Dark Heresy Has Returned!

This is good news....sadly, I learned tonight that Josh H. will have to drop out of the games because he's moving. It's bittersweet, though, as he is leaving us to further his education! He's a smarty.

Also adding to the suck is that Josh, though present, didn't really get to play tonight as his character was in surgery. I think their surgery system is skewed, and the Medicae skill, in general. Everything just seems to take so long.

While it is true, some of the characters can get pretty banged up during the course of their duties to the Emperor, it just seems ridiculous that someone undergo surgery for 9 days (or more) to be healed or given an augmetic limb. While it is true, these types of things would take time...this is also the 41st millenia...you'd think that they'd have figured some shit out to speed recoveries or created shortcuts in procedures to get them done more rapidly.

It confuses me.

Anyway, some crazy stuff...as was promised...occured in tonight's game. We only really had Sadis (Steve C.) and Mkoll (David B.) on the case with the rest of the team either in the infirmary or ghosted due to not being present.

When we left off last time, the characters had just bailed out of a cargo ship holding a small group of orcs before it was blasted out of the sky by Imperial forces, only to see the ship escape out into the blackness of space. During this retreat, Jorn (Josh H.) was taken by the Sisters of Angelic Grace to their infirmary to undergo surgery to heal him while Sadis and Mkoll sped toward the home of Father Simian to rendevous with Interrogator Hesdus.

While en route, Hesdus radioed that Simian was dead and by the time the acolytes arrived, all that was left to be seen was a bloody mess of a house and no trace of anyone or anything but Simian's dead body, a scrapped servitor, and a cogitator that had been shot.

Following up leads from earlier, and trying to regroup with members of Simian's employees to gain more information, the PCs made their way to the offices of the Assassinorum where Mkoll found out a previous "recommendation" had been withdrawn and no trace of the hit could be found and not much else, because shortly after the whole building was brought down in a huge explosion.

In the aftermath of that explosion, more blasts could be heard further away within the city and some recon and questioning of local authorities led them to find out that two "safehouses" that the acolytes had used recently and Father Simian's home had all been bombed, as well as a diner which multiple of the PCs had visited.

Though distrustful of the Sisters of Battle, the group, without anywhere else to turn, asked aid from the convent and were given sparse lodging and medical care while Jorn recovers.

In the meantime, Mkoll has begun to seek answers to the many questions that have arisen in this dangerous, hectic day...not the least of which is "Where is Hesdus?" and "Who is behind this?"

Eberron: Prophecy of Ascendence, Part 37

This session was a blast. I addressed the problems that I felt the game has been suffering and we had the problem addressed and resolved within 5 minutes. We all agreed that it came down to the fact that there's very little dissemination of information among the group.

It's not that the party is constantly working at cross purposes, but it seems to be the case that everyone at the table is playing strictly IC...amazing for a group the size we have, but everyone at the table is really good at keeping what they know and running with only that. That's awesome, but it has caused huge bogs in the game when multiple characters aren't sharing information and able to piece things together to further the plot.

After we talked out what we think is the problem and joked around about it for a bit, we dove into the game, the characters quick to try and tie up as many loose ends as possible before setting out for the Starpeaks. I really think that's the name of the mountains, anyway. Quite a few other details have escaped me, but the game session seemed to just zip past and it was quite a bit of fun. I really should have posted this sooner, so I could remember everything that took place, but oh well. Tomorrow/today (depending on how you gauge time) will be another session and I hope the group is ready for...Deep Horizon!

No Dark Heresy And Another Common Gameshop Gripe

Well, no game last night because I would have liked to have started the game with more than 2 people and before 10pm. I'm not casting blame or anything, I know as much as anyone else that obligations can get in the way, so that's not a problem.

I do think, however, that I'm just gonna stop waiting and run my games at X time and if people aren't at the table ready to go, they can jump in when they are able. I really wish all of the games at the shop were run like that. It would be alot more appealing, I think, to more than just me if the games started a bit earlier during the week.

I've stepped my Tuesday game up some in time, but Monday and Wednesday's games suffer from "We'll Wait A Bit Longer For..." As gameshop games, I don't think that any campaign currently ran really hinges on any one character (or shouldn't,) so "ghosting" them til they show up shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, it's a minor gripe. Not like most of us wouldn't be up late, anyway. Monday is an exception for me. I'm not sure why, but I always seem to feel the most tired on Monday nights.

Dark Sun And Other Current "In the Works..."

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a 3.5 D&D Dark Sun game was voted in as the next game to be played on Tuesdays. In my preliminary notes for the campaign, I was looking to make it a really free-form game focused mainly on roleplay, perhaps without the dynamics of a party unless circumstances bring multiple characters together. Now, though, I'm a little worried that a game like that might not go over too well, since I've seen how the current campaign is going and how well the players take to city adventures (Speaker in Dreams went not so well for the group due to nobody taking a hint).

I'm going to bring that up Tuesday when I try to get opinions on the current campaign and see what people think. I might just take the list with me again and recast the votes for the game. See how they turn out with our smaller group. It's weird...I guess Ox and his pals didn't like the game because it wasn't fight fight fight, but they haven't showed up in three weeks now.

In addition to working up the starting notes for Dark Sun, I've also been looking into older systems, or games that simulate such, and thanks to Jeff over at the Gameblog, I've become interested in Labyrinth Lord. I think a system that's still D&D, but isn't as much a numbers game would be a pretty nice diversion for the group and we'd all enjoy it. Maybe. Perhaps.

I've also been tossing around the idea of running a supers game. Not sure what system, though I have a couple at my disposal. I'm liking Aberrant the most strictly from a storyline perspective, but Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (the SAGA system one) can be fun for some wonky power limits and the gamble behind saving cards or blowing them.

There's alot going on in my noggin as far as gaming goes, I just need to actually take the time to work it all out on paper or something.

Concerns About Tuesday

So, I've been thinking more on my post from yesterday about Tuesday's campaign and how I would like to deal with it all. Obviously, I will have a quick chat with the guys after we assemble at the table, but that will be game night and I can't really just go "Okay, now that I know what you want, give me a few hours and I'll change the game to suit."

This leaves me with wondering how or even if I should change my notes to maybe work into the style that the group seems to want. I like combat in games. In fact, I think if I had to play an RPG that had absolutely NO combat, I just really wouldn't be into it at all. However, I also enjoy exploration of the setting and storylines to support the combat and exploration.

I don't buy fully into the GNS Theory or The Big Model's statements that any group will only play X type of game, dependent on what system they choose to play under. I think that there's a definte ability to play XYZ game and to have it be enjoyable. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe once Tuesday rolls around, we'll see what the players say and then I'll have to eat my words.

I've thrown so many bones to the PCs that have gone ignored or otherwise dismissed (maybe as minor occurrences that they don't need to mess with?), that I'm actually at a loss as to how to get them more into the game...and this is a fucking book campaign! I'm just trying to connect the adventures. Maybe I'll just say 'stuff it' and throw them at the beginning of the next adventure.

Eberron: Prophecy of Ascendence, Part 36

Yeah, it's been 6 sessions since word about this campaign and honestly, not much has happened other than a few lineup changes and some adventure lines that seemed to fall flat.

Last night, the party ran into one of their earliest villains...Belak the Outcast, who first appeared way back in The Sunless Citadel. Nobody in the party ever asks questions like "What part does he play in the overall scheme?" so it seems useless to reintroduce characters. To the group, it just seemed like another fight that they can easily win. The campaign is growing kinda redundant when it feels like I'm running a (somewhat) immersive storyline simply to facilitate (sp?) a line of combats. That's not what D&D is about to me, but who am I to take away the fun from my players?

Which leads me to what I've been doing lately with the game. The past two sessions, I've been testing just how much they can do and take and it turns out they can rock 17th and 20th level encounters like they're nothing. I'll just have to turn it up a little bit.

Maybe I'll toss in some Underwater Ninja Tigers.

Cast of Characters
Kelamor Prime, Male Personality Warforged Druid 11 - Carl
Devin "Lucky" Nel, Male Cleric 5/Human Paragon 3/Fortune's Friend 5 - Paul
Bellosh, Male Slyth (Formerly Feral Shifter) Barbarian 5/Ranger 2 - Josh M.
Murmur, Male Personality Warforged Paladin 8/Exorcist of the Silver Flame 5 - David B.
Talin Shiri, Female Elf Ranger 3/Warblade 2/Revenant Blade 4 - Chris
Vacht Aernsland d'Orien, Male Human Wizard(Evoker) 13 - Steve C.
Soh, Male Changeling Fighter 4/Warshaper 5/Warblade 2 - Josh H.

Behind Again! Woo! Go me!

So...yeah.
Seems I fall behind at this here blog quite often lately, and I say I'll get it going again, but this time I do mean it. I've just been too lazy, really. No other real reason to not post.

As far as games go, not much has been missed, really, since I last posted. The only game that's really continued on has been Tuesday night's Eberron. Monday's Dark Heresy games are both on hiatus and Wednesday's games have kinda been washed out due to lack of attendance. I know last week, nothing happened on Wednesday because only three people were there.

Tonight, I'll not be attending Wednesday again, because I'm just not feeling well. I've pretty much dropped out of Thursdays, as well, because I got to feeling like I had too much gaming on my plate, and again, I'm in one of my "Eh" phases with Magic, so Fridays and Saturdays aren't usually times I'm around the shop. Sundays (and weekends as a whole) are hard for me to pull off due to family obligations.

Here's the schedule of games as far as I know:
Monday: Dark Heresy (Mine's on hiatus, David just dropped his.)
Tuesday: Eberron 3.5 D&D DM's by yours truly
Wednesday: The Savage Tide 3.5(DM'd by Paul)/The Red Hand of Doom 3.5 (DM'd by Steve)
Thursday: Wild West Werewolf (Ran by George)/Forgotten Realms 4E soon? (Ran by John C)
Friday: Magic Tourneys at night
Saturday: Magic Tourneys at night
Sundays: The Night Below 4E (DM'd by Tony, and from what I hear, an awesome conversion from the 2E original)

I have a character for both Thursday and Sunday, and once things level out some for me, I hope to rejoin Werewolf and hop in Tony's game, and possibly bring back my Drow War campaign on alternating Sundays.

There's just too much on my mind lately to enjoy gaming like I normally would.