Crit or Cruddy

First Session Winter 2011

2011-12-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

We got back to it yesterday...And here's a brief look at how it went:

The girls started off in Sandpoint (where we left of before), and decided to spend the month touring Solomon around the local area in order to show him the sights. (Thistletop, the Lighthouse, etc.)

They also took the opportunity to have some of their magic items identified (free for their service to the community) at the academy. (ring +1 protection, ring of jumping, wand of knock, Nualia's talisman, adamantine sword, etc.)

Two things of note before they begin their 4 day journey to Magnimar:

They've been invited to join the Pathfinder Society
There are murders happening in Magnimar that are eerily similar to the Skinsaw Man's m.o.

Gearing up is accomplished and off they go. (Coral walks...opting to buy a more superior horse in the big city instead) Late September is a perfect time to travel the coast, and the weather does not disappoint. It is pleasantly cool during the day, with a breeze blowing in from the ocean as they make their way East, South-East toward the city.

Day one goes by w/out a hitch and they stay that night in a roadside flop house built specifically for the purpose. Day two dawns bright and sunny, promising to be unseasonably warm. As the day progresses and the party draws near their second stop (a roadside tavern and flop-house together), the wolf Jaeger alerts his master Quick Silver that he detects smoke on the wind.

She sends him off and he comes back quickly reporting that 4 large "men" were heading their way. Large as in larger than an ogre! Quickly moving off the road the party hides the horses in a shallow depression covered by bushes, and then climb some larger trees for a better view.

Mere moments later four exceedingly large figures come stomping into view. Obviously giants on a raid, the party notices the bags slung over their shoulders...and w/in one of them they notice movement! They must somehow trick the giants into dropping their bags so that whatever is trapped inside may escape.

A plan is concocted and set in motion. Dropping oil and flame from the trees the party members ply their ranged weapons to good effect. After a tense moment where the dwarf, Mock, is chased from hiding by a wandering giant, the group ends up dropping the leader! The rest turn tale and run, leaving the bags on the ground.

One young boy named William emerges, but in the end, that is all. The entire community was wiped out and the giants were taking the bodies...where? Hard to say, but east is the consensus.

A few more days on the road and no more encounters finds the party in Magnimar, the second largest city in Golarion! And a massive city it is. Marveling at the wonders, they make their way to the Pathfinder guild house in lower town. Where they meet Eando Kline, the chapter president.

Kline greets them and gives them the lowdown on the area. Especially the murders. He also informs them that they have been invited to a dinner with the Lord Mayor in four days time. The reason is not really clear, but the opportunity is! After he's spoken w/ Coral and Quick Silver, he pulls Shalelu aside and speaks briefly w/ her as well...what is said though is unknown. (But later she tells the two that she was the originator of their invitation into the ranks of the Pathfinders, for she is one herself!)

The next day is spent in the chapter house writing down everything they can recall of the Sandpoint area and their adventures there. Meanwhile Shalelu and Mock stay in the chapter house and wait for the two to free up.

Day two in Magnimar is spent shopping for the proper attire. Mistress Vyl, in high town, has done dresses for some of the most prominent ladies in the area, and she's happy (though a bit stuffy and proper) to do so for the two adventurers. 180 gold, and a day later the two have taken care of the preparations for the meeting w/ the Lord Mayor.

Day three is free...So they decide to go and check on Aldern's townhouse in high town. Just to look around and see if there are any clues leading to this Xanesha character. (a name at the end of a letter found in Aldern's laboratory) The place is boarded up on the facade, but the back, through the garden is not. They make their way to the back door and use the keys also found in Aldern's laboratory.

The townhouse is obviously empty. The dining area has obviously been ransacked and after looking in the next few rooms, it becomes clear that someone was looking for something w/ no small amount of urgency. Quick Silver's keen gnome ears picks up voices from one of the so far unexplored rooms!

Quietly the party moves into position, throws the door open to find...Aldern and Iesha sitting having a conversation!

Obvious confusion reigns. A confused and slightly outraged Aldern invites the 4 in while Iesha goes to get refreshments. He claims that he's been here the entire time and doesn't know one whit of what the group tells him about ghouls and ghasts. Just then Iesha comes back into the room...

And that's when they change.

Starting up Again

2011-12-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

I'm going to use this "hibernating" blog to jot down some ideas for my girls. Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles they've asked me to play again!

Where were we?

With the aid of the cleric Solomon Kane, they'd just conquered Aldern Foxglove and stopped his devious / diabolical plans to turn the population of Sandpoint into raving ghouls, and to win the attention of his Love, the elf Coral.

After their accomplishment, Solomon has invited the two to the city of Magnimar. Also, he's asked the two if they would like to join the Pathfinders, a group of "professional" adventurers.

Apparently there have been some murders in Magnimar that are too similar to what's happened here in Sandpoint to be of coincidence. And after the success here, the two adventurers have been requested from on "high"...things have become desperate indeed!

==HIGH LEVEL OVERVIEW==

I've got an idea for a linked series, or campaign. After defeating the ghast, Aldern, in Sandpoint the characters are drawn into a series of murders in the city of Magnimar. The master mind behind these is the horror, Xanesha. Who's taking orders from others. (*a message notifying Xanesha that she's to keep Magnimar in terror and confusion in order to distract them from aiding Fort Rannick)

Next step would be Fort Rannick and answering the call of the Black Arrows, of which coincidentally Shalelu's father is one. The ogres are part of the giant incursion that has been spurred to madness and destruction by others in the shadows.

Mama Graul's "lover" is a hill giant lieutenant to Nosnra. He's also been feeding the Grauls information and weapons, which are of quite nice, if odd, craftsmanship. (made of an unknown black metal which can only be identified by the elves as Drow manufacture)

Naturally the trail leads to the despicable giant Nosnra who's been leading raids against small hamlets and villages located throughout the Sanos and Ashwood forests. Shalelu will ask the characters to accompany her in order to find out who was behind the death of her father. If this doesn't work, a small village that the girls travelled through (maybe even Sandpoint) will be ravaged by the attacks. Striking close to their hearts.

And on down the line: As they finish w/ Nosnra it will lead on to the Frost and Fire giants. From there down into the depths of the earth and eventually to Kiransalee and the city of Erelie Cinlu (sp), which of course has been decimated and occupied. The priestess has been waging a war against the surface world, as well as collecting bodies for an undead army.

Modules:

Pathfinder

- The Skinsaw Murders

- The Hook Mountain Masacre

Against the Giants

- Steading of the Hill Giant Chieftan

- Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl

- Hall of the Fire Giant King

City of the Spider Queen and The Vault of the Drow

This is LONG campaign that will be run w/ the White Box rules. We'll see how it goes. I'm fairly certain that it won't ever be completed. But we can dream, right?

Wish us well.

Idea: Black Plague

2011-11-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Ever seen 'The Black Plague' starring Sean Bean? The movie's not that great really, but there is a kernel of take-away: It's a perfect RPG adventure!

A baron or ruler of a territory beset by some type of disease or malady (could be of the biological or magical kind really.) has lost contact with one of his / her villages. They've hired the adventurers to go and check out why.

Turns out that the village is actually safe from whatever is plaguing the rest of the area. The reason of course is that the villagers have turned to demonism and are being blindly led (or maybe not so blindly?) by a necromancer. The mission is to get rid of this menace, whether it be the necromancer alone, or the village as a whole.

Although, I must admit, a bit of subterfuge is a wonderful thing. Some drugs / potions to falsely lead characters into believing something that isn't so... whatever. But there is a lot of room for head games here. NPC interactions could be a large part, and in fact should be, of solving who or what is behind this.

Sure, there are a couple of modules that are fairly similar, Danger at Dunwater, Temple of Set, etc. but overall, I think that after watching this movie, you'll agree, it's a really cool setup for a neat adventure.

Cheers!

Rise of the Runelords - S&W whitebox

2011-02-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a very long time since I've actually written any of my thoughts on my daughter's game. But I thought that maybe I'd better write this down in order to keep things straight. And what better place than here?

The characters:

Coral, a fourth level Elven Adventurer.
Quick Silver, a fourth level Gnome Adventurer (I've modeled this as a mix between a halfling and dwarf, something more akin to 1E AD&D's gnome.)

A quick recap of past events: Sandpoint has been saved from the goblin incursion but now a murderer is loose. And it turns out to be none other than the foppish noble, Aldern Foxglove. For the twist, he has fallen for Coral.

The depravations that he has enacted upon the innocents of Sandpoint are clearly some type of twisted sacrifice to "his love", Coral. It comes to the fore that not only is Aldern a murderous maniac, but also some type of horrid undead, a ghast by all estimations!

His murderous spree in the surrounding countryside has created an army of ghouls, which over the course of a few weeks provides no end of action for Sandpoint's militia. The only known cure for this horrid outbreak is to figuratively cut the head off the snake, and that means that Aldern must die.

Help is sent for and a iron-hard holy man of Pharasma is sent from Magnimar. A certain Solomon Kane (I know, I know...I just couldn't help myself. Could you, if your audience had never heard of this wonderful character?) shows up on the front stoop the church in Sandpoint, calling for Coral and Quick Silver.

His specialty is the hunting and slaying of abominations, specifically the undead. He is also interested in hearing what the two adventurers have found during their escapades earlier in the area. Apparently he's also a high ranking official in the Pathfinder Society, and an invitation to the two is given, provided they prove their worth in the upcoming fight against the ghast.

Gathering up the necessary supplies (plenty of oil and holy water) the group, consisting of Shalelu the Elf, Mock Rockson the dwarf, Coral, Quick Silver and of course Solomon Kane, ride of at first light, heading for Foxglove manor, better known as "The Misgivings".

Arriving a few hours into the morning, the group finds the horrid abode surrounded in odd-acting ravens and crows, chasing them away is not hard though, led by Kane's faith in his goddess. Yet, they don't go far. And this is troublesome.

Figuring that the best way into the house is either through the back, or down into the well, the party follows their noses, figuratively. And thus select the well due to the taint wafting up on the air currents.

Mock is first down due to his aversion to heights and climbing. He makes it w/out difficulty, lights a torch and secures a "beach head". The others follow quickly and they slowly make their way into the darkness.

As the natural tunnel widens out into a limestone cavern, they are beset upon by an enormous bat. The battle is brief though as the group ply their bows to good affect, bringing the beast down w/ nary a scratch. One of the bodies in the cavern proves to be a well known criminal, known by both Shalelu as well as Solomon. A bounty of 500 gold can be collected for proof of his demise. They take his ring, gold, sword and hat as proof. His rotted carcass is well beyond "ripe" and no one is interested in carrying it.

Further in the group runs afoul of a pack of ghouls. They quickly slay them but not before the noise brings four more. Solomon proves his worth and destroys three of them as they approach w/in 30'. (Turning range in my game) Carefully the group moves yet further into the dark, mold strewn caverns.

A huge natural ampitheatre is stumbled upon, wherein a ramp winds its way down to the surface of the water. And along this ramp opens the mouth of a tunnel as well as a stone door. But the group has not the time to explore much beyond a glimpse as out of the dark come howling yet more ghouls. These were once goblins, but are yet fierce opponents.

Arrows take down the first few while the last two are brought low by Solomon's turning. (He can do this but three times / day) Breathing hard the party takes stock of their situation and in the course of this a door is heard to bang open... Light spills forth as Aldern steps out, calling for "his love" to join him.

Coral sneers and throws curses his direction. This enrages Aldern, screaming obscenities, he sprints up the ramp towards the group, waving his gore encrusted razor the entire way.

Solomon steps forward and turns the ghast at the last possible moment! Yet Aldern strains as if against an invisible force to reach is one true love, Coral. And then, he spins on his heel and disappears back down the ramp, the door slamming in his wake.

The group rushes down in pursuit to find the door locked from the inside. Not having anyone in the group who can "force" a lock, they use their hammers, pitons and climbing picks to quickly chew through the rock holding the hinges. Soon the door is laying on its face upon the floor...Revealing a horrid sight.

Once used as some type of laboratory, the room is now a mess of trash, body parts and even stranger, a mass of black and dark blue fungus growing in the shape of a man on the far wall. The overwhelming stench that roils forth causes Shalelu and Quick Silver to collapse to their knees, retching.

By this time Solomon's control over the powerful ghast has ended, so both he and Mock rush into the room to put an end to this abhorrence. Cackling and asking Coral to "join him", Aldern lays into Solomon and instantly paralyzes the holy man. Spinning and kicking him over with his heel, he then faces off with the stout dwarf.

Coral hurls her knife with a curse, but the ghast sees it coming and easily avoids it. Mock and he trade blows with neither seemingly getting the upper hand. Shalelu and Quick Silver shakily get to their feet and advance. Quick Silver pulls her sword and slides beneath the table to take a hack at Aldern's exposed legs...she lands a blow but nothing telling enough to cripple him.

Meanwhile Shalelu stands astride Solomon's body, guarding him from further depredations. She slams home her blade (rolled a 20) and deals the ghast a horrid wound, nearly severing his arm...The creature snickers and lashes out w/ his grisly razor, only to have it pass harmlessly over her head.

Soon though the ghast succumbs to the combined attacks of the four assailants and dies w/ a curse on his lips. Mock brings Solomon back but the fever is running its course through his veins and the priest has already cast his cure disease for the day. He knows though after looking about the room that this was a failed attempt at lichdom and that the abomination on the wall is what is left of Vorel Foxglove...

This place must be cleansed by holy water, fire and then blessed. But is there time? Solomon knows that the disease in his blood will soon take affect but he also knows that this MUST be taken care of. So they quickly make preparations and after two solid hours the job has been done. Though it was not easy, as the house above seemed to groan and moan in protest.

As soon as they are finished they leave as quickly as possible and are greeted by the sight of a collapsing "Misgivings". Apparently the house was held together by the sheer hatred and evil force of Aldern's great grandfather, Vorel.

The trip home is nondescript and they get Solomon to Father Zantus in time as he hurries him into the back to cast the disease from him.

Healed, Solomon pulls the two heroes into his room the next day to officially invite them into the Pathfinder Society and to ask if they would accompany him to the great city of Magnimar, where there are murders taking place that are eerily similar to those perpetrated here in Sandpoint. Coral and Quick Silver agree to go and pack their meager belongings...

It is here we ended. Great session. It was a load of fun and I can't say enough about how wonderfully the Swords and Wizardry White Box rules seem to work for the girls. They love the flexibility and simplicity.

DCC RPG Report

2011-02-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from Genghis Con here in Denver, and as promised, I am writing up my impressions of my first time playing Goodman Games' newest effort: The DCC RPG.

First off let me say that I had the particular pleasure of having the dynamic Harley Stroh as a DM...And I'll tell you right now, if you EVER get the chance to play in a game that this guy is running, do NOT hesitate to drop the dough (or whatever) and jump at the chance. I've been gaming for many many years (since the late 70's) and I can count on one tentacle how many DMs were better. (I don't actually have tentacles, in case you're wondering...That'll give you an idea how many I've encountered. That's right, none.)

So, saying that, this report might be a bit biased. Because, like all games 90% of the energy, pacing, setting, etc. comes from the DM. But I will in all honesty give you my most honest impression of the game.

I played in the second session of the day, a scenario called Beyond the Black Gate. Some of you have probably already read a bit about this at the Goodman forums...Douglas Keester wrote quite a nice review as well <http://tinyurl.com/46z9sk>, go check it out. Yeah, Douglas and I played in the same game.

On with the review then. Our pregens were 3rd level and I got lucky enough to grab the Elf. I say "lucky" for a couple of reasons:

I wanted to check out race as class and see if it had much of an effect.
I wanted to sling some spells and see that dynamic in action.
I didn't want to be a "squishy", and just stand in the back. I also wanted to mix it up in melee.

Oh, I must also premise this w/ the fact that I didn't roll all that well in the game (two '1's along w/ some basically lowish garbage), so keep that in mind. Yeah, you pay for poor rolls in this game. Which ROCKS on TOAST! I'm terribly fond of games where you react to situations, where all is NOT known and very little is truly under your control. Good fun. Very old school in "feel".

I'm not going to actually get much into the module part of it, just in case Harley and Joseph are thinking of publishing any of what we went through. Which btw, I certainly hope they do. This had such a cool feel to it. Sort of a mix of Greek myth that draws in a Persephone and Hades vibe as well as a few other things that were just flat out wicked backdrops.

As most of you already know, the character sheets were very brief. The standard things, attributes (named a bit differently), an ascending AC, hit points, some spell stuff, a few stats on how you hit things, some special racial or class abilities (e.g. I could see 60' in the dark and I wasn't affected by sleep and charm. Definitely old skool there.) and that's really about all the mechanical things on the page.

Now of course the spell slingers each got a small pamphlet of spells, which of course will likely be in the book when it's published. Each spell description had a few different little doo-dads on there that were kind of cool. The famous spell affect tables, listing what your spell roll actually netted you. (I'll explain a bit more about that in awhile.) There was also this area for how it manifested... I think that's what it was called, I don't actually have the spell sheets in front of me at the moment.

But under that manifestation area there were affects that you could roll for and it would be a cool descriptor of how the spell .... uh, well manifested. Duh. Kind of a neat "flavor" piece I thought. It reminded me a bit of that Savage Worlds mechanic of "trappings".

There are many different places that you can read about how casting works, but briefly you have only a few spells (I was third and I think I had a total of 5 spells). But the cool thing is that dependent upon the roll, those 'X' number of spells can last all day long, could fizzle out in a heartbeat (as I quickly found out), might grow in power and effect (thus actually nearly becoming something completely different...read further for more on this.), and of course it might turn you into something pretty nasty if you roll poorly.

A cool mechanic I hadn't heard about before though was the arcane ability to burn a physical attribute point to regain a spell you've lost (usually by rolling poorly in the first place), which was kind of cool. And mechanically it really tied the casting to the affects of magic on the caster's body. I liked that.

Let me give an example: (No spoilers I hope) We were beset upon by some rather nasty beasties and were between a rock and a hard spot. So we decided to activate this item we had found. Now in order to activate it you had to have 3 successful arcane rolls. OK that's fine. BUT, we knew that the power of the item wasn't going to do exactly what we needed it to do in order to get us out of this situation. So, we decided we'd spell burn (spend physical attribute points on a one to one basis in order to increment your spell roll.) in order to change the parameters of the spell. (So in other words, the spell usually only effected one person, we needed it to effect ALL of us.)

Already the game had me. I mean how cool is that? You're able to change a spell on the fly in order to bend it to your will. You just have to pay for it.

So my elf dumped 12 points into his roll. Twelve. If you're counting, that's a lot. I was obviously betting the bank on this roll right? Well I rolled a '10'. Average, but it netted a 22, which was good enough. (It was actually the second 22, so we were cool there.)

But right before it was triggered I attempted to put the hurt on this prone opponent. Here's where things went south. And I actually said as I rolled the dice, "Why shouldn't I try and kill the bad guy on my way out?"... I rolled a '1' on the die, and said, "That's why." Ooops.

Bad things happened and we ended up in a bad place once the other item triggered. Magic is super fickle in this game.

We were lucky as all get out that our cleric was rolling like a champ. He didn't roll anything lower than a 15 on any of the heal rolls! Amazing.

Oh and speaking of rolls, our barbarian (a fighter w/ a barbarian background) missed one roll all night. Seriously? Glad he was on my side.

Another situation where things went sideways for us was near the end of play when our mage rolled a perfect 20 on a Prismatic Spray! The results ended up knocking out all the bad guys as well as the entire party, minus the mage. This might sound bad, but in all honesty it was a way out that didn't even exist right before he rolled that dice. So the game dramatically changed because of that roll. It was so cool. You can't script stuff like that.

Alright, so my impressions of the game. I liked it a lot. I'm an old school guy at heart. I play Swords and Wizardry Whitebox w/ my daughters here at home, and I love it. I play in a Pathfinder game every other Tuesday night, but I'm not in love w/ the rules. Way too much fiddly stuff for my tastes.

The DCC RPG ran incredibly quickly. Combats were fast. I mean really fast. Fewer spells to choose from might have given you less "flexibility" but it also makes you think creatively as well as speeds things up in terms of available choices. One attack per character made things go fast.

No minis really caused everyone at the table to be completely engaged in what the DM was saying. Therefore no one was doing their "own thing" while someone attacked, and relying upon the battle mat and minis to "tell the story" when they refocussed.

While I think the game would play just fine w/ minis, it plays VERY well w/out them. I don't use them in my games if I can help it.

Melee for warrior types is kind of neat. You get one of those wacky dice to roll w/ your d20 when you roll to hit. The number of sides goes up every "X" amount of levels. It reminded me of the wild dice in Savage Worlds a bit. Except w/ this system you actually added the two together.

Joseph had just come up w/ a new mechanic for the fighters as well. If you were descriptive enough in your attack, wanted some type of cool outcome (not on the scale of critical) and if you rolled above a certain number on your extra dice, the DM would come up w/ some mechanical advantage. (e.g. -4 on the monster's next dice roll due to blood in the eye, etc.) It worked out well I think. It may be a bit vague on the differences between a critical and this "cool" affect. I worry that it might not be clear cut enough for some groups who just don't trust their DM enough, or are too much the rules lawyer type.

Now obviously w/ Harley at the helm it wasn't an issue. We just rolled w/ it. Rule zero baby. Very old school.

The neat thing about this game was that it felt "loose" enough to add a ton of creative play w/out feeling like you were breaking some rule or another. Yet at the same time, it was well structured enough so that guys who had been playing 3.5, 4E, and Pathfinder felt as if they were in "good hands". Which is a pretty decent accomplishment if you think about it.

At times though I wondered how I might have felt if I were playing the straight up mage, while I was rolling so poorly. Here's the 4E trap: They attempted to give everyone something to "do" every round. In other words, no mage would ever "run out of spells". With the elf I had options, I could attack, I could fire my bow. I had things to do. The mage on the other hand was pretty much screwed if his spells didn't seem to be working right. (or in my case, my dice.)

But on the plus side, w/ the mechanic where you can burn attributes in order to regain spells available, you'd be pretty hard pressed to run out of stuff to do. Magic items are obviously rare in this game. We ran across one... And we were all third level. So you can't fall back on those.

I might like to see some kind of Gandalf rule though. Let the mages carry and fight w/ swords. Although, to be honest, I didn't see anything saying you couldn't as a mage. Hmmm.

It's getting late here so I'm going to wrap this up. I apologize if it's all over the place, but I'm tired, and I honestly wanted to get as much down as possible before I forgot. So there you are. I'll try and write more later as things sort of percolate and ideas bubble up.

Cheers and again, thanks Joseph and Harley for a tremendously fun game. I'm sold. I'll definitely be knocking on your door (figuratively of course) when that game is released.

Here's our chance

2010-01-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that most of the OSR blog-o-sphere has heard about the wonderful, fantastic, humanitarian, Haiti relief sale that DriveThruRPG and its sister site RPGNow is putting on. But in case you haven't:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78023&SRC=haiti

Go check it out. It's absolutely for a good cause.

Interesting side note on this whole thing though: I only saw a dribble of OSR material offered. Now I don't know how the authors were contacted, and I'm making an assumption that they WERE contacted, but I would imagine that this would be the PERFECT opportunity to get some exposure. At this writing, they've already generated over $23K in proceeds! That's well over 1100 eyeballs...And that's in just a few hours!

I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't see more OSR material. I don't know the details on how the items were selected for inclusion to the list, but I'd be willing to bet that it was on the basis of "If you said 'yes', then some of your merchandise was included."

On the upside, it was so cool seeing stuff from Jim Raggi and Troll Lord Games in there. Good job guys! Bravo! Way to be on the ball and get your merchandise on the list.

Let's Give this Another Try

2010-01-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

It's been ages since I've last posted. I apologize for that. Things have become absolutely crazy at home and at work. The holiday season is obviously busy for everyone, but man, this year was nuts. Work became absolutely kooky. I mean really crazy. But I'm taking a breath and thought that I'd write a small post regarding something kind of close to my heart: Playing Dungeons and Dragons with my daughters.

We played a game last winter (about a year ago) that also, for the first time, included my wife. It was a great time. But...all good things come to an end. The girls decided that the lure of the outdoors during the summer was just too great, so we put the game on hold. My wife reevaluated playing and decided that, even though she had a good time, it just wasn't her gig. Sooooo...I was forced to figure out a bit different approach.

Short story long, my daughters (especially my youngest) kept asking when we were going to be playing again. I buckled but decided that the old model (more of a sandbox approach) wasn't really what they were looking for. You have to understand, they don't have a lot of RPG experience, and they're young to boot, so real-life experience is lacking as well. That's not to say that they're not bright, inquisitive and eager. They are.

Like I mentioned, the sandbox just wasn't working correctly, they didn't have the right mindset, as kids, to be bold enough, to just go and "explore". Maybe it was specific to my daughters...I don't know. Either way though, something needed to change. I found myself sort of "guiding" them in order to get things moving.

A story seemed to be the ticket. I didn't want to introduce any type of "rail road" elements, but what I did want to do was give the girls both a sense of purpose as well as the sense that they were "in" a story. I know that this is sounding rather lame, coming from and "old schooler". Either way, I thought I'd give it a try.

I looked around a bit. Looked through my shelves, which are bulging to overflowing with material and thought about a "story" that I'd like to tell, that I thought the girls would like to be a part of. I came up with Paizo's The Rise of the Runelords adventure "path". Yes, that's what they're calling it. A path.

When I gave up my subscription to Dungeon magazine because of WotC (Hasbro) yanking it from Paizo, I had some money left so they sent me the first two paths. I never really looked at them in any great depth due to my quickly waning interest in 3.5. This was right around the time that I started looking around for an "old school" game.

But I thought, "what the heck" let's take a gander at these and see what all the brew ha ha is about. I've got a friend who owns a game store called Enchanted Grounds, and he's been playing (and selling) these things for awhile now. He's an old school guy at heart, and has been playing 1st edition for years and years, so I trust his judgement.

Again, short story long, I paged through it and really liked what I saw. Now this isn't some kind of plug for Paizo, I have nothing invested in their company per se, in other words, what I found is not something I read somewhere, it's my honest opinion.

The writing is clear and concise, the layout is FANTASTIC, the art is meh...it's some of that manga-esque type stuff that just doesn't turn my crank. One of the coolest aspects of the way they do these "paths" though is that they add all sorts of background, support and flavor pieces. It's not just the adventure, it's so much more.

But the adventure itself, is very well done. I can see how some might call it an exercise in railroading, but they're set pieces, not based on any type of forced schedule. There's an overarching story behind what's going on but it's not pushed. In short, I liked what I saw, and had made my choice.

Now, to choose the rules. I had sworn years ago that I would never again run a game of 3.X Dungeons and Dragons. The pain point was just too high. And I certainly did NOT want to expose the girls to that type of rules-bound experience. We'd played Labyrinth Lord and Castles and Crusades, so they had some experience with some of the older style rules. I went retro, I decided that Swords and Wizardry was the way to go. Something very very basic, that doesn't run over the story, but it flexible enough to allow me to adjudicate on the fly.

In the end, we sat down at the table, rolled up characters that ended up on note cards, (they loved that) and introduced them to the town of Sandpoint. All in all it took us about 3 hours. Time flew by and we had a hoot.

From what I remember we've got:

Quicksilver: A female gnome adventurer. (Styled after the dwarf with a bit of druid thrown in as well.)

Coral: A female elven adventurer. (Now this isn't a "normal" elf, she's 1/2 standard elf and 1/2 sea elf. Her home is somewhere out west of Sandpoint.)

They've just entered town and are having supper in the Hagfish. They've been involved in the "yarning" that goes on there, have met a few of the locals. and have been regaled to some extent with a small portion of what's gone on in town over the last couple of years. They're hooked.

So anyway, I'll post the adventure write-ups as they happen. This is going to be fun.

Castles and Crusades (Session 8, Dec 8, 09)

2009-12-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

We had another game of Castles and Crusade the other night. I'm going to try something a bit different this time, instead of a play-by-play format I'll give a shot at writing out a bullet list of events. Experience and treasure will come at the end.

PCs wake up after a late night "welcome home" dinner at the Inn of the Welcome Wench.
Dwarves have stopped in for breakfast on their way north. Fisk asks about news from the road and hears about reavers on the southern coast. The dwarves also supply a map to the Broken Stones.
Lassirial visits Burne to find out what the bone bowl does. On the way he sees a group of people gathered in the workers camp...around one specific tent. Looks like they're investigating last night's murder. The bowl acts like a crystal ball when filled with human blood. Burne offers to destroy it.
Freddy digs up his treasure (4 potions) and buries a bit more.
Roog visits Manni, the smith and asks to have his armor "fitted". It'll take a few days.
The party stocks up, and hits the road at mid-day, with 2 mules, Elmo, Spugnoire, and Drizzle.
Elmo leads till dark. He loses his way and they camp.
Morning breaks with a leaden sky. It starts to lightly rain as breakfast is served and picks up in intensity as they break camp.
Elmo finds his way back to the trail. (It's very hard to see.)
They make their way to the Broken Stones. It's a long ways out.
Situated on a low rise, there are all sorts of tumbled stones, but it hardly resembles any kind of a city at all. It's very large though, covers many square acres.
Search for a few hours and find an abandoned fire, along w/ a choked passage down.
Clearing it, they all descend into a system of natural caverns.
Exploring the rooms they run across 8 legged opossums, a bubbling spring of black water that stinks and tastes foul, yet leaves a pleasant tingle in the mouth and throat when drops are consumed.
Lassirial examines an elven skeleton and finds a ruby clutched in its hand.
A slime-covered frog is battled on the shores of a lake that flows "UP" a water...uh...waterfall?
Freddy is used as an under water spelunker. Tied to 3 ropes he swims out and is caught in the current and swept up the falls into a worked tunnel. At the end of the rope he's pulled back. He spies a chest lying on the bottom of the lake and can't reach it.
Roog carries a rock out, swaps it for the chest and returns to the shore.
It's full of silver and an Elven necklace w/ a ruby. There's another setting for a second ruby but it's missing. Lassirial places the second ruby in the setting and Spugnoire detects that it's slightly magic.
Halflings, ragged and unkempt slink out of the tunnel and threaten Lassirial for the necklace. He runs, they and 3 more of their fellows follow.
Battle is joined. Two halflings fall immediately but three bring Lassirial to the ground and take the necklace.
Fisk heals Lassirial. Lassirial back stabs halflilng with necklace, kills him and takes back necklace.
A voice calls out "Get 'em boys!" and 20 more halflings pour out of a northern cave entrance.
The unseen voice and Fisk bargain for surrender. Unseen voice belongs to leprechaun.
Deal is made: Halflings will back off, and for necklace leprechaun will return children and any other survivors. He knows where they are, they're NOT in his possession.
The 20 halflings disappear (illusion) and the others retreat with necklace. (Lassirial pulls the 2nd ruby out previous to handing it over. Leprechaun does not see this.)
Freddy stealthily follows leprechaun and finds out that they were not going to return children "right away": No time limit was set.
Freddy fights leprechaun and puts him into chest that he viewed him digging up and placing necklace into. Retrieves necklace and small "toy" chest.
Freddy returns to party wearing leprechaun's hat, with necklace in hand.
Party goes back digs up chest. Fisk again bargains for return of children, now with leprechauns life / freedom in balance.
Leprechaun leaves to return children as soon as possible. Has necklace to trade with "Prince" for the children. The "Prince" is the son of Ylfritt, some type of Queen who wants the necklace for some unknown reason.

Treasure:

2000 pieces of "Elven" silver (Strange, ancient, octagonal coins.)
Gold and Ruby Necklace (Now with Leprechaun)
Extra ruby

Experience: 336 / ea.

Castles and Crusades (Session 7, Nov 24 '09)

2009-11-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

Players - PCs
Ed - Roog (1/2 ogre fighter)
Ray - Lassirial (Elf assassin)
Wes - Brother Thabitor Fisk (Human Cleric)
Jeff - Fast Fingers Freddy the Filcher (1/2-ling thief)

NPCs
Thiala - (Human Female Paladin)
Elmo - (Human Ranger)
Spugnoire - (Human Merchant / Wizard)
Drizzle Spatchcock - (Human Wizard)

We played another of our bi-weekly Castles and Crusades games this past Tuesday. Starting a bit earlier than normal, we had a wonderful session and got quite a bit of the dungeon under the Moat House explored.

Brother Fisk wakes up to take his watch and heals Roog's bleeding wound before the elated 1/2 ogre falls off to sleep. The next morning dawns sunny and windy as the party tries out some of Roog's "cinnamon toast"...an invention of the cooking warrior. (I'm going to start assuming that when the rest of the characters are gearing up for an extended stay in the dungeons, Roog is off purchasing food items that are NOT your standard adventure fare.)

Down into the dripping, mold and moss strewn halls the party descends. They head immediately for the sections of the dungeon that have yet to be explored. The first room that they run into is an old library of sorts, books lie strewn across the floor in puddles of moldy water. Most of them ruined beyond repair. But this doesn't stop Spugnoire, books are what he's been searching for, and he dives right in.

Most of the titles are of little interest, but after a few hours of searching the ceiling-high shelves, three likely books are located:

'Bubbles from the Bottom Most' - A prayer book.
'Divine Hunger' - Deals with how to gorge oneself and why it's important.
'Follow the Flies' - Some type of book about expansion plans.

All of the books mention a god named Tsathoguaa...which tickles the memory of the cleric, Fisk, but he can not remember anything substantial. A man named Roark also features prominently as well. The book 'Follow the Flies' has maps of the local area, bills of lading, plans of expansion and a map showing the location of the "Main Temple" on some island far to the south.

Adventuring further, with Freddy and Lassirial leading the way as silently as possible, the party wanders into an area that is mostly flooded. The black surface of the water ripples slightly, indicating some type of movement within. The room itself seems to have been a storage room for writing implements, including parchment, ink pots, leather bindings, quills and such.

Water is not something that the party is prepared to cross so they back off and head around the other way. (Two things here: One, the party is really using the map well. Jeff is the party mapper and takes a lot of pride in detail. I love this. Two, it's interesting to me to see how water can deter parties of nearly any level.)

Exploring more of the dungeon, they find a passage that leads around to the opposite side of the flooded room. This section though appears to have been a scriptorium of sorts. Tall wooden desks stand throughout the room, or what remains of them, while paper and books lie throughout. The majority of the room is flooded as well, but it's not till Spugnoire and Roog adventure a bit further to nab a book lying on the side of the water, that they find the water's fairly deep.

As they reach for the sodden tome, a crested, lizard-like head slowly surfaces from the middle of the "pond", hands raised showing no weapons. Roog raises his hands as well, one containing a large mace. The creature grunts out that it doesn't want to fight and is interested in trading.

A difficult conversation follows, resulting in a trade of the silvered sphere for a key that allows access to a secret room located in a yet to be explored section on the map. Freddy considers this a fair trade and contrary to Fisk's warnings, he trades for the key, visions of riches dancing in his head. Nodding, the lizard-like creatures (one other was detected further back in the shadowed hallway.) slowly slip into the water and disappear.

Immediately the party postulates on how these creatures got in here...And Fisk suggests that there's quite likely a natural spring that emerges here in the riven rock and they've swam back and forth this way.

Exploring towards the undiscovered portion of the map, in search of the hidden door and "great riches", the party soon moves into a roughly 'U' shaped room. The northern wall is partially collapsed but, following the lizard creature's directions, they find a well hidden door with only about a half hour worth of searching. Using the key, they enter a dry, well sealed room to find a large desk behind which sits an ancient skeleton pinned to the chair with a silvered crossbow bolt.

A careful search of the room reveals a strange scepter with a frog-like eye sitting atop it. When picked up though, it feels as if the handle is moist, and when Lassirial looks at it, it appears that the handle is actually now a tongue. He drops it immediately. A small bag of agates are discovered in a locked drawer and a scrimshaw thigh bone is found beneath the skeleton's robes.

No one in the party is able to read the scrimshaw writing, but Lassirial comes up with a theory that if one looks "through" they amphibian eye-rod it could be deciphered. This is partially correct, and as he picks up the disgusting scepter, the writing appears to be in common now. Reading it reveals this:

"Brother Roark, The foulsome enemy has found us, and we are now under siege. I have emptied the treasury and am sending it by boat as per your instructions. We will follow in all haste. Once in Tel Qa, we'll ask for Captain Ganlon at the Wharf Rat as we have in the past, and show him our coin. He is a trusted agent, we should be with you soon. Be wary, be vigilant, and my you hunger always."

The eye scepter also reveals a thin seam around the top, which when unscrewed, divulges a tightly rolled vellum scroll within. Drizzle looks at the scroll and doesn't recognize the three spells:

Excruciating Cauterization
Furngoth's Force of Forbidment
Word of IOUN

After exhausting all options in the secret room, the group cautiously explores more of the dungeon. Freddy and Yassirial soon come around a corner and spot two back-lit figures standing stock still. Slowly pulling back they inform the rest of the party.

Fisk decides that these must be undead and comes around the corner bearing his holy symbol, "In the name of Odin, I bid thee BEGONE!". No luck. The zombies charge and combat is on. Roog and Elmo take the fore and meet the creatures half way. Blows are traded and much damage is dealt out on both sides. In fact, Roog takes a mighty blow from one of the foul creatures and falls to the floor, unconscious.

Fisk steps into the gap with his spear and slays the undead monstrosity while Elmo's is soon taken down by Drizzle's magic missile. Roog is brought to consciousness just as the room from whence the zombies came turns pitch black. Roog has never seen such a thing and sticks his head into the black "wall"..."Bad dark darkness" he mutters.

Freddy hears a rhythmic muttering from within the room, decides that he can navigate relying only upon his dexterity and hearing, and proceeds towards the voice. A shuffling groan is emitted just as he clears the spell's borders and he finds a tall bean pole thin human kneeling next to a mystic circle on the ground, facing away from him towards a zombie who has just risen from the mess of bodies strewn around the room.

The halfling sneaks up behind the necromancer and without further ado, buries his dagger in his brain, to the hilt. (rolled a natural 20) The evil spell caster does not utter a word and falls to the floor lifeless. Roog comes in and quickly takes care of the recently raised zombie quite quickly.

A sickening sight meets the party as the darkness dissolves. Cadavers, stacked like cord wood, lay along the eastern wall, while evil devices, drawings and experiments lie scattered across the room. The only other exit is an obviously new door in the northern wall.

After looking carefully through the room, the party discovers a brain pan bowl of obvious necromantic worth along with a pile of discarded loot gathered over years of raiding. Bolts of expensive cloth, objects of art and a couple of chipped urns containing coins lie nearly forgotten...a further testament to the necromancer's true interests.

Fisk pushes the northern door open to find himself facing 5 grey goblins. They leap up from a table and attack the priest with gusto. Landing three lucky shots, they bring him to the ground...unconscious and bleeding badly. Charging in, the rest of the party brings three of the goblins down quickly, while the other two break and run. One gets Lassirial's dagger in the back for his troubles and Spugnoire quickly casts a sleep spell...ending their departure.

Meanwhile, Freddy tries the Necromancer's potion on Fisk, in the hopes that it heals his friend. Fisk disappears, it was invisibility. ARGH! What a waste, thinks Freddy. Oh well. He then applies the potion that he knows is a heal draught and brings Fisk back to consciousness. But the priest has fun with his newly acquired invisibility.

There are 6 donkeys tied up to the wall of the goblin's roughly circular room, these, along with a couple of kegs (one small beer and another fine pipe weed.), some rotting food, sleeping pallets, and a rough table and chairs, completes the rooms contents. A long, rough hewn tunnel leads to the east.

The party loads up their newly acquired loot and heads off down the tunnel, assuming that it leads outside. It does, and they emerge into the late afternoon sun, not more than 100 yards away from the Moat House. From there, they head back to Hommlet and the Inn of the Welcome Wench.

Once back in town, they eat a wonderful meal, regaling the rest of the Inn's patrons with the story and then get a comforting night's sleep in their rooms.

That evening, while the rest of the party is telling tales, Lassirial takes care of business. He makes his way to the worker's camp, finds his "mark" and waits. Once the man goes to sleep, the assassin sneaks into the tent and quietly slits the man's throat. He rifles through his stuff, finds proof (a family crest on a medallion) and quietly sneaks back into the night to return to the Inn.

The next day they visit Burne and speak to him about their adventures. He is convinced that the raids over the last few years have been a combination of both the brigands as well as the necromancer. He's surprised to hear that the evil spell caster had been there as long as he had.

He pays the party for their services and speaks to them about the two lost children. This will be the group's next mission. Freddy figures that this might clear his name...

Lassirial pays Burne 100 gold pieces to cast an identify upon a dagger that he discovered in a drawer's hidden compartment in the secret chamber. It turns out the black blade, upon dealing a killing blow, transfers to the user a bonus to his next strike. (See below for more details.)

This is where we ended it. The party has decided to travel to the Jagged Stones in order to track down the children. The parents of the children have left the day before, with two militiamen in tow. But no word has been heard since.

Treasure:

5 bolts of cloth, stained and in poor condition, but worth 60 gold nonetheless.
A jacinth anklet portraying a woman hunting a stag. (10 gold)
A garnet pin. (60 gold)
A porcelain statue of two dogs playing with a little boy. Chipped but worth 30 gold.
Two tapestries in fairly good condition. (100 gold)
Two urns (chipped and worn but valued at 10 gold ea.) full of coins: 223 gold, 97 silver, 576 copper.
A brain pan circled with brass and strange runes. (MAGIC: powers unknown)
A black obsidian knife. (MAGIC: Normally +1 to hit and damage, but upon a killing stroke, a bonus of 1d6 is added to the next to hit.)
A small bag of rare black agates (12 of them at 60 gold ea.)
Scroll of three spells (see above) (MAGIC)
Eye scepter (MAGIC)
Necromancer's black iron chainmail (+1 in essence, but also inimical to fey)
Bone scroll tube with scrimshaw writing
Potion of invisibility (Used on Fisk)
Three books (see above)
Stack of papers from the secret room detailing day to day operations of the hidden cult

Experience:

643 exp ea.

Wouldn't THAT be cool!

2009-11-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

I've been playing Dragon Age Origins on my Xbox 360. I like the game. I don't LOVE the game, but I think it's certainly entertaining and has some replay value, which is something I look for in a console game. (I hate buying a game, playing it once and returning it to some store for credit on my next purchase. Bleh!)

But I was cogitating on what might make a really COOL game. And here's what I came up with from a high level:

Has the cool character / surface capabilities that Assassin's Creed offers. i.e. You can climb nearly any surface. (Prince of Persia has some cool features in there too...not quite as deep as Assassin's Creed though.)
Has the neat open-ended character / item interaction that Oblivion offers. i.e. You can go into any house and get up on any table, walk across it and watch dishes break...
Has the neat scenery-as-NPC features that Tomb Raider offers. i.e. The cool obstacles and scenery in Tomb Raider is as large (or larger) a part of the game as the baddies.
Has the excellent character / NPC interaction that Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect offers. i.e. There are some really cool choices that your PC needs to make that affect the game immensely.
Plays like Diablo, in the respect that you can guide a party from a 3rd person vantage point.

Now, put all of these together and imagine a game where you have a party of characters that adventure through cool, other-worldly vistas and interact with neat obstacles like huge, tumbled cyclopean blocks, or cenotes in an ancient jungle. The mechanics are there, someone just needs to put them all together and come up with a game that incorporates both adventure at the grand level as well as exploration on a personal level.

Imagine coming to a cliff wall while on a deep delve some lost caverns somewhere, you have the ability to climb walls, but you've forgotten a rope in your inventory. Uh oh. Now what? Either the game provides for alternative methods of overcoming the obstacle, that aren't so obvious as an ascent with a rope, or you go back and purchase one at the nearest retail outlet. ;-)

There are so many neat possibilities here. I'm sure that someone has thought about it somewhere. But the things that make older edition D&D so cool, the exploration, the strategic thinking required, the gritty swords and sorcery feel...All those things could be incorporated with today's technology and I feel that the resultant game would be spectacular.

Don't get me wrong, I far prefer a face to face, table-top RPG to an electronic stand-in any day of the week. But during those all too common times when you thirst for adventure and you can't whip a group together out of thin air at 10 pm, then the e-game will have to suffice.

Ciao for now.

Castles and Crusades (Session 6, Nov 10 09)

2009-11-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

Players - PCs
Ed - Roog (1/2 ogre fighter)
Ray - Lassirial (Elf assassin)
Wes - Brother Thabitor Fisk (Human Cleric)

Jeff - Fast Fingers Freddy the Filcher (1/2-ling thief)

NPCs
Thiala - (Human Female Paladin)
Elmo - (Human Ranger)

We had another session of Castles and Crusades last night... Here's what happened.

While the party was going on downstairs, Freddy decides that he'd take the opportunity to make a little "coin" on the side. After a bit of perusing the crowd downstairs, he figures that the best mark would be Spugnoire, the merchant. A bit of chit chat with one of the barmaids and he figures out which room Spugnoire resides in.

But there's a problem, the upstairs common room has people inside and Freddy's afraid that they'll catch him in the act. So what to do? He figures out a plan, goes back downstairs to pay the barmaid enough for 9 small beers, head back upstairs and tells those in the room that someone downstairs has bought a free round of drinks. The common room clears in a heartbeat. One problem solved.

Next he heads to the merchant's room and hastily unlocks it. In he slides...the room is dark and well kept. A cloak hangs on a peg behind the door and inside he finds 8 silver pieces. Under the bed is a backpack and 5 potions. And at the foot of the bed sits a small, dark wooden chest. He looks for any traps and not seeing any he unlocks it.

PSHHHH! Tinkle, tinkle... A glass vial breaks and acid is sprayed everywhere. Only Freddy's fast reflexes saves him from a full-on blast. Still, it sears his skin and burns holes in his shirt. Ah, but inside are 3 scroll tubes of bone. And under that, hidden in a secret padded compartment lie 4 gems of moderate size. He takes all but the scroll tubes.

Hearing motion outside the room he rushes to the window and hurriedly climbs out. A little too hurriedly in fact, he slips in his haste and falls. He lands poorly and twists his ankle but immediately recovers and hobbles to the side of the Inn, feigning drunkenness. Around back and across to the house next door he stumbles....and behind he hears a gruff voice. "You OK? I saw you fall from that window."

Freddy turns and there stands the Blacksmith, from across the way. Freddy explains that he was partying with some folks up in the room and they got a bit too rambunctious and he fell from the window in his drunken state. The Blacksmith seems mollified and leaves. Freddy wanders to a nearby grove of trees, buries his treasure, wrapped in his shirt, and marks the tree w/ a small 'W'.

Now he needs a shirt. It is a warm evening, but it's rather unusual to be running around w/out a shirt at this time of night. The work camp for the castle is near and Freddy finds a rather-too-large shirt there. Afterwards he decides to see if he can't sneak back into the Inn. He climbs to the roof but finds that there's too much traffic now for him to make it inside. Seems that in the interim, Spugnoire has gone back to his room and found it pilfered.

Ostler Gundigoot gets into the action and has guards circle the building in case the thief is still out there...Little do they realize. But by this time Freddy has taken up refuge high in the old oak standing next to the Inn. The guards find nothing.

During the entire interlude, the party has let out and Spugnoire, before he's figured out that he's been robbed, approaches Fisk asking if it would be OK if he tagged along to the Moat House. He's dreadfully interested in libraries and wizardly tomes and such... and there's sure to some of that at the old Moat House right?

Also, Yessirial has taken it upon himself to find his mark. He heads to the work camp, knowing that the mark was last seen there. Sure enough, after about an hour of observation, he find the man. He's changed...of course, hard labor can do that, but Yessirial recognizes the walk. Seems he's in some type of position of authority, the men pay a certain deference to him. Well, now he's go the location, he'll save the rest for later.

Next morning comes and Elmo shows up, looking for his share of the pay. Ooops. The party tells him that they don't have it with them at the moment but that they'll buy him a magic axe as soon as they can afford it. He seems happy enough with this arrangement.

Freddy has since woken up and wandered off to find a shirt that fits a bit better. He comes across the tailor, who's tossing knives, with no small amount of skill, into a board. Perfect. He purchases, for one copper bit, a shirt previously made for a child. Outfitted thus, he heads back to the Inn to tell his story of woe.

He was beset upon while upstairs in the Inn last night. The men, possibly up to four of them, came from behind, knocked him unconscious and took him outside, via the window, to roll him. Everyone is upset. Spugnoire sits there with his mouth open, and Ostler is horrified. To think, this all happened in HIS INN! At Ostler's urging, they all decide over breakfast (which coincidentally, Roog helped cook) to go and see Burne about this disturbance. After all, it has been suggested that the escaped bandits from the Moat House could quite possibly be behind this bold assault.

Burne, ever level headed, suggests that they ask around town and find out if anyone saw anything suspicious. Gulp...Freddy's not too keen on that score. The topic soon changes to the Moat House though. Burne pays them each 20 gold talons, as agreed, for the first foray. But he's willing to offer 20 more per head, if they go back and map out the dungeons. He's got maps of the upper floors and would like to reconcile them with what the party comes up with, but he's got nothing for the lower sections.

The party agrees and takes their leave, just as a two men and women, obviously husbands and wives, come across the small draw bridge, guided by the sergeant-at-arms. The women are both crying and the men are obviously very upset. Seems that their children, a little boy of 7 and a little girl of 9, have gone missing, after heading out to the Broken Stones on a dare.

Freddy, eager to somehow clear his name, comes back and asks if there's something they can do to help. Burne says that there might be, and after a bit more research into the matter, he'll contact them. For now though, off to the Moat House.

The party gears up at the Trader's establishment, Fisk purchases a shield, Yessirial some crossbow bolts and inquires about some poison. Somehow he just knows that these two can get their hands on some. Indeed they can whispers Ranos Davl, but it will take a week to get it in. Too long says Yessirial and leaves without.

Summer breezes blow across the land as high clouds scud through the sky, the journey is actually quite pleasant, considering the last half is through a swamp. Nothing untoward occurs though and they reach the Moat House about 40 minutes before dark.

A little reconoitering by Yessirial and Freddy and they find out the the trap's still in place and it doesn't appear as if they brigands have returned. As night falls it's decided upon by the group that they will bed down in the same room that they'd occupied nearly a week past. They find it abandoned, close the door and proceed to make camp.

Later that night, on Roog's watch, the 1/2-ogre decides that the lure of spices, in the old kitchen, is just too much. He quietly disarms the pans from the door (Fisk's wily warning system), and sneaks out. Coming to the old kitchen, he peers through the door to see some type of enormous bug crawling upon the counter. He quietly sneaks in and deals the creature a tremendous blow. But the bug proves more resilient than that, it spins about and leaps upon the surprised Roog.

As the monstrous tick attempts to find purchase upon the warrior's body, Roog deals it yet another blow...that would have felled an ox. Yet the creature still moves and scrabbles for a hold.

The probiscus finds a target between Roog's neck and the armor, where it sinks in deep and starts to suck. Roog yells and pulls the disgusting bug off, dashing it to the ground whereupon he deals the final blow, smashing it to pulp. Disgusting.

Looking though the broken and rotted cabinets, Roog finds a small tun of sealed cinnamon. Hopefully it's still good... With his prize happily tucked beneath one arm, and a finger staunching the flow of blood from his wound, the tired warrior makes his way back to the room. He quietly replaces the door alarm, waking only Yessirail, and he reclines peacefully up against the wall to resume his watch. All is right with the world.

And this is where we cut it off for the evening.

I didn't feel as if I had the proper energy level last night. It was unfortunate because we only play once every two weeks and the sessions are too few and far between for me to be flat. Work has been a bitch lately though so it's been tough to mentally and emotionally get to that place I need to be. Nevertheless, I think that the guys had fun during our brief session.

We played from 7 - 10 pm. 3 hours every other week doesn't seem like nearly enough to get any kind of emotional impetus going in a game. Oh well, if that's the best we can hope to do, then we'll certainly make due.

Castles and Crusades (Session 5, Oct 27 09)

2009-10-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Players - PCs
Ed - Roog (1/2 ogre fighter)
Ray - Lassirial (Elf assassin)
Paul - Drizzle Spatchcock (Human MU)

NPCs
*Thiala - (Human Female Paladin)
Elmo - (Human Ranger)

*My eldest daughter played Thiala (yeah, I spelled it wrong last posting), for a little while last night.

Two of our our players bowed out last night, so we played with 4 (3 after my daughter left.) and due to an imminent winter storm warning, cut it off a bit earlier than normal.

We opened with the group entering Hommlet about 2 hours before the dawn, after a long journey through the swamp and then west on the "Great Road". As they entered town they noticed small plates of food surrounded by nearly burnt-out candles, sitting on porches and steps everywhere.

Not sure what to make of this strange tradition, Elmo split off for home while the rest of the party proceeded to the Inn of the Welcome Wench. After waking one of Ostler's daughters they were soon sitting before a well stocked table of breakfast food. A few things of note occurred during the meal:

Broog showed Ostler and the head cook his mushrooms (called Night Caps) that had been harvested from under the Moat House. They were indeed rare and according to Ostler, very expensive. So much so that the small bag, once traded, paid for breakfast, rooms and a "formal" dinner that evening which will feature dishes created with the special mushrooms.
Ostler's daughter told them that the candles and food were for the fey folk. On each full moon and new moon a small sacrifice of food must be made, or the fey become upset and bad things happen.
All the goods that the party garnered from their journey to the Moat House were laid out for others to view. Many workmen and locals, in for breakfast, saw the treasures and were amazed.

A well deserved rest followed the hearty breakfast, allowing the party to catch up on much needed sleep.

Eight hours later and the party is sending out invitations for the formal supper to those in town that might be interested in purchasing items from the Moat House. These people are also quite important dignitaries in town and it is for this reason as well that Drizzle is interested in them.

The list of invitees is as follows:

Rufus and Burne
Canon Terjon of the church of St. Cuthbert
Brewmeister Jep
Gremag and Ranos Davl from the Traders Establishment

And of course all the members of the party, Freddy, Fisk, Lassirial, Thaila, Brool and Drizzle, are in attendance as well.

Lassirial hangs back and carefully watches each who enters, trying to figure them out and assess their relative strengths. This information is then relayed to Drizzle, who stores it away for future reference. The assassin finds out some surprising things while verifying some suppositions:

Rufus and Burne are who they claim to be
Gremag and Ranos are more than they claim to be (Gremag also somehow recognizes Lassirial's assassin's symbol sewn into his clothing)
Canon Terjon is gruff, yet also quite experienced
Brewmeister Jep is who he says he is
Ostler is more than he says as well

Wine is poured and hors d'oeuvres are served while items from the Moat House are perused and conversation is had. Canon Terjon takes immediate interest in the silver sphere with the small black stone-tadpole within. He claims that it is a religious item from a long lost god, who he's not certain. But the item itself is called an Egg of the Old One, and he says it would be ill advised to handle another one. They've been lucky this time around.

Other items go to other people and all in all the group makes a grand total of 900 gold pieces! The following is a list of items sold:

A jeweled dagger
2 bolts of fine cloth
Crystal flagon and 4 goblets
Inlaid wooden box with ivory handles
A couple suits of armor (2 leather, 1 scale and 1 ring)
A longsword, spear, and 2 short swords

All in all a pretty decent take.

This is where we ended it.

A couple questions for next session that the group might want to think about:

Did you want to sell the sphere to Canon Terjon?
What's the deal with Gremag and Ranos?
The job at the Moat House is not yet finished...there's pay to be had via Burne.
Burne would like to compare the party's maps of the Moat House with what he has.

Book Review 'The Deed of Paksenarrion'

2009-10-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

I don't often do book reviews. Well heck, let's be honest here, I've never done a book review, and there's a reason for that. I often think that reviews are generally meaningless. All of them are subjective and if anyone knows anything about people, it's that, "what appeals to one, won't appeal to all". So going into this with eyes wide open, and realizing that I'm being absolutely and completely subjective here, I'm going to attempt to write down my impressions of the book 'The Deed of Parksenarrion'.

First and foremost, I'd hadn't heard of this book until a buddy that I play D&D with was telling me about it after we had a discussion about paladins. So, I had no real preconceived notions, other than the paladin thing, going into it. This is surprising really, I used to be a voracious reader and it came out about the time that I was reading 2 to 3 books a week. How did I miss it? I'm not sure.

Written by author Elizabeth Moon in 1988 and 89 as a three volume set, the omnibus was published as a whole in 1992, and for that I'm glad. Personally, I absolutely LOVE having a series in one book. I loathe having to traipse all over the city looking for the second or third in a series if the local shop has sold out. Yuck. Sure it's a "big" load when travelling, but I'm OK with that.

Now, as for my overall impression of the story itself, I loved it. It was the first book in a long time that I've had a tough time putting down. There were a lot of reasons for this I imagine.

The author had military experience and it showed. Much of the book takes place while Paksenarrion is in the military and there is a lot of texture that the author injects that lends such realism. She does a great job of also portraying a very strong and competent heroine. There are things that go wrong, yes, she gets injured, but overall, Elizabeth Moon does a very good job of making you believe that there's a little bit more to this girl Paksenarrion.

Another thing that I noticed right away was that the author played Dungeons and Dragons. There were obvious references to it throughout the book. James M. over at Grognardia has blogged about books that have been influenced by the game versus books that have influenced the game. Like him, I generally prefer the later category. I'm not a big fan of books that have nearly literal links to the game. But this one was different.

The references, while obvious, weren't overdone and heavy handed. Moon changed things subtly so that if you didn't know anything at all about Dungeons and Dragons things would still make plenty of sense. In other words, she didn't assume that people reading the book were gamers.

But if you read closely you'll run across references that are just so old school that you can't help but smile. Elizabeth probably played the game during the "golden age" of D&D, and the little tid-bits that you come across are so obviously "Gygaxian". I really loved those parts of the book. Heck, I loved the whole book.

I'm not going to tell any of the story here, but suffice it to say that the writing isn't your standard high fantasy. Yes there are elves, dwarves, gnomes, orcs and even the equivalent of Drow, but magic, as it pertains to the setting is very rare and wondrous. In other words the overall story is very gritty.

The story takes place on a much more humanistic level so there's no hugely sweeping, fantastical vistas or world crushing magic spells, etc. It's a very down to earth, if such a thing can be said, and because of that, it seemed to strike a chord in me that was much more reminiscent of the Swords and Sorcery or Swords and Planets genre. Most of my reading has been Leiber, Howard, Smith and Vance of late, so I was not expecting to like this book, even with all the friendly accolades. But I did.

I liked it a LOT. Pick it up if you haven't yet and give it a chance. It's pretty good stuff.

Castles and Crusades (Session 4, Oct 13 09)

2009-10-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

Players - PCs
Ed - Roog (1/2 ogre fighter)
Ray - Lassirial (Elf assassin)
Paul - Drizzle Spatchcock (Human MU)
Jeff - Frederick Five Fingers (1/2-ling thief)
Wes - Thabador Fisk (Human Cleric of Odin)

NPCs
Thyla - (Human Female Paladin)
Elmo - (Human Ranger)
Wonkin Fire Eye - (Wayward man-at-arms)
Portly Tom - (Wayward man-at-arms)

For reasons that I won't go into here, we've started up a game of Castles and Crusades in earnest. Dovetailing off of the previous "pick up" game, we've shuffled a few players around and have done some creative addition / subtraction, but think that we've got the semi-permanent players at the table now. So, on with the game.

We open in the dungeons beneath the Moat House. A burned-out, lair for ne'er-do-wells, bandits and other, more unsavory types, the building is a concern for the local land owners: Rufus and Burne. As such, they've hired a small group of adventurers to take a look into the rumors of a rise in banditry and some strange goings-on in that area.

So far, the group has chased away a hive of bandits that had been utilizing the back tower as a lair. A chest of treasure was an ample reward. Other hazards faced and conquered include: A giant viper, a massive hunting spider and a green slime.

A secret door, discovered in the bandit's chamber, led down to the subterranean depths. Here they found a round room with a pool in the center of it. Where they encountered and defeated the green slime. Within the pool they also found a silver sphere containing a black obsidian totem of a tadpole.

After this, one character was "replaced" with another: The paladin Thyla takes her leave and is replaced with the elven assassin Lassarial. Ever onward the characters adventure, trying to figure out what foul presence (if any indeed) is behind the odd occurrences at the moat house.

On the way out of the room, the group is ambushed by a wandering / patrolling group of grey goblins. The gobs have their faces painted with ash and lard to appear more cadaverous. Their rusted, notched cleaver-like weapons are splotched with gobbets of what appears to be flesh of some sort...A disease waiting to happen. Opening with arrows from the dark, the goblins score a hit on Frederick, but it's only a graze and doesn't affect the halfling much.

They draw their cleavers, and charge. The fight progresses and wounds are taken by Roog and Fisk. Fisk also performs a heroic act by saving Drizzle's hide when he bravely blocks a nasty swipe (6 hp) with his shield. The shield shatters but the maneuver saves Drizzle. (+50 XP for a brave act)

Fisk, sees the nasty condition of the weapons and applies first aid as soon as the battle is over. The possibility of a prisoner is ended quickly when Lassarial shoots a wounded goblin in the back, killing him instantly. The party doesn't seem too upset by this.

Looting the goblin bodies doesn't reveal much of value, other than some strange bone fetishes, a couple of short bows and 30 arrows in total.

Roughly an hour or so of mapping and creeping results in discovering a work room of sorts. Woodworking tools festoon the walls and ancient benches of the room. Seeing an opportunity, Fisk surveys the instruments and pockets a few that he thinks might be worth keeping. (A mallet, an awl or two, a hand drill, and a few other implements rounded out his collection.)

Leaving through the opposite door, the party maps out and finds a long corridor with two other corridors of odd and disproportionate size joining from the side. At this point, the thief Frederick, decides that he'd rather go the other direction, for it looks more "interesting". (This from a thief w/ a 4 wisdom btw.) The party is not prejudiced either way, so they follow him.

A couple more hours and they end up back in that large room full of frogs and shallow, standing water. Stairs, leading up, are discovered at the end of the hall as well.

Drizzle wants to find out what this tadpole thing does. He has a feeling that it might control frogs, so he removes it from its silver sphere and holds it in his hand. The smooth surface somehow feels a little slimy, but not enough to bother him.

He advances into the room. Freddy wants nothing to do with this and retreats back down the hallway, while Lassarial heads around the other way, to enter the room from the opposite side. Roog smells mushrooms somewhere and advances into the room as well, following his keen nose.

When Drizzle comes to the center of the room, holding his staff in one hand and the stone idol in the other, a large shape detaches itself from the shadows beyond one of the pillars. An enormous frog leaps into the light.

But the first glance reveals that this is no ordinary frog. This monstrosity is covered in mold and fungus, its bulging eyes are a filmy white and its jaw hangs open at an odd angle.

Brother Fisk seeing the beast for what it was, yells out that it's an undead abonimation and for the party to steer clear. He yanks out his silver holy symbol and calls upon the mighty powers of Odin to rid the group of this foul creature. Sure enough (roll of 24 total), the thing swings about with a series of hops and heads back into the far corner. But not before Drizzle gets off a magic missile. Which sizzled the hide where it strikes, but otherwise doesn't seem to affect the frog in the least.

As soon as the undead frog was back in its corner, Lassarial could see it. He squeezed a shot off from his hand-crossbow, it thunked home, but w/ nary an affect. Except of course for causing the frog to leap forth in defense and lash out with a horrendous, dripping green tongue. 10 feet of stinking filth whipped through the air only to strike the stone of the column next to Lassarial.

The stone sizzled and smoked, indicating that this "tongue" was much more than it appeared. It wasn't long until Freddy, hearing the shouts, came scurrying back into the room. At the same time that Roog descended upon the monster, his mace swinging.

A few more rounds and the frog has hit nothing, while the party has scored numerous strikes upon it. Eventually, the beast succumbs and falls to the floor, truly dead. Freddy's thrown dagger providing the necessary damage to put it down for good.

Fisk and Drizzle proceed to the far corner and find a pile of slime, bones and sloughed skin...but sticking out is the corner of something smooth and black. Fisk doesn't want to reach in and asks for Drizzles "mage hand", assuming that the wizard would intuit the request. Wrong.

Drizzle reaches into the muck with his own hand and comes out grasping the statue. But, covering his hand are numerous little yellow-white maggot like creatures. One of which quickly darts through his skin and proceeds to head up his arm.

The mage screams and grasps his arm trying to impede the progress of the sickening worm. Fisk, seeing the whole thing, yells, pulls his knife and proceeds to carve the thing from Drizzle's skin. This whole debacle nearly causes the mage to faint dead away. But he holds on and ends up thanking the quick thinking priest.

Once clean, the statue appears to be some type of crouching creature. With a strange octopoid head, and frog feet and hands, the thing is possibly a religious artifact. But to which god? Fisk can not discern this...they take the statue nonetheless.

At the top of the stairs, on their way out, (It's been many many hours spent in the dark, slowly exploring and mapping the subterranean ways.) they hear voices beyond the black door, where the bandits had been holed-up previously. Freddy and Lassarial listen at the door and hear two men arguing about whether or not their comrade is dead*. It ends with an affirmative and they loot the body.

*Freddy set up a trap at the bolt-hole in the bandits lair, and it apparently worked.

After much noise, each declares that they can't find the treasure, (it's been moved and hidden again) and that neither wants to be the one to tell the "boss". With that they both high-tail it out the way they came in.

Lassarial allows for a few moments to pass then slowly opens the door. Seeing no occupants, he and Freddy set up another trap and free the chest from its current hiding spot. With that, the party gathers up Jah, the pony, straps the chest into place and makes their way back towards Hommlet. The late afternoon sun slowly falling towards the horizon and a slight breeze their only companions.

This is where we ended it. I'll have more to report as we continue our game.

It's really wonderful having some good role players at the table. People who seem to use their heads, common sense, and just enjoy a good exploration-based game. I sort of lost my "game face" just prior to the session due to an errant conversation. But next time I'll be fully energized, prepared and ready to rumble. I promise.

Until then, adieu.

*Image: Property of Tony DiTerlizzi (visit his site and pay tribute!)

Common Courtesy

2009-09-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I used to get pretty miffed when people would commit to a game I was running, and then at the last moment bail. Sometimes it was cause to cancel, and sometimes it wasn't. But it was always disruptive in some way, shape or form.

We've all run games where we're NPCing a PC. It's no fun. Not for the DM (extra work), and not for the players (missing a comrade who might pull their bacon out of the fire). Either way, it's always better having the entire compliment of gamers at the table. Plus, heck, it's just a lot more fun having the whole gang there. After all, it is a social game, right?

As I grew older it became more and more difficult to schedule a game. People end up having commitments....that's reality. I get it. But there was an interim period there where people were approaching the game in a "sophomoric" manner while engaged in a more grown-up schedule. In other words, they'd often "forget" to call, or just plain old not show up. In high-school and college this was, while not commonplace, understandable. But as time moved ever onward, and we all had lives outside of gaming, it became a hassle.

Fast forward to today. Here we are, many of us are "grown up" with lives of our own. Some have families. Many have jobs and responsibilities. Those days of just not calling or showing up late (or not at all) w/out a word of warning, are plain ol not acceptable. Scheduling games is just not an easy thing anymore. But if you leave a whole gaggle of adults out to dry w/out any excuse or advanced warning, you're not making any friends.

How many chances should a person get before this becomes a hassle that is left by the wayside of life? My initial response is two. I would say, that if a person completely messes up twice and inconveniences a group of people to the extent that they're sitting around for hours twiddling their thumbs (and making calls to a turned-off cell phone), something needs to change.

If you haven't guessed yet, our DM bailed on us last night. This has NEVER happened to me. I know, odd. But seriously, in 30+ years of gaming, I've never had a DM just not show up w/ no word of warning. So we sat around last night chatting for about an hour and a half, then gathered up our things, walked outside to our cars, and drove away into the night.

With a simple phone call we all would have been mollified.

Playing some 4E (v.1)

2009-09-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Played a game of 4E D&D last night...Well, "played" is a rather rough translation of what I did. Mostly, I just fumbled around with my character trying to finish him up and then struggled to figure him out.

The learning curve for 4E is a steep one when it comes to all of the crazy interconnected relationships between powers, feats and skills. Especially when you create a 12th level character and try to play them out of the gate. Not to mention that the character that I played is still in the beta stage for the most part: The Assassin. There's a lot of discovery going on at this stage in the game. At least there is for me.

While that sounds like it's a rather harsh critique of the system, I rather think that it's a statement about my lack of preparedness. I generally utilize the character builder, and rely upon the software to tell me all available options. Well, the assassin hasn't been uploaded yet to the character builder, so it was the old process of doing everything by hand. But since I don't have all the books and resources, it was mainly an exercise in trying to gather all the information available from all the wide-spread resources.

Complex and in-depth character building is something that a lot of people really like; they dig fiddling with the little things. Getting the numbers just right, finding the proper items, feats and powers to maximize their impact upon the game.

Me? Not so much.

Don't get me wrong, I dig getting excited while building a character. I love imagining the persona as you're rolling up the attributes and picturing the PC in your mind as you lovingly fill out the character sheet. But the process for 4E is just too bloody long. There are far too many sources for me to keep track of. Sure I could've strictly gone right out of the PHB and probably been a happy camper. And now, upon reflection, maybe I should have.

But at 12th level, with all those shiny new items and options available, why (as a conscientious American consumer) not go for the gew gaws? I did. And I paid the price. I had so many papers, powers and cards laying on the table in front of me that I was bewildered 99% of the play time. Which frankly, was a shame.

That's the downside of 4E for me. Just a lot of stuff that's very tightly integrated into how the game plays, that you really need to pay attention to. It's just very character-centric.

Here's the cool thing though, we're just starting up Mike Mearl's revisiting of the seminal Against the Giants series. This is the 4E version...and I'll tell you what, I'm absolutely jonesed about this. I LOVED the Giant series by Gary Gygax...some of the best memories I have of Dungeons and Dragons are playing through that entire series in high school. There's a steep expectation of what we're getting into because of that experience.

I can tell you this, I love my character. Sure it's not old school in any sense of the word. But he's cool: 'The Shrike of Ur' is his name. He's what they call Shadar-Kai, which is a fancy name for some race that's been living in the shadow plane. Pale, drawn out and colorless, he over compensates by being a brash and out spoken braggart. Oh, he's also an assassin. Which is cool.

Again, yeah, this isn't the usual stuff that I get into. I really do like this character though. I just need to figure him out. He's very complex and has a bunch of options open to him in any given situation. I'm not super keen on all that, but the idea of the character is just plain ol fun...

<----------------------- SPOILER ALERT ------------------------>

If you are ever thinking about playing in the WotC module Revenge of the Giants, then don't read any further.

To the module: It's early yet. More specifically, we've just been sent on our "mission" by some kind of mage who's interested in an old city called Argent. (sp?) Our first encounter was with some kind of lion-headed giant who was beset upon by some earth and fire elementals, all lead by another type of elemental(ish) humanoid-type guy. Our group whooped up on them. But, it took us quite a long time to do it. The battle lasted for nearly 2.5 hours and took up the vast majority of the night. At this pace we'll be done by 2013. Kidding.

Seriously though, while I think there are some cool little set pieces here, my first impression is that it's very heavily scripted. "Group A" is hired. They leave for city on map. Travel and "stumble" into encounter. Wherein they are introduced to creature with means to get to city and an "invitation to heroes" to aid in defense of said city. (What happened to the first mission: Finding city and looting it for mage?)

Seem a little hoakey to you? Jury's still out on this one. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Our DM is a very proactive type, and I have full confidence that he'll fix those glaring "railroad" issues, as they pop up.

I really like the guys I play with. I really like the DM. I really WANT to like the adventure. We'll see what happens. Either way though, I'm going to have fun.

I'll keep you updated.

Cross Game Ideas

2009-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

A buddy of mine was showing me the new art for the upcoming Magic the Gathering card game release, Zendikar. I don't play Magic anymore, while it's a LOT of fun, it's awfully addicting and therefore ends up becoming increasingly expensive. In other words I don't follow the game very closely anymore.

I'm sure that many of you know that Magic releases all have "themes"...Well, this theme is "Adventure", or so I understand. Pretty neat eh? As you can imagine, the art must support the theme, and this art is no exception. Also, the art for Magic the Gathering has been quite evocative over the years. But this art especially, seemed to evoke the feel of adventure. And that's what Dungeons and Dragons is all about.

Here's the link to the original article: http://wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/56

But I'm also posting a few pictures that I believe encompass the theme especially well.

Deep in the Labyrinth...the party stumbles upon what they believe to be a well.

The Druids of this particular valley have sculpted the land over aeons.

Treacherous terrain.

Trap!

The map says that entrance can be gained through this....door?

Adventuring past vertical...with a few obstacles.

*All images are property of Wizards of the Coast.

Labyrinth Lord Recap

2009-09-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

PCs:
Isabella - 3rd level human female fighter
Ember - 3rd level female 1/2 elven cleric
Safira - 3rd level female elf

NPCs:
Doran 1/2 hand
Belinda
The Krieger brothers (triplets)

We start with our heroes deep below the ruined monastery of St. Gyxag of Bochnoi. They have passed through the black door, descended a spiral stairway and emerged into a large natural cavern. Standing in the center of this cavern is a stone statue.

The faint sound of water falling accompanies the pitter patter of scattering possums as they approach the statue for closer inspection. Quite obviously a representation of St. Gyxag, even down to the smallest detail of the missing end of his right index finger, the group searches for clues. Eventually Ember places the finger bone at the tip of the statue's missing finger, which summons the ghost of St. Gyxag.

The statue rotates from the spot, and opens upon a cavity beneath that reveals that the Sword of Truth lies below the statue, but the Red Book is missing. St. Gyxag's ghost points towards where the book might be found, admitting that a very short man stole it. And after some further questioning, he also tells them that there is indeed another way out, and that it also lies in roughly the same direction.

Taking their leave, the party ventures into the caves in search of the Red Book. Safira leads that way, carefully probing the floor for traps while the others bring up the rear with light and weapons at the ready.

As the elf rounds a corner she spies two halflings standing in a four way intersection. They begin to twirl their slings and tell the group to head out and mind their own business. Isabella claims that they're here to see the halfling's leader.

They perk up a bit and ask if they're here to trade. "Sure", says the girls. Telling the party to wait right where they are, the halflings take off in separate directions.

Not trusting them one bit, the party circles up and keeps a vigilant look out. Eventually a lilting, musical voice addresses the party from the darkened southern corridor and asks what they might have for trade. Not wanting to tip their hand the girls start out small...And ask that they speaker show himself. "No thank you."

It's evident to the speaker that these adventurers aren't willing to part with much in trade, so threats are resorted to. A deal is given: Lie your gear down in the center of the room and you may leave.

In answer Fura tosses a burning torch into the darkened tunnel from whence the voice is issuing...But it reveals nothing. A tittering laugh issues from directly above the party's heads. Ember then casts detect magic and sees a glowing purple area directly above them. She tries to tell Safira where this lies so that the elf can utilize her charm.

DM NOTE: I ruled that Safira could cast a charm if she knew roughly where the target was. I gave the leprechaun a +4 to his save. This, on top of his natural 80% resistance anyway! Well Hambly rolled a 7 and missed his MR roll as well. So...now we have a charmed leprechaun.

Safira cast her charm and soon a small little man with disheveled green clothes, a stove-pipe hat and black buckled shoes appears in the air above their heads... A deal is soon reached and he scuttles out of site to retrieve the book. But the adventurers are not alone.

Out of the darkness, beyond the light of the torches, approaching quietly are the rest of Hambly's gang...10 halflings of the criminal element, bent on destruction and pillage. They approach, taunting, and calling out for the party to drop their gear and escape. But they've heard this line, and aren't falling for it this time either.

The halflings come out slings swinging. Of the 6 stones, 3 strike true, and unfortunately one of the Krieger's is taken down with a shot between the eyes. Another Krieger brother is also hit as well as Isabella. But as the halflings close in, Isabella takes her wrath out and drops one immediately. Which in turn causes two others to trip up upon themselves.

Safira sees an opening and fires off her web spell, catching 7...The remaining 3 aren't interested any longer, and flee into the darkness.

Mere moments later Hambly returns with the book. He doesn't seem overly surprised that his gang took advantage of the situation and neither does he seem to think that the party's reaction was over the top. He continues on with the bartering.

A few moments later, minus one magical bone club, a tiger's eye, feldspar and a fifth of whiskey, the group now finally has both artifacts. And during this period they hear that Hambly was intending to trade to book to Ylfrit for a position in her court. Again, the Unseelie court comes into the picture.

Before leaving though, Hamby tells the party that indeed yes, the ghost did not deceive, there is a second way out of the caverns. Either travel up the enchanted falls, but only after slaying the guardian, OR travel through the troglodyte warrens and escape via the swamp. Both dangerous, but they seem to be the only routes available, unless of course they want to go back up the stairs and confront an enraged priest and a were-rat.

...Unfortunately this is where we ended it. It was late, and the girls had to get to bed. Everyone had fun and we'll certainly try and continue it as soon as possible. But, as always, real life takes precedence.

Until next time, Ciao.

Coolest Minis Company Ever

2009-08-31T18:59:00.000-07:00

Otherworld. I'm sure many of you have heard of these guys already. They produce miniatures that are replicas of yesteryear's AD&D minis. And if you haven't seen them, go and take a peak, they are SERIOUSLY cool!

Otheworld Miniatures

They're not cheap, I'm warning you right now. But, they are so amazing that the price of entry is well worth it. Another small issue is that they're located in the UK, so shipping's not particularly low when coming across the pond. Yet again though, they're cool.

When you peruse the site, take a look at the ogre and the amazing job they've done on the giants and devils. These guys are serious craftsmen and it's obvious that they care for their product. I'll even bet they play. Heh, that's a given.

Pictured above are the Troglodytes. Cool eh?

So, I've got a Christmas list...and I'll bet you know what's on it.

Cheers!

A few random thoughts

2009-08-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking about a few things (game related of course) this afternoon and thought that I'd just jot them down. Why? Well, why not. This is a blog after all.

I like sandbox settings in table-top role playing games a LOT. So why is it that I don't especially take to that type of game in the electronic genre? I liked Oblivion and Fallout 3...but I didn't love them. In fact, I only got a little ways into Fallout 3 before I shelved it. I just wasn't into it that much. I sort of feel a bit deficient for doing it...I mean, it won all sorts of awards. But I find myself growing restless when playing, it just doesn't hold my interest so much. BUT, I really did like Mass Effect, so maybe there is hope for me yet.
I'm going to try and start up my family Labyrinth Lord game sometime this weekend. We generally take a break in the summer due to the fact that the girls just love playing out doors. I've got a problem though, for some reason I didn't record the last session on the blog. I have no idea why I didn't. I was fairly religious prior to that. So, I'm going to have to go strictly off my faulty memory. Yikes!
What I do remember:
- They've made their way into the main chamber in the Upper Caves from FightOn's 'The Darkness Beneath'. Where they recovered the holy sword of St. Gyxag.
- The Red Book was missing though.
- They spoke with St. Gyxag's ghost and he told them that the book was stolen.
- St. Gyxag pointed in the direction of the culprits.
- Hambly, the leprechaun, and his halfling henchmen stole it for Ylfrit, the fey queen.
- They need to find an alternate way out.
- They haven't lost any henchmen.
- There's a were rat and an evil priest covering the known exit.

Gamescience Dice

2009-08-27T10:46:00.001-07:00

Like many gamers, I have a love affair with polyhedral dice. It's unreasonable really...I mean c'mon, what's the deal? I have plenty of dice. I don't often throw dice away so I've got stuff laying around from some of the early days, way back in the late 70's / early 80's.

Now that I have children I've bequeathed some of these dice to them. But I still have a horde. I remember a few years back, I swore off buying more dice but then I saw Lou Zocchi's Gamescience video on Youtube and just had to purchase another set of dice.

So I went out and purchased a set of orange dice from Gamescience, and I can't express to you how much I love these things. They roll like dice are supposed to roll. They feel like dice are supposed to feel in your hands. And they're just plain cool looking.

Well this year I had a buddy of mine pick up some dice from Col. Lou at Gen Con. Some green Gamescience dice. Ah, true love yet again. These are simply beautiful dice...but I knew they would be.

There's only one thing missing from my collection, a d30. I have an old Armory d30 from way way back...but the edges are all rounded and the thing rolls across the table like a pregnant beach ball, never wanting to succumb to gravity and stop. Anyone know a place to get a razor edged d30? A Gamescience dice would be best. I know that during the Youtube presentation, Lou holds up a d30, but I've been unable to find one on the site.

Anyone out there know of a place to find one of these beauties?

Oh, and yes, that's Col. Lou holding my dice in that picture. w00t! Yeah, I'm a dice geek.

Got a cool idea

2009-08-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

If you're one of my players...don't read this. Seriously, knowing what's coming will ruin your fun.

<-----Players Stop Reading NOW-------->

I mean it!

For the rest of you: I've got this odd love affair with frogs in Dungeons and Dragons. I've always loved the giant frogs in the moat house. And I'm entertaining an idea where there's an ancient cult that's disappeared in the local area...but their temples can still be found in odd places. The Moat House is one of those.

The main temple is going to be on the Isle of Dread, and within the crater, where the Kopru currently hold sway, this will be replaced with Dwellers of the Forbidden City with Fane of St. Toad as the capstone.

Sure Tsathoggua has been done a ton...But man, I just love the shadowy cult that's been driven far underground with ties to a degenerate race idea, and a temple in the middle of an ancient abandoned city. That just screams swords and sorcery to me. I just need a few tie-in ideas.

What I've currently got is the Moat House with a different dungeon (an amalgamation of James M's Ruined Monastery) beneath it. The BBG is currently a lizard man shaman who's trying to reclaim the old monastery and resurrect the old faith. Tentatively I'd like to use a loose time line that supports something along the lines of:

Dim Past and height of cult
Civilization sweeps in and cult is driven back
Civilization recedes and cult is attempting to make small inroads (Current day)

This sort of allows the same type of build up that Hommlet supported in the first place. I could conceivably send assassins after our party once they've foiled the temple's plans in the Moat House. The replacement of the Temple of Elemental Evil would be the Isle of Dread and the Dwellers of the Forbidden City.

This is the current thread of my sandbox. It's my tent pole, if you will. I'll sprinkle all sorts of other things in order to fully populate the "box" and to keep the party busy. I'm now just looking for small little "links". Things that I can spread around that hints to the "behind the scenes" issues at stake.

Storm Seeds

2009-08-18T11:12:00.001-07:00

My eldest daughter was telling me about this dream that she had...It was the inspiration for a character that she wants to create as well. She started telling me about this dream where she's got an ability to enter a natural storm, something big, like say a tornado or hurricane. Once there she can draw the power of the storm into itself, for lack of a better description.

Once she's done that, the storm's power dissipates and what's left over is a "seed", about the size of an avocado pit. With this power, her character walks around saving villages and people from horrible storms and then uses the seeds to defeat monsters.

It occurred to me that those "seeds" would make up an amazing magic item. So, presenting:

Storm Seeds

Storm seeds are an arcane remnant from the old druidical cult of Storm Callers. These rare druids have been systematically hunted and killed till there were no more left...But the Storm Seeds are a stark reminder of their power.

Generally found in a worn, heavy leather belt pouch that has druidic symbols written on the exterior, the seeds will look like a handful (2d4 seeds) of some kind of vegetable or fruit pit. The pits will appear worn and smooth, and if held in the palm of the hand will emit a very slight vibration.

Each individual pit will have a druid's sigil somewhere upon its surface. This sigil will not be visible to the naked eye but requires one of the druidic faith to see...and decipher. This sigil is generally a one word command that is uttered in order to activate the seed.

Once activated the seed must be thrown against a hard surface within 1d4 rounds in order to release the energy. This will in turn create a small, yet very violent, mini-storm of the following type:
Tornado (2d6 dmg / 1d6 rounds)
Hurricane (1d8 damage / 2d4 rounds)
Sandstorm (1d6 dmg +blindness / 1d6 rounds)
Water spout (1d6 dmg +drowning / 1d4 rounds)
Blizzard (1d6 damage +freezing / 2d4 rounds)
Thunderstorm (2d6 damage +slippery terrain (hail)/ 1d4 rounds)

If the seed is not thrown w/in the allotted time, it will either go dormant (75% chance) OR explode on its own (25% chance). The area of the storm is a 30' radius.

These seeds are very rare in the extreme and are a highly valued item of certain druidic circles...even to the point of hunting them down and killing for them.

B/X Dungeons and Dragons Observation

2009-08-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hey, check this out...Apparently a "Protection from Evil" spell (1st level cleric spell) is a pretty nice spell in B/X. This has some potential to be a seriously powerful spell.

"This spell circles the cleric with a magic barrier. This barrier will move with the caster. The spell serves as some protection from "evil" attacks (attacks by monsters of some alignment other than the cleric's alignment) by adding 1 to the clerics' saving throws, and subtracting 1 from the "to hit" die roll of these opponents."

So that's pretty great eh? Nothing too surprising besides the statement talking about "alignments other than the cleric's...", which is a pretty strong ability. But, that's not the kicker, the following text is even better:

"The spell will also keep out hand-to-hand attacks from enchanted (summoned or created) monsters (such as living statues), but not missile fire attacks from these creatures (see COMBAT)."

Wow...I mean really, that's awesome. So if I'm following this correctly, they're talking about all sorts of creatures. Things like golems, elementals, demons, devils, effritis, djinns, etc. That's a pretty potent group of creatures to be held at bay with a 1st level spell.

Anyway, I really do love B/X. I'm reading through it for the first time in a LOT of years, and finding all sorts of little gems.

Consider the "Light" spell. You cast it on a creature's eyes (it DOES get a save) and it's blinded for 12 turns. AND, in Basic, if you're blinded you do NOT get an attack! Range 120 and you don't even really have to aim it. Now THAT'S what I call a utility spell.

Playing the 4E

2009-08-15T10:07:00.001-07:00

This is going to be a short post...Mostly because I'm done "*making strange" with 4E. (*My grandma used to say that about babies that didn't seem to "like" someone. I've always thought that was such a wonderful colloquialism)

On with the post. The Longmont group held our monthly game of Dungeons and Dragons again last night. I hadn't played in the previous one but HAD been there the time before that. Odd thing is, the map looked exactly the same as it had the last time I left. In other words, it took two sessions to run an encounter.

This is not a new observation. Not too long ago I wrote a very similar posting regarding the same exact thing. Our group has the habit of sitting around and chatting more than we play. I think I know why. The "story" that the DM is weaving is, for the most part, forgotten from session to session. It's just that too much time passes between games for us, and when he attempts to bring us back up to speed, many of us tune out.

This is never done on purpose. Unfortunately we just don't have much invested in the story. If we play once a month (or less) then it's tough to keep any kind of emotional attachment to what's going on. Heck, most of us don't even remember our characters. So a lot of time is spent trying to bring everybody back up to speed with what's currently going on. It's a very involved story and we're a tough audience. (Again though, NOT intentionally.)

One thing that happened last night really opened my eyes to something that I've only just touched upon before. You know how in 4E each character has a slew of powers? Last night my buddy, who was sitting next to me, looks over and observes all of my powers, which are cut into individual "cards", and says "Dude, holy shit! How many powers do you have?!?" I counted through them...22. This didn't include my magic items that I had also cut out and laid out in the same format. Or my Second Wind. Or my Action Points.

I think that you can see where I'm going with this.

We're 13th level characters, so of course we're going to have a plethora of choices open to us. Especially the magic slingers, and I was playing a cleric. I said as much to my buddy. He's playing a sword mage, so he counts through his "cards" and comes up with the same number...and then my friend on the other side counts his up, 22. And he's playing a paladin.

It dawned on me then as I looked around the table. Since many of us had taken our powers and cut them out into cards and placed them in sleeves, it served as a very good physical representation of just how MANY powers each of us had. Therein lay another reason that our games took so darned long. Each of us basically had to relearn our characters each and every time we played.

As I've said above, I'm done banging the anti-4E drum. Many people actually like the fact that they have all of these options spelled out for them. And it's obvious that we've sort of shot ourselves in the collective foot by playing as infrequently as we do. What I've realized from all of this is that 4E is a game that NEEDS to be played much more frequently than pre-3E games. There's just a LOT of stuff to keep track of.

If someone needs to reacquaint themselves with their character, and / or take minutes looking through their options, then the game is stalling. As an example, last night, I was looking through some of the things that I can "do" and wasn't paying one whit of attention to the DM. I looked up while he was 1/2 through and sentence and realized what it is that I had been doing. I put my stuff down and tuned back in.

Maybe it's my fault that I don't have a photographic memory. Let's just chalk it up to that. Shall we?

Until next time, adieu.

Interesting find...

2009-08-13T18:44:00.001-07:00

I found this in one of the older issues of Dragon (Vol.1, #3) It was in an article about women adventurers. Apparently women PCs were able to cast spells as both fighters and thieves. Thieves especially had a pretty sweet deal...check this out:

1st Level	2nd Level	3rd Level
Charm Man 1	Seduction 1	Charm Men 2
Light	Sleep +	Seduction 2
Read Languages	Mirror Image	Charm Humanoid Monster 1
Tarot Reading	Detect Magic +	ESP +
		Knock +

This is seriously awesome... As a woman thief you have to have an Intelligence of 9 or greater and a Beauty score of 13 or greater. Now I'm not sure exactly what the beauty score was all about, but I imagine that I'll come across it soon enough. Oh, the pluses denote that those spells are not the same level as MU spell of the same name.

Imagine a thief w/ the knock spell though! Wow. Or mirror image? That's sweet. Why would anyone play a male thief?

Anyway, I thought I'd share that with all of you. Pretty neat stuff.

More Moat House

2009-08-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well, it happened again. We had another session of Castles and Crusades last night, centered around the old favorite, Hommlet. And yet again, we had a change in players as well.

This time around we had Jeff, playing the ever lovable halfling thief, Frederick. My buddy, from the 4E group named Ed, playing a half-orc fighter named Roog. And to round it all out, my eldest daughter playing a human female paladin named Thyla.

First my recap, and then later, my observations and thoughts on the game itself.

Brush rustled, and out burst two muddy, torn and exhausted adventurers leading a bedraggled mule. The paladin Thyla and her "squire" Roog stopped there in the middle of the dusty road and observed the pair. One of the two muddy individuals turned and noticed the human and half-orc and gasped.

The other turned as well, and they both started babbling about being beset upon by horrendous beasts, and that their comrades were trapped within a building and in dire need of aid. Thyla, eyed the falling sun and estimated that there was no more than two hours of light left, and then asked the two what they were attacked by and how far off this building lay.

Most of the following information was garbled, but from the sounds of things the Moat House was only a short journey north through the marsh. The two "survivors" then took their leave and headed west towards the small village of Hommlet in order to recuperate and heal up from their tumultuous ordeal. With this, Thyla and Roog set foot to muddy, bramble strewn road, and the Moat House.

Thick brush and washed out trails made travelling difficult, but the two arrived in under two hours, with only about 20 minutes of light left. They surveyed the ruins from the low, dry ridge and then took a closer look at the small abandoned camp. While neither was a professional tracker, there was no obvious sign of a scuffle. What could have sent those two away then?

With more questions than answers, the two approached the draw bridge and noticed that the wood was terribly rotted. They'd need to find someway across and into the interior before nightfall... And this is when Roog notices the huge bug-eyed frog peering at him from the water of the moat.

An enormous "Croak!" precedes the leap from the water as the creature plops down in front of the stunned half-orc warrior. Their pony neighs and breaks loose, not wanting any part of this, it heads up the road at a quick trot. Thyla backs up a step as well, and draws her scimitar, but Roog beats her to the punch and levels a might swing with his heavy mace, which connects with a sickening crunch to the side of the head of the enormous amphibian. It drops dead and falls to the ground.

Two more pairs of eyes rise out of the water at this time and the paladin and fighter look at one another. More shark-toothed frogs? (Roog's running commentary was absolutely hilarious.)

The noise has drawn the attention of a halfling who has been resting up against the wall inside of the Moat House...He peers out of the arrow slit and takes notice of the fight. A tight squeeze and his exit to the outside is accomplished. With that he nimbly climbs the building and pulling his sword free he leaps with a yell into the moat attempting to pith a frog with his descent.

Splash! Frederick over estimates his leap and misses the frog just as the two beasts leap from the water. Roog, seeing the "child" who has obviously leaped to their rescue, meets the largest frog head on with another crushing blow. Thyla swings wide and drops to the dirt in an attempt to duck the sticky tongue. Her frog, seeing a now "smaller" target leaps upon the paladin and delivers a nasty bite.

The larger of the two frogs also darts in and crunches into Roog's side. This is not going as planned at all!

Now pinned on the ground, the paladin tries stabbing upwards with her scimitar in vain. Her blade's just too long for this type of close work, she misses again. But Roog, ignoring his assailant comes to her aid and smites the smaller frog another smashing shot to the noggin. It goes limp on top of the prone Thyla.

Meanwhile Frederick has climbed his way out of the moat and has crept up to the larger frog from behind. A quick strike and the monster also collapses upon the dirt and mud. Quick introductions are made, but the light is failing quickly and it's obvious that the trio now must retire to the relative safety of the interior of the Moat House.

The quick footed halfling makes his way across the drawbridge and climbs the wall in order to observe the courtyard and surrounding terrain. He spies a dark shape that climbs to the far roof, but is unable to determine exactly "what" it is as it drops off the far side. Bats flit in the darkening skies, chasing the plethora of insects as Roog attempts the bridge.

His heavy weight combined with a misstep though and "Sploosh!", he falls through to the water below. Luckily it's not all that deep right here and, with the paladin's aid he pulls himself free. But as he exits the moat he looks down and realizes that he's now covered in some pretty large leeches! This is not something that the tough half-orc warrior tolerates well and he strips down right there in the open and proceeds to attempt to rid himself of the filthy vermin.

Meanwhile Frederick keeps watch from atop the wall and every-so-often advises that the group be a little more quiet. Ten minutes later and Roog is ready to go, sans leeches. This time he very carefully and gingerly picks his successful way across the bridge. Thyla though looks at the pony, and then again at the bridge. She asks if Roog might be able to get the other gate and slide it across as well.

Muscle and sinew straining, the enormous fighter finally tears the ancient door loose from its one remaining mooring and with a bang, drops it across the moat. Frederick winces at the noise, but keeps a vigilant watch nonetheless.

Both Thyla and the pony (Jha) make it across successfully. They then make their way into the interior of the Moat House and are confronted by Elmo, who's standing guard in the hallway. Thyla mentions that Frederick sent them, and with this the red-head lowers his guard and lets them pass. The halfling joins them shortly.

Brother Fisk heals the newcomers with his remaining spells and draws a promise from each that they'd help sing Odin's praises with the morning light. They then all draw lots for guard duty and begin to bed down for the night. Stinging and biting insects, the howling call of night-birds and other creatures fills the night, but it passes without event.

Next morning the two, Thyla and Roog sing a praise to Odin as promised. Roog pulls forth his drum and accompanies the "signing" with his primal rhythms. Elmo and Frederick look worriedly down the hall...expecting visitors at any moment. But nothing stirs w/in the Moat House.

A couple hours of exploration and the party has covered the entire upper floor of the structure. Finding a room with what Frederick describes as a "rust" monster, which they leave alone, and another full of bats, they end up in the room that was once obviously occupied not much earlier by the bandits; The Black Room.

Drizzle has dispelled his "hold portal" and Frederick unlocked the lock, so Roog opens the door only to find himself facing the swining blade of an axe. He shouts and falls out of the way though, narrowly missing the crude trap. He pulls the rusting axe free and the others warily enter the dark, black room.

In the past the room was obviously a high-ranking officials room, but recently has been used as a camp sight and bolt hole for a group of bandits. But they've seemed to have had enough of the heroes, and have retreated into the swamps for now.

A careful search of the room reveals that the bandits have set up a "back door" escape route with the placement of some large stones in the moat. Brother Fisk stumbles upon an intact chest, hidden under a pile of rubble in the corner and Drizzle happens upon a hollow space behind one of the walls...A secret passage perhaps?

After uncovering the chest Frederick looks carefully for traps and finds none. He then sets to work on the lock, a "click" and a pin shoots forth to prick his hand...Ooops, guess there were traps. The weak poison is fought off and the needle broken. Soon the halfling bests the lock and the chest reveals its contents:

Two bolts of cloth
Several thousand copper bits
Four chalices
One decorative wooden box with ivory handles containing 4 arrows of masterful craftsmanship.

The secret door opened to a very narrow and steep set of stairs leading down into the depths. Dust and detritus proved that the passage hadn't been used in decades. Frederick led the way down the tight descent which ended on the back side of another secret passage. Opening up to a 3-way intersection, the left-hand hallway was rife with the croaking of frogs while the right-hand opened up into some type of chamber. The hall laying straight ahead disappeared into darkness… All ways smelled of moisture, fungus, mold and mildew, while the drip, drip, drip of water accompanied the croak of the frogs.

Choosing the right-hand hallway, the group, led by the Halfling, moved towards the circular chamber as quietly as possible. In the middle of the room stood a well of some type. Filled with water, the one foot tall wall was 10 feet in diameter. But even more interesting was that the room was completely covered in molds and fungus.

Roog led the way into the chamber and bent over the well to get a better look at the surface of the water. In so doing he put his hand in some kind of slime that quickly crawled up his arms and started quickly digesting the tough half-orc’s tissue. Screaming to get it off, the half-orc thrashed about attempting to scrape the stuff away with his hands, all to no avail. Thinking quickly, the Halfling and paladin come to Roog’s aid.

Thyla tries scraping the stuff off with a dagger and achieves some small success, while Frederick lights a torch and applies flame. This line of action works but also burns the thrashing Roog. After a considerable struggle, the green slime is finally eliminated and a gasping Roog is partially healed by Brother Fisk. Another green slime is found on the opposite side of the pool and is taken care of via the torch.

Frederick, ever the inquisitive Halfling, borrows Thyla’s pole and pokes around in the well. He clips something on the bottom and after roping up, decides to take a swim and retrieve it.

Lying on the bottom, in the gloom and flickering light, Frederick finds a silver sphere, which he brings quickly to the surface. It’s a container of sorts and, after flicking the latch, it opens to expose what appears to be some type of a small, black, stone tadpole.

And since it was getting late, this is where we stopped.

As promised above, a few thoughts on the game itself: I’m not sure how my C&C game is going to survive. The heart of the issue is that Wes runs a game every other Tuesday and I was initially intending to run my game on the opposite Tuesday. Well, I know Jeff K. can’t manage playing every week, and I seriously doubt that I’ll be able to continue doing it as well. So the question arises, what to do?

I love playing the Dungeons and Dragons. I prefer the older style of game to the newer 4E but…overall, I really like playing. I had mentioned last time that I’d stick w/ 4E as long as I could get my “fix” of old school goodness. It looks like things might be coming to a head on that front. I’ll play it by ear though and see what comes of it.

My daughter playing: She’s a very good player. She’s cautious and obviously has a lot of fun…I’d like to continue letting her play. BUT, there are a few issues. Her younger sister would like to play too, and unfortunately it’s a school night, so that might not work. It’s meant to be an adult game, and as such, some certain topics are of a more adult nature. I’m not going to make a decision right this moment, but I will have to come up with some kind of resolution soon.

I invited a new guy to play. We met last week and he seems to be a decent enough fellow. His name is Jason…I ended up inviting him to our game last night while we were chatting and he seemed excited to join. Well, he emailed me the day before and notified me that he’s not going to be able to play for two weeks. Auspicious start I’d say.

And finally, some more house rules:

Shields will be broken: (I think this is from Jeff Rients) A player can opt to forgo damage done to them if they sacrifice their shield. The damage will be waived and the shield will break. For a magic shield every +1 will give them a 1 in 6 chance of the shield surviving this trauma. A sort of “save” if you will.
Two weapon fighting: Anyone may wield a weapon in each hand as long as they have a Dex of 13 or greater. If they do so, each weapon must be a one handed weapon and when rolling damage they will roll the most damaging weapon’s dice twice, picking the highest roll. (This is similar to things I’ve seen done for LL and S&W)

Back (yet again) to the Moathouse

2009-08-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

We had yet again another session of Castles and Crusades last night. But this one took a bit of a twist...We added a few people that haven't played the game before. Both of these guys are from the other Tuesday night 4E group; Wes and Jeff. Wes is our DM for the 4E game and Jeff is the store owner of Enchanted Grounds, a coffee / game shop at 8800 S. Colorado Blvd. in Highlands Ranch.

Now I knew that Jeff was still a pretty big fan of the older style of play, but I wasn't so sure about Wes. But I knew that he'd be a great role player nonetheless...and I wasn't wrong. So, in total, we had 3 players; Paul, Wes and Jeff.

Wes and Jeff got there a bit early and jumped right into rolling up some characters. (We stuck w/ the old 3d6 method) Jeff ended up rolling a halfling thief with a 4 wisdom named Five Fingered Freddy the Filch, or Frederick for short. Besides his 4 wisdom he had some really high stats...But as role playing games often work out, Jeff riffed off of his low wisdom wonderfully. He was awesome.

Wes rolled up a cleric named Brother Thabador Fisk. Now...there's a bit of history here. Brother Fisk is a regular NPC in Wes' Kaldrak Lyres campaign. He's a rather large, congenial, older cleric who's in charge of the daily duties at the largest church in the city. This iteration of Brother Fisk was obviously younger....but still an exuberant and colorful character. He was fantastic.

I'd like to preface this recap with the fact that we didn't get a whole lot done, but man-o-man, did I have a great time playing / DMing. These guys were just super role players.

On with the recap:

9 days have passed since the last foray into the Moathouse and Drizzle Spatchcock has finally healed to the point that he's not only stir crazy, but ready to get back to finding more loot...er, information. That same day, a couple of itinerant wanderers come in off the road, telling stories and purchasing extravagant meals. This unlikely couple, a large man dressed in the simple vestments of faith, and a spritely halfling of friendly demeanor, were the center of attention of a small crowd. All this commotion attracts the attention of Drizzle...

Drizzle might be called a dandy, or maybe even a fop, in some circles. And if outward appearances were all there were to a man then indeed this would be truth. But, thankfully there's more than that to a person. But Brother Fisk had only the large silly hat, and tastefully (if worn a bit) tailored, earth-toned clothes to go by as Drizzle came up and introduced himself. The first word out of the cleric's mouth is "Gesundheit"...an auspicious start.

Yet, Brother Fisk and Frederick invite Drizzle to take a seat and partake of some wine. Over the span of several hours and seven courses, the wizard has spun his tale, interjected from time to time by a parable or lesson from Brother Fisk of course. The two newcomers are intrigued by the Moathouse and agree to set forth on the morrow.

A bright and balmy morning (if 10 or 11 am can be called morning still) greets the adventurers as they prepare to set off upon the road heading east out of Hommlet. Joining them are the henchmen Wonkin "Fire Eye", Portly Tom, and the hireling, Elmo. After hearing that they will be travelling through swamps, Brother Fisk immediately decides upon changing his attire. He swaps out his light, padded armor for the chain shirt recovered from one of the bandits in the Moathouse. He also takes up the short spear and shield. Satisfied with that, he looks down and realizes that his sandals and robes will no longer do.

With that he drags the rest of the group through Hommlet to both the tailor's shop as well as the leather worker. In the span of an hour he has a workable pair of heavy wool pants (for 1gp and 3sp) that were meant for Ostler Gundigoot at the Inn, and a fine pair of low, soft walking boots. (for 2 sp...what a bargain.) Now, fully provisioned and prepared, the group sets off.

The dusty road provides little shade and the adventurers meet few, if any, travellers. Eventually the landscape slowly changes from rolling hills forested with thinly spaced trees to a low, boggy, swamp to the north of the road.

The drone of insects and the warm, humid air accompanies the party as they move off the road and onto the thin, rarely used trail heading north, straight into the swamps. Close brambles, grabbing willows and a washed out trail made the 2 hour journey nearly unbearable, but eventually the Moathouse was spotted.

Nothing moved in the still, close air as they spent many minutes surveying the wrecked edifice from the cover of a small ridge. But armed with the knowledge that guards had been posted last time, Frederick was sent forward to determine if indeed, a hidden observer had been stationed.

Moving like a small shadow, the small halfling flitted forward through the tangled growth to obtain a better angle of observation as well as to be able to "hear" if anything was amiss. Gaining a good vantage point, Frederick did indeed hear what he thought to be two voices, just inside the gates. Quickly, yet still quietly he moved back to the main group to inform them of his findings.

A plan was quickly hatched, Frederick and Drizzle crept forward again, to the same spot, while Brother Fisk and Elmo set off down the road towards the rotted drawbridge and gates. Speaking in normal tones, which for a standard person might be considered a quiet shout, Brother Fisk was telling Elmo of the time that he... Just then, a grizzled head popped around the broken corner of the gate to see who might be approaching without a care in the world.

This was the opening that Drizzle was looking for as he quickly cast his sleep spell. The sound of a body hitting the ground behind the gate caused the observing bandit no end of consternation as he ducked back into cover to find the problem. (*BTW, I don't know what in the world came over me, but generally sleep does not allow a save. Maybe the spell's edge just caught one bandit, and not the other. I'll make sure I adjudicate it correctly next time. My apologies.)

With this, Frederick and Drizzle sprang up and rushed the gate. The nimble halfling skipped quickly across the rotted drawbridge while the foppish Drizzle brought up the rear. Finding the bandit completely engrossed in his sleeping comrade, Frederick crept forward silently and made a few small repairs to the wakeful bandit's anatomy. Namely, two holes where his kidneys used to reside. Uttering not a word, the bandit slumped across his sleeping comrade.

Quickly Frederick arranged the bodies to appear as if they were both sleeping...but the huge pool of blood upon the broken cobbles was tough to disguise. Drizzle realized immediately what had happened and opted to dump them both into the moat. Frederick agreed, and since he had seen some type of large disturbance in the water as he crossed the bridge earlier, was most assured that neither bandit would wake again.

Meanwhile Brother Fisk and Elmo stood patiently across the moat and observed the bodies being quietly slid into the dark water. With raised eyebrow, the cleric pontificated upon the wisdom of disposing of enemies before proceeding onwards. Apparently he approved of the actions. After a creakingly slow shuffle across the old gate that they pulled from the moat, Fisk and Elmo take positions just inside the doors to the Moathouse courtyard.

Again, after close observation, nothing seems to move besides the tall grass that grows up through the heaved pavers that cover the courtyard. Frederick then uses the tall foliage to maneuver his way close to the main entrance. He peers into the dark and sees nothing untoward. The rest of the party take his cue and move forward.

As the party makes their cautious way across the courtyard, Frederick hears the sound of stone on stone come from his left...as if something large is moving about somewhere. When the group arrives he informs them of this and proceeds to climb to the burnt roof, utilizing Drizzle's offer of rope, but finds nothing.

While only darkness seems to occupy the large chamber beyond the double doors, the party takes it cautiously. After all, the tales told thus far are enough to instill prudence in even the most bold. A magic light is lit at the tip of Drizzle's staff and Frederick proceeds into the main chamber to find it in a state of disarray and abandonment. The thief moves through the shadows as if he's one himself...

Frederick checks down the right-hand hallway and finds three doors, two on the right, one of the left, while the end opens up into another large chamber. He motions to his comrades and starts sneaking down the hall.

Drizzle takes his lit staff and checks the floor, finding that the most worn path through the detritus leads from the two broken main doors straight through to a closed door at the back of the chamber. Noting this, he casts a hold portal upon the far door then proceeds after the rest of the group down the right-hand hallway.

Once there the halfling checks the first door for traps. Finding nothing, he pushes the door open just as the cleric spots something moving through a shaft of light in the far room. He spies undulating patterns on what appears to be a massive snake and whispers to Elmo to be on the lookout. The red-headed simpleton steps back a pace and mumbles that he doesn't like snakes.

Frederick has meanwhile opened the first door on the right and finds a small chamber festooned with fire ravaged furniture and a book shelf or two. Finding a loose panel, he moves it to the side to discover a well maintained broadsword. Its blade gleams brightly, an obvious sign of craftsmanship, while the hilt and grip appear rotted with water and time.

The next room divulges no secrets what-so-ever.

It is after this that Drizzle moves his staff, using mage hand, into the far room at the terminus of the hall. With the sudden light, an enormous snake, nearly 15' long, strikes at the closest warm body, which just so happens to be Elmo. Its fangs skid harmlessly across his armor though. The battle is on.

Elmo strikes back with his huge axe while Frederick uses this distraction to dart to the rear (if there can be a "rear") of the serpent. Both blows, Elmo's and Frederick's, fall wide as the wily snake moves quickly from side to side.

Brother Fisk sees that the combatants need help and he rushes to the fore, yelling the whole while, trying to provide a distraction. This works, as the beast swivels its attention to the rotund cleric. This time Elmo strikes true and opens an enormous gash along the creature's flank.

The snake though is riveted upon Fisk and attacks him with a vengeance. But the cleric's shield proves up to the task as he deflects the blow. He then stabs forward with his short spear and scores a hit causing the creature to quickly fall back, hissing and bleeding profusely.

Drizzle then hits the creature with a magic missile. This proves too much for the snake and it slithers as fast as it possibly can towards the far hole in the wall...seeking escape.

A thorough search provides a gorgeous gem encrusted dagger that adorned a long dead humanoid creature found in the beast's nest.

Drizzle, standing guard at the far end of the hallway while the others search, hears banging upon the door that he recently ensorcled. Soon afterwards the receding sound of men's voices and splashing from outside alert Drizzle that the room's occupants have now retreated.

And here's where we ended it. We didn't get a whole lot done, but the play by the PCs was superb. I missed a few cues here and there...I'm not sure if I was nervous or what, but there are a few things that I might do a bit differently. Hopefully they'll be a next time.

House rules used:

Rule of 30 (by Jeff Reints): A player may opt to roll the D30 once per session to replace any previously rolled score. (Not for HPs or attributes obviously)
Spells: Point system taken from Microlite20 and Ode to Black Dougal's Dark Sun game. Slight change though, instead of pulling directly from HPs, there's now a pool that is equal to HPs and if taken to 0 the spell caster collapses in exhaustion. If taken below 0, the sum is directly subtracted from current HPs and can not be healed by magic, only time can heal these wounds.
Search: 1 on a roll of a d6 for most. 1 or 2 on a d6 for thieves, elves searching for secret doors, and dwarves searching stone features.

I told the guys that as long as I can get my "old-school" fix, I'd be joining them at the table for 4E.

Signing off for now. Until next time, adieu.

4E - Is change possible?

2009-07-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

I've been agonizing over this post, but the time is ripe for me to jot down a few observations on what I see as specific weak points in 4E. I say this because our group is going through a possible metamorphosis.

Or more to the point, I'd like to stay with the group, they're playing 4E, so we're collectively (at least the DM and I), thinking about how to make tweaks to the game. The end result that we're trying to achieve is a game that makes everyone happy. But there needs to be a systematic, session by session recap of those things that I think need to be changed.

Unfortunately, and maybe glaringly, this sounds like a completely selfish exercise. Most (if not all) of the guys currently sitting at the table are quite happy with the game. They like the way the game plays. I'm the turd in the punch bowl here. And for the record, I've offered to bow out. But the majority has opted towards changing the game in order to make the whole "happy". In the end though, bowing out might have been the least painful choice.

Anyway, on with the examination.

We played this Tuesday and I've let my thoughts roll around inside my head, like magnets in a jar. I've hopefully let them coalesce into something a bit more cogent and supportive of meaningful change. Overall, I liked the session. We didn't have a single combat encounter, not one. And personally, I liked it a lot. Combat is 4E's glaring weak spot in my mind. But that's a topic for a different day.

Two things leaped to mind though regarding Tuesday's session.

We didn't waste time with minis and drawing mats or location pieces.
Magic items are now completely mundane.

I'll try and keep my thoughts and opinions on the straight and narrow here, and stick to those two topics. Minis and their supporting pieces are not a new phenomenon in the game of Dungeons and Dragons, and as my current DM often claims, they're a natural extension of the original Chainmail game. It was after all a war game.

I'd have to say that, yes, he's right...And wrong. While the game claims many of its mechanics from the war game Chainmail, it is not at all meant to be played as a war game. This is clearly stated in the earliest of editions. Miniatures are supporting pieces only, the meat and bones of game play is meant to come from your imagination.

This might be a completely subjective observation, but I find that when someone throws a bunch of minis down on a map of some sort, I wander away from the rich tapestry of the mind. I start paying more attention to what's going on at the tactical level and wander away from the realm of imagination.

And that is one of the root issues I have with 3rd and 4th edition, they've taken a game of imagination and forcefully combined it with a war game. You're constantly asked to move back and forth between idioms. Many people like that...Heck, there are times when I've certainly welcomed the change. But most of the time, I like to keep the pace by maintaining the same medium.

It's tough to maintain the mood when you're adventuring through an alien landscape, you round a corner and WHAM!.... Please break for the DM to set up the minis and draw the map... Tick, tick, tick. Wow, what a buzz-kill. All of the sudden that cool momentum you had is washed down the toilet. And that was one of the strengths of Tuesday's session. We never brought out a map or minis. Cool.

Now, to the second point: Magic Items, and the way that 4E has totally stripped the "magic" from them.

We garnered quite a load of loot during our foray into the slime encrusted demesne beneath Kaldrak Lyres, known affectionately as the sewer. A slew of magic items were won. I understand what our DM is doing, he's balancing the scales. Loot is cool. We all love coming away w/ stuff.

Oh boy, this is going to be a tough one to nail down. But, I'll start with one of the things that I heard that 4E was "fixing" when it was initially announced. A claim that I distinctly remember reading was that they were attempting to pull the characters away from "being" their magic items. Apparently many older addition characters were defined by the items that they carried, and used with regularity. So in essence, a character was just a mobile platform for a powerful item of one type or another.

I can see that as being an issue with some people. I get it. But WotC's answer to that is this sad little plug-and-play methodology. They've taken magic items and cut the usage back to once per encounter, once per day, or something similar. So, you see what's happened is that they've swapped abilities and magic item powers. Now each character has a few abilities that they're able to pull off at-will. Meaning that you can shoot magic missiles (if you're a mage) forever, without stopping. And THAT used to be the realm of a wand...until the charges ran out, and you were forced to either toss it, or refill it. Which could have opened up new adventure opportunities.

The feeling that the new system engenders is quite literally plug-and-play. Your character has a bunch of "slots" that can be filled by the appropriate "level" item. Each of these items has a very specific role to play within the overall structure of the rules. All in the name of balance.

Furthermore, you can "drain" the magic from an item. You come away with some type of "stuff" called residuum...Or something like that. Your character can use this like money, or you can use it as a generalized component in some of your rituals, or magic item creation. Talk about taking an item that was at one time wondrous...something that you pondered over...that opened your eyes and made you go "Oooo! Ahhh!", and turning it into something as mundane as a coin. Phhbbbt.

They've even taken away the wonder by putting all of the magic items in the PHB. You're actually encouraged to go through and take a look as a character, and choose the items that you think might best slot into your current build. "Sigh". Whatever happened to the magic ring that you couldn't quite figure out? That was the impetus of many a journey to witch doctors in deep, primal forests, or crooked, dark wizards in tottering ancient towers. Now, it's just an item under glass at your corner Wal Mart.

How to change this...CAN you change it? Not sure, I'll have to do some thinking.

Go and VOTE

2009-07-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Go HERE... and vote for Swords and Wizardry. There are also other categories where you can support your old school team by voting for either a publisher or a game. Go to it then. What are you waiting for?

Second assualt on the Moat House

2009-07-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome back y'all. Gather around for another rousting tale of success and failure, of life and death, and of love won and lost...Well ok, there's not a thing in the following excerpt that even remotely resembles love. Nonetheless, read on.

Paul, Chris and I met last night for a beer and pretzels game of Castles and Crusades. Paul rolled up another first level character to replace Stryke, his deceased 1/2 orc assassin that perished beneath the fangs of a giant hunting spider.

So both Chris and Paul rolled up characters at the table last night. Chris came up with a bard with fairly average scores. While Paul rolled up a wizard with quite high scores. A human male, the bard, one Sebastian Goosebury was just passing through, looking for extra coin. While the mage, one Drizzle Spatchcock, was also hungry for any type of arcane knowledge.

Each had briefly stopped in Hommlet while on a journey in search of "something", adventure, easy money, knowledge, it didn't matter. Our heroes meet at the Inn of the Welcome Wench, the only game it town.

It is morning and Drizzle sat at a table sipping his wine while reading a book, and Sebastian sat close to the door, tuning his instrument in preparation for the night's entertainment, for he's been hired for an evening by the proprietor.

Just then the door bangs open and three filthy dirty, disheveled and exhausted men stumble in dragging a body. The proprietor hustles forth waving his arms, stating that there's a strict policy against keeping corpses inside the Inn. All three nod and the fat one drags the corpse back out through the door while the "leader" launches into a story about the dangers overcome at the "keep" up the road.

Seeing his opening, Sebastian introduces himself while swiping the wine from in front of Drizzle and offering it to the parched story teller. Delvin by name, the self-styled leader of the small band begins telling the tale of danger and woe. His quiet companion, Wonkin, sits nearby, mumbling and rubbing his eyes. After hearing the intro, Drizzle gets involved by also introducing himself.

Eventually the story is told and the two are more than interested in exploring this "keep", or moat house as it is called locally. Arrangements are made with Wonkin and Portly Tom as henchmen. They will meet up w/ Drizzle and Sebatstian in the morning. They have one concern though, Rufus and Burne. It seems as if the previous party had been some how "sponsored" by the pair. So, a jaunt to the tower on the hill seems necessary at this point.

On their way to the tower, the two are confronted on the road by a armed guard who extorts the two for a toll, in order to pass. They unwillingly pay and pass on. As they top the path to the tower they find a small practice session with the town militia under way. Led by a grizzled veteran (think Iggy Pop w/ long white hair in a pony tail), the small group of boys and men swing wooden swords at one another.

A lone guard stands atop the small staircase leading to the tower. The young man stands to attention as the pair mount the stairs and asks what their business is. They declare that they're here to see Rufus and Burne...and Sebastian strums a chord announcing that he's a bard. Soon they gain admittance and after a short wait are sitting in the main chamber, speaking with the mage Rufus. (Yes, yes, I know. I mixed the two names up in the initial session. Sigh. Too late now.)

A brief meeting reveals that the Rufus and Burne are concerned with recent rumors that there have been strange goings on at the moat house. Figures have been seen passing to and fro during the evening hours, while the place is supposed to be abandoned. Any kind of reconnaissance that nets solid information will be paid for. And a 10 gp / person stipend is paid. 1/2 now, and 1/2 upon the return of any useful intel.

Rufus warns them though that the place is dangerous. It has been years since anyone has gone out there and many of the swamp's more nasty denizens might have taken up residence. The former employee, Stryke, met his demise there and should prove amply that the place is not to be taken lightly. With that they leave.

On their way out Rufus asks if they met a surly guardsman upon the road who charged them a toll. They acknowledged that yes, indeed they did. Rufus sighed and refunded the copper...That man is trouble, he mumbled under his breath as he did so. Drizzle asked if perhaps Rufus might want to allow the man an extended leave perhaps. Rufus agreed, and the party grows by one surly henchman.

Back at the Inn of the Welcome Wench, with Belsay, the surly guard in tow, they meet yet another interesting character, one Elmo. This dumb, yet large individual seems intent on making money for more ale. He pesters Sebastian and Drizzle telling them that he'd need a big axe and possibly some armor if he were to be convinced to go. They agree...and he wanders off, a smile on his face and a tankard in his meaty fist. (They have absolutely no intention of purchasing the stuff, but are going to try and bilk him out of the deal yet still have him come along.)

The next morning dawns bright and clear as the new group's members meet at the Inn. Elmo shows up with an axe over his shoulder, girded in mail. Drizzle tries to convince the simpleton that he's got what he needs but Elmo's insistent, his price is a big axe and mail....still. But, if he gets gold for ale then he'll take the axe and mail upon their return. All is agreed and the group heads out upon the road to the moat house.

Nothing untoward happens upon the road to the moat house, while the trail proves a difficult journey. Swamps, brambles and generally horrid conditions accompany the group as they trudge their way through the fetid landscape, mosquitoes plaguing their every step. Eventually though they make it to their destination. It's early afternoon by the time the moat house ruins come into view.

Close observation through the heavy, bug laden air, shows that nothing moves in the ruins. Wonkin and Portly Tom stay with the mule back on the trail while Drizzle, Sebastian, Belsay and Elmo make their way cautiously towards the crumbling walls. A rotted draw bridge lies open and a pair of wooden doors stand ajar, but still, nothing moves within.

Elmo is the one to spot something moving though and the group moves off the path into cover, and off to the side for a better angle. They spot a man, crossbow at the ready, leaned up against the door. He peeks out from time to time...

A nod from Drizzle and Sebastian sends Belsay's crossbow bolt whizzing through the air. It strikes right next to the man's head, vibrating madly in the wood. Sebastian sends a shaft from his bow on the tail of the bolt though, nearly simultaneously. This strikes true, piercing the throat of the leather clad guardsman. He tumbles back in near silence. Only his shoes, toes pointing to the heavens, prove he ever existed.

Slowly the group moves closer but are again stopped in their tracks as the boots begin to slowly disappear around the door. Someone is dragging the corpse. Drizzle stops, quickly readies his components and casts a sleep spell. A dull thump, and the movement of the boots stops. Apparently the spell has taken affect. The group moves on.

They make their way across the rotted drawbridge and enter the overgrown courtyard, light from the westering sun filters through the bug laden air and a light breeze sways the long grasses festooning the old cobbled area. Nothing but grass moves though. A pair of double doors opens off the courtyard but the darkness within reveals little from their current vantage point.

With this, Sebastian mounts the wall, intending to make his way around to the building's entrance, hopefully this higher vantage will throw any observation and prove an easier route. He makes it to the double doors w/out mishap just as the others clear the courtyard. They're all now gathered outside the double doors, one of which lies upon the ground.

Drizzle casts light upon the tip of his staff and slowly levers it around the edge of the upright door, in order to draw any fire from within. Nothing happens. So, the group slowly moves into the large room, one by one. Stillness and the smell of dampness, and old smoke greets them, nothing moves. Two hallways and a standing door prove the only exits from this old battered room.

Hacked furniture, old torn tapestries and garbage are all that remain in this great hall...rubble from the burnt upper floor protrudes into the chamber as well, throwing odd shadows. Sebastian moves as quietly as possible across the floor toward the left-hand hallway. Three doors lead off the hall, which itself opens upon a larger room. wherein light spills weakly through holes in the ceiling and walls. The bard moves to the right-hand hallway, group holding tight, and peers down that one.

It is the mirror opposite of the other hallway, but this one is chosen. So down it they proceed. Drizzle takes one of the three doors while Sebastian takes another. Just as they are about to take a look, a noise from the chamber at the end of the hall alerts them. Abandoning the doors, the group proceeds to the end of the hallway to look into the dim, yet large rubble strewn room. Sunlight streams in weakly from a few holes and dust fills the air...but also a strange scent, as if something has nested here.

And suddenly, from a shadow, a large four-legged beast slithers sinuously from the shadows with surprising quickness, catches Drizzle up in its mouth and delivers a bone-breaking bite. An enormous lizard of some type has made this corner of the moat house its lair and is now determined to take Drizzle with it, as a tasty snack. It attempts to retreat but the others jump on it, yelling and wielding their weapons.

A terrific blow from Elmo causes the lizard to drop the unmoving body of Drizzle and Belsay moves forward with his spear, attempting to push the monster back even further. Hissing and bleeding profusely, the monitor backs away from the dangerous foes. Sebastian takes this opening to patch Drizzle and pull him from harms way. With that though, the group finishes off the beast with arrows and bolts.

A chest is discovered amidst the rubble. Rotted, it proves little deterrence and disgorges a tunic of scale mail, a light crossbow with 20 bolts and 31 copper pieces of unknown mintage. Elmo picks up the bandaged, yet still living Drizzle, while the others tote the spoils from the chest out. It's time to retreat, heal some wounds and try the moat house again in the future.

While retreating across the courtyard, a leather clad bandit emerges from the darkness (random monster roll), shades his eyes and yells as he spots the PCs. He unslings his crossbow and takes a shot. The hurried bolt sails high though. A return shot by Sebastian though proves fatal, and the red-headed bandit falls to the ground with a groan.

But the noise has apparently stirred up a hornets nest, as the sound of more voices is heard from within. Quickly the group takes cover behind the gate doors as two more bandits appear from the darkness. One, armed with a halberd, sees Belsay and charges, bellowing the entire way. The other pulls his crossbow to his shoulder and places a bolt firmly in the surly guardsman's chest. Belsay topples backwards to the ground.

Sebastian, wild eyed, tells Elmo to get Drizzle across the bridge to safety, and to run and get Wonkin and Portly Tom while he holds off the bandits. The bridge breaks in the attempt, but Elmo lunges forward dumping Drizzle in the dirt, and grabs the opposite bank, pulling himself to safety. Off he trundles into the brush, heading for Tom and Wonkin.

Meanwhile Sebastian pulls his sword, ducks a wild swing from the halberd and thrusts forward, piercing the man through the femoral artery. The bandit screams, drops his halberd and falls to the ground, bleeding out quickly....to lie silently in the dust. Seeing that the odds are now tipped, the other bandit draws his sword and spins, running off into the darkness, yelling the entire way.

Sebastian again nocks an arrow and waits... Eventually Elmo returns, trailing Portly Tom, Wonkin and the mule w/ Drizzle's body slung across its back. No bandits have since emerged from the moat house and the PCs take the brief opportunity to loot the dead and make good their retreat.

They return to Hommlet, tails between their legs, to rent a room at the Inn and heal up. But, they fully intend to return to the moat house again, for it's obvious, there are riches and secrets yet to be gained.

To be continued...

Lose one, lose them all?

2009-07-16T13:49:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile. I've been away from my computer for over two weeks and it's been a wonderful thing. Vacation can really help clear the head. I had a great time if anybody is asking.

Well I've been back only a few days, and have even played once with the main group of guys that I generally game with every other Tuesday. There's been a new "situation" though, and it's this that I would like to speak about if I may.

As some of you are more than aware, I'm not a fan of 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. I've given it plenty of chances, it just has not succeeded in winning my allegiance. There are just far too many gulfs to span between the rules as written and the way I envision a game of dungeons and dragons proceeding.

Well, the "situation" is that I've finally spilled the beans to the group. I did not pose it as some type of ultimatum though. I simply stated that I do not prefer 4E and that if the group wishes to play with that system further, then I will gracefully extricate myself. Not happily, but I'd do it since I was the odd man out.

One thing that I certainly do NOT want to do is to break the group up. This is an exemplary group of guys...I'd certainly prefer to stick with them and keep playing. But 4E is just too high a hurdle and, after all, it's a game, aren't I supposed to be deriving some type of fun out of it?

I selfishly mentioned that I'd love to stick around if we chose another system. Not 3E or 4E though. I've had my fill and I'm no longer interested in either of those choices. What does that leave? Our group is strictly interested in Dungeons and Dragons. We're all pretty hard core fantasists. And, for the most part, we all grew up on Dungeons and Dragons. We're loyal to the core.

This of course has started a conversation surrounding what system we would like to play. It's likely confined to either a retro-clone or to an earlier version of D&D. I'm not sure how it's going to shake out. We have 4 fairly vocal members, out of 7.

But what I'm circuitously coming around to is that IF we decide to change systems, and this is by no means a foregone conclusion, then it'll be 7 guys changing from one system to another. What does this mean? Well, in my humble opinion, that if you value group over game, and we all know how hard it is to find a good group these days compared to finding a "game" (online, your local brick and mortar, etc.), then you're likely more willing to change games.

Now I know that no game or company can please everyone. But imagine if WotC decided to support two editions of the game. They'd still have 7 guys playing "their" game.

I'll keep you up to date with how this shakes out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Like I said above, it's hell trying to find a decent group of guys to game with.

A small beginning

2009-06-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Remember when I was speaking earlier about some of my "issues" with Rolemaster, and wondering about what we were going to do with the game that we were running? Well, last night things came to a logical and, what I might call, a sensible conclusion.

I told my buddy in an e-mail, that I was was no longer interested in learning a new system and that Rolemaster was just too intensive for what we wanted to do. That being, a very casual, light-hearted, easy to digest game that we can pick up and play without too much time spent between the pages looking up obscure or difficult rules. He responded with basically one line saying that yes, he completely agreed. So it looked as if Rolemaster had gone the way of the DoDo in our game.

My buddy, Paul, came over last night for a game and we sat around chatting about what it was that we thought we were looking for. I told him that there were plenty of free games out there that had rule sets that were very easy to digest due to their similarity to games we've played in the past. I also found out that he'd burnt out his creative furnace while in the attempt to "simplify" Rolemaster. This surprised me. But I still really wanted to play, so I offered to take up the reigns.

I hadn't prepared anything what-so-ever, but I had passing familiarity with a ton of products and thought that for the remaining time I could quite easily wing it and then prep more for our next session. First though, we had to decide upon rules systems. I listed off the rules that I thought would work well for what we needed.

Labyrinth Lord
OSRIC
B/X D&D
Swords and Wizardry
Castles and Crusades

Of those, the only one that you have to pay for is Castles and Crusades, so of course that's the one we chose. Well I have two C&C PHBs, my buddy Chris (who's going to try and join us later) also has a PHB, and above all it's recognizable in it's current form. It seemed to have enough crunch for Paul and yet it was easily rules-lite enough for us to jump right into w/out worrying too much about how to adjudicate this or that. So, Castles and Crusades it was.

Now, what was I going to run? I went into the basement and pulled out my C&C books and what fell out alongside but the Village of Hommlet. Ah! I thought, this might be exactly what the Dr. ordered. I asked Paul if he'd ever had any experience w/ the Village of Hommlet and he mentioned that he'd played the electronic version of Temple of Elemental Evil a few years back but never got far. So no, not really. Perfect.

Paul rolled up a character on the spot and created a half-orc assassin named Stryke. An ugly brute with a charisma of 3 and nothing over a 14. Exactly what we were looking for. He and his henchmen, Portly Tom, Wonkin Red Eye, and Delvin The Liar wandered into town completely broke, looking for a place to stay and possibly a meal.

On the way in they got a clear view of the castle construction and could hear the sounds of stone work in the distance. A tent village surrounding the base of the mesa was a welcome sign as it signified a temporary worker's village. Delvin mentioned that he was a master stone mason at one time...and that's how he'd lost the little finger on his left hand. (Uh huh, two days ago it was in a fight with a gryphon.)

They stopped at the first farm on the left, a farmer named Oso and his two strapping sons were working in the back. The lane was guarded by two very large hounds who started barking as soon as the motley band turned onto the property. Oso came out, met Stryke, calmed the hounds down, and offered them a job after hearing about their current penniless situation.

In the back the farmer had cut down a cherry tree that had been growing into the well. Its roots had pushed some stones out and was threatening to collapse the family water source. But they had yet to get to the stump and roots. Luckily here comes help, in the form of Stryke, his merry men and his donkey. (Yes, Paul had purchased a donkey for his assassin. Awesome.)

Many hours of back breaking labor later they were sat down to a hearty meal of chicken and dumplings and offered the loft in the barn. The group stowed their gear and got ready to head into town to the Welcome Wench, while Portly Tom decided that he would rather collapse in exhaustion.

Once in town the clear ringing of steel on steel could be heard from across the way as they approached the Welcome Wench. The four windows in front beamed light and the front doors stood wide open to the evening. Delvin and Wonkin entered with their last remaining coins as Stryke staid out doors and decided to watch a bit before entering. He "cased" the crowd and found that it consisted mostly of a few tables of stone masons and laborers from the castle, a small dwarven caravan, some commoners and farmers, and one leather clad soldier.

Stryke entered and approached the bar where he ordered two small beers and decided to ask the soldier what was going on in the town. The young man (no older than 17) took the beer and started chatting...His name was Oster and he was in the Burne's Badgers, a local militia, and if Stryke was looking for work then Burne had mentioned to a few of the Badgers that he was in need of some mercenaries for a bit of reconnaissance.

The next morning Stryke showed up at the tower, bright and early, just in time to catch the Sergeant at morning muster. He spoke with the Sergeant, told him his intent and Burne was summoned. Sure enough, Burne said that he's got some work the would require a small group of people to head out to an old abandoned structure out east of town. There been reports of banditry and some strange characters passing to and fro over in that direction.

Stryke agreed, and for the price of 25 gold pieces, room in the tent village and a square a day, he was off on his way. He went back to the Oso farm and finished up the well work that they'd agreed to the previous evening over supper. Then as late afternoon was coming on, they gathered up their gear, said goodbye to Oso and his sons and set off down the road on the way to Burne's decrepit structure.

A good three hour journey finally brought them to an old stone keep of some sort. The building had obviously seen better days as the walls were falling in, the drawbridge was rotting through and vines climbed nearly every surface. The sounds of the swamp were in full throttle as Stryke approached the building alone, as he didn't want the torches of the others to warn anyone inside. A moat of sorts still circled the sinking keep which limited where you could enter the building.

The assassin first spied upon the building from a distance and thought he detected smoke. Then, as Stryke approached the downed gate a disturbance in the moat caught his attention, just as an enormous frog leaped forth to swallow this new source of food. The frog attempted to lash the half-orc with his tongue but it was deflected. Stryke leaped in and dealt a furious slash to the warted beast. The frog then decided that this meal was much too dangerous for the effort, and therefore jumped back into the moat, disappearing beneath the black waters.

Just then, the rest of the men came forth leading the donkey. Stryke told them of the enormous amphibian guarding the moat and they all eyed the water suspiciously. It was late and the group decided to camp in the old abandoned gate tower. So they crossed the rickety drawbridge one at a time.

Stryke made it half way across and decided to stand watch over the moat while the others made their way to the tower. Portly Tom was in too great a hurry and wasn't looking where he was stepping. The rotted wood gave way beneath him and he fell through to his waist. Just then the frog decided to strike, seeing the dangling legs as a tasty treat. It sprang up with ferocity, only to misjudge the target, and WHAM it slammed straight into the bottom of the drawbridge. (I rolled a '1')

Portly Tom screamed and started scrambling while the others undid the rope and helped pull him free. After careful consideration and planning the rest came across with little else occurring.

Stryke surveyed the empty court yard and couldn't detect any threats so he cautiously approached the tower while telling the others to hold their positions and be alert. Seeing nothing alarming from the doorway, Stryke entered the old tower to find that the second floor had collapsed and wood and rubble lay strewn across the lower level of the tower.

As he stood surveying the area an enormous spider clambered up from beneath the wood. Stryke acted quickly and caught the rear two legs beneath a board as the spider gathered itself for a leap. The arachnid scrambled with its remaining 6 legs, attempting to reach the tasty morsel so temptingly close. The assassin yelled for the others and told Tom to go and grab the pitch fork from Wonkin.

Delvin came in and stood upon the board, looking with fear upon the frantic spider. Stryke saw his chance while Delvin kept the spider trapped and he approached with his sword and shield. He slashed at the beast and nicked it. But in doing so, left himself open to counter attack. The monster grabbed the happless half-orc with its front legs and drew him in, giving a fatal bite with his deadly fangs. (I rolled an 18 to hit and a six on the damage die. Poor ol Stryke only HAD 6 HPs. Boy did I feel bad.)

The others, instead of running, decided to bring the monster down. And they did so w/out further mishap. After gathering what small amount of treasure lay on the floor they decided to stay the night.

This is where we ended it.

Paul wasn't at all upset about dying. He chastised himself for not having the patience to wait for the pitch fork instead of attacking with the shorter sword. So, next session he's going to roll up a new character and maybe by that time my buddy Chris will be able to play as well. My eldest daughter Ally is going to sit in for the first part of each session too. This will be fun.

Anyway, that's how I spent my evening last night, killing poor ol Styke, we hardly knew ye.

Exactly!

2009-06-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is a point that I read on Alex Schroeder's blog (link):

"Rare Healing: Players need to avoid wandering monsters and avoid unnecessary fighting. This makes strategic decisions (when to fight) more important than tactical decisions (how to fight)."

I've never been able to put my finger on the thing in 4E that troublels me so much. But Alex hit the nail on the head: "Healing"

In 4E you get a bunch of "surges" which are in essence a mechanic that allows characters to "recharge" from encounter to encounter in order to keep the pace. Now, while this might not sound bad, it is a distinct deviation from older editions of play.

It is MUCH more tactical in play than strategic. Due to this difference, the focus of the game shifts from adventuring (older strategic based game) and trying to get from point A to point B without using up your super vital resources, to encounter to encounter type play and worrying about resources that "refresh".

I know I've read this before and that this is certainly not a new observation. But for some reason Alex's post just suddenly jumped out at me and I hit the "Ah Ha!" moment.

Once more...into the breach.

2009-06-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not going to go on and on endlessly about what I find "missing" in 4E, but...

I had another experience last night that opened my eyes (yet again...will he never learn?). It was a game that I've been playing off and on for nearly two decades. The group that I grew up with (4 of us from Jr. High School through University) morphed into the group that I get together with to play about once a month, sometimes less, unfortunately.

The thing about these guys is that we've been playing D&D together since AD&D first edition. I mean we've gone through all the iterations, so we're no strangers to how these games work. We loved AD&D, played the shit out of 2E, tolerated 3E and are just now trying our hand at 4E.

So I've mentioned that we get together very rarely. Once a month if we're lucky. And it's not always exactly the same group of guys, but we always have at least 5 players there. The DM has been in his position for quite some time. Every once in awhile one of the others steps in and runs a short little adventure or three...but it almost always comes back to Bart.

Now, Bart likes a sweeping, epic story. He should be an author. He thinks on a hugely grand scale and his games are run that way. There's always a reason for things. A reason that always somehow ties into the larger story. But herein lies the issue.

We just don't get together often enough to follow the complex story, and I'm sure he get's a little frustrated when we can't put the pieces (clues) together. So, every time we gather, he has to carefully set the stage.

I'll preface my next comment with: I love his stories. They're very colorful and imaginative. But (again with the "but), I think that they're lost on us due to a bunch of factors over which no one has much control.

We don't get together very often
We're gossipy and chatty (due to the long periods between seeing one another)
We are pretty strongly oriented to slaying and gathering (i.e. Not a lot of mindshare dedicated in-game towards our PC's role in the "story")

And what's the net? Or rather, what does this have to do with 4E? This:

4E, by nature, is not a "fast" game
4E is not a game where you can "chat and play" (due to the inter-dependencies between classes, and the tactical nature you'd better be paying attention.)
4E does not resemble D&D of old (We ALL have to read the rules now...NOT just the DM)
There are now "states" that you have to log if you don't find a good stopping point. (e.g. If you're stopping the game before an "extended rest" then you'd better remember if you've spent your action point, your dailies, how many surges you have left, etc....It's no longer just HPs you have to record.)
There are many more "options" available for your PCs (DDI releases, new splat books, etc.) that if, as the DM, you don't say "PHB only", then you're behind. (3E was similar...)

A fantastic example of how slowly 4E moves: I missed a session and when I came back for this session it had appeared that everyone else had missed a session as well. That is, when our DM gave us the recap and told us where we were standing, I said to myself "Yeah, I remember this." But in all actuality there HAD been a session that I missed. A battle had taken place where we had emerged from the underearth. But that's it... One melee. In 6 hours of game time!

Like I had stated above, there are a lot of factors causing this. We're old time gamers. We remember wizards casting magic missiles and the rules associated with that...Not things like if you spend a "Catch you Breath" (or whatever it's called) action, you get HPs back for a surge and a +2 for your defensive bonuses. So we spend a lot of time "learning"...forgetting by the time the next session roles around and then relearning again.

It's a whole lot easier if we can run a game off of things that have been ingrained in our systems (20+ years of playing tends to do that). We just don't have time in our personal lives for all of these new rules. When it says Dungeons and Dragons we all assumed that it would be something recognizable. Like it has always been.

In our most recent session (again from 7 pm till after 1 am: 6 hours) we moved from the ledge, briefly checked out the old temple, moved into town and got into a fight w/ 5 dragon born warriors. That took us about 4.5 hours.... The battle was supposed to only take 5 minutes (according to the DM) but ended up taking a lion's share of the evening. So much so that the DM had to fudge a cool overland journey in order for us to get to another "critical" encounter. We had to break right in the middle of the last encounter, we just plain ran out of time.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, 4E plays very much like Advanced Squad Leader for me. You're very focused on the minutiae of the tactical situation and you make very deliberate, planned out moves. It's not built for adventure and speed.

The main reason that I get together with this group is that I totally dig the people. These guys are friends that I've known for most of my life (2 of them since I was 13...over 30 years.) and I just love getting together with them. Gaming is an excuse. And this is not strictly isolated to me...Everyone (except maybe the DM) thinks this way.

So, in the end I'll have to say, I don't think that 4E is a good fit for our kind of group. I can see how it might be an awesome game for those folks who have the time to read all the rules and the energy to keep up with all of the new stuff. But for our group, no, not a good fit at all.

A question regarding traps

2009-06-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make this brief. If a key for a locked and trapped item is utilized, is the trap rendered inoperable?

I would say that yes, it would negate the trap's springing. I mean, imagine the original owner trying to quickly open the lock...and "BANG!", the trap goes off at the most inopportune time. It doesn't make sense.

Maybe there's some kind of button, slide, lever, method of turning the key, that would neutralize the trap? Traps are dangerous and fickle, even if you know about them, but the proper key ought to be able to bypass that danger. So if that's the case, can a decent thief who exceeds the lock pick by a certain margin also disable the trap at the same time?

I don't think that I've ever really thought about this. Strange... I've always treated traps and locks as completely separate entities, i.e. if you've got the key, you still need to disable the trap.

On Death and Dying

2009-06-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

I just got done reading an older post over at Grognardia (link) and it got me to thinking about death and dying in the game of Dungeons and Dragons. One of the things that I really used to like about the game was that you could bring back a well loved character and continue on with the adventure. I might call this a "character-centric" game.

Today I'm of a bit different mind, I like the idea that dying is very real and very final, for a few reasons. First, I think that it makes dying that much more dramatic. If it's final, and you've struggled to get your character up to 9th level, death becomes a very spooky thing indeed. And secondly, it's more "game-centric". Meaning that it draws a little attention away from the character and towards the game.

But, I do have to say that raise dead and resurrect are both time-honored traditions, so dropping them whole cloth just doesn't resonate with me. So I've come up with this brief treatment:

While clerics can raise a person...it is not something to be taken lightly, for the journey back from the realm of the dead is fraught with consequence. The following list must be rolled against each time a person is forced back from their natural state of death:

The mind of the recently dead has remained in the nether realms...(They're now effectively a "mobile vegetable" w/ an int and wisdom of 3)
The paths back are laced with Chaos...(The retrieved is now purely chaotic and "twisted". Possibly now possessed by a demonic entity.)
The mark of Chaos has physically been left upon the recipient...(An appendage has been permanently replaced with a slimy pseudopod, brought back with no eyes, mouth, nose, etc. Something visually dramatic.)
A vortex is opened, one of several things may happen: A servant of chaos is summoned, the cleric attempting the service and the corpse are sucked through the gate, the gate remains open for 1d6 days emitting chaotic radiation, a chaotic vision is revealed through the gate causing all viewing to make a save or go insane...etc.)
It succeeds, but...no living creature (man, animal, etc.) will tolerate being anywhere w/in sight of the newly revived. Their presence causes physical revulsion and sickness. (Chaotic monsters will attack on sight...)
It succeeds...No buts.

This is the reason that most, if not all (even the extremely wealthy) avoid bringing back loved ones, or those with lost wisdom, from the dead.

What to do

2009-05-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in quite a long time, and for that I apologize. But, like many of you, real life has so blatantly intruded into what I want to do. An unfortunate truth is that something must give, and that friends is the blog. Not that I have any kind of an "audience" per se, but still, I feel a little guilty.

So what to write about? My family game has dwindled down to nearly nothing with the approach of summer and the warmer weather. The girls don't want to sit inside and roll dice when they can run around outdoors and play their imagination games in a much more tactile and active manner. I don't blame them one iota. And again, real life has been rearing its ugly head, it's just tough to find the time to sit down lately.

Ah, but there is yet something I can chat about. I've been playing a game with one of the guys from my every-other Tuesday night group. We've been playing a low-level game on the off Tuesdays that we don't gather to play 4E. Neither he nor I are huge 4E fans so we've been contemplating trying other rules systems. The one that he's latched onto is ICE's Rolemaster.

Now, I've got to say, we were attempting to find something that was a little less constrictive than 4E. Or so I thought. It turns out that Rolemaster is a beast of a rules set. I'm sure that many of you already know this. I've heard it but I hadn't ever experienced it till now.

Holy Fancy Dancing Moses! That is one very serious rules system!

I'm absolutely overwhelmed with charts and tables, huge character sheets, massive character creation processes, long detail oriented battles and hugely complex systems that describe every facet of your character imaginable. I don't want to denigrate the game in any way, but I'll have to say that in my estimation, we went the wrong direction.

The other guy I'm playing with obviously likens "grit" with realism. He likes all the little fiddly bits, the things that simulate the unfortunate reality's of life. You know, things like bows breaking because you pulled it back too hard, slipping on the grass and missing drawing your sword and knocking yourself silly while fighting a bandit...Things like that.

Me? I don't mind that kind of thing, but what I don't like is having to pour through charts and tables in order to see how the heck something like that takes place. My buddy's got the right idea, he wants to just have me describe what I want to do and then he applies the rules as he sees fit. I love this...It's from the long ago days of Dungeons and Dragons, when the rules were more of a framework and less of a "how to" compendium.

The only issue w/ that is that at least one of us has to understand a decent portion of the rules. He's trying. He's been reading a ton, and really giving it his best shot. But man...there's just so bloody much. I have my doubts.

So, what to do. Do we continue on this track and slowly build our way up to a decent understanding of the rules and then, as we "get it", piece by piece, we pick up momentum and get into the real rhythm of playing? Or, do we go to a more recognizable rule set? Something along the lines of OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, Swords and Wizardry, Castles and Crusades, get our feet under us quickly due to our years of experience w/ a system that's nearly identical, and then BOOM!, we're off to the races right quick.

I'm sure that due to my wording it's pretty obvious what I'd like to do. The end of my rope is nearing...I'll give the other system a little while longer, but I've always been a believer in an "additive" process rather than a "subtractive" process of gaming. What I mean by that is that it's easier to take a simple system and add complexity where needed, rather than learn a complex system and pull off pieces till you've got what you're looking for.

Anyway, I really dig the way that my buddy DMs. He's very creative in his descriptions and sets up some really awesome scenes that are very memorable and easy to submerge oneself in. One of the things that he's looking for is to recreate the games from our youth, in that he's opting for low levels and a slow advancement. He likes the scrapping for everything and relying on nothing but wits in order to win the day.

Conversely, he's not at all into high level characters that can waltz into a full-grown dragon's cave w/out fear, and in just a few short rounds, lay the beast low and walk out w/ a king's ransom. I think that I tend to agree. Although, I do like it when a character has battled, sweat, and bled his or her way up through the ranks, and is able to do things that the common man or woman wouldn't, or couldn't imagine doing.

I mean not ridiculous stuff, but some epic, song-worthy kinds of things. Like saving a village from a war band of orcs single handedly. Or driving away the ankehg swarm that's infested the local farmer's field. And yeah, maybe getting rid of that dragon that's been plaguing the dukedom lately...with help of course.

I'll keep you all updated on how this transpires.

Labyrinth Lord Recap

2009-04-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

Behold, yet another recap of my family game.

The PCs / Players:
Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

We open with the party looking for two hirelings, and deciding that the bartender of Ortloff's House of Sludge would be a likely source of knowledge in this regard, Ember makes a deal: A purify water spell or two in trade for the bartender's aid in finding some decent hirelings. It is agreed upon...she (the bartender) will have them by morning of the next day.

In the interim Safira heads to the west, looking for an open field in which she can practice her sword play. She spends an afternoon and near the end a horseman wanders past and asks if he may spar with her for a short time. Safira agrees. A few minutes of back and forth swordplay results in an early draw, but the longer it plays out it is obvious that the thin man in the armor is a far superior swordsman.

After a good half hour of sparring, the man introduces himself as Frekin, the capt. of the Keep's Guard. He compliments Safira on her skill and they strike up a quick conversation regarding the mapping of the wilderness that the party has undertaken. He says the the Duke is very interested in expanding his holdings and would pay handsomely to those that aid him in doing so. Even so far as to bequeath land...if the deed(s) were of sufficient merit. Either way, the Duke is very interested in any information he can gather on the land to the East of the Hruesen river.

Later that evening, after supper the party turns in and spend a pleasant evening under cover of a roof, away from the stinging and biting insects of the wet season.

Morning dawns overcast and with it comes the sound of fighting down in the tavern. Sure enough, the Krieger brothers are involved. All have gathered to set forth on the next stage of the journey to the Ruined Monastery. The bartender has been successful in finding a couple of hirelings and she introduces Birg and Doran Half-hand.

Birg is slow in speech, disheveled in appearance and smells bad. The likelihood of him being an asset is small. The party summarily dismisses him. Doran on the other hand is a competent fellow. Horribly maimed in a fishing accident, the man has only the fore-finger and thumb on his right hand. He speaks with a lisp due to damage that has scarred his face. Claiming that he was beset upon by a giant gar in the river that pulled him under and then let him go, he considers himself lucky, but still, he wants to try his hand at something other than fishing for a living.

DMNOTE: My youngest plays the cleric, who has an 18 charisma (rolled, I swear) which makes her the natural envoy for the party. She rolled extremely high for the reaction with Doran so he's a loyal man. In fact, I'm going to have him sort of fawn over her a bit and really ham it up a bit. See where it goes.

After breaking fast the group heads towards the river, whistle in hand, with the intent of crossing and setting trail through the woods straight towards the Monastery. Doran is obviously nervous, but he rides behind Ember and clasps her tightly... All goes well and they make it across as a group safely.

Once into the woods, they take their bearings via the ridge in the distance, seen from on high across the tops of the intervening wooded hills, and set off at a brisk pace...They want to make it before nightfall.

At lunch they take a breather, and most sit down to eat while Safira climbs a tree to see if they're headed in the right direction. Unfortunately no, they're not. Instead they're trending more in a southerly direction, towards some fetid swamp land. In fact, while she's up there, Safira swears that as the mists clear w/ an errant gust of wind, that she can see strange blocky ruins jutting up from the surface of the still waters. Noting this, she climbs down and informs the party.

They set off upon their new bearings and encounter nothing dangerous or untoward in the trek up and down the wooded hills and ravines. Come nightfall though, they reach the long hill, upon which sits the ruins they're searching for. Safira slowly sneaks around and scouts the area but it appears vacant...for the time being.

Making camp in the tumbled down remains of one of the outbuildings the party sets up a small fire and lays out the guard rotation. Again, the evening passes w/out event.

Next morning they light their mini-lamps and descend into the dungeons, intent on finding the Black Door. Following their map, they trod upon now familiar path ways, Isabella and Ember lead, Belinda follows closely with lantern and behind her comes Safira, the Krieger brothers, Doran and finally Fura the halfling adventurer.

Ember hears some strange scratching at the rock and holds up her hand. She approaches the corner looming from the gloom and spies what appears to be a horde of massive rats digging at the corridor wall. She quickly ducks back before being seen and signals for Safira to come to the fore. This is the perfect place for a sleep spell.

The elven warrior wizard peaks as well and then begins the spell in a quiet voice, hoping the wall will muffle the sound. She then flings the sand into the air and completes the spell...all but one rat goes down. This one scurries about, sniffing at his fallen pack-mates.

A noise made by Isabella alerts the lone rat and it slowly approaches the group. As it does so it somehow changes before their eyes. It elongates and the long snout becomes shorter as the forelegs turn to human looking arms, terminating in obviously human hands. About 10 feet away it stands up. It is now dressed and has a rapier by its side. It peers at the exposed members and asks in common what their business is here.

*DM NOTE: The girls were totally freaked out at this. My eldest was very reticent in attacking the creature, stating that anything with the power to change like that, and that approaches superior numbers, that are armed no less, with out fear, has something up its sleeve. How right she is... After rolling it turns out that the rat-man is neutral towards the party.

He hisses out in his strange voice that he doesn't appreciate the attack upon his pack-mates. Isabella offers up that they haven't had much luck with rats here lately and this is a humane way with which to deal with them. The rat-man agrees...but he states that if they want past they'll have to pay a fee. This is after all, his portion of tunnel, due to the fact that well, he's here.

Bargaining ensues and an agreement of 1/5 of the haul will be sacrificed upon the party's return for their safe passage. He awakens his comrades and after a few squeaking phrases they move to the sides and watch while the party passes. As they disappear down the hall he calls after that he's got eyes and ears everywhere, so don't even think of cheating him.

Not long afterwards they come upon the tunnel that the goblin claims leads to Melchert and the Black Door. The traverse the distance and note that the halls lead downwards significantly. A few corners brings them to a room, partially collapsed and dimly lit by black candles set upon skulls, all surrounding a sturdy looking iron-bound black door. Also therein can be viewed a shuffling man, enshrouded by black robes so that it's difficult to see him clearly. He mumbles as he shuffles back and forth across the room, placing objects along the far wall.

Again, it is Safira that is called to the fore. Her magic is again needed. While she's preparing her sleep spell, Ember prepares her protection from evil and casts it upon herself just as Safira completes her spell. The man in the chamber slowly sinks down to the floor and lies motionless. It appears that it's worked.

DM NOTE: If you haven't kept up with the entire thread of the story, you're probably wondering how Safira and Ember are able to cast so many spells. I'm utilizing Al Krombach's spell point system. It was originally created for Castles and Crusades but I've modified it a bit for LL. It gives the girls a bit more horsepower on the front end. It evens out as it goes along though.

As Isabella moves into the room a skeleton detaches itself from the shadows in the near corner and swiftly swings its notched and rusted blade at the amazonian. She ducks back quickly and the blade swings wide. The rest of the group rushes into the room and furious battle ensues.

Ember turns one of the three skeletons in the room...the one she can currently see, while Safira and Isabella set upon the other guardian. Seeing that blades don't due much damage, Isabella grabs the bone club acquired from the Orc chieftain and sets to her grim task. The skeletons soon fall, and Isabella is the only one to take a scratch.

But the process has awoken Melchert and he arises from the floor to face his enemies. Thinking quickly, Safira casts a charm person upon the dark cloaked figure...hoping against hope that it will work. And it does... After a brief negotiation Safira convinces Melchert that he should head over with the remaining skeleton and dig for the key. He readily agrees that this would be a marvelous idea, since he "knows" where it lies, and those feckless goblins and redcaps failed so miserably.

Isabella then approaches the Black Door. She knocks one of the strange black candles to the ground and whooomph! the lights go out. The party quickly relights the lamps that were put out earlier in the hallway and all is well. They clear the skulls and notice that below them was drawn a semi-circle in blood. The sight sends shivers up their spines.

Again employing Fura's method of wiring the key to the end of the 10' pole, the party opens the door. There is apparently no traps as the thick, swollen door stubbornly opens to reveal...A dark and dank stairway down into darkness.

And this is where we cut it short.

Stay tuned for their descent into the Darkness Below. Bwa Ha Ha Ha!

Another pioneer passes this mortal coil

2009-04-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

Ah...now sadly this has been confirmed: Dave Arneson has indeed passed from our realm and on into the next. Farewell captain! You shall be missed. More here.

Huzzah! It has come to light that the initial report of David's passing had been greatly exaggerated. So...Please ignore the rest of this erroneous post.

Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, creator of the Blackmoor campaign setting (longest running campaign at 30+ years) and overall gaming enthusiast has passed away today. He was one of the last of the "old guard", the progenitors of this hobby. His contributions to the hobby were insurmountable.

For more information: Original D&D Discussion

Dave you will be remembered, and sorely missed. RIP 1947-2009

Wizards pulls a fast one

2009-04-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm no lawyer, but I AM a loyal customer who is willing to purchase products (and often does) via the interwebs. Yeah, I'm talking PDFs here. You know the evil electronic format. Sure, I like books, and when they're available I'll buy them. But I am not financially secure enough to go and dump $100+ on one of the LBBs. Sorry...

Well, to the point: WotC has pulled the licensing for the resale of all Dungeons and Dragons PDFs. In other words, you can no longer purchase any type of Dungeons and Dragons related PDF from anywhere...Not from Paizo, or from RPG Now, or from Drive Thru RPG, or anywhere else for that matter.

The crazy thing is that these companies were notified TODAY that they had to pull the plug on all of their customers by April 6! What the hell? That's, uh let me see, I'm not too good at that math-type stuff, but isn't that like 0 days of warning? How asinine is that?

I mean this kind of thing drives me up a wall. This sudden pulling of the rug out from under my feet w/out a word of warning is getting a little OLD WotC!

Sorry....I'm a little hot under the collar at the moment. They MIGHT have a valid, affordable alternative that's ready to roll out tomorrow. But even if this is so, why didn't they warn the rest of us? Why spring it on us? To cut down on "piracy"? I mean c'mon man... If SONY can't get a grip on piracy then you can't seriously think that WotC's got a chance in hell.

On the other hand, there's suddenly a HUGE void that's begging to be filled. Hint, hint all you old school worker bees out there. ;-)

Labyrinth Lord Recap

2009-03-30T07:35:00.001-07:00

Hey there. Yep, it's time again for yet another update of the ongoing saga of the all-girl adventuring crew. ;-)

The PCs / Players:
Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

If you remember, we stopped last time w/ our hearty adventurers patching up wounds and constructing a stretcher for Belinda, their woman at arms, after a particularly vicious jumping-spider attack. Poor Belinda is paralyzed and can't move a muscle, so the decision to exit and get her some help is reached. Out they go.

On the way out they come around a corner and are face to face with a horde of rats. They're squealing and swarming over what appears to be some type of small deer that has unfortunately wandered down the stairs. The women watch for about a second before Isabella pulls out a flask of oil, lights it, and tosses it on the carpet of moving teeth... It ignites and scatters the horde, burning rats are sent skreeling and running everywhere.

Cautiously they move up the stairs, it's night out and they're aware that with the dark comes the "*big nasties".

*DM NOTE: My daughter's exact line.

Nothing is encountered and the party takes refuge amongst the broken-down walls of an outbuilding. After about an hour and a half, the poison finally runs its course through Belinda's veins. She's up and about. Sore...but alive, and happy for it.

Food is running out and torches are now in short supply, so a joint decision is made to high tail it back to Botkinburg. But first they must retrieve the stone chest containing the electrum pieces as well as the corpse of their fallen henchman.

After a light breakfast, (they're now conserving rations in anticipation of trouble on the way back to Botkinburg) the party descends back into the catacombs beneath the Ruined Abbey. Traversing the halls they come to the room wherein they had the jumping-spider encounter. And as Isabella steps around the corner, 3 black arrows come winging out of the darkness. The shafts shatter upon the stone right next to the warrior woman's head, causing her to flinch back and take cover around the corner.

Safira and the Krieger brothers come to the fore with bows drawn...Soon the sound of whirring arrows fills the air as both sides partake in a cat and mouse game of archery. The goblins are appallingly poor marksmen and they eventually fall to the superior skills of the adventurers. 2 of the 3 goblins go down with arrows protruding from various vital points. The remaining goblin throws down his bow, and screams that he's giving up.

After tying him up and questioning him, the party finds out that indeed Melchert had found the location of the key but couldn't find access to it. Once the party had slain the last work detail, he sent his remaining goblins to wait in ambush, just in case they came back.

The goblin also knows where the black door is and that Melchert guards himself with undead! This frightens the party considerably and they all agree that they must retreat from this dank dungeon and hastily make their way to Botkinburg for resupply.

Instead of heading to the toll (troll) bridge they cut straight across the wilderness in the hopes that they can cross the Hruesen river with the magic flute they possess. Nothing untoward occurs on their journey and the party eventually reaches the shores where they utilize the flute to make their way across.

By nightfall they're in the town of Botkinburg, and after a warm meal, and a little cleaning up, they relax and talk shop. A few days in town allows ample time to restock and to ask around regarding the bone scroll tube and its contents: A map. Upon the map is a written one single sentence with an arrow pointing to an area of the Black Tooth Ridge. The line reads: "Redoubt of the Horned One".

Turns out that most villagers know of the "Horned One". He's the bogeyman and was also a ruler of this area long long ago. No one knows if he's partially divine or if he's just some type of uber powerful creature but the rumor is that he was never slain. Only driven back and forced into hiding.

The party rolls up the map and places it back into the tube. Now stocked up, the next task is to hire some more folks to come along on an adventure. Unfortunately they've nearly run the little town out of available henchmen...and the fact that most of them come back dead won't help negotiations. But that's for next time.

Stay tuned...

Make mine insivible please.

2009-03-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

Well, interesting things afoot at the Circle-K these days boys and girls. Within the last month, I've had two 4E sessions that I actually enjoyed more than agonized over. And here's why: We stayed away from the RAW (rules as written) and just gamed. Yes that's right, the "rules" were transparent, or invisible if you will.

The first session was w/ a group of guys that I infrequently game with, many that I've known since I was 12 (and that's a long long time). We've gone through all the versions since AD@D together and are now playing 4E. We don't meet all that often, maybe once-a-month, if we're lucky. And we're not much into continuity, story, plot, character development, etc. We just don't meet often enough to care.

Escape was the major premise of the scenario and the DM wasn't interested in utilizing 4E's skill challenge mechanic. Traps and obstacles were encountered the entire way and the navigation of each was laid at the player's feet. There was only one combat the entire session, and that happened at the very end. The memorable part was the escape though. We rolled dice only a few times and rarely relied upon PC skills or feats. It was refreshing to say the least.

Well, last night was a replay of the experience, and again, it was refreshing. Granted, I'm a big fan of puzzles and scenarios that make the player think. Falling back on using the mechanics to escape fate is a cop-out in my opinion. I love it when a group of people put their heads together to figure something out and the DM never once rolls dice. Don't get me wrong, I like combat as much as the next guy. But a game that's completely focussed on combat eventually dulls the excitement of the encounter due to repetition.

Anyway, last night's scenario (only 4 of 6 players could make it) had the players enter a town at the end of an adventure. Once there, the PCs were immediately identified as "adventurers" and as such, were invited to take part in a competition put on by the local "Adventurer's Guild".

Consisting of 10 separate challenges, the competition was scored on a points basis, with the highest scoring team taking the pot. (which was a load of gold and access to some of the Guild's maps and resources) So we started the thing and to be honest, it turned out to be a gas. I loved it. I realize that you can't run a campaign simply on puzzles and cerebral challenges, but they sure help as contrast to those nitty-gritty combat sequences.

Our DM has said that he's going to attempt to subsume the rules in order to focus more on the adventure itself. This is a superb idea and in truth, is one that I've secretly wished for all along. I'll be interested to see how the rest of the game proceeds. I might be a bit skeptical to start out with, due to my 7 month tenure with the game, but I'm hopeful. I'd like nothing more than to really get into a game that's running 4E under the hood.

I'll keep you up to date w/ the progress. Stay tuned...

Labyrinth Lord Recap

2009-03-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hello gentle readers...sit back, relax, and let me take you to the days of yesteryear. Well, ok maybe not yesteryear. More like two days ago. Anyway with out further adieu.

The PCs / Players:
Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

We start off with our party of adventurers deep in the bowels of the Ruined Monastery, standing at a three way intersection. Their mission, to find the black key and then, the black door. Once through, they must retrieve the Red Book of Knowledge as well as St. Gyxag's Sword of Truth. These are then to be returned to the old monk in Botkinburg for a reward.

The faint sound of metal striking stone can be heard off to the left..reverberating through the stone halls. A staccato "crack" punctuates the sound every now and again. Ember, who is currently leading the group, confers with Isabella and they decide that they'll go towards the noise first.

A few minutes of traversing the dark corridors finds the group peeking around a corner at a drowsing yellow skinned humanoid. Dressed in thick leathers, he leans casually on a pike, his head dipping now and again as he drowses. Safira takes careful aim with her shortbow and dispatches the foe with nary a sound.

Around the next corner they spy a group of the yellow skinned blighters picking away at what appears to be a blank stone wall. They're being spurred on by a red cap...the evil fey wields a long wicked whip and cracks it over their heads on occasion and yelps that they should be digging faster.

Again, it's Safira who quietly dispatches the foe, this time with a well placed sleep spell. The rest of the party hastily moves in and makes sure they never again rise up to plague the lawful world again. Fura nearly makes the mistake of getting up and personal when doing in the Red Cap. The girls warn him off just in time, explaining that the creatures explode in a ball of flame when they die. He nods, eyes wide, moves back and kills the creature. No damage is incurred.

*DM NOTE: I forgot to instigate my new coup de grâce rule...Maximum damage and if that doesn't kill the creature then a save versus death magic must be made. Not sure if that rule's going to do the trick though. How about at higher levels? Why couldn't you just as easily slay a completely helpless 20th level fighter as you could a 1st level fighter? I need to think about this a bit more.

Looting the bodies produces a parchment, it seems that Melchert has found the Black Door and now knows the location of the Black Key as well. About 200 copper pieces are found as well...seems that Melchert is running low on funds and is now resorting to lowly coppers to pay his help. A little searching in the area of the goblin's pick work reveals a secret door which is only detectable by Ember. She even attempts to place Safira's hand over the thin cracks...and yet Safira feels nothing.

They eventually find the means of egress and it turns out that only Ember and Belinda are able to pass the door's threshold. Not happy about this situation the two carefully make their way into the inky darkness with a candle lamp lighting their way. After a few turns of the hallway they can see that it opens into a room and that a large square dark shape occupies the room and a darker yet shadow seems to loom beyond that.

Ember and Belinda both scurry out and inform the rest of the party of what they've found. Isabella asks why they didn't go in further...Ember answers that she's SCARED!

*DM NOTE: Ember is played by my 8 y/o daughter..she's the youngest and this seriously scared her. It took her probably 20 minutes in real time to screw up her courage to the level that would allow her to enter that shadowed room.

They are goaded by the rest of the party and finally decide that they should indeed find out what lies in the darkness of the room. Back down the tunnels they go and move into the room far enough to see that it's a large wooden desk w/ a skeleton sitting in a chair, skull bowed forward over it's chest. The hands are clasped at something near it's neck. What is not clear with the amount of light brought to bear, so the girls move closer.

Amongst the rotting robes lies a leather strap, and whatever depends from the terminus is what is clenched so tightly in the skeletal hands. Belinda pries them apart as Ember stands ready, holy symbol in hand. It turns out to be the black key. They rush out letting the other know that they've found the key.

After a brief celebration the two re-enter the room and rifle through the desk and the wardrobe found in the corner. A bone scroll tube and small key are discovered in the desk drawer as well as a small stone, iron-bound chest in the wardrobe. Again they bring forth their treasures to show the rest of the group.

*DM NOTE: I've been incredibly stingy of late, so to compensate I have added a bit of loot the this room...where previously there was none.

Ember checks the chest closely and finds a small catch inside of the keyhole. As she's about to insert the key Fura speaks up and suggests that it could possibly be trapped. He offers to open the chest instead. Sure enough, needles spring forth from the front of the lock as Fura carefully turns the key while it's attached to the end of a 10' pole.

*DM NOTE: A couple of things are working against me here in terms of every day DM'ing. The girls have a bit of emotional investment in their characters and they have a distinct lack of knowledge. So teaching them the "hard" way isn't really an option. So, how do you do it? Well you let a more experienced NPC take the lead every once in awhile.

Just as the lid clicks open a shadow detaches itself from the hall with a leap, and knocks one of the henchmen lookouts to the ground. A massive jumping spider has snared a meal! And of course it's not alone. The fight is on.

Unfortunately Belinda takes a shot as well and is within 1 hp of dying but is also poisoned (paralytic in this case). Ember heals her back up during the fight but can not fight the poison's course. Eventually, after losing one henchman and a paralyzed Belinda, the group destroys the three arachnids.

And again, that's where we ended it.

*DM NOTE: I know I've mentioned this before, but when you're playing with kids you have to take it easy and not rush them. My youngest was very very tentative with the skeleton...it literally took her forever to make up her mind. But once she did, she was quite proud of herself. It's an awesome feeling. We didn't really get much done in the span of nearly 2 hours. But again, it takes a little time for them in some of these newer situations.

All the same, it's so much fun. They're enjoying every little detail and don't want to stop by the end of each session. So for all of you parent gamers out there...don't hesitate, get the kids playing. It's seriously fun.

Differences in versions

2009-03-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well this is going to be an odd post. It was inspired by a post over at Grognardia where James was talking about his Dwimmermount Session. He was mentioning how quickly combat between nearly 30 different individuals progressed and one of the comments to that post stated that, while 4E has a fairly streamlined combat system, they would be hard pressed to pull off a combat that included 30 different combatants in 30 minutes.

I have some experience with 4E, I've been playing it for about 7 months now in a 3x / month campaign. The DM is incredibly knowledgeable in the game, in fact you could say that it's sort of his religion. He takes it very seriously, keeps up with all of the current click-clack, and knows the rules inside out.

It occurred to me that one of the new features talked about extensively at 4E's release was that the combat was very streamlined and therefore it could run very quickly. So, I got to thinking, could our DM run the same combat that James described in his post as quickly and smoothly under 4E as James had under Swords and Wizardry?

My conclusion: No way in hell. I don't have any empirical data with which to back this statement up. But I do have experience. And I have participated in combats in 4E, with far fewer combatants that have run much much longer. I began to think about why that may be, why does 4E, with it's new and improved melee system run slower than OD&D's system? After all, isn't newer better? Wasn't the intent to get back to D&D's roots?

I'm sure many of you are saying to yourselves, this guy's a hater. He's just one of those head-in-the-sand grognards that is stubborn and tries, with every blog post, to discredit 4E. Let me state for the record that I actually liked 4E when it first came out. I honestly wanted to keep liking it and to continue using the rules. I mean after all, my group wanted to use it, and the DM was VERY impressed and spoke volumes about the improvements to the game.

At the same time, I was trying out all sorts of the retro-clone rules. I ran a short campaign of Castles and Crusades, I played a game of microlite20, a few one shots of Sword and Wizardry and am still running my home campaign on Labyrinth Lord. So I could do some "on the ground" compare and contrast tests.

Back to the combat and why it's slower in 4E than its predecessor versions. I've included a few illustrations to help make my point. Now I'm not claiming to be a deep thinker when it comes to things like this. But, I certainly know what I've experienced, and that experience logically draws me to the following point.

Older editions allowed that the source of the "effect" (or result) came from the DM. And how did it do this? Well, the rules were very broad in scope and weren't at all focussed on the minutia, but rather on allowing for interpretation.

The PC (player character) took a broad action that was roughly described in the rules (e.g. attack) and further defined what they were doing as it was taking place (e.g. "I duck under the edge of the table for a bit of cover and thrust out with my sword towards the orc's midsection...").

The DM in turn would take this situation and dictate the effect. It was pretty straight forward and therefore "fast".

Now we move on to the 4E example. In the 4E rules it gives each of the players a selection of abilities that they can attempt at any given time during a confrontation. Now of course you could ignore any of these abilities and just plain ol swing that sword and make a basic melee attack. But you would be missing out on all of the nifty effects that each of these powers produces.

Teamwork and the inter-relationships of the powers themselves plays a VERY big part of 4E combat, and therefore it is incumbent upon the players to be very tactically minded, know their powers intimately, and know their party member's power effects as well. You must keep a close eye on spacing, distances, terrain, time, opposing conditions (action points, surges, bloodied, etc.), your condition (HPs, bloodied, etc.), resources (action points, surges, potions, etc.) among a few other things.

Let me explain the illustration. (I don't suppose I really NEED to explain the illustration given for the older version do I?)

Represents the tight interaction between the PC's powers. What I do will affect much of what other PCs will do. EXAMPLE: Let's say you're a fighter and will be utilizing a simple at-will power called 'Tide of Iron': "1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you push the target 1 square if it is your size, smaller than you, or one size category larger. You can shift into the space that the target occupied." Now all of these things have an affect upon the battle field and your compatriot's actions. So now there are rules that do not depend upon the DM interdiction. They do require pretty detailed knowledge of the rules though.

Represents the interaction between the opponent's (monster, NPC, etc.) powers, condition, etc. and the player's actions (power effects). These are tightly woven and balanced. The outcome between these powers' effects is what determines the DM's options, and therefore his / her reaction to what's going on.

Represents the DM's response to the situation. Which in turn affects how the players again respond. It's all very well balanced and constructed to work smoothly within the given parameters.

Does this look and sound a little more involved than the above example? I think it is, and therefore it's the reason that combats don't run as quickly under the 4E rules as they do under older (pre-2E at least.) rule sets.

This is obviously a simplified example. There are facets of each that are not illustrated or explained fully. But overall, it is no fallacy to say that there are MANY more rules surrounding player options in a 4E combat.

When I was young I played a lot of Napoleonic war games with a group of older gentlemen. As I stood above the table the other night, looking down on the tableau unfolding in front of me, running through the options in my head, and all of the previously listed elements of battle, I had a deja-vue moment. I felt just like I did as a kid standing above the war game table. I was playing a war game. Or something that's very similar in makeup once you enter into combat.

Now of course OD&D was derived from a war game's rule set. But I don't ever recall feeling like I was playing a war game when I either played in or ran combats under those earlier rule's systems.

Everyone's Idea of Fun

2009-03-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

I just thought of something, and rather than post it on someone else's blog and start a hate-war, I opted instead to post here and get my idea out in the open this way.

The thought that occurred to me as I posted a reply on Back in '81 was that yes, there's room for all of us to have a choice when it comes to our chosen game systems. Some of us like 4E while others like the LBB version of OD&D...and then there's everything in between. Now I'm not trying to be a doormat here, and you'll see the reason that I sort of lament the fact that there are so many "versions" out there.

IF TSR would have stayed on track and continued the tradition of both a "hobbyist" game as well as a "tourney" game then there would only ever be two flavors of the game. Those of us who adore the "hobbyist" type game could play our OD&D (or whatever) and those who like the crunchier rules-laden edition of AD&D could have fun with that version. No one's hurt. Everyone's clear on the division.

Now the problem, as I see it, comes when you take a game and make so many updates and iterations (improvements?) to it that it's no longer even remotely backwards compatible, you've inherently split the player base. This is a seriously unfortunate side effect. And it's one that I'm feeling right now.

I'm looking for a few people who might have the same "sensibilities" that I do when it comes to the "type" of game that I like to play in / run. Something that's not quite so structured w/ By-The-Book rules, that's a little more open to house ruling. But since there are so many different types of Dungeons and Dragons out there today, and they DO play quite differently, it's pretty darned tough to find a like-minded group of individuals willing to sit down at a table to play some of the "older" games.

The school of thought that I'm an adherent of goes something like this: I'd rather build something I prefer from a clean, bare bones foundation, than to grab something off the shelves that includes hundreds of pages of rules I know I won't need or want, try and strip it down, end up w/ a foundation that's shaped all wrong, and try to hack together something I'm looking for.

And this isn't saying that I sit around all night tinkering with rules. Far from it, these "house rules" that I'm referring to happen on the fly, right there in-game. And I'm pretty sure that because the original rules are fairly brief and easy to conceive, I'm not going to be worried about contradicting something on down the road that will be pointed out to me from a player who's had the inclination and time to read through the 400+ pages of rules.

Plus, you know what? I've got crap on my shelf from 30+ years ago that's screaming for the new generation to experience. Great stuff that hasn't lost its magic. And I'll guarantee you that it would take me ages to convert it to 4E should I have that energy, AND it'd likely break that "balance" tenet that seems to be so popular in the rules these days.

So yeah, I've always been a fan of "Play what you like"...but it makes me a little sad when I ask a bunch of people if they'd like to play Dungeons and Dragons and they all clamor for 4E. No interest whatsoever in the more basic game. Maybe I'm just not "selling" it right. I'll try for a different tact and keep you up to date.

Either way, keep playing. Gary would have liked it that way.

EGG and Levels

2009-03-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

Well, as most of you are quite likely aware, this is the first anniversary of Gary Gygax's passing. So tip your hat, lift a pint, or roll some dice in remembrance. Either way, let's all just have a bit of fun for The DM.

Now, on to "levels". I was having a discussion with a pal of mine the other night and he was saying that he's not particularly enamored of the mechanic of level advancement. For some reason that just didn't sit right with me, but I couldn't put words to my discomfort at the time.

He explained that he wasn't keen on a character advancing to such a level as to negate the danger of a single knife thrust between the ribs. Or that one should NEVER come across any kind of a dragon and feel confident enough to actually take it head on. I don't actually know what I might call this, but I'd tend towards the term "realism" I suppose.

I was thinking about this and a few things come to mind. Has anyone heard of Bob Munden? He's a fast-draw gun specialist that holds 18 world records. His speed and accuracy with a handgun are not to be believed...until you see it. Well, he didn't attain that type of mastery through osmosis. No, he practiced and practiced. Getting better with time and a lot of patience.

The things he can do with a gun seem almost magical...he's THAT good. I can imagine that the things that a 8th level fighter might be able to do would seem like that to a 1st level fighter...he's THAT good. But there's another facet of leveling that I think my friend is uneasy with and that's hit points.

Combat and therefore character level are abstracted in Dungeons and Dragons. This has always been the way that it's worked. It's part of the "game". And personally I like that there's a built in mechanic for change in the game. But I can see my buddy's point as well. How can ANYONE ever walk straight up to a dragon, expect to go toe to toe, and not wake up sitting in the company of their god? Or fall 70 feet, stand up and walk away?

Sure, I've always been a little uncomfortable with that aspect of the game. Especially the falling bit. But to be truthful, it's a game after all, it's about surviving, growing and succeeding at whatever it is that you've put your sights on.

Going back to the gunfighter example, most, if not all, of the gunfighters throughout history were slain by a shot in the back. Could you do that to an 8th level fighter and expect the same results? No, probably not. At least not with one strike. And I'll agree, that's a bit unbalanced. If you're going to be scrapping and scraping for your life then that fear always has to be there.

I like levels actually. But that's me. And I do see where my friend takes exception to that specific mechanic. While I love a gritty game as much as the next person, I also like the evolution of a character, that they can eventually take on a dragon...maybe not toe to toe, but that eventually they can certainly expect a 50/50 shot of getting out of the scrap alive.

And that brings up another point. One of the built in mechanics of the game that keeps the wheels moving is the relationship between adventuring, finding treasure, and advancement. Sure it's gamist, but that's alright.

Consider for a moment that fighter that we've been talking about, he's out there stomping around day after day with his pals, hoping that some day he'll have enough stashed away to purchase that land from the Baron and start his keep. BUT, he needs to be 9th level and have enough money to do so. See the connection? Take that away and I'm not sure you've got the same game.

I can think of a few things that might work towards making that more "life like".

Hit Points increase very slowly and in small increments. e.g. 1st level 1d6 w/ +1 / level thereafter. High Constitution might give you a point more at each level.

Anyone that gets a knife from behind has a chance of dying. Maybe a save versus death after the HPs are applied.

A mechanic that allows for the fighter with a lot of experience to have the chance to dodge fate. His survivability quotient has risen to such levels that it's hard to kill the guy. He's got eyes in the back of his head, or has the presence of mind to reach out during his 70 foot fall and grab that stray root. Something maybe that's tied to level? Fate points maybe...

A different concept for armor. It can now absorb hit points as well as protect you. For instance, leather armor will still provide an AC of 7, but it will also provide for a total of 2 hp / strike of protection. (up to 30 hp maybe) Plate mail would be much more advanced and also MUCH more expensive. You wouldn't likely find someone under level 6 wearing a suit of this stuff. But it's THAT much better. And also costs THAT much more to fix. Now this isn't a new concept, and the thing I don't like about it is that it totally increases bookwork, for someone, and that in turn draws combat out unnecessarily.

Well, I'll have to do a bit more thinking on this. But to be completely truthful, I like the way characters advance in Dungeons and Dragons. I think it's up to the DM to keep that level of challenge commensurate with the advancement of the party. A good DM will keep you on the edge of your seats at all times. I don't see an issue with goblins being a non-threat as things advance. Unless of course it's a goblin blade in the dark from behind. ;-)

Late Edit: Another concern of mine is that a game that uses rules that make death a very sudden event (more life-like) conditions players for certain play styles. I realize that this is what my friend was looking for (ahem, he actually said this and I forgot to mention it). It also adds an enormous amount of risk if you have only a few players. You have a hair-thin safety margin when playing w/ only a couple of characters and you lose 1/2 of them in one round due to poor rolls.

I can totally understand the attraction of having a character act in a cautious, non-super heroic manner when confronted with a dangerous situation. That's cool. But, that threat of an immediate / sudden demise also forces characters into more desperate options. You're taking away half of their arsenal when you introduce that type of mechanic. They now act like mice in nearly every situation...and while this might create a sense of realism and grit, it also detracts from the fantasy portion of the game.

Again, more thought needs to be put into this.

Labyrinth Lord Recap

2009-03-02T21:56:00.001-08:00

Hello all you eager readers! (Ha...I've always wanted to say that.)

So here we are yet again, time for another thrilling recap of my familial LL game. This time we got just a bit more time to play, roughly two hours, which was nice. I'm eager for the day that we get just a tad more than two hours. It'll come, it's just a matter of time. "chuckle"

The PCs / Players:
Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

We left off right in the middle of the action, which I'm loathe to do. But when two of your players are grade school children and the third is your wife (their mother), then you take what you can get and call it good.

And I just don't have the heart to institute that cruel table that Jeff Rients came up with. I can't imagine what my eldest daughter would do if I rolled a d6 at the end of a session and announced that her character had died. No, that just wouldn't do. My apologies to all you hard core DMs out there.

Four orcs lay dead at the feet of the group while the rest of them are "waking" up and getting camp broken down not more than 30 yards away. A quick plan was made: Safira will again peek out through a crack in the wall and cast her sleep spell, trying to take down the greatest number of orcs in one fell swoop.

This happens without a hitch and Isabella leaps over the wall to confront the one orc that was not taken by the spell. They meet in the middle and the amazon's sword cleaves the porcine fellow in twain. Just...That...Quick. Ember and the rest of the party creeps around and dispatches the rest of the sleeping creatures.

All but one that is. An odd orc was spotted by Safira as she cast her spell, this one, dressed in tattered purple robes, was smaller and seemed to be giving the orders. Turns out he's some type of shaman. This is the first spell caster that they've faced and they take particular interest in him.

Isabella asks if they think he might impart information. Maybe. So they tie him up and gag him. Also of note, they find two beaten and bedraggled children tied to a post on the edge of the camp. It appears that the two are from Botkinburg. One Sari and her brother Samuel, are farm children from along the Hruesen river on the outskirts of town.

Their homestead was attacked at night and their parents tried to fight the invaders off, which ended in blood. The children were tied up, and according to the shaman, were being taken to a place called the "Bleak Theatre", to be sold as slaves. (This information is plied from the shaman via a charm spell.)

Fura has never heard of the orcs crossing the river, but the family (Riversen) is familiar. This is bad news indeed. The shaman imparts that the tribe of the Bloody Eye is going to become wealthy by slowly draining the town of their "stock"...and they'll also eat well in the year to come. Bad news seems an understatement.

Well it's agreed by the group that one of the porters (Tom) will take the children back to the town. They're given extra food and directions and they set off in the morning. Isabella sees no use for the shaman and asks the group if they should free him or slay him. He's much to dangerous and chaotic a threat to let free...so he dies.

* DM NOTE: Now I'm not horribly comfortable w/ these types of situations...BUT, my eldest has read more books than I can count and she's no stranger to that type of brutality. Still, what does one do? Leave him tied up to perish of hunger and thirst? Set him free to terrorize some more? They did a just thing...it's after all a fairly black and white world that I'm running. I'm not interested in a "shades of grey" exercise in morality and I take pains in restating over and over that it IS fantasy.

Their mission, the recovery of the holy items, or at least their whereabouts, is their top priority and with that, they descend into the inky depths of the Ruined Monastery.

At the bottom of the stairs they find two redcap corpses, feathered with bolts, with an orc just a bit further on. It appears that the orcs got into a bit of a scuffle and came out on top.

With Safira, utilizing her elven vision, leading the party, they look at the map recovered from the goblin miners and decide to explore a few areas not on their map. One of the Krieger brothers carries a small shuttered candle lamp, just enough light to see the wall and keep the group together, with out ruining the elf's vision just up ahead.

The mildewy and damp hallways have not changed in the past week...and the dark is still as oppressive. The first door that they come to turns out to reveal a work room of sorts. It looks as if it's been avoided for the most part by the goblins and the red caps. Rotted wooden benches and shelves, festooned with rusting wood working and gardening tools lie on the floors and sag sadly along the walls. They exit the only other door in the room onto a hallway.

This they take to the right and then an immediate turn to the left to find another door. Herein lies an old store room...or larder. Isabella walks in and is immediately attacked from above by two massive spiders. Neither strike proves true and the arachnids are quickly dispatched. They rummage and closely check this room for secret doors but find nothing of value or interest.

*DM NOTE: My eldest, while an excellent adventurer (she constantly uses the 10' pole out ahead of her and is always describing what she's doing and how she's doing it) is very much the most tentative of the three. She HATES the fact that she might perish. Every single door and encounter causes her a great amount of consternation and stress. I'm not sure what to do about this. I'm happy that my wife is playing...she's much more direct and straight forward. I just hope my eldest loosens up a bit. She IS a hero after all, it's just tough convincing her of that.

So anyway, that's where we ended it. We had to take off and go celebrate my father-in-law's birthday.

Tune in for more next week.

What troubles me about our "tribe" (*An Opinion Post)

2009-02-26T07:09:00.000-08:00

There's been some disagreement circulating amongst our little corner of the blogosphere regarding what I might term a general "intolerance".

It's been around for awhile, hell, for as long as there's been a hobby to criticize, there have been critics. I suppose it's our nature as humans; we just love to use our evolved brains like sledgehammers. But when the sources of cool, creative and wonderfully entertaining material, start taking up all their time arguing about minutiae and personal preference then I get a bit bummed out.

Who cares if I'm bummed out you say? Well, I'm a follower. I'm already "in", hook, line, and sinker. I read this stuff pretty religiously and have played the game(s) for over three decades, so for a person as passionate as me to get discouraged, it might be a sign that this stuff is headed in a self-destructive direction. Imagine a newbie stumbling upon this kind of thing?

I understand that the blog is a fantastic medium to "air it out" as it were. I get that...but maybe we ought to think about compartmentalizing this stuff a little more efficiently? If you want to wax philosophical and ruminate on days of yore then do so, but maybe under a "section" of your blog that is set aside for just this reason.

Now, some tools (blogging applications) don't allow this type of functionality. So how about labeling your posts appropriately? I'm going to start avoiding these long, strung out teeth gnashing sessions. There's enough vile shit going on in the real world for all of us, why add more tension and stress? This is, after all, a hobby. And weren't hobbies meant as an escape from those daily stresses we all experience from time to time?

Meh...One of the things that really bothers me is when people chime in with obvious derisive and destructive intent. If you're one of those folks who likes to make snide personal comments then do the world a favor; Write your virulent opinions down, hit "save" rather than "publish" and call it good. Or better yet, do it on your own turf and label it as such. Just warn the folks who read these things that they might possibly be stepping into a cesspool.

You know what really bothers me? The fact that people even take the time to deride others over their personal choices. I'm ALWAYS amazed and astounded at this type of behavior. It's like criticizing a type of music. You can certainly say that you don't prefer one type of music and it's understood. You don't need to get into some type of soap box diatribe about WHY you don't like it. It's going to be baseless.

Sure, you can state that in your personal opinion Rudolph Schenker has a way better voice than Rob Halford, and IMHO you'd be justified in doing so. But to say something as silly as Gregorian chants are dumb because they're "boring"...Is just plain ignorant. OK, fine, you don't like that style of music, but to try and pick it apart based on your personal tastes is just an exercise in futility. Don't waste your time on insulting people on their choices.

And PLEASE, don't waste ours.

My Favorite 10 Monsters

2009-02-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

Alright, I'll bite. This has been going around and I think that I'd like to add my two cents.

10. Vampires: One of the most versatile monsters in the game, and therefore one of the most worthy foes, if played properly. I loved vampire movies as a kid, I guess that's carried over, along with a few other things eh? ;-)

9. Wererats: I'm going to have to agree with Amityville Mike on this one. Another monster that's got so much neat potential. I just love sneaks, thugs, cowardly attacks from the dark, and things of that ken, add in a dash of shape shifting and minor resistances and what's not to like?
*Also like Mike, one of my very favorite authors is Fritz Leiber.

8. Lizardmen: There's a bit of history behind this one. As a young teen I used to play Napoleonics and did a lot of painting for the group. (I wasn't all that good but I was willing.) Well the guy who ran the group knew I loved Tolkien, so he sent me this figurine that went to a game called Chainmail, and yeah you guessed it, it was a lizardman. I'd never seen anything like it and was immediately intrigued. The rest is history. That and the monster lives in one of the most difficult terrain types for characters to operate in. Love it.

7. Trolls: A giant, regenerating, eating machine that can rend a person limb from limb. They're so ferociously confident and ravenous that they never stop coming. Death wont stop these creatures...I remember the first time we put one of these things down and were walking away. Hint: Never turn your back on a troll, unless it's in a flaming heap.

6. The Venerable Red Dragon: Something about a reptilian, fire-breathing, intelligent, ancient, covetous creature that can snuff an entire town out in a fly-by just screams COOL! to me. I suppose it was Smaug that started it all, but the game was named after one of these creatures after all. Staid? Sure...but still awfully awe-inspiring.

5. The Evil Giant Tripartite: Hill, Frost and Fire. Against the Giants was a series of modules that I will never forget. I cut my teeth on these, and the giants therein were so vividly portrayed that I will forever think of Nosnra, the Frost Giant Jarl and of course King Snurre Iron Belly when running giants. Maybe it was Tramp's art...but it was certainly the magic that Gygax infused into his descriptions. If an evil human can be spooky, imagine a giant one!

4. Clay Golem: There's just something inherently creepy about this slick, deep-earth stinking, murderous automaton. A creature that can, all of the sudden, just go ape-shit and start delivering an up-tempo beat-down. And the fact that the wounds can't be healed by normal methods? That send chills down most adventurers spines...I know it certainly does mine.

3. Ghoul / Ghast: Tell me that eating the flesh of the dead just does not make your skin crawl. These are the penultimate threat at lower levels. The idea that they're never sated; the more they eat the more they hunger, just simply strikes a chord of fear deep inside me. That they're so accursed the charnel smell simply follows them wherever they go.

2. Effreti: For some reason when I think of an otherworldly, demonic creature, I think of these. Sure the fact that it was on the DMG might carry some weight with me, but overall these guys have power in spades at their beck and call, and the fact that they live in a City of Brass? Aw man...just too cool for school.

1. The Lich: I have a thing for the undead, maybe it's all those horror movies as a kid. But you add that with the fact that this creature is probably the baddest boy on the block, a serious power-lover's wet dream, you get something that's at the top of the food chain and at the bottom of all the vile deeds ever perpetrated.

I look over this list and I realize that it's pretty pedestrian, especially when you compare it to some of the others that are currently floating about, but you know what? I have a history with these guys listed above, and it's that they strike a chord of fear in me as well as a sense of history. These monsters might cause a few of the jaded folks to yawn and roll their eyes, but if they're smart, most of those same folks have a little alarm bell go off deep inside when they run across any of these...

fin

Ventilation

2009-02-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

After reading Philotomy's postings on his Lost City games I was really intrigued about a small detail that he added to the module: Ventilation. Now this might not seem like a topic of much concern but it took seed and germinated...and this is what I've come up with.

Ventilation in a dungeon makes perfect sense in many cases. Now I'm not saying that it has to be present everywhere, but it's an absolutely perfect avenue for infestation from the outside as well as a vector for travel and attack. The way I envision this can run from anywhere between something simple like just plain ol shafts, to stuff that's cleverly hidden in the decorative stone work. (Philotomy's idea actually...)

I've got a few thoughts about the ventilation and how it might affect the dungeon as a whole. The upper levels would be supplied air through a cleverly engineered dcut system that transports air via the surface. Lower levels are a different matter though. There's a Fritz Leiber story (Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser) that involves both of the heroes being employed in an ancient but massive underground realm. The lower portions are supplied air by a whole crew of these specially bred slaves. They're one of the last surviving artifacts of the ancient race that built the place.

Their job is to constantly walk on these massive tread mills located on a completely dedicated level, which in turn run huge turbines that supply air through a duct system. In the end the creatures are eventually freed via a war between the surviving sides.

Wouldn't that be kind of neat though? Include a deep sub-level that's sole purpose is to supply a "service" to the rest of the dungeon? I know that people have talked recently about a group of neutral merchants, a slew of cleaners and general custodians or a group of runners. This is something a bit different...

Maybe initially it's not evident what they do. Imagine a massive cavern with hundreds of these blind, docile, long-lived creatures endlessly walking on tread mill-type devices. And attached to these are long belts that stretch up to a ceiling far overhead. And located there, are the massive turbines...hidden by darkness but the susurrus fills the chamber along with the dull thumping of the ponderous but ever enduring slaves.

Now of course an operation like this would require some type of support. Food, custodians and technicians, etc. Imagine a race of creatures who can nimbly climb the walls and work upside down upon the turbines and drive belts. Another group of creatures that take care of the "walking brutes", a group of farmers who tend to the penned insect farms and the wall-clinging fungus gardens, and then of course there's the overseer.

Who knows what the overseer is or does. But it's also long-lived and communicates to the masses via pheromones and scent. This could very well operate like a colony of insects. Or not.

Tuesday Night Game

2009-02-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

We played our Labyrinth Lord game again last night and I thought I'd write another small recap in order to keep things straight in my mind.

The PCs / Players:
Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

We pick up w/ our heroes at the bottom of The Hermit's hill, it is late morning and a discussion ensues over the next destination. Isabella and Ember think it prudent to head straight for the Ruined Abbey, while Safira would rather stop in Botkinburg first in order to restock before moving on to the Abbey.

*DM Note: I think the convincing item was that they would have had to re-cross the river Hruesen again if they were to go back to Botkinburg, and that giant gar still makes them all a bit nervous.

Although they had never traveled through the Tangle Downs this way to get to the Abbey, with the combination of the map and general knowledge of the surrounding terrain features it wasn't a monumentally insurmountable task. Isabella helped lead the party and as they camped for the first night it looked as if they were still headed in the correct direction...as far as they could determine.

About an hour and a half into the first watch Isabella feels the touch of cold metal on her neck and hears a heavily accented voice in her ear "Don't move...and don't make a sound." She doesn't.

It turns out that the group has inadvertently cut through elvish land and they elves are at a heightened sense of alert due to the riled up Bloody Eye Orcs to the north. Once the party is awake, the elvish scouts ask their business, and once they're content that the party isn't a threat they ask for a passage fee. Apparently Moonsilver, the elvish leader isn't pleased with humans trespassing on their lands...the elves are no big deal, but the humans are a different story.

*DM Note: A funny thing happened during this encounter (random btw). The elves attempted to disarm the sleeping characters...Safira awoke during the attempt and in reaction she hissed at the perpetrator. My wife was outraged that she should just sit and do nothing while watching the elf disarm her. There was a bit of a tiff between the two (wife and daughter). Needless to say I've got some very headstrong women in the house. It was interesting to say the least.

5gp a head seems to be the going rate, which adds up to the hefty sum of 50gp for the entire group! Luckily Ember thinks of the tiger eye gem acquired from battle with the orcs, it's 50gp. The elves check it and accept it as payment. Isabella finagles a passage back through the territory as part of the bargain, should they need it.

Moonsilver, the leader, says that if they should like the party can get some rest while the elves are in the area...nothing will sneak up on them. At this one elf pulls a small reed fife out of his pack, sits cross-legged upon the ground and begins to play a quiet tune while the others silently fade back into the surrounding darkness.

The morning comes and Safira is first awake, the musician stands, looks at the sky and says "There's a powerful storm coming." With that he nods and walks off into the forest.

*DM Note: This "warning" from the elf has a bit of double entendre connected with it. ;-)

As the day progresses the overcast sky thickens and around 2pm the skies open up and a deluge soaks the party to the skin in a matter of minutes. The rain continues unabated throughout the afternoon as the group looks for some sort of shelter.

An hour and a half of searching produces an overhang sitting about 10 feet above a gully. It doesn't appear that the water will reach the dry area so the party agrees that this will do for the evening. All 10 soaking wet, miserable adventurers bed down for the night and in shifts attempt to dry their cloaks out over a small fitful fire as they stand guard.

The next day dawns grey and rainy. While the volume has abated somewhat, it is still a miserable slog through the woods and at about 3 in the afternoon they finally catch sight of the long hill upon which sits the Abbey. Isabella though notices three thin tendrils of smoke curling up amidst the rain...It appears that there are some new tenants upon the hill.

Safira, being the most adept and moving silently through the woods is the natural choice as a scout and she moves off to discern who these newcomers might be. At the top of the rise she smells pipe smoke which diverts her attention the her right. She spies what looks to be some kind of bear sitting on the opposite side of a tree from her.

She can't get a clear view but it smells and appears as if the smoke is coming from the bear! Silent as a shadow she slides back down the hill and proceeds around the back of the hill to get a peek at the fires. She's joined then by Ember and they both spot what looks to be about 6 orcs shuffling about the fires. At this distance they can't determine if they're Bloody Eye tribe or not.

*DM Note: This was a very tense moment for my eldest daughter. She has an emotional attachment to her characters (lots of off-game time spent on imagining them) and therefore she takes great pains to make slow well-informed decisions. She HATES not knowing...and the "bear" was a serious source of consternation.

On the way back, Ember decides that she's got to identify the "bear" so she goes creeping back up the hill, with Safira at her heels trying to dissuade her. They move into position and slowly take a look at the "bear". It turns out to be an orc, albeit a VERY large one, sitting against a tree with a bear skin thrown across his shoulders. He was smoking a short stemmed pipe while looking down the road. A large black iron bow sat across his lap with a quiver of arrows lying beside him.

Ember then convinces a VERY hesitant Safira to put him to sleep with her spell. She does so and as she's casting the orc somehow hears her voice, he grunts spins with the bow in his hand but not before Safira releases the spell. He lays his bow on the ground and falls asleep.

The rest of the group comes up and plans the assault on the rest of the orcs. The plan is that they'll get Safira into position in order to cast a sleep spell. As they advance under cover of the crumbling Abbey ruins they hear two voices from INSIDE the ruins they're using as cover!

Safira finds a crack in the wall and peers in, seeing 4 orcs guarding the stairs leading down into the dungeons. She casts her spell while under cover and the orcs are none the wiser. They all succumb and she moves in to slit throats.

*DM Note: I'm going easy on the girls. My wife, while quite smart, doesn't have much tactical or strategic knowledge. Instead of keeping the orcs inside of the building quiet and having them leap out in surprise, I let them hear them and therefore attack the orcs in small chunks. They'll learn to do that as time goes on but for now...I think it's probably necessary. Also, I do plan on introducing a coup de grâce rule, I think it will likely be a free hit doing critical damage and then a save from the creature v. massive damage.

This is where we broke it off...I hate stopping things in the middle of an encounter but my eldest was hitting the wall and it was a school night. Nonetheless, it was a great session and there were a few pretty tense moments. Overall, lots of fun.

Stay tuned.

Thursday night gaming

2009-02-13T06:40:00.000-08:00

We got together for a little over an hour of gaming last night, the first time in a couple of weeks, and we had a terrific time. I'm just loving running this game due to a few reasons.
1. The players, my daughters and wife, are new to everything. This brings back that sense of wonder that's been missing for a long long time.
2. The rules are really fantastic. I'm loving the Labyrinth Lord rules for their simplicity, speed and flexibility.
3. The setting is an offshoot of the Western Marches type game. I hesitate to say "sandbox" because I think it's been overused, but this is pretty wide open. I'm adding a few small hooks for mini-quests in order to get them out into the wilderness and bumping into new (or rather old) and interesting things.

On with the recap:

Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

Evening was falling as the three female adventurers finished their discussion with The Hermit, and camping away from their companions, on the steep sides of the crumbling pyramid was not very inviting. So descent was the best option.

As they clambered down the rotting, vegetated sides of the ancient structure, darkness fell and the flickering light of torches could be seen through the canopy of the trees. The awaiting remainder of the party welcomed them and eagerly asked questions regarding the conversation. This all took place as the group slowly made their way into the forest, searching for a secure spot to camp.

They quickly located a small clearing, built a fire and continued their discussion over a supper of rations and tea. Fura was especially interested in what The Hermit had to say regarding the lost artifacts of St. George Gyxag. With supper finished the group chose guards and rotations for the evening and turned in.

Two and a half hours from dawn, during the third shift, Ember hears rough voices in the distance. She crouches down and listens more intently. As they approach she distinctly hears two individuals arguing over something in orc, and just as she determines to turn and wake the rest of the camp, she hears them stop and one say "Hey, look, what's that light up ahead?". The other voice responds that it doesn't see a light and the argument proceeds.

Alarmed, Ember quickly puts the small fire out and wakes the rest of the group. The argument continues unabated in the darkness not more than 50 feet away. Those that were sleeping quickly and quietly attempt to slip on armor while the others take up position on the far side of the camp, hiding in the brush while covering the approach with bows.

Two of the Krieger brothers, while moving around in the dark stumble over a pack and a "crunch" of broken pottery ensues as the smell of alcohol fills the air. One of them curses loudly...and the orcs in the brush instantly fall silent.

A few tense moments pass. Nothing can be heard but the slight breeze in the treetops and the imagined whoosh of the high clouds as the pass the face of the full moon high above. Darkness, occasionally punctuated with sporadic moonlight makes spotting the dangerous orcs difficult at best for the humans. The elves keep a close eye on the brush...

Just as Isabella buckles the last strap on her chain mail 6 burly porcine monstrosities, bearing wicked black morningstars and crude wooden shields, burst out of the brush and come shambling quickly into the clearing.

The heroes have the drop though and the Krieger brothers let their arrows fly. Only one strikes the leading orc, which hardly slows the obese creature as it slams into Isabella, its morningstar swinging. The chaotic press of battle ensues with blows traded freely and curses filling the air.

Fura dodges in and out quickly but the orcs are quicker yet, as they dodge back out of the halfling's reach. Isabella and Ember though rain down terrible blows upon their opponents, felling two orcs in short order. Safira, hiding in the brush to the side, chides an orc in its own language, confusing the dim creature into thinking there are more adversaries coming. The elf darts out, slim curved sword flashing, but the orc deflects the blow on its shield and squealing, comes back swinging.

The morning star connects and Safira feels blood flow under her padding, she quickly skips back in response, holding her shoulder. Ember is also in dire straights as one of the larger of the orcs smashes her arm with its weapon, the sound of a broken bone and Embers ensuing groan accompanies the cacophony of battle.

Belinda has pulled the other two non-combatants further into the brush at this point, guarding them with her large maul, while the Krieger brothers angle to get a clear shot in the spotty light. The deciding point in the battle comes as Safira lets loose on her sleep spell. The remaining orcs immediately succumb and lay their weapons down, yawning widely they curl up on the ground for a comfortable slumber....That lasts forever. The party quickly dispatches the dangerous foes.

After searching the bodies by torchlight they discover a few gems and surprisingly, a couple pieces of very fine jewelry. (A filigree ring made of platinum in the shape of two intertwined fishing nets with two miniature fish captured within. And a belt buckle of silver and gold, elvish make of two bucks coming together.)

Wounds are healed by the cleric Ember, the bodies of the orcs are dragged off a ways into the woods, and after the charge of battle has calmed a bit, the party beds back down to wait for morning.

The next day dawns hazy and breezy. After a quick meal, Ember, Safira and Fura scale the hill to speak with The Hermit. The old man greets them and after they answer a riddle, (a tradition of his order...keep reading.) this is the information that he imparts upon them:

It seems that St. George of Gyxag is indeed familiar, for the Saint was a hero nearly 200 years ago of the same god that The Hermit worshiped at one time: Bochnoi, the Red God of Knowledge. The order of Bochnoi is one of quiet contemplation, scribes, and quiet study by candlelight. But, every once in awhile an individual joins the order who doesn't fit this mold. One was St. George Gyxag, who was a very rare paladin naturally imbued with the wanderlust and desire to right wrongs.

At the height of his fame it seems that the paladin wandered off East with two of the church's artifacts; The Red Book and the Sword of Truth. Both potent artifacts on their own, these were sorely missed but it was deemed at the time that they were both necessary for St. George's quest. He was never seen again.

The Hermit then filled in the rest since he's lived in this area for many many years. Seems that the wayward paladin came across a place of ancient evil and decided to kill two birds with one stone by plugging access through the erection of an abbey to his god, Bochnoi. This lasted for many years but after the Saint's passing, the order fell to sloth and soon they paid the ultimate price. The abbey was burnt to the ground and was never heard from again.

Now, the black key, although this is not certain, would likely be a means of opening the crypt to Saint George Gyxag, and therein might certainly be found the sword. Now the book is a different matter. It might lie in the tomb but then again, the order would have found much use in its pages, so it could be ensconced elsewhere.

The Hermit was then informed of the Red Caps and their leader Melchert's attempts to find this Black Key...and in turn, their connection to Ylfrit, the Alfar Queen. He was indeed dismayed to hear of her return and was adamant that she should NOT find the Red Book, for it would be used for evil in her hands. No good would come of it for certain.

As they thanked The Hermit, Ember asked if there might be another way into the lower catacombs of the Abbey, he said that he couldn't be positive, but yes, there would quite likely be another way in to such a complex. The trick was in finding it.

They thanked The Hermit and made their way down the ancient structure and as they did he called after them that if they came across any rare information that he'd indeed love to hear of it...

And this is where we wrapped it up. Until next time, adieu.

Big time!

2009-02-04T12:37:00.001-08:00

Hey, this might be a bit late, I'm not the world's most observant person after all, but guess what? I've made it to Grognardia's "Links of Interest"!

I'm sure some of you are scratching your heads and saying "So what?", well I just have to say, James Maliszewski is the godfather of the Old School movement, and to be recognized by him is of great import to me. I place a lot of stock in James' insights into the roots of the game. And simply put, I really love reading what he has to say.

Anyway, I just thought I'd say Thank You to James. I doubt very much that he'll ever read this, (that's the penultimate accomplishment in this crazy old school gaming blogosphere) but nonetheless, there it is.

"Ma! Look at me, I made it!"

A thought about calendars and fantasy games

2009-02-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

I was over at Valley of Blue Snails (Great work btw, go check it out if you haven't yet.) and noticed a posting about calendars. This is a topic that has always sort of bothered me.

I agree that saying February 23rd in game is always a bit of a disconnect. But on the other hand, I also loathe some of these convoluted creations that are used instead. They're completely confusing and are a pain to deal with. It seems to me that the effort one takes in creating a "calendar" system might better be spent elsewhere. I don't honestly think that I can remember a time when any of my players were specifically interested in the date. Maybe that's just a result of my play style. I don't know.

What I do know is that seasons make a LOT more sense in terms of in-game time keeping. Terms like: Approximately two moons left in the rainy season... The end of the grain harvest... Dead of winter... seem to ring more true to me than some made up date. After all, the majority of the populace in the middle ages had absolutely no way of knowing the date, nor did they give a hoot.

Maybe clergy members might care about the date. I could see wizards being interested in some arcane system of dating via astronomy and the study of entrails, in order to keep track of important events "elsewhere" (distant planes and such...). But for the common everyday adventurer, how is "The 23rd day of Plestance, in the 5th age of the Great Wyrm" going to make any difference in play?

Sure, this might be nit picking, but I've always run my games using weather and seasons as markers of time, and it's yet to fail me. I even had a case of the PCs traveling to a different plane where time ran at a slower pace. When they returned it was still high summer, but two years later. They figured it out via NPC reactions to their return and odd comments about dogs that had passed away of old age, of a failed harvest due to early snows, and things like that. No mention of time, just events. They caught on pretty quickly.

That's just my Wednesday $.02.

A short game

2009-01-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

We played again the other night. Not a very long session due to the girls having to get to bed early, it was a school night. But I thought I'd jot down what happened if for nothing else than to keep the story current. (And to have a place to reference what's gone before.)

Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2 (my wife)
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2 (youngest daughter)
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (eldest daughter)

After emerging from the woods and saying goodbye to Fura, the characters spent the evening at the Bent Hook. A small celebration for a newly married couple was occurring at the Inn and there were more people crowding the common room than was the norm. Ember, Safira and Isabella stayed up for a while and observed the festivities, but noting the hour, and their exhaustion, they soon thereafter went to bed.

Next morning they descended the stairs and were met with the sight of the Krieger triplets sitting in the common room without a beer in their hands! Belinda, Fura and the other 2 henchmen were sitting around a table, talking amongst themselves.

Their destination? The Hermit.

Convincing the two henchmen that crossing the river on the back of a giant gar was slightly more difficult and expensive (due to a roll of 12 on the morale dice) than it should have been, but eventually they were convinced that it would be safer than crossing the "Toll Bridge".

Once upon the opposite shore the party of 10 decided upon a marching order and cautiously proceeded into the woods along the faint game trail that led to the witch. About 2 hours along the trail the party cut due north, following the witch's directions.

The overcast sky provided dim illumination under the canopy of trees and the terrain turned decidedly more hilly and rough. The witch had said that the hermit lived about a day's march due north, so at noon, when the group broke for lunch, Safara shimmied up a tree in order to see if she might be able to spot the tall hill upon which sat the large tree.

Surprisingly enough she determined that they were actually heading in the wrong direction. They somehow must have let the terrain turn them a bit, instead of due north the group had been heading in a more north easterly direction. Safira was looking at the ridge sitting nearly right in front of her, instead of off to her right, as it should have been.

After the meal the group backtracked a ways, climbed another tree and got their bearings. At about this time the cloud cover thinned enough for them to see the sun, which also helped. Every hour or so Safira climbed a tree, just to make certain they were still headed in the proper direction.

Many hours of marching later, with supper time fast approaching, Safira climbed a tree once more, and this time she spotted, not too far off in the distance an obviously tall hill with a enormous tree sitting astride it. The party set off in that general direction.

As they marched down the trail, with Isabella leading the way, a rustle in the brush alerted the barbarian to company. She froze and warily watched the area. The alert group luckily caught, and immediately emulated her actions. All was quiet.

An enormous mountain lion glided out of the brush, head low to the ground, in the opposite direction. It didn't seem to notice the invaders as it was stalking some unknown prey, drawing its attention elsewhere.

After the large cat disappeared into the far brush, the group proceeded. They noticed immediately though that the area was rife with large cat tracks. Seems this beast likes to hunt the area. Ember quickly surmises that they are encroaching upon the large cat's territory and that they should be extremely wary.

When they finally come upon the large hill they realize just by glancing along its bottom that it's oddly shaped. They decide that a route around the circumference might better determine what they're dealing with. Surprisingly it seems that the hill is an ancient round step pyramid that has eroded with time and weather to appear as a hill. The giant fig tree atop the "hill" also contributed greatly to the erosion.

Again, the large cat's prints were spotted all around the hill, so Fura decided that he would take the Krieger brothers, Belinda and the other two porters around the hill in an attempt to watch for the cat and to look at the hill more closely, for a possible entrance. The others will ascend the "hill" and make contact with the hermit.

Three quarters of the way up the hill the adventurers break through the canopy and can now see across the tops of the rolling forest. And they can also see that there's a large hole of some sort in the side of the massive fig tree. As they came closer they could hear a low growl emanate from the hole in the tree.

The head of the puma appeared as the cat slunk slowly forward out of the shadowed rent in the tree. A querulous voice asked who was there...and to step forward and announce your intentions. As the cat slowly approached a gnarled hand appeared from the shadows to lay casually upon the back of the enormous mountain lion.

After brief introductions the old man, presumably the hermit, cursed that he'd been found again but was willing to answer a question. They three asked if he had heard anything about the relics of St. George of Gyxag. The hermit grumbled a bit and said that he'd heard the name St. George...but he didn't know anything off hand about any relics. But, if the party was willing to come back at dawn he'd see if he could come up with a better answer.

They agree...and that's where we stopped.

Once again, into the breach...

2009-01-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

Time once more to update the continuing saga of our home Labyrinth Lord game, which includes my two daughters and now surprisingly, my wife. Yipee!

Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2

Lisa, the town's woman, sprints for the water's edge, hoping to gain her freedom. The adventurers are ready for her break and leap to tackle her. Unfortunately they all leap at once, and tangle in the attempt...Lisa gains the water and the adventurers are smart enough NOT to jump in after her. After all, they've seen the gar!

Ember uses the flute to call the gar and both she and Isabella mount the fish and it slowly turns and swims to the other side. Lisa notices this, and knowing that the fish is a one-way ticket, she turns around and weakly swims back, her stroke is failing. Watching from the shore, Safira realizes that Lisa will not likely make it, so she finds the longest branch that she can and tries to shadow the woman's progress along the shore.

Meanwhile, the gar has reached the other side and the women leap off, blow the flute and again mount up. What tedium!! Ach. By this time Lisa has weakened significantly and her swimming is uneven and frantic. She yells out briefly, then her head disappears beneath the muddy waters of the Hruesen.

Safira waits and watches while her comrades make shore. Ember sprints into town with the intent of bringing back a watchman.

Nearly a minute passes and Lisa's head breaks the brown plane of the water and Safira sprints down to help her with the branch. The exhausted woman is pulled to safety and she collapses in the mud, coughing and retching water up out of her lungs.

With the arrival of the watch, Lisa is recovered enough to get up and be led to the jail-house. The rest of the party is told to come along...to both verify the story as well as to make sure that they're not somehow trying to cover up wrongdoing.

After a few hours of questioning, which includes the entire Shuester family, and the friar from the chancel, it's obvious Lisa has been up to no good. She won't say who she's gone to see but she does admit to trying to poison her no good laggard of a husband. It's surmised though that she's gone to see the Thorn Queen, better known as 'The Witch'. Old Man Nester knows a bit more as he's been to see her long ago.

A visit with Old Man Nester provides the group with enough information to find the witch as well as a "reason" to seek her out. It seems that the witch is some kind of oracle and might know where the Hermit would be located. She's been in the woods for generations and no one knows how old she is...ancient it seems, and a font of that type of knowledge, if the price is paid. Apparently she takes rare herbs and sometimes "favors" in return for her words of wisdom.

Exhausted, but still game, the adventurers proceed to the Bent Hook tavern, where they had informed their party to meet them. There they find the triplets drunk and Fura waiting nervously. They all wonder what's been going on, and after a quick explanation they also agree to meet the next day and try again.

Down to the dock the women head after convincing Fura that he should come along. Once there, they pull out the flute and summon the giant gar, they're determined to see this witch today...even if it kills them. The trek is three hours according to Old Man Nester IF they follow the trail. If not, it could take days.

It takes a little searching but Isabella finds the faint outlines of a game trail and off they go. About two hours into the hike, the trees grow quite a bit larger, the canopy tightens up above them, dimming the light, and the underbrush starts growing much more verdant. Giant, twisted briars, with beautiful flowers grow alongside the narrow game trail, snagging and catching at the adventurer's clothing and gear.

Not far in the distance, the snapping of branches and a cacophony of low growls alerts the party that something is going on not far off in the brush. A stick is stepped on and the growling suddenly stops...the rushing of feet through the leaves prompts weapons to be drawn with haste. Out of the bushes hurtles three large hyena-like creatures, their muzzles smeared with blood and their long yellow canines barred for violence.

Initially it looks bad, Safira is pounced on by two of the creatures and dragged to the ground where they savagely maul her. Fura is beset by the third beast and he luckily dodges it's first snapping advance. Teeth flash and snap. Blades and staff go snicker-snak. Soon the beasts go down and Safira's wounds are healed by Ember and her belief in Freya; the goddess of battle and beauty.

The group takes a short breather and luckily catches sight of a smear of blood just off the trail, as if something was dragged away, INTO the brush. They investigate and discover the dismembered corpse of a female. It's in too poor a condition to tell who she was, or even if she was human. But they do discover a fine silver flowered necklace and a small satchel of herbs with a sharp silver paring knife obviously used in the collection process.

They decide to keep moving towards the witch and quite soon they emerge into a small clearing occupied by a small woven briar hut and a large black-iron cauldron, wherein some type of viscous green liquid bubbles and pops, heated by flickering blue flames. The clearing stinks of an acrid nasty stench emanating from the cauldron.

A rough voice issues from the darkness of the small hut asking the intruders to announce themselves and to state their business. The adventurers do so and gnarled hands push aside the hanging vines covering the doorway to reveal....a twisted and ancient dwarf! He comes limping out on his club foot and asks a few other pointed questions. As the questioning progresses the air is filled with a buzzing sound and looking up the adventurers see a small group of pixies flitting above their heads.

Satisfied that the adventurers mean no harm, the dwarf looks up as if to someone behind the party and asks if she's ready to see them. The party whips around and a kindly looking plump-woman dressed in a faded, but still pretty, flower-print dress nods and smiles to each of them. She greets them and asks if they'd like to take tea with her.

Safira agrees and surprisingly, her wounds are healed the rest of the way! The witch introduces herself as Neegle and tells the party that the body they found in the woods was an assistant of hers out collecting herbs. She also informs them that she'd be more than happy to answer questions, but there is a price.

Two questions are agreed upon by the group: Where can the Hermit be found, and what is behind the Black Door in the ruined monastery of St. George of Gyxag? The price for the first answer is the herbs the party came across on the slain body. The price for the second answer will be determined at the next full moon, whereupon the group will meet Neegle here.

After handing over the satchel to Neegle, she informs them that the Hermit lives only a few hours hike due north of here, but beware, he is not nearly as tolerant of visitors as Neegle. The answer to the Black Door is a little more complicated. What the group seeks may be found behind the Black Door but therein also dwell things that are not meant to see the light of day. She also mentions that the Black Door is not the ONLY way into the depths...

Armed with this new information, and agreeing that they shall reconvene here at the next full moon, the adventurers take their leave of Neegle and bid adieu. Their hike back towards the Hruesen river is uneventful...They break out of the trees at dusk, exhausted and bedraggled.

And this is where we'll pick it up again. Until next time.

Ken Follett's 'World Without End'

2009-01-04T15:05:00.000-08:00

Well, here's the first post of '09. Happy New Year to everyone! Here's hoping for a peaceful and prosperous new year...

You're probably thinking that this is going to be a post about the book 'World Without End' eh? I hope I'm not going to disappoint you but it's not. What it IS about though is how it shaped my Labyrinth Lord game.

A bit of a preface is likely apropos at this point; My wife of over 15 years is absolutely accepting of my role playing proclivities, but she's only ever once partaken in role playing, and that was a Shadowrun game many many years ago. (before we were married) She tried it and was disappointed when she was told what "her" contact said. To be completely truthful, she's never had much patience with sitting around for more than an hour or two. A movie is about max. A good book is the exception, she can wrap up with an excellent story for hours upon hours.

Anyway, my daughters have been playing Labyrinth Lord with me and in the interest of getting a game in during our weekend stay in the mountains, I brought my gear with me. Turns out my wife finished her book, 'World Without End' and was bored. I don't know what possessed me but I thought I'd ask her if she wanted to play, knowing full well that she'd quite likely laugh and politely turn me down. She's a sweet heart and I love her to death for putting up with my hobbies.

Surprise of surprise, she accepted and said she'd like to play a sorceress. I scrambled and started rolling one up for her, knowing that the character creation process would frustrate and bore her. As I pulled the dice out she mentioned that she'd play anything. So I rolled some dice and came up with an Amazonian-like fighter, replete with an extraordinary strength of 18! Yeah man, no cheating required.

We played about an hour after I finished her character; Isabella. I couldn't believe it, my wife was sitting and PLAYING at the same table as my daughters and me. It was astounding and ground breaking.

It was awesome! And was exactly what my daughters needed, a little adult guidance and wisdom.

Following is a rough recap of that nights events:

Isabella - Female Human Fighter level 2
Ember - Female 1/2 elven Cleric level 2
Safira - Female Ice Elf level 2 (I know, I've been calling her Safara for months...my eldest just corrected me the other night.)

The Gathering Festival was held under the great Oak near the edge of town. Due to the free food and drink, nearly the entire population of Botkinburg was in attendance. As well as food and drink there were competitions aplenty. A knife throwing contest attracts all of the martial crowd and this is where Safira meets Isabella as the elf wins the respect of the tall Amazon by winning the competition easily. They strike up a conversation and one thing follows another...Isabella is now part of the group.

All the while the party is speaking to potential hiring prospects and they find quite a few willing individuals who will all meet in 4 days time back at the Bent Hook.

Days flow past and random little chores are accomplished and minor gear is replenished. A few rumors are followed up during the interim. One of them being the sighting of Lisa Schuler, a farmer's wife, across the river on a couple of different occasions.

Visiting the Schuler farmstead, a ramshackle two-story building with a horde of 1/2 dressed children scampering about nets an interesting conversation with Mr. Schuler. It seems that Lisa has possibly been poisoning Mr. Schuler! Isabella finagles a small sample of Mr. Schuler's drink to test for poison.

The group goes to the Chancel and speaks with the good friar. The holy man casts a spell and confirms that indeed the drink is slightly poisoned but he tells them that w/out proof that Lisa is behind it, he can do nothing, and besides, it's not really his place to do much other than heal Mr. Schuler. They must go to the Sheriff with this information if they can provide proof.

While at the Chancel the party visits the ailing priest who's hired Fura, the halfling they met in the field on their way into town a few days ago. His physical appearance supports Fura's reports, he's thin as a rail and speaks in a barely more than a whisper. Ember and Safira ask him about his mission and he informs them that he's from a church far to the east and north, in the City State. Many many years ago the church was broken into and had its most important religious artifacts stolen. It's been his life's work to track them down and recover them. He's been successful for the most part and near the end of his life he only has a few more items to find.

His trail has led him here, to Botkinburg, in order to track down a man who is rumored to have access to much information. This man is known as the Hermit and he's supposedly exiled himself from society and is now a recluse in the Tangle Downs somewhere. This is the man Fura has been hired to find.

The order's patron is Saint George Gyxag! Gasping simultaneously, the girls pull out the statue and the old priests eyes water as he nods, yes he says, this is his patron. He asks where they found this and the girls say that they've just returned from an expedition to the Ruined Monastery in the Tangle Downs and that the rumor is it was built long ago by a priest from far to the west.

They then proceed to tell him the story of the key and the black door and the red caps, with Melchert, their leader, who are frantically working to find access to the black door. The rest of their items didn't seem to hold the old priest's interest but the door he said could very well be his tomb. And this was most certainly where his church's saint had disappeared to. This was a marvelous find! As the old man drifted back off to sleep he smiled and said that his choice in Fura was obviously the right one, for the halfling had obviously chosen his comrades wisely.

A little later that day the girls went to visit the goatherd that had reported seeing Lisa across the river. He didn't have much to add other than he saw her in the morning at the river's edge as if she were looking for something...the mists then rose and he lost sight of her.

The second townsman who claimed he saw here was Gunderman, the loon who lived in a house half falling into the river. As they approached they spied him sitting upon his roof, feet dangling in the water, fishing pole firmly ensconced in his fist. He greeted them warmly and told them that he had seen Lisa in the evening but he didn't have much more to add...unless of course they had a few coins to spare. 3 pieces of gold would buy them more information if they returned later.

Turns out that Gunderman has an aquatic green-skinned female friend from the river that has seen Lisa cross the river by summoning a giant gar with a small flute made of river reed. Lisa doesn't have the skill to produce a thing such as that and Gunderman couldn't think of anyone else who might be able to make such a thing. All this information though comes from Gunderman, who keeps his relationship with the river faerie hidden. (Safira spied upon him to discover who was providing the info.)

Now armed with all of this information the girls decide that they're going to hide on the river's edge and wait for Lisa. It is late when she appears, but as expected she pulls a small flute from her satchel and blows a few notes. Not much later a large shape emerges from the water of the Hruesen. Sitting astride it she crosses the wide river.

The girls wait. Just as the sky is turning pearly grey the notes of the flute are heard again and Lisa returns. They spring out to surround her and at first she flatly denies any of the poisoning alligations and says that no one would believe in the story of her crossing the river on a gar. But she drops the charade and says that if they mess with her that her allies will eventually make life hell for them. They ignore her and take her satchel, in which they find a couple of small vials, the flute and a few other small trinkets.

Lisa dives for the flute but her arm is kicked by Isabella as the flute is grabbed by Ember. She then makes a break for the river, running full out.

And there we pause our game. (we played the last portion of this in the car on the drive down from the mountains and I didn't have any dice handy...so we paused in that rather odd spot.)

Fini

NOTE: I do have to say that my wife is quite bright and intuitive when playing. She's a wonderful addition to the game. I'm not too confident that she'll be a consistent part of the game but nonetheless, it was a pure pleasure to have her to game with.

A quick recap of LL sessions

2008-12-29T10:44:00.000-08:00

I'm a bad blogger, there's certainly little room to argue on that front. Heh, let's just clear the air then, I'm in no way near as prolific as Scott over at 'World of Thool', James over at 'Grognardia' and no where near as creative. That's unfortunate I suppose, but I will say that I have just as much passion as my esteemed peers. And therein lies the reason that I maintain my feeble scribblings upon this e-medium.

Picking up where we left off; this entry will be a little less florid and a bit more pedantic for posterity's sake and to make up for my lack of sufficient in-game notes.

Safara and Ember soon discerned the nature of the odd finger bone, it seemed to point to danger! After a bit of poking around through dark corridors and peering into the deeper darkness of archways and side tunnels the heroes heard the 'tink, tink, tink' of metal on stone.

A stealthy approach allowed them to sneak up on a group of strange red-capped miners accompanied by some kind of ferocious wolf-like beast. The fight was bloody and a few casualties were accrued. Sir Pelinor took was taken down by the wolf and one of the henchmen was slain as well. The party was forced into a limping retreat but not before taking a surviving red cap prisoner.

On the way out one of the henchmen encountered a green slime that dropped on her face from above. She was disfigured horribly but survived.

Once on the surface, the party healed up as much as possible, grabbed a few more henchmen and descended again, this time in the hopes that they could recover some of Sir Pelinor's remains in order to properly bury him.

The descent back to the mining area was without incident and as soon as they arrived another nasty little fight erupted with the remaining red cap, his wolf and the party. Eventually the party won out with few casualties and were exploring the ancient wine cellar when the muttering of voices and stomp of boots echoed down the tunnel to announce new comers.

A small detachment of goblins, carrying more rusted and dented mining implements shows up and yet another fight is joined. This one though turns out for the worst, one of the little blighters rushes forwards and plants his pick in Halister's eye. The mage goes down in a heap...dead as a doornail. The party quickly starts tossing what remains of the wooden shelves into the hall way as a barrier while the goblins scramble for their weapons.

As the goblins attempted to rush the quick barricade, a flask of oil and torches were tossed and the whole thing turned into a conflagration. The goblins squealed and ran back. Safara took down the leader with a well placed magic missile and soon the tide had turned. In the end, 5 goblin corpses littered the hallway.

A map was found and on it was some writing in Fae that indicated that digging for the "key" was to commence at the spot indicated on the map. Someone named Melchert had signed the message written on the map.

Again the party gathered up their fallen dead, including what was left of the wolf gnawed remains of Sir Pelinor, and made their way towards the surface and sunlight. There they buried Sir Pelinor and questioned the captive red cap about the map. He told them that Melchert was their master and a friend of Ylfrit, their queen. Melchert was searching for a key that opened the black door, beyond which he claimed lay secrets worthy of the Unseelie Queen. But what those secrets are, Melchert hasn't said.

The red cap is let loose with the promise that he'll never return to this area on pain of death. He disappears into the woods. The remaining henchmen get together and come to Safara and Ember for better pay. It's just too dangerous they claim...too many of them have fallen and only 3 of the original 6 remain. The two leaders agree and it's also agreed that they'll go back to Botkinburg, as they're quickly running low on food and torches.

One day is taken for Safara to hunt, in an attempt to supplement their remaining rations. She comes upon a boar and slays it from the safety of a tree. But unfortunately the noise attracts a strange hoofed beast from the woods (Ilfaren) who thinks that meat on the hoof is pretty tempting. Safara desperately casts charm and then convinces the beast that the pig has been poisoned. He looks at her, nods and then walks back into the woods...

Later during the trip a pygmy rhino emerges from the woods and violently reacts to the screaming of the henchmen as it tromps into camp, by spearing yet another henchman on it's horn. The others climb trees in order to escape the angry beast. Two henchmen left...

Finally the troll bridge is spotted through the trees and the dead boar is bartered for passage. On to Botkinburg.

When they finally set foot on those fields we know...(a little Lord Dunsany there) they meet a halfling decked out for adventure on his way into the woods! This is rare indeed...but this little guy, a retired adventurer from days gone by, claims that an aged priest has come into the village and is in need of aid. He's dying and has spent his life tracking down religious relics that were stolen from his order's temple long ago. He's found many of them but there are a few remaining..and he thinks that there's one out in the woods with the required knowledge to find them: The Hermit.

Well he's invited the adventurers to join him when he returns in 4 or so days...They've agreed.

On into town they venture, and their they find that autumnal festival is in full swing and that most of the village has gathered at the "Tree" for a day long celebration with free food and beer. They arrange for rooms at the Bent Hook, clean up and plan to join the festivities after returning Halister's body to his family north of town.

A short ride brings them to a shallow gulch wherein lies the Halister family tower...apparently the family has been in the business of wizardry for quite some time. As the two approach a low growl comes from a shadowy copse of bushes near the door. They stop and attempt to control their mounts as they call out to the tower.

The window shutter is flung open and a wizened old woman appears...the news is conveyed and soon a very upset mother and father, thin like sticks and dressed in tattered robes, emerge to collect the remains of their son. They thank Ember and Safara and when offered what is owed to Hallister they scoff and say "What need have we of money?!?" and shuffle off.

This is where we end it for now. Stay tuned... they'll be joining the festivities and options will become known.

NOTE: I've come to the conclusion that old school is fun but the girls are heavily invested in their characters...death upsets them. And losing a character is not what they'd enjoy. So...I've decided to muck with the magic system a bit. In a past Castles and Crusades game we used Al Krombach's spell point system and it worked out well. It is a little high powered for this type of game but it certainly affords the girls a bit of a cushion. I might tone it down as we continue on though...we'll see how it works out.

Brains!

2008-12-17T07:54:00.000-08:00

Ever sit down to a movie or television show...or even a book, and after you've delved into it a bit you find out it's not at all what you initially thought? Most of those surprises aren't all that welcome. Most are utter shite.

Last night though was an exception. Our Tuesday night 4E group met with the understanding that we'd be starting up a new group of characters. If you've been following at all you'd be well aware that the previous band of dastardly do-gooders had bit the proverbial bullet in a knock down drag out fight with some...wait for it, ghouls! "Ah" you say to yourself, there's the undead reference.

But you'd be mistaken. Back to the point, we sat down around the table last night and started introducing our characters to one another. As you might imagine we started in a tavern; Staid but nearly necessary in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Around the table we went, first the dragon born paladin, then the eladrin ranger, then me... Oops, nope.

That's right when our DM Wes, piped up and said, "The front doors crash open and a man stumbles in holding his hands to a gaping wound on his neck. Screaming at the top of his lungs, 'You've got to help me'." The doors swing shut, and then Boom! back open again. Another human comes hurtling towards the wounded citizen, knocks him to the ground and starts munching. Uh oh!

This is accompanied with screams and madness from out in the streets. What's happening? Bet you guessed by now. Yeah, zombie apocalypse. Soon we're absolutely over run w/ the rutters. They're everywhere; Coming in through the windows, the doors, everywhere. We're surrounded and are forced to make a stand.

We end up doing pretty well. Laying the initial wave of flesh eating monsters low is quickly accomplished. But that's just the beginning. Our paladin crawls out on the roof after our fight in order to recon the situation. The light of dusk reveals that the entire city seems to be over run. They walk the streets now like stately Sunday strollers...unless they see live bait, then they double time it like a drunken sailor on speed. It's pretty grotesque.

Well it's obvious, we can't stay here long. The whole party gathers on the roof to survey the damage and plan how we're going to get out of this mess alive. Not too far off lies the temple to the Raven Queen, it's burning. Drats! To the east of us lies another large church and it looks like there's a bit of resistance going on there. That's our target we decide. And about this time, more screaming erupts from down below in the bar.

Looking down through the chimney reveals that a few of those "dead" bodies have stood back up and are briskly chasing their meals around. The paladin acts in accordance with his creed and leaps down to save the innocent, while the rest of us stand up there scratching our asses and mumbling about getting the hell to safety. It doesn't take long and the paladin's in a bit of a spot.

Our warlord leaps down to aid him and get the three survivors out of there. They're successful but not before the paladin takes a nasty wound to his arm. (more on that later) With their emergence back on the roof it's decided that we'll use the eladrin's teleport ability and go from rooftop to rooftop and see if we can't possibly make sanctuary at that large church.

We're pretty careful as a group and we seem to work well together. Not everyone agrees all the time, which is natural in a large group (6), but we act in concert for the better of the whole. Not a bad way to get things done. Eventually we make our goal and are standing on a roof top across from a boarded up church.

The eladrin sends an arrow wrapped with a message through the stained glass window facing us. Soon a face appears in the hole and waves. We signal back and send another shaft with a rope attached. It gets tied down and off we go. Soon we're standing in the church with about 40 - 50 survivors.

Long story short, there's enough food for about a week, maybe a week and a half if they really ration. There's plenty of water though, as there's a well in the church proper. The clergy is as confused as we as to what's caused this odd outbreak. Oh, there's a star in the sky too...something we certainly noticed way back when we first emerged upon the roof of the tavern. The mage seemed to know something about a reference to some old story of the coming of a star and the end of the world. Great.

Well if it has happened before there has to be some way to turn it back. That wound on the paladin's arm is pretty nasty. Can't be healed with the normal means and even low level magical seems to be ineffective. There's got to be a way to heal it though, so now we've got a couple of quests ahead of us.

First: Get some food for the refugees in the church so that we can make our escape and head for the capital city for help. I'm not sure that they've faired much better but the attempt has to be made.

Second: Find some kind of cure for this disease that these nasty zombies carry. A library or a sage maybe? Not sure...but we have to try, otherwise the paladin's a goner.

By the end of the session I was a grinning fool. I love this kind of thing and personally I think 4e will work well with it. I'm not going to get into it here, but I think that 4e lends itself better to a strong story-type game, and not well to the looser aspects of a sandbox campaign. Anyway, I'm excited. This is going to be a hoot. Kudos to our DM for surprising us like that. Being old and jaded is more of a burden sometimes than it should be, and things like this make me feel young again.

Recap Labyrinth Lord Part 2

2008-12-11T13:35:00.000-08:00

Safara - female elf lvl 1

Ember - female 1/2 elf cleric lvl 1

As the day wears on the party marches resolutely through the forested hills of the Tangle Downs, questing for the Ruined Monastery, spoken of by the Duke's huntsman. Burnt, stunted and twisted trees demarcate the area that the group searches for, but after a solid half day's march nothing like this is to be seen.

Truth be told, I rolled and the party was slightly off course, instead of trending straight north, as the huntsman directed, they were heading slightly north north east. But as the group broke for lunch Safara decided to climb a tree and get her bearings. She noticed that the distant ridge was slightly further to the south than it ought to be. She was smart enough to course correct and eventually the party was back on track.

A couple of hours later and the vestiges of an old forest fire became evident, they had found their destination. The rocky knoll mentioned by the huntsman was indeed covered by stunted scrub oak and blood brier bushes, the air thick with malice and the rancid feel of death. Old, weather-worn stones, a rusted chain hanging slack between them, mark an old road that winds its way to the top.

Safara, Ember, Sir Pelinor and Halister decide that all but two of the henchmen should stay at the bottom of the hill and tend to the horses while the rest of the party climb to the top to search the sharded ruins for any clues or treasure. After an hour of searching, Ember comes across a partially concealed wooden doorway lying flat upon the old Monastery floor. They check it, ready torches, and throw it wide, revealing worn stone steps that descend into the black.

Safara takes the lead and slowly descends the stairs, her ten-foot pole carefully tapping the way. An archway leads into a large room with massive square pillars supporting a rent roof, an obvious crack lets in light and water. Which, mixed with the dark cool stone, proves the perfect breeding ground for molds, mildews and fungus, which cover most of the surfaces next to the puddle and one crumbling pillar.

Squeaking from the dark corners indicates that the party is not alone...as rats, large as dogs, come out squealing, scampering towards the intruders. Swords, staves and knives flash. One henchman goes down screaming as a couple of the hungry rodents leap upon his back and set to eating anything soft. Eventually, after a few nicks here and there, the rats fall to the victorious party.

After a thorough search the group finds a small, finely carved wooden statue and a silver candle holder. Each is secreted away in a backpack and the group decides that they shall continue.

Safara, again in the lead, taps the way south through a short hallway, into a circular room with a stone pool on the floor and a small diameter hole in the ceiling through which the outdoor sky could be seen. Possibly some sort of room in which to worship the sun, moon or stars? Hard to tell. Now though, the floor is covered in some kind of green fungus or slime.

Safara, ever the careful one, pokes the floor with her staff and the slime actually seems to stick and climb up the pole. She shakes it loose, turns and grabs a torch from one of the henchmen and tries to burn the stuff. The goo flinches back and Ember grabs a flask of oil to help speed the process. Soon the room is clear of the nasty menace.

A careful examination of the room (Safara says she's searching the bottom of the murky pool with her pole.) reveals a finely crafted silver globe. It is hinged, and once opened it disgorges a strange yellow stone. After a bit more fiddling, it turns out that the "stone" is indeed the tip of a finger bone.

Yet more research reveals that it does not react identically to all members. It sits warm and snug in Embers palm, yet Safara feels ill at ease with it. Strange... It's use is not easily discerned and the party moves on, deeper into the labyrinth.

Here ends part 2. Next, a tussle with some ill-tempered Fae.

And finally, this is a pretty neat little questionnaire (culled from a gleemax forum post) to present to the new group before DMing, in order to get a little feedback on what they're expecting from a game:

Role Playing --- Mix --- Roll Playing
High --- Mid --- Low Fantasy
High --- Mid --- Low Magic
High --- Mid --- Low Power
Dark --- Average --- Light Tone and Mood
G --- PG --- R Rated descriptions and content

Cool stuff

2008-12-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

Noisms over at Monsters and Manuals created this neat little random were-chart that I just idolize. You can see it here.

I had this idea that I am going to implement in my girl's Labyrinth Lord game. The Fae in and around the Tangle Downs are a rather rough bunch, in that there are certainly more of an ill intent than of the benign sort. They're an old race, one that was here before the Eld came, but they've never really done much to enforce their will upon others, which means that they're not as instantly obvious as say the old Eld slave races, like Orcs or Hobgoblins.

Saying that though, since humans have come upon the scene relatively recently, the Fae are becoming a wee bit more militant about their elbow room. In the past there was more of a balance, but now that their land is in jeopardy, the Unseelie court and Queen Ylfrit have tipped the scales in their favor.

Anyway, I've got this idea regarding all of the Fae's allies. I was going to utilize all the standards; Things like Ents, Red Caps, Spriggans, etc. But one of the things that I really latched on to was the idea that lycanthropes would be utilized as spies. I mean c'mon, the moon, the Unseelie Court and lycanthropes? It's like kittens and a ball of yarn. They just go together.

A TPK?

2008-12-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

This is going to be short, but I thought I'd write down a few thoughts I had about last night's game.

I've been playing in a 4E game with some guys, cause, well frankly, because that's what's available. Anyway, our DM Wes, had set us on a mission to rescue some villagers from the Valley. They had been captured by some hobgoblins and taken into this old abandoned minotaur city. Well, we went after them. Duh.

Turns out that it's not REALLY the hobgoblins that are to blame for this, but rather it seems a crooked group of powerful mages have swiped them in order to use them as blackmail leverage to get us to do some dirty work for them. Some items had been heisted and they wanted them found with as little fuss as possible. We didn't really have much of a choice; Fight the mages, or work for them. Hmmm, option two seemed reasonable.

I'm playing a thief named Thoth Amon (heh...yeah, I love REH and the names he comes up with.), who's this Babylonian looking dude from the darker side of a port town. He's a rough customer who doesn't hold much faith in human nature, but he's willing to give most a chance at "redemption". The first thing that Thoth wants to do is run this mage (The Arcanis) through for forcing him into this situation. But he's convinced by his party members that this isn't a "prudent" course of action.

Well fast forward: There were a couple of quests that were levied upon us; The pay out was of course the villager's freedom. Hrmph... The first quest was completed without much adieu and 1/2 of the villagers were released.

It was the second quest that proved a bit more interesting, to say the least. I'm not going to go into a play by play, but simply put, we were tasked with finding the second set of these stolen artifacts (I'm having trouble believing that all of these things were stolen and spread out amongst all these different factions, but hey, I'm just the messenger right?) which were to be found with a group of gnolls taking refuge in an old abandoned temple to Baphomet.

Sounds kinda shaky to me. Turns out I wasn't too far off. We get through this portal that takes us to the temple and we emerge into this large room with 3 archways leading off of it. (including the one we were currently in.) 5 huge pillars, carved to look like minotaurs stood at random places in the room and in the far corner was a low, square well.

First thing, the paladin steps into the room and sets off these magic mouths, which deliver some type of message to the faithful. We ignore them and he proceeds to the well, looks down, and WHAM! A huge set of tentacles reaches up and nabs him. Boom! We're in a fight for our lives.

Add in a couple of ghouls hiding in the shadows and a few chokers scrambling in from overhead, and you've got a big ol passle of trouble with a capital "T". Can you see any kind of a theme in the above mentioned adversaries? They can all grab, immobilize and / or stun. This was a bit of an issue and turned out to be our undoing.

It didn't take long. 5 PCs bit the dust in quick succession. We made a few tactical blunders, which in 4E can spell doom in a quick way. You really do have to be decent with tactics in this newest iteration of the game. Oh, and I forgot to mention, but we were short a "defender", or rather a fighter, and that my friend was probably the largest contributor to our demise.

So in the end, we got the ass end chewed out and wrapped the evening up rolling up new characters.

My take on this whole debacle? I LOVED it! Seriously. One of the largest complaints I've had regarding 4E is that there's a huge safety net, which sort of fuzzies the distinct edges of danger. And I don't like that. I want my game to be decidedly nasty. I want to know that there's a very real chance that I won't succeed and that if I do, I've done something above and beyond the norm.

That was one of the huge differences between the earlier games and today's version: Back then there was absolutely no preconceived notion that you were going to make it. In fact it was quite the opposite. IF you made it you knew that it was because you were either VERY lucky or VERY cunning. Or both.