This blog contains an archive of live-streaming games for the Battlestorm Online, Ragnarök campaign. It also introduces you to the heroes of Ragnarök — Slade, Amuriel, Agmundr, Justice, Nerium, and Sanna. Ragnarök is part of the larger Battlestorm Online (BSO) game. A campaign played as a virtual reality death trap in a Dungeons and Dragons MMO, BSO Ragnarök is GM’d by myself and originally streams on Twitch through Ted Burgess’s profile.

Within this world, Ted and I are co-GMing two separate Battlestorm Online games. Ted’s game — Valhalla — follows the main story arc and occurs weekly on most Thursday nights between 9:30 PM and midnight EST. The game I’m running — Ragnarök — is a follow-on but equally critical storyline. It will livestream on Friday nights 1-2 times per month. A separate Valhalla archive of streaming games along with character profiles is here.

Adventure Opening Story

Our heroes log into Battlestorm Online only to find that they are trapped! Their Ghost Gear is rigged to emit rapid flashes of light that trigger brain aneurisms for those wearing this deadly gear if they die in-game, if they try to log out, or if someone tampers with their headgear. All gamers are thus trapped and forced to defeat the challenges laid out in the virtual fantasy world of Valhalla. If their avatars die while fighting monsters in Valhalla or exploring its hazardous environment, the Ghost Gear sends out its vicious strobe and kills their real bodies.

The players are not initially aware of their predicament until a few hundred unfortunates — who attempt to log out, have their avatars slain by monsters, or have their Ghost Gear tampered with — are instantly killed. The game’s psychotic-genius creator, Gema Masuta, then makes an announcement to every player, explaining their situation and the stakes involved. Players are trapped until they win the game or are killed. If the final boss monster in the last dungeon is slain, then the game is won and all the players are freed. From that point forward, adventures in Valhalla take on a dire edge.

Rather than join the forces of adventurers on the front lines, the characters of Ragnarök are initially reluctant. For whatever reason, they are unwilling to risk their lives as adventurers. For a month, they spend time becoming vital members of communities within Home Towns, doing what they can to contribute to the game-win effort indirectly. However… events soon catch up to them as the safety of all players within BSO starts to fall under threat.

Character Profiles

What follows are the character profiles for Slade, Amuriel, Justice, Nerium, and Sanna. Presently these heroes are all level one. The party has only just completed its first adventure and is still trying to suss out the shifting threats of the Battlestorm Online world.

Agmundr — is a Human Twilight Cleric in-game. Run and conceived by Eric, Agmundr keeps to the shadows during roleplay to disguise his true nature and intent. He has, however, taken more of a shine to the other players after experiencing a few adventures with them. A powerful healer and spell wielder, Agmundr acts boldly in combat by stepping up to help when his companions are in trouble.

In real life, Agmundr’s player is Kevin Larson — a 35 year old park ranger who’s been diagnosed with terminal melanoma.

Until he was diagnosed, Kevin worked as a park ranger at the Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota. Reserved and quietly intense, Kevin’s eyes reveal a deep, emotional intelligence. A man of few words, but many thoughts, he enjoys the contemplation and solitude afforded by his work as a park ranger. Kevin was never deeply religious, but, if pressed, would describe himself as spiritual.

Throughout his life, Kevin lived in peace with nature. He befriended animals — fellows he would often see taken by the natural circle of life. These deaths disturbed and saddened him. Though he accepted such partings as an innate working of the world, he never fully pondered his own mortality. That is, until he was diagnosed with stage III melanoma. With a 50% chance that he’d succumb to the cancer within 5 years, he was now staring what had once seemed an abstract cycle of life and death directly in the face.

It’d gotten personal in the most real way imaginable. For the first time in his life, Kevin was angry. He raged at the god/gods/deities. He didn’t care which, what, or who. Kevin was consumed by an emotion he’d never felt before — hate.

The diagnosis came 2 years before BSO. As the years passed, Kevin meandered his way through the stages of grief sometimes stumbling backward but mostly moving forward. He began to live again; camping, fishing, and hiking as often as possible – against doctor’s orders, of course.

Kevin finally accepted himself in that circle of life and death he’d witnessed so many time in the past. He pondered the transition he’d likely make in the near future. At last, he’d made his peace. That’s when the cancer started metastasizing again, even through the seemingly constant rounds of chemo, and Kevin was told that he would need to undergo a serious and very dangerous round of surgeries. It seemed he faced a choice. One more battle, or acceptance and peace.

After embracing his likely impending transition to death, Kevin was hesitant to go forward with the proposed treatment. However, his parents were not ready let him go. They pleaded with Kevin to accept the surgery and risky follow-on treatments. Feeling a great debt to his parents who’d stood by him his entire life, Kevin at last agreed.

As Kevin lay on the cold, hard hospital bed preparing himself for the anesthetic from which he was not sure he’d awake, his doctor and friend of two grueling years presented Kevin with a gift. Instead of the usual anesthesia, Kevin’s doctor offered Kevin a spot in the new and very exclusive BSO game! The VR gear would block Kevin’s nerves effectively acting as an anesthetic and Kevin would not lose consciousness during the procedure – unless something went wrong, of course. Swayed by the promise of running through woods and fields of wildflowers during the procedure, Kevin agreed and logged in.

Amuriel — is an Aasimar Conquest Paladin in-game. Run and conceived by Niki, Amuriel is a tough tank front liner who focuses on melee attacks while wielding a shield. Also an off-healer, Amuriel isn’t shy to help her team mates. In roleplay, Amuriel takes on the role of a kind, grandmotherly figure. A stark contrast to her character’s imposing avatar.

In real life, the person behind Amuril is Muriel Lebowitz — an 89 year old retiree presently living in Bocan Raton, FL who’s enjoying her golden years with her husband Eustice (see Justice below). She fell in love with Eustice long ago in her New Jersey hometown at Hoboken High School. Following graduation, Muriel received an early childhood education degree at NYU while Eustice fought in the Vietnam War. She married Eustice when the Vietnam War ended. Eustice got a job pouring concrete then started his own business in the trade ten years later. During this time, Muriel had four children, taught the 4th grade, and wrote a mildly popular modern teen fantasy series set in New Jersey. Some of her titles included: “Hobgoblin in Hoboken,” “Triton in Trenton,” and “Kraken Attack in Hackensack.” In total, Muriel’s career lasted for 40 years before a happy retirement.

Muriel and her husband never had much interest in electronic games or RPGs. However, they were avid fantasy buffs — with bookshelves filled with the likes of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, and R.A. Salvatore. So when one of their many grandchildren handed them a copy of BSO — offering them a chance to spend the last of their golden years in a heroic video game based on the setting they so deeply and passionately loved — they jumped.

For Muriel, there was some confusion during the character creation process. When Muriel was asked her name, she responded “Uh, Muriel” which the game’s character creation engine recognized as Amuriel.

Justice Cleverwits — played by Greg, is a Wood Elf Drake Warden Ranger in-game. Both a melee and a ranged threat, he really leaned into the front-liner role during the first session. This is quite generous. But it also shines a light on the fact that the party includes a lot of squishy-types. Like Amuriel, Justice takes on a mentor role during RP and gives off an bit of an Obi-Wan vibe.

In real life, Justice is Eustice Lebowitz — aged 91 years. Eustice now lives with his wife in Boca Raton, FL after spending much of his life in Hoboken, NJ. Eustice fell in love with is high-school sweetheart Muriel. But the Vietnam War intervened to separate them. While she went to college at NYU, he served in a combat engineers company. Justice survived the ordeal, returned to the states, and married the love of his life. A hard worker, he started out after the war pouring concrete. The anti-war sentiment of the time spilling over onto the troops didn’t bother him. “People sometimes have their fears exploited. It’s not about me,” he said at the time. In just ten years, he’d earned enough to start his own concrete company and stood at its helm for 35 years until his retirement. In the intervening time, he and Muriel ended up with four children whom they love dearly. Now, in retirement, Eustice’s joy is enhanced by his numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

An avid fantasy reader, Eustice spent much of his retirement enfolded in many books both new and old. When one of his young scions introduced Eustice to Battlestorm Online, he was enthralled by the notion of spending the rest of his days as one of the fantasy heroes he so deeply admired.

Like Muriel, the name generation engine ended up mangling Eustice Lebowitz’s name — turning it into Justice Cleverwits. Eustice finds this new moniker to be surprisingly appropriate.

Nerium Senicle — is a Yuan-ti Pureblood College of Lore Bard in-game. Played by Chauncey, Nerium uses his broad base of skills and magics to enable his friends, uncover various mysteries, and foil his enemies. Nerium has a well known affinity for snakes and is one of the few players who has a good working relationship with snake NPCs. Also a former teacher, Nerium has taken on the role of helping other players develop their skills.

In real life, Nerium is James De La Cuesta, Age 35. He hails from Boston, Massachusetts.

A professor of Conservational and Wildlife Biology, James is obsessed with poisonous plants and venomous snakes. Highly regarded if rather eccentric, James is well-known for frequently exhorting his students to become herpetologists (those who study reptiles and amphibians). One day, after giving what would become a famous lecture on the under-utilization of medicinal plants, a group of students blind-sided him by recommending he play the new BSO game.

James had oft spoken nostalgically of his youthful forays into Latin America to research venomous snakes. Alas, during his final project, he was bitten by a tiger snake — resulting in a debilitating leg amputation. Even worse, this trauma triggered a phobia that kept him from venturing into the field thereafter. James never lost his love for the research, though. When his students confronted him with the odd notion of fulfilling his lost passion for researching snakes in BSO, it grabbed hold and wouldn’t let go.

James found himself compelled to explore the new VR world and all its wonders. But he was worried the experience could lead him back to the dark times following the snake bite incident. Losing his ability to walk was a nightmare. Adjusting to a new existence of endless physical therapy and learning to live with a prosthetic leg nearly ruined him. It was finally his students, who formed a helpful online support network, that tipped him over the edge and into BSO. With their help, James could maintain a positive mental state while also overcoming his IRL limitations.

The game afforded James a number of surprising options. He chose the Yuan-ti race for their poison immunity and ability to befriend snakes. The bard class’s ability to focus on lore and its diverse skills mirrored his own deep knowledge IRL. However, the bard’s jack of trades nature provided extra appeal. A professor’s life is often so narrow — focused on just one field but sacrificing a wealth of generalization. His new life in-the-making instead offered a little bit of everything.

The resulting month-long confinement in BSO was oddly liberating — granting the freedom James as Nerium had always longed for. James was enabled to pursue his passion for research, with a touch of magic in his back-pocket. He filled his days by venturing out near safe zones to gather herbs, to speak with his beloved snakes, and to search for that perfect someone. A snake companion. Neri, as he’s called in-game, is now well-known for his numerous snake associations. The herbs, meanwhile, earn a little money the game’s markets. Though Neri/James mainly gives the helpful herbs to his student-players at break-even prices. Meanwhile, he never really left teaching. Moonlighting as an in-game trainer, he helps players learn nature, history, perception, and other helpful skills — occasionally treating them to one of his famous lectures.

Before his most recent adventure, Neri spent what free time he had listening to the latest gossip at inns, tea houses, and coffee shops. Now, he finds himself well-informed as he takes on a new passion for adventure. One that, thus far, has overcome his fears.

Sanaa — is a Rock Gnome Artificer in-game played by Ravi. A conjurer various cool tricks, Sanaa is a cunning combatant. Outside of combat, she has quite the bag o’ options to help the party with exploration, investigation, and making new arcane discoveries. Sanaa has her own special goal in-game. She seeks a person important to her who’s recently been lost, possibly kidnapped as a result of the invasions coming from Svartalfheim.

In real life, Sanaa is Emily Hooper. She resides in Columbus, Ohio and is presently a Computer Science student at MIT. Emily is 21.

Since age 5, Emily wanted only one thing — to be an inventor. Yet, for reasons unknown, her skill seemed to lag behind her enthusiasm. Despite all the great ideas she had, bringing them into the physical world never worked. They either couldn’t get off the ground, like her leggo buildings crashing down in mid-construction. Or they’d go everywhere but the ground, like her automated soda dispenser that led to very sticky walls and ceilings.

Sadly, her ideas didn’t help her get along with other kids in the neighborhood and at school. Either put off by her eagerness to try a new experiment, or afraid of disastrous results, any child who tried hanging out with Emily withdrew after a couple playdates. An only child, Emily’s malfunctioning contraptions ended up as her only friends. So she led a lonely, if intellectually rich, childhood.

Events came to a head around the 9th grade. Emily was attempting to make a house-cleaning robot out of old car-parts, discarded motion sensors, and a butane-powered propeller. The result was a catastrophic explosion and that burned down half the garage. The fire then leapt to the neighbor’s house before it was at last put out. If not for her father (one of the best carpenters on the coast) and mother (the mayor’s head of PR with incredible diplomatic skills), the repercussions could have been ugly. Emily’s parents had always been supportive of their daughters drive to invent and innovate. They now figured a different tack was needed. Not wanting to stifle her desire to learn, they bought Emily a computer and a beginner’s guide to programming. Emily was happy enough to explore this new avenue of invention, where the materials were logical concepts rather than physical pieces. Everyone was relieved. Now, her experiments would only be a source of chaos for the VMs of her personal cyberspace.

At back of her mind, however, Emily never forgot the frustration of failing to bring the ideas in her head to the material world. By the time Emily graduated high school, she had become a skilled programmer, and enrolled in MIT. Academically, she was a star. Social life was still… challenging. The lack of peers growing up made it difficult to interact with fellow students. Feeling awkward outside the virtual environment, Emily instead immersed herself in schoolwork and games.

Then, in her sophomore year, Emily stumbled into the world of hacking when she discovered a website exploit while browsing the internet. To Emily, this discover opened up a whole new world of possibility. Unlike others, Emily didn’t become a hacker for malicious or selfish reasons. Instead, hacking became a wondrous new avenue for exploration. If an occasional hack gave her a bonus item in a game, no biggie. It was around the same time she met Peter Smith, a fellow comp sci major who transferred from NYU. Despite Emily’s shyness, the two became friends. Peter introduced Emily to the graphic novel series The Gaslamp Saga. Gaslamp depicted a world run by Sparks — mad-scientist-style savants with globe-spanning ambitions. Emily quickly fell in love with the series. The heroine of the story, Sanaa, had a history similar to hers: — a struggling inventor since childhood. But what truly drew Emily in was how Sanaa later overcame her hurdles, both within and without, to become one of the setting’s greatest Sparks. Gaslamp relit the old flame of invention in Emily’s mind.

Emily was thrilled to receive an invitation to join the deep-dive VR world of BSO. Having a passing familiarity with D&D, she was intrigued by the fantasy version of the inventor: the Artificer. A chance to combine her dual loves of programming and inventing in a reality that felt like the real world? It was a dream come true!

Now that the dream has become a nightmare, Emily will need to harness all her knowledge in programming, hacking, and inventing to survive this deadly adventure. Only fitting that her avatar is based on a girl who has five deadly adventures before breakfast: Sanaa, the Gnome Genius!

(This character is inspired by Girl Genius, which Ravi loves. Check out this amazing web comic series here!)

Slayde — run by Ted, is a High Elf Order of Scribes Wizard. In combat, Slayde provides a lot of the arcane oomph. A versatile generalist, Slayde can often find the right tool for the job. Out of combat, Slayde lends his expertise and considerable innate knowledge.

In real life, Sladye is Enzo — an interpreter for the US Department of State, fluent in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and ASL.

Eighteen months before logging in to BSO, Slayde’s wife, Jane, tragically passed. He now survives with his daughter — Sofia — who attends NYU. While Sofia continues to live with Enzo, coming home to crash or scarfing down a hurried breakfast, she’s mostly away from home.

Enzo took up playing MMOs to help pass the time and assuage his loneliness. More recently, he started playing D&D in AL when invited by a co-worker. He hadn’t played D&D since 2nd edition during his time in the Navy. When BSO was announced, it was the spell-casting system that really caught his attention. Actively using your hands and spoken words to cast spells really intrigued him. So, logically, he chose the Wizard class.

Stuck on picking a name after choosing to be a high elf, he’d considered Merlin and Gandalf but expected they’d be denied. Instead, he went with a variation of a more obscure reference from an anime he loved back when he first started playing D&D — Slayde.

A month into the game, Enzo spends most of his time in the Grand Guild Hall where he’s been interviewing players about quests, events, maps, and dungeon details to help create guides for other players. With the tales he’s heard describing the game world’s dangers, he’s been timid about going anywhere outside the safe zones. At game start, he’s not yet met the other party members.

Episodes

Episode 1 — Ominous Signs Before the Breach I. In this episode, our heroes uncover a startling mystery as a strange new star comes to light in the night sky above Midgard.

Episode 2 — Ominous Signs Before the Breach II. In this episode, our heroes learn more about Mio Elysse’s shrinking safe zones. Then, venturing to Yggdrasil, they discover what’s happening to Midgard’s missing monsters.

Episode 3 — Astrid’s Prophecy. Undertaking a perilous journey through the Winter Wood, hunted by Skoll and Hati, our heroes attempt to reach Astrid and learn her prophecy.

Episode 4 — the Chambers of Grief Part 1. Returning empowered with the knowledge of prophecy, our heroes move to confront Killz4LULZ in the Chambers of Grief.

Last Notes

For now, we conclude our gaming archive and related character profiles for Battlestorm Online — Ragnarök. Return for updates and new video archives occurring about 1-2 times a month. Also, I’ll be updating our character profiles when the situation warrants.

If you’re interested in using our campaign materials for your own games take a look at the Battlestorm Online Player’s Guide and our fourteen original Battlestorm Online Backgrounds. In addition, the first module is now available for free here. I’ll be posting more Game Master materials for this campaign over the coming weeks which you’ll be able to find in the Gaming Studio.

Thank you for stopping by!