MSD presents "ADVENTURES in ELYSIAN FIELDS the RPG"

[MadStepDad]

In an effort to keep things conjoined and provide a platform to keep my thoughts synchronized, I once again turn to the messageboards of RAVENLOFT. What I’m hoping to do now is lay down the groundwork of my new MASQUE of the RED DEATH Millennium Version campaign; how it adheres to the structures as presented in cannon RAVENLOFT products, how it varies from published VAMPIRE products (while retaining most of their fluff) and my own variations that make this campaign distinct from a standard URBAN ARCANA storyline. This is a campaign built on fandom, purity and love.

In other words, “MSD presents ADVENTURES in ELYSIAN FIELDS – The CAMPAIGN SETTING”. Peep the lyrics.

When IMHOTEP first cracked the seal between our planet and the Shadow world, the RED DEATH made its first appearance. With his sudden arrival he unleashed four elements upon which the entire course of human history would come to rest. These forces manifested themselves as unseen, raw powers that came to be intertwined with human emotions – so much so they become one with the human psyche. These motivations are the driving factors behind every instance of evil in the known history of mankind. In modern terms they are known as the “Triangle of Life”. These forces are (in descending order) SEX – DRUGS and MONEY. It’s just that simple.

Agents of the RED DEATH revel in these varying forces, utilizing them to draw upon the web of the damned and to weaken the borders between our world and that of the Shadow realm. The one (some say “only”) potent weapon we have against these massive forces is that mysterious 4th element. In layman’s terms this 4th element is known as “THE PURE”.

“The PURE” is by far the rarest of the 4 elements, and the most easily tarnished. “The Pure” is the essence the entire ADVENTURES in ELYSIAN FIELDS RPG is built upon. “The Pure” is the source of some of the world’s most potent magic. It is also some of the most unstable. Every generation a new “Pure” sprouts up in the world, like an untainted spring of pure water. Every time a new “Pure” is introduced into the world, it follows the same path:

1) Stars and moons align to create a new “PURE”. The origin point is small and barely nonexistent to anyone outside of its immediate vicinity.

2) The power of the “PURE” becomes evident by its early handlers. Still, it affects very few people due to its highly unknown nature.

3) The “PURE” spreads. Like the snowball affect, it gains more steam as more people become aware of its power and join together in its harmony. At this level, the “PURE” is untouched by the three defining characteristics of corruption (SEX, DRUGS and MONEY).

4) The RED DEATH becomes aware of the “PURE”, much like a Darklord can sense the presence of a Paladin within their domain. Slowly but surely, agents of the RED DEATH move onto the PURE using the other three sources at their disposal to raid the PURE and absorb its essence.

5) “The PURE” is utterly devoured. Now it is no longer a unique tool to be used in the fight against the RED DEATH, instead it becomes a new tool for the RED DEATH and its minions to rape and abuse.

[MadStepDad]

Here’s where campaign paths diverge – “The PURE” is unique to every campaign. Game masters choose their own “PURE” and base the campaign on that. A few examples of “the PURE” could be…

• RELIGION – The easiest and most basic PURE. This would be synonymous with a classic, gothic-themed campaign. Unless you planned on playing a d20 PAST game however, you would need to start the game well after this PURE reached level 5 (destroyed by mankinds reliance on SEX, DRUGS and MONEY). Now Religion would be a powerful tool of good, but also a wicked weapon for evil. The easiest (and probably least controversial) way to run a game of this scope would be to decree ALL religions as being false, and the one true religion is one that hasn’t been discovered yet. Movies like “THE EXORCIST” and “STIGMATA” should be leaned on to provide ideas for the kind of campaigns this particular PURE would lead to.

• MIXED MARTIAL ARTS – Mankind has found symmetry and beauty in the art of unarmed combat dating back to the earliest recorded histories of the Far East. The sciences of discipline, courage and respect can be derived from studies of this craft. Look to artists like BRUCE LEE and the GRACIE clan for inspiration on this particular campaign, and soak up the bastardization of commercial MMA enterprises like the UFC and AFFLICTION for the 5th step of PURE devoured.

• ROLE-PLAYING GAMES – Why not? Maybe it’s an art that recognizes history, teaches critical thinking and espouses creativity. Maybe the famed “steam tunnel” forays of the ‘70s and ‘80s have a deeper meaning. I would also lean heavily on the early theories of D&D encouraging demonic worship and Satanism, and use the writings of JACK CHICK as something more than just insane rambling. All the way up to tidy, sparkling era of TSR and the removal of the word “Demons” from published products (Van Richten’s Guide to FIENDS??? What kind of bowdlerization is that???) Save the game!

That’s not even scraping the tip of the iceberg. This is a game of fandom and rare innocence, so be liberal in your choices of PURE. Skateboarding, politics, video games, pro sports, college sports, pokeman cards, punk rock… the choice is yours. Something that reeks of so much awesomeness it will grow to be life changing, and something you could envision as society’s next great savior – or utter damnation. For my particular campaign I chose music as my PURE. “Hip Hop” music to be precise.

[MadStepDad]

Within every “PURE” come a few assigned roles. These figures or roles are predetermined by the Dark Powers (or whatever extraterrestrial force is behind the creation of a PURE to begin with) and are set in stone from the day of creation. Many outsiders, observers and even founders of the PURE are unaware of these celestial destinies. Unfortunately, many followers of the RED DEATH are not. So they tend to focus their studies on the various contingencies that can lead to the formation of some of these positions. These are also tools used by the GM to drive storylines forward, and to cast a particularly shadowy light on real-world history and events. These roles are...

DREAM MAKER – It all starts with a spark. Contributing factors include timing, environment, historical evolution and momentum. However or wherever it comes from, someone (or something) must give birth to that spark. These people are referred to as “DREAM MAKERS”. Even Dream Makers are unsure of where that spark originates from – only that they are vessels for the creation of this new power (think Doc Brown from “Back to the Future” and his flux capacitor). Examples of real-world “DREAM MAKERS” could include KOOL HERC (creator of “Hip Hop” music), Italian engineer and inventor LEONARDO CHIARIGLIONE who created the basis of digital video compression (Differential Pulse Code Modulation” aka DPCM) in 1980, giving birth to the digital revolution. Other examples could include GARY GYGAX the legend, JAN VAN EXCH (the off-again/on-again inventor of oil painting) and RICHARD GARFIELD – who invented the flat crack known as “MAGIC: THE GATHERING”. No matter where that respective PURE may go in the future, it is always born of innocence – untainted by the three major corrupting factors of civilization (SEX, DRUGS and MONEY). It is born out of love, radiates strongly and affects all within immediate range. Its special qualities are instantly recognized, even though they may not be visible or quantifiable. You just know it’s that next izh.

BLOOD MARTYR – The unfortunate side affect of such prodigious power. By its very definition, a martyr describes an individual who sacrifices his or her life (or personal freedom) in order to further a cause or belief for many. Unfortunately in this case, the decision to sacrifice ones life is out of your hands. Outside forces always create a BLOOD MARTYR – it is nothing one aspires to be. A BLOOD MARTYR is required for evil forces to subjugate the new PURE and drive it towards its final destruction. A BLOOD MARTYR is the segue between steps Step #4 and Step #5 (in which the new PURE is irrevocably devoured). The process by which a BLOOD MARTYR can be created is a long and tedious one – fraught with danger, arcane rituals and Dark Powers checks. But once that objective has been reached, it causes a cosmic chain-reaction that propels the PURE into a new stratosphere of cultural awareness and understanding. In other words, it crystallizes the decadence and moral impurity infused into the PURE by the negative forces of SEX, DRUGS and MONEY. It ensures that other generations will abide by the new (and heavily warped) messages set by those who are behind the creation of that particular BLOOD MARTYR. It is an unholy ritual designed to lead the flock astray. Potential BLOOD MARTYRS for your campaign could include MOZART, JOHN LENNON, ERNEST HEMINGWAY, ROCKY MARCIANO, DALE EARNHART, JESUS, JOHN F. KENNEDY, ROBERT KENNEDY or SOCRATES. Any major historical figure that passes in a strange, brutal or violent manner.

FOCUS CHILD – “Mithraism” - derived from eastern Zoroastrism -was a belief in the “son of the sun” who came to earth to rescue mankind from itself. “Mithras” was extremely popular in the Legions, and as the army traveled throughout the empire, the acceptance of the monotheistic concept (and the story of the son of god coming to earth to save humanity) traveled with it. AUGUSTUS himself was considered the son of a god (JULIUS CEASER) and transcended his human existence to become a divine being after his death. In “ADVENTURES in ELYSIAN FIELDS the RPG”, this phenomenon is ensconced within the “FOCUS CHILD”. The “Focus Child” is a mortal being literally born of the PURE. They are the literal and physical embodiment of your particular PURE. The “FOCUS CHILD” themselves are usually unaware of their important place in the PURE hemisphere – their gifts come so naturally they are beyond questioning. The true importance of a FOCUS CHILD cannot be overstated, and the fate of their respective PURE usually rests on what side of the fence the FOCUS CHILD sits. Once the RED DEATH and its minions become aware of a specific PURE and work to conquer its powers – the FOCUS CHILD usually becomes their primary concern. If he or she can be successfully recruited by cronies of the Shadow realm, all hope can truly be lost. Usually a FOCUS CHILD is blissfully unaware of their cosmic significance, and the RED DEATH preys upon this ignorance and their arrogance. In basic terms, a FOCUS CHILD is a natural “sorcerer” compared to a book-learned “mage”. Examples of a FOCUS CHILD could include PICASSO, TONY HAWK, MICHAEL JORDAN, LEBRON JAMES and JIMI HENDRIX. Woe be to those who fight to preserve the PURE if evil forces are able to create a BLOOD MARTYR out of a FOCUS CHILD…

MILLENNIUM MARTYR – “Millennium” is not to be taken literally. It has nothing to do with time, dates or calendars. Instead it represents the titanic changes that occur once a PURE is teetering on absorption. A “MILLENNIUM MARTYR” is a single being (or figure head of a driving force) that forcibly breaks the last few boundaries of the PURE – essentially opening the flood gates for corruption and everlasting damnation. A “MILLENNIUM MARTYR” is unlike a “BLOOD MARTYR” because one is a chosen path and the other is forced upon you. Many evil forces and minions of the RED DEATH are aware of the celestial significance a “MILLENNIUM MARTYR” holds in usurping a particular PURE - and they dangle this prestigious position like a carrot to those who are exceptionally greedy or manipulative. Once a “MILLENNIUM MARTYR” has been constructed, it almost certainly means that respective PURE has been corrupted by the big 3 (SEX, DRUGS and MONEY). PAT BOONE, BILL GATES, DANA WHITE, ELVIS and PETER ADKISON (founder of “Wizards of the Coast”) could all be considered “MILLENNIUM MARTYRS” for storyline purposes.

That's all I have for now. Feedback would be most grateful!!!

[MadStepDad]

My biggest concern with a game of this scope, was that it could quickly devolve into self-parody. I'm attempting to write historical fiction, using real-life events as the backbone. I think it would just invite laughter if I included extended sequences with TUPAC SHAKUR or had SNOOP DOGGY DOGG casting fireball spells.

My solution was to go the "BOBBY" route. Has anybody seen that movie? Suprisingly low-key despite the plethora of A-List celebrities that appear in it.

In short, "BOBBY" details the day ROBERT F. KENNEDY was shot and killed in that LA hotel. What I love about that movie, is that RFK was not "in" the movie. There was no actor portraying him, he didn't linger on screen, yet he was the centerpiece of the movie. They did this by detailing the fictional lives of other people that day and thread it along with the actual RFK timeline. The scenes RFK was featured in were actual videos from his campaign trail. The reactions, side stories and personal drama of the characters around him made the actual assassination that much more personal and acutely painful. These are the emotions I'm hoping to conjure with my current campaign.

That's another reason why SNOOP DOGGY DOGG was barely heard of until the last scene in KNIGHT of the MENTALLY DEAD. Even then the PCs only barely caught sight of him. And although "THROUGH DARKENED EYES" deals extensively with the TUPAC SHAKUR rape case/attempted murder, TUPAC himself is barely visible. It's the players BEHIND the scenes that propel the story forward. Like the movie "TITANIC" - historical event, with a ficticious backstory.

So by keeping the main real-life characters at arms length and focusing on the bits and pieces around them, I'm hoping to create a template for use with all future historical fiction RPGs. That way, the PCs can play a major part in the history as it unfolds without actually having to snicker the next time KRS-ONE casts a "bless" spell.

peace,

MSD

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I definitely agree on how you handle the real-life personalities here. It's one of the reasons I've always been reluctant to embrace MotRD in general. The BIG NAMES have such potential to turn an adventure into a joke. It's one thing to fight Bob the Vampire, it's another to fight Strahd himself, but then when you fight Dracula himself... Well it can either be great, or it can be Abbot and Costello meet Dracula. I especially like when you're able to use a pseudonym and only later find out who it is, like Malik and Lil Smooth. (An oddly good example of this is the way Shanghai Knights handled Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Conan Doyle.)

The same can probably said for your choice of the "PURE". I'm willing to go with you to music, even to the specifics of hiphop music. But some of those other examples are probably breaking my suspension of disbelief. I think Magic is one of the greatest games ever invented, and this is coming from a guy who plays games to an obsessive degree and has played close to a thousand different games of various kinds. But even I still couldn't take a world seriously where MtG is the one true goodness to fight the forces of evil.

[MadStepDad]

roflmao! I guess you're right! Back to the drawing board on that one, lol.

Altho...

As I like to say, "children are the future and the future is GRIM". I'm sure there's some witty and creative way of infusing M:TG into a bionic d20 Modern campaign. How a mathematics professor is able to create an international obsession using simple arithmetic. Infuses the best (and worst) of the collectibly hobby industry that attacks central nervous systems like a crack binge. Madness checks over card scarcity, hypnotizing artwork and adding high-stakes gambling ups the ante considerably.

Maybe MR. GARFIELD started the trend as a way of publicizing white magic to the small minorities of covens that continue to dot the modern landscape. The REAL M:TG cards are capable of rare and miraculous things (think "deck of many things"). Maybe when the thought of such a powerful communications tool amongst covent societies was discovered, RED DEATH agents were sent to dissimilate it. Maybe the seductic allure of so many pure, untainted minds was too much to resist. Either way, the powers of MONEY soon make their way in. Demonic themes that illustrate a darker side of magic to unsuspecting minds, gambling rules and controversial patenting laws help to govern and control the youth further.

Granted, adventures of this scope wouldn't lend themselves to the "epic campaign" varieity, but I could definitely see it as an episode or two in an ongoing campaing. I could totally see an episode of FRINGE or X-FILES dedicated to some kind of magical/demon worshippy/outcasty-teen/obsessive collection storyline. I'm fairly illiterate on the subject as a whole, but hopefully you get my point. With the idea that there could be simultaneous and many different PURE's, M:TG could certainly add some new color to the GM's palette. Appreciate your thoughts as always, GRon.

peace,

MSD

[MadStepDad]

I especially like when you're able to use a pseudonym and only later find out who it is, like Malik and Lil Smooth.

One more thing - just so y'all know that everything in the NotWD(remix) regarding the shooting was dead-on.

"Malik" was really McKINLEY LEE's nickname - as quoted by SNOOP DOGG himself in his autobiography. "LIL SMOOTH" was Philip Woldermarian's real street name, and they really went by the gang name "By Yerself Hustlers". Just a random historical footnote, but I did my homework y'all! Same thing with the upcoming "THROUGH DARKENED EYES" feature, as I try to delve into the myriad conspiracy theories regarding the first 2pac shooting. Thanks for the reading.

peace,

MSD

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

"Malik" was really McKINLEY LEE's nickname - as quoted by SNOOP DOGG himself in his autobiography. "LIL SMOOTH" was Philip Woldermarian's real street name, and they really went by the gang name "By Yerself Hustlers". Just a random historical footnote, but I did my homework y'all!

Yeah, the world of hiphop definitely lends itself to that sort of thing more than most PUREs would.

[MadStepDad]

[quote="gonzoron"Yeah, the world of hiphop definitely lends itself to that sort of thing more than most PUREs would.[/quote]

You're right. Soon you will see me integrating quotes from the "NOTORIOUS C.O.P" book - mandatory reading for the criminal-minded, Law&Order/CSI junkie. And it's all true. Until then though, here's a taste of the research I've been gathering for my next mission that will take JOHNNY ACID and ALEXUS DARKAGNON down to New Orleans...

FEBRUARY 10th 2009

BATON ROUGE, La. -- A 33-year-old Baton Rouge man, known professionally as the rapper NUSSIE, has been killed in a late night shooting.

Sgt. Don Kelly, a Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman, says officers responded to a report of a shooting around 11:25 p.m. Monday and found an injured, 37-year-old man who told police that another man had been shot in a house nearby.

The deceased victim was identified as Chris Lynell Jackson, a local rapper whose fan base spans South Louisiana, including the cities of Baton Rouge, Thibodaux, Plaquemine and White Castle.

NUSSIE's last album, "The Champ is Here," was released in April on Dope Celebrity Records.

The injured man, whose name was not released, was treated at Baton Rouge General-Mid City. Kelly says his injuries were not life-threatening.

_______________________________________

JULY 15th 2008

Former rapper SPORTY T was murdered Tuesday morning (July 15) when unknown assailants with AK-47 rifles opened fire on the FEMA trailer in which he slept. According to the Times-Picayune, SPORTY T - real name Terence Vine -was in bed when several of the bullets shot into the trailer struck his body. The coroner's office said that the former rapper was 39, though friends and family claimed he was 41.

NOPD officers reported that the trailer was riddled with at least 28 bullet holes, and Vine was pronounced dead at the scene. Police currently have no motive, suspects or witnesses. Vine joined a rap trio known as the Ninja Crew when he was 14, recording three albums. He then signed as a solo artist with Big Boy Records, recording over a dozen albums with them. Drawing a local following, he began his own Sporty Records, where he ended his career as a rapper.

Since that time, he held regular jobs and parented two 10-year-old sons and a 15-year-old stepdaughter, according to his sister Sheila. When asked if her brother had enemies, she responded, "My brother wasn't beefing with anybody," Sheila Vine said. "He didn't go out much. He just worked. He kept to himself. He loved his kids."

Vine had brushes with the law, including a murder charge he was never convicted of. Another member of the Ninja Crew, Terrence "Baby T" McKenzie, was murdered in April 2000.

_________________________________

APRIL 20th 2008

VL MIKE, a former member of the Chopper City Boyz group, was shot and killed on Sunday (April 20) in New Orleans.

According to local paper The Times-Picayune, the rapper (real name: Michael Allen) was exiting his vehicle at around 1 p.m., when an unknown assailant approached and opened fire. The gunman then escaped on foot, and Allen later rushed to University Hospital where he died shortly after. VL Mike was just 32 years old.

There was six other slayings in the city over the last few days. The rapper was the seventh. Fans of the rapper left several messages on his MySpace page. Everyone is shocked by the news. One fan said "R.I.P. I can't it believe it man. This is bullsh--," while another said "I can't believe it. We was just on the phone talking ... I am going to miss you. You where so loved by many and will be missed by many."

VL Mike was formerly a member of rapper B.G.'s group, the Chopper City Boyz, but left the group last year. It was rumored that he left over a money dispute, although B.G. denied any hard feelings. He later recorded a diss track to B.G. titled "Ether." Mike was also working on a solo project, and rumored to be in negotiations with The Game's Black Wall Street label.

___________________________


NOVEMBER 26th, 2003

On November 26, 2003, SOULJA SLIM was on his way to do a show when he was shot three times in the face and two times in the chest in front of his mother's home in New Orleans' 8th Ward. He was buried in the leather camo outfit he wore for the cover of his 1998 release "Give It 2 'Em Raw". There was rumored to have been a $10,000 hit placed on him from rival record label No Limit Records.

In addition to that incident, Slim allegedly got into an altercation at a club in Mississippi. The source said that a man was in the V.I.P. area of an unnamed club. Slim didn't recognize the man and apparently struck him, before being thrown out of the club. In another similar altercation in a club in Miami, Slim was allegedly involved in an altercation and took a man's jewelry. According to the source, there was also an altercation at a New Orleans gas station where a man tried to assault Slim because he was from the Magnolia Projects. Witnesses say that Slim pulled out a firearm.

22-year-old Garelle Smith from the St. Bernard Projects (7th Ward of New Orleans) is known as the potential hitman. Smith was subsequently arrested on December 30, 2003 and soon charged with Slim's murder. The charges were subsequently dropped in February 2004.

Slim's killer has yet to be found.

_______________________________

Not to mention the murders of KILO G and YELLA BOY in 1997 - both former CASH MONEY artists - and you've got the makings of a great RAVENLOFT storyline...

[MadStepDad]

Also, I'm a huge wrestling fan as well. Check out some of this material and tell me this isn't RAVENLOFT as we live it...

(RING of HELL book review)

When professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy and seven-year-old son Daniel, the wrestling community was shocked. Or at least they claimed to be. It turns out that these purveyors of deceit, these muscle-bound charlatans, were carefully hiding the truth. The lovable family-man Chris Benoit they talked about in their interviews on CNN or Fox News didn’t exist. He may have never existed. The real Chris Benoit was a stunted (both physically and emotionally) weirdo who popped enough pills and shot up enough steroids to kill an elephant, sacrificing his health to make a living in the ultimate con game.

Matthew Randazzo V has shown in dizzying detail in his new book Ring of Hell how the wrestling business Benoit loved with a child’s enthusiasm helped lead to his death. It was a business where you had to endure countless hours of physical abuse as part of your initiation just to join. Once you “made it” you were blessed with the chance to ride for hours from town to town with a roving gang of lunatics and drug addicts for little pay. Benoit made his start in the business (professional wrestling is always referred to by wrestlers as “the business” in hushed tones) in two of the most warped and twisted training grounds the sport had ever seen. The stories about what it took to break into this freak show act in Calgary’s Stampede Wrestling and to survive months in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s tortuous training dojo are truly startling. Even long-time fans of wrestling will learn new details about the life their favorite stars had to withstand to make their start in wrestling. Randazzo paints a vivid picture of the life of a Westerner in Japan, a place where a 400-pound star can punch an old lady in the face and receive nothing but thanks in return, a place where the payoffs are all in cash and from the hands of the Japanese mafioso who really control the wrestling industry there.

Randazzo follows Benoit from his beginnings in the industry through his career in America. The “family man” his WWE co-workers portrayed in their media appearances actually spent every minute he could away from home. The only thing Benoit loved was professional wrestling and he did whatever it took to make it. That means he did a lot of steroids. Like his idol the Dynamite Kid, Benoit did copious amounts of drugs to build muscle on his slight frame. Even then he was still considered too small for mainstream American wrestling in WCW. Wrestling booker Ole Anderson (the man who made the matches and decided on storylines) was able to wrap his massive hand all the way around Benoit’s wrist. “Female bones.” And like that his dream of making it big as a wrestler in the United States was seemingly crushed.

The answer to this size problem was an increasingly violent and dangerous style of wrestling. Dives from the top rope directly onto his head, concussion-causing suplexes and pratfall bumps, chops to the chest that popped blood vessels. Nothing was too crazy for Chris Benoit to do in the ring. Combined with the drugs, this physical abuse took its toll on Benoit. Once the quiet “young boy” Benoit become a sadistic ribber and locker room disciplinarian. Something in Benoit wasn’t wired right. He saw other’s pain as merely weakness. Like his idol the Dynamite Kid, Benoit was constantly proving himself, a little man in a big man’s game, but through sheer effort of will (and a willingness to humble himself and cripple his body), Benoit eventually made it to the big time.



Here the book loses its bearing for a time. It follows Benoit to the oddball ECW locker room where drug use was never hidden and an inability to entertain fans conventionally was masked by an ability to get thrown through a table or hit with a steel chair. The book does a good job of succinctly summing up the Paul Heyman led company: it was a promotion that emphasized the ECW brand name over any individual wrestler. Heyman was one of the first to recognize wrestlers as the disposable commodities they are. He pushed them to the brink of their physical well being and when they couldn’t continue at that pace, he replaced them with someone else.

ECW gave Benoit a jumping off point into the wild world of WCW. Here Benoit, who loved wrestling and the wrestling business with an unbridled and unhealthy passion, ran head long into savvy operators who realized wrestling was a job like any other. Men like Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were working to maximize their own income, like most Americans, and weren’t held back by wrestling’s unwritten rules about being a good soldier and keeping your mouth shut. Benoit was unhinged at the very thought of these men not respecting “the business.” He would give up anything for wrestling, his self respect, his physical health, his sanity, his family. The WCW period is interesting but has been well covered in books like Bryan Alvarez’s Death of WCW. Long-time wrestling fans likely won’t learn anything new in this section and the material may be a bit dense for non-wrestling fans.

The book picks up steam again as Benoit journeys to wrestling nirvana-World Wrestling Entertainment. Randazzo has good sources in the WWE and the book opens wide the dysfunctional McMahon family circus. The book shows explicitly how McMahon encouraged his wrestlers to push themselves to the limits. It isn’t a coincidence that wrestlers from the McMahon era have routinely died in their 30’s and 40’s. The WWE schedule is a non-stop grind of lonely hotel rooms, long drives, flights, and back-breaking matches. McMahon also requires a physique impossible to acquire without performance enhancing drugs. Wrestlers get hooked on a lethal cocktail of painkillers, steroids, and pharmaceuticals. Chris Benoit was no exception. Even after watching close friends like Eddy Guerrero and Brian Pillman suffer and die after attempting to push their bodies harder than physically possible, Benoit learned no lessons. Despite being wealthy enough to leave the pain and misery behind him, he pushed himself harder and harder. Life without wrestling to Benoit wasn’t life at all.

After his best friend Guerrero died of a steroid-induced heart attack, Benoit became distraught. The book falters here as Randazzo seems reluctant to discuss the murders in all of their grisly detail. This restraint may be the sign of a good person, but it isn’t the sign of a good True Crime author. Observer readers will have already read all the details in Ring of Hell and more. But this book isn’t really about the murders. It’s about a cutthroat industry that has left bodies in its wake for two decades as Vince McMahon built a billion dollar company. And it’s about a Canadian lunatic beloved by fans but never able to love himself. It’s an amazing story well-told and an honest look inside a brutal and backwards business.

OTHER POINTS TOUCHED ON IN THE BOOK...

^ Vince McMahon's 2004 mandate about the minimum size of new wrestlers being hired
^ The unparalleled con job Fidel Castro pulled on Antonio Inoki -- it's beyond anything you could imagine
^ What the Dynamite Kid did to his opponents while they were blading themselves
^ What the Dynamite Kid did right before his own wedding
^ How Stampede wrestlers might "rib" each other -- I'd call it committing felonies, personally
^ The hazing techniques of the New Japan dojo: banana rape, golden showers and drinking your own, uh, fluids, among others
^ The mob contract that drove the British Bulldogs out of the WWF
^ Horrible one-sided WWF contracts
^ The yakuza's methods of dealing with Big Van Vader
^ Ole Anderson's "scientific method" for proving Benoit was too small to make it in wrestling
^ Benoit's psychological pain about the incident that gave him the "Crippler" nickname
^ More legendary Paul Heyman con jobs
^ The never-told-before details on how Kevin Sullivan inadvertently sabotaged his own marriage with a storyline -- what's on the public record is only the tip of the iceberg
^ Sullivan's other behind-the-scenes shenanigans
^ Nancy Benoit's own oddities
^ Two incidents between Scott Hall and Benoit that were remarkable
^ Ric Flair and Arn Anderson road stories
^ The never-before-told story about the equipment that failed Owen Hart in Kansas City that tragic night -- and why it did
^ Vince Russo's aborted kid-toucher storyline
^ How Benoit would have mutilated himself on live television had WCW not released him in 2000
^ The extent to which the Radicalz screwed Shane Douglas
^ How the McMahons don't even let funerals get in the way of conducting business
^ The rib on Billy Jack Haynes that almost led to him murdering Vince McMahon
^ What led Scott Hall to think McMahon was the devil incarnate
^ Chyna and Eddy Guerrero -- why two drug abusers working together might have deepened both addictions
^ More behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Vince, Stephanie, HHH and their toadies than you can shake a stick at -- including stories of racism far beyond what got Michael Hayes recently suspended
^ Writer Dave Lagana's alleged sexual harassment of male and female wrestlers
^ How Benoit willingly kept wrestling, in reckless style no less, on a broken neck in 2001
^ Benoit's sense of torture at being on the sidelines due to injury in 2001-2002
^ How only top stars in WWE are allowed to use company trainers and physical therapists
^ Benoit's ultimate moment of triumph in 2004 -- undermined from the outset
^ Benoit's psychological collapse at the time of Eddy's passing
^ Nancy Benoit's "paper trail" -- the manner in which she chronicled through various means her husband's mental deterioration
^ How Vince's version of the Benoit tribute show was the result of him being boxed in by his own ego -- he felt that he had to proceed a certain route based on "the show goes on" with the Owen tragedy and the fact that he destroyed the "standard tribute show" in the "Vince got murdered" storyline
^ Evidence that Benoit was clutching at straws that God would somehow bring his son back to life before he hung himself from his weight bench
^ The chronology of the final tragic weekend

[MadStepDad]

I think Magic is one of the greatest games ever invented, and this is coming from a guy who plays games to an obsessive degree and has played close to a thousand different games of various kinds. But even I still couldn't take a world seriously where MtG is the one true goodness to fight the forces of evil.

Back to this again. But check out this link...

http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1753.cfm

Still going crazy on this project, it's definitely a labor of love. Love Hip Hop but that's a mere microsom of a much bigger picture. Again - my overall goal is the melding of RAVENLOFT ideals, names and general ideas to our OWN dark historic timeline. I base my game loosely on the 4 defining characteristcs of human existence (in my estimation) - DRUGS/SEX/MONEY (and the always unstable, unpredictable PURE). All present throughout history, just in different forms or under different names. I love MASQUE of the RED DEATH for tinkering with our history in this way. Here's a couple of loose character concepts I've been working on. Help me out if you can...

[MadStepDad]

I’m thinking maybe I’ll make this guy a member of the real Illuminati. Check out this brief backstory (he’s completely fictional; I made him up using real history for a background). I want him to be one of longest lasting Shadow Warrior belonging to/or beginning the "Drug" portion of this Unholy Trinity

APAEC (ancient Incan Nosferatu)

Had relations with perhaps the most beautiful woman in the land. Then slew her and split her body in two – from which the plant “Mama Coca” was born. He urged the indigenous natives to eat this plant, through which "true euphoria" could be achieved (aka "ELYSIAN FIELDS").

A little foggy here, but APAEC somehow falls in with members of the SEX cabal (I'm thinking maybe of an NPC named LILITH BORITSI - stole the first name from history's first "succubus" and added "Boritsi" for obvious reasons. Still don't know if I'll keep it) where the two potent entities collaberate together. He also falls in with some kind of historical, monetary genius who elaborates on the commercial potential (see the next NPC) of this plant. Still rocky on this point as well, as you will see shortly when I reference "the Gods of Business". Hopefully you see my point and help clarify that a little.

Carrying the leaves in a small bag, the natives were forbidden from eating it until after they had relations with a woman (APAEC added this caveat after collaberating with LILITH BORITSI). Sets up shop in Cuzco, and convinces Spanish Conquistadors of the vast commercial potential in coca leaf trafficking, instigating the creation of numerous plantations and repartimientos. In 1545 after huge silver deposits were discovered in Potosi, Bolivia – APAEC was one of the main investors to commit large sums of money to develop a new mine. He used coca leaves to drive production from his Indian slaves.

The Catholic Church was one of the first “Pures” to dispute the “wonder drug” (condemning it for “strengthening the wicked in their delusions”) and concluding it was “an object without benefit, created for the superstition and abuse by the Indians”). When the second council of Lima was convened in 1569, it was said “coca is a plant that the devil invented for the total destruction of the natives”. An apt description of the unholy APAEC (google his name for the Incan translation).

APAEC’s relationship with the business Gods made him aware of the constant cycle of reinvention inherent in marketing and sales. So in 1855 APAEC assisted German chemist FREIDRICH GAEDCKE in isolating the cocaine alkaloid (called “erythroxyline”) and helped him pen a description in the journal “Archiv der Pharmazie”. In 1856 he glamoured FRIEDRICH WOHLER (Ordinary Professor of Chemistry at Göttingen University) into asking Dr. CARL SCHERZER (a scientist aboard the NOVARA, an Austrian frigate sent by Emperor Franz Joseph to circle the globe) to bring him large amounts of the coca leaves from South America. In 1859, the ship finished its travels and WOHLER received a trunk full of coca. WOHLER than passed the leaves right on back to APAEC – now masquerading as a young PH.D student at the University of Gottingen (Germany) named ALBERT NIEMANN. Powdered cocaine is born.

Under the name of “Niemann”, APAEC described every step he took to isolate cocaine in his dissertation titled “Über eine neue organische Base in den Cocablättern (On a New Organic Base in the Coca Leaves)” – published in 1860. It earned “Niemann” his Ph.D and now rests in the British Library. His thesis was reprinted in a number of journals, and the US got to see it in 1861 (when AMERICAN JOURNAL of PHARMACY printed an abridged translation). Niemann "died" mysteriously shortly there after at the age of 26.

Went on to form the first cartel out of Amsterdam called the “Cocaine Manufacturers Syndicate” in 1910 (Including companies like Merck, Sandoz and Hoffman-LaRoche). Widely touted the benefits of coca - not as a slave retaining super power - but as a medicinal wonder drug. In the USA, cocaine was sold over-the-counter until 1914. It was widely used in tonics, toothache cures, patent medicines, and chocolate cocaine tablets. Prospective buyers were advised (in the words of pharmaceutical firm Parke-Davis – and penned by APAEC himself) that cocaine "could make the coward brave, the silent eloquent, and render the sufferer insensitive to pain".

APAEC went on to spread the drugs appeal to SIGMUND FREUD, and the guy who wrote the SHERLOCK HOLMES books (amongst others) who helped spurn its popularity in America. Invented Coca-Cola in 1885 and first sold to consumers in 1886 (as a patent medicine). It was promoted as a temperance drink offering the virtues of coca without the vices of alcohol. The new beverage was invigorating and popular.

APAEC's newest marketing ploy worked, scientists and doctors swore it was a wonder drug and touting its medicinal properties... but the product naturally waned in popularity once the truth of its horrid side effects surfaced. In 1914 the Pennsylvania State Pharmacy Board wrote “most of the attacks upon the white women of the South is the direct result of a cocaine-crazed Negro brain”. By the 1920’s it was almost nonexistent. So APAEC went back to the drawing board once again.

APAEC reinvents himself again, and attaches the drug to a rebel upstart youth culture in the 70’s, helping to make it hip and fashionable. But still unattainable to the lower classes – the ones the Shadow world covets the most. Helped facilitate a meeting between MANUEL NORIEGA and OLIVER NORTH in the 1980's, giving birth to a booming relationship. To solve the inner city dillema, APAEC teaches Rick Ross how to cook the powder into rock form in 1985. Business booms once again, and shows no sign of decline. APAEC works closely with other immortal figures who helped fund and distribute all the worlds known narcotics. APAEC is
still out there somewhere…

[MadStepDad]

The "business gods" I referenced above? The historical monetary genius that APAEC collaberates with (and maybe helps found the original Illuminati)? I want that to be Firan Zal'honan

AZALIN REX (Lich and worlds first "Money Mage")

Created currency in the world, destroying the old barter system and implementing the use of coinage. The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. It was written in the Sumerian language ca. 2100-2050 BC. Although the preface directly credits the laws to king Ur-Nammu of Ur (2112-2095 BC), some historians think they should rather be ascribed to his son Shulgi. Those are the original names of Azalin and his righteous, benevolent son. Check out this canon Azalin history, but envision ancient Babylon as the location.

Firan Zal'honan was born in the earldom of Knurl, a city-state in eastern Babylonia. As the second of three sons of Lord Turalitan Zal'honan, his political future was decidedly dim from his birth, and he spent much of his childhood overlooked by his parents. From an early age, Firan demonstrated a keen intelligence, marked with a distaste for his fellow men and their deviation from discipline and order—a revulsion that manifested itself in self-loathing several times for his own perceived weaknesses. Firan respected his father's strict rulership, as well as the prior claim to succession exercised by his older brother Ranald, but disliked his father's superstitions and his bans against magic. Perhaps in a display of rebellion, Firan entered the underworld of Knurl's mages, studying under the wizard Quantarius.

As a youth, Firan seems to desire control over others and of himself above all else, although he also is given to angry outbursts and quick decisions which he later comes to regret. Even into his later lichhood and rulership status, these attributes recur, painting the portrait of a ruler demanding fealty and promising order, but secretly and constantly frustrated by the failings of his fellow men and of himself.

The only family member he loved without reservation was his younger brother, Irik. Where Firan was quick to anger and slow to forgive, Irik was the opposite. Firan pursued his studies and thirsted after knowledge, but occasionally displayed an inability or ignorance of the potential repercussions. The death of Irik would prove a telling example: At 15, Firan summoned a demon that broke loose from his power and killed Irik. Firan's actions caused his father to expel Quantarius from the city, and Firan chose to follow him into exile, continuing his studies.

In time, he would learn magics that few other mages could master (and which are actually largely beyond reach of normal D&D characters): he could permanently heal himself by stealing others' life forces, he could read minds and steal magical information—completely learning new spells with a thought, he could extend his own life by draining the vitality of enemies.

Ranald Zal'honan died as a result of a dissipate and gluttonous lifestyle, and Firan returned to his home, assuming the seat of power and ruling as "Azal'Lan," or wizard-king. His credits include reversing the decline that Knurl suffered under Ranald's reign, and returning it to economic and military significance. Also, under his reign, magic once again became an important part of Knurl's daily life.

Firan swore allegiance to the distant Malachite Throne of the Great Kingdom, but conducted many unsanctioned military campaigns against the surrounding tribes, adding handsomely to Knurl's holdings. His reign was marked by prosperity and growth, but also by violence and dissent from the conquered tribes. Firan was 60 when he married, as his life-extending spells started to fail and he needed an heir. His loveless marriage took 18 years to produce a son, with some saying his wife even sought magical wards against bearing his child. Olessa died in childbirth, cursing him. Firan named his son Irik, after his brother—but the name would carry greater resonance.

His son inherited the kindness and generosity of Firan's brother, and would not follow his father's harsh footsteps, a trait Firan saw as weakness. When Irik was caught freeing political prisoners, Firan was faced with a choice: to pardon his son, or to kill him. In accordance with his own laws and as a symbol of his strict devotion to them, Firan not only permitted the execution but wielded the headsman's blade himself.

Although this act impressed upon his citizens the strictness of his rule, Firan himself was plagued with doubts over his own actions. He became obsessed alternately with finding a means to live forever, or finding a means to bring his son back from the dead to try to train him anew. As he lamented his failure as a father, a dark and nameless force presented him with the secret of lichdom.

Firan shed his mortality and changed his official title to Azal'Lan, ruling for 60 more years. During this time, Knurl became a major power in Babylonia, even daring to renounce fealty to the Malachite Throne. Azal'Lan's military and trade power began to infringe on the territories of surrounding kingdoms, who sought ways to eliminate Azal'Lan. Assassins and armies alike seemed unable to topple him, but the course of his downfall would come from the minor tribes he had defeated early in his reign.

Azal'Lan was finally lured out of his defenses by the promise of a new magical spell that could allow a mage to restore true life to a corpse. Blinded by his hopes for restoring his son, Azal'Lan went forth with a small retinue of guards, and was then ambushed by a group of mercenaries. Fleeing their pursuit, he entered a dense fog to lose them. He was never to see Knurl again.

SOMETHING like that. He becomes a lich and goes on to control and manipulate history from behind the scenes along with his Illuminati brethren (communism perhaps?) Any good? Any ideas?