Animated Stormbringer, Wendy Pini and Red Sonja

My friend Mike sent this over to me and I thought it best to share it right away.

Back in her college days, Wendy Pini (Elfquest) had begun a most ambitious project of bringing Michael Moorcock's Elric to the screen as an animated feature.  She ended up spending years on this, working up concept drawings, storyboards, sound effects and music cues.  It was quite an undertaking for any studio much less a single person.  It kinda became this ongoing obsession that she eventually had to lock up and walk away from back in 1973.

View Wendy's production portfolio for Stormbringer

Wendy offers up the story of this chapter in creative life via this website as she displays much of the work she produced for this project.  It's amazing to see the breadth of talent she possessed at that young age and the illustrations for Elric as an animated piece are mindblowing.

View Wendy Pini's Stormbringer presentation.

Elric is a 'strange' sort of fantasy, not as accessible as LotRs which was quite popular in the 60's and early 70's and was later produced as an animated feature by Ralph Bakshi.  If her Elric movie was ever made I wonder how that would have changed the direction of fantasy.  If it was a high profile Disney style production (not that they would have touched this with a 10 foot pole), I think it would have been amazing.  Bakshi had more of an underground flair but I think this would have been a better direction than he ended up going with with Wizards.  But I doubt he wouldn't have given up reign on a project like that to a young talent like Wendy Pini.  Bakshi's influence would have been all over that and Wendy's concepts are too good I wouldn't' want that to be diluted or altered in any way.  If her Stormbringer film was made at the time and was successful, I think fantasy would have been less fluffy.  Moorcock's battles of Law vs Chaos and related concepts were a bit more underground even for an underground literary genre such as fantasy.  But it may have fit well in the 70's.

Alas, we'll never know but it's interesting to contemplate.

After college she ended up hanging out with Frank Thorne and dressing up as Red Sonja, though there's definitely nothing wrong with that, before moving on to her famous Elfquest.

Original cosplayer Wendy Pini as Red Sonja

Bonus feature:

30 Days of Game Mastering Part 2

In stead of a daily dose of GMing wisdom from this month's 30 day blog meme, I've broke this into three parts.  Part 1 can be read here.

PART II: AT THE TABLE
1. House rules: what are your favorite hacks, mods, and shortcuts?

My house rules mostly consisted of additional character classes ported into my campaign.  One house rule I do enjoy is Wisdom as sanity from Akratic Wizardry.

2. Table rules: how do you keep players focused on the game?

I let table talk go on just a bit if it's a non-session topic, after all, we're here as friends and we gotta chat sometime.  But I'll bring it back by just interrupting the conversation and bringing it back to the game.  Just cut them off.  Everyone's usually fine with that.  If table conversation is session based or game based I let that go on as long as needed.

3. Rise to the challenge: how do you balance encounters in your system?

Balance encounters?  Never!  It's up to the players to avoid taking that 'wrong' turn.  Also, the party consists of PCs levels 2 through 7.  Good luck balancing encounters for that. 

4. How do you facilitate combat? Any tips, tools, or cheats?

Pretty straight from the rules (Swords & Wizardry Complete).  I discarded descending AC day 1. AAC makes things much easier and faster.

5. Memorable villains: how do you introduce and weave the antagonist/s into the ongoing narrative?

I think I always try to keep the major NPCs floating in the background via rumors or chats with other NPC's or just in the session backgrounds.  I also try to keep them alive if encountered so that they can harass the players in the future – not always easy to do so it's best to just keep mentioning the baddies until they come face to face.  Build up that 'legend'.

6. Investigation and mysteries: how do you use foreshadowing, red herrings, and keep the tension rising?

Again, I use rumors via NPCs to keep things in the player's conscientiousness.  Keep the stories floating around the campaign even when the PCs are out on a totally separate adventure.  I've tossed red herrings but with gaps between sessions and the slow pace of campaigns in general, those usually get lost.  The red herrings I tend to keep tighter to the narrative of the current session or the next.  Any more than that too much time goes by and you loose the edge of a false rumor.

7. Structure and time: how do you use flashbacks, cut scenes, and parallel narratives in your games?

I don't use flashbacks or cut scenes in a game.  They don't work.  For me, the campaign in a linear path of the players experiences.  The stories and campaign goes on before the character is born and after he/she dies.  It's up to the players to make their backstory elements of the game and me to enact them but I don't go 'back in time' to 'set the story'.  By parallel narratives, I assume that this is only cut scenes between a split party.  I usually run those for about 10 minutes (hmm, the time of a game turn) before cutting back to the other players. 

8. How do you handle rewards, be they XP, magic items, or gold?

I started the campaign with a standard monster xp split among the players and gold totals split as xp among the players.  Magic items are a value in and of itself and receive NO experience point value.  But since our sessions meet twice a month (when we're on a roll) and not everyone shows up, leveling PCs was pretty slow  It took a couple of years to get to level three or four.  I've since moved to full monster experience rewarded to EACH  PC present for that session.  Monster experience is NOT split.  Treasure value is still split equally as experience though.  But players HAVE  to be present during the session to receive the rewards.  A little more bookkeeping on my end but it seems to be working pretty well.  The pace of character advancement seems to fit well with our play schedule. Also, I don't actually reward them the experience until the return to home base.  Though I record the experience each PC receives they don't get it until they head home. 

9. What was your worst session and why?

The only bad session(s) I had was when I felt my head wasn't really in the game. Note, however, that the players still all had a great time.  It's all relative so someone always has a great time.

10. What was your best session and why?

Sessions where I am fully present and 'participating' in the game as much as the players are.  Not sitting back coasting on the contents of an adventure module.  Those always tend to be the best.  When everyone's involved and we're playing off each other.  But it's all relative anyway.

Session LIII: Black Ravens and Stoners

After having woken up naked and penniless in the streets of Blackmoor after a night of carousing, Thovin of the Black Church gathers his what's left of pride and his companions and head south to meet up with Baron Blackmoor's troops and Captain Vanir.

On the way they run into refugees who have escaped out of Caladan including Jack the stable boy and Onyx, the former tennant of the Tower of Zenopus (this goes back to the first few sessions).  They smuggled themselves out of Caladan with the help of the Brotherhood of the Black Hand.  For a pretty price, the Black Hand will smuggle someone in or out of Caladan.    The party also learned that the pirates and the Stygian soldiers are raping and pillaging Calladan's inhabitants all under the approval of Utasu the puppet ruler of Caladan and the Stygian sorcerer Zadir who had, in but a single night, raised a blasphemous magic tower within the walls of the old Merchant Guild.

Continuing on to the war-camp of Captain Vanir, they only await the arrival of Baron Blackmoor to lead the foot soldiers in an attack to free Caladan.  But Captain Vanir worries about the stone giant, that has been bought by Utasu and Zadir, and that may attack them from behind.  He sends out heroes along with ten soldiers to eliminate the threat of the Stone Giant.

After sending Tuk the owl forward to investigate the rocky cliffs, Gnarly turns into a raven and flies into the Stone Giant's cave opening.  There he spies twelve stygian soldiers trapped in a cage dangling from the ceiling and the Stone Giant munching on one of the soldier's legs.

The raven chats with the giant and it turns out that he was promised two virgins by Zadir only one of which had been delivered. Until the Stone Giant received the second, he refuses to do the bidding of the wizard and, instead, had been devouring one soldier a day. 

Vying to get the Giant on their side or kill him, Gnarly the raven says that if the giant will help them in their attack on Caladan he will offer up a virgin.

Now where would the party find a virgin?

Well, it turned out that Maximus the Untested was indeed a virgin.  So as a trap, they would offer up the magic-user in hopes that he would be able to place the monster into a slumber.  Maximus, of course, was in full opposition of this plan but was talked into being bait anyways. 

So offering up Maximus as a virgin captive, the Stone Giant steps out and falls for the old Chewbaca in hand-cuffs trick (used back in session 38).  After reacting to the party's attack the giant is quickly put to sleep and bound.  He is tossed over the cliff into the sea below.  The cave is raided for treasure and the stygians captured as prisoners. 

The party returned to the camp triumphant!

Wine and ale was drunk throughout the night and many invitations were offered for the heroes to feast as honored guests at tables and around campfires and to recount their infamous confrontation.

The stories, of course, have already been  'embellished' by the storytellers to include Wolf single-handedly lifting the giant above his head and over the cliffs, and of the Dark Gods protecting the mighty Thovin as he stood unmoved from the savage direct blow from the Stone Giant's club (this leads to many men questioning their faith and seeking out spiritual guidance from the dark cleric)!  The renowned virtue of Maximus who resisted the caresses of one thousand women to remain chaste and defeat the Giant (the demand for whores declined sharply that night). Stories of Gnarly the mystical woodsman who takes the shape of wild creatures and beguiles his foes.

The revelry went deep into the night.

With the arrival of Baron Blackmoor and his banner-men the next morning, all turn their firey bloodlust towards the Stygians and pirates occupying Caladan as the final plans for the assault are made...

This was a very, very entertaining session with a lot of role-playing and only two or three dice rolls.  A lot of creative game play and quite the inspiration for playing this portion of the campaign through.  Players seemed to have a great time getting into their characters and the situations.  This will be  a session to be remembered.

The Warlock's Halloween Viewing Part 1

With another Halloween upon us, like many of you, here at the homebrew we indulge in some horrific viewing of the movie kind.  The first half of the celebrated month brought us a great batch of gruesome goodness both old and new.

So here's what the Warlock's clan has been watching thus far this Halloween season....

The People Under the Stairs (1991 - Wes Craven)

During the 80's there was a literal pile of shitty horror movies lead by a bunch of 'played to death' teenage slasher films and by Wes Craven.  I've never been a Wes Craven fan and despised his Freddy Cruger creation to no end.  When one grows up on classic horror of Hammer films, George Romero and the "Master of Horror", John Carpenter, one's standards tend to be pretty high and Craven falls far, far under that bar.  Craven's bombastic and absurd uncreative violence, spoon-fed plots and childish cartoonish horror attempts makes his films quite laughable - and not in a good way.  I'll give him kudos for his horrifically violent 70's fare of Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes and the fact that he brought Dee Walace to the screen.  We did end up watching one of his most polished horror films a few days later (see below).  Anyways, The People Under the Stairs has some pretty dark themes of child abuse, torture and depravity as a crazed husband and wife, played by Everett McGill and Wendy Robie (Ed and Nadine Hurley from Twine Peaks) torture their daughter and 'guests' to the house that they've placed 'under the stairs'.  There are seeds of some good acting but Craven tosses all that potential into the rubbish bin and proceeds to just blaze shotgun blasts at us - literally. We didn't quite get to the ending on this one and I would challenge anyone watching this to go the distance. Not a great start to our Halloween viewing but it did get much, much better.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986 - John Carpenter)

Going from one extreme to the other we've got one John Carpenter's  masterpieces in his kung-fu, comedy, action, horror film Big Trouble.  Here at our local art-house, The Loft, we're right in the middle of a John Carpenter retrospective.  Since the wife hasn't seen the glory that is Big Trouble that was our choice for the big screen Carpenter flick.  If you've seen this movie, not much needs to be said as you most likely already know how fantastic this 'ahead of it's time' movie still is.  If you haven't seen it, you've missed out on one of life's great offerings and need to remedy that right away.  The third collaboration between Carpenter and Kurt Russel also brings the talents of Kim Cattrell and James Hong into the mystical world of San Fransisco's "Little China" as the ghost emperor Lo Pan seeks "...a girl with green eyes" to make him material again.  Probably one of my top ten movies of all time, well, at least top 20.

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988 - Wes Craven)

Another Wes Craven entry but this one is quite horrific.  Based on a true story, Craven pulls out all stops to give us a dreadful look at Hatian Voodoo.  I lay the success of this film at the feet of the writers and producers that keeps Craven on task.  Placing the viewer inside some of the scariest dreamlike voodoo experiences along with true zombies (most 'zombie' movies are about ghouls but that's a different topic), the film chills and thrills.   Craven's bombastic violence rears it's head just a bit at the end, but this slightly dated but still effective horror film is worth revisiting.

The Orphanage (2007 J.A. Bayona)

A slow paced ghost story from Spain about a woman who grew up an orphan purchases the orphanage to live in and start a home for disabled children. Did I mention that the children she grew up with were murdered there?  Nothings gonna happen here, no way, no how!  Not a great horror film but not terrible either carries you through the mystery of her child's disappearance.  Somewhat predictable and not breaking any new ground in the ghost story genre it's not a movie I would revisit but would recommend for fans of true ghost stories.

Pretty Dead (2013 Benjamin Wilkins)

A surprisingly effective 'found footage' genre film which gives us a nicely presented take on a ghoulish inducing virus/fungus.  In typical found footage fashion we follow Regina Stevens (Carly Oates) as she tries to figure out what the hell is wrong with her.  Nothing new added to the found footage style of film-making but I found the story engrossing and acting well done.  I was surprised by this one and would recommend it.

Quarantine (2008 - John Erick Dowdle)

A modern classic starring scream-queen Jennifer (the fuk Dex) Carpenter  in another 'found footage' film.  Based on the Spanish film Rec, Carpenter plays a television reporter shadowing a couple of firemen who go on a call to an apartment building. With a great build-up in characters and a unrelenting horrific thrill-ride to the climax this one is a real nail-biter of the virus / mad flesh-eating variety.  I love Jennifer Carpenter.  Anyone that has seen her work knows that she's a natural in front of the camera and pure emotion on film.  This one has some of her best work and that's saying a lot!

The Bay (2012 - Barry Levinson)
Yet another found footage film (seeing a trend here) with a small town on the Chesapeake Bay which falls under the influence of a mysterious virus (or is it?).  Well told and surprisingly creepy, horrific and gruesome.  Definitely worth a watch.

 

More in a few...

30 Days of Game Mastering Part 1

I'm not one to jump on one of these blog memes, it's quite the commitment and I don't really have time to dedicate to 30 straight days of posting but I was drawn towards this one.  It's always useful to gain insight into methods that other GMs use in their game prep and execution.  There can never be enough tips out there for starting or veteran GMs.

So instead of daily postings I'm dropping this beat in three parts.

PART I: PREPARATION

1. What advice would you give a first-time GM?

Go easy on yourself.  It's not all in your hands to run the perfect game, the players are part of that process too once you're all at the table.  If you've never GMed before, start with a rules-lite game.  The mechanics are generally easy to grasp and there aren't too many of theme either.  There are tons of rules-lite games out there for all kinds of genres.  Know the rules and how the mechanics work but you don't have to memorize them.  Don't plan an epic.  Put together a short and sweet scenario, one session to get your feet wet so you can get familiar with the rules and guiding a table full of people through an adventure.  And let your players know that this is your first time GMing.  Most people don't have the time or energy to dedicate to planning and running a game so they tend to be grateful that someone does and that they can participate.  They'll cut you slack.  Remember, if the game doesn't go well the first time, don't be discouraged, learn from your mistakes, adjust what you have to and give it another try.  One last point, you may think you ran a bad game but they players may thing otherwise.  They may have had the best time of their lives.  Perspective is relative.

2. What are your favorite GMing tools or accessories?

Hmm,  a pencil, some paper to jot ideas down on but I rely on the computer for most everything and transfer all my notes there (more organized and legible) .  I hand-draw my player maps but scan and finish them in Photoshop or GIMP.  I just like a more polished look on handouts and whatnot.  I use Blogger and created a site just for my campaign notes and pre and post game thoughts for me and the players.  I found that easier than all the scraps of paper I end up with.  I also use Blogger for a players gaming aid (a newspaper styled website for my ICONS campaign).  Note:  Blogger is free to use and I hate dishing out additional cash for RPG gaming stuff.  I tried Obsidian Portal, a good resource, but it was more than I needed..  Beyond that, all the random charts that I can gather from the interwebs (Hack  & Slash's right column, charts I've collected at the Home Brew).  Random charts are the greatest gift to any GM and you can never have enough.  Organizing them, however, is a different matter.

3. How do you find players?

I ask my friends.  I was looking for at least three, ended up with eight.  I think you can always find a couple of willing players out there.  They might be hard to find but they're out there.  Local gaming groups are great to get involved with and don't discount posting a flier at your game store, hobby shop, library, or college.  Start your own group - organize!  There's plenty of closeted geeks and non-closeted geeks out there!  The harder part may be finding players that are interested in the specific game you are running. RPGs are so diverse now with genres within genres that some people's tastes might be very specific.  You might have to start a bit more generic in terms of genre and then once you have a group, find more specific games you all might like to participate in.  Online is a great way to find players as well.  G+ communities or Roll 20 are good places to start.

4. Do you use pre-published adventures or write your own?

Both. I love pre-published adventures to flesh out the campaign but I hack the heck out of them - new maps or just pieces of them, whatever I need to work best in my session or campaign.  I write my own as needed using the One-Page Dungeon format.  Lately, I've just been writing outlines of 'plot-points' and 'guide' players to them or throw 'em down as needed.

5. Stealing like an artist: what inspiration have you drawn from other games, books, movies, etc?

Inspiration?  Everything from comics to movies to books.  They don't even have to be genre specific.  Western plots work well in fantasy settings or space operas as do super-hero adventures or spy thrillers.  Every type of adventure can happen in every type of genre so don't be afraid to mix and match.

6. Worldbuilding–what’s your process?

Keeping it small is the best way to go but I tend to like a general broad-stroke on the bigger picture;  the surrounding lands, major influences and players (NPCs), factions, etc.  It's not really needed at first but I just like to have a very loose big picture in mind.  after than I begin to narrow it down until I have the starting location pinpointed.  In the end, in my experience, the campaign really only takes place in a very small, small small portion of the greater world (at least at first and for a long while).  You really only need to map out a 20 mile hex.  No need to over plan but I enjoy the exercise so I work it a bit, usually I have it just running in the background of my mind and don't dwell on  it too much - letting if shape itself naturally.

7. How do you prep for the start of a campaign?

I tend to put a lot more prep into the start of a campaign.  I think it's important to set the mood and color initially, of course that  gets run off the rails pretty quickly once the players get involved.  I don't like to railroad the players at all so I like to give them plenty of options at the beginning of the campaign (rumors work well) and let them choose their path.  The rumors give the players options but I have to plan out those options, at least the initial steps.  Remember, you just have to get through that first session so you don't need too much of any one destination, but you do need an idea of what each option will have in store for the characters that first session.  After they choose a path, you can spend the time between sessions fleshing it out a bit more.  Of course, they can ignore your rumors and take things off map then you're flying by the seat of your pants.  Again, it's one session and you can flesh out that path too between sessions.

8. How do you prep for each session?

Each session takes much less time than the start of a campaign. Usually a few jotted notes if it happens to be a more open-ended portion of a campaign or reading up on the adventure (module).  Maybe writing up some NPCs.  My between game prep has really shrunk to a minimum as I try to let player actions determine the course of the session.  If I have plot points or story elements that I have planned out, I'll drop those in appropriately. I've found that if I plan too much, the players pretty much bypass all I have planned and I ended up just wasting my time.

9. Player “homework”: what do you ask of your players before and between sessions?

None.  I hate homework so I don't pass that onto my players.  We're all to busy with work and family to deal with gaming homework.

10. What are your tips for running a low/no prep game?

One or two random charts and then let the players take it from there.  The best games I've had are when I didn't have much prepared or the players took me off in some unexpected direction and I had to wing it - to participate in the unknown just as the players at the table are doing. I think that's how RPGs were intended to be played.

Coming up next:  Part 2 At the Table

Session LII: Axe Body Spray

So exploring the rest of the closed doors beneath the ruined temple , our party (Wolf the viking, Arg the half-orc, Thovis of the Black Church and Maximus the untested) found some more crypts and a trapped door that attempted to behead the giant Half-orc.

Physically disabling the trap the party found a small ceremonial chamber with a small idol of a horrific deformed god.  Arg stole the idol for himself and they all moved on to the final door.

Beyond that door they found the wizard Varnagon sacrificing the last bandit to the undead fiend Morgrath the Ghast who stands nearby wearing the circlet from Baron Blackmoor's treasury. 

As the dead bandit rises as a zombie slave to Varnagon, Maximus the untested charmed the vile wizard.  Thovis brought the newly formed zombie under his control while Arg and Wolf charge the Ghast.  Arg is incapacitated by it's stench while Wolf hacks away at it's body with his axe spraying the putrid remains about the chamber.  Morgrath makes one final attempt to resist his foes but, alas, with the circlet originally given to him by his beloved, the dark wizard who was granted immortality by the gods finally succumbs to death.

Meanwhile, Maximus orders Varnagon to call the rest of his undead minions to him.  They fall under Thovis' control and he commands them to slay the wizard.  Then, to dispose of the zombies, the orders them each to open the trapped door, which beheads them one by one.

With the circlet in their possession, they gather the pile of treasure and leave the temple and make their way back to Baron Blackmoor.

Returning the circlet to Baron Blackmoor, he paid it no heed and tosses it to his treasurer.

"Why deal in worthless trinkets when there is blood to be spilled!"  He bellows with a fierce bloodlust in his eyes as he grips the pommel of his mysterious sword.  " Sharpen yer blades lads, for it's time to take back from these desert heathens what is rightfully ours!

 It's off to war as the Baron himself planed to lead the final attack on Caladan....

Session LI: Thieves in the Temple

It's been months since out group has played Swords & Wizardry having taken a break from that game to play some board games and play in a Robotech game that Mike, a game-group player from the start wanted to run.  We just got back into S&W earlier this week.  My plan is to run shorter installments of the ongoing campaign with natural stopping points to give us the opportunity to play other games and to take a break from GMing.

So this campaign installment will center around the battle for Caladan, which was usurped by Morak backed by Kushanna's Stygian empire from the south.  Arvin's Avengers killed Morak and were chased out of Caladan by Utasu the captain of the Stygian forces and Zadir the Stygian wizard who both now rule the port city.  Having taken refuge in the city of Blackmoor and allied themselves with Baron Blackmoor have decided to retake Caladan.

Session LI:  Thieves in the Temple

For months, the troops of Blackmoor have cut off access to lands of Eri'an from the usurpers of Caladan and repelled the Stygian troops back into that port city.  The siege of Caladan has begun.

However, flush with victories and a full mercenary purse fighting as a free-sword for Baron Blackmoor, celebrations were uproarious and rowdy.

With some drunken shenanigans, that involved freely flowing ale, a handful of whores, spoken insults, thrown punches, overturned tables and the inadvertent burning down of  a beloved White Sheppard Inn, the group, along with some 'innocent' patrons stood before Baron Blackmoor who was none too pleased with their actions.


To forgive their transactions, the Baron asked them to recover a small circlet that was the sole item stolen from his treasury by a group of thieves the night before.  It turns out that these thieves were hired by a wizard named Varnagon to recover this seemingly worthless trinket.

The trail of the thieves lead to an ruined temple not far from the city and that's where we found our part; Wolfheir the Viking, Gnarly Blunderbrush the Druid, Arg the Half-orc, Skwanky the Halfling warrior along with two newcomers; a spell-caster by the name of Maximus the Untested and Thoven Brightsmith knight of the Black Church.

At the ruins, Gnarly sent Tuk the owl up to investigate and found a wounded thief about to be eaten by two hungry wolves. If fact the entire party was surrounded by a pack of wolves.  But the druid calmed the situation down and talked with the pack leader.  The alpha told Gnarly that there were about twenty thieves holed up in the basements of the ruin.  Gnarly promised to send them out so that the pack can feast upon the invaders of their domain.

Moving in to question the mortally wounded thief, they found that his boss Varnagon went mad and summoned up fiends from Hell to slaughter he and his companions.  Of course they found this out by torturing this poor soul. Take heart, though, as he was put out of his misery by Maximus the Untested!

Entering the basement crypts they happened upon a handfull of armored skeletons munching on  a couple of the dead thieves in front of a black and green metal altar.  Sending Skwanky the Halfling in to draw them out, Thoven Brightsmith brought these undead creatures under his control.

Sending the enslaved skeletons down a passage they fought with another group of skeletons.  With all the skeletons having killed each other but one still under Thoven's control the party continued down a set of stairs to find a passageway with a number of doors on either side.  The last skeleton lead them into a chamber filled with Zombies.  Pulling some of the Zombies under the Black Church priest's control the party defeated the rest.

Exploring the room, the party found a seemingly bottomless well, which they tested by having one of the zombies topple himself over the edge.

Deciding to explore the other doors, they came upon a crypt where the floor and wall had been busted up by roots and vines.  Entangled in the vines were the remains of an armored knight with a green gem.  Suspecting a trap, Thoven sent his final zombie in to retrieve the gem. The zombie was attacked and killed by the vines which then attacked the rest of the party entangling Gnarly.   To escape Gnarly planned on casting plant growth but was rightfully talked out of it by the rest of the party.  Instead, the druid turned himself into a raven and flew out of the room while the rest of the group set fire to the vines.

It was at this point where we stopped and will continue next time...