The Campaign Builder's Guild

I have made a couple of changes to the setting. #1 is that the mists are no longer there, operating on Batman logic of "Why the hell does anyone in their right mind keep living in Gotham? Eh, economy.... or something..." #2 is that the city is no longer flavored along "Grimdark/Eldritch Horror's 1940's New York", instead I have new ideas.

I began reading Frank Reade Dime novels, and I adore his vision of the future. I began doing more research on early retrofuturism, and I found these little gems.
[spoiler][/spoiler] [spoiler]https://untappedcities-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/future-ny-II.jpg[/spoiler] I immediately conjured images of a steampunk super city that reallized the early age of discoveries ideals.... And then immediately thought of Cainsworth, and then imagined that city crumbling under the weight of a magical apocalypse that would change it's fate forever.
Problem is, I'm just not into New York as a place for inspiration, and I coudn't keep going. But I have always been fascinated by New Orleans, and I love studying about it's history, way more so than New York. I had this image in my head of an Alternate History New Orleans that took more Art Nouveau influences from Paris, and then had become the center for a technological boom and revolution.

So Imagine this....
[spoiler][/spoiler]
Mixed with a little of this...
[spoiler][/spoiler]
Then a bunch of dumb occultists came along, unleashed mystical forces and horrors that they should have left well enough alone, and it turned into something like this...
[spoiler][/spoiler]
And then a few decades later, the Roaring Twenties happen, and the Campaign begins!

This was an early Map I made for the setting, but it felt uninspired...
[spoiler]https://www.cartographersguild.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=104702&d=1519172951[/url[/spoiler]

Then I began thinking about how interesting it would be if the city was laid out on a spiral, rather than a grid or a bunch of streets. Then I thought about Mad Geniuses like Nicola Tesla, the guy from Pi (Daren Arronofsky), and more Importantly Jack Parsons the scientist who figured out the correct rocket fuel for NASA, and was an Occultist who believed he was the Antichrist. So I wrote this out:
[ic]"The city of Cainsworth is laid out in a spiral almost like an invertebrates shell. Beginning in the center of the city. No one knows quite why the city is arranged in such a bizarre manner, but many theories abound. Many think that the reason why the city was laid out this way was to act as some sort of giant conjurers circle for a cabal of sorcerers, and that is why there is so much mystical activity within Cainsworth. Other's believe that the cities planner, Otto Varisfield, was a maniacal mathematical mad-man obsessed with the Golden Ratio, and Spirals. While no one can confirm this, many people speculate that Varisfield was the leader of a Numerology cult that believed in unlocking the secrets of the greater mysteries through advanced mathematics or something like that. No proof of the Eternal Spiral cult exists, but many people can point to the eccentricities of Varisfields writing, and how there was some sort of Occult activity within the inner circle of Early Cainsworth's upper elite."
[/ic]
Then I drew this out.
[spoiler][url=https://www.cartographersguild.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=109056&d=1533019829]https://www.cartographersguild.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=109056&d=1533019829[/spoiler]

I'm a huge fan of Steerpikes Hex campaign setting, such as his amazing use of bizarre imagery, and unique culture of eldritch weirdness. But I especially love the map that he's been working, so with I asked for his blessing:
[spoiler]

Quote from: LoA
Would you have a problem if I started making a map for Cainsworth in a similar style to this?

Quote from: Steerpike
Not at all! You should!

Some tips that worked for me when drawing the big map of the whole city:

- Get pens that work for you (this doens't mean expensive).
- Be patient and be OK with throwing out mistakes.
- Don't sketch, it'll take forever. Just get good at drawing in pen.
- Work on it in small amounts regularly.
- Assemble it as you go so you can manage space.
- Plan the city out in advance so you know what you need to draw.

[/spoiler]

So I'm planning out all of the districts, and the sewers so that I can start drawing out Interesting Landmarks, buildings, places of interest, etc, etc.

And that's where I'm at right now.

Quote from: HoersRegarding the skills/resolution mechanic, it's not like the worlds found in Dark Souls couldn't use a wide array of skills, but the tone/message of the games has always been that you'll begin, progress, and end your quest through defeating enemies through combat (with choices with regards to NPC conversations, some item/environment uses, and sequence of completing areas influencing how you might end it). I think a system playing a Dark Souls world would almost necessitate being very combat-focused for this reason.

That's fair, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't still be a simple out of combat task resolution system on top of that. D&D is also pretty combat-focused, but it always has rules for other tasks as well, because players will certainly try to apply their abilities out of combat. Even 4th edition, which was really focused around combat and didn't have a whole lot else, still had a basic skill system for out of combat stuff.

Quote from: HoersI don't think modding a game and jumping in would work - to get anywhere close I think you'd have to have everyone buy a copy of Dark Souls 3 (assuming they could run it) and make up a pile of houserules and strategies to make anything look remotely reasonable. You'd spend a lot of time just traveling through game areas to get to what you'd want to use to do this, countering the intended "fast" combat resolution.

I meant modding it more extensively, so you'd have a custom map that was exactly where the fight was supposed to be, or whatever. It'd be quite a bit of work for the GM if it was even possible, so it isn't going to be practical for most games.

Quote from: HoersThis is another gimmick to provide lore to a gameplay mechanic

I agree with this part of it. I do have to say, I think it might be that your great familiarity and enthusiasm for the Souls games mean that you may be immersed enough in the game's lore to perhaps miss just how video gamey this stuff looks to someone who isn't so acquainted with them. That's not to say these lore elements are all bad or the underlying mechanics are all inapplicable to tabletop gaming-- as you have noted, the idea of "summons" and "invasions" seems like it would work really well in a casual game where players can easily drop in and drop out.

Quote from: HoersThe other real looming problem is that if you're interested in the visceral, adrenaline-fueled combat of the game instead of just the tone, it'll be hard to do that regardless of how the system is built if there isn't some fancy graphical interface, so maybe that's the more important factor.

This is also true, but on the other hand I feel like the right sort of system can capture some of the feeling of the combat (if not quite so adrenaline-fueled) if it has mechanics that lead to similar sorts of snap decisions that have to be made in the game.

There's a card game called Yomi that is based on fighting games like Street Fighter. The basic gameplay is rock-paper-scissors, where the two combatants each play a card face down and then flip it over at the same time, and the loser of the exchange takes damage. There are also special moves and combos to follow up a successful attack, which you can play. Each character has their own deck with moves geared towards that character's own feel. It really does a good job of capturing what it feels like to play a fighting game, even though it's not actually anything like playing one. The visuals and the need for fast reflexes have been taken out, but the idea of anticipating the opponent's tactics based on the situation and using the appropriate counter is very much relevant. So maybe something in this mold could work?

Quote from: sparkletwist

Quote from: HoersThe skills are likely absent because the Souls games don't have them either - all resolutions are either through combat (where some boss and non-boss fights are optional), or through decisions that can have immediate- or long-term consequences. Given that the protagonist in the games only ever has their dialogue implied by these decisions and nothing else, such a limited resolution mechanic might not be enough, but it does have the "advantage" of being able to allow you to freely roleplay without having to worry about any restrictions (other than combat and environmental obstacles).

I get that, but it seems like the tabletop game is trying to emulate the video game too closely. Open-ended gameplay where you can use lots of different skills to accomplish tasks is pretty difficult to put into a video game in a satisfying way, but with a DM to adjudicate things instead of having to only rely on predetermined outcomes, it becomes possible, and this added depth and increased capabilities can make up for some of the excitement that the video game has that a tabletop version will probably lack.

I'm glad you put scare quotes around that supposed "advantage" because it isn't really an advantage at all. This is where I am not a fan of OSR at all, and I am much more in favor of Fate-style light and abstracted rules rather than just not having rules. I mean, I'll say it again, because it's sort of important-- the game does not have any sort of a generic task resolution system at all! You can extrapolate a really terrible one from the way you dodge traps, but nobody actually bothered to even do that.

Quote from: HoersI wonder if this sort of system (possibly with changes) would work if there were a chat bot built to support all sorts of calculations for the players. This could be as simple as tracking stamina, and as complex as taking character "sheet" inputs and keeping a database of the derived stats, which is then queried whenever a combat action is taken. It seems like any system that is going to properly simulate the Souls feel is going to feature some way to make combat really fast - at least in comparison to more typical table-tops (I'd imagine a proper table-top Dark Souls game would feature combats lasting on the order of 2-5 minutes, as opposed to the 15+ that D&D battles can often occupy).

I'm somewhat ambivalent about the merits of chat bot automation. I totally agree with you that fast combat is necessary, and slow dragging D&D-style combats would ruin the game. However, I also know that I tried to automate a lot of stuff related to the Asura system in sparkbot and all it really ever ended up doing was confusing people, and we barely ever used most of it. Perhaps I could have designed a clearer user interface, so I'm not totally turned off on the idea, but I'm also not sure how much it would help.

A more off the wall idea, I think, if we're talking computer enhancement, would be to simply jump into a game of Dark Souls set up to match the circumstances and play the combat in the game. Of course, this would at best require a lot of preparation on the part of the GM and to be honest might not even be possible at all, depending on the extent that Dark Souls can be modded. So that probably isn't going to happen.

Quote from: HoersI had actually thought you'd like the respawn mechanic - I think it's a convenient middle-ground between our stances on character death.

I don't like it because it seems like it's focused on forcing you to replay certain parts of the game, especially replaying combat. This is tolerable in a video game but I think it's terrible in a tabletop game.

Quote from: HoersOne of the major components of the game series however is the online summoning co-op/invading PvP aspect, and while there's no reason you can't play without it (speed-runners do it all of the time, as do a lot of first-time players), I feel like it wouldn't have the same feel if the risk of the random invader encounters wasn't there (especially where there's usually an area or two in each game that is specifically designed to be protected by these invading players and/or NPCs).

Do you think the invading aspect is something that is actually important to the game's story, or is it mostly added to allow for a multiplayer aspect, which the tabletop game will already have by necessity? That is, is it something essential to the feeling of the world?

Regarding the skills/resolution mechanic, it's not like the worlds found in Dark Souls couldn't use a wide array of skills, but the tone/message of the games has always been that you'll begin, progress, and end your quest through defeating enemies through combat (with choices with regards to NPC conversations, some item/environment uses, and sequence of completing areas influencing how you might end it). I think a system playing a Dark Souls world would almost necessitate being very combat-focused for this reason. Additionally, a recurring theme in the games is that the character(s) have come to the world long after its "golden age", where most of the inhabitants have gone Hollow (most other settings' equivalent of "undead", which has a different meaning in the Souls universe), and the other non-Hollow people you meet are invaders, summons/summoners (NPC or human), or a dozen or so merchants and helpful and/or mischevious NPCs you will meet throughout. This looks like more of a way to encourage the playstyle of the video games through having many hostile enemies to deal with, but it'd feel weird running a game in a Souls universe inside its respective "golden age".

I don't think modding a game and jumping in would work - to get anywhere close I think you'd have to have everyone buy a copy of Dark Souls 3 (assuming they could run it) and make up a pile of houserules and strategies to make anything look remotely reasonable. You'd spend a lot of time just traveling through game areas to get to what you'd want to use to do this, countering the intended "fast" combat resolution.

You're right in that the respawn makes you replay some parts of the game, but bosses and most mini-bosses typically don't come back, and the run-through mechanic could easily be adapted into a more heroic "you smash through those guys on the way" thing. I'd certainly do that were I running it.

I think the invading aspect is really key. One theme recurring in the games is that the "flow of time is convoluted" as one of the mascots (Solaire) states in the first game when you meet him. This is another gimmick to provide lore to a gameplay mechanic, but it ends up working really well for it. Throughout the games, some invaders actually play out stories that are relevant to what you're doing and co-op summons have similar potential outcome changes if you bring them in to help defeat the area boss(es). Gaining rank in the various covenants - which ultimately doesn't have a major effect on your story on its own except for what spells, items, etc. you get to help (with the exception of one "hidden" covenant in the second game) - usually requires collecting consumables that can be acquired by helping others or by invading and defeating them.

All of these things are definitely essential to the feel of the world, but a lot of the aspects don't really fit well with a traditional party-based RPG. The summons in particular can be summoned at random places in multiplayer-enabled areas (players carry a soapstone that they can write their summon "sign" onto the ground with, which other players can touch to call them), and disappear after beating the boss (unless they die, in which case they just go back to their world without losing anything). Similarly invaders go into an area and use a "red eye orb" to try and find another player actively trying to complete the area to invade them and try to kill them for a reward (based on the covenant the invader belongs to), which forces the player to respawn and drop their collected rewards (the XP/gold is one currency in the games; it can be recovered if they get back to the place where they died and collect it without dying again first) but not their items; if the invader dies there, they similarly return with no effect. This sounds disadvantageous to the host player, but by being "embered/human" (which enables the multiplayer stuff), they are able to both summon and be invaded, and additionally get a big health boost compared to the summons/invaders. A less important note is that invaders with rare exceptions are always lower level than those they invade.

Anyway, that's a ramble. I wonder if the general format of the "multiplayer" might be conductive to a campaign of sorts with lots of players who drop in and out of the game, but it'd be hard to make it work for a normal "story" in a Souls universe. The other real looming problem is that if you're interested in the visceral, adrenaline-fueled combat of the game instead of just the tone, it'll be hard to do that regardless of how the system is built if there isn't some fancy graphical interface, so maybe that's the more important factor. If you're interested in seeing what the flow of combat and invasions is like, here's a relatively short video from the 3rd game of what combat is like featuring the various NPC invaders throughout the game (invaders are colored red or purple): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41VMcbJB6Lk

I'm going to try and come up with a full list of what things would be present in some form to make it feel like a Souls game. For combat, it might not even be that you have this fast-paced set of actions so much as you have a stamina pool that you have to manage every round to make actions (attacking, running, dodging, blocking, casting spells, parrying).

Quote from: HoersThe skills are likely absent because the Souls games don't have them either - all resolutions are either through combat (where some boss and non-boss fights are optional), or through decisions that can have immediate- or long-term consequences. Given that the protagonist in the games only ever has their dialogue implied by these decisions and nothing else, such a limited resolution mechanic might not be enough, but it does have the "advantage" of being able to allow you to freely roleplay without having to worry about any restrictions (other than combat and environmental obstacles).

I get that, but it seems like the tabletop game is trying to emulate the video game too closely. Open-ended gameplay where you can use lots of different skills to accomplish tasks is pretty difficult to put into a video game in a satisfying way, but with a DM to adjudicate things instead of having to only rely on predetermined outcomes, it becomes possible, and this added depth and increased capabilities can make up for some of the excitement that the video game has that a tabletop version will probably lack.

I'm glad you put scare quotes around that supposed "advantage" because it isn't really an advantage at all. This is where I am not a fan of OSR at all, and I am much more in favor of Fate-style light and abstracted rules rather than just not having rules. I mean, I'll say it again, because it's sort of important-- the game does not have any sort of a generic task resolution system at all! You can extrapolate a really terrible one from the way you dodge traps, but nobody actually bothered to even do that.

Quote from: HoersI wonder if this sort of system (possibly with changes) would work if there were a chat bot built to support all sorts of calculations for the players. This could be as simple as tracking stamina, and as complex as taking character "sheet" inputs and keeping a database of the derived stats, which is then queried whenever a combat action is taken. It seems like any system that is going to properly simulate the Souls feel is going to feature some way to make combat really fast - at least in comparison to more typical table-tops (I'd imagine a proper table-top Dark Souls game would feature combats lasting on the order of 2-5 minutes, as opposed to the 15+ that D&D battles can often occupy).

I'm somewhat ambivalent about the merits of chat bot automation. I totally agree with you that fast combat is necessary, and slow dragging D&D-style combats would ruin the game. However, I also know that I tried to automate a lot of stuff related to the Asura system in sparkbot and all it really ever ended up doing was confusing people, and we barely ever used most of it. Perhaps I could have designed a clearer user interface, so I'm not totally turned off on the idea, but I'm also not sure how much it would help.

A more off the wall idea, I think, if we're talking computer enhancement, would be to simply jump into a game of Dark Souls set up to match the circumstances and play the combat in the game. Of course, this would at best require a lot of preparation on the part of the GM and to be honest might not even be possible at all, depending on the extent that Dark Souls can be modded. So that probably isn't going to happen.

Quote from: HoersI had actually thought you'd like the respawn mechanic - I think it's a convenient middle-ground between our stances on character death.

I don't like it because it seems like it's focused on forcing you to replay certain parts of the game, especially replaying combat. This is tolerable in a video game but I think it's terrible in a tabletop game.

Quote from: HoersOne of the major components of the game series however is the online summoning co-op/invading PvP aspect, and while there's no reason you can't play without it (speed-runners do it all of the time, as do a lot of first-time players), I feel like it wouldn't have the same feel if the risk of the random invader encounters wasn't there (especially where there's usually an area or two in each game that is specifically designed to be protected by these invading players and/or NPCs).

Do you think the invading aspect is something that is actually important to the game's story, or is it mostly added to allow for a multiplayer aspect, which the tabletop game will already have by necessity? That is, is it something essential to the feeling of the world?

Quote from: sparkletwist
As I mentioned already, this system seems like a rather OSR-feeling system with a lot of weird stuff bolted on that I don't know enough about Dark Souls to know if it helps duplicate the feel of the game or is just weird. You are more experienced with these games than me, so if you feel like it captures the Dark Souls experience in tabletop form, I'll take your word for that. As a tabletop system itself, though, I'm not hugely into this.

Like OD&D, you randomly generate your stats by just rolling in order and you get what you get. And also like OD&D this isn't as big of a problem as it might seem because they don't actually do a whole lot. Your stat modifiers are based on dividing your stat by ten so everyone is going to get pushed into the same range, and the only real advantage you'll have is if you happen to get a +2 instead of a +1 in some stats... which doesn't matter that much, except with Endurance, where that means you get an extra Stamina and that basically means you get an extra action in combat so that's actually a pretty big deal.

As far as I can tell, the game has another similarity to OD&D in that it just kind of lacks a general task resolution system. There aren't skills as such; all I could find was some wonky roll-under mechanic using your Dexterity mod to dodge traps that you'll almost always fail.

Combat seems to be the big way that you use the crunch of this system, which I think is fitting for the feel of Dark Souls. A tabletop game is always going to be slower to resolve stuff than a video game, though, so I wonder if the added narrative flexibility really makes up for that in a satisfying way. The abstracting of range into "rings" is pretty cool and I like that, but otherwise the way the combat system works based on spending dice from a dice pool doesn't really feel like anything you'd be doing in Dark Souls and requires enough strategy on the level of this weird dice meta-game you're playing that it might be anti-immersive.

Then again when you're playing Dark Souls you're probably always going to have the sense you're playing a video game so maybe "immersion" isn't as important if that's the real feel you're trying to create. I mean, there's a whole respawning mechanic, which feels more like Paranoia and is kind of silly in a tabletop game. That whole "Host" mechanic is based on an explicit contrivance of the video game so adding it as an actual tabletop game mechanic is really goofy-- good thing it's an optional rule, I guess.

Personally, I'd be open to playing a "Dark Souls inspired game" in the sense of a dark fantasy game with difficult combat, but maybe not with these rules.

Fair points. The way the stats scale is an odd decision given the way that they scale in the real game (a stat generally has its obvious direct benefit, plus a secondary boost to certain defenses), but I can understand the intent to simplify them when considering just how many distinct secondary stats there are in the video games. They also generally had a "soft" cap after which you could continue to invest points, but got significantly reduced benefit up to the hard cap (generally you'd only do this if you really wanted to squeeze every bit of damage or effect out of a weapon or spell).

The skills are likely absent because the Souls games don't have them either - all resolutions are either through combat (where some boss and non-boss fights are optional), or through decisions that can have immediate- or long-term consequences. Given that the protagonist in the games only ever has their dialogue implied by these decisions and nothing else, such a limited resolution mechanic might not be enough, but it does have the "advantage" of being able to allow you to freely roleplay without having to worry about any restrictions (other than combat and environmental obstacles).

I wonder if this sort of system (possibly with changes) would work if there were a chat bot built to support all sorts of calculations for the players. This could be as simple as tracking stamina, and as complex as taking character "sheet" inputs and keeping a database of the derived stats, which is then queried whenever a combat action is taken. It seems like any system that is going to properly simulate the Souls feel is going to feature some way to make combat really fast - at least in comparison to more typical table-tops (I'd imagine a proper table-top Dark Souls game would feature combats lasting on the order of 2-5 minutes, as opposed to the 15+ that D&D battles can often occupy).

I had actually thought you'd like the respawn mechanic - I think it's a convenient middle-ground between our stances on character death. Although you can technically respawn forever in the video games (people often say that the game equivalent of "going Hollow" is getting frustrated and/or being done with the game and turning it off), it's probably actually better that there's a limited lives system. The process of going Hollow and becoming a hostile fixture (and with NPCs, often mini-bosses) is a recurring theme of the video games.

I agree the host stuff is kind of weird. One of the major components of the game series however is the online summoning co-op/invading PvP aspect, and while there's no reason you can't play without it (speed-runners do it all of the time, as do a lot of first-time players), I feel like it wouldn't have the same feel if the risk of the random invader encounters wasn't there (especially where there's usually an area or two in each game that is specifically designed to be protected by these invading players and/or NPCs). I wonder if the most reasonable way to include something like this is to create a table of random encounter chances for certain areas (some areas would not be invasion-enabled) - where the invader or invaders is a pre-generated character - which has a % chance multiplier for each additional person in the group (similar to how it queues up invasion priority in the games).

As I mentioned already, this system seems like a rather OSR-feeling system with a lot of weird stuff bolted on that I don't know enough about Dark Souls to know if it helps duplicate the feel of the game or is just weird. You are more experienced with these games than me, so if you feel like it captures the Dark Souls experience in tabletop form, I'll take your word for that. As a tabletop system itself, though, I'm not hugely into this.

Like OD&D, you randomly generate your stats by just rolling in order and you get what you get. And also like OD&D this isn't as big of a problem as it might seem because they don't actually do a whole lot. Your stat modifiers are based on dividing your stat by ten so everyone is going to get pushed into the same range, and the only real advantage you'll have is if you happen to get a +2 instead of a +1 in some stats... which doesn't matter that much, except with Endurance, where that means you get an extra Stamina and that basically means you get an extra action in combat so that's actually a pretty big deal.

As far as I can tell, the game has another similarity to OD&D in that it just kind of lacks a general task resolution system. There aren't skills as such; all I could find was some wonky roll-under mechanic using your Dexterity mod to dodge traps that you'll almost always fail.

Combat seems to be the big way that you use the crunch of this system, which I think is fitting for the feel of Dark Souls. A tabletop game is always going to be slower to resolve stuff than a video game, though, so I wonder if the added narrative flexibility really makes up for that in a satisfying way. The abstracting of range into "rings" is pretty cool and I like that, but otherwise the way the combat system works based on spending dice from a dice pool doesn't really feel like anything you'd be doing in Dark Souls and requires enough strategy on the level of this weird dice meta-game you're playing that it might be anti-immersive.

Then again when you're playing Dark Souls you're probably always going to have the sense you're playing a video game so maybe "immersion" isn't as important if that's the real feel you're trying to create. I mean, there's a whole respawning mechanic, which feels more like Paranoia and is kind of silly in a tabletop game. That whole "Host" mechanic is based on an explicit contrivance of the video game so adding it as an actual tabletop game mechanic is really goofy-- good thing it's an optional rule, I guess.

Personally, I'd be open to playing a "Dark Souls inspired game" in the sense of a dark fantasy game with difficult combat, but maybe not with these rules.

I miss this stuff when I'm not working on it, to be honest.  Good to poke in around.  (I did confirm I was #3, after Ishmayl and ElDo.)  I'll try to be less of a stranger than I have been the past... decade...

Dude keep it up, I love all of this.  I was actually thinking about how cool of an idea Genial Jack is the other day, and how I might use him in a future game.

Quote from: Kalos Mer
Well blow me down, I can't believe this place still exists!  I was just searching for some old Tasothilos-related material on a google search and up popped a link to the CBG.  I'm absolutely delighted.

I was I believe member #3 or #4 back in 2006 but vanished in late 2007.  Undergrad was a rough time for me, and I started and abandoned far for projects than I care to remember.  (And ugh looking back at some of my posts from that era... I was more than a bit of a know-it-all prat.)

In the past 10 years, I've more or less given up gaming - I was for much of my 20s a serial starter of games that fizzled after two sessions, and finally figured out it was because although system design was interesting to me, and setting design likewise, "playing" was as much a chore as a pleasure.  But I still casually pick away at Tasothilos, the setting which you can find way-way-way back on the board here, and I've lately been toying with the idea of a novel.

In the personal sphere, I'm getting married in a month, and four years deep in a doctoral program in late antique Christianity  (prospectus is being written.)  Not exactly where I saw myself being when last I posted here in (eek!) 2007, but it's been good.

kaloooooooooooos
I've missed you, brother

Quotemade pregnant by an inconceivably ancient spectre.

Anyone have any idea how that happened? :o