Scion AMA: Gangs of New York, Mark II

Hey, everyone! It's that time again... time to hear about the inner thoughts of a bunch of disgruntled demigods from the Big Apple. Who don't like each other very much. Whee!

Today's installment includes the famous celebrities of Containment Prime, as well as a few other miscreants who would really like the government to stop lobbing nukes and angry robots in their direction as they go about their business.

Anne's Fiction Corner

Hey, have you guys missed Russel? He's missed you, and a whole bunch of other stuff besides! And to tell us all about it, we have a new piece of fiction from his player. We present Punch Drunk: Afraid of the Dark, a new chronicle of Russel's adventures in increasingly dire straits in New York City.

Russel is still confused, upset, and unsure what he's supposed to be doing, only now he has a bunch of new people who don't like him and make things more difficult to add to the equation. Such is the life of a Scion.

Scion AMA: Gangs of New York, Mark I

It's time for some AMA questions again, this time from the most infamous group of all: Michael Chambers, a.k.a. The Great Terrorist, and his band of cronies. New York has never been the same. This set is mostly dudes since most of the ladies are still working on their questions, but never fear, there will be more borderline internationally illegal incidents to come later.

Quick Fix

It's time for another big-bang post full of quick answers! For those who want to keep track of the ever-expanding vortex of the Questionado, it's currently at 194. We're down 7! Success!

Question: Do Scions automatically know the language of their pantheon?

No, they do not. They know whatever language they actually know, and won't magically learn their pantheon's native tongue just from being activated as a Scion. If you're thinking of that weird thing that the Percy Jackson books do, we're sorry to disappoint you - nobody ever has a language "hard-coded into their DNA". (But you can get Language Mastery and that's basically about as good!)

Question: Just noticed that on the Annuna you have a profile up for Nanshe (with 6 associated) but she is not listed as a playable god. Is there any particular reason for this or are you just holding off for a major Annuna update?

Sometimes gods get kicked off our rosters for not being high enough Legend, but we keep their pages around in case other people still want to look at them. You'll also find "secret" god-pages for Sif, Geb, Kebauet, Dian Cecht, and a few others.

Question: What gods would you suggest for an expanded British pantheon? At the moment I’m thinking of adding Tommy Atkins, Merlin, Herne the Hunter and Tom Hickathrift (A.K.A. Jack the Giant-Killer) to Britannia, John Bull and Robin Hood. I don’t want it to resemble Arthurian legend too much, as that’s a little too Christianised for my tastes, but I want it to stand out from the Tuatha and the Welsh gods as well.

Sorry, we can't help you with this one. We are passionate haters of the World at War pantheons, including the Allied/British pantheon, and would never make them a "pantheon" of gods of an equal standing with people like Ra or Zeus. At best, we'd consider them former Scions, undercover personas of various established gods, or in a few cases Legendary Mortals. (But we do consider Herne the Hunter to be an alternate persona of Cernunnos, if that helps you with anything.)

Question: First off, I definitely love what you did with the Inue. In terms of Native American pantheons, most of the fan stuff has been to take some of the gods from each pantheon and bring them together as one like the Manitou. What is your opinion on something such as that and do you feel each of the individual pantheons can stand on their own like the Inue?

We're not fans. We think the pantheons of all different areas of the world should have an equal shot at being Scion parents, and that there's no reason to assume that the tons of Native American pantheons wouldn't be just as distinct from one another as all the pantheons of the other continents.

Question: If a paleontologist Scion wanted to, could they make their personal Santum a chain of islands modeled after Las Cinco Muertes from the Jurassic Park franchise?

You can put whatever you want to in your Sanctum - it's your house and you can decorate it as you please! (But that only goes for in your house, so you won't be able to use it to create a free dinosaur army that can leave to lay waste to New York with you.)

Question: Do you think Gods' Honest is broken knack?

No - if we thought that, we wouldn't be letting our Scions use it all the time. I'm not sure why you think it's broken, since you didn't say, but feel free to tell us why in the comments.

Question: What do you do when a PSP boon requires a roll of a Virtue (like how Familial Sacrifice's pool is Conviction) and the Scion doesn't have that virtue? Do you just have them botch the roll, or do you have them use the next most appropriate virtue?

They can't make that roll; they have zero dice. They probably shouldn't have swapped it out, or should try to get it back if it was taken from them. However, they could still use a Virtue Channel or Legendary Deed to get some dice/autos if they still want to use the boon anyway.

Question: When purchasing dots of Epic Stamina, you get health levels. Are these -0, -1, -2 or -4?

Always -0. Dots of Epic Stamina also remove the wound penalty negatives from the health boxes you already have as you get more of them.

Question: When a Scion spends Legend, are Fatebonds only formed with those physically present? EX: if someone catches a film of them and uploads it onto YouTube.

Yes, you will only gain Fatebonds to people who are actually nearby when you spend the Legend. If someone recorded your deed and uploaded it to YouTube, no one who watched it would get Fatebound because you would not be spending any Legend when they saw it.

Question: I was looking through the graveyard, and Jesus Christ, what happened in Langley?

Vote for Strawberry Fields fiction, and find out. ;)

Question: So, weirdest question ever about Michael Chambers. How would any man or woman he sleeps with want to deal with a cold piece of metal on his penis? I can't imagine any woman wanting that inside them.

We... are not sure whether or not you're serious. But in case you are, you may want to do a careful and discreet Google of the term "Prince Albert piercing", and god go with you.

And we'll stick with those ten for today!

Leo on the Loose

Here's an awesome early morning art treat, for the Gangs of New York game!

In this picture, Skylar Copperwithe, youngest member of Containment Prime, has accidentally triggered a star demon's wrath, which dragged him into its realm with the constellation monster Leo. Terrified but still heroic, he fought it off with his nuclear cube of power, a relic from his father. He emerged grievously wounded but triumphant to the tender ministrations of his band, after which he refused to ahve anything to do with star monsters on his own anymore.

By Samantha Braithwaite!

He's small, but he can be mighty once in a while, as long as Zoe then comes and tells him everything is okay and Isaac performs emergency first aid to soothe his wounds.

He's having some trouble in Containment Prime these days, so this picture is sort of... the good old days? That's a bummer.

ARGH.

Today, I wrote a massive post about the Aesir in one of their underappreciated Danish mythology appearances, and it took me about three hours, and it was fucking awesome and witty and exciting and full of relevant thoughts and storytelling suggestions, and I was super proud of myself. AND THEN THE BLOG ATE IT AND IT'S GONE FOREVER, SO I'M PRETTY SURE I WILL NEVER WRITE AGAIN.

So, to console both you and me, here's some excellent new art instead. This is Seif, a brand-new character in the Gangs of New York game, looking like the shining solar badass he is.

Art by Julian Lancaster!

I'm going to go eat some cupcakes and cry now or something. I'll get back on the horse tomorrow.

Anne's Fiction Corner

Okay, it's been like ten million kazillion years since I posted fiction, and I'm sorry about that. There are lots of things to blame, like the Inue and the boon rewrites and school and work and my stupid busted arm, but really what it boils down to is that I'm the worst. So... sorry about being the worst.

But today, I am back with a new story, and a long-awaited one at that. Today's story is Mother, Mother, starring Michael Chambers in his debut fiction. It is a tale of children and parents, love, sex and all the things they mean to different people.

Since the polls have been all dramatic lately, here's what I'm going to do with the fiction polls: I'm going to set them with voting options for the storylines that haven't gotten a story in this round of voting, and keep doing that until all of them get a turn. Since last time we voted on everything except Gangs of New York, this time we'll vote on everything except Gangs and the new winner, Better Next Time, and we'll keep doing that until we start over with all the options again.

This is just for the fiction voting - we're still discussing the other polls. And, as always, I reserve the right to go off on a bender and write something just because I want to, because only I am the boss of me. Let's see some more stories faster now!

The poll's being reset, and here are the new options!:

• If you vote for Eastern Promises, you're voting for stories from the nineteenth-century band in a world of colonialism and industry - Leona Middleton, Samuel Vanderbilt and Paniwi Bayteru of the Netjer, Faruza Alinejad and Yadi of the Yazata, Mohini Misra and Padma Billingsworth of the Deva, James Howard and Alvin de Lafayette of the Anunna, and many more. They're currently fighting corruption among local authorities, learning what other cultures have to offer them and finding ways to survive no matter what the cost.
• If you vote for Skeins of Fate, you're voting for stories from our frozen northern band - Aurora Dahl, Woody Anderson and Will Nordstrom of the Aesir, Kettila Blomgren of the Teotl and Vivian Landry of the Orisha. They're currently handling the looming shadow of Ragnarok, the fallout of their parents' political decisions and their own personal desire to deviate from the paths Fate has set them.
• If you vote for Strawberry Fields, you're voting for stories from the wild-eyed Celtic band - Dierdre O'Riordan, Seamus McMann, Jude Shriver and Auggie MacDonough of the Tuatha de Danann and Alaina Bertrand and Ignatius Rex of the Nemetondevos. They're currently gearing up to challenge the combined might of the military and their shadowy puppeteers, while reaching out to their kinsmen around the world.

Enjoy!

Love and Punches

Everything is great today, because we have more new art! For you fans of Russel Pride and his earnestness, we have an adorable picture of him and Zoe hanging out after training with Chiron, eating their hard-earned Chinese food. In the background, the venerable centaur attempts to whip Anton and Skylar into shape, a task that he never had very much success with.

By Steph!

I especially love the banner in the background, which says, "Harder, Faster, Stronger" in Latin, because these guys take their physical sports and prowess inspiration from Daft Punk. Awesome.

Defenders of the Universe

It's art time! Today, we have an awesome spread of awesome superheroes - it's Containment Prime, the scourge saviors of New York!

They're badasses and they look like real superheroes, even if they're kind of a collection of random people with magic powers who may or may not actually be terrorists that accidentally work for the government. And now, close-ups!

"The Hammer", a.k.a. Anton Volconi, Scion of Hephaestus (or Vulcan, as he insists):


"Assault", a.k.a. Russel Pride, Scion of Sekhmet:


"Rocket", a.k.a. Skylar Copperwithe, Scion of Hephaestus:


"Skyblaze", a.k.a. Zoe Vrontopoulos, Scion of Zeus:

All art by the fabulous Julian Lancaster!

Alas, The Spyder (also known as Isaac Green, Scion of Ptah) is not represented here, mostly because he defected, ran away into the Matrix to make kissyface with Arachne, and is officially kicked off the team. We still love him out of character, though.

Places, Everyone!

Today, we're having some fun with charts! One of our players, who happens to be a graphic design wizard, got to thinking after some of our recent posts about the different roles various characters play in games - who's the social mojo-mover, the physical ass-kicker, the mental note-taker, the magical occult-bender. We have a general awareness that various characters fall into various categories, but we've never really sat down and done the math to see exactly who and how much.

He came up with these super neat venn diagrams of what all the characters in our most prominent games (sorry, Hong Kong and Red Sun) do and how they stack up against each other, and we're sharing them with you because it's our blog and we can do that if we want to.

Wow. Apparently Gangs has way too much brains for its own good, which balances out with Strawberry Fields, which had none (I guess that's what happened to them). And that social/physical job must be pretty difficult to maintain, because Kebo stands stoically alone. It's also very neat to see very different characters that are still of the same "type" - there's a lot of range to be hand among different personalities!

And that's not all! Remember a while ago, when we made that ridiculously complicated flowchart of the relationships between all the Scions in our main game's universe? Well, the same intrepid player just put one together for Gangs of New York:

It's much smaller because they're just baby Scions, but they're already weaving themselves a tangled web, aren't they?

Status Report: Still Flailing at the Unknown

Question: Can we get an update on what is happening in your three games?

We sure can - in fact, let's ring in the new year with one!

Things are rough in the god-level game, where our Legend 11 superstars are having serious trouble juggling their loyalties, their secret missions and their political obligations. They're still on a secret mission from their parents, who charged them with gathering the omphalus stones of each of the Titanrealms in order to use them in a ritual to reinforce Tartarus, which is in danger of breaking open again now that they've managed to get a bunch of Titans back into it but nobody really bothered to go and spackle up the cracks they got out of last time. Going to Titanrealms is dangerous and difficult and takes up a whole lot of time, and in the meantime Sowiljr's position as king of the Aesir is suffering because he's not around to do it. They recently also figured out that removing a realm's omphalus stone makes it more powerful, so they're just beginning to realize they may have royally screwed some of the other pantheons who were fighting those Titans and just got suddenly overwhelmed by extra power. And while they have a few friends among the gods, they know that their parents are still incognito after Ragnarok and they're not allowed to tell anyone they're alive, which means they can't ask for a lot of help with their mission without having to field uncomfortable questions. Already some of the Bogovi are angrily trying to stop them, because what they're doing is pretty much directly opposed to both Harmony and the usual Bogovi mindset of not touching things that aren't yours.

At this exact moment, Sowiljr and Jioni are in Gimli (the renamed Asgard, post-Ragnarok), trying to get it ready for the Kingsmoot, a meeting of all the pantheon heads that Sowiljr has called in an effort to get everyone to make some policies, alliances and plans that help the overall war, not to mention solidify his own tenuous position as king of like two people. Folkwardr has likewise called, or is trying to call, a Magemoot to deal with the problem of the Titanrealm of Fate having been severely screwed up by Theoi shenanigans, making the Fate purviews not work properly, but he's unable to get much going on that since he's currently trapped in the Titanrealm of Illusions with Eztli, who he's desperately trying to get out since he knows she's ill-equipped to do so herself. Eztli, in turn, almost got out once but refused to go when she realized that Tonatiuh, the sun god of her struggling pantheon, was trapped there, too; she refused to leave him, and all three are now fighting to survive and remember who they are before the Titan eats them whole. Sowiljr is miserable over Folkwardr and Eztli being stuck in there, but knows that he both can't really help them and that he doesn't dare not show up to this major political event he's throwing, so he's just doing the best he can and trying not to Loyalty extremity every day. Jioni's just tired. Of everyone.

In Eastern Promises, the current band consists of Alvin, James, Leona, Mrs. Young and Haji, the same misfits from the last adventure, who have just begun a new saga in order to fulfill requirements asked of them by Fate after James used Deus Ex Machina to save their lives in the last story. They've been sent to go to the Garden of the Hesperides and retrieve a box for Ishtar; they have no idea what's in the box, nor are they feeling great about going to the Garden of Hera Kicks Your Ass, but Fate wants what Fate wants. They've just begun to get some clues that not all of the gods may be around, although where they are and what happened to them is anybody's guess, and that they're largely on their own when it comes to dealing with their supernatural problems. Most recently, James attempted to get permission from Queen Victoria to marry Leona, only to be told in the politest terms possible that he wasn't about to get permission to marry anyone who's half brown and he has a duty to the Crown to marry someone more suitable in case his children come up to inherit the throne one day, which he's trying to combat by finding a way to prove that Leona is descended from the pharaohs and therefore appropriate marriage material; and Alvin, in order to save his drowning comrades from an angry Proteus, agreed to spend a night with the god as his eromenos and is exploring a strange but interesting new world of sexuality. Mrs. Young hates everyone and wants to go home. Haji's good, though.

Finally, the Gangs of New York game just brought their story, starring Zoe, Skylar, Russel, Isaac and Anton, to a thrilling conclusion where somehow most people survived. Isaac accidentally got himself dragged into a world where he exists as pure computer code, and there met the mistress of the giant technological web, who turned out to be Arachne; she offered him the chance to stay with her and influence the web (and thus the world) from within, which he accepted, bowing out before the final game session. Back on earth, where all the Scions of the current story are duly appointed superheroes (codenamed Containment Prime) in the employ of the United States government in charge of defending New York City from supernatural threats, Skylar fled a monster attack that destroyed an Army base and was subsequently sentenced to death for abandoning his duty; Zoe and Anton made a desperate helicopter trip from New York to Washington, D.C. in an hour and half in a stolen military jet, being attacked by monsters all the way, to barely make it in time to stop Congress from voting in his execution. Zoe made an incredible patriotic speech about Skylar's value to the country and the need for superheroes, successfully saving him from death and the group from disbandment, and Anton made sure it went viral so that the United States as a whole is now on the superhero bandwagon. Meanwhile, Russel and Skylar, defending New York on their own, teamed up with a surprisingly skilled human cop they ran into to take on the last of the fire demons that have been plaguing the city recently, in a fierce battle that nearly killed all of them but finally managed to take her down and save the day.

At the end of the story, Zoe was recalled to Washington to coordinate political concerns for the new group (and deal with the fact that Isaac has gone AWOL and, since he's a former terrorist, that's super not good), Anton went with her as bodyguard and chauffeur, Russel missed his opportunity to try to tell Zoe he has feelings for her because of Skylar's bionic interference, and all was well in the Big Apple. The next story will rotate characters again, so Zoe, Isaac and Anton will go out and Russel and Skylar will stay in, and we'll pick up with a new crisis and set of heroes next week.

So, you know, they're keeping busy.

It just occurred to me that this post is queued, so there might have been a game or two between when I wrote it and when it goes live, but that just adds to the mystery, I think.

Anne's Fiction Corner

Man, is it still Christmas? We've got new art, we've got visiting players, and now we also have one more treat in the form of some more player-contributed fiction for the Gangs of New York game. If I didn't have death-flu, I'd be partying on the roof.

For those who have been eagerly awaiting more in the saga of Russel Pride, awkward but endearing puncher of monsters, today we present Punch Drunk: Made of Steel, the third and final installment of this particular game's shenanigans, featuring Russel along with bandmates Anton Volconi, Skylar Copperwaithe, Isaac Green and Zoe Vrontopoulos. In it, Russel finds out a lot of things he didn't really want to know and faces a lot of things he didn't really want to mess around with, but he also figures out some important things about himself in the process. Also, punching fire demons.

That'll be it from Russel for a little while, since his story just ended and the Gangs group will be reforming for a new story in a week or two, but don't despair. He's scheduled to be in the next band as well, so we may yet hear more of his antics in the Big Apple.

Anne's Fiction Corner

Well, will you look at what we've got here? It's another awesome fiction offering from our players!

The saga of Russel Pride continues with more journal entries in Punch Drunk: Taking Back the City, still starring our favorite Scion of Sekhmet (unless you ask Leona) as well as Skylar Copperwaithe, Isaac Green, Anton Volconi and Zoe Vrontopoulos. Today, Russel learns more about what it means to be a Scion, has run-ins with both monsters and mortal police forces, and realizes that feelings are hard.

Man, I love writing fiction myself, but it's so much fun when I get to read someone else's, too!

Anne's Fiction Corner

Hey, everybody!

Today we have a special treat: fiction not from me, but from one of the players! The delightful Punch Drunk: The Life and Times of Russel Pride is now available for reading in the site's fiction section. It is part of the journal of Russel Pride, Scion of Sekhmet, and features appearances by his bandmates Skylar Copperwaithe, Zoe Vrontopoulos, Anton Volconi and Isaac Green. It's about life, the universe, and what tiny parts of them Russel is able to kind of sort of understand stuff about.

Frankly, it is my favorite thing of the moment, so go check it out. More Gangs fiction will hopefully be on the way soon!

Lady on the Street

You guys, we have new art!

Today it's a portrait of Winona Nelson, our suffering but still seaworthy Scion of Nergal. This picture is from shortly after she started living on the streets, but before Michael and his cavalcade of failure blew up her overpass and started her on the road to terrorist superstardom.

By awesome artist Theo Wolff

Artists are amazing. You tell them about stuff and then paintings come out!

Scion Symphony

Question: In a previous vlog you had mentioned that many of the characters have a "theme song" without the knack itself. Could you share some tunes for your characters who are not rocking Theme Music?

I hope you guys are ready for this! We got all the players involved, went to our own giant playlists of character theme songs, and even after slimming it down (WAY down) we still have an awesome musical journey going on here. I'm not kidding when I say that John and I have songlists that are literally five or more hours long for each of our games, including songs for each character, for their relationships and for their great deeds. We love epic musical soundtracks!

Don't mind the videos for these. We're talking about the music, not the silly band dances.

Better Next Time:

There's a pretty neverending stream of music for these guys; you can sit through our iTunes list for them for about six hours without even being able to see the end of the tunnel. In addition to Geoff's official theme music - "How You Like Me Now" by The Heavy and "Lover of the Light" by Mumford & Sons, depending on his moon - we also like Natasha Marsh's "He Moves, Eyes Follow" and Rise Against's "Savior". The last one in particular is a great song for describing his relationships with his family members (mostly women) over the course of his life.

Sangria has a cocktail of songs about physical badassery and determination, but our top favorites would be "No Gringo" by Vienna Teng, "Indestructible" by Disturbed and "Titanium" by Sia/David Guetta.

Sophia's image song has always been Daft Punk's "Harder Better Faster Stronger", which really captures her attitude (and lack of normal human-like function). At the point where she became (according to John) infatuated with a particular Scion who shall remain nameless, we also started playing Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" a lot.

Goze's playlist is as multiple-personality as he is, but Jim's Big Ego does both of his major songs, the frenetic "Stress" and the introspective "The Ballad of Barry Allen". When he impersonated Geoff, we also used to always play Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" to illustrate his hilarious impersonation of his more charismatic friend.

Marcus James' unofficial theme song was always "I'm On a Boat" by The Lonely Island, which covered his bombastic crazy-ass personality traits, but in his sadder moments we also associate him with "I Need a Dollar" by Aloe Blacc. His player has also been known to remark that any song by Jay-Z is relevant to Marcus' life.

Eastern Promises:

There are a ton of characters in this game, so we'll try to be brief and split them up by group.

Mohini is all about some high-energy dance music (if techno dance beats had existed in her time period, she'd have been all over them); she has a lot of similar songs on her list, but some of the most often-played are "Come and Get It" by Selena Gomez and "Turn Me On" by Nicki Minaj/David Guetta. Shadan, the ever-irrepressible, rocks out to "Crown on the Ground" by Sleigh Bells, while Kebo's easy-going nature lends itself to "Movin' Right Along" by The Muppets and Cassara of course has to be "Food Glorious Food" from the musical Oliver! Padma's player wasn't sure what song to use for her, but said that she and Shadan should totally be the subjects of "Something There" from Beauty and the Beast. Akhi's song is Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood", which handily contrasts with Faruza, who obviously has to go with Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire". Samuel, scourge of the skies on his ornithopter, is heralded by Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries", while Darrius' secretive nature lends itself to the moody "Hideaway" by Passion Pit. Mshai's player suggests "Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky for his brief run, and Alvin, the suave son of a bitch, gets "In the Air Tonight" covered by Nonpoint. Adorable Yadi is Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine", and old, crochety, adventurous Paniwi rolls along to "Muddy Water" from the musical Big River. Lionel's grossness is aptly represented by Radiohead's "Creep" and "Brand New Day" from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and Mrs. Young's creepy personality makes everyone uncomfortable with "Danse Macabre" by Saint-Saens, rounding out our unpleasant team members. James' player suggests several upper-crust classical pieces for him, including "Dawn" by Dario Marianelli, and "Rule Britannia" by Thomas Arne; Leona of course gets Katy Perry's "Roar".

Terry's player totally did not okay it, but we play "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" by Big & Rich for him anyway.

Gangs of New York:

The first Gangs group, full of socialites with poor decision-making skills, was of course headlined by Michael, whose official theme song is Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" and whose unofficial followup is Franz Ferdinand's "Michael". Sexy mysterious Valentina gets "Die Another Day" by Madonna, poor displaced party boy Nic gets "All I Ever Wanted" by Airborne Toxic Event, and psychotically vengeful James gets "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley.

The second group, which was more of a moving demolition derby than a set of semi-human beings, has an accordingly sadder and more dystopian list of music. Poor Winona's song is "Grey Street" by Dave Matthews Band, with "Down" by Jason Walker/Molly Reed as a secondary choice. Alan's song is Great Big Sea's "Wave Over Wave" or "Nautical Disaster" by Tragically Hip, while Jake (and everyone else in the group, eventually) gets Radioactive by Imagine Dragons and Simon's player informs us that, now bereft of his only true love in death, his character will be represented by Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You".

Our current group (the... good group?) in that game is slightly less depressed about their lives. Anton's song is "Stickshifts and Safety Belts" by Cake, Isaac's is "The Future Soon" by Jonathon Coulton, Skylar's is "Hannah's Theme" by The Chemical Brothers, and Zoe's is "By the Sword" by Emilie Autumn.

Land of the Red Sun:

Alison and Colin have an entire album dedicated to them, but a few highlights for the fractious son of Dionysus include "Frontier Psychiatrist" by The Avalanches, "Magic" by B.o.B. and "Unwell" by Matchbox 20. Alison's official theme music is "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People, but she's also partial to "I Am a Scientist" by The Dandy Warhols, "Control" by Poe and "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin.

Of the Japanese crew, only Saki ("Bumblebee" from DDR) and Hachiro ("This Is Halloween" covered by Marilyn Manson) have the Theme Music knack. The rest of the group wasn't played for long and didn't have a strong musical set yet, but the Japanese group was so consistently ice-cool that we enjoy playing Far East Movement's "Like a G6" for them as a unit.

Skeins of Fate:

Aurora has hours of music all by herself, but in addition to her official theme music (Kelly Sweet's cover of "Dream On"), I'm also fond of Sara Lov's cover of "My Body is a Cage" for her, while John loves Michael Card's "The Prophet". We actually made the saddest double CD of music about her and Wolf several months ago, but listening to it made us turn to drink.

Woody, the old soldier that he is, has always had "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas as his main song, but songs about war almost always suit him; some of our other favorites are Billy Joel's "Goodnight Saigon" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son".

Vivian's official theme song is the 30 Rock Theme, which suits her awesomely, but she is a lady of many and mercurial moods. We also love Nightwish's "Slow Love Slow" for her, and of course "Lady Marmalade" from Moulin Rouge.

People often forget that Will actually has Theme Music - Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" - because he doesn't use it very often. Bonus: John Doe's unofficial theme song was "Going Down" by Sick Puppies... and he did.

Kettila's adorable theme song is "I Won't Grow Up" from Peter Pan, and her creepy childhood schtick dominates her playlist. We also recommend "In My Arms" by Plumb, "Fields of Innocence" by Evanescence and "I Want My Innocence Back" by Emilie Autumn.

Strawberry Fields:

Cheerful Dierdre is the frontrunner here, with either "The Elfin Knight" by Kate Rusby or "Turn Loose the Mermaids" by Nightwish. Seamus is gloomier with "Save Yourself" by Stabbing Westward or "Disarm" by Smashing Pumpkins. The other Irish kids were sort of cannon fodder in Seamus' ruthless quest, so they didn't end up with many songs of their own.

I'm serious, this could go on for a very long time, but that's not very surprising. Lots of players and games have theme songs for their characters, so our list is only impressive because of the sheer number of characters making it massive.

Anne's Fiction Corner

The long-awaited, hotly anticipated first story for Gangs of New York is here: The Gidim, starring Winona Nelson. It's her backstory and life prior to becoming a Scion, and is a tale of slow entropy, disadvantaged childhood and the very worst human nature has to offer. I don't normally put ratings or warnings on stories, but if you're upset by people being very, very horrible to one another, you may want to give this one a miss.

Gangs won the last vote in a landslide, so they'll be getting the next story as well (hopefully more quickly... I can't decide if it was class or Winona herself that made this one take forever). They're booted off the poll now so someone else can have a turn - happy voting!

• If you vote for Better Next Time, you're voting for stories from our ever-active, cross-cultural globetrotting band - Geoff Matheson of the Aesir, Sangria Tecuhtli of the Aztlanti, Mitchell Gozer and Sophia Archimedes of the Dodekatheon and Marcus James of the Orisha. They're currently dealing with safeguarding territories they never expected to be responsible for, attempting to right wrongs and walking the long, hard road of repentence.
• If you vote for Eastern Promises, you're voting for stories from the nineteenth-century band in a world of colonialism and industry - Leona Middleton, Samuel Vanderbilt and Paniwi Bayteru of the Pesedjet, Faruza Alinejad and Yadi of the Yazata, Mohini Misra and Padma Billingsworth of the Devas, and many more. They're currently fighting corruption among local authorities, learning what other cultures have to offer them and finding ways to survive no matter what the cost.
• If you vote for Skeins of Fate, you're voting for stories from our frozen northern band - Aurora Dahl, Woody Anderson and Will Nordstrom of the Aesir, Kettila Blomgren of the Aztlanti and Vivian Landry of the Orisha. They're currently handling the looming shadow of Ragnarok, the fallout of their parents' political decisions and their own personal desire to deviate from the paths Fate has set them.
• If you vote for Strawberry Fields, you're voting for stories from the wild-eyed Celtic band - Dierdre O'Riordan, Seamus McMann, Jude Shriver and Auggie MacDonough of the Tuatha de Danann and Alaina Bertrand and Ignatius Rex of the Nemetondevos. They're currently gearing up to challenge the combined might of the military and their shadowy puppeteers, while reaching out to their kinsmen around the world.

Eastern Art and Gang Graffiti

Artwork day! Woohoo! We have three new awesome pieces of art for our games today, and I am way beyond excited about them!

First, two pieces of Eastern Promises - the first ever Eastern Promises fanart, in fact!

Nisha, hiding in the jungle, tries to imitate Mohini's morning dance routine! (Art by Steph!)


Faruza teaches Paul Bunyan the holy scriptures, while he tries to impress her with his manly charms! (Art by Julian Lancaster!)

How much do we love these? So goddamned much. Look at Paul's big goofy face. Look at Nisha's adorable awkwardness. Look how awesome they are. I'm drowning in my glee.

And let's not forget Gangs of New York, which has a piece that I put up in the art section recently and somehow forgot to feature here on the blog (so shame on me).

Michael, shapeshifted into a woman, rallies a mob of mortals to fight the U.S. Army personnel trying to lay siege to the Metropolitan Museum! (Art by Samantha Braithwaite!)

Michael (or Michelle, as the band referred to him/her at this point) don't play around, you guys. He is a menace to society.

Artists, we love you and we love your fanart and we are so full of love we will probably float away into the universe. I heard from a little bird that even more new art is on the way, and we are pretty much just entirely floored by talented artists who feel like being awesome for our players and characters. You guys are excellent.

By the way, we were fiddling with some pretty lightbox effects in the artwork section of the site, but unfortunately it was loading at a snail's pace and we were too frustrated to keep it. The new artwork section is a little less fancy but much quicker and cleaner, and we'll keep tinkering with it as we go along.

Yay, artists!

The Gang's All Here

Hey, all of today's scheduled blog posts have already gone out, but here's another one! We just got some more too-cool-for-school fanart for the Gangs of New York game, and I couldn't resist sharing. Check it out:

When Alan was desperately wounded and at death's door, Simon called down his father Anubis in a desperate bid to save him, leading to some very dangerous doings at the Metropolitan Museum. (Art by Jon Niemeister!)


Adira and Jake fiercely battle down an animated Hephaestus statue like total bosses. (Art by Steph!)

Man, we really need to get a place on the site to put all this stuff. Art is so cool! You artists are so cool! Coolness overload!

Death on the Streets

Question: What happened to Mabel and James in your Gangs of New York session?

Good heavens, everyone is so excited about the Gangs kids lately! Their awesomeness must be showing. Alas, both Mabel and James fell victim to the classic Hero-level Scion trap of antagonizing too many mortals before they were high enough Legend to handle it.

James, a private eye attempting to suss out the truth about some frightening incursions of Titanspawn and other magical phenomena in his area, accidentally ran afoul of the law a few too many times and found himself in a direct fight with some police officers. He then made the ever-popular Dodekatheon Scion mistake of channeling his vengeance against them, leading to a burning and permanent hatred of law enforcement officials that haunted him until he died. After outright murdering several police officers around the city, vengefully destroying even ones who had never seen him in retribution for their fellows' slight against him, he finally went down in a massive hail of bullets when he was cornered by several SWAT teams. He went down flipping them off and yelling. His death also put Michael Chambers, James' bandmate, on the hook for owing Hermes a favor, thanks to Hermes blaming him for allowing James to die and waste the investment he'd so far put into keeping him alive.

Mabel survived much longer, and her death wasn't really her fault; thanks to Michael being branded a highly dangerous and wanted terrorist by Homeland Security, Mabel ended up implicated in his crimes after the mortal authorities noticed that she was coincidentally around him too often and decided she was an accomplice. After a particularly harrowing escape from army helicopters that forced the band to split up, Mabel ended up trying to take refuge in a safehouse run by a local witch, but unfortunately the magical wards on the place failed and the army was able to lay siege to it. It was just her, the witch, and Jake's normal teenage brother, so there was no hope of succeeding; she marched over to the door, opened it to glare at the team of Men in Black in the hallway, and was shot so many times there was no hope of ever saving her. With her dying breath, however, she used the last of her magical mojo to reinstate the wards on the safehouse, so the kid was spared and the rest of the band was able to temporarily return to it as a safe base to hide from pursuit.

The Dodekatheon parents - when they can be reached, which isn't very often - don't seem to be very pleased about the double failure of their offspring. The pressure's on the rest of them (especially Alan, at the moment) not to screw anything else up or die, or there will probably be some epic Olympian problems down the road for everyone to deal with.