Room 333

Room 333

[a thingy done for the UA campaign Faces in the Dark]

There is a reason the 3rd floor of the school was closed down. One beyond the mundane issues of cost and space and heating. This is that reason, a door to a place that should never have existed.

There is a city made of glass and butterfly wings. There are wonders in it, of the kind of terror and awe true wonder holds, the dream made real, words made solid, form and ideal bleeding together into an unreal geometry that hurts the eyes but tugs at the heart, making you wish you'd dreamt it, seen it, even once.
The walls are covered in graffiti in languages that were old before the world existed, languages not even known to the dead. They give the city shadows, though it has no sun. The sky is grey, and pale, with a deep purple rent that lets down the light, the kind of cut one would imagine if the sky bled.
The streets are raw, pale and cracked like flesh, hard and soft at the same time. There is no sound here, just silence, stillness, a waiting so deep that nothing has ever stirred. Dust glitters brightly in the air like unfallen rain, and then you hear it, buzzing, at the very edge of hearing, a rattling through the bones, more felt that heard, aching, as if they are growing, or breaking apart.
The voices. The voices, angelic, pure, harsh and wild. They are singing, and it sounds like heaven come down to earth, and you never, ever want to hear them again. They get louder, but somehow softer at the same time, like pillow talk by a leprous lover, gurgling fish-speak as pure as sunshine, as cold as ice, and you can't help but hear. And listen. And wonder.

"The children, the children,
The children are coming.
More than kith, less than kin,
They slouch ever downward slumming.
They're dying, they're living
They are here and becoming,
Listen to their song, their song, their song
Listen to them humming
To the bees buzzing to the light giving
To the harp of damned souls
The strings strumming
They're coming round the ways of the world,
They're reaching from the depths, plumbing
Listen to the beating of the drums
Listen to broken feet drumming
The floor, choking, dumb,
Dum, da dum, da dum.
Listen to them, giggling, laughing.
The children are coming
Listen to the singing
Becoming, unbecoming,
Cutting and culling
Listen to the sounds they make
Listen to the silence break
The children are coming
The children, the children,
The children are coming."

The song loops through you beyond madness, past reason or hope or fear. It ends with footsteps and laugher like fingers scraping chalkboards. Breathing like gum popping, the hiss of a sucking chest wound. And then a chorus, high and low, blended into a sexless monotone song than twiches, casting itself high and low along the music scale recklessly, searching seeking, pleading ... being .... heard. This, you hear:

"Here we are, all gathered together
Finding the sinners 'cuz we never
Did nothing wrong, we tell it true,
Nothing wrong, we beg of you,
O teacher, can you listen?
Look at our bright eyes glisten
We are crying for you to hear us
We are crying for you to love us
Teacher, we love you, we just can't
Understand you, the pain in your voice
No, we weren't making joking about your ranting,
O teacher we love you, we just need a choice.
We're singing you a song
We didn't mean to do wrong
O teacher don't hurt us
O teacher don't make us
Do homework
We beg you
We won't smirk, won't jerk
Won't hurt - just don't
Go beserk! We - love - you."

You can't see who - what - may be singing. Perhaps it's your own voice, your throat feels so raw, everything feels raw. Your eyes are burning, and everything blurs, becoming even clearer. Glass. And butterfly wings. Shadows and violet light. And the opressive, numbling, welcoming silence, the calm before a storm .... and, perhaps, distantly, the voices?
=> just what is in the City in the Otherspace. A class of children. The teacher is even scarier.

Supers Lite Post II

Will exist. Has forum here on the forums, and two players. Time and dates are uncertain, at present.

"The fundament of a superhero is the guy in tights saving innocent people from bad things. It's amazing how infrequently that seems to happen in superhero comics these days."
Frank Miller

One Player Game: Supers Lite

So, because of some odd thoughts I had about superhero universes, and such things in genera, and my generally pessmistic outlook TO such things, I want to try something different.

A superhero game, in "lite" mode. Not dark, not doom and gloom and 'the real world does this, so everyone fears you' etc. It's never really happened in #game1. So I'd like to try it. The one player limit is, well, I think I could manage it best that way.

(N.B. Two players is possible if 2 ppl want to do a siblings or parent/child duo.)

The goal is a superhero game that's about fun. Helping people, having fun, balancing hero and life, beating Bad Guys and the like.

Oh, yes: So far, Caltak is interested. He just said so.

To continue: The actual universe - and power level of the PC - will be worked out with the player. We can do spiderman level, even Superman (though, well, not THAT powerful please :p) and go from there. The PC will need family, job, who they're "out" to and the like.

How many heroes/nature of the universe'd have to be worked out, too. are there lots of heroes? Villains? Tems? I don't mind stealing piles of stuff from other universes, but I'd also rather not set it specifically in another one; the PC is the star of the story.

The game system would also have to be worked out. Probably Risus, or something, for simplicity. [Not BESM - done it too much lately.] Amber, a la 4ways, is also viable.

Things to keep in mind: This universe will be a collaboration between GM and player. For those who watched La Fin, it's something like that. Only more so. The comic angsty cliches will be used, of course; GF/BF wondering where you are, people wondering why you always go missing etc. How far all of that goes depends on what's made, and the general kind of universe it is, how common heroes are etc.

Players who are NOT in it will be encouraged to make up villains, settings etc. that can be thrown in. I plan to have FUN with it :)

CAVEAT: Okay, so I AM editing it now. To whit:

The PC would need a family. Friends. A weakness or two. Means of travel. Ability to withstand getting hurt. And, for the sake of their sanity, probably at least one person who knows their secret. If it is one.

LOLAD2 Ramblings and stuff

LOLAD 2 will run. Not sure when, of course. I think everyone'll need a break from the world, so we'll do something else (what? no idea yet. Could do more of Havoc! :) Or UH ::p)

But, since some players are already thinking up PC ideas:

1) No MC from lolad1. (Secondary Characters - Travor's sister, maybe Mufasta etc.) are possible. Ideally, though, the game won't have much connection to lolad1, PC wise.

Starting point breakdown:
13 CP for stats.
10 CP for abilities.
20 SP for skills.
No more than 5 points total in defects.

Items of Power and the Magic attribute ARE allowed, within reason.

No PC weres or vamps. You're all human (or human+), or some weak kind of alien etc. This is a lower-powered game. Think of the PCs as vigilantes and the LOLAD1 PCs as the Justice League -- very little interaction between them, gross differences in power.

The LOLAD1 game will, of course, be referenced. LOLAD2 wil take place in the modern world, so 5 years or so after LOLAD1. Newcasts etc. will mention those PCs. (Players are encouraged to come up with "what my PC would be doing in 5 years" things for fun once lolad1 ends :))

Of course, how LOLAD2 plays out will depend on how 1 ends, naturally. Given the plot so far, I have some vague ideas, but the whims of Sparkie change many things.


The "between games game" will be intended as a short, fun game. Different genre entirely, ideally. I would like to do the Haunted game, for example, at some point. Or we could do something nice and silly. Really up for anything.

(Keep in mind that this is 3+ months down the road; lolad1 still has a weys to go. But toss out ideas here and we'll see what people are up for. Time will be the same on Monday.)

LOLAD 2?

The Major Plot is about to unfold, in game, soon. (Soon in this game, of course, is a while in RL :)) Depending on how things go, it will end - interestingly, for the world.

So a second campaign may be ran, if players are willing and not lolad'd-out. Said campaign would be set in 2006, using lower powered characters: no weres and vamps, for one thing, using BESM. Real world*
* "Or what is left of it." - Sparkie

Proviso: no PCs from the first campaign can be used. NPCs from it can be turned into PCs, with GM permission, but for the most part everyone is expected to make new characters and the game go from there.

Once this campaign draws to a close, we'll do an informal poll and see if players are up to the new game deal, or taking a break from the universe, or whatever.

New, Improved Quotes!

The quotes have improved, thanks to the efforts of Fennec (and kentari, for how Sparkie does them now). Search is now available ONLY on the site. Improvements will be added as time permit. The regular quotes via 500 per page in the normal quotes section of the site will be updated as usual.