moment. There’s a lot about 4e, so much so that I have started a #4eRennaisance movement, to channel the enthusiasm.

A possible extension would be a streamed series of an online game that I GM. It could happen, with the Role VTT making it especially easy. Maybe.

Gaming from the First Age Podcast

First Age Gaming YouTube Channel

Games for 2022

With retirement coming a quarter of the way in I’m kind of expecting a bumper year of game playing. I can see evening playing being much easier for me, with no pressures in the mornings to concern me, plus I can play outside of timezone with a little more flexibility. An afternoon game about 2pm sounds perfect, which tells me I need to befriend central Russian, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Indian gamers sharpish.
Part of the new routine will be writing, so I hope that some more output will be possible and perhaps a few publications if I can get some help from some chums. I have some ideas…  

Play

The 5e Strahd game I’m playing in will continue for at least part of the year. I have no sense for how long, or when the sandbox will start to unravel into a final confrontation. I’m enjoying playing my charismatic half-elf sorcerer, offering an oratorical extra to the adventuring party. The odd fireball is helping too. Perhaps a complicated romance is on the cards, which should mix up what I anticipate to be one of the campaign endings.

I’d love to be a player in a lot of the things on my shelves. In reality I’d probably play anything with a nice group of people with a good premise an d an opportunity for me to drive some narrative in and out of the formal game time. One lesson is to understand up front the expected game session duration so that I can undersatnd the commitment. No-one is ever locked into a game, but I’d like to be there for it for at least the expected time, accepting that this could change in flight.

If I could wave a magic wand I’d probably wish for a game of The One Ring 2nd Edition, or take me off to the Twilight Imperium with Genesys, when it lands during the year. It looks probable that I’ll be up for more play time once Strahd’s complete. 

Run

I’ve mentioned my D&D 4e campaign set in Nentir Vale in other posts. I hope I get to DM some more of this, as I just want to play this game. People’s real lives will affect the roster at some point, so we will just have to see. If it were up to me we’d keep going through to 30th Level. Much fun, and one to remember fondly.

I expect my other RPG to run next year will be Cepheus Deluxe. It’s the version of Traveller I would have blended myself and produced with style. A digest colour book version will come out in the year. I have messed about with some preparation for creating my own setting to run the game in. Mostly this is looking for effects with particular content creation sites and tools. It actually needs some full on writing before I am ready to go with this, with half an eye to a publication of the Eventide subsector out of the back of it.

Atrial planetary map

I’d happily pull out huge swathes of the library to create some actual play, and the conventions will help to encourage that. As a point in time, there are some games that are grabbing more of my attention as viable session makers:

  • Dramaguhl – a series of one shots in the ancient city for the new Tripod system
  • Carved in Stone – a short campaign in the Dark Age lands of the Picts. Mythras, OpenQuest, Keltia, Tripod, and Cepheus all in the mix as systems.
  • Stonetop – community based hearth fantasy using this lovingly put together PbtA game.
  • Embers of the Imperium – a Genesys space opera set in the Twilight Imperium universe
  • Heavy Gear 4th Ed – Open Beta and off we go to Terra Nova.
  • Forbidden Lands – and offshoot expansions lovingly rendered in Foundry.
  • Hostile – a ready cooked setting for Cepheus Engine and a chance to play grim and industrial SF of the 1980s. I hesitate as the more hope laden Eventide might keep my spirits up better through the current difficult times. Stil, Hostile, looks fantastic. 

VTTs

I’m going to need to decide what I’m doing about VTTs next year. Do I continue to subscribe to Forge hosting for Foundry? It’s really the only way I’d consider using Foundry, but is a cost that I’d need to weigh up along with all the others. If I’m going to get a lot of use out of Foundry then certainly worth it.

The Role VTT is probably the one for me. The platform will continue to develop over the course of the year as they have a money and a team behind them. Role will also become a subscription service next year, so that will provoke some serious decision making.

Lets Role VTT, will also come fully through next year. Although I’ve moved away from it, I backed the development as a thank you for all the good times I’ve enjoyed using it. If I could have decyphered the shett builder it would have got a lot more use in tandem with Discord AV. It’s a back burner option

The ‘Grand Processional’ 

I have no idea if face to face conventions will be a thing from April. At time of writing it isn’t looking that good. I’ve enjoyed the online convention experience, so will do that anyway, and some more Con4eR 4th Edition D&D is likely. I’d like to get out and about if possible.

Conventions in the processional so far: Revelation, Seven Hills, North Star, UK Games Expo, Continuum, Grogmeet, Owlbear & the Wizard’s Staff, Furnace, Dragonmeet.

Writing

Is it a premonition, a protent, that I leave writing to the end? Will creative game writing get the pull up it needs to get some good content created? That’s certainly my intent and, as I’m looking forward, I’ll go with the expectation that some creativity will happen. What’s on the cards?

  • Get Tripod Essence out the door.  Fully written and languishing in layout, this needs some Dom attention really, but if plans don’t align, I’ll just have to get the layout done as best I can. If I continue to be too slow in Publisher I’ll find another way.
  • Dramaguhl City on the Edge of Nowhere – 70% written so far. Get the writing done and work out how to get this complete Tripod game and setting to a book stage. Sharing the joy with Dr Mitch.
  • Eventide – a Cepheus Deluxe setting for some Traveller inspired space opera.
  • Heroes of High Fantasy – writing for self use with possible extension to a publication. Adaptation of Sword of Cepheus to a High Fantasy setting. Will draw on Cepheus Deluxe and the SRD for 5e Spells. Blend in some 4e Powers for extended Talents and we have a simple and sleek fantasy game. I have notes…

I’m stopping there. There are other possibilities, but let’s be honest (with myself), I’d be doing really well if I got any or all of that lot done within the year.

All in all that would be a fantastic gaming year. The retirement will bring more time for many things, including fiction, family, walking and gardens, plus some of the above.  

 

Posted in Cepheus, Conventions, D&D4e, Games, Hinterspace, Publishing, Traveller, VTT, Writing | Leave a comment

A Maturing D&D 4e Campaign in Nentir Vale

Posted on December 5, 2021 by First Age

I’m reflecting on my Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition campaign, that is now 25 sessions in and been running for most of this year. It has been a lot of absorbing fun, and perhaps one of my most successful long form games, providng me an opportunity to really stretch the legs of 4e, a game that I picked up late last year in a bizarre flurry of excited eBay purchases. I’ve spoken about my love of this version of the franchise, even creating a #4eRennaisance movement, for some provocative joy. 

This update is spoiler free for my players and for others who I may introduce to this game in the future.

The 4e spending splurge needed an exonerating expression in a game, so I boldly stepped out into familiar and stranger corners of the Interwebs to advertise a game that anyone was welcome to play. It meant that I would likely have a mixed roster of known and new players and that is how it has worked out. It’s good to step out of your comfort zone, and this has worked out really well, meeting some lovely new (to me) gamers, who are now firmly in my ‘gaming buddy’ group, along with old friends who have been with me on my gaming journey for some time. Online gaming knows no geographic boundaries, so it has been fantastic to have Paul join us from over in Seattle, a great player with a deep knowledge of the game. In some ways it is especially nice to have Pete play, as he has been my lodestone on all things D&D and introduced 4e to me back in the day, at a time when I just couldn’t see its worth. How my gaming thoughts have changed!

4e plays really well. Unencumbered by any edition warring, I have found a great heroic fantasy game that feels like D&D, but with some neat twists. Set in Nentir Vale, the default ‘points of light’ setting for 4e, I have the advantage of a strong library of material from 12+ years ago, all ready to play. I’m mixing, matching and blending, leaning on the lore that’s available and creating some metaplot themes that we can explore if the game continues into next year. I hope so, as I’d like to explore the higher tiers of play in a continuous grand processional style of game, but if not, no worries, it has already delivered maximum gaming fun.

I’ve started, via the ‘Ghost Tower of Inverness’, an adventure about setting up a new point of light in the wilderness, by running through the ‘Reavers of Harkenwold’ mini campaign. The fragility of the ‘points of light’ in this northern land, without the delusion of order from the lost empire of Nerath, are exposed by the incursions of the Iron Circle, a viscious mercenary order of raiders that have their roots far to the south, and now look to extend to the ends of the world. They themselves seem driven by pacts and power from Asmodeus, so there are layers that can be explored as the story unfolds. Cross the Iron Cricle and you stand in the way of the devil lord himself…

This has proved to be a fine introduction to the setting and allowed me to interlace some other themes that might get picked up by ‘Sturm und Drang’, the increasingly notorious name of our heroic company. In some ways I’m playing this slightly as a sandbox. The backdrop will reveal itself in different ways depending on the path the group decide to take. The world is in motion and their choices have already had consequences for others. They can’t be everywhere, and this further accentuates the heroes’ importance, their unique position as influencers of destiny, changers of worlds. 

Most recently, Sturm und Drang have decided to brave the perils of The Witchlight Fens, seduced by stories of ancient treasures and enchanted powers. 

The Witchlight Fens Map

Heading west from Harkenwold they stop in the town of Duponde, which remains tantelisingly unplaced in the Vale setting, but seemed right set on the border of the Fens. A stop over point of light, but also a place down on its heels and in danger, quite literally, of being swallowed by the malign powers that drive the Fens into other darker places. Casual mention of an abandoned manor to the south, and old heirlooms awaiting, immediately set them in that direction. A good opportunity for me to think on my feet and draw together a few threads.  This detour has become a profitable visit to a crypt, meeting a recurring villain, and restoring a deceased noble family from necromantic destitution. The Fens await. Or indeed anywhere else they decide to go.

They’ve just arrived at 5th level, a nice boost with an extra feat, a new Daily power and some more Hit Points to keep them going in the fight. I’m also using a simple reputation mechanic that is slaved to level to see how their exploits precede them as they travel to new places.

The final battle in the crypt – Role VTT

I’d like to start deepening the game, potentially drawing in some PC backstory and keep with the beat of the competing powers that jostle up in this fractured old province.

We seem to be settled on Role VTT. It has great AV and just enough tools to manage a game, without the integration and automation that is so difficult to do with 4e anyway, due to the licensing limitations of the time. Although the platform is continuously developing, the feature set has remained fairly consistent. The only things I’d really want to add is Fog of War and a way of linking a token to a note box to record HP loss and other effects.

The only other major tools I use are Token Tool for creating tokens, and Masterplan for designing combat encounters. Masterplan is a full campaign building tool, so I am using a small percentage of what it can do. Creating combat encounter monsters, that the software outputs to perfectly formatted HTML, gives me a quick resource to creat encounter HTML files that I then print out and have ready to go. I scribble effects and HP loss direct on the paper, taking that away from the automation that some VTTs provide.

Masterplan Encounter Building

Even with my limited use, Masterplan has saved me countless hours of preparation and delivered amazing looking stat blocks at the push of a few buttons.

The offline Character Builder is there to help with the preparation of our PCs, if the the players want to. I use it extensively for my oneshots, and I’d use it as my source for any PC that I might ever get to play. The Builder combines a comprehensive series of compendium for PC build options with an ability to track PC progress and output to PDF. My own process is somewhat convoluted, where I output the PDF character sheet to ONeNote, which converts the pages to images, and then I add to a shareable Google Doc. All round it gives a great output and a series of character power cards which, if I was playing, I’d be tempted to print out on card and have as my deck of amazing things!

Some online resources and brilliant fan collation of lore, round out my most used resources outside of the PDFs and books that I have. I’m still collecting, but at a modest pace and only if I can find the books at a good price or they come through as POD and I want to jump on them. I have more than I need already.    

I don’t know if any of the above has conveyed my delight at finding such a terrific game, and getting to play it with such terrific people? My gaming mind is turning to next year, my retirement year, and the gaming that I hope to play. In amongst the other plans I hope that Sturm und Drang might feature as we explore ever more epic stories. 

(And, quietly, I have this hope that I too might be able to play in a 4e series as a player – but for that, we’ll just have to see…)

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