3.24.2009

Monday Is For Warhammer!

So, yesterday was very Warhammery, indeed...
When I showed up to the shop, I was surprised with a call from CJ saying that he was on his way so that we could have our match. A couple of things about the match caught me off guard, the least of which being that we had scheduled a Tuesday match, so it was last-minute as far as mindset for me. I'm one of those weird gamers who has to have their mind in it. I'm not all "Game for gaming's sake!" I'm not an ork, sheesh.

Anyway, the match went...not at all as well as I had hoped and we ended in a draw, but later found that some rules overlooks kinda screwed me, so we'll be rematching on Friday. I was hoping we could do the rematch today (Tuesday,) because that would put us inside another campaign week. I've not been attacked, though, so eh. So yeah...my Vampire Counts held their own against the Empire of Man at a HUGE disadvantage due to the rule flub, so I'm not totally bummed.

Then came Dark Heresy, and a little bit of an anticlimactic end to what could have been a very hands-on and exciting story arc. As mentioned previously, the group was given the task of taking down a small battle cruiser called The Merry Elizabeth as she made her way to dock on Scintilla with the Gunmetallicus 111th Imperial Guard regiment.

The whole thing had been a conundrum and the game had really slowed while everyone racked their brains on how to "assassinate" the ship, a planning endeavor that lasted 3 whole game sessions. Last night, however, they decided that Taylor's character, Akarian, would be the trigger man, in a sense, as their plan of attack hinged on his ability to hack into Imperial Navy systems and create an error just big enough to cause a chain reaction amongst a Lightning (fighter jet) squadron and compromise the integrity of the Naval vessel.

...and in the end a fate point was burned to succeed.

Likely not the way the players wanted, and a little bit of an "eh" moment for me, as well. Looking back on it, maybe I should have called for an extended roll, instead of a one shot roll. It's too late to go back now, anyway, and in the end, I think everyone is kinda happy to have that behind them. Hesdus is now taking them to a yet-to-be-named Shrine World for unknown reasons, and you can bet that more chances for quashing of heresy are just around the corner!

Saying that the Dark Heresy game hinged on Taylor is a little unfair, as was the course of the adventure, since it was Patrick who made the roll, because Taylor had to leave the table and go upstairs close to the end of the session for a Warhammer match against John, defending one of his territories against the depravations of the Daemons of Chaos with his Gobbos. I don't know too much about the match, because I saw very little of it, but it ended with John taking a Minor Victory. From what I did see, though, Goblin Fanatics are fucking crazy cheaty bullshit. YeY that!

3.22.2009

Eberron: Prophecy of Ascendence, Parts 15-29

Quite a lot has happened since I last posted about this campaign, so I'll try to keep it brief, but I will say one thing...most of the characters you've read about up to this point aren't counted among the living anymore. I'll explain...

The affair at Ossington was bloody and left a bad taste in the party's mouth, especially when it was realized that anyone who dies cannot pass onto Dollurh, their spirits roaming restlessly as ghostlike manifestations (via Ghostwalk supplemental rules.) Vacht, Vey, Allura, and Mac all died during their adventures there, but decided to risk a chance on Raise Deads, which, thankfully, had no ill effects.

Chasing those who were cause to their troubles led the party close to where the whole mess took place, a large rift in the ground, which also holds the Sunless Citadel that the party tackled as their first adventuring foray. After weeks of hard-fought battles, quite a few deaths in the party, and other setbacks/diversions, the party has forged their way for the second time into a place only known as Nightfang Spire, a Blood of Vol temple long in disuse and under the rule of a vampire known as Gulthias, who also happens to be Allura's father, whom she took up adventuring to search for.

The group has fought their way to basement level of the tower, an expansive dungeon area filled with the ghastly remains (some mobile) of the former inhabitants and seem to be itching to finish Gulthias' menace and to quit this place as soon as possible.

Heart of Nightfang Spire is the 5th of 8 adventures in the adventure path the group is playing through, and, by far, has caused the most hardship and loss in the group. How this will take a toll on the character's futures, only time will tell.

Cast of Characters
Allura Fellhaven, Female Kalashtar Psion(Telepath) 9 - Carl
Devin "Lucky" Nel, Male Cleric 5/Human Paragon 3/Fortune's Friend 3 - Paul
Guy Veir "Mac" d'Cannith, Male Human Artificer 8/Renegade Mastermaker 2 - Taylor
Cade Twistvine, Male Hagspawn (formerly Halfling) Rogue 4/Cleric 1/Skullclan Hunter 3 - Josh M.
Murmur, Male Personality Warforged Paladin 8/Exorcist of the Silver Flame 2 - David B.
Revantor, Male Personality Fighter 4/Warblade 4 - Jeremy
Talin Shiri, Female Elf Ranger 3/Warblade 2/Revenant Blade 5 - Chris
Vacht Aernsland d'Orien, Male Human Wizard(Evoker) 10 - Steve C.
Randy Lingso, Male Half-Elf Monk 1/Druid 5/Master of Many Forms 2 - David S.

A Correction On The Warhammer Campaign

So, it appears I was wrong on who was playing in the campaign and what they were playing, to boot. I had misunderstood some conversations I had with people, but here's how it stands as far as who is playing what...
Casey - Dark Elves
John C. - Demons of Chaos
Jon R. - Lizardmen
Chris - Lizardmen
Tony - Tomb Kings
CJ - Empire
Paul - Ogres
David - Dwarfs
Taylor - Orcs and Goblins
George - Skaven
Me - Vampire Counts

So far, Tony has taken a territory from Casey and Chris has defended an attack by Casey. Lots of games coming up in the next few days, including me trying to take a territory from CJ, Taylor attacking Tony, Tony attacking Paul, and lots of other crazy junk.
JoshD, the return of XenoPWN would so rock in my book. I'd definitely be up for that. btw, you need to get your ass to the new location sometime. The shop is now tres cool!
sohj, Wood Elves would be interesting. You should roll that. My counts thirst for elf blood! Mwahaha!

3.13.2009

Dark Heresy: You Want Me To Do...WHAT?!

I don't have a campaign name for the Dark Heresy game, but I'm sure what I posted in the topic pretty much sums up how the PCs have felt alot throughout the game.

We're about 6 to 8 sessions in now, and honestly, I couldn't have guessed at how smoothly the game would have been going. Since we're playing the game as books are released, we're all learning as we go, pretty much and it's a blast.

The campaign started out on Malfi, a hive world relatively nearish the heart of the Calixis Sector. There, M'koll (Yes, David stole a 40k name), Akarian Stolvault, and Barl-Tok were sent on planet to investigate a hiver gang known for violence and drug running that had supposedly committed some minor heresies. They had been given a hiver contact named Sadis Wraith, who was to guide them through the bustling hive and lead them to their first location.

There, however, is where the shit hit the proverbial fan and a gunfight broke out and we got our first taste of the system's critical charts, which are A-FREAKING-MAZING, and the Fear system, which the players hate alot, but I'm in love with. Some blood was shed and the PCs were victorious in the fight, despite the failed fear rolls that had some great effects.

After the fight, they were called to regroup with Interrogator Hesdus and an ecclesiarchy priest by the name of Gallus Tzuron joined them. After more misfortune, including a slight incident with the vert train, a failed incursion into gang territory, and the addition of a sanctioned psyker named Ryld and an arbiter named Jorn, the group finally hit a good trail and did more investigation, which led them to finally decide to attack the hold-out of the Seekers gang.

A bloodbath ensued which culminated in key gang leaders getting away in a flyer marked with a customized seal of the Inquisition with the mark of the Adeptus Mechanicus laid over it. Relaying this information to Hesdus, the group was pulled back quickly to leave planet, the others meeting with Hesdus and briefing him while Gallus dealt with planetary government to smooth over some of the panic caused by the show of violence.

After that, the acolytes made their way to Gunmetal City to perform a "clean kill" on a public personage by the name of Mary Elizabeth, who they had been told was associating with or otherwise involved in heretical matters, and must be cleansed.

Hesdus told them little of their mission, but dropped them planetside to meet a contact, who simply handed them a dataslate with key information involving their mission and walked away. Browsing through the data at hand, the group stood stunned when they looked at a picture of their target...it wasn't Mary Elizabeth, but The Merry Elizabeth...a transport ship on her "homecoming" voyage and bringing with her a whole regiment of Imperial Guardsmen.

Not much has happened since then, but the acolytes are formulating a plan to destroy the ship before she makes it planetside. They have a day and a half in-game to bring their plans to fruition, for tomorrow, The Merry Elizabeth dies!

I'm Alive! Alive! *cue mad scientist laugh*

So yeah...I've really been sucking it up on keeping this updated, but I thought I'd throw some stuff down and go from there.

Just to fill you in on things that I've been up to, I've got the whole school thing going on, plus I'm trying to find a job to supplement the shop thing, and I've been sick for the past 2 weeks, so YeY that.

On the plus side, I'm getting better and gaming is great lately. I'll be making individual posts for each of the games in the order we play them during the week to catch everything up, but for now I'll just give a once-over on other things that have been/will be going on at the shop.

We've started another Magic league, this one is Mirrodin/Darksteel and Taylor has a pretty promising lead over the pack. I admit, I was excited when Mirrodin was proposed for league play, but my pulls were kinda disheartening. I don't really have the card power for anything I'd call "solid" in a format like we're playing. I've won some games, but consistency is failing for me. C'est la vie, I suppose.

On a more promising note, we'll be starting a Warhammer campaign soon, and I'm eager to field my Vampire Counts. There's quite a few people on board for this and I think it's gonna be a blast. The armies that are going to be fielded run almost the full selection, too. Taylor is going to be running Orcs & Goblins, Casey has Dark Elves, Teawok has Dark Elves (if he's playing), Jon R. is running Lizardmen, as is Chris. Norman is marching his Empire to war, CJ will likely be running Lizardmen, Tony has Tomb Kings, John has Demons of Chaos. David and Josh need to play! That would be spectacular. *nods in the affirmative*

A little after the fantasy campaign starts, a 40k campaign will be starting up, as well. I'm not sure who all will be playing in that, but I know David is running his Necrons, Tony has Tau, Fred will likely bring his Space Marines up, and there will surely be more. I'd personally like to roll Eldar, and I know Taylor is interested in Imperial Guard. I guess we'll see how that goes, but it should be pretty interesting.