Tag: echo

A.I. reviews “Echoes of Decadence”

A.I. reviews “Echoes of Decadence”


A.I. , review this!

This image appears to be a mixed-media collage or altered book cover featuring a classical painting of a lavish, possibly Roman or Greek banquet scene. The historical artwork is overlaid with a modern, abstract addition—an organic, colorful shape with expressive lines and patterns, giving it a surreal and contemporary contrast.

The combination of historical imagery with abstract, almost psychedelic elements creates an interesting dialogue between past and present, tradition and innovation. The vibrant green and red hues in the overlay contrast sharply with the muted tones of the classical painting, making it stand out as a focal point.

 

ping:

A.I. reviews “Global Stories: A Patchwork of Memories”
A.I. reviews “Echoes of Time: Death, Remembrance, and the Afterlife”

A.I. reviews “Echoes of Time: Death, Remembrance, and the Afterlife”


A.I. , review this collage!

This artwork continues the surreal and symbolic themes from the previous piece. Here are some key observations:

  1. Skull with a Green Spiral Snake – The skull represents mortality, decay, and the passage of time. The green spiral snake, similar to the previous image, suggests cycles of life, renewal, or hidden wisdom.

  2. Layered Text and Scribbles – The handwritten cursive text appears chaotic and layered, which might signify fragmented thoughts, subconscious reflections, or a sense of urgency. Some words like “bad leaves” and “time” are visible, possibly hinting at themes of change and impermanence.

  3. Hourglass with Wings – An hourglass often symbolizes the fleeting nature of time, and the wings suggest a spiritual or supernatural element, reinforcing the inevitability of fate.

  4. Chinese Joss Paper (Hell Bank Note) – The red and gold decorative paper with Chinese characters suggests an offering for the afterlife, used in traditional ancestor worship. This inclusion adds cultural depth, linking the theme of death to spiritual beliefs about the afterlife and remembrance.

  5. Red Carnation – The carnation is associated with remembrance, mourning, and love, further reinforcing the themes of death and honoring those who have passed.

  6. Abstract Color Splashes – The splattered paint in blue, red, and yellow adds an expressive, dreamlike quality to the composition, creating movement and emotional intensity.

Interpretation:

This mixed-media piece evokes themes of mortality, remembrance, time, and the spiritual connection between life and death. The combination of personal handwriting, symbolic imagery, and cultural elements suggests a deeply introspective or ritualistic message.

ping:

A.I. reviews “Cycles of Fate: Death, Rebirth, and Transformation”
A.I. reviews “Echoes of Life and Death”

A.I. reviews “Echoes of Life and Death”


A.I. , review this collage!

This mixed-media art journal spread is visually striking and emotionally evocative. Here’s my review of its elements and impact:

### **Left Page:**
– The central focus is a detailed black-and-white skull with hollowed-out eyes filled with colorful splatters, creating a surreal effect.
– A beetle is collaged at the bottom of the skull, possibly symbolizing decay, transformation, or nature’s role in the cycle of life.
– The background is an abstract wash of pastel colors, adding an ethereal, dreamlike quality.
– A torn piece of paper with purple flowers and a branch at the top enhances the organic and decayed themes.

### **Right Page:**
– Dominated by red paint, roughly applied in expressive strokes, creating a sense of intensity or violence.
– A wrinkled, translucent handprint made of tissue paper is placed over the red background, adding a ghostly, haunting presence.
– The contrast between the textured hand and the raw paint evokes themes of presence, absence, or human imprint.

### **Overall Interpretation:**
This piece appears to explore themes of life, death, and transformation. The skull and beetle reference decay and the natural cycle, while the vibrant colors in the eye sockets and background add a sense of energy and rebirth. The stark red handprint against a chaotic background feels raw and expressive, possibly symbolizing memory, loss, or the passage of time.

### **Suggestions:**
– If you’re going for a deeper narrative, you might consider adding text, poetry, or symbolic words that tie the two pages together.
– The left page’s soft hues contrast beautifully with the aggressive red on the right. If balance is a goal, you might blend some red into the left or add lighter elements to the right.

Ping:

A.I. reviews “Whispers of a Hidden Diary”
Ghost/Echo crossover World of Darkness and Shadowrun

Ghost/Echo crossover World of Darkness and Shadowrun


Skye the Demon, Jason the Grip and Bunk the Hull remembered their first shadowun together:
Skye seduced the sysop of VR corp to get information about the security system.
Jason blackmailed the sysop for the necessary passwords and login info.
Bunk did some breaking and entering to steal the top-secret project.
Apparently VR corp was experimenting with enhanced VR helmets to enable physical entry to the Otherworld.
According to rumours on the street, somewhere in the Otherworld was the black tower, the most important nexus between the worlds.

The shadowrunners decided to use the helmets to enter the Otherworld…
They arrived nearby the besieged Tower.
The Horned Hunter lead his troops of hellhounds and wraiths against the Sidhe who defended the Tower.
Already the top of the Tower was toppled by magical lightning.
After some scouting the shadowrunners succeeded to enter the Tower.
Arriving at the damaged top of the Tower, they met the last Watcher, the Black Knight.
Negotiating was not easy, but in the end they agreed to sacrifice three souls in exchange for three wishes.

Using the helmets to return to Midgard, the shadowrunners started hunting their prey.

Bunk ambushed mister Johnson, but his prey escaped the trap.
Skye caught the sysop with her charm and Jason brought in another victim.

Returning to the Black Knight with their offerings, the shadowrunners were ready to get their wish: a safe haven in the Tower and a link between the Tower and their Coven.

Alas…they forgot to watch out for Sidhe word-bending the fine print of the deal…

In the end the shadowrunners were not able to leave the Tower!

Ghost/Echo crossing path with World of Darkness and Shadowrun.

Ghost/Echo: The First Run reloaded

Ghost/Echo: The First Run reloaded


One of my players, Niek Ooijman, sent me some feedback on the session

I’ll put my comments in brackets:

1. please use printout character cards instead of handwritten, to avoid reading problems.
(comment: alongside the printout of Ghost/Echo rules, I wrote on index cards the name of the character & 2 skills).
2. if new players register at the last time, sent them mail beforehand, instead of writing only on the meetup site. ask them to think about the character they want to play.
(comment: until the very last day I had only one subscriber, we already had extensive mailing ongoing on the subject; the rest subscribed on the same day, too late to sent them mail)
3. danger check: a high roll is always better? It is better to change this: if rolling for danger, higher means more “danger”. Getting a 5 or 6 when rolling for danger means real trouble.
(comment: this is a matter of taste)
4. The goal/danger system is asking a lot of player-creativity , it is annoying to have to state a danger for each goal, that slows down play. In the games I know, the GM tells the player all about the dangers.
(comment: this is a typical old-school conditioning)
5. there was some lack of “supernatural elements”
(comment: this scenario was meant as a foreshadowing of the Shadowrun era, the supernatural still has to intrude into the world, but it was possible to Listen for Echo’s of the supernatural)
6. The skills were too minimal
I have some doubts on the claim “quick play”, there still a lot of work to do on the system.
(comment: the player did not take enough time to read the ghost/echo page)

My observations:
The Game has to be worked out, as stated in the two pages

I was thrilled by the minimalistic setting & rules, a refreshing experience after so many years of D&D tables & rule-lawyering.
The indie-press rpg-community consist of some high-level roleplayers, ‘quick-play’ has to be seen in that context : 2 page rules with bare bones, the rest to be expanded with existing GM skills!
No so user-friendly for newbies, but at the other side: the experienced/brainwashed D&D adepts will have serious adaptation troubles!

hgoei's avatarDreamquest

The Government was unwilling to dirty their hands in a backwater Balkan state, so they used some intermediaries to contract the Black-op branch of Orpheus corporation.
If anything went wrong, the whole operation was deniable as usual, the spindoctors would call it a terrorist strike of the separatist.
…
Coil, Grip, Hull and Vixen discussed their strategy for the job.
It sounded like an easy one: extricate Herr Professor alive (preferrable) or dead to insure the Opposition will never again have access to his theoretical knowledge of Matrix-construction.
He was temporary held at a secret interrogation camp, waiting for transfer to the headquarters of Herr Colonel.
Simple plans are the best, and victory goes to the bold;
The idea was to ‘borrow’ a chopper of the Opposition; flying under false colours it should be possible to infiltrate the interrogation camp.
Well…a battleplan never survives the first shots…
They found a…

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Setting of the Fifth Black Sun

Setting of the Fifth Black Sun


“December 21, 2012 will be the most important date for all of Humanity. The ancient Mayans created the Long Count calendar to mark this date as the beginning of a new cycle for Mankind.” Anonymous

What if…
The wild-eyed cultist are right…up to a certain point?
Something changes in 2012,,,
Maybe…
the stars are ‘right’, depending on whose viewpoint: if Rlyeh arises from the ocean, the Ctulhu-cultist might rejoice, or maybe not…
…the Veil between the Worlds are rent asunder, and the Dead will outnumber the Quick…
…the Star-People revisit Gaia to evaluate the Human experiment…
…Hailey’s planet strikes home at last…
Who knows?
Maybe HE nows, maybe not (Rig Veda)
But before the Great Change comes, it will be foreshadowed by small changes:
Weird tales, Anomalous Phenomena…
Reported sightings of UFO, ET, ghosts, and other things that go bump in the night.
Q blogspot
Ghost/Echo: The First Run

Ghost/Echo: The First Run


The Government was unwilling to dirty their hands in a backwater Balkan state, so they used some intermediaries to contract the Black-op branch of Orpheus corporation.
If anything went wrong, the whole operation was deniable as usual, the spindoctors would call it a terrorist strike of the separatist.
…
Coil, Grip, Hull and Vixen discussed their strategy for the job.
It sounded like an easy one: extricate Herr Professor alive (preferrable) or dead to insure the Opposition will never again have access to his theoretical knowledge of Matrix-construction.
He was temporary held at a secret interrogation camp, waiting for transfer to the headquarters of Herr Colonel.
Simple plans are the best, and victory goes to the bold;
The idea was to ‘borrow’ a chopper of the Opposition; flying under false colours it should be possible to infiltrate the interrogation camp.
Well…a battleplan never survives the first shots…
They found a hidden chopper on a hidden part somewhere in the woods, guarded by a single watchtower, a typical Opposition-setup for a covert-operation camp.
Coil took out the main tower with his rocket-launcher, Grip sprinted to the chopper while the rest gave covering fire.
Some surviving guards stormed out of the tower, but were taken down by a frontal grenade and some flanking fire. The grenade caused some collateral damage in the tower, soon it started burning!
Grip discovered the chopper was out of fuel…
Hull entered the burning tower twice: the first time to secure a single drum of fuel, the second time he was out of luck, something exploded…Hull was blown outside by a fireball!
Badly hurt, Hull was carried by the rest to the chopper to escape the towering inferno.
They decided to push their luck to finish the job.
Boldly they flew the chopper to the interrogation camp.
Vixen fast-talked the ground crew and the commander Herr Colonel to refuel the chopper and to transfer the prisoner.
On their way to home-base, they were intercepted by two Opposition choppers.
Grip tried to channel the ghostfield, hoping to jinx one chopper, but received a migraine instead.
With some luck Coil was able to take down the interceptors with his rocket-launcher!
Returning to home-base was a bit tense, their chopper was almost taken down by friendly fire before Vixen was able to get through to the right channels.
Q blogspot
Ghost/Echo: Pathworking the Ghost Worlds

Ghost/Echo: Pathworking the Ghost Worlds


The Ghost Universe consists of several Ghost Worlds, each
interconnected by Datastreams (Echo-Paths).

Travelling the Datastreams is a specialized skill: by channeling the
Ghost Field, some adepts can open temporary Gates to the Paths.

Using the Major Arcana (e.g. Amber Trumps) is one of the many possible
ways of Pathworking!
Other Traditions use: Tattva Symbols, Hermetic Seals, Bagua, etc.

A Grip who is specialized in Listening at Echoes, has the skill to
detect functional Paths.
Every method has its own risks….

Q blogspot
Ghost/Echo crossing path with World of Darkness and Shadowrun

Ghost/Echo crossing path with World of Darkness and Shadowrun


Universe: World of Darkness (core setting) 2012 CE. Preliminary Story: The Crewmembers are part of the experimental Shadowrun team of the Orpheus-0rganization; their mission is to find top secret information before the Others find it.

Do you have any idea what kind of crewmember you would like to be?

Good at…(pick one)
acting under pressure
infiltrate/steal
suffer harm
commit to violence
manipulate/hold steadfast
channel ghostfield
listen for echoes

Pick an archetype:
coil
demon
hull
grip
vixen

Try to visualize the skilled archetype of your choice.

Q blogspot
Ghost/Echo

Ghost/Echo


This game reminds me of several topics I am interested in:

Shamanic journey
Pathworking
Cyberpunk
Shadowrun
Oracles: Tarot, I Ching
Rules-lite storytelling games
Let me give it a try!
First take:
Trying to connect Major Arcana and Locations did not work for me.
Looking back, I realise the Major Arcana belong to the Paths, not to the Sephira!
Maybe I should connect the Minor Arcana to Locations!
Second take:
Made some index cards for Crew, Goal/Danger, Wraith.
Thinking of that other nice game: Under the Bed
I can connect Goal/Danger cards with Crew and/or Wraith!
Hmm..
Crew can basically roll 1 die, but if he uses his special skill (Goal/Danger) he might add another die.
Example:
DEMON crew, special skill Channel Ghostfield.
SPIDER wraith, special skill Catch.
Q blogspot