12.19.2008

Heretical Thoughts

So, the Dark Heresy (Warhammer 40k Roleplay) game is definitely a go for Mondays, and I've been putting some thought into it as I wait to receive the core book. Reading Eisenhorn has given me quite a few ideas, as well as fleshed out the setting alot for me, likely in ways that the game book won't.

I have set a rule that might not sit well with some of the gamers that want to come to the table, but since we're a group used to using minis for our games, and since the parent game is a miniatures game, I want everyone who is playing to have their own mini from the Warhammer line, preferably painted and assembled.

I know Taylor is rolling Tech-Priest, but I'm eager to see what combination of paths will hit the table when it comes game-time.

I've thought about my Inquisitor quite a lot, and I think I might make him a monodominant member of the Ordo Xenos or a puritan from the Ordo Malleus. The first option would give reason to include various members of the other star-faring races, but the second option, in my mind at least, would give the opportunity for a more investigative-oriented game. I know, also, that the Inquisition has the Ordo Hereticus, but I don't think I want to place the PCs in the Daemonhunters. I just feel that it's the more expected and 'flash-bang' style, whereas I want a slower-paced game that will give my players more shades of grey to work with, whereas, when a member of the Inquisition finds a daemon, they have to kill it and everyone associated with it.

I really know nothing of the star map in 40k, and barely anything about the worlds, but I'm hoping I can dig up more information on sectors, systems, and planets that might help me out a little. Making my own isn't out of the question, but I would like to be more informed on the structure of terraforming practices, etc. before I make a sector that makes no sense.

I've also been looking for rules on Grey Knights or Deathwatch to include as player options, so if anyone knows where to find that information, please let me know. Homebrew stuff is A-OK for me right now, since I'm going green into the system.

I'm also hoping Rogue Trader will be compatible with Dark Heresy, so that maybe the players can pick up new paths down the road.

Apologies to the Game Group

I'm truly sorry for not showing up yesterday for Vampire. I had a headache and lay down to ease it at around 2 and slept through til well after game time.
I hate letting people down, and I know I have the character sheets for that game, so I feel horrible about it all. The weight of my absence registered as soon as I came to fully.

Hopefully we can make up lost ground when the game resumes in the new year.

Eisenhorn Omnibus


I'm reading this and it's amazing. If any of you ever have the chance, check it out. It's set in the Warhammer 40k universe, and is centered around the title character, who is an Imperial Inquisitor.

I had never read any of Dan Abnett's work until David let me borrow this collection, but he balances his characters well and the narrative and dialogue are superb. After reading the introduction by the author, I had some doubts, as he mentioned the stories were written in 1st person. Though that's not a style I generally care for, I find myself getting swept up in the story and thoughts of the Inquisitor.

I'm about half-way through, but I still highly recommend this. It's a solid read, fast-paced and fun.

New Alternating Wednesday Game: Goblin Raid Party!

So, Taylor has decided to run a game every other Wednesday in which the party is comprised of nothing but Goblins. At the beginning of every session, each player will be handed a random gobbo (There is one made for every single class in D&D 3.x) and will run with it. If that greenskin dies, the player will be handed a new one and the game will continue with the dead pc removed from selection.

Wednesday was our first foray into the raiding profession and we had a blast. Tony led the charge into zany when he started up the session playing his Archivist (18 Int) as primarily Goblin, not so much smart. The rest of the group ran with it and before long, a couple of us were convinced that writing "dead" on our boars would make the enemy tribe think they weren't worth stealing because they were dead, of course...

We lost the Barbarian due to in-party fighting when he decided to kill the "zombie boars," but other than that, it was pretty much smooth sailing through the enemy tribe and into the "King's" chamber, where we convinced him to send his guards away with other goblins who had come to warn him, then we spun a lie about being a troupe of historians and kingmakers who needed to anoint him with oil and perform a ceremony in which we named his axe. This gave us a huge advantage as he had handed over his axe to David and poured Alchemist's Fire all over himself, giving us a goblin ablaze, which was fun to whack with sticks and such til it died.

After this, we discovered a door behind the king's throne which was locked. A search of his now extinguished body gave us a key, which we then used. The passage inside was a downward slope, slick with moisture, in which David and I jumped immediately. There, in a dank pool lay a kraken, which made short work of us and at which point Taylor called the game.

I think we all had a lot of fun in the game. It was fairly fast paced and zany. This was Taylor's first go at DMing, but he was quick on his feet when it came to unexpected stuff and didn't let the game drop. Maybe next time, most of us won't die.

12.16.2008

Magic: The Gathering League Play

...and why it makes me tired of the game.

In November, Tony announced that we'd have the opportunity to participate in M:tG League Play, which would extend a full month and we'd be able to net promos and have a chance to net a deck case at the end of the timeframe. To all of us at the shop, this sounded like an awesome idea, so when we got the product in, we all devoured it, taking our Shards of Alara product and running full tilt trying to get as many tick marks as possible through playing matches.

After 10 marks, you have the ability to buy a new pack and add it to your current list to better refine your deck, so we were enhancing our deck building skills for those cards while playing in a fun format for us.

At the end of the month, though, we all loathed the thought of playing block tournaments, or doing anything, really, that had to do with Shards. Now December is here and we're doing League with Champions and Betrayers of Kamigawa and already some of us are tired of the sets. It's not that we don't like league, or even that we don't like the sets, it's just that when you do something every day, you sometimes get tired of it, and it's making Magic less appealing to some of the guys (including me) for the time being.

I'm thinking that after the Elder Dragon tournament, I'm not going to do much Magic playing beyond the upcoming Conflux release events and some League, just to build a card base for sets I might not have much of.

A Short Rant

You know, I've noticed a continuing trend that really brings up this wellspring of opinion and emotion whenever I see or hear it continue to worsen.

This "thing" is the elitism that seems to be gripping people by the crotch and leading them around within the hobby.

It's not like I lose sleep over it all, and it doesn't put me in a funk whenever I read or hear someone declaring the supremacy of mechanic v. mechanic, old school v. new school, et al., but it does disappoint me, I guess, that so many now...some, people who I valued the opinions of, championing that their way is the right way, when before, quite a few of these people were of the opinion that all games have the potential to be a good game, if you dig it.

I'm still of that opinion. I say that if you like it, then it's a good game. As gamers, I think we should all feel that way, at least a little. The game is what gives us our title, and we should at least accept the concepts behind that, rather that railing on something we don't really dig because it's "NOT" what you think it should be.

The "in" thing to do now is to bash D&D 3.x and 4E and Vampire/World of Darkness. Sure, those games might not be the D&D you played as a kid, and you might not like the dice pool system, but just because you feel that way, doesn't mean they're abominations to the hobby. To those who enjoy those systems, they present solid systems that facilitate the fun achieved around a game table with friends. I think, in spirit, that if a game can produce those results, then it's as good as it needs to be.

Everyone has preferences and opinions, but more and more, those opinions are coming down to hate, not just on the systems, but on the players who enjoy them, and I think that's when it has gone too far.

That's my opinion, and I know that not alot of people will read this, but you know? I don't really care. If anything, it will serve as a reminder to myself to not go down that road.

It's Tuesday...

And I'm iced in at the house. Last night, David, Taylor, and I were pretty much stuck at the shop and we goofed off all night and got pissed off at video games. This morning, we were able to each make it home safely and then when I went to go to the shop today, I couldn't leave because of the refrozen ice.
So, that knocked out one night of gaming. Hopefully the ice will clear off some tomorrow or Thursday so that the whole week isn't a bust.
I hope everyone out there is safe in whatever weather you happen to be in.

12.15.2008

Piling it on...

So, I've just now added 4 more games to the list found here.

You may have noticed that one of the old games on the list is no longer there. Well, that's because I run it on Tuesdays now, and there's no reason to have it on a list of games I might run when I'm running it.

Dark Heresy might become a Monday night venture, if those who have already shown interest in it confirm that they would be able to make it. We'll see!

On an unrelated note... Josh D., since gas prices have dropped, maybe you can swing down our way sometime. *HINT HINT*

Vampire: The Masquerade - Revenge A Go Go!

Due to my eldest nephew's Christmas choir program, I wasn't able to participate in the full session of this one, but at the beginning, my new character came into the game in the morgue, executing Paul for killing my sire.

There, Heinrich and the others came upon me, at first thinking I was a hunter, but then being recognized as one of the kindred by a clanmate. After cross words were exchanged between me and the coterie and between some in the coterie with others in the coterie, and likely between individuals and themselves, knowing some of the characters in this game (I had to run after my introduction, so I'm a bit fuzzy on it all), everyone decided to leave the morgue.

This is when it was discovered that the coterie (or maybe even me?) was being tailed by a vampire adept in the skills of stealth, spoke only Spanish, and wore a ceramic mask. He called himself Santiago, according to Rene. Not sure on who he is, but he said he was there on business of the Prince, and I was able to convince the rest of the group that he was not to be trifled with if this were true.

That's pretty much all I know about the session, but I'll be there for the whole thing this week, and hopefully we can get back on the right track, which to my character means trying to win the Malkavian primogen spot that was left vacant with the death of my sire.

Cast of Characters
Ysodr Chulmayev, 8th Gen Malkavian - Me
Heinrich Himmler (Yes, that one.), 10th Gen Malkavian - David
Santiago, 8th Gen Caitiff - Taylor
Masamuri, 8th Gen Gangrel - Darrell
Mary, 13th Gen Toreador - Jon R.
Renesmee Cullen, 12th Gen Toreador - Racheal
Grizzz, 9th Gen Gangrel - George
Demetri, 11th Gen Tremere - Steve C.
Kara, 13th Gen Ventrue - Lauren
Joseph, 8th Gen Tremere - John C.

Gnomad and the Masters of the Multiverse! - The Old Switcheroo

This session was INSANE. After spending a much needed night just resting before setting on our course, we rose in the morning to find that our hatches have been sealed with a glue-like substance and the only way out other than that having a note on it that instructed us not to wake Iviss. I decided to sneak through the room so as not to wake him, but spotted his body laying next to the elemental engine of the Gnomad.

When I approached, I found that Iviss' throat had been cut and at that instant, multiple bombs of some sort exploded within the engine room. (As an aside, I still need to ask Paul how this happened, since he described the bombs as sonic in nature, and most of the ship is held in an antimagic zone for the crew's protection.)

The explosion shattered the gem housing our bound elemental and let it loose within the ship to rampage at will, dropping me quickly and almost making short work of some of my comrades in arms.

In the aftermath, Belaraphon called upon the help of 'Momo,' his intelligent sword, but the psionic intelligence dealt a cruel blow to our angel, trapping him in the body of a very old human and flying off in the everlasting body of the deva.

As we dealt with the choas of the ship's and angel's incapacitations, Chobham raised Iviss back to life, at which point Nelsie was blamed. The group then put the pieces together and realized that the mirror double of Nelsie must have made this guerilla attack on us. Iviss was sent off to find our fire elemental compatriot while we tried to decide the best way to rid our ship of a crafty water elemental, that we assumed to have gained access to the water pipes of the ship.

Who knows how things are going to go for us as we endeavor to complete the last leg of our quest.

Eberron: Prophecy of Ascendence, Part 12 (Le Gasp! Name change!)

I haven't liked the "Bastions" title since I started using it and I was reading through some old posts the other day and remembered that I had posted this adventure path here, so I looked and got the old name...one I'm much happier with, even though changing the name of the campaign doesn't change anything else.
I'm weird like that.

Also, I'm going to skip ahead to the last session because it's fresher in my mind. I know alot of things have happened since I last posted on the game, but there's quite a bit of jumble in my head as to the timeline. Suffice it to say that the heroes have been heroes and some of them have died or otherwise changed. The roster at the end of the post should help a little with the understanding.

Our heroes decided to press on from Brindinford, leaving Baron Althom's employ to search out personal leads and to look for an overarching cause of the strange happenings of late. They chose to travel by boat to Lakeside, where they hoped to refresh supplies and find out a little more of their enemies through research and old fashioned detective work. They weren't expecting what they found...

Upon docking in the city, they were greeted by nothing but animals...cats, dogs, rats, and mice who were scurrying about looking for food as well as an abundant amount of birds. Nobody was working the docks and the ships moored there had no sailors. People simply weren't around.

Deciding to venture further into the city, the party found more of the same. Not a single human, elf, gnome, or dwarf anywhere in the city. Baskets were put down on the ground, tables were set, some logs and journals found were cut off mid-sentence. It was as if everyone left at once.

The whole population of Lakeside appeared to had walked out into the woods, suggested by a trail leading off from various spots in town that Talin picked up. Following the trail for about two hours, Mac stumbled upon (literally) a rotting arm that had been gnawed on by a smallish animal, likely a dog of some sort. This sent a wave of fear through the party, and some were wary of continuing the search while others protested that perhaps the arm was unrelated or someone who had been trampled in the chaos of almost 10,000 people leaving at one time.

Around this time, Allura decided to go back to the town while Murmur and Talin decided to move ahead of the group in the search. After a few more hours, their fears were realized when they came across a sea of decaying bodies in a large clearing. The whole of Lakeside's inhabitants dead, apparently from some form of poisoning, to the best estimation of those in the group with decent Heal rolls.

The PCs started to arrange the bodies for proper rites, but found the task daunting and didn't want to be caught out at dark with this amount of corpses, not knowing what curses may animate the dead when the sun fell. They hurried back to Lakeside and found the House Sivis office and sent out a call for help through the speakstone there, then made their way to the barracks and then the Church of the Host, where they holed up for the night, barring the doors and windows as best they could in case a zombie horde broke upon them.

The next morning, they were awoken by pounding on the front doors of the church, which they opened to find an old man dressed in the robes of office of a high priest demanding to know who they were and why there were there. The party's fears of undeath were somewhat realized when they noticed that he and everyone they could see from the door were transparent and wispy. After moments of delegation, they convinced the priest they had something to show him and prepared while he gathered other members of the town heirarchy, including Dragonmarked House representatives, and took them to the site of the bodies.

None of the dead took it well to peer upon their own bodies and those of their friends and loved ones, and so decided to end their unlives by wading into Lake Dark in search of the rumored portal to Dolurrh.

As we left off, almost half the town's population had wandered into the water as the PCs and horrified ghosts looked on, wailing that they were drowning and in disbelief at their current state. Help is supposed to arrive soon, and the party needs to decide how they will explain or rectify this situation.

Cast of Characters
Allura Fellhaven, Female Half-Fiend Psion(Telepath) 6 - Carl
Devin "Lucky" Nel, Male Cleric of the Host 5/Human Paragon 2 - Paul
Guy Veir "Mac" d'Cannith, Male Human Artificer 6 - Taylor
Kadav, Male Elan Psion(Telepath) 6 - Steve J.
Murmur (formerly "-"), Male Personality Warforged Paladin of the Silver Flame 5 - David
Soh, Changeling Fighter 4/Warshaper 2 - Josh
Talin Shiri, Female Elf Ranger 3/Warblade 2/Revenant Blade 1 - Chris
Vacht, Male Human Wizard(Evoker) 7 - Steve C.

12.08.2008

Happy....so happy...

Yeah, I'm not dead yet, I've just been too lazy to update in a while. I'm gonna run through a short recap of what's been happening, but first, I'm going to explain why I've not been on posting as much.

A couple of my friends have caught the Warhammer bug, but they're running Warhammer 40k, and I'm doing fantasy, and I've made it a point to finish my Vampire Counts army before I even buy the Eldar codex. I've been painting and assembling quite a bit lately.

Also, I'm playing Magic pretty regularly, and preparing for an Elder Dragon Highlander tournament that's coming up on the 20th, so deck building has been taking alot of time that I could have spent on here. I plan to get back to posting after every game starting this week, though.

Now for recaps...

  • The Drow War - The party made it to the Ragged Man and got information on where the Starborn items are held and more information on their destinies. This game has been put on hiatus until after the holidays due to family commitments.
  • Bastions of the Broken Road - The group made their way out of the hold of Durgeddin and after relaxing for a while, found employ under the flamboyant Baron Althom, who they accompanied to the town of Brindinford. There, they encountered all manner of evils, from Khyberspawn to the alien beings of Xoriat and, through befriending a rogue band of shifters, were able to remain somewhat safe while rooting out evil. A few PCs found death while in the city.
  • Gnomad and the Masters of the Multiverse - After completing the locking of all the Inner planes, we went to Mechanus as the first stop of the Outer, where we have been for weeks, trying to figure out how to improve the Gnomad with a planar navigation system and trying to lock the plane. It's looking like Sigil will be our next destination, as we must go there to find a formula for the Modrons which holds the key for manipulation of the Hourglass on Mechanus. It's frustrating.
  • Vampire - The neonates have struggled to find more clues to the murders of the Nosferatu primogen and the Gangrel sheriff, but the only information that's turned up is that the Tremere are either responsible or are covering up something, and that there is a Sabbat influence in the city which may or may not be involved. We lost Doug's Gangrel in a raid on a location we knew to hold Sabbat, and Taylor's Brujah had his memory rewritten with Dominate, so that he thought he was Sabbat as well. This eventually led to his diablerization of my character followed by mayhem. He blew up an Elysium in the city and this week's game will have the aftermath of that incident.

That's the gist of things. With more detailed writeups coming, maybe everyone will be able to catch up fairly well. For now, however, I'm going to bed because I have to work a double tomorrow. YeY inventory!

btw, give yourself 2 cool points if you got the reference in the header.