GZ Tales: The Bard's Apple Pie: Part 1

 

The day he strode into that dusty little town was one they wouldn't forget for generations. Dust coated his brown leather jacket. His long hair draped past his shoulders. If that wasn't enough to turn heads, the electric guitar slung across his back of red and gold certainly made up for it. He walked down the broken brick and dirt street of the little Texas town and entered the diner. On his way he passed the town barbershop, grocery, and an antique shop. It wasn’t much of a little town as you could throw a rock from end to end. It was run mostly by a few farmers and country folk so strangers stuck out like a neon sign. He took a seat at the counter and ignored the neck twisters in the room as he picked up the menu.

 

            “What can we get you?” The waitress said with indifference. He couldn't help but notice the thick invisible cloud of her perfume and how her hair was up so tight it offered migraines to onlookers. Her lipstick was on thick and red. The only thing missing from the older lady's stereotype was the loud cracking and smacking of gum.

 

            He forced himself to ignore the stench of that perfume but leaned back a little, “Joyce, it's been a long time since I had coffee or pie. So I'd like a slice of your apple pie with a nice cup of coffee, please.”

 

            With little else to do, Joyce had his order for him promptly. She almost tossed the plate down with a clatter. “Enjoy,” she said with a hint of sarcasm.

 

            He was about take his first bite when the heavyset man next to him interrupted, “Actually, Mister, that's the best pie in the county.”

 

            He took his bite and chewed thoughtfully, “It is very good. I can see I came to the right place.”

 

            “So, you're a musician, huh?”

 

            “Something like that,” he paused and held the coffee cup under his nose for a moment, closing his eyes to breathe in the aroma before taking a sip.

 

            “What do you mean? You either is or you ain't.”

 

            “Man, that is good coffee. Alright, is then.”

 

            “Okay then. Are you in a rock band?”

 

            “Stop bugging the man and let him finish his business, Joe,” said a man in a hunter’s vest and hat sitting in a booth, “I'm sure he's just passing through and wants to get on his way.”

 

            The guitar-man seemed to recognize the attitude and disdain for strangers, “Not to worry, friend, as soon as I'm done, I'll be on my way.”

 

            “Rick, don't you start nothing,” Joyce warned, “You still owe Lee for a broken table.”

 

            A small man came out in an apron on cue, “Yeah, and the Sheriff said I can ban you if you break anything else!”

 

            “That's unfortunate,” the guitar-man said as he worked on another bite.

 

            “Oh, yeah?” Rick said, “How so?”

 

            “No offense, friend,” he paused on his next to last bite, “Geez, this is good pie, but as I was saying; this guitar on my back is very special. You're going to think I'm crazy, but it tells me things.”

 

            “That is crazy,” Rick sneered with egg dangling from his mustache that everyone was now noticing.

 

            “It gets better. You see, why I found you're owing this fine establishment for damages so unfortunate (if not ironic) is that, in a few minutes, you're whole town is going to need repairs.”

 

            “What the heck are you talking about?” Rick demanded.

 

            “Mister, you take your crazy talk and just be on your way,” Joyce ordered.

 

            He stood and washed down his last bite with the rest of his coffee. He turned to Joe, “Best in the county? I believe you.”

 

            “Alright now, just you go,” Joyce ordered again.

 

            An explosion rocked the place, as the guitar-man watched the townsfolk run toward the windows.

 

            To say what was coming down the road was alien would be an understatement. There were six of them carrying strange rifles with glowing barrels. They were decked out in black and silver armor, mostly black. If they had faces, they were hidden behind blank, silver masks with no features or eye holes. Their helmets reminded everyone of old samurai warriors. It would have been preferable if they were samurai warriors. They were firing beams of reddish light from those rifles at cars and the fronts of buildings. Anything they hit exploded into a ball of fiery debris.

GZ Tales: To Kill Part 2

 

“Yes! I will destroy your world, noble King! I exist to kill!”

            Maniac’s charge threw wreckage in all directions. King Falcon summoned his wings and darted into the air as a massive hand crashed to the ground. King Falcon swung his axe across the Cyborian’s shoulder. Sparks flew but little damage was done. Cyborian armor is heavily equipped with repair programs as well as weapons. Maniac responded with surprising speed and backhanded the King out of the air. King Falcon hit the ground and his body made a trench several yards long. But the King was notable for combat speed of his own, and was back into the air instantly. He hit Maniac with a beam of cosmic power, but the monster charged right through it.

            The two met head on. King Falcon swung his axe across Maniac’s chest as giant arms closed in. Maniac meant to press the hero King against another saw blade that extended from a joint in the chest. King Falcon flew out of the way just in time, and hit the monster across the head. With a jagged gash across his faceplate, Maniac grabbed the King in both hands. A massive energy surge made the whole area glow enough to be seen from space. Maniac threw King Falcon’s body through some of the starship wreckage with a crash.

            King Falcon struggle to get to his feet, “I’ve never been hit with such a surge,” he thought, “must get to my feet or…”

            A massive metal fist interrupted his thoughts and pounded him into the ground. Maniac’s laughter echoed as he followed up with one terrible blow after the other. Again and again, in rapid succession, Maniac landed energized giant fists into a forming crater. Finally, Maniac stood up over the body of King Falcon. Blood dripped from his armored hands. Maniac continued to laugh.

            “I told you, I exist to kill. My armor will repair itself soon and then I will kill your world and all its peoples. Oh, and what was that you said about distance not being a factor? Foolish pride, noble King.”

            Maniac was about to turn and leave when something caught his attention. King Falcon’s wings were extinguished and his body battered. Yet, a tiny ember of light appeared on the King’s right leg. As Maniac watched in wonder, more lights appeared. The glowing embers multiplied until the encompassed all of the King’s body. Energy readings grew fast in intensity. Maniac couldn’t figure out what they meant, but then he was blinded.

            The flash of light happened so fast and so bright that his optic sensors blinked out. A shockwave of heat turned all wreckage and the remains of the bodies to instant ashes. Maniac heard a shriek that almost made his sound sensors crackle. What he couldn’t see was the form of a great Phoenix blazing up hundreds of feet from the center of the fireball.

            When Maniac’s optics came back online, he saw an enraged King Falcon standing before him. King Falcon had his arm held back with the axe and before anything else could be done, that axe was sent for Maniac. It hit him full in the chest and spun as King Falcon held and outstretched hand to command it. A whirlwind of strikes hacked away at Maniac’s chest armor. Damage readings glared in the red.

            “I believe I said it doesn’t matter how far from home I am!” King Falcon’s voice boomed.

            The axe flew back to its master’s hand and King Falcon flew into the air. Maniac struggled to move but it was too late. The King came down in a glowing power dive with his axe. The blow made the ground shake for a mile in each direction. Maniac’s systems went into critical overdrive. King Falcon stood on his enemy’s chest and raised the axe high overhead. As he brought down the axe for Maniac’s head, the form of the Cyborian flickered and vanished.

            As his axe hit the ground, there was a peal of thunder. King Falcon stood alone. Maniac had retreated in defeat.

            “That’s right, run,” King Falcon said, “because if you ever come back, I’ll be the one doing the killing.”

            The Ring of Knowledge told him that Maniac wasn’t even in the same solar system anymore. Satisfied that his home was safe once again, King Falcon spread his wings and flew away.

            In another solar system, on some barren rock in space, Maniac hid himself. His systems would take days to repair. He seethed in rage at his defeat but knew that Arconia was out of his reach for the time being.

            “One day I will come for you, noble King and I will kill. I exist to kill.”

GZ Tales: To Kill: Part 1

 

            The grisly scene was just as described; bodies of an alien race, scattered in pieces and wreckage strewn across the surface of a lifeless planetoid. Nothing else existed on the moon sized orb but dirt and rock. King Falcon gripped his pole axe tightly as he hovered over the scene. His wings, fiery with arcs of lightning held him aloft over the carnage. When a group of travelers reported this to him, King Falcon wasted no time in getting there to investigate.

            King Falcon ruled the planet Arconia and its avian people. Arconians have humanoid bodies with the heads of various birds. The royalty of Arconia, like their King, have wings of fire and lightning that they can summon or dismiss at will. King Falcon’s brown muscular body is topped with the head of a Peregrine falcon. His deep red eyes glow with cosmic power.

            Those eyes had seen many horrors in their time, but this was particularly disturbing. The golden ring on his left hand, the Ring of Knowledge, told him this race’s home wasn’t far. He would fly there and notify them of the incident. First he wanted to figure out what caused this crash. King Falcon lowered to the ground and dismissed his wings. He held out his hand with the ring. The Ring of Knowledge is one of the Great Rings of the universe and it could tell him nearly anything he wanted to know. The King wasn’t without his own cosmic powers and senses however. They all told him the same thing.

            “Metron energy discharge, the whole wreck is thick with it,” King Falcon said to himself, “They were attacked.” He examined a large piece of the ship. “This was crumpled in a very large hand, wider than my shoulders.”

            King Falcon stood an impressive 7 feet and 11 inches, a foot taller than most Arconians. He was beginning to think this ship was attacked by a monster. Strewn through the wreckage, he could see people’s belongings. The gowns, trinkets, and expensive luggage told him that this was a luxury vessel. This kind of ship would not be a threat to anyone and would have little in the way of weaponry. As he grimaced at this terrible crime, his ring told him something else.

            “You may as well show yourself!” King Falcon shouted, “I know you’re there!”

            On the far side of the wreckage a 40 foot tall form materialized. King Falcon knew about Cyborians. They were a race of scientists that developed multi-dimensional combat armor and technology to defend themselves. All Cyborians were bonded to their own individually styled armor for life. King Falcon had met many of them, and he called more than a few “friend.”  But this Cyborian was new to him.  The ring warned him of an intense evil.

            The big Cyborian shined in silver and shades of blue. Its optics were angled to appear angry and glowed bright red. The speaker grill curved into a wide cruel smile. Dark blue shoulder plates rose high over its head from a joined point of the chest. On each shoulder, a saw blade gleamed in the starlight. A red gem glowed from the front center of its waist. Assorted spikes could be seen on fists, knees and boots. The monster’s entire design suggested a sadistic mind was at the helm.

            King Falcon had heard tales. He knew this Cyborian from reputation alone. This one was a renegade of his race and worse. This was Maniac, a genocidal serial killer. An untold number of races were extinct due to Maniac’s insatiable taste for blood.

 Haunting laughter echoed through the area.         “I knew you would come,” Maniac’s voice blared.

            “You didn’t have to kill these innocent people to get my attention,” King Falcon held his axe ready, anticipating a fight.

            “Oh, I know; I could have come to your world or just near it.” Maniac’s speaker grill seemed to sneer.

            “So, why all this?” King Falcon knew better than to ask, but the senseless waste of life still had him stunned.

            “I’ll give you two reasons, noble King. One, you are further from your home and source of power. Two, it was fun.”

            “You’ve made a grave error, Maniac. It doesn’t matter how far from home I am. Now I can see your plan. I think you intend to destroy Arconia.”

            Without another word or waiting for response, King Falcon threw his axe. Maniac crossed his giant arms and blocked the attack. The sound of metal against metal rang and echoed. Maniac barely stepped backwards from the force of the strike. As the axe flew back to its owner’s hand, Maniac charged.

            “Yes! I will destroy your world, noble King! I exist to kill!”

Be sure to check back for part 2 where the battle takes off. Want to get more of the stories faster? Hit my authors page and order your copy of any book I've written.  Go HERE

Card Game Update! Challenge Cards!

 With upspikes in covid all over the place, testing of the game has slowed down. Everyone is worried and it makes sense. But today we will still do an update and reveal what challenge cards are like. If you are new to the information on my game Heroic Missions, you only have to back up a few entries to get caught up on it. 

So what are challenge cards? Let's take a look at one.

Challenge cards come from the mission decks just like allies and enemies. There is a time limit of one full round from your turn to complete it before it goes into the fail pile. Remember, 10 cards in the fail pile and you lose the game. Evade capture is a trap and there are special cards in rewards that work specifically on traps. Otherwise, you or an adjacent player must attempt the required roll. In this case, it requires agility. If you remember, you get to roll as many d6 as the level of your stats. So if you have an agility of 6, you will roll 6 dice. For this card, at least 3 of those dice must come up 4-6. If you succeed, you keep the card aside as your personal trophy. If you cannot achieve this because you don't have the agility or fear you will fail even if you exert to say 4 dice, (Exertion adds one dice to your pool and you take one damage) you can have an adjacent player try to help you by taking on the mission him or herself. If they fail, the penalty applies to them. As for adjacency, that means only players to your immediate left and right can help you. A player across from you, cannot. In the case of 3 player games, look at who is across the table from a player and that player is not adjacent. Yes, the rules will use how you sit at the table to decide adjacency. But back to challenge cards.

Some challenges give you more options for winning but higher penalties for failure. In this case, you can use your highest stat of the three mentioned, but you have to score 4 successful dice. Reward cards. You get reward cards every time you successfully defeat an enemy or complete a challenge. All players losing a reward card is a steep price to pay, but it puts the pressure on too. 

This card lets you use any stat that you have enough dice on but if you blow it (pun intended) it affects the whole table. 

That's about it for now on challenge cards. They are pretty straight forward. Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned for more!

Card Game Update: Villainous threats! What are they?

 Welcome back! Time for another preview of my new card game! Recently I received my prototype in the mail from TheGamecrafter.com so I can start really fleshing out the rules with playtesting. This will involve a lot of gaming over here and I will be posting more information as that goes! 

Here is what the game looks like right now!

So exciting!

Today I'm going to tell you about another card type. This would be enemy creatures or characters I just call "threats" or "enemies". When revealed from the deck, you are in combat and must hope that your d6 rolls are better than theirs! Hopefully, you'll have one of those allies from last post to help you out! So let's see what they look like, starting with a generic creature.

As you can see, this is the same layout as your player card, bosses, and allies. The stats mean exactly the same as with all of them. You have the name, affiliation or identification type, the stats, then health and special abilities. 

"Hey, you keep mentioning health, Dave, but how do you track it?"

Glad you asked! Sorry I haven't explained this one yet! See that number in the shield? That is the health points. Damage is tracked consistently with either dice or tokens (however you prefer). Nothing heals without something to trigger the healing effect. So if you hit the Skeleton for 2 damage, it will stay at 2 health until either hit again, or healed by another effect, or its ability kicks in and you have to fight it again. Skeletons are funny that way. You might notice that this enemy has a zero for mentality. That not only means that it cannot use mentality, but that it cannot be controlled. Combat is explained in prior post, so if you are new to this, you may want to go back a bit and read up.

Let's look at an enemy character:

As you can see, Railroad has all the same stats and his affiliation gives him a special ability that is listed on an additional card. They get the same bonuses for additional members being in play as allies do, so +1 to all stats if there are other Foundation members in play. Railroad has a bonus if a certain location is in play that could make him even tougher if another member is around as well. One thing about Railroad however is his drawback. In the novel, Chaos Rising, the hero Nyhtwulf, scrambled Railroad's mind and it took 6 months to recover. He fears Nyhtwulf as a result. Right now, he is the only character with such a drawback, but it may rarely happen in play. We will get to locations more later but I will say, if you choose to make your players face this guy, make sure he gets his trainyard bonus.

Now for a special look at a really nasty enemy who ties down the game:

When building your game, you won't want more than one of this sort of threat for your players because more than one in play at the same time, will definitely end the game. Yes, there is another one. Maniac's attacks count for every player and ally active and all have roll defense against him. Other threats in play remain active, but no more cards can be revealed until Maniac is defeated. He is immune to mentality effects and spells so save them to help your friends. Who knows, maybe you'll have King Falcon for an ally and he'll help you take down that foreboding 15 health. Being immune to mentality and magic also works in your favor because the current boss can't use them on him to buff him either.

And there you have it. Pretty straight forward and next time we will over the challenge cards, the third and finally card type from the event decks! Thanks for joining in!

CARD GAME UPDATE: Get Some Allies!

 If you've been following along with the updates for my new card game, Heroic Missions, you know that it's time to see what allies can do for you in this cooperative card game. If not, you might want to back up a few posts and catch up on the info. I'm currently awaiting my prototype to be shipped to me from TheGameCrafter.com and then I plan to do an unboxing on youtube. So stay tuned. Till then, allies are heroes in the event decks that can boost you or fight for you outright. Each one has special attributes and affiliations to make them even better. And believe this, you will need all the help you and your friends can get. So let's take a look at an example.

You should immediately see some familiar information on Dreamseer's card. She has stats and health just like you or bosses. Those stats do the same thing for allies that they do for you. Having ally give you plus 1 in all your stats. But you can also have an ally go forward to do actions for you including combat. So lets go along with the information on the card. 

Affiliation: Right below her name is Dreamseer's affiliation with her team the Strykeforce Guard. Affiliations are listed on a note card with the game and each has their own special abilities to add to their members. In this case, when a member of this team uses the intercept ability they gain +2 defense. Intercept is a standard game ability that allows you or an ally to get in the way of an attack on another player or ally and take up defending it. That also means taking damage if it doesn't work out. 

Recruit requirement: Where it says REC is where you find out what you have to roll from your mentality dice to gain Dreamseer as an ally. If your mentality doesn't give you enough dice to meet a requirement, you get to roll that as the minimum number of dice. Breaking down the numbers, when you roll your mentality and let's say you have an MNT of 5 (so you roll 5d6) you need to get 3 dice to come up as anything from 2-4 in order to recruit Dreamseer. Unless another ability allows for it, you may only have one ally at a time. If an ally comes up in your assigned missions, you must try to recruit and failure counts against you (see earlier posts). 

Special abilities: Right under her health you see the special abilities she can use (or you can use when it comes to some allies).  As you can read, she has mind control and that is a 7d6 attack for her to take control of an enemy and use them to attack someone or something else. In her next ability she can combine two of her stats for 10 dice total to attack an enemy requiring they use their endurance to defend (even if another of their stats would be stronger or better for defense). Of course, Dreamseer's main drawback is her health. She can only take 4 hits before she's gone. And aside from mentality, her other stats are pretty low and may not defend her that well. So she needs to be used with some tactics in mind.

Past that she can use any abilities her stat levels allow (listed on another note card that we will get to later) or that you could do with the same stats. Now, lets get a peek preview of a couple other allies you'll want to work with.

First, let's check out Halley of the Chessmen. Firs note his recruitment and see how easy it will likely be to get him on your side. You only need 2 dice to come up 4-6 and he's ready to help you out. As soon as you recruit him, he gets an artifact attached to him that will make him even more dangerous. It gives him +3 defense and he cannot be counter attacked. Halley's best attack is only 6 dice, but he can target 2 enemies no matte where they are on the table. Considering he can have up to 9 dice for his defense, Halley can be hard to take down. As a member of the Chessmen, if another member of this team is in play, none of them can be stunned.

Now this is a combatant you want out front taking on threats directly. The Gator is a little harder to recruit, but he's a triple 9. 9 dice for both strength and endurance with 9 health. Even better is his ability to count 3's as successful dice that enemies will have to defend with minimums of 4's. The Southern Watch get +2 defense against spells that applies to the player they ally with. 

Now for the coup de grace that I know my readers want to know about. Yes, it's King Falcon.

Arconians have use of fire and lightning with immunity to both built in. KF gets equipped with 3 fat artifacts that make him a force of terror for any enemy on the table and even the bosses are nervous. It won't be easy to recruit him with low mentality but if you do, he has 12 health and stats that can do nearly anything. He's everything a cosmic hero should be. 

Another point about allies is that they are color coded bright green to their stats and health. While this may be an issue for color blind players, only allies have REC. Anything else is a threat. Next time, we will see what some of those threats look like. 

Thank you for all your support and sharing the news. Stay tuned for more GZ information and follow me!

Card Game Update: Who's the Boss?

 For those who have been following along, I am currently awaiting the delivery of my new prototype of my cooperative card game that you build to challenge 3 to 4 of your friends. So if you aren't up to date on the info, you might want to back up a couple posts and check it all out.

Today I'm introducing you to what the bosses are like. I'll go with what I see as the easiest or beginner's boss to put up against your players. The boss is the end goal to defeat and each one comes with their own deck of 18 cards to threaten players with. I know I haven't gone into the total setup of the game yet, but that is for later on.

So, here is Prof. Zombie.

First thing to note is how he has stats just like player characters do. They work for him the exact same way they work for players ( and other threats from event decks). The Prof. has 20 total health and a couple of interesting abilities that cannot be countered (bosses cannot be controlled, instantly defeated, or have their abilities countered). The first ability grants any threat with the word 'zombie' in its name bonuses of +1 to all stats and health. This does not amplify Prof. Zombie as he counts as a boss and can only amplify deck threats. He does have a card that comes out making all threats in the deck count as zombies.

Every time a player completes a "mission" (more on that later), the boss reacts and reveals a card from their personal deck. Let's take a look at a couple of Prof. Zombie's cards.

Yep, players can turn traitor, but only one player can be a traitor at any one time. You can fix it too if you don't mind beating up your friend a little bit. This card takes effect as soon as it is revealed and Prof. Zombie rolls 7d6 against someone. If 3 or more hits are left undefended, then that player will turn on his buddies. Yes, being a traitor means using your turn to attack your friends. 

Talk about raising the stakes. But what does this mean? Well, the player with the lowest endurance is considered captured and can take no actions until rescued. Any player may use their turn to attempt that rescue. A round is the time period for all players to take one turn from the time this card comes into play. You will want to use the highest of your personal stats from the ones required on the card. If your strength is highest you will roll d6 equal to your strength and hope that four dice come up as 4-6. If they don't, you failed and your turn is over. But don't fret. Death is not necessarily the end. If a player can use magic or has the right powers, they can revive a player at half health to jump back into the game.

Just in case anyone wonders, all of these effects are story accurate to the books based on the characters. You don't have to read them to enjoy the game, but the lore is cool to know.

Let's look at one more of his cards.

Any player may have up to two threats in front of them at any time, but no more than that. Still, the ability to put "from the deck" threats into front of players adds to the danger. Of course, when you build up your game for your players, you can leave the cards that match up to a card like this off to the side so they are easy to find when called for.  And these are just three examples of  many. Each boss has their own specific effects that match up to them and each has their own special abilities and health. The highest health for a boss? 50. You'll want to get some play experience before you try that on. 

Next time, I will show you what allies are like. Be sure to follow and always be up to date on GZ. If you want to find the books, check out the links section. Thanks for reading and roll those dice high.