Monday, June 27, 2016

The Rules of the House

Okay, bad pun in the title aside, I've found that despite my difficulties with advanced math (including probabilities), I do enjoy doing a little tinkering with the rules of the games I run. Sometimes it's because something doesn't fit the flavor of the game and other times I do it to see what the existing game can do with a little more tweaking. Beyond the Wall (BtW) is one of those rare cases where the Rules As Written are darn near perfect, but there are some bells and whistles on similar games that fit so nicely with it. Here are my proposed tweaks that I plan to use (in addition to my previous musings on skills) when running BtW in the future. (EDIT: I do apologize for the wall of text. When formatting this entry, I tried breaking things up with the covers, but it fouled up the spacing.)


From first edition AD&D, D&D 3.5, and Pathfinder: Interpreting Hit Points

A lot of players and gamemasters misinterpret hit points to indicate the amount of physical wounds and damage a character can take. In the first edition Player's Handbook (p.34), Gary Gygax states:
"Each character has a varying number of hit points, just as monsters do. These hit points represent how much damage (actual or potential) the character can withstand before being killed. A certain amount of these hit points represent the actual physical punishment which can be sustained. The remainder, a significant portion of hit points at higher levels, stands for skill, luck, and/or magical factors. A typical man-at-arms can take about 5 hit points of damage before being killed. Let us suppose a 10th level fighter has 55 hit points, plus a bonus of 30 hit points for his constitution, for a total of 85 hit points. This is the equivalent of about 18 hit dice for creatures, about what it would take to kill four huge warhorses. It is ridiculous to assume that even a fantastic fighter can take that much punishment. The same holds true to a lesser extent for clerics, thieves, and the other classes. Thus, the majority of hit points are symbolic of combat skill, luck (bestowed by supernatural powers), and magical forces."
Beyond the Wall echoes this interpretation:
“Hit points are an abstract measurement of how tough the character is, as well as how good at resisting and avoiding harm in combat. At every level, a character gains a number of hit points by rolling the die type indicated by his class’ hit dice. For instance, a Rogue has a hit die of d8, and so a character with the Rogue class rolls 1d8 and gains that many hit points every level. This number is modified by a character’s Constitution bonus every time it is rolled. Additionally, all PCs gain the maximum number of hit points possible for a roll on their hit dice at first level; the above mentioned rogue would begin at first level with a full 8 hit points plus any extra hit points from his Constitution bonus.”
In the third edition version of Unearthed Arcana, this is taken literally, making the character's “Wound Points” equal to their CON score and their added hit points “Vitality Points”. I will be using this added interpretation to indicate how much the character has yet to “grow into” their role as a hero. Once a character hits their CON score maximum, any hit points gained after that point are just as described – a measure of skill, luck (or divine intervention), and magical forces.

(6/29/16 EDIT: As an addendum, the 3.5 SRD rules on Wound Points are here. The Pathfinder version can be found here.)

From 13th Age: One Unique Thing

This is the prime rule which caught my eye when I heard about Pelgrane's 13th Age RPG – not because it adds to the power of a character, but because it adds depth to their story. Essentially, the purpose of this rule isn't to create new combat powers, skills, or special abilities, but to add a detail to the hero that sets them apart from other characters. This detail should be something that both the player and GM can take advantage of in the course of the game. It should give clues as to how the character interacts with the world and people around them and vice versa. From the standpoint of the gamemaster, it should provide the opportunity for one or more story hooks or the promise of a mystery to be unraveled later in the story. Some interesting discussions regarding this rule can be found here, here, and here on RPGNet.

From The Hero's Journey and Moldvay B/X D&D: Table Roles

James Spahn's The Hero's Journey RPG (THJ) brings back table roles in the form of an optional rule, but in a slightly different format. THJ has the roles of Treasure Keeper and Initiative Tracker, but not Mapper (or Caller, for that matter). The Treasure Keeper notates what treasure is acquired by the party and once a total is inventory is taken, leads the discussion about how it is to be divided - but they are not necessarily the one whose character is packing all the treasure around. The Initiative Tracker rolls group initiative or otherwise has the necessary information (such as each party member's initiative bonuses and the initiative order) assembled for the referee during combat. Of course, to do Old School style right, we have to include the Mapper from the Moldvay edition of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. As for the Caller, that's optional.

More Rules from The Hero's Journey

Non-Combat XP (p.67)
  • Player accurately roleplays their character’s race and class: +100 XP
  • Player character attempts a potentially life-threatening act of heroism: +250 XP
  • Player character performs a surprising/clever deed that helps the party or an ally: +150 XP
  • Player encourages other players to get involved, roleplay, and contribute to the game: +100 XP
  • Making everyone at the table laugh out loud: +75 XP
  • Player takes the role of Treasure Keeper (optional): +50 XP
  • Player takes the role of Initiative Tracker (optional): +50 XP
  • Player takes the role of Mapper (optional): +50 XP
  • Player takes the role of the Caller (optional): +50 XP
Death's Door (p.73)
Having started with Basic D&D (where zero hit points equals death) I'm not a big fan of the "Death's Door" rule, but THJ seems to take the streamlining a bit further than BtW. As such, I'm more apt to use this optional ruling than the simple “10 count” or Pathfinder's rule (negative CON = Death). THJ's rule on death's door balances out the  book-keeping with increased character frailty.

In this case, “...The character is not dead until they reach negative hit points equal to their level (EDIT: Emphasis mine). Thus a first-level character is dead at −1 hit points, while a seventh level character would be able to survive until reaching −7. However, a character with zero or fewer hit points is unconscious and cannot move or act in any fashion until healed.”

The only thing I might add to that is making -10 hp the maximum for level-based toughness, meaning even a mighty warrior king isn't utterly immune to Death's cold grasp.

Heroic Damage and Critical Hits (pgs. 68 and 71)
With "Heroic Damage", the character adds all or part of their level to the damage they deal based on their class. Warriors add their full level, Rogues add 1/2 their level (rounded up), and Mages add 1/3 their level (rounded up). With multi-classed characters, use the class from which the character draws their attack bonus.

Additionally, a character can inflict Heroic Damage by burning a Fortune Point at a dramatically appropriate moment. Finally, whenever a natural 20 is rolled, the maximum damage of the weapon or the character's Heroic Damage are dealt (whichever is higher); a natural 1 is simply a miss.

From Trollsmyth's Blog: Shields

To add a bit more spice to combat, I'm thnking about using the following shield rules from Trollsmyth's blog:
  • Shields still provide their regular AC bonus, but if the player so chooses, they can declare that their shield absorbed the damage from the blow and was splintered or sundered. This destroys the shield, but protects the character from damage. In the case of a critical hit, it halves the damage unless a Fortune Point is also burned.
  • A shield can also be sacrificed against spells that deal damage, offering the character an automatic save for half damage.
  • For every +1 bonus a magic shield gives in addition to its regular AC bonus, the shield has a +10% chance of surviving a blow when sacrificed in combat. As such, a +5 shield would have a 50% chance of surviving a sundering blow.

Further Thoughts On Fortune Points (Further Afield, p.71)

  • If a character burns a Fortune Point and the second roll is a failure, they take the higher of the two rolls.
  • According to Further Afield, "Fortune Points normally only refresh after a full rest, such as between adventures..." However, I am willing to "allow a character to regain a Fortune Point for a particularly heroic or noble act during the middle of a game." This bonus is not given lightly; it is "for when the characters are truly acting like the good guys."
  • A character who is on the verge of collapse (0 hp) can burn a Fortune Point to make one last ditch action against a foe or to otherwise aid a fellow hero before collapsing. This can be done instead of burning the Fortune Point to stabilize at 0 hp, not in conjunction with spending another Fortune Point to stabilize at 0 hp
  • Likewise, a spellcaster who does not have the Ultimate Enchantment trait (Heroes Young and Old, p.10) can also burn a Fortune Point to cast one last spell if they have exhausted all their other spells. However, unlike Ultimate Enchantment, this use of a Fortune Point inflicts a number of hit points in damage equal to the spell's level (cantrips inflict only one hit point of damage). With this ruling, there is the chance a character's hit points could drop to negative levels, killing them. This can be done with rituals only if the GM and player agree it is dramatically appropriate.

Pathfinder Official and Third Party Options

Back in late May, I posed a question to the designers of BtW about the traits introduced in Further Afield and continued in Heroes Young and Old:
"I've got a design question for John and Peter - when you designed the traits found in "Further Afield" and "Heroes Young and Old", did you look strictly at the traits as presented in the 3.5 SRD and Pathfinder PRD or did you look at feats as well. The reason I ask this is because Rogue Genius Games has several supplements for young, old, and venerable characters as well as comedic options (like "Please Stop Helping", which allows a character to still gain the aid ally bonus when an ally fails their roll to help) which might be interesting as traits..."
Peter Williams wrote in response:
"To tell you the truth, I don't remember looking at traits or feats in the SRD at all while designing BtW Traits. That doesn't mean that I didn't, just that I don't recall doing so and it certainly wasn't the main source of inspiration.

"The initial goal with Traits was to have a way to model other old school classes while still keeping a simple, three class structure for the game. That's why you'll find a lay-on-hands ability, a ranger-ish favored enemy ability, and so forth. After getting those basics down, I mostly then just had fun coming up with interesting mechanical widgets and fun, in-genre things.

"Having said all of that, I'll try to take a look at the Rogue Genius stuff. That sounds neat."
The official Pathfinder options for traits, story feats, and the like - as well as options produced by Rogue Genius Games under the Four Horsemen and Everyman Gaming imprints - have some interesting possibilities. While I haven't fully explored the ramifications of modifying these rules to work with BtW, I'll link them here for reference for the time being.

(6/29/16 EDIT: Boy, am I a yutz. I forgot to put the links in...)

From the Pathfinder Rules Document:
Free download from Paizo - Character Traits PDF
Some of the later Adventure Path Players Guides have specific traits listed as well.

From Rogue Genius Games:


Of course, all of these are trumped by Rule Zero...

...the best writeup of which I've found on Bruce Gulke's Mythosa site:
"Every feat, race, spell, prestige class, variant rule, etc. is subject to change or removal at the discretion of the DM. Even if a game element is initially permitted, if it is later deemed incompatible with the campaign, it will be modified or removed. Any characters (PC or NPC) that use that element may be required to adjust to the change (in other words, grandfathering is not guaranteed). The DM will attempt to keep this sort of thing to a minimum (if at all), but sometimes this may happen in the process of keeping the rules appropriate to the campaign setting."
Now all that remains is the road test. I'll keep you all apprised as to how that works out.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Appendix B (for Beyond the Wall) - Part 1

A lot of gamers the past few years have either been praising or condemning the idea of "Appendix N" as it appears in the first edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. What is "Appendix N"? It's the appendix in the DMG that lists "inspirational and educational reading" for Dungeon Masters and players alike. When some people mention the Old School Renaissance in one breath, their next breath contains the words "Appendix N".

While I have no problems with drawing inspiration from authors such as Lloyd Alexander, Andre Norton, or J.R.R. Tolkien, or doing research in the library, I thought it would be nice to present some old school articles I have found of interest and possible use to players and gamemasters of Beyond the Wall. Rather than running through all 300+ issues of Dragon Magazine, I'm going to pull this off the top of my head and pick out the articles I remember most as things progress. While this may make it slightly disorganized and absolutely not an exhaustive appendix, I hope you find it of some interest and use.

Though the bulk of the articles in this appendix are drawn from out of print issues of Dragon Magazine, there will be others cropping up here and there from such publications as Shadis when I have time to dig those issues out of the attic, as well as other online resources, blogs and whatnot. I have made an effort to stay away from articles that are heavy in game mechanics, instead focusing on those with practical advice, background, or a minimum of mechanics allowing them to be used in BtW.

Appendix B, Part One's featured references
Dragon #58 (February 1982)
"The Dwarven Point of View" by Roger E. Moore: Kicking off a series regarding demihuman cultures, Roger E. Moore (once and future editor of Dragon Magazine), takes a look under the mountainside at dwarven culture and whether or not they're really as grumpy as the elves say they are. Despite being rooted in AD&D (and Greyhawk) lore, this is a purely fluff/background piece, as are all others in this series.

Dragon #59 (March 1982) 
"The Halfling Point of View" by Roger E. Moore: Continuing his series, Moore next turns his attention to the halflings and reveals that halflings aren't as naive and foolish as some believe and their life really isn't one big party.

Dragon #60 (April 1982)
"The Elven Point of View" and "The Half-Elven Point of View" by Roger E. Moore: Moore looks at the longest-lived of the demihumans and those of their kin caught between two worlds. Unlike BtW elves, with their strong ties to the faerie court, these articles are rooted in Greyhawk and AD&D lore. Despite the difference there are a number cultural gems in the articles with which to better flesh out elves.

Dragon #61 (May 1982)
"The Gnomish Point of View" by Roger E. Moore: Gnomes are Moore's next focus in his second-to-last article on demihumans, explaining how the rarest of the demihumans has much in common with both elves and dwarves while having a distinct culture all their own.

Dragon #63 (July 1982)
"The Humanoids" by Roger E. Moore: Not wanting to slight the ornery orcs, Moore concludes his series on non-human cultures in AD&D with a general look at the cultures of orcs, kobolds, gnolls, bugbears, goblins, and hobgoblins. The article, like all the others, is rooted in AD&D lore and includes a number of humanoid deities not featured in AD&D's Unearthed Arcana.

Dragon #109 (May 1986)
"Worth Its Weight In Gold" by John Olson: An article detailing the cultural significance of the dwarf's beard, it also takes on the issue of whether or not female dwarves have beards or not.

Dragon #119 (March 1987)
"The Uldra" by Callie Lindstrand: A new demihuman race, the uldra are closer to the Scandinavian idea of elves. This article might provide a new fantastic race for gamemasters and players or a suitable version of the elf for BtW games rooted in Scandinavian folklore.

Dragon #129 (January 1988)
"Children of the Spider Goddess" by Eric Oppen: A look at dark elven culture through the lens of Greyhawk and AD&D. Despite this grounding, there are still cultural and philosophical points in the article that can be used to flesh out the elves of the Unseelie Court.

Dragon #131 (March 1988)
"The Folk of the Underworld" by Eric Oppen: Oppen expands upon Moore's series, giving us a look at the culture and lives of the surface gnomes deep cousins, the svirfneblin.

Dragon #152 (December 1989)
"Servants of the Jewelled Dagger" by Eric Oppen: Delving into the shadows, Eric Oppen gives us a look at the culture of the dwarves' dark cousins, the duergar.

Dragon #155 (March 1990)
"Wild in the Woods" by Eric Oppen: Again expanding upon Moore's series, Oppen details the culture and outlook of the wood elves, also known as the grugach.

"In the Frost and the Snow" by David S. Reimer: If you're in need of something different for elves, there's always the snow elves. While there are mechanics for AD&D in this article, they can easily be converted over.
 


Monday, June 20, 2016

Another Exercise in Nostalgia

Previously, I posted about recreating AD&D classes in Beyond the Wall through multi-classing. Looking back, there was more to AD&D characters than just the standard character classes. During the lifespan of first edition AD&D, NPC classes proliferated in the pages of Dragon Magazine. In some cases, the creators of the material noted the NPC classes could be used as PC classes (with some tinkering usually left to the Dungeon Master), but most of these were variants of the base classes meant to fill roles held by every day figures the player-characters would encounter or purchase goods or services through.

Most NPC classes were variations of their foundational classes, but there were a few that I thought stood out as being different enough to merit treatment as multi-classed archetypes. Unlike the previous archetypes I wrote about, these may be more focused on one class than the other instead of being balanced between the two.


Bounty Hunter (Dragon Magazine #52)
Unlike assassins, who focus on killing their targets and then escaping, bounty hunters are called upon to do much more. While they mainly focus on capturing wanted criminals (dead or alive), they are sometimes hired to retrieve errant or kidnapped individuals when discretion - not bravado - is called for.

Classes: Warrior/Rogue
Base Attack: As Warrior
Hit Dice: As Warrior
Saving Throws: As Rogue
Armor: As Rogue 
Initiative: As Rogue 
XP: As Warrior 
Special Abilities: Player chooses one special ability from each class.

Mariner (Dragon Magazine #107)
Like the bounty hunter, the mariner is a sub-class of fighter with some roguish elements. Sailing the high seas, they must rely on light armor in order to keep some of their dexterity - after all, I've yet to see a sailor swing between two ships on a rope while clad in full plate mail armor. Because of their dangerous career, mariners must be highly skilled in the event one or more of their crewmates are incapacitated or killed.

Classes: Rogue/Warrior 
Base Attack: As Warrior 
Hit Dice: As Rogue 
Saving Throws: As Warrior 
Armor: As Rogue 
Initiative: As Rogue 
XP: As Warrior 
Special Abilities: Weapon Specialization or Knack, Highly Skilled

Merchant (Dragon Magazine #136)
The merchant was the main inspiration \for this posting. I always thought it stood out from the other NPC classes even though it was a "post- adventuring" class. Here, I've distinguished between regular merchants and antiquarians, who deal with magic items.

Merchant 
Classes: Rogue/Warrior 
Base Attack: As Warrior 
Hit Dice: As Rogue 
Saving Throws: As Rogue 
Armor: As Rogue 
Initiative: As Warrior 
XP: As Rogue 
Special Abilities: Player chooses one from each class.

Merchant, Antiquarian 
Classes: Rogue/Warrior/Mage 
Base Attack: As Mage 
Hit Dice: As Rogue 
Saving Throws: As Rogue 
Armor: As Rogue 
Initiative: As Mage 
XP: As Mage 
Special Abilities: Spellcasting or Sense Magic, plus one from the Warrior or Rogue class.

Savant (Dragon Magazine #140)
The savant was a double-classed character class for AD&D. PCs could either be a cleric/savant or a magic-user/savant and had to jump through a number of hoops in leveling up. My own thoughts are that they were intended to be player-character sages of a sort. As such, the best way to recreate them in BtW is by making them mage/rogues with a higher concentration on being a mage.

Classes: Mage/Rogue
Base Attack: As Mage 
Hit Dice: As Mage 
Saving Throws: As Mage 
Armor: As Mage 
Initiative: As Rogue 
XP: As Mage 
Special Abilities: Spellcasting, Highly Skilled

Smith (Dragon Magazine #70)
The smith was another NPC class which seemed to stand out from all the others as they play such a major role in some stories. In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Elrond has his smiths reforge the broken sword Narsil into Anduril. Similarly, in Stephen Lawhead's "The Warlords of Nin", Quentin forges the holy sword Zhaligkeer under the hermit Inchkeith's tutelage. As such, the mundane smith is a rogue/warrior and the dweomersmith - a smith specializing in magical arms and armor - is a rogue/warrior/mage. Both archetypes require the Highly Skilled special ability of the rogue class.

Weaponsmith/Armorer 
Classes: Rogue/Warrior 
Base Attack: As Warrior 
Hit Dice: As Warrior 
Saving Throws: As Rogue 
Armor: As Warrior 
Initiative: As Rogue 
XP: As Rogue 
Special Abilities: Weapon Specialization, Highly Skilled

Dweomersmith 
Classes: Rogue/Warrior/Mage 
Base Attack: As Warrior 
Hit Dice: As Warrior 
Saving Throws: As Rogue 
Armor: As Rogue 
Initiative: As Rogue 
XP: As Mage 
Special Abilities: Spellcasting, Highly Skilled

As with the previous set of archetypes, this material is a first draft and open to tinkering and rewriting based on constructive feedback.

Sunday, June 12, 2016

The Greatest Adventure...


What lies ahead for these and other adventurers? Cover art ©2016 Jon Hodgson, used with permission.

Just a brief update to those of you interested in what I talked about in my previous post concerning Beyond the Wall. The cover above is what is going to be gracing the PDF for my starter book for BtW. Yes, that is indeed a Jon Hodgson cover. Years ago when I started building my first company I bought the one-time use rights for it from Illodeli, a publishing resource company Hodgson was part of. Years passed and Illodeli folded, but I've kept in touch with Jon and he assures me the agreement holds.

I'm sure those of you who keep a close eye on the module numbers are wondering why this is showing as "BW3" when I previously showed the Dragon's End project cover bearing the same module number. The reason this book will be BW3 is because I suddenly realized that Dragon's End is going to take a lot more writing and work than this one. Additionally, the cover design and title for Dragon's End are still not solidified.

So what happens with the revision of the GM screen? It continues at a slow pace thanks to a number of real life issues (work, broken AC, and vehicle woes). I just wanted to get the cover done because it's part of what stimulates me to work on this stuff. For the record, despite the color cover, the interior will be greyscale because the character art I'm choosing for the character sheets will be greyscale. And yes, the title is a riff on the lyrics from "The Greatest Adventure" by Glenn Yarbrough, which is the theme song to Rankin & Bass' animated version of "The Hobbit".

I look forward to posting more updates about these projects, but it's back to the salt mines for me, folks!

EDIT: There were some concerns raised on the BtW Google+ community regarding the provenance of the artwork I'm using and the fact that two other publications use the same art. To be honest, there's no worry about trade dress issues or confusion of products as the covers are significantly different from one another. as shown here:

My cover, again; artwork ©2016 Jon Hodgson, used with permission.

The cover for OpenQuest by D101 Games. Note that the halfling is now a duck as a nod to the system's roots in RuneQuest and Glorantha.
MaquiEdicion's World of Monsters cover.
Here is another licensed use of the artwork I found online.
So, as you can see, given the differences in cover designs, there's absolutely no way to confuse these products.

Also, here is the exact language of the license, courtesy of the Internet Archive:
By purchasing a download from illodeli.com you agree to be bound by our terms and conditions. 

Artwork is sold on the basis of a single use, non-exclusive license.

In plain English this means:
You may use the piece of artwork once in a single publication. The exceptions to this are filler/spot illustrations which may be used as many times as you desire within one publication.
The copyright to the illustration remains with the artist, who is granting permission to the purchaser to use the illustration once.

Other customers of IlloDeli may also buy the same image and use it. That’s the “non-exclusive” part. 
If you wish to use an illustration more than once in a single publicaiton, or in multiple publications then you simply need to buy it again.

The reason we use this kind of license is because we understand that at certain times buying all rights, or exclusivity to bespoke artwork can be a waste of resources. We would rather you were able to put valuable time and money into ordering bespoke art for when it really counts than in every last instance.

The less exclusivity and re-use we offer with each purchase, the cheaper we can make our illustrations. Given that most art is only used once per book (fillers/spots notwithstanding) we’ve taken that as the baseline of our rights and pricing.

As the purchaser you have the right to crop the work to your needs should that be necessary. 
You may reproduce the artwork smaller than the size it is downloaded at, but we ask that you respect the sizes given in each category. This give e-publishers a certain amount of wiggle room, since they are generally working at lower resolutions than print. And we are fine with that. But please, no buying quarter pagers and reproducing them as covers!

We request you do not use downloads from Illodeli.com to make derivative works – processing with filters, recolouring, making heavy colour adjustments. Over laying of trade dress, logos and so on is fine. We like to keep things as simple as possible, and offering artwork to you the customer, to be used as closely to its downloaded state is our aim. There are potential legal implications to allowing the use of our work to make derivative works which we would really rather not get into. We hope you understand. All artwork should be credited as (C)2008 the artist. If you wish to mention Illodeli.com that’s greatly appreciated, but we do not demand it. Hopefully as a customer you will be satisfied enough to mention it to your friends in publishing anyway! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us. We would much rather deal with a “silly” question than leave you guessing.

All our artists also provide bespoke work to order, and can be contacted through the links on this site to make deals outside of IlloDeli. We do ask that of course you don’t bother them by offering less money for the same rights we sell here – the whole point of the site from the artists’ perspective is to cut out all that unnecessary communication and allow you to buy direct from Illodeli. However if you like what you see and you’d like to commission more in a similar vein, to order a special bespoke piece, or you’d like to talk about exclusivity, then by all means drop them a line.

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Saturday, June 11, 2016

Worth The Wait



Product: Joyride #2
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Writer(s): Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
Artist(s): Marcus To
Colorist: Irma Kniivila
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Price: $3.99 (US)
Page Count: 30, including ads and front and back inside covers

Welcome back travellers. Joyride #2 is out and in it we get to learn a lot more about our protagonists and the universe they're exploring. This issue starts in media res as Dewydd's parents get an awkward, semi-unwelcome visit from a government official about their son's new status as an Aberrant. The scene quickly flashes over to Dewydd, Catrin and Uma, who are up to their necks in trouble on an alien space station, thanks to Uma's sticky fingers.

To throw the pursuing security guards off, the trio splits up with Uma using a dive bar as her bolt hole and Catrin and Dewydd taking shelter in an alien fashion emporium. Uma quickly finds herself under the protective wing of an alien thief calling himself Kolstak the Wander (That name sounds familiar, doesn't it? ;) and we learn that humankind's reputation is pretty bad in the universe's eyes - in fact, it's much worse than the pathos-evoking reputation we get in Titan AE. Flashing back to Catrin and Dewydd, Catrin learns a valuable lesson about herself after being confronted by an alien with an alluring offer. We also see the questionable results of Dewydd's alien makeover and learn he has a skeleton in his closet beyond his familial ties to the government.

Back at the bar, Uma engages in some creative mayhem to bust out of the security cordon with Kolstak in tow, sacrificing her recently acquired loot in the process. The group meets up, beats a hasty retreat to the ship and engages in more creative mayhem in an effort to shake off pursuing starfighters. Unfortunately, their efforts have an unintended side effect, leaving them stranded in a dangerous part of space. The issue ends on a cliffhanger as we see Special Interceptors - special agents of the World Government Alliance - preparing to hunt down our heroes, and we learn just how far up the food chain Catrin's parents really are.

Overall, Joyride #2 is an excellent follow-up to the debut issue. The pace slows a bit in jumping between scenes, but picks up again toward the end before leaving us hanging on the cliff's edge. In case you hadn't heard the news or didn't notice the change in numbering on the cover, Joyride is now going to be an ongoing series. This is really good news, as four issues is really not enough to cover a joyride through an entire galaxy (as compared to Spanner's Galaxy, a six-issue limited series which left off with Polaris Spanner getting ready to pursue the man who harassed him throughout the series).

This series is definitely hitting all the right buttons for me as well as the big green nostalgia button in me. If you're looking for a series to jump into this summer, Joyride is definitely it - just get a hold of the first two issues, put your feet up and enjoy the ride.

WRITER'S NOTE: As it stands, I haven't decided if I'm going to continue reviewing the series beyond the first four issues. Why? Because while I love the series, I have a lot of projects and other things to write about in the future. Additionally, my previous review didn't generate as much interest as my gaming material, but we'll see what the future holds...