Dracoheim Confidential is going out to backers now, and a few people have not only already received their copies, they’re posting reviews! Here’s a great one from David!
Dracoheim Confidential will be out on Amazon on July 15th if you missed the Kickstarter.
Jim Breyfogle’s The Complete Tales of the Mongoose and Meerkat is out on Amazon now!
He’s a brash young bravo, eager to prove his worth with a blade. She’s a mysterious rogue with a head for history and razor cunning. Together, they are the Mongoose and Meerkat!
Whether they’re looting haunted dungeons, fighting demons and necromancers, or just settling labor disputes, this swashbuckling duo is ready for anything! Mangos would love nothing more than to earn a name for himself and keep himself comfortably in coin. Kat, however, has more far-reaching plans for her wealth.
The City State of Alness has fallen to a band of mercenaries and brigands who have ravaged the north lands. Amidst the rumors that an Alnessi royal may have survived, the Mongoose and Meerkat must navigate all manner of intrigue and betrayal to win the fame and fortune necessary to restore the once-mighty city.
Originally serialized in 18 installments from 2017 through 2023 in Cirsova Magazine, Jim Breyfogle’s Mongoose and Meerkat became one of the iconic Sword & Sorcery teams of the Pulp Revolution. Now, you can have all of their adventures in a single gorgeous volume!
Plus, this collection includes an all-new side-story, Chasing the Cat Sword, featuring the mercenary sisters Daini and Kairi and has world-shaking implications for the Mongoose and Meerkat lore!
Don’t miss it!
Or, if you do, watch it eventually…
The most important thing to remember about the above is that none of it constitutes a story.
It can describe a location where a story can occur—but that’s not a story.
It can suggest characters who can be in a story—again, that’s not a story.
The place and the people can change how a story plays out, which is why I like using exotic locales and persons in my work.
The story itself, though, that is eternal. It transcends time and place. It is no respecter of persons.
Okay, schmart guy, you say, so what is a story?
That’s a trick question because no matter how I answer it someone will respond with their own pet formula in order to say I’m wrong. So I won’t try to define or limit “story” as an abstract concept. I’ll just tell you what I use when I write.
This is a person.
This is what the person wants.
The person deserves to have it.
This is the obstacle that is between the person and what the person wants.
This is what happens next.
And the end, either the person gets it, or not.
There’s nothing in there about a call to adventure that must be refused or accepted, nothing about an Underworld, no mention of mentors or tempters or oracles. I don’t do Epic. The characters I write aren’t Chosen—they just happen to be on the scene when something needs doing and no one else is doing it.
And it doesn’t matter if the “something” is a kitchen drain that needs to be unclogged or a demon prince that needs to be slain, the principle is the same. Something in the cosmos is broken and somebody needs to step up to fix it.
I write stories about the somebodies who see something that needs fixing and take the responsibility to fix it because that’s the kind of somebody I want to be.
It’s pretty much that simple.
[Today is the final day to back Dracoheim Confidential on Kickstarter!]
The other day, I posted a character/faction list for a Disney Ducks Braunstein, but I realized that there wasn’t quite enough there to actually run it. I had a few ideas that were bugging me, so with this post combined with the previous post, you should have enough basic mechanics along with characters to run a party game of One Dime to Rule Them All. I’ve also made a few minor edits to the original post for clarity and balance.
Duckburg – Duckburg is the largest zone and contains many smaller zones within it. Anyone can freely travel to Duckburg from zones within Duckburg. Additional zones, such as banks or museums, may be added into Duckburg if the scenario warrants it.
Scrooge’s Money Bin – The Money Bin is within Duckburg. It is Scrooge’s base where his resources are kept. Only Scrooge and his nephews (if they are working together) may normally enter it. Anti-Scrooge characters may enter it if:
Flintheart’s Money Bin -The Money Bin is within Duckburg. It is Flintheart’s base where his resources are kept. Only Flintheart may normally enter it. Other characters may only enter it if:
Donald’s House – This is Donald and the Nephew’s home base. It is within Duckburg.
Beagle Boys’ Hideout – This is the Beagle Boys’ home base. It is within Duckburg
Jail – The Duckburg Jail is within Duckburg. It serves as a base for the Duckburg Police and optionally Mayor Hogwylde. Other characters may be placed in Jail using the Kidnapping rules, though if the police have placed them there, it is not considered Kidnapping or Underhanded. Characters placed in Jail must remain there until rescued or released. If a Duckburg Police player is with a character in Jail, they may only be rescued with one of Gyro’s machines. Magica cannot be kept in Jail (she can use her magic to escape).
The Wide World – The Wide World is the world outside of Duckburg. It takes one resource token to travel to and from the Wide World once.
Mt. Vesuvius -Magica’s home base. It is within the Wide World. It can only be reached by characters with resources to travel to the Wide World. Characters kidnapped and taken to Vesuvius by Magica are considered to have Magica’s double guarding them if she leaves them there.
Additional zones may be added as needed for the scenario.
Resources are primarily used for travelling but may also be used to bribe and negotiate with other characters. Additionally, it takes one resource token for Gyro to create a machine.
Characters can carry no more than two resource tokens at a time. Beagle Boys can carry up to three resource tokens.
If for any reason Scrooge or Flintheart use or lose all of their resource tokens, they are NOT broke, however new tokens create a deficit which MUST be overcome to achieve a win (they have spent more resources than the adventure was worth).
Gyro’s Machines – Gyro can build a machine at the cost of one resource. Gyro’s machines are single use. The machines can be used for one of the following actions:
Two players together may kidnap a single character, and either force them to come with them to another zone, take their resources or possessions, or force them join their faction. If only one or two players are playing Beagle Boys, only one player is required to kidnap a character. Magica’s magic allows her to kidnap or hypnotize another character without assistance. Kidnapping is always considered underhanded. Police may arrest or rescue characters so long as they are not outnumbered [eg. it only takes 1 Police character to arrest another character rather than the 2 normally needed to kidnap or shakedown a character].
Two players together may rescue a single character if the character is not accompanied by more than one kidnapping player.
If Donald and the Nephews are played by a single player, they may rescue a character as though they were at least two characters. If the Nephews are played by a single player, they may rescue a character as though they were at least two characters BUT they may be captured as if they were a single character. If the Nephews are played by multiple players, anti-Scrooge players may capture them one-to-one if they are separated.
Some villainous characters may not wish to kidnap a character, but they may want to take their resources. Such characters can declare that it’s a shakedown, and the character who is being shaken down must hand over any treasure or resource tokens they have.
The game should have a pre-set time limit. During the time of play, characters will negotiate, move around, shake one another down for resources and treasure, trying to find out who has the mcguffin and to achieve their goals. For purposes of the determining a winner, the value of the mcguffin treasure is nearly equal to the starting resources of Scrooge or Flintheart. Unless they spend ALL of their starting tokens, if they end the game with the treasure at their money bin, they will be the richest duck in Duckburg. If either spent or lost all of their starting tokens, ended with the treasure, but their rival ends resource equal to or greater than their starting amount, they are NOT the Richest Duck in the World. Control of the mcguffin treasure is determined by either physical possession of the treasure token or the treasure token’s uncontested presence at a player’s base [eg. the Money Bin].
All of these details—the few I mentioned here and the far greater number I haven’t—combine to create a world. When I write in this universe I get into a kind of “Dracoheim Mode” where things become, not obvious exactly, but clear.
For example, in one of these stories I mention that forged ones are immune to rashling illusions. I didn’t reason that out in any way, it just occurred to me that was how things are. In another story I found that members of the Old Church—a survival of the pre-industrial nature religion—refuse to use paper money. I don’t know why, exactly, it just seemed to fit. (They don’t haul around sacks of loose gold, though, they exchange rolls of coins. They’re not barbarians.)
Sometimes my sense of place will reject an idea. In my story “To Wound The Autumnal City” I mention that cockatrices can sense necromantic energy and feed on ghouls in the wild. I also establish that they can be farmed. When I was writing “Better Off Dead” it seemed reasonable to me that the Pickmantown Ghoul Squad could used a cockatrice to hunt ghouls. Nope, says my Dracoheim Mode, they don’t do that. Why not? Dunno, they just don’t.
So I cut that scene.
And this is why I will probably never open up Dracoheim as a setting for other authors to use, the way I invited other authors to write stories set in the Eldritch Earth. I’d be worried that another author would come up with something that doesn’t fit, and since I can’t say in advance what fits and what doesn’t, I’d have to be able to veto anything that just doesn’t feel right in someone else’s story.
And who would put up with that bullshit?
[Just a few days left to back Dracoheim Confidential on Kickstarter!]
This interview that Dundermoose did with Jacob LeTourneau and Harmony Ginger, who had an opportunity to play in a Braunstein run by David Wesely himself and break thru the iron wall of Griff to speak with Braunstein’s creator, is a HUGE revelation:
>the bros were right
>the bros were right
>also, the bros were right
Update: I would be remiss if I did not include links to this incredibly thorough post from J and Harmony’s after action.
Cirsova 