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.
Showing posts with label Winona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winona. Show all posts
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
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.
Artists are amazing. You tell them about stuff and then paintings come out!
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!
Friday, October 11, 2013
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!
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.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Kids in Gangs
Question: What can you tell us about the new characters from the New York game?
Our youngest baby, Gangs of New York, has been affectionately nicknamed "worst game ever" by its players and "home of the stupidest decisions" by its Storytellers. It is consistently batshit insane, but also totally epically fun, so everything's working as intended.
Like Eastern Promises, the Gangs character roster rotates with each story, so several different characters have made appearances in the same continuity.
The first group consisted of James Keenan, Mabel Grey, Michael Chambers, Nic Mason, Rick Nolan and Valentina Radic, and they got their entrance into the problems of the divine when a high-society Manhattan New Year's Eve party was crashed by some human-sacrificin', dude-seducin' ancient Babylonian sirens. Michael, a high-class prostitute Scion of Ishtar who was being paid to attend the party as a celebrity's handsome escort (for the Broadway fans in the area, he was dating Anthony Rapp at the time), was the focal point of the problem, since he accidentally enhanced the summoning ritual that brought in the bad guys and turned out to have previously been sexually involved with their leader, to boot. Rick Nolan, a Scion of Mah and the New York male equivalent of Paris Hilton who was only at the party because Nic had called him and asked him to lend it his star-studded presence, ended up in the basement trying to defuse the situation along with Valentina Radic, Scion of Bastet and an international jewel thief and member of a secret crime syndicate, who had been lying low in New York to await contact from her fellow thieves after a major heist in Toronto. James Keenan, a Scion of Hades and hard-boiled New York private eye, followed Mabel Grey, Scion of Hecate and known peddler of Weird Shit at her magic shop, to the scene of the insanity thinking she was a demon, only to become immediate allies against the security forces that turned on them and then failed to contain the supernatural threat. Nic, a Scion of Enlil and the party's organizer and all-around golden boy of the celebrity party elite, took a look at the devastation left of his carefully-planned event and got drunk out of his mind.
In the process of everything, buildings were blown up, mysterious notes from parents were received, magical teddy bears broke James' knees and got Rick into a photogenically compromising position with Michael, Mabel and James became the best buddy-cop movie in history before he conceived a burning hatred against the New York police force that eventually led to his downfall, Valentina rode an elevator into the sky Willy-Wonka-style and Michael was declared an international terrorist. It was a wild ride.
The second group, currently still playing, consists of Michael, still in the game, and Adira Bazzi, Alan Parillo, Jake Devon, Simon Rockwell and Winona Nelson. Thanks to Michael's involvement in the debacle of the previous story, his terrorist affiliations have made him wanted by the police and Homeland Security, and in the process of trying to escape them he hijacked Alan's boat (leaving the Scion of Poseidon, a Canadian national on retirement vacation with his wife, suddenly implicated in his crimes), got Winona (a Scion of Nergal with a terrifying leper-like appearance and a distinctly unpleasant outlook on life) and her fellow hobos riddled with bullets during a police firefight, ruined Jake's career as a prizefighter on the underground boxing circuit (something his father Vahram is probably not too pleased about), accidentally got Simon, a Scion of Anubis and forensic scientist for the NYPD, on the wrong side of the law, and dragged Adira into magical combat before even figuring out her name. The rest of the characters refer to him as The Life-Ruiner.
So far, they've battled living statues and approximations of gods, fled from massive mobilization of army and national security forces, discovered mortals that can somehow pinpoint Scions and create magical Titanic energy rifts, gotten the local good witch of Central Park killed, created acid bombs from stolen car batteries, crashed several trains, struggled to even find the secret coded puzzles their parents want them to solve, let alone succeed at them, encouraged Poseidon to devastate the city with a tidal wave and moved into a homeless commune in the subway tunnels beneath New York City. They're in pretty bad shape and running scared, but ever hopeful about the situation getting better. After all, it almost has to, right?
We're totally loving this game, by the way. There have already been two character deaths and more would not surprise us, but it's action-packed and hilarious at every turn, and the players are a riot.
I suspect this question is here to drum up interest in Winona on the fiction poll; the next round of voting will probably also include Michael and Valentina as possible storytellers. Show them some love, and we'll write them a story!
EDIT: Hey, did you guys know we also have some awesome fanart of the Gangs of New York characters? In addition to all their awesome character portraits, done by Jon Niemeister, we also have these awesome scenes!
Man, we have so much awesome fanart we should probably find somewhere on the site to put it all, eh?
Our youngest baby, Gangs of New York, has been affectionately nicknamed "worst game ever" by its players and "home of the stupidest decisions" by its Storytellers. It is consistently batshit insane, but also totally epically fun, so everything's working as intended.
Like Eastern Promises, the Gangs character roster rotates with each story, so several different characters have made appearances in the same continuity.
The first group consisted of James Keenan, Mabel Grey, Michael Chambers, Nic Mason, Rick Nolan and Valentina Radic, and they got their entrance into the problems of the divine when a high-society Manhattan New Year's Eve party was crashed by some human-sacrificin', dude-seducin' ancient Babylonian sirens. Michael, a high-class prostitute Scion of Ishtar who was being paid to attend the party as a celebrity's handsome escort (for the Broadway fans in the area, he was dating Anthony Rapp at the time), was the focal point of the problem, since he accidentally enhanced the summoning ritual that brought in the bad guys and turned out to have previously been sexually involved with their leader, to boot. Rick Nolan, a Scion of Mah and the New York male equivalent of Paris Hilton who was only at the party because Nic had called him and asked him to lend it his star-studded presence, ended up in the basement trying to defuse the situation along with Valentina Radic, Scion of Bastet and an international jewel thief and member of a secret crime syndicate, who had been lying low in New York to await contact from her fellow thieves after a major heist in Toronto. James Keenan, a Scion of Hades and hard-boiled New York private eye, followed Mabel Grey, Scion of Hecate and known peddler of Weird Shit at her magic shop, to the scene of the insanity thinking she was a demon, only to become immediate allies against the security forces that turned on them and then failed to contain the supernatural threat. Nic, a Scion of Enlil and the party's organizer and all-around golden boy of the celebrity party elite, took a look at the devastation left of his carefully-planned event and got drunk out of his mind.
In the process of everything, buildings were blown up, mysterious notes from parents were received, magical teddy bears broke James' knees and got Rick into a photogenically compromising position with Michael, Mabel and James became the best buddy-cop movie in history before he conceived a burning hatred against the New York police force that eventually led to his downfall, Valentina rode an elevator into the sky Willy-Wonka-style and Michael was declared an international terrorist. It was a wild ride.
The second group, currently still playing, consists of Michael, still in the game, and Adira Bazzi, Alan Parillo, Jake Devon, Simon Rockwell and Winona Nelson. Thanks to Michael's involvement in the debacle of the previous story, his terrorist affiliations have made him wanted by the police and Homeland Security, and in the process of trying to escape them he hijacked Alan's boat (leaving the Scion of Poseidon, a Canadian national on retirement vacation with his wife, suddenly implicated in his crimes), got Winona (a Scion of Nergal with a terrifying leper-like appearance and a distinctly unpleasant outlook on life) and her fellow hobos riddled with bullets during a police firefight, ruined Jake's career as a prizefighter on the underground boxing circuit (something his father Vahram is probably not too pleased about), accidentally got Simon, a Scion of Anubis and forensic scientist for the NYPD, on the wrong side of the law, and dragged Adira into magical combat before even figuring out her name. The rest of the characters refer to him as The Life-Ruiner.
So far, they've battled living statues and approximations of gods, fled from massive mobilization of army and national security forces, discovered mortals that can somehow pinpoint Scions and create magical Titanic energy rifts, gotten the local good witch of Central Park killed, created acid bombs from stolen car batteries, crashed several trains, struggled to even find the secret coded puzzles their parents want them to solve, let alone succeed at them, encouraged Poseidon to devastate the city with a tidal wave and moved into a homeless commune in the subway tunnels beneath New York City. They're in pretty bad shape and running scared, but ever hopeful about the situation getting better. After all, it almost has to, right?
We're totally loving this game, by the way. There have already been two character deaths and more would not surprise us, but it's action-packed and hilarious at every turn, and the players are a riot.
I suspect this question is here to drum up interest in Winona on the fiction poll; the next round of voting will probably also include Michael and Valentina as possible storytellers. Show them some love, and we'll write them a story!
EDIT: Hey, did you guys know we also have some awesome fanart of the Gangs of New York characters? In addition to all their awesome character portraits, done by Jon Niemeister, we also have these awesome scenes!
Nic and Rick get into a gentlemanly fight over the charms of a certain Babylonian siren! (Art by Theo Wolff!)
Mabel and James heroically set forth into the dangerous basements beneath the New Year's Eve party! (Art by Steph!)
Valentina bails out of an airborne elevator like a boss! (Art by Theo Wolff!)
In an unfinished sketch, Rick, Michael and an agitated Nic argue over strategy! (Art by Steph!)
Man, we have so much awesome fanart we should probably find somewhere on the site to put it all, eh?
Monday, May 20, 2013
Living Above Their Means
Question: I was looking at Winona Nelson's character sheet and noticed she had level 2 Death at Legend 2. Is that a houserule/ because I don't see it listed on the houserules section? Thank you for you time.
Yeah, it is, but it's not in the house rules section because we're not sure we like it and may not be keeping it.
The still-unnamed Saturday game that stars Winona and her cronies is also something of an experimental proving ground for new rules and ideas; we throw stuff at them and see what sticks, and then either keep it and add it to the house rules or throw it away and never speak of it again. This particular rule is one of those.
The experimental rule was that, if you were creating a new PC at Legend 2, you could get second-level boons at character creation if you so chose. They would remain inactive and unusable until you achieved Legend 3, but you'd still have them ahead of time and would automatically get them as soon as you were powerful enough. The idea behind it was to allow Scions who wanted to specialize into a purview more to do so by "laying in" boons for the future if they wanted to, and to give Scions with purviews with only one first-level option something else to spend their character creation points on besides more abilities.
But now that we've tried it out, we're not sure we like it very much. It doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot for the game; sure, it's nice to just suddenly develop Euthanasia without spending XP as soon as you grow in power, but it may be solving a problem that isn't actually all that much of a problem at all, and in the meantime it encourages players to put things on their character sheets they can't use and neglect getting things that they can, which is not very exciting and definitely not helping them survive to even make it to that Legend 3 bump.
So we may or may not be keeping that rule for the next round of character creation (whenever that is), but you may still see a few characters floating around with a second-level boon for now who were created while we were testing it out. Incidentally, Winona is now Legend 3 and totally entitled to her Euthanasia, but she wasn't when you sent this question in, so the confusion is totally understandable.
Yeah, it is, but it's not in the house rules section because we're not sure we like it and may not be keeping it.
The still-unnamed Saturday game that stars Winona and her cronies is also something of an experimental proving ground for new rules and ideas; we throw stuff at them and see what sticks, and then either keep it and add it to the house rules or throw it away and never speak of it again. This particular rule is one of those.
The experimental rule was that, if you were creating a new PC at Legend 2, you could get second-level boons at character creation if you so chose. They would remain inactive and unusable until you achieved Legend 3, but you'd still have them ahead of time and would automatically get them as soon as you were powerful enough. The idea behind it was to allow Scions who wanted to specialize into a purview more to do so by "laying in" boons for the future if they wanted to, and to give Scions with purviews with only one first-level option something else to spend their character creation points on besides more abilities.
But now that we've tried it out, we're not sure we like it very much. It doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot for the game; sure, it's nice to just suddenly develop Euthanasia without spending XP as soon as you grow in power, but it may be solving a problem that isn't actually all that much of a problem at all, and in the meantime it encourages players to put things on their character sheets they can't use and neglect getting things that they can, which is not very exciting and definitely not helping them survive to even make it to that Legend 3 bump.
So we may or may not be keeping that rule for the next round of character creation (whenever that is), but you may still see a few characters floating around with a second-level boon for now who were created while we were testing it out. Incidentally, Winona is now Legend 3 and totally entitled to her Euthanasia, but she wasn't when you sent this question in, so the confusion is totally understandable.
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