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athenaquinn · 4 years

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A First Ink-counter || Luce & Athena

TIMING: July 13th LOCATION: Ink Inc. PARTIES: @divineluce and @athenaquinn SUMMARY: Athena decides to get an important tattoo. Luce provides much needed refreshing conversation.

Her parents didn’t have to know about everything she did. Certainly they didn’t know about her fake ID and maybe one other thing, and so they didn’t have to know about this, either. Athena wasn’t planning on letting them see what she was getting anyhow. If her brother refused to come home, she’d make sure that he didn’t entirely break away from her. She hadn’t been apart from him for more than a few hours throughout their entire life, and so perhaps a tattoo of the constellation with his namesake would do the trick. She had a picture printed and folded neatly in her purse and enough money to pay in cash, unless the tattoo came out to over a thousand dollars. But what she was asking for was small, and so she figured it wouldn’t cost too much. Better to not leave a paper trail though, she knew her parents well enough for that. She pushed open the door to the shop and took in a deep breath before going up to the receptionist. “Hello. I have an appointment with Luce, I believe?” She gave a small tug at the edge of her shirt. She knew that in her white shorts, nearly new Converse, and pastel purple shirt she didn’t exactly look like she belonged in a tattoo parlor, but this was important to her, and after all, she was far tougher than she looked. Besides, anybody could get tattoos. To assume only one sort of person could probably wasn’t the best viewpoint to begin all of this with, but she had to be quick to judge in most situations. She sat down in a chair in the waiting area and pulled out her phone, only looking up when she heard someone else come into the room.

Taking a sip from her coffee cup, Luce glanced at the clock on her laptop and let out a quiet swear. Fuck. She had an appointment. After spending the last few weeks not coming into work, it was weird getting back into the swing of things. But, she had bills to pay-- big fucking bills from the extended stay in the hospital. So she needed all the appointments she could get. Adjusting her ponytail, Luce hurried out to the main lobby. Looking around the shop, she saw a young woman sitting down in the waiting area and approached her with an extended hand. “Athena, right? I think we talked a while ago about tattoos. I was surprised to see the booking-- in a good way.” She said with an easy grin she often used with clients, meant to set their mind at ease and help calm them down a bit. “C’mon back. I’ve got the design drafted up for you and we can see how you like it.” She said, escorting the girl into her room of the shop. “This is gonna be your first tattoo, right?”

When the woman stepped out and called her name, Athena shook her head for a moment, before nodding. “Yes! I remember now!” She took in Luce’s look, before looking back down at her lap. “Can’t say I knew how to dress for this occasion, but hey, doesn’t look like you’d kick me out for this, right?” She stood up, brushing her hands against her shorts and began to follow Luce to the back room. “Yes please, I think reviewing things can often be helpful!” Was her voice a bit too forced? Probably, but she wanted to make a good first impression, especially since this was important to her, and for all that she had no personal experience with tattoos, she did at least know that they were permanent and when having someone put something permanent on your body, being on their good side was the way to go. At Luce’s question, she offered her a small smile and gave a shrug, “that it is - though I can’t imagine what would’ve given that away.” She moved so that she was standing next to Luce. “I’d love to see what you have drawn up. I know it’s a fairly simple design, but hey, at least it’s not a simple wave, right?”

“Hey, we get all kinds of people in here. I’ve had people roll up in sweat pants and other folks who came in full business suits. Besides, if any of us gave a shit about what people thought about our appearances, we’re be in the wrong business.” Luce laughed as she gestured to the seat in the middle of the room. It had been awhile since she’d been back in, but her room was just as clean and organized as always. She needed to update some of her designs on the pinboard, but that was a continual work in progress. “Since it was a pretty simple one, I drew up a couple. Had a lot of time on my hands to really make this pop.” She said and pulled up the three different designs she’d made. One of them featured dotted lines connecting the entirety of the constellation, another had a backdrop of watercolors behind it, and the final was a very minimalist take on the constellation, with only the bow connected. “Eh, everyone starts out a virgin. In my experience, most people who get their first tattoo come back and get a second one in about a year. Once you’ve got the bug…” She shrugged and gestured to the dark sleeves on her arms. “So, what do you think of these?”

“That’s fair. Though the image of some of the businesspeople I’ve seen around town in here is one that doesn’t quite compute.” Athena gave another shrug, “but that’s totally true, it’s just still nice to see. Doesn’t always happen.” She sat down on the seat that Luce had pointed out and twirled the ends of her hair around her fingertips. How odd it was to be nervous about something like this and yet be willing to run and fight any sort of creature in a second. “I appreciate the dedication that you’ve already put into this. She looked at the different design choices, taking her time to take in the drawings. “You’re a great artist, I’m glad I was able to book you.” She dropped her hair from her hands and looked up at Luce. “I think I like the one with the little dots in between everything. It feels like just enough, but not too much - not that the one with the colors is bad at all, I just don’t necessarily want to be overly flashy right now.” Athena nodded, “well, that much is true. Can’t say I plan on getting more as of now, but hey, sometimes I surprise myself.” She bit her lip. “So, should I lie down? Sorry, as I said, I’m new to all this. Just tell me what to do.”

“Eh, sometimes they’re people who are just passing through. Don’t judge a book by its cover and shit, you know?” Luce said as she let Athena look over the different designs. It really wasn’t a big deal. The design was super minimalist to begin with so it was easy for her to come up with a few different ideas off the top of her head. Besides, she didn’t think the tattoo would take much longer than a half hour. “Thanks. I do good work.” She nodded at Athena’s choice. “Sounds like a good call to me. Nothing wrong with colors, but I personally prefer black and white myself.” She gestured to her own arms once more. “You can hang out for a second-- Gotta print a stencil. Then, we’ll figure out placement, that might take a couple tries to get it situated. And then we’ll get started on it. You mentioned in the booking you wanted it on your ribs, right?” She asked as the stencil was printed out.

“Of course.” Athena nodded. “Well, if it’s good business for you all then I am glad you are able to have it.” She continued to listen to the other woman, “yes, I don’t want anything too flashy - at least not for a tattoo.” Not when it was as special as this one was. Besides, it wasn’t like her brother was flashy, and honoring him should be similar. Subtle, but well thought out. Or at least she hoped so. “Of course, and yes! I see that!” She glanced down at Luce’s tattoos. “Well, you pull it off well. Can I ask, what made you interested in this? Both getting your own and having this as a profession? If I may ask, of course.” She nodded at Luce’s words. “I’ll stay right here, don’t worry about it!” She nodded, again perhaps with too much enthusiasm, but she didn’t think Luce would mind too much. “Sounds good - and yep! Sort of on the side of my ribs,” Athena pressed her hand against the outside of her shirt. “Though you know best, so once we get to the positioning, I’m open to advice.”

“Thanks.” Luce nodded in response as she looked over the stencils that had printed. One was slightly larger than the other-- one would cover most of the girl’s ribs, the other probably half. Then again, she was guesstimating. “How big we going?” She asked holding the two up for Athena to look over. “It’s totally your call on placement. At the end of the day, it’s your body, your tattoo. I can give you an idea of what would look good in my opinion, but you get the final say. That said,” She said “You’re also going to need to take off your shirt soon. Depending on how high up on your ribs you want it, I can give you pasties.” Luce said, no stranger to nudity when it came to her work. It was part of the job. Lots of girls wanted rib tattoos, or sternum tattoos. And more than a few guys wanted thigh tattoos for some fucking reason, which meant she’d been way too close to way more dicks than she ever wanted. Circling back to Athena’s question, Luce shrugged. “I was an art student at UMaine for a bit, but I dropped out after I got my first tattoo. Figured out that tattooing was more my speed and Ulf offered me an apprenticeship. Never really looked back after that.”

“Of course.” Athena bit her lip at Luce’s question. “I think the smaller. I like them both, and it’s not like this’ll always be super visible, but I think a bit smaller is more what I’m up for.” Smaller was more intimate, more connected - her brother was hardly one to make a big statement about anything, and if she was doing something in his honor, it should represent him, shouldn’t it? “I’d like advice on placement, but I think on the side of my ribs might be good. Up to hearing your thoughts on the matter. When in doubt or in experiencing something new, I’m of the belief to refer to the expert.” She gave a small shrug. “I sort of expected as much.” Luce was pretty, and she wasn’t fae at least, and if this was the way tattoos worked, it meant that she’d likely be able to hide it easily. She pulled her shirt over her head, brushing her hair over one shoulder as she looked over at Luce. “Oh, I’m at UMaine now - Senior come fall. Hey, I know someone else who’s going to trade school, I think that you should do what you want, and clearly you do a killer job here.” She offered the other girl a small smile. “Ulf’s the owner?”

“Sounds good to me on all counts.” Luce said as she tossed the other stencil in the trash and waited patiently for the girl to get herself situated. With an analytical eye, she mapped out the positioning with the space available, taking into account how the lines would draw the attention of the casual observer. “Yeah, you’d think more people would take that approach right? But, for some reason, people think they know better than me. Who cares about my experience, huh?” She said as she applied the stencil to the girl’s skin. “Hm. Check it out in the mirror and let me know what you think.” Luce said with a nod before leaning back against her desk. “Thanks. And yeah, Ulfric. He’s a good dude. Owns the shop, gave an apprenticeship, does tattoos too.” She said with a nod.

“I’m glad.” Athena kept glancing over to Luce, trying to take in the entire room, It was a natural habit that she’d had for as long as she could remember. Survey the scene, make sure you know what you can use in case you run into trouble. It was why she’d survived that werewolf attack on her and her brother’s eighteenth birthday. Quick thinking and a knowledge of what was around her. “You’d think, but people are idiots a lot of the time.” She rolled her eyes and let the woman place the stencil against her skin. “You don’t have to worry about me thinking I know better than you. I’m decent at interior design, but I’m not super great at other forms of art, but hey, we can’t all have it all, right?” She held onto the stencil and hopped off of her seat and went over to the mirror. It looked good - situated just on her ribs. She hadn’t had an exact placement in mind, just within a certain area - and this fit the bill. Good enough to keep hidden even in the couple crop tops she owned, and personal, private. Nodding at Luce’s comments, she turned to walk back over. “Seems like a nice combo of things to have and be. By the way, placement’s perfect. Just tell me what to do next. I can pull my hair into a ponytail if need be, I know it’s a bit long.”

“If that isn’t a fucking mood.” Luce laughed and grinned. “Glad to hear it. That kind of thinking will get you far in life. Sometimes it pays to watch and learn and let the professionals do what’s best. I mean, like… from a learning perspective.” She said as she prepped her tray of tools, grabbing fresh gloves and supplies from her rolling toolkit. “And hey, who knows. With practice, you could get better. No harm in trying, right?” She said as she gestured to the chair. “I think your hair should be fine. If you could lie down on your other side, we’ll get this thing started.” She said, snapping on the gloves with a smile. “A constellation, though, huh? Any particular meaning behind it?”

“Such a mood,” Athena grinned. “Right - I mean, I want to be a doctor. It’s a pretty huge yikes if I don’t listen to what others want to teach me. Especially given that I might want to do surgery. No amount of books will teach me that - I need to learn from those who understand the field. I have respect for those who know more than I do.” She gave a shrug at Luce’s next comment. “Very true. I think trying is always of use. Maybe I’ll go pick up a sketch pad sometime soon, we’ll see.” Athena nodded at Luce’s request. “Alright, I’ve got scrunchies and hair ties just in case.” She moved to lie down on the opposite side and bit her lip at Luce’s question. Saying yeah, it’s for my twin brother who sort of might hate me but who is my other half might not fly so well. “I’ve got a friend who meant a lot to me who was super into astronomy. Plus, there’s sadly no Athena-specific constellation, and so this one suits me well.”

“A surgeon? Smart girl. That’s pretty cool.” Luce replied as the machine in her hand began to buzz. “Alright, let’s get this thing started. If you need to take a break or something, just let me know.” It was a small tattoo, with hardly enough detail to warrant all that much time to get what Athena wanted, but you could never be too careful tattooing virgins. She’d had a girl pass out on her once while doing the tiniest fucking scribble of her life. As the tattoo machine buzzed in her hand, Luce continued to talk while she worked, “Ah, that’s cool. I don’t know much about astronomy, so I wouldn’t know if there was one or not. This is the hunter guy, right? Orion?” She asked.

“I like to think I am at least sort of smart. Thank you.” Athena took in a careful breath as Luce began the tattooing process. At least the scars on her body were faint and primarily on her legs.”I’ll be sure to let you know, but I played field hockey in high school. I doubt this’ll hurt more than any of that did.” She did her best to stay as still as possible. “I’m hardly an expert myself, but well, when you have the sort of name I do, you kinda have to know at least some other Greek mythology, and by default you get thrown into astronomy. Especially when you’re like me and sometimes just read textbooks for fun. Or if you get too caught up in curiosity.” She took in another deep breath as Luce continued, the buzzing on her ribs feeling stranger more than anything else. “Yes. One of them. Placed into the stars by Artemis in some stories of mythology.”

“Ah, don’t sell yourself short. You thinking about med school soon? What with senior year rolling up and stuff?” Luce asked as she continued to follow the stencil. It was a pretty easy tattoo and hey, at least she was getting paid. Field hockey. Weird fucking sport, considering it was a rough and tumble kind of deal and yet all the girls had to wear skirts and shit. Not that she’d ever minded. She’d been with a few different field hockey girls before. “Makes sense. The default Greek myth stuff. Can’t relate to the textbook thing, though. I’m not big on books.” She said as she dipped the tip of the machine into the ink once more. “Artemis…” Luce nodded, “That’s the moon lady, right? I did a tattoo of her a while back-- something with her like, turning a dude into a deer and making his dogs eat him? The lady who wanted it was metal as hell. Turned out to be a cool tattoo.”

“Yep! Planning on taking the MCAT and applying this year. We’ll see where I end up.” Athena continued. “At present, I’m interested in otolaryngology, immunology, or medical genetics, but I suppose I’ll have to see.” She felt her cheeks grow a bit warm - it wasn’t even as though the other girl was giving her any sort of big complement, but there was something incredibly satisfying about having someone who was a mostly stranger still compliment her. “Yeah? I think Greek myths can be super neat - an interesting way of understanding the way they understood the world. Oh? Well, hey, not everyone is. I’ve got a -” she scrunched up her nose, not wanting to bring up Ariana, not really properly knowing what she was, “I know someone else who’s not big on reading, but they’re into audiobooks.” She glanced down at the tattoo as it was forming under Luce’s steady hands, “Yes, she is the moon lady,” something I wonder if I would’ve been named after her in another life, “oh? That’s super interesting! You really do get all sorts of fascinating tattoos around here, don’t you?”

“Dope. Good luck with all of that. Sounds like you’ve got a lotta cool shit in your future.” Luce said, the specific fields that the girl rattled off going right over her head. She’d gotten through high school with a solid C grade and lasted 8 weeks in college before dropping out-- medical shit, outside of tattoo aftercare and specifics on how to avoid blood poisoning were completely out of her wheelhouse. Which suited Luce just fine. Let doctor people do doctor stuff, she’d stay in her lane with her art. “Yeah, myths and stuff like that are pretty cool. A lot of art draws from greek myth so I’ve studied some of it, but eh. That was a while ago. I’m not exactly interested in being the next Raphael.” She said as she wiped away some droplets of ink with a paper towel. “Around here? Depends on the day, but I’ve got a few cool ones under my belt.” She tilted her head to one of the framed art pieces on the wall, an intricately woven black and white mandala that featured motifs of flowers, circles, and other geometric shapes. “That’s my preferred style. I had a client who came in, didn’t know what he wanted, saw that, and had me turn it into a stencil. Got it done on his calf then and there. It was pretty cool.”

“Thank you.” It was nice, how easy it was to talk with Luce. Athena had never been someone who found talking to others difficult (heck, she’d been the one to initiate conversations for others, even), but it was still nice to fall into a balanced conversation with strangers. Especially ones that at least seemed human, for all intents and purposes. “Eh, being the next Raphael is overrated anyhow. He’s neat, he made some great art, but trying to be him? Overrated.” She grinned at Luce, before following her gaze. “That’s amazing!! Sorry to have mine be a bit boring, but it’s just something I’ve thought about for a while, and for all that I can sometimes be bright and bold, I also appreciate simplicity. Hence the sort of minimalist tattoo.” She glanced down at Luce’s work. “Thanks for being so careful. I was sort of nervous this was going to hurt more than it has been. But again, maybe all the sports prepared me for this. What’s a tattoo compared to an elbow in the ribs?”

“Oh, big mood. I’m not exactly interested in being some repressed painter. And besides, portraits and sculpting aren’t my thing anyways.” Luce said as she wiped the tattoo clean. It was such a simple design, it really wasn’t going to take much longer. Leaning back, she took a look at her handiwork with a critical eye. It was exactly what Athena had requested, so hopefully it would go over well. “It was a fun time. And hey, it’s meaningful to you and that’s what matters. Doesn’t matter if it’s minimalist or something more intricate. Art’s art.” She replied. “I’ve got a light hand, which helps for this sort of thing. But yeah, you’ve been taking it like a champ.” Luce said with a grin of reassurance.

“Right? That’s so fifteenth century.” Athena grinned. “I think it’s good to know about all sorts of art. It’s wonderful how skilled you are.” She glanced over to Luce again, watching the woman as she stepped back and began examining the tattoo. Athena glanced down at it. “Well, from what I can see, it looks better than I expected, so I think this is a win. Thank you - you do have a wonderful and steady hand for this, and I appreciate the endorsement. Means a lot.”

“Exactly. I’m a modern gal, I’m not about that old shit.” Luce smiled in return before shrugging. “A lot of people say that tattooing isn’t art. Those people are wrong, it’s an art, it’s just a different kind. Which is why I look into other stuff outside of just tattooing. Acrylic painting, oils, charcoals, stuff like that.” She said before putting a small wrap over the tattoo. “No worries, I’m glad you like it. It’s always nice to do something that people appreciate, you know?” She said before grabbing one of the aftercare kits from her work station. “There’s a little hand out in there that has information for you to look back on, but keep the wrap on, wash it with unscented soap every couple hours, and no baths, pools, or hot tubs for two weeks until it’s healed. Other than that…” Luce peeled off her gloves and tossed them in the trash before offering her hand to Athena. “I think it turned out really well.”

“I can appreciate history but I don’t want to be like that, right?” Athena gave a small shrug. “Same class of people who say cheerleading and dance aren’t sports. I never did them, but they are valid sports.” She allowed Luce to wrap up her tattoo and flashed her another grin. “I agree. It’s best when someone’s able to appreciate what you do, and I know I super appreciate this.” She glanced down at it. A way to have a part of the most important person in her life next to her always. With her, always. “Thanks!” Athena grabbed the kit and nodded along to Luce’s description. “I’ll be careful and so long as I can still shower, I’m all good.” She grabbed Luce’s hand, pleasantly surprised at the lack of rash the silver rings caused against her now bare skin. “I agree. Should I decide to go wild and get another, I know which gal to call.”

“Right? Ah well, fuck what people think, you know? Sometimes you just gotta do what you want. Who cares what other people think?” Luce said with a nod, though she knew it was easier said than done. She’d lived by that motto for a long time, but… there were times when it would have been simpler to just go along with what other people wanted. Pushing the thought from her mind, Luce gave a thumbs up. “Yeah, definitely shower, just be gentle when you’re cleaning it. The print out has everything you’ll need and feel free to call the shop if you ever have any questions.” At the young woman’s firm handshake, Luce smiled in response. “For sure, for sure. But yeah, great working with you. They’ll ring you up at the front. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon.” She said with a wink as she began to clean up her work station. She remembered being like that, getting her first tattoo and then coming back for more. Ariana was that way, Luce mused, thinking about the tattoos the girl sported. Maybe she’d see more of the both of them in the future.

#wickedswriting #c luce #chatzy #a first inkcounter #// i love cal #and i loved this so much #this was a fascinating interaction and i am deeply intrigued by this

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derkastellan · 4 years

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Review & Playtest: Creep, Skrag, Creep! (DCC)

I have a comparatively long history with the Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) RPG, and when I wanted to ease my GM-ing burden recently, I convinced my group to dedicate half our sessions to playing premade modules for this game. The reasons were simple - hardly any publisher I know makes so many good, fun modules consistently as Goodman Games does, the system is also simple, and one of my players owned the core book without ever having played it.

I personally tend to believe that fantasy is best seen from a horror angle. I mean, look at the content of a typical monster manual! And the flavor text is probably the only thing worse than the pictures, usually adding gruesome details awaiting those tricked or bested by those critters. So I was happy when M. found me a funnel made by Goodman Games that I not only already owned, but that was designated as part of their new horror line.

I emphasize found, because navigating the online store I had relied on tags and not come over this one. Better clean that one up, Dark Lord... But the search did do its job. Another oddity is that Creep is apparently #5 in the new DCC Horror line, but the only other adventure I saw was Sinister of the Sempstress which supposedly #2. It seems the Halloween line has been rebranded, but I guess this rebranding will be only complete when the other modules in it will be reprinted.

If this gives them a reason to release more of them than just once per year I’m all for it. Sadly, Creep is an ambitious module with many flaws, not living up to its potential...

Lists for lists’ sake

What does this adventure have aplenty? Tables to roll on. Kinda pointless tables. Features that lead nowhere. Ill-designed tables.

Example #1: Rumor table. There are 12 rumors, so of course you roll a d12... per player character. This is a funnel! If you have, as intended, 12-16 PCs you get a good chance that most rumors are known. Just drop the exposition already - or is there value in not knowing this? A good share of the foreshadowing and telegraphing of upcoming down in this module is lost if nobody gets the ill or good omens from the rumor table...

Example #2: Quirky Personality Traits table. 14 entries, roll a d14... these vary between “annoying” (refuses to cooperate with a given other PC, being a smartass), game-impairing (fear of heights, fire, the dark, open water??), or actually seemingly useful (except not really). If you have 3-4 PCs, try keeping track of these. Funnels aren’t great role-playing opportunities - it’s hard enough to get players to name all of their PCs at times. Now you have suddenly 3 people in the group afraid of something rather common... the only positive impact on the game this typically has is probably that it sorts out “who does what” - a typical cause of delay in funnels since players have to chose who takes part in any action or who goes where. PCs afraid of heights probably don’t go into the crow’s nest. But most likely of all, this adds nothing to a good share of games.

Example #3: Ship’s Ledger. Lists crew manifest. Unfortunately unsuitable as a handout because it contains info the players don’t have, but is indicated to the judge to refer to when the PCs read the ledger in-game. (And not all NPCs have names. Great list.)

Example #4: Sailor Tattoos. You need to make a Luck check to determine whether you successfully render the tattoo in such quality that it conveys a positive effect in the adventure. No tattoo has an effect that has in-game use! No mechanics, zilch.This is the reward for wasting a turn in a game where every three turns a monster attack of increasing difficulty happens! Plus one tattoo makes no sense at all: “Black Dragon: Symbolizes that the sailor has sailed to the Black Sea of the Aghartan Underworld.” This sounds cool, but if you look at the “Journey to the Center of Aereth” adventures this is not only nigh-impossible to do, but also even harder to return from. A DCC-ism: It sounds metal badass, but signifies nothing.

Example #5: The Tacuinum Sanitates. This one takes the cake. It gives you a list of unspecific effects some ingredients have, assigns some of these effects spell equivalents, then leaves it to the Judge to decide what to actually do with it. No mechanics - except for the two (actually identical) applications of direct use in the adventure. A rather typical one for this adventure - a decent idea, poor execution. Decent because it adds some mildly magical treasure without making the PCs OP (as they likely will have to burn Luck to cast anything at all), but mostly just confusing, and if there are spell effects, the spells have no bearing on the adventure.

By the time I had read the adventure in full, I had gotten pretty annoyed with the misleading nature of all these lists crammed into the adventure.

Interesting story mechanic, partially broken

Creep, Skrag, Creep! is basically turning the story of the movie Alien into something suitable for a fantasy RPG. You have a creature you cannot truly beat or trap (which makes it less fair than the setup of Alien 3, thinking of it...). The creature will come at you every half hour of in-game time, try to take out two PCs, make off with their livers if it can, and come back again.

The time-tracking element works. But it conflicts with another element. Each room in the game has a description whether the beast will attack there. Some say it will not attack in that place. Some say it always will. It seemed intriguing enough when reading it, but fell apart in play.

My players went down first. None of the bottom half of the ship has a monster attack in it. Nor has the main deck or the crow’s nest. This limits the beasts’ attacks to the forecastle, poop deck, and 4 out 5 rooms accessible from main - and a timed attack in the rigging. My players basically had no chance encountering the creature as their given course through the decks took them a long time until finally somebody went into the crow’s nest.

Best part? The description of how the creature attacks the person in the rigging kind of violates DCC’s basic movement rules: "[T]he Creature will emerge from underwater, scale the hull, and then drag itself over the bulwark into the forecastle (area F-1). From there, the Creature will nimbly climb across the ropes to attack the PC clinging to the rigging.” Try adding all of that together and the creature travels a couple hundred feet - in what time? It moves 30′ and climbs 20′. Unless this was meant to be fair to the PC as it gives time to escape, it would be hard to run without violating the rules of movement.

So, many times no attack happens. Or it contradicts some other part. The creature is not terribly hard to fight - unless you insist on blocking players from taking part because there are not enough 5′ squares. But with minimal losses they dispatched it multiple times. It was more annoyance than horror. A few lucky rolls from the demonic pigs killed more PCs than the creature almost. So, in order to make it challenging putting the whole thing on the map with minis is probably your best bet. (Except the map accompanying the game is not suitable to be player-facing or to be a direct reference for drawing many areas of the ship. DCC maps look awesome but usually aren’t the most usable.)

The thing never got to harvest a liver through regular combat. It didn’t live long enough to do two PCs in and escape. But in one other (”scripted”) occasion it actually is enormously strong and hard to beat without burning Luck - it has a +6 Strength bonus in a comparative roll leading directly to death on failure. Essentially an undeclared trap. So, this was the time it was most threatening - basically a scripted thing, not combat. The story would have benefited (as a horror story) from crafting more such moments. Alas, there are none.

Instead the creature usually seemed not-so-threatening, a real problem for a horror story. Besides, the players vanquished it several times without truly making the connection it was the same creature after all. Also, some “creature ambush” notes are useless because they assume all PCs enter a place together. Some of these places do not have enough squares for all PCs to fit in there even if you ignore all the furniture in the flavor text. I know PCs consume less space outside of combat, but still this makes little sense. Seldom was the whole party in one location, half of it was on the main deck usually - rendering the ambush setups half-moot.

Ignoring the red flag

“This removes any doubt as to whether the players should attempt to flag down the pirates—a frequent source of playtester debate often ending in TPKs.“

My players, like apparently some playtesters, chose to get away from the pirates which would make the adventure unwinnable but good sense. Luckily for me (and them) they cast “dispel magic” on the creature and burnt enough luck to banish it (one of the described effects), ending the adventure in an unexpected, almost anti-climactic way. But hey, this was indeed a DCC thing to do. Burn through your luck and live by a crazy feat of daring.

If the adventure designer plans the solution to depend on a really desperate move he better foreshadow it accordingly. But every scrap the players read or hear in rumor makes them want to avoid the pirates. Why is it up to the GM running this one to make up for this problematic adventure design?

Conclusion

This is hardly the only thing that should have been cleaned up before publishing this one. Many things were poorly described which made me wonder if this was run by the author mostly - surely someone who knew how things are supposed to work and might have missed on spelling it all out. This leaves a lot of things for the person running the adventure to work out. Something I do not want in a published adventure. This should have been fixed in editing and playtesting, so I’m surprised that this never got caught.

What am I left with is the impression of an ambitious idea for a tightly run funnel poorly executed. Not devastatingly bad, but not up to what I expect of the series or its authors. Compare “Sour Spring Hollow”, a nasty little horror romp by Michael Curtis who resulted in my first funnel TPK. I’ve run it twice and played it once before that, and it always was a real meatgrinder that kept players urgently scrambling for a solution to their predicament. Both funnels share that they are confined to a tight location with the purpose of survival, with periodic events.

Creep tried to give the feel of being stalked like in Alien but its written mechanics fail to do achieve that. It is probably much more exciting when experienced run directly by the author - or any judge who ignores how it is written and just goes with whatever feels right in a given situation. It goes without saying that no written mechanic can replace the intuition of a good GM, but it should run well enough as written to deliver a decent result, and if it can’t do that should give the GM guidelines how to run the monster in a convincing way instead. You don’t run Strahd in Ravenloft by mechanics, you get into how he rolls and the location. If the game had been written around ambushes and splitting the party, that would have probably worked a lot better, too.

As it stand this was my weakest funnel. I’ve run The Portal Under The Stars, Sour Spring Hollow, Sailors on the Starless Sea (adapted as funnel), Nebin Pendlebrook's Perilous Pantry, and Hole in the Sky, and this one seemed to be a letdown in comparison. I had higher expectations and wouldn’t recommend running it in its current form.

#pen & paper #rpg #dcc #dungeon crawl classics #review

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amfmstudios · 7 years

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Interview by Paul Salfen” i_icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-pencil” i_color=”custom” style=”shadow” border_width=”7″ add_icon=”true” i_custom_color=”#ff0000″][interactive_banner_2 banner_title=”Tyler Shields: Provocateur” banner_desc=”Edgy. Dark. Controversial. Risque. Shocking. These are words often used to describe the work of “Hollywood’s Favorite Photographer” Tyler Shields. But when the man behind it appears to not be living in theme with his work and has a rather sunny disposition, how his mind works seems even more intriguing. For a man that calls Marilyn Manson a close friend and often creates suggestive and thought-provoking work, one might expect a brooding or odd creature to be behind it. Instead, the 34-year-old is charming, engaging, and quite funny. ” banner_image=”id^31383|url^http://www.amfm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/TYLER-SHIELDS-Orchid.jpg|caption^null|alt^null|title^TYLER SHIELDS-Orchid|description^null” banner_style=”style7″ image_opacity=”1″ image_opacity_on_hover=”1″ banner_title_font_family=”font_family:Abril Fatface|font_call:Abril+Fatface” banner_title_style=”font-style:italic;,font-weight:bold;” banner_title_font_size=”desktop:70px;” banner_desc_font_family=”font_family:Abril Fatface|font_call:Abril+Fatface” banner_desc_style=”font-style:italic;,font-weight:bold;” banner_desc_font_size=”desktop:30px;”][vc_column_text]Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1982, Shields didn’t get into photography until 2003 – but then published a book just two years later. Since then, his work has been shown in exhibitions all over the world. After starting a decade ago directing music videos, he moved on to photos and has done striking work with the likes of starlets Emma Roberts, Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Greene, and Abigail Breslin.

His next endeavor is film. He directed the thriller Final Girl and has another, Outlaw, that is finished, and another called The Wild Ones in production.

In between those, though, his bread and butter are these art gallery exhibitions like the one currently at the Samuel Lynne Galleries in the Design District in Dallas. “I actually lived here a bit when I was a kid,” he reveals. “There was a skate park that I used to come to Eisenberg’s. So Arlo Eisenberg, who was a big pro skater, was a friend of mine, so I uscalleded to come see him and I met JD [Miller, the gallery owner and fellow artist] and them and they wanted me to come do a gallery and I met Gina [Ginsburg, entrepreneur and Dallas socialite] and I just kept coming back.”

But it’s not just a full gallery he desires while in town. “I like to eat about my body weight in steak. I’ve eaten enough steak to feed a small army at this point,” he laughs. “Literally last night I got off the plane and I said, “Steakhouse. Let’s go!” We went to this place, Al Biernat’s. Gina takes me there every time.”

Shields then looks around at his work surrounding him and begins to recall the great moments with a proud look on his face.

AMFM Magazine: I can’t imagine what it takes to get one of these images to happen, much less a gallery – or a book – of them. Which shot pained you the most?

Tyler Shields: Oh, man. The Marie Antoinette shots took a long time because we built everything. The sets, they made the champagne glasses, the wigs – I had a team of 20 women making wigs. Then we took sledgehammers to it at the end. That one took the most time. The most interesting one was the KKK one [where a naked black man appears to be hanging a Klan member]. I don’t know if I’ve ever told anyone this: when we were doing it, we were doing it in a swamp and I’m in the swamp as well but you can’t see me because there are all of these bushes because there was a hill above it. But there was a family hiking and so they’re hiking by and my assistant and everyone is hiding in the bushes so they can’t be seen in the shot. I’m literally up to here in the swamp and I see the guy and the guy holding the rope says, “There’s a dude up there. What do I do?” and I said, “Act natural.” It was so ridiculous that I said that that he just didn’t do anything and so he’s still holding him up. Because if he lets the rope go, the guy is just going to fall down. So the guy is hiking and he looks down on us and he looks down and he goes, “Come on! Come on!” and he’s got kids out there. So somewhere out there there’s a guy that got an eyeful of us taking that but not me – just that moment. Imagine him calling the park ranger: “I don’t know what is happening but…”

AMFM: You’ve got a lot of people talking about your work with each new set. How do you continue to top yourself?

 TS: Well, when we did “The Dirty Side of Glamour” my friend said, “Well, we did it. You’re not going to top that.” We did the next thing and he said, “Alright, you’re not going to top that.” And now he doesn’t say that anymore. He just says, “OK, do that. You’ll figure it out.” There are so many ideas. I had the idea for the Marie Antoinette stuff so many years ago but it just takes time to get it together sometimes – like the orchid shot. It took three years for me to get that right – the color and orchid.

AMFM: How many frames would you have to go through to get that shot?

TS: Oh, no…there’s only, like, two. Once we had it – I probably spent 30 minutes getting her just to play with the tongue before I even took the picture. And then shoot a couple and that’s it.

AMFM: So where do you find your inspiration? Do you find it just walking around and you just see stuff different than, say, I do?

TS: One hundred percent. It’s interesting because people say, “Oh, you must have seen this from this” and they’re always trying to connect it to something but I just…I remember with this one there was a girl I was shooting and it looked nothing like this but she was just blow-drying her hair and I thought it would be funny if she put it in her mouth and was blow-drying her hair. Those two things had nothing to do with each other at all, but that’s just what I see when I see that and then with the car one I always loved the idea of the woman kind of crushing the car but I saw a Lambo and a woman walking by with her dog and I thought, “Oh, what if the woman could just take her heels and smash the car?”

AMFM: It is amazing how many images we see and ideas we have in our heads in a day and sometimes it’s hard to tell where the inspiration comes from after a while, right?

TS: Of course. And now we’re so inundated with images. When I started out, I didn’t know much about photography or photographers and most of them didn’t have websites or a photography book collection so every once in a while you would see a Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, or Vogue cover but you wouldn’t see stuff like this but now every day so many photographs are just posted alone on Instagram, so there’s just so, so much out there.

AMFM: Is it interesting to see when people post and repost your photos and what they say about them?

TS: Yeah. It’s really cool to see when people repost what they actually say about it and the ones that take on their own life. I’ll get messages like, “Oh, Gigi Hadid posted this photo.” And she doesn’t even know that I took it but they’re just posting it because they love the photo.

AMFM: And some become memes. Is that an honor?

TS: Yeah! I think if you make something that gets turned into a meme you’re hitting a certain point of the zeitgeist, which is fun. I’ve seen the ballet one and the one of the girl that’s got the really crazy attitude and there’s like 20 memes for that one, which I think is awesome.

AMFM: In your book, the celebrities aren’t credited underneath the images. Most people would want to use their names to help create interest but you don’t do that.

TS: You could take a photo of Kate Moss and they would buy it because it’s Kate Moss but the idea for me is to use people that create the photo I want to create and they’re acting in it but it’s not about who’s in it. That’s when you really hit the best thing. [Points to an image of a naked woman covering herself but with no face shown]That girl is an actress. I’m not going to say who she is but she was just playing that part. It doesn’t matter who it is – it’s about the photo. That being said, I’ve shot people where it’s all about them but the stuff in here, it’s not the goal.

AMFM: Which photographers influenced you?

TS: It’s weird because like I said, I knew who Annie Leibovitz was, Ansel Adams, but when I started doing the auctions, that’s when I started to understand the power of Helmut Newton, the power of [Robert] Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn, [Richard] Avedon, and people started comparing to me to Helmut Newton back in the day and I thought, “OK, let me look this guy up” and he’s a character. He’s hilarious…one of the funniest people. As you see what these people do – we’re awarded so much more now. Helmut was great and he worked for such a long time and did commercial stuff but didn’t want to do that anymore and he just started shooting for himself and that wasn’t really a thing back then. You couldn’t make a living selling prints in the ‘60s and ‘70s whereas if he was doing it today, he wouldn’t need to work for anybody.

AMFM: But now you can do it and you don’t have to shoot Super Bowl commercials or anything.

TS: Without those guys like Mapplethorpe…those guys forged the way for this kind of value in photography – which I obviously appreciate! [Laughs]

AMFM: You have a lot of aspiring photographers looking up to you. What advice would you give them?

TS: You know, one of my assistants – I explained it to him like this: when you start out in photography, you see what you can be – but it takes time. You could pick up a camera today and you could copy an Instagram style and have a bunch of followers on Instagram – you could have 10 million followers on Instagram and not sell one print. You just have to understand who you’re making the work for. You’re making the work for a gallery, for a wall. I have some photos that may not get the most likes on Instagram but people buy them. You have to figure out what you want and make the work that people want. I’ve talked to a lot of people that say that’s what they want but they’re afraid that their mom won’t like it or they’ll be judged for it and that’s the worst.

AMFM: And sometimes you just need to get out of LA and see what everyone else says about your work.

TS: Yeah! I just did a show in like this Ohio and we had 800 people come on opening night and they’re excited I’m coming there.

AMFM: I know I’d never be a subject of yours but how do you find the subjects? Do you just look at someone and know that’s who you want to use next?

TS: It’s funny because you’ll meet someone sometimes now but it’s usually a referral. “Oh my God, you gotta shoot my boyfriend,” “You gotta shoot my friend,” and sometimes people are emailing you and sending you photos. Sometimes I’ll see someone and it doesn’t look anything like what I would do with them but that’s part of the fun of it. You have to see the potential of what someone can be rather than who they are. You can use anybody for anything if the theme fits.

AMFM: And now it looks like your next medium is film. Of course we saw Final Girl, but you’ve got a few pending.

TS: I’m working on film that will be done I’ll say at the end of February and I’m working on a script that my company got that was on the blacklist – so I’m working on those now and I’m doing a new project with [Marilyn] Manson. He’s a wild man. He’s funny – but the nicest guy. Literally we talk every day. He’s the funniest texter. Just ridiculous.

AMFM: What do you want people to get out of this exhibition when they walk out?

TS: My biggest thing with making this type of stuff is I want to allow someone to form their own opinion. I had some people ask – one in an interview – “You did this because of this, this, and this” – they were so sure of it and I said “I’m not going to argue with you” and they said, “Because I’m right” and I said, “No, it’s not because you’re right and that’s your opinion.” I make stuff and I won’t think it’s controversial at all and people will freak out and I’ll say, “What’s the big deal? It’s a flower! I don’t know why you think it looks like something else. To me it’s just a flower!” But that’s part of the fun – you allow the interpretation of it.” When you start to explain it, you take away the fun of it because the conversation is why you make it. When the KKK image came out, this guy came up to me and said, “This image really affects me” and I said, “OK, that’s awesome.” And he goes, “Yeah, it’s crazy that the guy is saving the guy” and I hadn’t heard anyone say that that before. If I had said beforehand, “No, this is what it means and this is what you have to think about it,” there’s no fun in that. You have to leave mystery.

The Tyler Shields: “Provocateur” exhibition is on view at the Samuel Lynne Galleries in Dallas through February 11, 2017.

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Tyler Shields: Provocateur Born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1982, Shields didn’t get into photography until 2003 – but then published a book just two years later.

#Cutting Edge Art #Paul Salfen #Photo Exhibit #Provocative Art #Tyler Shields Interview

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