The premier of the second season of the new Doctor Who ran on Sci Fi Channel last night and it was really good. Though I know a lot of people liked Christopher Eccleston’s more hard-boiled take on the good Doctor, I thought David Tennant’s Doctor was more in the spirt of the show’s more eccentric qualities. While the series willingness to inject a little more action into the stories does change it from the feel of the old considerably, it also finally brings the series into the 21st century. Here is looking to more episodes!

DJWebb alerted me to the rather baffling fact that over 1,800 people have viewed Spontaneous Combustion on Google Video. Sure maybe all 1,800 people stopped after minute one, but really who is counting? When you type in the words “spontaneous combustion” into the Google Video search engine, the movie is ranked number 1, above South Park’s take on the phenomenon. It even gets a respectable 3 out of 5 stars. That converts to something like 6 stars on IMDB, or maybe one of those ubiquitous 7.1’s on Pitchforkmedia.

Please submit your designs for “Wicker Duck” construction to (loki at protozoic dot com) or alternatively post them if you already have an account.

Protocon 2.0 will occur in early to mid-November (date to be determined).

Alternate Title: Evil Elf Chicks Must Die

This was the adventure designed for the sole purpose of testing out the Injury and Consequences mechanics mentioned earlier. The level of the PCs was 6th and I had them gradually facing protagonists closer and closer to the standard D&D challenge ratings.

The since some of the mechanical elements I eventually try out might clash with any of the pre-planned settings (ie. Forgotten Realms or Ravenloft) I instead cooked up a home-brew setting with characteristics generally similar to the standard ones. There’s not much to it but a few background details thrown together and some antagonists. Since I’d been reading Vance’s Dying Earth recently you may notice some minor thematic aspects of that setting worked in as well. Other elements will be invented later as they become relevant to the story.

My prep-notes for the session follow. As such they contain spoilers, players be warned.

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In trying to playtest the d20 combat systems discussed recently I’ve gotten to the point where the alternate rules are sufficiently different from the original rules that it’s difficult to keep track of things on a normal character sheet.

So here’s a sheet to keep track of the new character stats:

d20 Alternate Rules - Character Sheet - Combat Section

This sheet is just for combat-relevant stuff. I figure at some point I’ll come up with one for spells and another one for abilities, skills, and other noncombat stuff. But for now the standard sheets can handle those things pretty well.

On why a big rip is gradually forming on my side of the bed:

Dragon: I know, maybe the mattresses they installed in this building were manufactured with the assumption that every year a different person will sleep on them and the wear and tear will even out over the whole surface. But since I’ve slept on it in the same direction four years in a row without an egg-crate* it’s getting too much stress in these particular spots.

She Dragon: Or maybe it’s because every year it collects the hopes and dreams of the varied dreamers who sleep upon it. But your dreams are so vapid and shallow that you’re robbing it of it’s essential mana and it’s become weak.

*- Egg-crate: A piece of corrugated foam rubber used to suppliment the cushioning of firmer sleeping surfaces.