General audiencesThis material is suitable for all ages and temperaments.
| Mature audiencesThis material may not be suitable for small children or sensitive individuals.
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A Redoubt of Stars
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Narrative snippets intended as bridging and exposition related to the on-line role-playing going on at the time. Characters used with permission of their creators.
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Grey and Sabriel were the principles in a meandering romantic subplot that, unfortunately, was just getting up a head of steam when the on-line MUCK collapsed. Before it did, though, discussions with Sabriel’s player touched on the possibility of Grey losing an eye and being thrown from his horse in battle, with Sabriel coming to his rescue. Of course, in the end, they would marry and live happily ever after. Sabriel used with permission of her creator.
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Ross was a secondary character on a role-playing MUCK, created on the spot for a scene requiring a page. To tease one of the other players, Maggie Hogarth, he was designed specifically to be painfully cute—as were these sketches and his punnish name. The high-angle sketch recalls a moment when the small kitten looked way up at Maggie’s very tall character. Daelin created by Mike Fannin and used with permission.
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These model sheets gave the other players in the on-line role-playing MUCK an idea of what the earl, his livery, and the equipment carried by his troops looked like.
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The Promised Land
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Role-playing Aida as part of an on-line MUCK was hugely entertaining, and it was a terrible disappointment when the MUCK collapsed before her storyline was resolved. This scene is set a little later, when the plot would have come to fruition. The Le'enle and individual examples thereof created by M. C. A. Hogarth and used with permission.
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These teenage characters hit it off immediately and quickly became thick as thieves. Idle chatting with Yllanen’s player evolved into an impromptu paint fight that made a thorough mess of the kitchen in the cottage where Kestrel was staying. It ended up being an enjoyably hilarious scene to play out. Yllanen created by Kim Liu and used with permission.
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AIDA came on stage in this on-line role-playing MUCK as a shipwrecked artificial intelligence. Eventually she fell in love and her consciousness ended up in a new humanoid body, winged, tailed, spotted, and filled with some real surprises.
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Kestrel Peryton Solstice, daughter of Peregrine Peryton and Cleopatra Sphynx of Fourth World, sings to the Le’enle Empress of the East, Distant Song. Distant Song created by M. C. A. Hogarth and Fourth World created by Charlie Luce Jr.; used with permission.
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Supers
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A couple of the Lab Mice (without their body armor) respond to a surprise attack, carrying their CPAW “lightning guns”. The weapon design is based rather more closely than intended on the FN P90.
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The idea of playing in a Champions game centering on a group of supervillains rather than superheroes was intriguing enough to inspire the Lab Mice. The basic concept was to create a “character“ that could be in more than one place at a time. Other influences included the character of Hilda from the parody comic Tank Vixens, Masamune Shirow’s Appleseed, and the general notion of omnipresent identical minions. Originally they were to be clothed and accoutered in matte white, but I was persuaded to use satin-finish black instead.
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Walther Brass was the Duster, a pulp-era mystery-man hero who retired after the Second World War, when the world no longer had room for men like him. Decades later, still fit and hearty and looking only half his age, he returned to teach a new generation of superheroes the ropes.
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This character was created for on-line superbeing role-playing. He spent a lot of his time hiding in the city sewer system. Character created by Paul Floriani and used with permission
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Miscellaneous
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Though fantasy isn’t normally my cup of tea, it was hard to resist an atypical pen-and-paper game setting. Instead of the usual medieval European template, inspiration was drawn from northern Europe during the Bronze Age—though with entirely fictitious geography. Furred peoples share the world with humans, elves, and dwarves.
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Janet was created for a lamentably short-lived on-line role-playing setting and was designed with malice aforethought to forge through life with an attitude bigger than she is. Manse Wyrd created by Kim Liu and used with permission.
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Maggie Hogarth volunteered me to help illustrate a role-playing game rulebook, possibly to encourage taking on more projects for publication. After initial uncertainty and noting a dearth of combat-oriented art from other artists, it was an easy decision to create small illustrations harking to Osprey Publishing’s “Men at Arms” series of books. After the first three, things shook down well enough that the authors felt comfortable requesting specific scenes. Originally published as illustrations in World Tree, written by Bard Bloom and Victoria Borah-Bloom. Artwork appears here as a courtesy to the artist.
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Members of and support personnel for an élite antiterrorist powered-armor team, designed for a science-fiction pen-and-paper role-playing game. Characters used with permission of their creators.
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This character was created for the old West End Star Wars role-playing game. She was based, of course, on the “kid” template and had a droid sidekick. Character created by Geoff Somers and used with permission.
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From a short-lived pen-and-paper role-playing game set just after most of the world’s population vaporized. (This was one of the inspirations for “Tunguska Variations”.) The players played themselves as characters, and for some reason they decided to track down my character.
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This deliberately androgynous character was bioengineered to be the perfect blank canvas for disguises, with pale, colorless hair, skin, and eyes and a nondescript build. Originally intended to be an intelligence agent, “Spook” was instead pressed into service as a mecha pilot. Though initially nonfunctional, Shin was, while briefly a prisoner of the enemy, reengineered to be able to function as male or female at will.
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The referee described the player characters’ starship, Epymetheus, and the expedition insigne in some detail, so a sketch seemed appropriate.
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