Mortaine’s Blog

Ironically, I had to reschedule my doctor’s appointment, because I got sick. Anyway, the new appointment is Wednesday, March 3, at 4:15 PM. If I’m not better by then, I won’t be healthy enough to take the class anyway, and would have to move the class dates as well.

Mrph. I want to go home and sleep. I should go home and sleep. I’m only half-conscious anyway.

SIGH.

In the world beneath the City, we live. We come from our nests, building greatness from the refuse of the humans, avoiding their absurd conflicts where we might.

We were not always so elevated, though. Before time began, we were dumb creatures, unable to think coherently, unable to coordinate ourselves, viciously fighting amongst ourselves for even the tiniest morsels. Some of us, true, had become clever through years of nibbling at the shelves of the Great Library. But for most, life was an endless cycle of feeding, fighting, and fornicating.

And then, hundreds of generations ago, the Masters came. An ennobled race of rats, they brought intelligence to our weak little families. They sheltered us, gave us warmth and comfort, and taught us to be cleverer still, and to cooperate. In return, we were charged only to come to their Call, whenever needed, to fight in their defense. For a Master’s life is worth a hundred of ours; we die that they might escape to triumph another day.

For the most part, though, the Masters do not need us to serve them thusly. Like us, they are crafty and avoid the conflicts that lead to terrible and dangerous battle. Like us, they forage on the refuse of others. But unlike us, they are not content always to wait for something to be cast off before taking it.

In the last hundred generations or so, the Masters have brought yet another gift to the People. All can hear the Call of the Masters within us, but now some of us, some very few of us, have begun to Call on our own. Truly, the Masters are great to have brought us these gifts, to have bred us for our intelligence, our reason, and our powers.

We live for the Masters. We fight for the Masters. We die for the Masters. And in between– well, is it so very wrong to gain just a little….. for ourselves?

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You belong to a race of rats living inside a large human city. Although most humans are aware that you exist, few know the extent of the rat threat to their continued existence. The People, as you call yourselves, are crafty and intelligent, but their greatest fault is cowardliness. Only when the Masters issue their Call do you overcome your fears and face down a foe larger than yourselves.

If you’re looking for a media model for these creatures, you can think of the Rats of NIMH as a type of model– rats that have gotten a lot smarter, perhaps, than they ought. The rats who hail from Great Library nests are especially like this– others are less intelligent, but more physically adept.

The Masters are a race of hybrid rats. They are powerful and can control the rats to do their bidding. Most of the time, though, they act as benevolent dictators, caring for the rats’ physical needs and encouraging their cleverness to develop. Because they are generally a benevolent force among the People, they are viewed with great honor and loyalty by the rats. It is possible to be a “Good” rat and still follow the Masters faithfully; rats have a completely alien concept of good/evil.

Character Creation:

Think about who you want to be as a rat. Are you especially clever? Particularly vicious? Are you skilled with any particular talents? What are your little rat hobbies and goals? Make notes about what kind of background you want to have; the GM will help you decide on appropriate attributes, skills, and gifts.

GM Restrictions:

Select 5 attributes, including Damage Capacity, with 4 levels in those attributes. Typical attributes: Speed, agility, constitution, cleverness, will (usually low), perception

Select 30 skill levels to train. An available skill is “Resist the Call” to resist the Master’s Call (you can still choose to obey, but you are not compelled to do so). Typical skills: Forage, Building, Escape, Biting, Group Combat, Treasure-Finding, Nesting, Running, Leaping, Dodge, Memory.

Select 1 free gift, and purchase another with your required fault. Typical gifts include: Great Library Rat (more intelligent, has minor magical talents), Cause Infection, Psionic (yes, you can be a psionic rat).

Select 1 fault. Typical faults include Lazy, Vicious, or Cowardly.

Fudge Points: You start with 3 fudge points. You can trade experience points for FPs at a 3:1 ratio.

Think of a Name

Come up with a name for your character. Some rats name themselves. Most are named by the other rats, for traits that they’re especially well-known for.

Feedback welcome. Would you play in this campaign, knowing that it would be for limited breaks in your regularly-scheduled campaign? Would you think this campaign lends itself to comedy adventures? If you were in this campaign, what kind of character background and concept would you come up with?

Above subject line brought to you by me not wanting to use “still sick” again. It’s like “still not king.” Kind of redundant.

I slept for about 3 hours this afternoon, got up at 4ish, watched a little TV, then came in here to make the calls I needed to make by 5. Called the Elections Dept. back– they called yesterday about something, but it turned out to be unimportant. Note to self: call new clerk tonight.

I also called the SCUBA doctor. Ironically, I cancelled my doctor’s appointment because I’m sick. Yeah, that’s dumb and lame, but I don’t need to see a pulminologist when I *know* I have a cold and am therefore wheezy. It’s $130 that my insurance isn’t gonna cover, so I might as well make the appointment for a time when I’m healthy and can get a good baseline, so he can do a fair evaluation of my diving fitness.

Um. Anyway. I wrote a little thing about the rat adventures for my players today. I’ll post it later– I want opinions on it, if nobody minds.

Talked to Mom last night. Just general chit-chat, nothing big.

Today was download day at audible.com for me. In commemoration of Black History Month, I bought The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. and A Bondswoman’s Story, which is a novel written by Hannah Crafts, a black slave whose writings were discovered and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I have about 30 pages left in Drawing the Line (which I recommend to and other hardcore esoteric-knowledge geeks, as it’s an interesting look at the use of maps as controversy), then I’m reading A Walk to Remember for (yeah, I have 9 days to read it in, I know….) I’m also reading the Stuper Powers game book for fun, which I guess means February will have just about 4 books in it, too. Yay.

I exchanged my claddagh ring today. John went with me, which was good, since he didn’t have me bring the receipt, but the girl there remembered him. Apparently, I’m a size 7 1/2 on my left middle finger. Anyway, the ring is very pretty; we got a slightly different style of ring, but I don’t mind.

I found out via that goatse.cx has been shut down. I think that’s good news– it’s not as if people can’t see the same filth elsewhere.

I did not make it to WI today, and I don’t really care. If I’m in Milpitas tomorrow, I’ll stop by so I don’t get a missed-week penalty.