This month's post about compensating for lifelong underachievement by fighting with elemental creatures on digital cards

Last month, I shared a summary of my efforts to prove my worth in the first season of ranked competition for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket mobile game.  I think I'll make this a monthly habit for as long as the game occupies a significant portion of my free brainwaves.  It's still a fun diversion, very much worth the minimal investment of free...and probably worth more than that, although I enjoy the added challenge of being "free to play" (F2P, as they say).  I also don't have a ton of pocket money to throw at Pocket Monsters at the moment, so it suits my budget well!

To recap: In the first season of ranked play, I managed to hit the highest category (excluding those who do well enough for a numerical ranking), that of Master Ball, with a deck using Weezing, Weavile, and Darkrai.  It performed pretty well against the ubiquitous and overwhelmingly hated deck known as Darktina (running Darkrai + Giratina), and I was happy to reach "the top" with something other than the format's bogeyman.  My win rate was a whopping 50.1%.  I was at peace with my skill level.  Now, I just needed to repeat this effort in May.

In Pokémon TCG Pocket, ranked seasons start the day after the release of a new set, and the metagame was sure to be shaken up for the new month of play.  Two cards in particular were set to scramble the established order of deck power: Rare Candy and Oricorio (Pom-Pom Style; images from Game8)...

Without getting too far into the weeds of trying to explain why these cards would change things so dramatically (to the extent that I'm even capable of doing so), I'll just summarize the main phenomenon each one was expected to bring about:

    1. Rare Candy would allow decks running Stage 2 Pokémon to operate faster, thus keeping pace with decks that run only Basic Pokémon.

    2. Oricorio would hinder decks that relied only upon what are known as ex Pokémon (which are more powerful but punish their player more when knocked out).

Darktina...the reviled monster of the April meta...runs only Basics and relies on ex 'mons, so it wasn't expected to have the same power in the new environment.  As anticipated, it was much rarer to come across an opponent playing Darktina on the ranked ladder than it was by the end of the previous season, when it literally seemed like a majority of players were wielding that hated beast.

I tried all kinds of decks this month.  I'm gonna guess...oh, somewhere between 10 and 20 different deck archetypes saw play under my handle.  I started out okay (and luckily only dropped down a couple of levels from my finishing position last season)...but bit by bit, I got worse and worse.  After 100 games, I had a 52% win rate, clearly not stellar but better than I fared in April.  Before too long, I found myself at 120-145-1 (45.1%) and without much confidence that I would improve.

So...I embraced the beast.  I decided to play Darktina.  Here's the deck that I would eventually settle on (you can see by its name that I wasn't exactly proud of the choice):

And I'll be damned if I didn't go on a 40-20 run to hit Master Ball.  After floundering around for 266 games with a losing record, it just took me 60 games to hit my goal.  I don't know how my skill increased so much, so quickly... ;)

This exercise convinced me that Darktina was still the best deck in the format...and I'm not sure it was really all that close.  (I expressed this on Reddit, and...wouldn't you know...it wasn't met with resounding agreement.  It's pretty interesting how attached players can get to their favorite decks...!)  It still fared well against decks running Rare Candy because those decks depend upon having the right combination of cards to "go off."  If they hesitate, Darktina is ready to pounce.  And it fared surprisingly well against the little yellow birdie by chipping away damage with Darkrai and carefully employing trainer cards that force one's opponent to switch out their active Pokémon.  I think I probably won some games I could easily have lost if my opponents had just decided to not play other 'mons to the board, forcing me to deal with an Oricorio that I couldn't damage through attacks.

Another brand new season started today, and I think I'm gonna have to go for the hat trick and shoot for Master Ball a third time.  One day, it'll actually be enough, and I will have proven to myself that I have what it takes to be mediocre and persistent enough to regularly earn the little Master Ball icon.  One day.

Now, if you've taken the time to look through this post...even to just skim it...I really appreciate it!  And I have a question: What about this type of post would make it more interesting and worthwhile to you?  Normally, I don't really worry about this very much, because I just enjoy posting my nerd thoughts, and I know that there's a set of folks who are likely to read them because they share some interests with me.  However...this isn't the sort of subject matter that generates much interest among those who frequent RPG blogs, so if I can do something to make it better fit the blog's very loose "theme" (which I already stretch regularly with Geeky SKAturdays), I should maybe give it a shot...!

----------

With that said, I shall now turn this into a more normal Monstrous Matters post by statting out a monster.  Specifically, I'm taking a look at Darkrai, since it's appeared in both of my final ladder decks so far...

From Game8

Darkrai is honestly a pretty cool 'mon.  It's considered Mythical but may or may not actually be a unique being.  And it causes nightmares.  It might even feed on dreams, which is a trope I'm pretty sure I've encountered before, but it still seems badass.  And to add a sympathetic angle, it seems that the nightmare generation might actually just be a defense tactic rather than something done to intentionally bring pain to others.  (If you're interested, you can read more about Darkrai at Bulbapedia...!)

Darkrai

HD 4 (14 HP), AC 12

Weakness: Grass

Ability: Nightmare Aura - All creatures near Darkrai (including other active Elemental Beasts) must make a WIS save each round or take 1d6-1 damage.

Attack: Dark Prism +4 (2d6+2 darkness damage)

----------

Next up for my fantasy heartbreaker: The Mage!

I'm really doing it!  I'm plodding forward with my fantasy heartbreaker!

(Those sentences were as much about positive affirmation as they were about exposition.  But really...I think I'm doing it...)

I introduced a minimalist Warrior class a couple weeks ago.  Now it's time to take a look at those who choose to wield magic.  Alongside the Warrior, there shall be...

The Mage

I don't think I've ever shied away from making it obvious that my view of fantasy is heavily influenced by Magic: The Gathering.  One of the most interesting aspects of the magic employed in MTG lore is the balance of five colors, each with their own goals and methods.

From the MTG Wiki

I really don't know that it can be overstated how elegantly brilliant this cosmology is.  While I know that colors of magic and a circular grouping of elements is a whole trope in itself (one that I played around with consolidating earlier this year), the MTG color wheel has been a robust foundation for both the mechanics of the game and the philosophical underpinnings of the game's world for more than 30 years, and there's no sign that the approach has lost any luster over time.  If you want to check out a really solid article about the colors of Magic and their real-world implications, you'll probably want to click here to see Duncan Sabien's treatise "The MTG Color Wheel (& Humanity)."  It's a great read and worth some re-reads!

The MTG team has taken a lot of care over the years to give their in-universe magic wielders the trappings of fantasy lore that best fit the colors.  Blue magic-users are almost always wizards, for example, while black mages might be wizards, but they also could be clerics or warlocks.  This taxonomy reached an apex of symmetry in the expansion Strixhaven: School of Mages in 2021.  The set is based upon the happenings at a university of magic -- the titular Strixhaven -- which is divided into five colleges, each based upon one of MTG's pairs of "enemy" colors (the ones that oppose each other on the wheel above).

Furthermore, the nature of each college highlights the tension between its constituent colors on an axis that makes them "enemies."  The red-blue college, for instance, is Prismari, focused on the arts.  Students and faculty here may take a very blue approach, working to understand the elements of their craft and how they interact to produce a reaction in an audience.  Or...they might be very red, concerned only with passionately expressing the feelings that drive them to create.

It's a pretty cool setup.  And since the set is filled with mages of all five colors and some mixtures thereof, the MTG team firmly divided up the "character classes" (creature types) of the cards by color, with each color getting one term to describe the practitioners of its magic.  Here is one of the cycles of the set, the Pledgemages...each one is a species associated with one color, and the class of mage associated with its partner:

From a Scryfall search

And I love this.  It satisfies some of the fundamental cravings of my neurodivergence.  It's just so round...so symmetrical...so clean!

And so...that's what I want to bring into the Monstrous Heartbreaker's Mage.  I'm already working on a general class model where each hits a point of specialization at level 2.  For the Mage, second level will be when a player determines if their character is actually a druid, a shaman, a warlock, a wizard, or a cleric.  It shouldn't be too difficult to assign each spell one or more sources of power according to the D&D classes that cast it.  I just need to figure out exactly what to call these types of magic.  Right now, I'm working with...

Wizard (blue) - Arcane or Metaphysical

Warlock (black) - Eldritch or Diabolic

Cleric (white) - Divine or Holy

Druid (green) - Nature maybe?  (Not sure I like Primal...)

Shaman (red) - This is the toughest one to me.  Elemental?  Emotional?  Passion?  I'm very open to ideas!!

So hopefully, when next I post on the heartbreaker, I'll have this terminology figured out and have a class laid out for building...!

Geeky SKAturday: "Keasbey Nights" live by Catch 22, plus the Keasbey Knight for Agents of SKA

A very pleasant Geeky SKAturday to all of you reading this!  Today's entry will be a little different; rather than focusing on a new release for 2025, I want to share a recent live recording of an old song that I've just uploaded to YouTube.  Skip to the video if you just want the good stuff (although I'll admit that the audio quality, from my phone, isn't the best).  If you're up for reading some background...

First, I will also admit that in the early days of my fascination with ska, I didn't give much attention to the band Catch 22.  As my interest in the genre grew, I largely sought out more traditional bands, and they just never ended up very squarely on my radar.

Image from their Facebook page

It was only after starting grad school (a little later in life than is typical) that I began talking with the youngsters around me about ska and realizing that the band Streetlight Manifesto (formed by some members of Catch 22) is a HUGE player in the ska scene for the generation younger than me.  It took some time, but I finally started giving Streetlight...and eventually Catch 22...enough attention to recognize why they have been such influential forces in ska's Third Wave.

Now...I won't even begin to get into the dynamics between Streetlight Manifesto and Catch 22, both of which are still performing...mostly because I wouldn't be able to write with any knowledge of the subject.  If there was ever any negativity between them, it doesn't seem to be a part of their current narratives, especially considering that multi-instrumentalist (and music teacher/band director) Jamie Egan, after being part of the Catch 22 contingent that formed Streetlight, has since returned to the ranks of the original band (and now shares the stage with his son Connor, which is pretty cool).  The question of the bands' dynamics definitely comes to mind, though, when you consider that guitarist/vocalist Tomas Kalnoky left Catch 22 after one studio album, Keasbey Nights (all songs written by him), then would go on to re-record it with Streetlight Manifesto.

Which brings us to this recording.  I've been lucky over the past couple of years to catch...er, Catch 22 live a couple times.  (I guess I haven't mentioned yet that they're a New Jersey band, so that prospect is a lot easier now that I live up here.)  This recording is from a show they played with the Slackers and Crazy & the Brains on April 11 of this year, at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ.  (You can go here for a video showing a little overview of the evening, including documentation of my skinny ass moving almost in time with the beat.)

Here they are with the title track from Keasbey Nights...

And...because the recording quality there wasn't exactly great, let me also share the band's original studio recording of the song...

I really believe this is one of the classics of modern ska.

----------

As I fall into way too easily, I've already rambled way more than I intended about today's music, and I still want to talk about how this fits into the RPG adventures of the Agents of SKA, who travel the streams of time to defend the multiverse from evil.  Without hinting at more detail than I'm able to articulate at the moment, I'd like for this song to serve as the basis for one of the setting's character classes: the Keasbey Knight (with thanks going out to whoever it is who has this as a username that I saw online, inspiring its use in the game).  I see the Keasbey Knight as a half caster and the champion of an ideal, much like a Paladin or Ranger.  But...the champion of what?  Well...that'll be based on the lyrics.  So let me share those here (courtesy of LyricFind via Google):

It was the summer of '95 (so what?!),

In the backyard, shaving the old plies.

Feeling so strong, something went wrong.

Straight into my finger, what a stinger, it was so long.

I still remember that day, like the day that I said that I swear,

"I'll never hurt myself again",

But it seems that I'm deemed to be wrong, to be wrong, to be wrong.

So I've got to keep holding on

They always played a slow song.

When they come for me, I'll be sitting at my desk,

With a gun in my hand, wearing a bulletproof vest

Singing "my, my, my, how the time does fly,

When you know you're going to die by the end of the night."

I still remember when we were young and fragile then.

No one gave a shit about us because times were tougher then.

Feeling so good, cruising the hood; straight into the real world,

Rich kids never understood. But I don't care.

I can fade away to anywhere.

Don't stop because you might get dropped

And if you do who's going to pick you up.

Well I won't, they always played a slow song.

So...yeah!  The class is based on that!  Although...well, maybe it goes without saying that there doesn't seem to be universal agreement on exactly what the song is all about.  However...I think we can run with it!  I mean...I'm a Gen Xer, a part of the grunge generation, so I've certainly listened to (and sung) my share of impenetrable lyrics.  There's something different about this experience, though.  Whereas I'm very familiar with the reaction of, "Well, Kurt, I have no idea what you mean there...but you're right, the world is fucked up!"...this song just seems more nostalgic and...dare I say, hopeful...??  (Eh...maybe not that last one...but still...)

Keasbey is a community here in Jersey, by the way.  And I think there's a certain feeling to this song...of the friendships of youth, the necessity of perseverance even in relatively normal circumstances of growing up, and of coming to terms with promises both fulfilled and unfulfilled.

But...I could be full of shit.  Hopefully it'll be a fun class to play, anyway!

A more modern Warrior for the Monstrous Heartbreaker

Last week, I finally statted out a character as the first proof-of-concept exercise for my own take on a fantasy heartbreaker...a Warrior from Ravnica named Sergiu Pijha.  I'm continuing those efforts today with a modern, Earth-based character, as a way to ensure that my oh-so-generic class rules will truly be suitable for the oh-so-unpredictable genre-jumping I'm sure I'll end up doing.

I also don't know exactly how explicit I've been about it, but one of the absolute goals of the Monstrous Heartbreaker is to have a basic set of rules that translate easily to skirmish gaming with action figures.  I have this grand idea to create an accompanying set of skirmish rules called People of Adventure (as a nod to a certain classic toyline) that can be used at any scale...but it'll probably be obvious that 3.75" figures are main game pieces I'm thinking of.  (And then the name can be abbreviated POA...get it?)  Anyway, I was slowly moving in this direction quite a while back...and somehow got off track...but I aim to get back...er, on track.

So I'll start by looking at these guys...

As you may know, these gentlemen are Torch and Thrasher, two of Zartan's goons in the Cobra-affiliated biker gang known as the Dreadnoks.  Thrasher (on the right) drove the Mad Max-ified vehicle known as the Thunder Machine and should maybe fall under some sort of driver/pilot class, but Torch...as a purveyor of violence who lacks formal training as a soldier (although he was in the merchant marine), he's probably a great candidate to be statted out as a general Warrior.

So here we go...

Torch

Warrior, Level 3

From the figure's YoJoe page

Human, 28 years old

Affiliation: Dreadnoks

STR       DEX        CON      INT       WIS      CHA
16 (+2)  13 (+1)   16 (+2)   5 (-2)    7 (-1)    9 (--)

HP 21     Move 30 ft. (6 units)
Attack Bonuses: +6 melee, +5 ranged (additional +2 when attacking with incendiary weapons)
Additional notes: +1 damage on all attacks, +1 AC

Hindrances: Illiterate

Proficiencies
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Survival
Talents: Metalworking, Motorcycling
Languages: English

Saves: Strength, Constitution
Weapons: All simple and martial weapons
Armor: All armor, shields

(So...Torch ended up being remarkably similar to Sergiu Pijha, just a couple of levels lower.  I think that can be taken as a positive though...)

Meta Monday: The Sabin Train Suplex becomes an MTG card...

I just have a quick nod to something interestingly meta for today's post.  There's actually a LOT worth rambling about with this, as it comes at a sort of inflection point for Magic: The Gathering...which is morphing from a franchise obsessively restricted to its own universe into a brand that devotes about half of its efforts to mixing in other brands.  As you might imagine, there are plenty of people who don't like the fact that Spider-Man will soon be battling it out at Friday Night Magic against MTG's elves, angels, and dragons.

My thoughts are still developing on this.  In the meantime, though, I find it interesting that connecting all of these universes from different types of original media may provide for some interesting twists in reality.  I don't know that this is the best example of it, but it's the one that really got me thinking...

This is card is from an upcoming MTG set based upon the Final Fantasy franchise.  Apparently this reference is instantly recognizable to FF fans, as there have been all sorts of articles the past few days about "Final Fantasy's biggest meme" being turned into a Magic card.  (I'll admit that I wasn't familiar with it, but you can check out its Know Your Meme page here if you want to get a little more info.)  Briefly...in Final Fantasy VI, the monk character Sabin has an ability called Suplex...which does what it sounds like it should do...and for some reason, he can use this move on a train...

So now this ability is a card that can either damage a creature (nail 'em with the wrestling move) OR get rid of a train (or any other artifact).  I'm having a really hard time even articulating in my own head why this is an interesting meta twist to me.  I guess it just seems like such a video game moment.  So if we follow the trail of...

1.  There's a game about summoning fantasy creatures to battle for you. (MTG)

2.  When playing a game about summoning fantasy creatures to battle for you, some people are able to tap (haha) into that magic for real, casting spells and bringing other beings into our reality. (Duel Masters)

3.  Because some of the magic that can be accessed is based upon a narrative originating in a video game, there are spells that follow the strange physics of 16-bit computing as practiced in a certain time and place. (FF in MTG)

Hmm.

Well, I think there's something cool here.  Maybe at some point I'll figure out how to express it in such a way that others find it cool too...[shrug emoji]

Geeky SKAturday: The Modbirds' "Spin it to Win it" (and other odes to vinyl)

In my teen years, I was pretty obsessed with acquiring new music.  If you asked me at the time, I don't think I would have guessed that music access would be so different before I turned 50 years old that I wouldn't even care about having CDs anymore.  (The laser doesn't even touch the disc!  They're gonna last forever!)

As music was a pretty big part of both of our lives, Laura and I had a fairly extensive CD collection that we finally cleared out several years ago.  It was time.  On at least one occasion, we bought a CD at a show so we could support the artist, only to come across it months later still in its wrap.  As a lifelong geek with the spirit of collecting running through my veins (not always a positive thing), I don't need anything extra to feed my tendency to just keep stuff around.

So, with streaming possible for just about any music out there, the only hardcopy music I buy these days is on vinyl.  Because...it's fun!  I still stream more than I listen to physical media, but picking up the occasional record feels like a good way to give musicians a little extra support and have a sort of "souvenir" of stuff I especially like.  And it's a good time to enjoy vinyl...most artists (that I pay attention to, at least) seem to have records on their checklist for major releases these days, often special/limited editions on colorful vinyl.  (Again...it's fun!)

Maybe one day I'll decide enough's enough with that, too, and clear the house of vinyl as well.  But until then...not sure if I've mentioned this...but it's fun!

From the band's Facebook page

Which brings me to today's song for Geeky SKAturday!  The Modbirds are a fairly new band (founded 2023), but they count among their numbers some members of more experienced crews like Los Placebos and Celtic punk rockers The Porters.  I'm pretty sure they're German.  And the sound of this new(ish) song of theirs, "Spin it to Win it," sits squarely in the heart of my metaphorical ska happy place.  Traditional, catchy, soulful...it's a great track.  Oh...and it's about the joy of listening to music on vinyl!  (THAT's why I rambled about that to start this post...)  Spin it to win it, 45 times a minute...I love it!

Listening to this song has reminded me that I have a bit of a history of loving catchy songs about listening to records.  The Cornershop hit "Brimful of Asha" (from their album that should be nominated for best title ever, When I Was Born for the 7th Time) is pretty irresistible.

I also remember being somewhat blown away by this little ditty by The Features when I first heard it ca. 2005...

----------

Now what does this mean for the Agents of SKA?  Well, when I first threw together some uniform patches for various divisions of the organization, I had this one for Communications:

I'm an 80s kid, so that cassette image had a fun retro feel for me (plus, cassettes have kind of been making a comeback too).  I thought it'd be cool for the organization's messages to be carried on classic physical media, maybe even in musical form.  However, considering ska's emergence in the late 1950s and early 60s, I guess it makes a lot more sense for the associated image to look something like this...

From Pixabay

(I should probably update the Comms division patch...)

A Warrior for my Monstrous Heartbreaker

And now I'll take my first real crack at creating a whole character using the uber-simplified Warrior class I wrote about a couple days ago.  He's a guy from Ravnica.

I really love the setting of Ravnica and am pretty happy that it was the first Magic: The Gathering plane to have an official splatbook printed for it.  It's a sprawling city covering the entire plane, infused with magepunk technology and perpetually caught in a struggle for power among ten guilds, each of which represents one MTG's two-color combinations.  The red/green "guild" is a loosely affiliated group of clans called the Gruul who largely oppose the trappings of civilization and often seek to preserve -- or, uh, reintroduce -- wild spaces on the plane.

Among these clans is the Ghor, who have been represented on a number of cards in various Magic sets...

And their leader is the fearsome ogre warleader Ruric Thar...

Today, though, I'm just looking at one particular Ghor-Clan Wrecker (updated image coming along at some point)...

----------

Sergiu Pijha

Warrior, Level 5

Wallpaper-style artwork taken from here

Human, 26 years old

Birthplace: Ravnica, Tenth District

Guild: Gruul Clans (Ghor)

STR       DEX       CON      INT       WIS       CHA
16 (+2)  11 (--)   13 (+1)   8 (-1)    6 (-1)    11 (--)

HP 30     Move 30 ft. (6 units)
Attack Bonuses: +8 melee, +6 ranged (additional +2 when attacking with chain weapons)
Additional notes: 2 attacks per round, +1 damage on all attacks, +1 AC

Proficiencies
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation, Survival
Talents: Metalworking
Languages: Common, Goblin
Saves: Strength, Constitution
Weapons: All simple and martial weapons
Armor: All armor, shields

Sergiu Pijha was born in the heart of Ravnica and began an apprenticeship as a metalworker in his early teens.  About a year in, a shady redevelopment project funded by the Orzhov Syndicate forced the closure of the metal shop where he worked.  He arrived home that day to find that his parents had been arrested and his family's apartment ransacked by members of the Boros Legion.  Those events planted a seed of distrust that eventually grew into total opposition to the corrupt set of systems that we refer to as civilization.

He likes breaking shit and hitting people with chains.

Slowly rolling out my fantasy heartbreaker: The Warrior

I've given enough lip service to the idea of creating my own fantasy heartbreaker on this blog that it's time I finally start to to officially chip away at it.  I don't want to go to my grave thinking, "One day I'll get the Monstrous Heartbreaker put together, and from that point on, I'll have my default RPG ruleset...!"  Heck, why not go to my grave with a copy of the Monstrous Heartbreaker in my hands??  And...did I just channel a prophecy?  (Anyone who reads this and sees me going to my grave, please take note of what's in my hands, just in case I've been a seer this whole time.  It'll be a bit late to capitalize on it, but cool nonetheless.)

Okay...I'm already off topic.

Hrm.

So, my fantasy heartbreaker...

No, this one isn't mine, but it's one of the first games designated as such (cover image from the Fifth Cycle Wikipedia page)

First, if you're unfamiliar with what I mean by that (and it is a fairly loose term), you might want to read this essay by Ron Edwards on The Forge.  I'm not sure if the term originated there, but I'm pretty certain that this specific essay is why the term is so widely used today.  Now...it's been a while since I've read anything substantial from that work, and I can't say for sure that I've ever actually read the whole thing.  I know that Ron Edwards is a bit of a divisive voice in the RPG hobby...but I also don't know if most manifestations of that divisiveness have been in the words of those for whom divisiveness is a key element of their presence in the community.  I guess that if you know any of the specifics I might be alluding to...cool, hopefully I'm making sense...but in general, I'm just saying that I'm not necessarily vouching for Edwards or any of his views.  But that term...fantasy heartbreaker.  It's a good one.  And while it's intended to be pejorative, I think it's time for all of us to claim it as a decidedly positive approach to the hobby.

To me, a fantasy heartbreaker is simply one individual's personally houseruled D&D.  It represents what its creator looks for in a fantasy RPG, and thus, to an extent, it represents its creator.  But it's also representative of that creator's specific takeaways from the meta-experience of D&D...the circumstances that have led to their likes, dislikes, and quirks.  It's about both the personality of the individual AND the ways in which they have been shaped by the community.  Is it innovative?  Maybe.  If its creator wants it to be.  But it doesn't NEED to be...D&D has been "good" from the moment it was created, and it's all about shaping it to individual tastes and needs at this point.  And so, by calling one's own take a fantasy heartbreaker, you're acknowledging that it's simultaneously a window into the soul of a single creator AND that it's not to be taken too seriously.  And personally...I like that.

I'll get into some of the details of what I want out of my own take in future posts.  For now, I'm just gonna start at the most basic point I can think of:  a fighting class.  The fighting class.  But not a fighter.  In the Monstrous Heartbreaker, it is...

Artwork for the MTG card Ghor-Clan Wrecker (taken from the wallpaper art at its Cards Realm page)

The Warrior

Hit Die: d10

Proficiencies
Armor: All armor, shields
Weapons: All simple and martial weapons
Saving Throws: Strength, Constitution
Skills: Athletics, Intimidation

What are your character’s interests and hobbies? What have they done with their life up until this point? Choose one additional Skill and one Talent to represent these.  (Talents basically work like Tools in 5E...I just think the term Tool is more limiting than it should be for what it represents...)

Equipment
Begin with a set of campaign-appropriate equipment (per DM).

Beginning Warrior Bonuses
At 1st level, you get a +1 Class Bonus to all attack and damage rolls.

Weapon Expertise
At 2nd level, you choose unarmed combat OR one class of weapon (e.g. Swords, Bows, Handguns) and gain Expertise with all attacks that fit that category. This provides an additional Expertise Bonus of +2 on all attack rolls. (This stacks with the Class Bonus.)

Self-Preservation
Starting at 3rd level, you become better at defending yourself in the heat of the action. You get a +1 Class Bonus to AC.

Ability Score Increase
When you reach 4th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1.

Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

----------

Hopefully I'll be back to stat out one or two class representatives before the week closes out...!

Meta Monday: Duel Masters

The Duel Masters franchise is one that I would honestly say I've been a fan of for a long time, but I've really never dug in very deep.  That may be slowly changing as it catches more and more of my attention as a decidedly meta take on a fantasy world.

It all started with a manga more than 20 years ago.  If the story I read was correct...and I'm remembering it correctly...creator Shigenobu Matsumoto was supposed to make a comic based on Magic: The Gathering.  The intention was for him to tell a story set among the fantastic planes of MTG.  What he delivered, though, was a tale of a young boy (Shobu) striving to become a Magic: The Gathering champion...

From Wikipedia

It wouldn't be until later in the series that the manga would lend its name to a completely new card game, clearly inspired by the mechanics and the five-color cosmology of MTG but operating as its own entity.  There's definitely a sort of MTG meets Yu-Gi-Oh! aura about it, and it seems to have been a pretty smart move by Wizards of the Coast.  (I realize that last statement doesn't get written very much in our hobby these days...)

From the Duel Masters Wiki

I was just observing from the sidelines as the game made its way to the States and gained a reasonable amount of popularity.  And when I saw that the second set was called "Evo-Crushinators of Doom," I could tell that there might be something interestingly self-aware about the property.  I would eventually pick up one of the GBA games, and Fr. Josh and I split a set of mega-discounted starter decks at Dragon Con one year.  (In fact, my favorite experience with the game itself is probably the time my friend John wanted to get in a lunchtime game of MTG at Georgia State, and while I found myself without a Magic deck, I did happen to have a Duel Masters deck on me.  John graciously allowed me to play the Duel Masters deck in a game of Magic...dividing combat values by 1000, of course...and it worked pretty darn well!)

While the game seems to still be going strong in Japan, it hasn't had an English release in almost 20 years.  There was an attempt to reboot/reinterpret it as Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, but this didn't last very long.  And so, in 2025, there doesn't seem to be much of a push for the IP in North America.

Thankfully, the animated series is readily available via streaming, and the property's meta bona fides really come out in these episodes.  We eventually realize that as a Kaijudo Master in training (Kaijudo being "the way of the monster," the dueling that takes place between...duel masters), Shobu is actually capable of summoning creatures from their own realms into ours.  Before long, Shobu and his friends make their way into these fantastic worlds (referred to as "Civilizations" and bearing great similarity to the five colors of MTG).

It's also worth noting that the English dub of the anime takes the multiversal nature of the storyline to even another level, as the characters often seem to be aware that they are characters in an animated show.  And while I haven't watched a ton of it, what I've seen has been a lot of fun.  It's clear that the team localizing the show for North America really enjoyed what they were doing with it, as the dialogue is often a rapid-fire series of pop culture references, fourth wall acknowledgments, nods to genre clichés, and good old dad jokes.  It won't all land for everyone, but I'll admit that I have laughed out loud on more than one occasion (not full-bodied guffaws, but definitely audible chuckles...).

I really think I have to incorporate something along the lines of Duel Masters into the Monstrous Matters universe.  The idea of being connected to fantastic realms via a card game is just too cool to ignore for someone like me who, gaming-wise, might be a cardflopper at heart above all else.  I did write up a Card-caster class for OSR gaming way back when in connection with the Tenkar's Landing crowdsourced hexcrawl project...so maybe I need to dust that off and see if I can work it into something that will fit into my fantasy (monstrous) heartbreaker...

Oh man, I love that art by my bud J.R. Mounts...!

Geeky SKAturday: "Walls of Jericho" by the Melbourne Ska Orchestra

Hey hey, happy weekend everyone!  Just enough time to still make this a Geeky SKAturday...!

This is an awesome new song from the Melbourne Ska Orchestra...truly one of the most immediately striking new tunes I've heard this year...

The imagery of horns bringing down the walls of a city is pretty cool in the context of adventuring ska musicians.  There must be some sort of ability that horn sections among the Agents of SKA can use to topple a barrier.  I'm thinking it should probably be some sort of spell-like ability that can't be used without limits though...?  The capability for a few folks with trumpets and trombones to knock down any wall in their way seems too powerful, but I'm sure there's something there...

Geeky SKAturday: "The Shadow of Your Smile" by Larry McDonald and friends

Larry McDonald is a well-known and highly accomplished percussionist in the Jamaican music scene.  I've seen him sit in with the Slackers (one of my favorite ska bands) more than once, as well as performing with the modern iteration of the Jamaican ska band that really defined the genre, the Skatalites.  Hailing from Jamaica, McDonald has played with many of the greats that have defined the sound of the island nation where he was born (not to mention blues legend Taj Mahal) and should definitely be considered among their ranks himself (he is a member of the Jamaica Music Museum's Hall of Fame).  And...as he was born in 1937...I'll just say that I hope I can be as active and creative as he is when I'm in my 80s.  (If you're interested, you can go here for a great article about his journey.)

(86 years young here, from a 2023 Slackers show...)

When we saw him with the Skatalites, I found out there's another aspect of McDonald's musical pursuits: He sings!  And he's great at it.  Earlier this year, McDonald released a ska version of the song "The Shadow of Your Smile," taking the vocal lead himself.  Marching forward with the virtuosic backing of guitarist Natty Frenchy and saxophonist Zem Audu, the tune even has a cool video with some scenic shots around the city.  Check it out below!

----------

Now, to make this SKAturday truly Geeky, let me talk a little bit about how this applies to the Agents of SKA, the time-traveling, ska-sharing protectors of the ever-branching multiverse.  I figure there needs to be at least one "elder statesman" among the SKA crew, so I think I'll make one as a little tribute to Mr. McDonald. So, let's go with...Don Lawrence...he's been at this for a while and has unparalleled wisdom not just from the time he's spent living, but all of the times he's experienced as a SKA agent.

With McDonald's history of setting a rhythmic foundation for his musical colleagues, I could imagine Don Lawrence's character class might be some sort of support role.  However, Mr. McDonald's killer vocals have made me go in a different direction...at heart, Don Lawrence (like Haruto Suzuki) is a star and probably needs to have the Three Minute Hero class.

And...it looks like I haven't even shared the details of the Three Minute Hero class on the blog yet.  It's about time for me to start logging the classes I've been thinking about for my little Monstrous Heartbreaker and its compatible games and minigames...so that'll be a post for this week...!