Last Friday, after weeks and weeks of delving into the Crypt of Sayn (an ex-human king of no little fame and wealth,) we finally reached his burial chamber and its guardian...a flesh golem!
The tedium of traps and exploration had worn our resolve, as well as our nerves, but our band jumped to face the abomination of flesh that stood before us, with Chymond and Kedereckt moving in to directly confront the thing, and Oth and Xulira adding in magical (and for the most part, ineffective) artillery.
During the assault, our quarry made his presence known, and to our surprise, Sayn turned out to be a Lich, and the Lich turned out to be a Warlock, and pelted us with abyssal rays at his leisure while his brute smacked us around good.
Kedereckt fell shortly to the construct's meatpaws and then the thing was disabled itself, leaving the Lich to make his fight alone, which our arcanists ended quickly, with Sayn doing a good BBEG laugh and telling us we had unleashed him onto the world. Something for us to deal with later, and later, and later...until we find his phylactery, that is! ...not that any of us know that about Liches...
During the looting of the burial chamber, we discovered that Kedereckt was indeed farther beyond help than we originally thought, and had apparently succumbed to a poison that none of us knew was in his veins.
Here, we left off...without the ability to raise our comrade (Steve vetoed the raising, though I had just attained 5th level and could have done it,) and wanting to return to the delve of our dwarven patrons as soon as possible.
Cast of Characters
Chymond Veg "The Bronze Vassal," Dwarf Cleric 9 - Me
Oth Ixen, Kobold Wizard 9 - David B.
Kedereckt, Human Rogue 5/Assassin 4 - Steve C. deceased
Xulira Shiesril, Drow Warlock 5/Demonbinder 2 - Angela
6.02.2011
4.20.2011
GM ADD, Or Why The Posts Have Slowed
So, as is very evident, my posts have slowed. I'm not sorry for it, this isn't an apology. I have maybe 4 returning readers, and that's generous.
The reason the posts have stopped is because I've become enamored with superheroes of late, and would like to play a superhero rpg. I've been reading blogs and forum threads about people's games, different rules, etc. Basically, it's taking alot of my attention.
I haven't been thinking of new rules for my Pathfinder game, or really, putting too much into that game, other than playing it. Does that mean I'm tired of running my players through my little twist on the Wilderlands? Absolutely not! I'm having a ball, and more will come shortly on that.
The posts I want to get out will get out, but expect more diversity in the coming weeks. With my Wilderlands game at full tilt, still playing in Taylor's game, David talking about finishing the Haarlock Legacy adventures for Dark Heresy, and superhero gaming running rampant in my mind, I have yet to be stalled!
The reason the posts have stopped is because I've become enamored with superheroes of late, and would like to play a superhero rpg. I've been reading blogs and forum threads about people's games, different rules, etc. Basically, it's taking alot of my attention.
I haven't been thinking of new rules for my Pathfinder game, or really, putting too much into that game, other than playing it. Does that mean I'm tired of running my players through my little twist on the Wilderlands? Absolutely not! I'm having a ball, and more will come shortly on that.
The posts I want to get out will get out, but expect more diversity in the coming weeks. With my Wilderlands game at full tilt, still playing in Taylor's game, David talking about finishing the Haarlock Legacy adventures for Dark Heresy, and superhero gaming running rampant in my mind, I have yet to be stalled!
4.18.2011
Falls Follies
Sunday, we joined again to play a session of my Pathfinder Wilderlands game, this one also sans Steve. Though, I believe he will return in two weeks!
When we left off, 3 of our heroes (Well, 2 and a hireling...) were under a powerful compulsion, forcing them to chant ancient, evil litanies as their young Paladin comrade looked on, unsure in action...watching zombies shamble slowly toward the mesmerized men.
This moment of thought was lightning fast, however, and Gabrielle took her line, attached to a grappling hook and, successful with affixing it to Borash, hauled the Half-Orc out of the chapel, only to find that he was still chanting!
At this time, however, Chas seemed to shake the effects just as the zombies reached him, but Kezziar, Borash's only remaining Orc retainer, was drug off to a place unseen to some horrible fate.
After dispatching these strange, pestilent zombies, the group decided to cut their losses and return home to Bugbear Falls, for resupply and safe rest. Upon reaching their adopted home, however, the group was detained by local officials for the murder of knights of Iomedae, as witnessed from the walls of the city.
The PCs gave good account of their actions, and together with divinatory magic performed by Honorable Justice Sollas, a member of the tribunal, were found guilty only of minor recklessness and neglect of the duties of a citizen, and (only for Borash) were found guilty of bribery of a town guard...when the guard was asked to buy him an ale from The White Cliff. These two charges cost the party 205gp, 200 for an adventuring charter and 5 (the amount given the guard to buy the beer)as a fine for the bribery.
With the charter listed, the Unbreakable Warriors adventuring company was formed!
None too late, either, as many things caught the attentions of the party, and they seem to want to take action against them!
Chas discovered upon returning to Elomir the Sage's house that her door was ajar and the place had been ransacked. Upon further investigation, Chas found that the elf, herself, was missing, and so alerted the guard as quickly as possible.
Gabrielle was witness to the fleeting black sheet looking thing that many of the group's hirelings had seen before. This time, however, it fluttered past the 2nd story windows as she took stock of the party's new residence.
Further, writings gathered in the temple structure within the caves, and one of the knight companions of Gabrielle contracting a disease, have the party thinking of ways to purge the place of all traces of filth and pestilence before an epidemic arises.
Much of the rest of the session was dealt with acquiring supplies and spending 500gp from selling loot to purchase a large apartment in town to act as a base of operations for adventuring.
A bit of a wedge has seemed to form over the dispersal and expenditure of loot (some of it based on out of character knowledge,) so I guess we'll see where that goes.
The session pretty much ended with the group about to discuss what to do/where to go next, so I guess we'll find out Sunday!
When we left off, 3 of our heroes (Well, 2 and a hireling...) were under a powerful compulsion, forcing them to chant ancient, evil litanies as their young Paladin comrade looked on, unsure in action...watching zombies shamble slowly toward the mesmerized men.
This moment of thought was lightning fast, however, and Gabrielle took her line, attached to a grappling hook and, successful with affixing it to Borash, hauled the Half-Orc out of the chapel, only to find that he was still chanting!
At this time, however, Chas seemed to shake the effects just as the zombies reached him, but Kezziar, Borash's only remaining Orc retainer, was drug off to a place unseen to some horrible fate.
After dispatching these strange, pestilent zombies, the group decided to cut their losses and return home to Bugbear Falls, for resupply and safe rest. Upon reaching their adopted home, however, the group was detained by local officials for the murder of knights of Iomedae, as witnessed from the walls of the city.
The PCs gave good account of their actions, and together with divinatory magic performed by Honorable Justice Sollas, a member of the tribunal, were found guilty only of minor recklessness and neglect of the duties of a citizen, and (only for Borash) were found guilty of bribery of a town guard...when the guard was asked to buy him an ale from The White Cliff. These two charges cost the party 205gp, 200 for an adventuring charter and 5 (the amount given the guard to buy the beer)as a fine for the bribery.
With the charter listed, the Unbreakable Warriors adventuring company was formed!
None too late, either, as many things caught the attentions of the party, and they seem to want to take action against them!
Chas discovered upon returning to Elomir the Sage's house that her door was ajar and the place had been ransacked. Upon further investigation, Chas found that the elf, herself, was missing, and so alerted the guard as quickly as possible.
Gabrielle was witness to the fleeting black sheet looking thing that many of the group's hirelings had seen before. This time, however, it fluttered past the 2nd story windows as she took stock of the party's new residence.
Further, writings gathered in the temple structure within the caves, and one of the knight companions of Gabrielle contracting a disease, have the party thinking of ways to purge the place of all traces of filth and pestilence before an epidemic arises.
Much of the rest of the session was dealt with acquiring supplies and spending 500gp from selling loot to purchase a large apartment in town to act as a base of operations for adventuring.
A bit of a wedge has seemed to form over the dispersal and expenditure of loot (some of it based on out of character knowledge,) so I guess we'll see where that goes.
The session pretty much ended with the group about to discuss what to do/where to go next, so I guess we'll find out Sunday!
4.16.2011
A Supers Campaign Inspired By A Dream
So, I had this dream, right? When I woke up, I spoke all I could remember of it out loud, and I've been mulling it over, just to keep it fresh in my mind. Since, I've been thinking quite a lot about superhero gaming, and so I decided to go ahead and post the contents of the dream, since it obviously inspired me quite a bit.
The first of the dream I remember is that I was at Taylor and Angela's place, my game group was gathered around, as normal except Paul, John, Tony, and Chris were there, which doubled our usual numbers.
We were discussing the government contracts that each state of the U.S.A. were allowed to give, and how restrictive they were to the superheroes in them, not letting them perform "unsanctioned heroic acts," and Angela brought up a hero named Arkansas Twister being penalized by the state, and threatened with having breach of contract drawn against him because he stopped to help people in an automobile accident.
The talk was politically driven, but also asked the questions "Would you work for the state for $500k a year as their lapdog hero if you had powers?" and "What made the Federal government decide that state-ran hero programs could only include ratios of 1 hero to every million citizens?"
Heroes not sanctioned by the government were operating on a gray area, where they were allowed to go about their business without having to register or anything, but if deemed to be performing illegal activities by any government agency, would then receive vigilante/villain status. All collateral damage performed outside state sanction would be paid in full restitution within a 1 month period or be moved to vigilante/villain status.
Not sure what vigilante/villain status is, but I can assume that the punishments would be extreme once the government found out identities...frozen assets, etc., not to mention having heroes on your tail.
Basically, the dream felt narrated. I feel like I'm forgetting things now, but it seemed like everyone was talking 90-to-nothing about this phenomena, and we (being game nerds, I assume) were all very interested in and excited about the goings-on. Tons of information to digest, but a skeleton that a campaign could be hung on.
I do realize that a bit of it is familiar...there are elements of both The Fifty State Initiative and The Superhuman Registration Act present in the framework, but I'm sure they came to the fore in my dream due to Civil War being one of the last major comics storylines I read.
I really want to flesh this out. I could definitely run with this idea, but what rules-set? Aberrant is the supers system I'm most familiar with, and my friends have all played Storyteller system, so that might be workable...there are others out there, though, that might fit. Not too familiar with many, but maybe Mutants & Masterminds or some other system would sit better with my group?
Thoughts, comments, questions, concerns...all are welcome in the comments!
The first of the dream I remember is that I was at Taylor and Angela's place, my game group was gathered around, as normal except Paul, John, Tony, and Chris were there, which doubled our usual numbers.
We were discussing the government contracts that each state of the U.S.A. were allowed to give, and how restrictive they were to the superheroes in them, not letting them perform "unsanctioned heroic acts," and Angela brought up a hero named Arkansas Twister being penalized by the state, and threatened with having breach of contract drawn against him because he stopped to help people in an automobile accident.
The talk was politically driven, but also asked the questions "Would you work for the state for $500k a year as their lapdog hero if you had powers?" and "What made the Federal government decide that state-ran hero programs could only include ratios of 1 hero to every million citizens?"
Heroes not sanctioned by the government were operating on a gray area, where they were allowed to go about their business without having to register or anything, but if deemed to be performing illegal activities by any government agency, would then receive vigilante/villain status. All collateral damage performed outside state sanction would be paid in full restitution within a 1 month period or be moved to vigilante/villain status.
Not sure what vigilante/villain status is, but I can assume that the punishments would be extreme once the government found out identities...frozen assets, etc., not to mention having heroes on your tail.
Basically, the dream felt narrated. I feel like I'm forgetting things now, but it seemed like everyone was talking 90-to-nothing about this phenomena, and we (being game nerds, I assume) were all very interested in and excited about the goings-on. Tons of information to digest, but a skeleton that a campaign could be hung on.
I do realize that a bit of it is familiar...there are elements of both The Fifty State Initiative and The Superhuman Registration Act present in the framework, but I'm sure they came to the fore in my dream due to Civil War being one of the last major comics storylines I read.
I really want to flesh this out. I could definitely run with this idea, but what rules-set? Aberrant is the supers system I'm most familiar with, and my friends have all played Storyteller system, so that might be workable...there are others out there, though, that might fit. Not too familiar with many, but maybe Mutants & Masterminds or some other system would sit better with my group?
Thoughts, comments, questions, concerns...all are welcome in the comments!
Insubstantial Death, A Kobold, and A Dwarf
Last night was a pretty fast-paced session of Taylor's continuing Friday night campaign. We got a late start, but tacked on about an hour to our usual quitting time, so all was good.
At any rate, like I said...this session was fast-paced. We practically crawled through the labyrinthine tomb, trying to find our quarry...the reason behind the undead menace that have plagued the delve of the dwarvs, and indeed permeate this complex. Kedereckt led us carefully through, on constant watch for pitfalls and other hazards, doing well to keep us safe, but not handling many traps he discovered successfully, though avoiding much harm.
After hours and hours of traversing corridors and not finding anything, Chymond had a keen realization and asked his newly commanded vampire minion if there was a store of treasures in this tomb, hoping to find more funding for further survival and to increase his holdings in his homeland. This was, indeed the case, and the undead led us to a small chamber, in which we found a chest of silver.
Asking further, the spawn told us that this was an antechamber to the real room, and that the traps contained in the silver hoard room were meant to finalize the life of most treasure seekers.
Well...we're not most!
Venturing further into an even smaller chamber, Chymond promptly fell into a pit, and then the group was set upon by a ghostly figure (a specter, but none of us knew that) that was intent on draining our very lives away!
At first, Xulira and Kedereckt meant to help Chymond escape from the pit, but upon seeing how the odds favored us initially against the specter, Xulira decided to run for it, and I commanded my vampire to make Kedereckt run (since he is technically still the thrall of the undead.)
Chymond was sure this was his end, down in a pit, the life drained from him...doomed to likely be raised as some sort of undead in the service of whatever master ruled this tomn...and he was certain Oth would join him in death...there we'd be, two small specks of power and vibrancy, snuffed! All very dramatic, you understand...
However, through the desperate use of spells and not a small amount of luck, neither of us succumbed to the deathly grasp of the specter, and we managed to disperse our ghostly foe back to whatever hell they came from!
With Xulira and Kedereckt managing to make it out of the tomb within minutes, and heading back to the delve of the dwarves, Oth and I sat and deliberated what we would do with newly acquired treasure (the silver from the previous room, and a few items from the "treasure chamber") and when to bring the fight to the undead master.
Deciding that we were a bit too worse for the wear, we packed it up and began our trek out of the crypt, hoping to regroup with our allies and be at full strength when we finally meet our foe.
At any rate, like I said...this session was fast-paced. We practically crawled through the labyrinthine tomb, trying to find our quarry...the reason behind the undead menace that have plagued the delve of the dwarvs, and indeed permeate this complex. Kedereckt led us carefully through, on constant watch for pitfalls and other hazards, doing well to keep us safe, but not handling many traps he discovered successfully, though avoiding much harm.
After hours and hours of traversing corridors and not finding anything, Chymond had a keen realization and asked his newly commanded vampire minion if there was a store of treasures in this tomb, hoping to find more funding for further survival and to increase his holdings in his homeland. This was, indeed the case, and the undead led us to a small chamber, in which we found a chest of silver.
Asking further, the spawn told us that this was an antechamber to the real room, and that the traps contained in the silver hoard room were meant to finalize the life of most treasure seekers.
Well...we're not most!
Venturing further into an even smaller chamber, Chymond promptly fell into a pit, and then the group was set upon by a ghostly figure (a specter, but none of us knew that) that was intent on draining our very lives away!
At first, Xulira and Kedereckt meant to help Chymond escape from the pit, but upon seeing how the odds favored us initially against the specter, Xulira decided to run for it, and I commanded my vampire to make Kedereckt run (since he is technically still the thrall of the undead.)
Chymond was sure this was his end, down in a pit, the life drained from him...doomed to likely be raised as some sort of undead in the service of whatever master ruled this tomn...and he was certain Oth would join him in death...there we'd be, two small specks of power and vibrancy, snuffed! All very dramatic, you understand...
However, through the desperate use of spells and not a small amount of luck, neither of us succumbed to the deathly grasp of the specter, and we managed to disperse our ghostly foe back to whatever hell they came from!
With Xulira and Kedereckt managing to make it out of the tomb within minutes, and heading back to the delve of the dwarves, Oth and I sat and deliberated what we would do with newly acquired treasure (the silver from the previous room, and a few items from the "treasure chamber") and when to bring the fight to the undead master.
Deciding that we were a bit too worse for the wear, we packed it up and began our trek out of the crypt, hoping to regroup with our allies and be at full strength when we finally meet our foe.
4.11.2011
Zombies, Skeletons, and Medusas...Oh My!
Yesterday, we played a regular session of my Wilderlands Pathfinder game. This session was sans Steve, as he's currently obtaining his CDL to expand his career choices. Good luck, Steve!
As predicted in the last session write-up, this session was quite fun!
When we picked up, the group had just encountered and destroyed some wandering Zombies in the worked stone caverns they were currently exploring. Jadazh excused himself from this part of the venture, claiming to need to attend to something and promising to regroup at a later time. Jadazh's axemen, too, took their leave, but Borash was adamant in the extermination of the undead, and wished to press forward, with the other PCs and their men in agreement to the course of action.
Venturing cautiously through the broad corridors and narrow tunnels that make up this part of the cave system led them first to a chamber filled with torture implements and small living furnishings of the torturer, who happened to be present, but was given a swift death after blows from both Chas and Borash. Inspection of the chamber turned up quite a bit of coin and a bracelet, the latter of which likely taken off a torture victim, which the party quickly divvied and then pressed on.
Roaming the twisting corridors further led the party to an unusual door, locked and barred from this side, which they found quickly to be a holding cell of some sort, populated with more than a few skeletal remains of prisoners and a shapely human-looking woman with a bag over her head who was very much alive and manacled to the wall. Upon noting that there wasn't a way to open the lock on the door at hand, Chas returned to the torturer's room and got some brands and winch bars to use as prybars, and was able to pop the padlock with the help of Borash.
Having gained entry into the cell, the group moved in, weapons at the ready to fight off the skeletons, which they were sure would animate at any time, and Gabrielle went to tend to the woman, removing the hood, causing all present to freeze in horror at the sight, and Borash to solidify into solid stone as their gaze met a Medusa's!
Gabrielle quickly replaced the hood that had been covering the deadly gaze of the Medusa, and Chas remembered a salve given to him quite some time back with restorative and healing powers. Using all of the jar, he was able to return Borash to his fleshy self, and the group began to parley with the Medusa, trying to learn what they could of the place, and bargaining her terms of release, with a focus on no further harm to the party.
With the medusa having left in peace, the party continued further, discovering a room packed with crates and barrels, holding dry goods and fresh foodstuffs(!) which they quickly partook of, before back-tracking and pressing on deeper into the complex.
Back in the main corridor, the group came upon a door leading into a room that housed four priests of unknown faith, who gave the PCs a lengthy fight due to good armor and tight fighting quarters, coupled with Zombies brought forth by the noise of combat. All were systematically put to the sword, and our band continued further in, coming again to a door that stood just outside what appeared to be a grand chamber.
Slinging the door open, Chas animated the score each of Skeletons and Zombies inside, but the party made quick work of the undead through good tactics and use of resources. Things were not to be so easy, however, as Chas and Borash ventured forward in the vanguard, entering the large chamber before them...discovering a grand chapel with three altars, draperies on all but the backing wall, which was translucent red stone...and then they began to chant, seemingly unable to do anything else.
Gabrielle froze with indecision at her companion's plight, the youth unnerved by their spewing of vile litanies and seeming to be under the power of an unknown something. I called the session as Angela debated her course of action and a group of Zombies, these different from the others previously encountered, walked into view in the chapel.
As predicted in the last session write-up, this session was quite fun!
When we picked up, the group had just encountered and destroyed some wandering Zombies in the worked stone caverns they were currently exploring. Jadazh excused himself from this part of the venture, claiming to need to attend to something and promising to regroup at a later time. Jadazh's axemen, too, took their leave, but Borash was adamant in the extermination of the undead, and wished to press forward, with the other PCs and their men in agreement to the course of action.
Venturing cautiously through the broad corridors and narrow tunnels that make up this part of the cave system led them first to a chamber filled with torture implements and small living furnishings of the torturer, who happened to be present, but was given a swift death after blows from both Chas and Borash. Inspection of the chamber turned up quite a bit of coin and a bracelet, the latter of which likely taken off a torture victim, which the party quickly divvied and then pressed on.
Roaming the twisting corridors further led the party to an unusual door, locked and barred from this side, which they found quickly to be a holding cell of some sort, populated with more than a few skeletal remains of prisoners and a shapely human-looking woman with a bag over her head who was very much alive and manacled to the wall. Upon noting that there wasn't a way to open the lock on the door at hand, Chas returned to the torturer's room and got some brands and winch bars to use as prybars, and was able to pop the padlock with the help of Borash.
Having gained entry into the cell, the group moved in, weapons at the ready to fight off the skeletons, which they were sure would animate at any time, and Gabrielle went to tend to the woman, removing the hood, causing all present to freeze in horror at the sight, and Borash to solidify into solid stone as their gaze met a Medusa's!
Gabrielle quickly replaced the hood that had been covering the deadly gaze of the Medusa, and Chas remembered a salve given to him quite some time back with restorative and healing powers. Using all of the jar, he was able to return Borash to his fleshy self, and the group began to parley with the Medusa, trying to learn what they could of the place, and bargaining her terms of release, with a focus on no further harm to the party.
With the medusa having left in peace, the party continued further, discovering a room packed with crates and barrels, holding dry goods and fresh foodstuffs(!) which they quickly partook of, before back-tracking and pressing on deeper into the complex.
Back in the main corridor, the group came upon a door leading into a room that housed four priests of unknown faith, who gave the PCs a lengthy fight due to good armor and tight fighting quarters, coupled with Zombies brought forth by the noise of combat. All were systematically put to the sword, and our band continued further in, coming again to a door that stood just outside what appeared to be a grand chamber.
Slinging the door open, Chas animated the score each of Skeletons and Zombies inside, but the party made quick work of the undead through good tactics and use of resources. Things were not to be so easy, however, as Chas and Borash ventured forward in the vanguard, entering the large chamber before them...discovering a grand chapel with three altars, draperies on all but the backing wall, which was translucent red stone...and then they began to chant, seemingly unable to do anything else.
Gabrielle froze with indecision at her companion's plight, the youth unnerved by their spewing of vile litanies and seeming to be under the power of an unknown something. I called the session as Angela debated her course of action and a group of Zombies, these different from the others previously encountered, walked into view in the chapel.
4.10.2011
Posted for Truth and Posterity
The following is a quote by James Raggi that I feel is very important in context of a player-driven game like the Wilderlands campaign I run. I post it here for my players to see, and as a reminder to hold true to the style of game I want to run.
"If a player complains that he’s bored and that nothing is happening, look at him and say, 'I agree. So are you going to do something or not?'
It is not the referee’s job during a session to provide excitement for his playing group. His job is to administer the setting and resolve character actions. If the characters are taking no action and are not interacting with the setting, then the referee has literally nothing to do. The players are wasting his time."
4.09.2011
Hello Me, Pleased to Meet You...More Dungeonfail
Tonight was a pretty interesting session of Taylor's continuing campaign, in which we further explored the tomb of Sayn, and did not depart from our habit of ending up going in circles!
As far as exploration goes, this dungeon is pretty vanilla...corridor, room, corridor, room, secret door, corridor, trapped door, etc.. Most people know this type of exploration all too well, and I can say it's sometimes refreshing to just be dungeoncrawling.
Kedereckt has maneuvered us well through the place, keeping us from suffering too much when it comes to traps, but at times failing to spot the things, like the dart fusillade trap that peppered Chymond and Kedereckt with something along the lines of 15 darts, total.
The highlight of the night, however, came when a vampire spawn was able to dominate Kedereckt, and ordered him to kill us all. Steve took to the task, but didn't get far before Oth was able to clear the area of the bloodsuckers and I overrode the dominate with one of my own.
Not much later, we encountered yet another group of spawn, and one of their numbers was able to gain hold of Kedereckt again, and another tried to take Oth, but his draconic heritage made him immune.
I took over one of the spawn with a command undead, but ended up losing control of an owlbear skeleton I had commanded earlier, which then began attacking Xulira. We drove off the rest of the spawn, but now I have the one that dominated Kedereckt under my control, and...by proxy...the Assassin, himself.
We left off after that battle, hoping to find a safe room to catch enough rest to regain spells and much needed hit points.
While this report is short, it's simply due to the fact that I'm tired. We accomplished quite a bit, or at least it felt like we had some pretty steady play.
Cast of Characters
Chymond Veg "The Bronze Vassal," Dwarf Cleric 7 - Me
Oth Ixen, Kobold Wizard 8 - David B.
Kedereckt, Human Rogue 5/Assassin 3 - Steve C.
Xulira Shiesril, Drow Warlock 5/Demonbinder 1 - Angela
As far as exploration goes, this dungeon is pretty vanilla...corridor, room, corridor, room, secret door, corridor, trapped door, etc.. Most people know this type of exploration all too well, and I can say it's sometimes refreshing to just be dungeoncrawling.
Kedereckt has maneuvered us well through the place, keeping us from suffering too much when it comes to traps, but at times failing to spot the things, like the dart fusillade trap that peppered Chymond and Kedereckt with something along the lines of 15 darts, total.
The highlight of the night, however, came when a vampire spawn was able to dominate Kedereckt, and ordered him to kill us all. Steve took to the task, but didn't get far before Oth was able to clear the area of the bloodsuckers and I overrode the dominate with one of my own.
Not much later, we encountered yet another group of spawn, and one of their numbers was able to gain hold of Kedereckt again, and another tried to take Oth, but his draconic heritage made him immune.
I took over one of the spawn with a command undead, but ended up losing control of an owlbear skeleton I had commanded earlier, which then began attacking Xulira. We drove off the rest of the spawn, but now I have the one that dominated Kedereckt under my control, and...by proxy...the Assassin, himself.
We left off after that battle, hoping to find a safe room to catch enough rest to regain spells and much needed hit points.
While this report is short, it's simply due to the fact that I'm tired. We accomplished quite a bit, or at least it felt like we had some pretty steady play.
Cast of Characters
Chymond Veg "The Bronze Vassal," Dwarf Cleric 7 - Me
Oth Ixen, Kobold Wizard 8 - David B.
Kedereckt, Human Rogue 5/Assassin 3 - Steve C.
Xulira Shiesril, Drow Warlock 5/Demonbinder 1 - Angela
4.07.2011
Who is Lord Laeryndaal?!
This past Sunday, I ran my usual Pathfinder/Wilderlands game.
The group's foray into the caves originally led them to entering the wrong entrance, finding instead a locked door leading to the hobgoblin chambers, and a (presumably, anyway) hobgoblin on the other side, sight unseen, who refused to open the door and basically told them to move along. The party let this go without challenge, since they were looking for the Gnoll cave to begin with, and wished to beat the party of City-Staters that were on their way to purge the non-human "threat."
Once the party found their destination, it became clear quick that they were too late, the Gnolls set to guard the entrance had been slaughtered, and after venturing forth a bit further, they discovered another corpse, but a store room adjacent to the area they found the body was able to shelter a little over a dozen members of the tribe, who were able to tell the group which way their assailants went.
Tracking the arrogant kid and his party down a long corridor, they became privy to a disheartening sight, arriving just in time to see the main living chamber of the Gnolls, which also served as their nursery, fireballed. Before the backwash of the flames had even died down, Chas charged, and entered melee with a large armored figure, the rest of the group following his lead and engaging in what ways they could, both from range (when able) and moving into hand-to-hand, though the fight was a tight one, and not much maneuverability could be accomplished.
The fighting was fierce, with the PCs gaining the advantage by way of a Color Spray provided by Jadazh, stunning half the villanous group and forcing them onto the defensive. This only lasted a short time, however, and the tight quarters became an advantage to the other party when their mage pulled out a scroll and placed an invisible, unbreakable wall between the PC party and themselves, trapping Jadazh on their side, and attempting to whittle away at him before moving on.
A Spiritual Weapon cast by Borash before the Wall of Force went up slowed the progress of the enemy, and they eventually cut their losses, leaving two dead as they used a magic item to transport out, the large, armored figure having stated that "Lord Laeryndaal would be displeased with their failure."
After this, the PCs went to the surviving Gnolls and spoke with them briefly, which led to them saying that "Those that walk when dead" were located in a nearby cave. This set Borash off, as he is an adamant slayer of undead, and he was able to convince the party to go with him to rid the caves of that menace.
When we left off, the group had just encountered some Zombies in the caves the Gnolls has indicated, and they were all left wondering who Lord Laeryndaal was and what he wanted with who in the party.
This coming Sunday should be fun!
The group's foray into the caves originally led them to entering the wrong entrance, finding instead a locked door leading to the hobgoblin chambers, and a (presumably, anyway) hobgoblin on the other side, sight unseen, who refused to open the door and basically told them to move along. The party let this go without challenge, since they were looking for the Gnoll cave to begin with, and wished to beat the party of City-Staters that were on their way to purge the non-human "threat."
Once the party found their destination, it became clear quick that they were too late, the Gnolls set to guard the entrance had been slaughtered, and after venturing forth a bit further, they discovered another corpse, but a store room adjacent to the area they found the body was able to shelter a little over a dozen members of the tribe, who were able to tell the group which way their assailants went.
Tracking the arrogant kid and his party down a long corridor, they became privy to a disheartening sight, arriving just in time to see the main living chamber of the Gnolls, which also served as their nursery, fireballed. Before the backwash of the flames had even died down, Chas charged, and entered melee with a large armored figure, the rest of the group following his lead and engaging in what ways they could, both from range (when able) and moving into hand-to-hand, though the fight was a tight one, and not much maneuverability could be accomplished.
The fighting was fierce, with the PCs gaining the advantage by way of a Color Spray provided by Jadazh, stunning half the villanous group and forcing them onto the defensive. This only lasted a short time, however, and the tight quarters became an advantage to the other party when their mage pulled out a scroll and placed an invisible, unbreakable wall between the PC party and themselves, trapping Jadazh on their side, and attempting to whittle away at him before moving on.
A Spiritual Weapon cast by Borash before the Wall of Force went up slowed the progress of the enemy, and they eventually cut their losses, leaving two dead as they used a magic item to transport out, the large, armored figure having stated that "Lord Laeryndaal would be displeased with their failure."
After this, the PCs went to the surviving Gnolls and spoke with them briefly, which led to them saying that "Those that walk when dead" were located in a nearby cave. This set Borash off, as he is an adamant slayer of undead, and he was able to convince the party to go with him to rid the caves of that menace.
When we left off, the group had just encountered some Zombies in the caves the Gnolls has indicated, and they were all left wondering who Lord Laeryndaal was and what he wanted with who in the party.
This coming Sunday should be fun!
4.03.2011
Old TV Meme (Because I'm Killing Time)
The Rules: Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime.
Italicise a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it.
Underline the ones you own copies of.
If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).
24
7th Heaven
8 Simple Rules
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Angel
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Batman: The Animated Series
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Blake's 7
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Caitlin's Way
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Carnivale
Charmed
Cheers
Clarissa Explains It All
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling [UK]
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars (I was watching with a gf, ok!)
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Flash Forward
Frasier
Freaks and Geeks
Friday Night Lights
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Heroes
Hill Street Blues
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Instant Star
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Joey
John Doe
Just Shoot Me
Keen Eddie
LA Law
Law & Order
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: SVU
Laverne and Shirley
Life With Derek
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible (the '60s series)
Mission: Impossible (the '80s series)
Monk
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Life as a Dog
My So-Called Life
My Super Sweet 16
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
North Shore
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Phil of the Future
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (UK)
Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) (Original Series)
Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) (New Series)
Red Dwarf
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Salute Your Shorts
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Skins
Sliders
Slings & Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Space 1999
Spaced
Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The Apprentice
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Famous Jet Jackson
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Invisible Man (1975 - David Mccallum )
The Invisible man (2000 - Vincent Ventresca)
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Lucille Ball Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Venture Brothers
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wire
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Top Gear (UK)
Top Gear (US)
Torchwood
Traders
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Two and A Half Men
Ugly Betty
Veronica Mars
Vicar of Dibley
Whose Line is it Anyway? [US]
Whose Line is it Anyway? [UK]
Will and Grace
Wings
Without a Trace
WKRP in Cincinnati
Xena: Warrior Princess
Yes Minister
Yes Prime Minister
I am not ashamed of how much TV I've watched, but there are a few shows on this list I'm not particularly proud of. Makes me wonder how many hours of TV I've watched...
Italicise a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it.
Underline the ones you own copies of.
If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).
24
7th Heaven
8 Simple Rules
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Angel
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Batman: The Animated Series
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Blake's 7
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Caitlin's Way
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Carnivale
Charmed
Cheers
Clarissa Explains It All
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling [UK]
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars (I was watching with a gf, ok!)
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who
Dragnet
Due South
Earth 2
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Flash Forward
Frasier
Freaks and Geeks
Friday Night Lights
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Heroes
Hill Street Blues
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Instant Star
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Joey
John Doe
Just Shoot Me
Keen Eddie
LA Law
Law & Order
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: SVU
Laverne and Shirley
Life With Derek
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible (the '60s series)
Mission: Impossible (the '80s series)
Monk
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Life as a Dog
My So-Called Life
My Super Sweet 16
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
North Shore
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Phil of the Future
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (UK)
Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) (Original Series)
Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) (New Series)
Red Dwarf
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Salute Your Shorts
Saved by the Bell
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Skins
Sliders
Slings & Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Space 1999
Spaced
Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The Apprentice
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Famous Jet Jackson
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Invisible Man (1975 - David Mccallum )
The Invisible man (2000 - Vincent Ventresca)
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Lucille Ball Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Venture Brothers
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wire
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Top Gear (UK)
Top Gear (US)
Torchwood
Traders
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Two and A Half Men
Ugly Betty
Veronica Mars
Vicar of Dibley
Whose Line is it Anyway? [US]
Whose Line is it Anyway? [UK]
Will and Grace
Wings
Without a Trace
WKRP in Cincinnati
Xena: Warrior Princess
Yes Minister
Yes Prime Minister
I am not ashamed of how much TV I've watched, but there are a few shows on this list I'm not particularly proud of. Makes me wonder how many hours of TV I've watched...
Sucker Punch: A Non-Review
Today, in celebration(?) of my birthday, I went to the movies with David and Dave to see Sucker Punch. This movie has not seen stellar reviews at all, and while I can see why, I don't think many of the reviewers really gave the movie a fair shake, or they went in with preconceived notions. It plays out a little like Pulp Fiction meets various anime meets Kurosawa's Dreams.
The casting was good, acting was a little stilted in the first half, but the cinematography was gorgeous. The film was well directed and, to me, at least...well written, and it had a pretty rockin' soundtrack. For those who don't know, the movie follows a young woman who is put in an asylum and then retreats into a fantasy world to escape the reality of what she's enduring and also to try to focus her intent to escape.
In the lead character's (called Babydoll) fantasy world, she fights spirit-animated samurai armor, steampunk Nazis, and a dragon, to name a few menaces, and ends up getting what basically is a quest item that will aid in her escape in the end.
The whole time, I couldn't help but think "Wow, this would be cool in a game" when it cut to the fantasy segments, but then I started focusing on the concept of the movie itself, and wondered what a game would play like in which you're perfectly normal most of the time, but can slip into another reality...a dreamscape or whatever, in which you never really know what you'll have to do or where you'll be, but there's always a task or something driving you, then you snap back to reality once you accomplish it or perhaps even at random.
I know there are games out there that use the concept, or something similar to it, at least. Anyone out there played in them? If so, what are some of the difficulties of games of that nature?
Do any of them present something more than a normal person in the real world? Like a superhero who falls into a weird vampire dream state or something...
The casting was good, acting was a little stilted in the first half, but the cinematography was gorgeous. The film was well directed and, to me, at least...well written, and it had a pretty rockin' soundtrack. For those who don't know, the movie follows a young woman who is put in an asylum and then retreats into a fantasy world to escape the reality of what she's enduring and also to try to focus her intent to escape.
In the lead character's (called Babydoll) fantasy world, she fights spirit-animated samurai armor, steampunk Nazis, and a dragon, to name a few menaces, and ends up getting what basically is a quest item that will aid in her escape in the end.
The whole time, I couldn't help but think "Wow, this would be cool in a game" when it cut to the fantasy segments, but then I started focusing on the concept of the movie itself, and wondered what a game would play like in which you're perfectly normal most of the time, but can slip into another reality...a dreamscape or whatever, in which you never really know what you'll have to do or where you'll be, but there's always a task or something driving you, then you snap back to reality once you accomplish it or perhaps even at random.
I know there are games out there that use the concept, or something similar to it, at least. Anyone out there played in them? If so, what are some of the difficulties of games of that nature?
Do any of them present something more than a normal person in the real world? Like a superhero who falls into a weird vampire dream state or something...
4.02.2011
Flawless Victory! Your Opponent....Ran Away...
There's no doubt that killing for experience is now considered the norm in modern D&D games and their simulacra (Pathfinder fits that label, right?) Combat experience is sometimes the only type given in some of these games, and it is almost certainly what sticks out in most new players' minds as the key to advancement, until they have a firmer grasp on the game.
This is not to say everyone runs their campaigns like this, but before I digress, I'll state that campaign style is not the focus of this post. Instead, I want to touch on something that I find to be missing from most modern rules sets: morale.
When I started playing AD&D 2nd Edition, Paul - who showed me the ropes of DMing - utilized a simple system, using a d6 (if I remember correctly,) that I believe was derived from published TSR rules. I remember him checking at milestones like 1/3rd combatants fallen, leader taken out, etc., and possibly even giving bonuses if a PC had dropped and so forth.
I like that. It makes sense in the context of the world. If you have the advantage, you press it. Once you lose that advantage, you hit fight or flight. A good morale system can simulate those responses fairly well, and I think it does nothing but add to the game's enjoyment, realism (which I care about, but not to a fault) and overall flavor (especially if, for some reason, say, ogres always seem to roll breaks, you might come up with lore stating they're craven, and never fight if they lose the advantage.)
At any rate, I want to find or make a workable morale system for use in my Pathfinder game. I want it to be somewhat simple, but I would like, also, for it to present more options than "stay and fight" and "run away." Maybe a parley result or surrender.
I'll definitely be posting more on that, as I think I might want to design my own, or at least take the skeleton of something I find and slap some meat on it...but before I sign off on this one, I want to touch on one more thing...
When awarding experience for encounters in which a morale system is used, and the npcs run away or cede victory, I would like to give full xp, but what if these same npcs are faced once again, or even multiple times? I don't want to keep dishing out xp for the same group encountered, or do I? With the shift of experience progression to the "Slow" chart, something like that would do very little to impact overall progression, so I might go ahead and award full for those that get away/give up the fight. Always in the past, I've given 1/2 or less in those instances.
As always, comments are welcome.
This is not to say everyone runs their campaigns like this, but before I digress, I'll state that campaign style is not the focus of this post. Instead, I want to touch on something that I find to be missing from most modern rules sets: morale.
When I started playing AD&D 2nd Edition, Paul - who showed me the ropes of DMing - utilized a simple system, using a d6 (if I remember correctly,) that I believe was derived from published TSR rules. I remember him checking at milestones like 1/3rd combatants fallen, leader taken out, etc., and possibly even giving bonuses if a PC had dropped and so forth.
I like that. It makes sense in the context of the world. If you have the advantage, you press it. Once you lose that advantage, you hit fight or flight. A good morale system can simulate those responses fairly well, and I think it does nothing but add to the game's enjoyment, realism (which I care about, but not to a fault) and overall flavor (especially if, for some reason, say, ogres always seem to roll breaks, you might come up with lore stating they're craven, and never fight if they lose the advantage.)
At any rate, I want to find or make a workable morale system for use in my Pathfinder game. I want it to be somewhat simple, but I would like, also, for it to present more options than "stay and fight" and "run away." Maybe a parley result or surrender.
I'll definitely be posting more on that, as I think I might want to design my own, or at least take the skeleton of something I find and slap some meat on it...but before I sign off on this one, I want to touch on one more thing...
When awarding experience for encounters in which a morale system is used, and the npcs run away or cede victory, I would like to give full xp, but what if these same npcs are faced once again, or even multiple times? I don't want to keep dishing out xp for the same group encountered, or do I? With the shift of experience progression to the "Slow" chart, something like that would do very little to impact overall progression, so I might go ahead and award full for those that get away/give up the fight. Always in the past, I've given 1/2 or less in those instances.
As always, comments are welcome.
3.30.2011
o0o A Race! Wilderlands AP
As we left off, our intrepid heroes (?) were planning to make haste to the caves by Bugbear Falls and head off the party that had set off to exterminate the "monsters" inhabiting them.
Sadly, they were unable to do that, as an attack by a rogue group of Iomedan knights as soon as they headed out the city gates and multiple random encounters plagued their journey.
The knight attack was unexpected, and ended with one of the 9 attacking getting away, but also gave the party a hint at a heretofore unknown adversary, one Lord Laeryndaal and an organization called The Black Lotus, which no one had heard of before.
After that, a destructive encounter with mysterious, hulking warriors carrying Javelins of Lightning, and a few other brushes with fate, including a tussle with a dire boar, slowed them to the point of not being able to catch their quarry before reaching the canyon where the caves are located.
When we left off, the group was staring up at the various cave entrances, looking for any sign of the young man and his party.
----------
I'd like to apologize for how short and somewhat dull this report is, but honestly, I don't think my six siders wanted the players to succeed. It seemed like I couldn't NOT roll an encounter for the group, and I know that's probably frustrating for everyone, but I did try to make them interesting, at least.
In the area that the group is in, there's a 1 in 6 chance of encounter every hour. I realize this is pretty heavy, but I kept with it, and it seems sometimes to swamp the pacing of the game.
I've been thinking about putting together an encounter table of my own, and adjusting the chance of encounters, but I keep putting it off. I think I need to get on that. I also want to touch on some of the other topics I mentioned I would cover here, like magic item bloat, etc., and how I plan to tackle that in the campaign.
Sadly, they were unable to do that, as an attack by a rogue group of Iomedan knights as soon as they headed out the city gates and multiple random encounters plagued their journey.
The knight attack was unexpected, and ended with one of the 9 attacking getting away, but also gave the party a hint at a heretofore unknown adversary, one Lord Laeryndaal and an organization called The Black Lotus, which no one had heard of before.
After that, a destructive encounter with mysterious, hulking warriors carrying Javelins of Lightning, and a few other brushes with fate, including a tussle with a dire boar, slowed them to the point of not being able to catch their quarry before reaching the canyon where the caves are located.
When we left off, the group was staring up at the various cave entrances, looking for any sign of the young man and his party.
----------
I'd like to apologize for how short and somewhat dull this report is, but honestly, I don't think my six siders wanted the players to succeed. It seemed like I couldn't NOT roll an encounter for the group, and I know that's probably frustrating for everyone, but I did try to make them interesting, at least.
In the area that the group is in, there's a 1 in 6 chance of encounter every hour. I realize this is pretty heavy, but I kept with it, and it seems sometimes to swamp the pacing of the game.
I've been thinking about putting together an encounter table of my own, and adjusting the chance of encounters, but I keep putting it off. I think I need to get on that. I also want to touch on some of the other topics I mentioned I would cover here, like magic item bloat, etc., and how I plan to tackle that in the campaign.
3.26.2011
The Arkham of the Neitherworld
For reasons unknown even to me, I've made it a goal to read every post by those on Jeff's blogroll.
This is not something that can be accomplished in a day, but I've made it (going from oldest to most recently updated) back to Neitherworld Stories, a great blog by Stuart, a friend of Jeff's, which I had caught up on a couple of years back, then had forgotten about.
Stuart's posts are usually relevant to my own gaming, so it is a treat revisiting his blog, even if it apparently is dead. (Maybe my reading through will prompt him to post again? It's seemed to happen with other blogs on the list.)
The reason I bring Neitherworld Stories up today, though, is this post, which I think is great inspiration for a fantasy or supers game, or some mix of the genres.
You see, I've been thinking alot about supers gaming recently and even originally was gonna run a quick stint on my birthday using Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game, but I guess we're hitting up a Magic tournament instead.
I don't really have a group to scratch the supers itch with, since my current group is involved in 2 different D&D games, but I've been thinking about drumming something up to remedy that!
This is not something that can be accomplished in a day, but I've made it (going from oldest to most recently updated) back to Neitherworld Stories, a great blog by Stuart, a friend of Jeff's, which I had caught up on a couple of years back, then had forgotten about.
Stuart's posts are usually relevant to my own gaming, so it is a treat revisiting his blog, even if it apparently is dead. (Maybe my reading through will prompt him to post again? It's seemed to happen with other blogs on the list.)
The reason I bring Neitherworld Stories up today, though, is this post, which I think is great inspiration for a fantasy or supers game, or some mix of the genres.
You see, I've been thinking alot about supers gaming recently and even originally was gonna run a quick stint on my birthday using Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game, but I guess we're hitting up a Magic tournament instead.
I don't really have a group to scratch the supers itch with, since my current group is involved in 2 different D&D games, but I've been thinking about drumming something up to remedy that!
A Slight Revision to New Wilderlands Characters
Recently, I posted about new characters and starting levels in my Wilderlands campaign.
I wasn't completely satisfied with the scaling of levels that I put forth at the end of that post, so I'm replacing that here with the following:
I think this cleaves both to what I want from the game as far as power level and character development and keeps new characters relevant to the action.
I wasn't completely satisfied with the scaling of levels that I put forth at the end of that post, so I'm replacing that here with the following:
In the event that a player makes a new character, that character will begin play at the base experience total for their old character's level minus five, or 1/3rd the level of the highest level character in the party, whichever is higher.
I think this cleaves both to what I want from the game as far as power level and character development and keeps new characters relevant to the action.
3.25.2011
Go Go Teamwork!
Tonight was pretty cool, and even though we didn't make it far, due to backtracking and such, I felt like we accomplished a fair amount of dungeoneering.
After a miraculously uneventful night stayed in what we hoped was a secure room in the crypt itself, and some much needed rest and recuperation, Chymond, Kedereckt, and our drow ally (I still need to ask Angela her character's name. I know she's told me, and I swore I've used it in game, but I can never remember it when I write these posts) headed back into the corridors of the tomb, still searching for the heart of the undead plague that has been threatening the Dwarves.
David wasn't able to join us early on, but we still managed to search a few rooms and avoid a couple of traps along the way, mostly by sheer luck...methinks Kedereckt may have lied to us about his ability to bypass such obstacles.
Amazingly, we were able to avoid combat until right after David was able to show up and Oth threw a Sound Lance against a door that had given us a little bit of trouble. Knocking one side off its hinges revealed a room teeming with more Zombie Wyverns...five of them, to be exact, which gave us less trouble than any fight before due to what I feel was a tighter manifestation of teamwork and good tactics than we have previously displayed.
After this, however, we continued to move through chambers and halls that pretty much doubled back onto areas we had already explored, and Taylor called it somewhat early since Angela has to be at work in the morning.
I had previously spoken about how I wasn't feeling like my character was adding anything to the party at all, and that I was thinking of asking Taylor if I could possibly retire him and create a new one. After talking about it a little the other day, then again some tonight before the game, I decided to give it a few more sessions, continuing to tweak my spell list and possibly even how I play my character. I still don't know how I feel about him, but I absolutely had fun tonight. Maybe a few changes would be all it would take for me to be happier with him.
At any rate, I'm actually feeling eager to continue exploring the dungeon.
After a miraculously uneventful night stayed in what we hoped was a secure room in the crypt itself, and some much needed rest and recuperation, Chymond, Kedereckt, and our drow ally (I still need to ask Angela her character's name. I know she's told me, and I swore I've used it in game, but I can never remember it when I write these posts) headed back into the corridors of the tomb, still searching for the heart of the undead plague that has been threatening the Dwarves.
David wasn't able to join us early on, but we still managed to search a few rooms and avoid a couple of traps along the way, mostly by sheer luck...methinks Kedereckt may have lied to us about his ability to bypass such obstacles.
Amazingly, we were able to avoid combat until right after David was able to show up and Oth threw a Sound Lance against a door that had given us a little bit of trouble. Knocking one side off its hinges revealed a room teeming with more Zombie Wyverns...five of them, to be exact, which gave us less trouble than any fight before due to what I feel was a tighter manifestation of teamwork and good tactics than we have previously displayed.
After this, however, we continued to move through chambers and halls that pretty much doubled back onto areas we had already explored, and Taylor called it somewhat early since Angela has to be at work in the morning.
I had previously spoken about how I wasn't feeling like my character was adding anything to the party at all, and that I was thinking of asking Taylor if I could possibly retire him and create a new one. After talking about it a little the other day, then again some tonight before the game, I decided to give it a few more sessions, continuing to tweak my spell list and possibly even how I play my character. I still don't know how I feel about him, but I absolutely had fun tonight. Maybe a few changes would be all it would take for me to be happier with him.
At any rate, I'm actually feeling eager to continue exploring the dungeon.
3.21.2011
New Characters in Non-Scaled Campaigns
I've not encountered any other usage of the terms "set" and "scaled" when dealing with roleplaying games (Except the scaled minions of Set!), but what I mean in this context is set and scaled encounters. The former being a trope of sandbox play in which Area X has Y encounters no matter when you show up there, which could mean that your 10th level party is running amok in the Caves of Chaos, whereas in the latter instance, your party could encounter advanced goblins (perhaps with character levels) or new denizens entirely, which would challenge your party at their level.
My primary concern with this post isn't the actual encounters themselves, but the level at which to start new characters in my game. I've mentioned before that I'm trying to cleave to "old school" ways when possible, and alot of what isn't informed by blogs and various readings of old rule books comes from my personal beginnings into the hobby. All my DMs made us start at 1st with new characters when our old one died or was irrevocably lost or we retired one in favor of another, cooler concept.
This wasn't anything to us, and in fact, we always felt that the DMs that started people out at higher level either were doing "crazy" stuff in their game, or we felt like we had to bring our game face, because we were getting into some shit. That feeling has been almost killed by the Adventure Path and the scaled encounters therein.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm fully aware that my preferred rules set brought about the dominance of the Adventure Path, and in fact...I have no true problem with them as a form of gaming. I just ran a campaign using one, myself, and it was one of the most fun runs I've had in my gaming history, but I digress.
The thing I really want to address here, and a cohesive point to all my rambling is this: Recently, Angela lost a character. She was upset at this, apparently...and it was made worse by my stating that she would have to start her new character at level 1.
Is the call unfair? I don't think so, but that's not to say I don't understand why someone would be iffy or upset about it.
The key factor in it not being a problem is because, as mentioned before, my world is set. Everything stays static until the PCs explore the area, so even if the party averages 5th level, they might still walk into a place overrun with 1st level encounters. This is an even easier transition because of how the experience chart scales, giving lower level characters a chance to "catch up" eventually. Starting at first level also promotes character growth through an extended progression, instead of trying to shoehorn who should be a fully developed character (someone with experience under their belt) into the campaign.
On the flip side, you're first level...danger is more dangerous, as it were. One or two hits might have you down for the count, you might not be able to make a necessary save, etc. The only other problem inherent in my Wilderlands game is that we use the Slow experience progression, so sure...it takes a bit to gain the xp to level, but that doesn't truly affect the power scale, since everyone else is, too.
I do believe that intelligent and cautious play can keep any level of character alive, but I can understand feeling left in the dust, hence I've decided that any player losing a character will make a new character at the level of thier old character - 5, or barring 5 levels....should any other player have a character of 6 level, the new character will enter at level 2, 11th for level 3, and so on (whichever method is better.) That's a big gap, yes...but not one that cannot be recovered from with the scaled xp progression.
This is a loose ruling. We'll see how it goes. Any thoughts from my players would be welcome!
My primary concern with this post isn't the actual encounters themselves, but the level at which to start new characters in my game. I've mentioned before that I'm trying to cleave to "old school" ways when possible, and alot of what isn't informed by blogs and various readings of old rule books comes from my personal beginnings into the hobby. All my DMs made us start at 1st with new characters when our old one died or was irrevocably lost or we retired one in favor of another, cooler concept.
This wasn't anything to us, and in fact, we always felt that the DMs that started people out at higher level either were doing "crazy" stuff in their game, or we felt like we had to bring our game face, because we were getting into some shit. That feeling has been almost killed by the Adventure Path and the scaled encounters therein.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm fully aware that my preferred rules set brought about the dominance of the Adventure Path, and in fact...I have no true problem with them as a form of gaming. I just ran a campaign using one, myself, and it was one of the most fun runs I've had in my gaming history, but I digress.
The thing I really want to address here, and a cohesive point to all my rambling is this: Recently, Angela lost a character. She was upset at this, apparently...and it was made worse by my stating that she would have to start her new character at level 1.
Is the call unfair? I don't think so, but that's not to say I don't understand why someone would be iffy or upset about it.
The key factor in it not being a problem is because, as mentioned before, my world is set. Everything stays static until the PCs explore the area, so even if the party averages 5th level, they might still walk into a place overrun with 1st level encounters. This is an even easier transition because of how the experience chart scales, giving lower level characters a chance to "catch up" eventually. Starting at first level also promotes character growth through an extended progression, instead of trying to shoehorn who should be a fully developed character (someone with experience under their belt) into the campaign.
On the flip side, you're first level...danger is more dangerous, as it were. One or two hits might have you down for the count, you might not be able to make a necessary save, etc. The only other problem inherent in my Wilderlands game is that we use the Slow experience progression, so sure...it takes a bit to gain the xp to level, but that doesn't truly affect the power scale, since everyone else is, too.
I do believe that intelligent and cautious play can keep any level of character alive, but I can understand feeling left in the dust, hence I've decided that any player losing a character will make a new character at the level of thier old character - 5, or barring 5 levels....should any other player have a character of 6 level, the new character will enter at level 2, 11th for level 3, and so on (whichever method is better.) That's a big gap, yes...but not one that cannot be recovered from with the scaled xp progression.
This is a loose ruling. We'll see how it goes. Any thoughts from my players would be welcome!
There And Back Again, A Story of Dungeonfail
So, there we were...having completed our forays into the cultist's temple deep in the Dwarven delves, and returned awaiting reward (?) and our next commands from the liege of the place.
When we finally were able to meet with him, he practically sent us right back from whence we came, deep into the earth, this time to address the problem of undead creeping up from a long-buried tomb.
We geared up, retooled our spell lists, and headed down to the crypt, where we were met with an engraving that Angela's Warlock's Comprehend Languages was able to decipher, naming the place the tomb of a human(?!), whose name I can't recall at the moment.
Gaining entry took a short bit of time, but soon we were navigating the paths of the first true dungeon we've delved in this campaign.
And then it all fell apart.
Kedereckt was doing pretty well, leading us slowly through the place, intent on keeping us from the dangers of pitfalls and other traps...and then he was hit twice by 2 Zombie Minotaurs that had escaped notice by virtue of position. 50ish points of damage do not do a 7th level Rogue good, and he dropped, followed quickly by Oth Ixen and Chymond, leaving our Drow companion to stand against the one standing Minotombie.
She escaped, but healed Oth enough for him to act before heading out. He came to me and healed me enough to get up, then we finished the fight, and pressed on after some healing.
This led us, eventually to a room with 3 Wyvern Zombies, which pretty much everyone ran from except Chymond, who bottlenecked the door and attempted to let the others retreat, since I couldn't exit and close the door the turn prior to them getting to me.
We eventually defeated those monstrosities, thanks in major part to Oth's casting of Explosive Cascade, in addition to some well-placed Flame Bursts, or whatever the Reserve Feat thing is called.
Having healed up yet again, we ended the night trying to decide whether to rest or press on.
My thoughts:
Dungeoneering isn't the best profession for our characters, really. This is a generalist line of reason, but honestly, I just don't see it going well for us. Apparently, we either lack cohesion or we've just built our characters the exact opposite of what a dungeon delver should be.
Part of this, in my case, is that I'm not happy with my character. I don't know what I would do to change my character to "fix" my feelings of uselessness, but the first thing would be channeling positive energy. When I made the character, I felt like he had a solid foundation to build on: A young Dwarf seeking to carve a realm for himself, who wasn't afraid to use any means to do so (money, mind-affecting magics, undead as tireless labor/soldiers.) The game style has shifted from free-range to Go to Questgiver->Get Quest->Complete Quest->Get Reward, and I'm perfectly fine with that kind of play...but not with this character. I even went the "party buff" route with my spells, and only 1 seemed to fit the circumstances all night (Legion's Shield of Faith,) but my domain spells are useless (as they are all Enchantments,) as is my Command/Rebuke Undead, since the monsters are all too high of hit die. I feel useless to my party, which is a horrible feeling for a Cleric.
I have other, minor gripes...primarily, the Zombie Minotaurs hiding like they did seemed a bit too prepared for mindless undead, I assume Taylor didn't think of this...we did make alot of noise, but I feel like, being mindless, they would have just been lined up at the doorway ready to bull rush or overrun as soon as they could see us.
Also, the flow of turns...combat interactions...and questioning of the DM round out my irks.
I still haven't brought up my stuff about Chymond with Taylor....I need to do something to keep myself interested in the campaign, even if it takes creating a new character or changing the one i have completely.
When we finally were able to meet with him, he practically sent us right back from whence we came, deep into the earth, this time to address the problem of undead creeping up from a long-buried tomb.
We geared up, retooled our spell lists, and headed down to the crypt, where we were met with an engraving that Angela's Warlock's Comprehend Languages was able to decipher, naming the place the tomb of a human(?!), whose name I can't recall at the moment.
Gaining entry took a short bit of time, but soon we were navigating the paths of the first true dungeon we've delved in this campaign.
And then it all fell apart.
Kedereckt was doing pretty well, leading us slowly through the place, intent on keeping us from the dangers of pitfalls and other traps...and then he was hit twice by 2 Zombie Minotaurs that had escaped notice by virtue of position. 50ish points of damage do not do a 7th level Rogue good, and he dropped, followed quickly by Oth Ixen and Chymond, leaving our Drow companion to stand against the one standing Minotombie.
She escaped, but healed Oth enough for him to act before heading out. He came to me and healed me enough to get up, then we finished the fight, and pressed on after some healing.
This led us, eventually to a room with 3 Wyvern Zombies, which pretty much everyone ran from except Chymond, who bottlenecked the door and attempted to let the others retreat, since I couldn't exit and close the door the turn prior to them getting to me.
We eventually defeated those monstrosities, thanks in major part to Oth's casting of Explosive Cascade, in addition to some well-placed Flame Bursts, or whatever the Reserve Feat thing is called.
Having healed up yet again, we ended the night trying to decide whether to rest or press on.
My thoughts:
Dungeoneering isn't the best profession for our characters, really. This is a generalist line of reason, but honestly, I just don't see it going well for us. Apparently, we either lack cohesion or we've just built our characters the exact opposite of what a dungeon delver should be.
Part of this, in my case, is that I'm not happy with my character. I don't know what I would do to change my character to "fix" my feelings of uselessness, but the first thing would be channeling positive energy. When I made the character, I felt like he had a solid foundation to build on: A young Dwarf seeking to carve a realm for himself, who wasn't afraid to use any means to do so (money, mind-affecting magics, undead as tireless labor/soldiers.) The game style has shifted from free-range to Go to Questgiver->Get Quest->Complete Quest->Get Reward, and I'm perfectly fine with that kind of play...but not with this character. I even went the "party buff" route with my spells, and only 1 seemed to fit the circumstances all night (Legion's Shield of Faith,) but my domain spells are useless (as they are all Enchantments,) as is my Command/Rebuke Undead, since the monsters are all too high of hit die. I feel useless to my party, which is a horrible feeling for a Cleric.
I have other, minor gripes...primarily, the Zombie Minotaurs hiding like they did seemed a bit too prepared for mindless undead, I assume Taylor didn't think of this...we did make alot of noise, but I feel like, being mindless, they would have just been lined up at the doorway ready to bull rush or overrun as soon as they could see us.
Also, the flow of turns...combat interactions...and questioning of the DM round out my irks.
I still haven't brought up my stuff about Chymond with Taylor....I need to do something to keep myself interested in the campaign, even if it takes creating a new character or changing the one i have completely.
3.19.2011
What A Wreck! Wilderlands on Friday
No, the Wilderlands game didn't go poorly, I didn't mean that kind of wreck!
Taylor and I both work in transportation for a local clinic specializing in special needs children, and Friday his van was rear-ended. Everyone on board is ok, but I couldn't fault the guy for not wanting to run his usual Friday game, so we picked up Pathfinder. The session was made far more groovy by the (hopefully permanent?) addition of Steve's girlfriend, Michelle.
Everything seemed to get off to a slow start, but after some final notes and final adds and corrections to character sheets, we dropped into a somewhat sloppy first part of the session.
At this point, the party was outside the temple, having defeated the Khumats and Lizardfolk, but taking a toll, themselves. Chas had already decided that he favored returning to Bugbear Falls, having the insight to know that this temple was more than he felt ready for. Union and Gexzrit gathered Seyji's remains, tossed his body into a bag no bigger than a normal potato sack (!), and headed on their way after having bid the group goodbye and explaining that this was primarily's Seyji's quest, and they had no more need or heart to venture into the temple.
With this, and conversations held before, both Borash and Jadazh conferred with their hirelings, and subsequently renewed agreements, before also ceding the assualt. Only the Gnolls, who had planned the expedition in the first place, remained, and they bid the group farewell with full understanding and gratitude.
The (relatively uneventful) trip back to the Falls is where I felt the game got sloppy. I was having a hard time concentrating at this point because I was tired, and was having trouble adjudicating the trip, interactions with those characters, introduction for Michelle/her character into the game world/setting, Angela's initial motivations with her character. The pacing was falling flat, then the Stone Giants attacked Bugbear Falls....
No one was injured in the fight, and indeed, Chas, Borash, Jadazh and their companions watched the Giants pelt the city and its walls with boulders from afar, on their approach to the keep. The girls' characters were both inside the city, but were prudent enough to remain inside during the attack, and thus suffered no damage.
This little game of Giant skeeball ended when I announced that the keep's defenders were manning the wall emplacements and began firing back with catapults. 3 consecutive hits from the siege engines was enough to dissuade the attackers, and they made their way west. The party waited out their departure, then approached the keep when the coast was well clear.
Once the party made it inside, the game began to heat up. Chas immediately met with the local sage, an elf named Elohmir (Carl's last character's mom), and began discussing the temple, various things sighted in the area, and the cave with the false doorway carved, which Elohmir said was possibly a Fey Gate.
While Chas was off sharing information, Borash settled at the White Cliff (the local tavern) to celebrate the good battle that was the assault on the Lizardfolk and Khumats, and tossed plenty of coin to keep all the patrons drowned in the cheap stuff all night. A stranger at a nearby table, a youth of no more than 16, matched Borash's coin, and then began spouting off some abrasive things about Viridistan and its natives, even cursing the craftsmanship of an obviously magical blade he and his companions had recovered when the cleared the rest of the kobolds from the caves nearby.
Borash had a short exchange with the lad, then went back to his own companions and began to drink heartily, at which time Chas returned and heard the bile being spouted by the kid and his companions and went to their table, sitting down and beginning a conversation filled with veiled threats on either side, ending in one of the women in the group pulling a dagger on Chas, and he leaving their table with another threat.
During the exchange of human supremist garbage being spewed and the threatening language from Chas and the young boy, who seemed to be the leader of his group, Jadazh had been negotiating more help for the group, having talked to both Skayza and Gabrielle, both of whom had come to the tavern for their own reasons. As he talked with the women, he also sized up the boy and his party (using a variant Sense Motive use) to see how things would go if it all got heated.
The night went on, and everyone eventually retired, Skayza to the smithy, where she lives/works, Gabrielle to the chapel of Iomedae, and the rest to a few apartments provided by the Castellan in compensation for not being able to meet with them when they arrived.
The night went uneventful, and in the morning the party arrived to meet with Castellan Dal Lago, to turn in the kobold horns they had acquired weeks prior. Lago had much interest in their tales of adventure, and showed great patience when the conversation took turns that did not include him. He suggested that the party find if there are dragons about, but had little else to add, other than offering to sell them a charter for an adventuring company (required for groups numbering over 20 individuals) and a warning that he would not brook acts that brought the wrath of monsters to his door.
With a little bit of coin, and knowledge that the young man met in the White Cliff and his band were going back to the caves to eradicate the non-human threats (some of which are allies to the party,) we left off with the group deciding their next course of action, as well as pondering the presence of a mysterious blur that their hirelings had mentioned seemed to be waiting for them, or at least watching.
This was all-in-all a great session. Plenty of roleplay and hooks thrown out left and right for the party. Steve helped me out alot in the session when Jadazh struck up conversation with Skayza and Gabrielle. I had been formulating a way to get them both involved in what is going on with the party (though, it really isn't necessary...I'm not enforcing grouping,) but this gives me time to think more on the happenings around them.
Current Cast of Characters
Chas DeLong, Male Human Fighter 5 - David B.
Jadazh Gr'tea, Male Human Duskblade 5 - Steve C.
Borash, Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum 4 - Taylor
Gabrielle Dianthe, Female Aasimar Paladin of Iomedae 1 - Angela
Skayza, Female Half-Orc Fighter 1 - Michelle
3 x Human Warrior 1 - Steve C. controlled
3 x Orc Warrior 1 - Taylor controlled
5 x Human Aristocrat 1 - Angela controlled
Taylor and I both work in transportation for a local clinic specializing in special needs children, and Friday his van was rear-ended. Everyone on board is ok, but I couldn't fault the guy for not wanting to run his usual Friday game, so we picked up Pathfinder. The session was made far more groovy by the (hopefully permanent?) addition of Steve's girlfriend, Michelle.
Everything seemed to get off to a slow start, but after some final notes and final adds and corrections to character sheets, we dropped into a somewhat sloppy first part of the session.
At this point, the party was outside the temple, having defeated the Khumats and Lizardfolk, but taking a toll, themselves. Chas had already decided that he favored returning to Bugbear Falls, having the insight to know that this temple was more than he felt ready for. Union and Gexzrit gathered Seyji's remains, tossed his body into a bag no bigger than a normal potato sack (!), and headed on their way after having bid the group goodbye and explaining that this was primarily's Seyji's quest, and they had no more need or heart to venture into the temple.
With this, and conversations held before, both Borash and Jadazh conferred with their hirelings, and subsequently renewed agreements, before also ceding the assualt. Only the Gnolls, who had planned the expedition in the first place, remained, and they bid the group farewell with full understanding and gratitude.
The (relatively uneventful) trip back to the Falls is where I felt the game got sloppy. I was having a hard time concentrating at this point because I was tired, and was having trouble adjudicating the trip, interactions with those characters, introduction for Michelle/her character into the game world/setting, Angela's initial motivations with her character. The pacing was falling flat, then the Stone Giants attacked Bugbear Falls....
No one was injured in the fight, and indeed, Chas, Borash, Jadazh and their companions watched the Giants pelt the city and its walls with boulders from afar, on their approach to the keep. The girls' characters were both inside the city, but were prudent enough to remain inside during the attack, and thus suffered no damage.
This little game of Giant skeeball ended when I announced that the keep's defenders were manning the wall emplacements and began firing back with catapults. 3 consecutive hits from the siege engines was enough to dissuade the attackers, and they made their way west. The party waited out their departure, then approached the keep when the coast was well clear.
Once the party made it inside, the game began to heat up. Chas immediately met with the local sage, an elf named Elohmir (Carl's last character's mom), and began discussing the temple, various things sighted in the area, and the cave with the false doorway carved, which Elohmir said was possibly a Fey Gate.
While Chas was off sharing information, Borash settled at the White Cliff (the local tavern) to celebrate the good battle that was the assault on the Lizardfolk and Khumats, and tossed plenty of coin to keep all the patrons drowned in the cheap stuff all night. A stranger at a nearby table, a youth of no more than 16, matched Borash's coin, and then began spouting off some abrasive things about Viridistan and its natives, even cursing the craftsmanship of an obviously magical blade he and his companions had recovered when the cleared the rest of the kobolds from the caves nearby.
Borash had a short exchange with the lad, then went back to his own companions and began to drink heartily, at which time Chas returned and heard the bile being spouted by the kid and his companions and went to their table, sitting down and beginning a conversation filled with veiled threats on either side, ending in one of the women in the group pulling a dagger on Chas, and he leaving their table with another threat.
During the exchange of human supremist garbage being spewed and the threatening language from Chas and the young boy, who seemed to be the leader of his group, Jadazh had been negotiating more help for the group, having talked to both Skayza and Gabrielle, both of whom had come to the tavern for their own reasons. As he talked with the women, he also sized up the boy and his party (using a variant Sense Motive use) to see how things would go if it all got heated.
The night went on, and everyone eventually retired, Skayza to the smithy, where she lives/works, Gabrielle to the chapel of Iomedae, and the rest to a few apartments provided by the Castellan in compensation for not being able to meet with them when they arrived.
The night went uneventful, and in the morning the party arrived to meet with Castellan Dal Lago, to turn in the kobold horns they had acquired weeks prior. Lago had much interest in their tales of adventure, and showed great patience when the conversation took turns that did not include him. He suggested that the party find if there are dragons about, but had little else to add, other than offering to sell them a charter for an adventuring company (required for groups numbering over 20 individuals) and a warning that he would not brook acts that brought the wrath of monsters to his door.
With a little bit of coin, and knowledge that the young man met in the White Cliff and his band were going back to the caves to eradicate the non-human threats (some of which are allies to the party,) we left off with the group deciding their next course of action, as well as pondering the presence of a mysterious blur that their hirelings had mentioned seemed to be waiting for them, or at least watching.
This was all-in-all a great session. Plenty of roleplay and hooks thrown out left and right for the party. Steve helped me out alot in the session when Jadazh struck up conversation with Skayza and Gabrielle. I had been formulating a way to get them both involved in what is going on with the party (though, it really isn't necessary...I'm not enforcing grouping,) but this gives me time to think more on the happenings around them.
Current Cast of Characters
Chas DeLong, Male Human Fighter 5 - David B.
Jadazh Gr'tea, Male Human Duskblade 5 - Steve C.
Borash, Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum 4 - Taylor
Gabrielle Dianthe, Female Aasimar Paladin of Iomedae 1 - Angela
Skayza, Female Half-Orc Fighter 1 - Michelle
3 x Human Warrior 1 - Steve C. controlled
3 x Orc Warrior 1 - Taylor controlled
5 x Human Aristocrat 1 - Angela controlled
3.13.2011
It's Been A Super Day
Been thinking alot about superheroes today, most notably this guy...
I'm not really sure why Big Blue is where my mind went when the subject came to mind, but I pretty much kept with the thoughts and eventually it led me to thoughts on gaming.
No surprise there, really...but then it dawned on me that DC is the more ideal model in how to handle supers in gaming than Marvel, even if I like the latter better.
I know somewhere in the 3 LBBs of D&D, "superhero" is mentioned, and while that originally meant someone of higher level, using Arneson's model...it made me think about what it would be like if a superhero (or team, even) made an entrance into a fantasy campaign. Even given somewhat powerful abilities, would they still be overshadowed by some practitioners of magic?
Like most of my posts, this is just a brain dump. I really don't have anywhere I'm going with this, but it's something that intrigues me, as does super powers in the real world and even in a high-tech sci-fi (space opera?)
More to think about, at any rate.
Also, this picture REALLY got my thoughts churning...
Not so sure why it's so evocative to me, but anything that spurs imagination is a good thing!
I'm not really sure why Big Blue is where my mind went when the subject came to mind, but I pretty much kept with the thoughts and eventually it led me to thoughts on gaming.
No surprise there, really...but then it dawned on me that DC is the more ideal model in how to handle supers in gaming than Marvel, even if I like the latter better.
I know somewhere in the 3 LBBs of D&D, "superhero" is mentioned, and while that originally meant someone of higher level, using Arneson's model...it made me think about what it would be like if a superhero (or team, even) made an entrance into a fantasy campaign. Even given somewhat powerful abilities, would they still be overshadowed by some practitioners of magic?
Like most of my posts, this is just a brain dump. I really don't have anywhere I'm going with this, but it's something that intrigues me, as does super powers in the real world and even in a high-tech sci-fi (space opera?)
More to think about, at any rate.
Also, this picture REALLY got my thoughts churning...
Not so sure why it's so evocative to me, but anything that spurs imagination is a good thing!
A Reminder to Myself
This post is mostly just acting as a Post-It so I can remember some stuff about Taylor's campaign, which I won't be able to attend later because I'll be rolling out of town with mom.
First, since I've missed some stuff here lately, I need to full appraisal of where we are and why we're there. The basics are known to me, but I want something a bit more solid to work with, as I try to fit my character's goals into everything we've done.
I play Chymond Veg, The Bronze Vassal. An extreme loyalist to the sovereignty of Lord Cain Gamble, the presiding noble where I have made my home. At the same time, I am trying to gain power over a dominion of my own, and hope for that to come to fruition more quickly as a result of wealth and power gained through the course of adventuring.
I need to consult with Taylor about this. I want my goals (and indeed the goals of the other players, if any) to fit into the campaign structure which our DM envisions. I don't want to create a disruptive or abortive course of action if it would upset the flow...basically, I don't want to be the Halfling Outrider that was brought to The World's Largest Dungeon.
I need to reevaluate my spell list in this game.
I also want Chymond to discuss with the other characters (and I with their players) what their goals, and our goals as an adventuring group are.
This is normal stuff, true...but I always want to do the stuff in game and end up either forgetting, or not having time in-game to do this.
When I sat down to write this, there was more I had in mind to jot down, but it's since left me.
I'm sure it'll come to me later.
First, since I've missed some stuff here lately, I need to full appraisal of where we are and why we're there. The basics are known to me, but I want something a bit more solid to work with, as I try to fit my character's goals into everything we've done.
I play Chymond Veg, The Bronze Vassal. An extreme loyalist to the sovereignty of Lord Cain Gamble, the presiding noble where I have made my home. At the same time, I am trying to gain power over a dominion of my own, and hope for that to come to fruition more quickly as a result of wealth and power gained through the course of adventuring.
I need to consult with Taylor about this. I want my goals (and indeed the goals of the other players, if any) to fit into the campaign structure which our DM envisions. I don't want to create a disruptive or abortive course of action if it would upset the flow...basically, I don't want to be the Halfling Outrider that was brought to The World's Largest Dungeon.
I need to reevaluate my spell list in this game.
I also want Chymond to discuss with the other characters (and I with their players) what their goals, and our goals as an adventuring group are.
This is normal stuff, true...but I always want to do the stuff in game and end up either forgetting, or not having time in-game to do this.
When I sat down to write this, there was more I had in mind to jot down, but it's since left me.
I'm sure it'll come to me later.
3.12.2011
In Which I Balk at Another's Point...
Still reading through Wayne Rossi's great, but sadly not currently active, blog Semper Initiativus Unum, and I came across the following quotes from this post:
Now, I do realize I chopped the hell out of his post, but read the thing...I certainly didn't take it out of context.
I have no desire to call Mr. Rossi out on his opinions, or to flare up another battle in the long-fought "Edition Wars." but I do think there is quite a bit of disinformation in what was said regarding the newer editions of D&D. Take mind that I don't care to defend 4th Edition, but what I have to say on the matter is perhaps just as relevant to that system as it is to 3.x/Pathfinder.
In the above paraphrasing, Mr. Rossi seems to imply that only the older editions had elements that promoted exploration and the "bookkeeping" aspects of the game, such as how long light sources last, etc.
While yes, I understand that the point made in his post is that he feels the focus of the games have changed, as far as design is concerned...exploration, in Wayne's eyes, has been put on the back burner in favor of an encapsulating system that downplays the exploration aspect of the game, which in most old school gamer's minds is the key principle of the game, and brought to the fore more detailed combat rules, and so forth.
It's true that combat, character building and other aspects of the game did come to the front in 3rd edition, but it all stemmed as a natural rules progression from AD&D, in my opinion, and has little to no bearing how the game is actually played. Exploration and survival are still the keys of the game that I play, which I still gladly call Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm not so convinced that treasure and encounter generation weren't as, or even more, prevalent in older editions of the game. After all, the LBBs set forth that treasure was the key to advancement in the game, and that the guardians of said treasure were some of the primary obstacles to adventurers seeking it...even if sneaking past them was preferred.
My group tracks light, encumbrance, rations and water, we still run into random encounters and approach every door as if death itself waits behind it, and we explore the worlds laid out before us. Just because there are adventure paths out there doesn't mean that (even in the course of said path) players will stay on rails just because they play X system.
I guess my whole point is that it's fine to have opinions, and to have preferences, but one shouldn't disseminate misinformation, even if what is stated can be forgiven somewhat by ignorance on the subject at hand. These newer systems, while too crunchy for quite a few gamers out there, still have the ability to support a broad depth of play styles, even those adhering closely or paying homage to the "old school" way of play.
...[sic] The hidden-map game is not just one mode of play in D&D....
...characters have well defined movement rates, there are rules about the rate of exploration, opening doors, listening at doors, setting off traps, finding secret doors, running into wandering monsters. There are a number of internal timers built into the game, including the time needed to search, various upkeep items (rations, torches etc), the break every 6th turn, and of course random encounters...
...Later games branded as Dungeons & Dragons didn't have this; they subsumed the hidden-map game into a larger "game system."
...this simple set of mechanics was at the center of a very light game engine. Other systems were developed for things like fighting monsters, determining treasure, casting magic spells and so forth - but in the early days of gaming these were not front and center. This is sharply differentiated from 3rd and 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons. 3rd edition was not about exploring the hidden map to find what was on it (and whether you'd survive), as much as it was a character-building game in which the DM provided combat-based "challenges" to the carefully crafted PCs...
Now, I do realize I chopped the hell out of his post, but read the thing...I certainly didn't take it out of context.
I have no desire to call Mr. Rossi out on his opinions, or to flare up another battle in the long-fought "Edition Wars." but I do think there is quite a bit of disinformation in what was said regarding the newer editions of D&D. Take mind that I don't care to defend 4th Edition, but what I have to say on the matter is perhaps just as relevant to that system as it is to 3.x/Pathfinder.
In the above paraphrasing, Mr. Rossi seems to imply that only the older editions had elements that promoted exploration and the "bookkeeping" aspects of the game, such as how long light sources last, etc.
While yes, I understand that the point made in his post is that he feels the focus of the games have changed, as far as design is concerned...exploration, in Wayne's eyes, has been put on the back burner in favor of an encapsulating system that downplays the exploration aspect of the game, which in most old school gamer's minds is the key principle of the game, and brought to the fore more detailed combat rules, and so forth.
It's true that combat, character building and other aspects of the game did come to the front in 3rd edition, but it all stemmed as a natural rules progression from AD&D, in my opinion, and has little to no bearing how the game is actually played. Exploration and survival are still the keys of the game that I play, which I still gladly call Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm not so convinced that treasure and encounter generation weren't as, or even more, prevalent in older editions of the game. After all, the LBBs set forth that treasure was the key to advancement in the game, and that the guardians of said treasure were some of the primary obstacles to adventurers seeking it...even if sneaking past them was preferred.
My group tracks light, encumbrance, rations and water, we still run into random encounters and approach every door as if death itself waits behind it, and we explore the worlds laid out before us. Just because there are adventure paths out there doesn't mean that (even in the course of said path) players will stay on rails just because they play X system.
I guess my whole point is that it's fine to have opinions, and to have preferences, but one shouldn't disseminate misinformation, even if what is stated can be forgiven somewhat by ignorance on the subject at hand. These newer systems, while too crunchy for quite a few gamers out there, still have the ability to support a broad depth of play styles, even those adhering closely or paying homage to the "old school" way of play.
Ritual Spellcasting for Fun and Profit
This post over at Semper Intiativus Unum, while pertaining directly to older versions of D&D, seems to lay down a pretty good skeleton for what I want to accomplish in regards to my last post.
In it, Mr. Rossi puts forth being able to cast certain spells as rituals, which require quite a bit of time to cast, as well as material components of no meager amount.
Taking that skeleton, and the "basics" of the system presented there, let's see where we go with it...
I like this so far, as it's pretty simple and offers reward with some risk. I'm not sure what I want to do with the mishaps, but perhaps I'll use the Psychic Phenomena/Perils of the Warp tables in Dark Heresy as inspiration, and I'll probably look into the AD&D Tome of Magic's Wild Magic table.
More on that as it comes!
Edited 3/13/11 to change percentages of success and disturbance chart.
In it, Mr. Rossi puts forth being able to cast certain spells as rituals, which require quite a bit of time to cast, as well as material components of no meager amount.
Taking that skeleton, and the "basics" of the system presented there, let's see where we go with it...
Ritual Casting
Ritual Casting can be performed by any character with the time, resources, and courage to do so. As performing a ritual isn't the same thing as casting a spell, there is the risk of the magics going awry, failing completely, or drawing the attention of some outside force.
- Casters may cast any eligible spell that they could normally memorize, as a ritual, without memorizing the spell. No list will be given, but obviously, no combat spells may be cast in this manner, and all other spells will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
- Rituals take 1 minute to cast plus 1 minute per level of the spell being cast. If the spell the ritual is meant to emulate has a casting time of a minute or more, add this to the casting, in addition. Any interruption in the casting disturbs the spell and it cannot be cast again in the same day. (And possibly has mishaps.)
- Casting a ritual spell requires any given material components listed for the actual spell being emulated, as well as an appropriate offering/sacrifice, that could include blood, living or dead creatures, material possessions, etc. This offering will be decided by the player, and if not sufficient, may result in the ritual failing, or a mishap of some type.
- Any spell may only be cast as a ritual once per week, and characters may not in any case cast more than 3 ritual spells in one week, or more than one per day. However, if a player should want, they can push these limits, with a greater chance of mishaps and failure with each ritual casting.
- When casting a ritual, any character able to cast spells must expend a spell slot of a level equal to the spell being emulated in the ritual. Those performing a ritual who are not spellcasters, or who do not have spells of the required level, will be Fatigued for a number of minutes equal to the level of the spell emulated. In all cases, the caster of a ritual will be Dazed for a number of rounds equal to the emulated spell's level upon completion of the ritual.
In all instances, a ritual has a chance of failure. The base chance of success when performing a ritual is 30%, modified by the following:
+2% per character level
+5% if the spell emulated is on your class' spell list
+5% if the character performing the ritual is a caster of any type
+5% if the character performing the ritual is an Oracle, Sorceror, Warlock, or Witch
-15% per ritual cast over the 3/week limit
-15% per ritual cast over the 1/day limit
-25% for each ritual in a week emulating the same spell as a previous one in the week.
If a ritual success roll is failed by 25% or more, a mishap occurs. I don't have anything for this as of yet, but I want them to be colorful (and in some cases, very dangerous,) as the ritual performer is trying to skirt the foundations of magic...which, unless formalized by proper spellcasting is a very chaotic force.
Also, if a ritual is disturbed during casting, roll d% and consult the following table:
1-50: Nothing happens, and the ritual fails. The offering cannot be used again for another ritual.
51-78: The ritual fails and the energies powering the ritual are released with unpredictable results. This is left up to the DM, but defaults to 1d6 damage per level of the emulated spell to the caster and all within 5' per level of the emulated spell.
79-94: The ritual fails, and the caster must roll on the mishap table.
95-98: The ritual is completed, but the results are left to the DM. Roll on the mishap table.
99: The ritual has garnered the attention of some powerful force, be it an ancient evil, a god, or another extraplanar entity.
100: DM's Choice (though it should be exceptional)
Due to the nature of their connections to outside forces beyond normal ken, Oracles, Warlocks, Witches, and Sorcerors all add +5% to the above table and the mishap table.
I like this so far, as it's pretty simple and offers reward with some risk. I'm not sure what I want to do with the mishaps, but perhaps I'll use the Psychic Phenomena/Perils of the Warp tables in Dark Heresy as inspiration, and I'll probably look into the AD&D Tome of Magic's Wild Magic table.
More on that as it comes!
Edited 3/13/11 to change percentages of success and disturbance chart.
I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends...
As mentioned in the previous post, tonight we played my Pathfinder Wilderlands game, and the group was debating more about entering the temple/how to approach it.
During this exchange, at a point when everyone was analyzing their reasonings for going in, Taylor announced that Borash was going to pray to Gorum to see if an attack on the temple and it's outer guardians (Lizardfolk and Khumat) would be fruitful.
As Borash is played as a combat cleric, I knew that Taylor didn't have any divination spells other than orisons memorized, and also that he didn't have any open spell slots which he could fill on the fly, so I "Said Yes," which in this instance meant that I let him drop a 2nd level spell slot to cast Augury, which gives the caster an insight into the outcome of one event, giving the possible answers of Weal, Woe, Weal and Woe, or no answer at all.
I liked the decision, Taylor was in, and dropped one of Borash's memorized spells, and ended up with the outcome Weal and Woe, and was happy with the result, as it was pretty much as he figured.
I know from experience that Divination spells can seriously start to put a cramp on a campaign, but in this instance, I saw no harm in letting him seek guidance from his deity, and I would definitely be open to more situations that might crop up on the fly like this, where I hand the players a freebie just because.
Now, I don't want it being abused, and the potential is there. Let's say I want to include this in my games as something that can be accomplished with semi-regularity, at the least. How do I approach it mechanically? I made Taylor drop one of Borash's 2nd level spells...should I also knock out a Channel Energy? A number of Channel Energys egual to spell level? It's definitely stuff to think about.
Also, I want something similar to be within reach of all classes, not just clerics. Let's say Steve wants Jadazh to seek the advice of Asmodeus (or, more likely, one of his servants,) how would he go about this? Draw up a contract written in blood stating the terms of use of the information? What if David wants to have Chas seek the secrets to a particular door out in the forest, or insight into the manufacture of the definitive pattern of a plate harness...what then?
The mechanic doesn't need to punish or tax the PCs too much, because I want to keep the effects minor, and who knows, I might never allow it again, or keep it as an on-the-fly thing with no mechanics. I'm just brainstorming at this point.
If anyone has any ideas, feel free to comment.
During this exchange, at a point when everyone was analyzing their reasonings for going in, Taylor announced that Borash was going to pray to Gorum to see if an attack on the temple and it's outer guardians (Lizardfolk and Khumat) would be fruitful.
As Borash is played as a combat cleric, I knew that Taylor didn't have any divination spells other than orisons memorized, and also that he didn't have any open spell slots which he could fill on the fly, so I "Said Yes," which in this instance meant that I let him drop a 2nd level spell slot to cast Augury, which gives the caster an insight into the outcome of one event, giving the possible answers of Weal, Woe, Weal and Woe, or no answer at all.
I liked the decision, Taylor was in, and dropped one of Borash's memorized spells, and ended up with the outcome Weal and Woe, and was happy with the result, as it was pretty much as he figured.
I know from experience that Divination spells can seriously start to put a cramp on a campaign, but in this instance, I saw no harm in letting him seek guidance from his deity, and I would definitely be open to more situations that might crop up on the fly like this, where I hand the players a freebie just because.
Now, I don't want it being abused, and the potential is there. Let's say I want to include this in my games as something that can be accomplished with semi-regularity, at the least. How do I approach it mechanically? I made Taylor drop one of Borash's 2nd level spells...should I also knock out a Channel Energy? A number of Channel Energys egual to spell level? It's definitely stuff to think about.
Also, I want something similar to be within reach of all classes, not just clerics. Let's say Steve wants Jadazh to seek the advice of Asmodeus (or, more likely, one of his servants,) how would he go about this? Draw up a contract written in blood stating the terms of use of the information? What if David wants to have Chas seek the secrets to a particular door out in the forest, or insight into the manufacture of the definitive pattern of a plate harness...what then?
The mechanic doesn't need to punish or tax the PCs too much, because I want to keep the effects minor, and who knows, I might never allow it again, or keep it as an on-the-fly thing with no mechanics. I'm just brainstorming at this point.
If anyone has any ideas, feel free to comment.
Trying to Tackle the Temple
And so, after about an hour's more deliberation and Chas taking leave of the party for the sake of survivability, with some harsh words before the parting, the group decided that it was do or die, and pretty much just charged at the Lizardfolk village surrounding the temple.
Since Borash was shouting, the Lizardfolk and Khumats were ready and the outsiders were able to meet the group half-way, while the slower humanoids closed the gap in a couple of rounds.
Combat was pretty fast-paced, with one Khumat being sent back wither it came with a Dismissal from Seyji in round 1, and Jadazh taking out another in the 2nd round with help from the crit charts we use. That left one Khumat and a small horde of 27 Lizardfolk against the PC's band, numbering 21 total.
In the following rounds, both sides saw losses with a few of the hired hands; human, orc, and gnoll alike dying to blows from macahuitls and the vicious bites of the Khumats. Lizardfolk bodies began to pile up, but the attack was relentless, with neither side ceding any ground. In fact, the Lizardfolk fought with what seemed a death wish, even as their numbers lowered.
Though surrounded and taking heavy damage, the lone Khumat was able to drop Etuné, but not kill her, leaving her laying bleeding in the mire until a Lizardfolk took the opportunity to finish her off. Shortly thereafter, Seyji was slain by a devastating bite from the extraplanar beast.
In the end, only the PC group and their hirelings and companions were still standing, hobbling off away from the temple into the swamp to lick wounds and prepare for entering the temple proper, where who knows what menaces lurk...
Current Cast of Characters
Chas DeLong, Male Human Fighter 5 - David B.
Jadazh Gr'tea, Male Human Duskblade 5 - Steve C.
Borash, Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum 4 - Taylor
Etune Yamara, Female Halfling Monk 4 - Angela Deceased
Seyji Upsul, Male Human Cleric of Tharizdun 9 - NPC Deceased
"Union", Female Human Marshal 5 - NPC
Gexzrit, Male Bugbear Alchemist 4 - NPC
Brakish, Male Gnoll Fighter 1 - NPC
Grahyip, Male Gnoll Fighter 4 - NPC
2 x Gnoll Warrior 1 - David B. controlled
3 x Human Warrior 1 - Steve C. controlled
3 x Orc Warrior 1 - Taylor controlled
Since Borash was shouting, the Lizardfolk and Khumats were ready and the outsiders were able to meet the group half-way, while the slower humanoids closed the gap in a couple of rounds.
Combat was pretty fast-paced, with one Khumat being sent back wither it came with a Dismissal from Seyji in round 1, and Jadazh taking out another in the 2nd round with help from the crit charts we use. That left one Khumat and a small horde of 27 Lizardfolk against the PC's band, numbering 21 total.
In the following rounds, both sides saw losses with a few of the hired hands; human, orc, and gnoll alike dying to blows from macahuitls and the vicious bites of the Khumats. Lizardfolk bodies began to pile up, but the attack was relentless, with neither side ceding any ground. In fact, the Lizardfolk fought with what seemed a death wish, even as their numbers lowered.
Though surrounded and taking heavy damage, the lone Khumat was able to drop Etuné, but not kill her, leaving her laying bleeding in the mire until a Lizardfolk took the opportunity to finish her off. Shortly thereafter, Seyji was slain by a devastating bite from the extraplanar beast.
In the end, only the PC group and their hirelings and companions were still standing, hobbling off away from the temple into the swamp to lick wounds and prepare for entering the temple proper, where who knows what menaces lurk...
Current Cast of Characters
Chas DeLong, Male Human Fighter 5 - David B.
Jadazh Gr'tea, Male Human Duskblade 5 - Steve C.
Borash, Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum 4 - Taylor
Etune Yamara, Female Halfling Monk 4 - Angela Deceased
Seyji Upsul, Male Human Cleric of Tharizdun 9 - NPC Deceased
"Union", Female Human Marshal 5 - NPC
Gexzrit, Male Bugbear Alchemist 4 - NPC
Brakish, Male Gnoll Fighter 1 - NPC
Grahyip, Male Gnoll Fighter 4 - NPC
2 x Gnoll Warrior 1 - David B. controlled
3 x Human Warrior 1 - Steve C. controlled
3 x Orc Warrior 1 - Taylor controlled
3.11.2011
Combat Sans Battlemat and Intricacies of Simplification
Yeah! That sounds like the title of someone's thesis or something, but this post won't be as dry as the title suggests...
As stated in the title, I've been running combat without a battlemat in my Wilderlands campaign. I chose to do this for multiple reasons, the least of which being that it eases play for me. Without the map present, I'm able to make quick judgment calls on flanking, difficult terrain, distances, etc..
This makes combat quite a bit faster than it normally would be, since nobody really has to count squares, move their mini, recount for distance to get modifiers to range, and so forth. Any questions can be asked on the fly, and everyone at the table is intelligent enough to make adjustments and ask for more detail, if needed. There is also the fact that I don't have to draw a map, which I think is one of the biggest problems that miniature/tactical combat has when it comes to time.
In our experience so far, there have been only minor hiccups as the players (who are used to battlemats) adjust to having to imagine their combat areas and remember conditions of the field, and not have a quick reference to look at. It's running fairly smoothly and we're able to fit more into our game sessions because of it.
In any case where I can make simplifications, I certainly try, and I've taken to heart the mantra of "Say Yes or roll the dice," that has been prevalent in what used to be the OSR.
Do I think that Pathfinder, as a whole, is a simpler system-fix than 3.5 was to 3rd? No, but there is quite a bit of streamlining that I can work with to make the actual mechanical elements of gameplay cause as little friction to the flow of the game as possible.
I, admittedly, don't have anything solid to add to that, because right now, I'm learning, too. I'm considering the changes Paizo has made, taking in all the fascinating rules that are out there in the blogosphere, talking with anyone I can about my game, and even looking at non-Pathfinder/3.x games and systems to see what I can use to make my game easier.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want a simpler rules system. If I wanted something simpler, I think I'd be running Labyrinth Lord or Moldvay Basic (since it's what I own...I'm told Mentzer's edit is better, but *shrugs*.) It's nothing like that. I love 3.x, and what Pathfinder has done with it. I like the complexity of rules that it offers, and the customization I can achieve with it. Nobody can convince me of system dominance at this point.
No, what I want is to perhaps tweak what rules I do use to create just a little more transparency. More on this to come, but I have some prep to do right now, as tonight I run my Wilderlands!
As stated in the title, I've been running combat without a battlemat in my Wilderlands campaign. I chose to do this for multiple reasons, the least of which being that it eases play for me. Without the map present, I'm able to make quick judgment calls on flanking, difficult terrain, distances, etc..
This makes combat quite a bit faster than it normally would be, since nobody really has to count squares, move their mini, recount for distance to get modifiers to range, and so forth. Any questions can be asked on the fly, and everyone at the table is intelligent enough to make adjustments and ask for more detail, if needed. There is also the fact that I don't have to draw a map, which I think is one of the biggest problems that miniature/tactical combat has when it comes to time.
In our experience so far, there have been only minor hiccups as the players (who are used to battlemats) adjust to having to imagine their combat areas and remember conditions of the field, and not have a quick reference to look at. It's running fairly smoothly and we're able to fit more into our game sessions because of it.
In any case where I can make simplifications, I certainly try, and I've taken to heart the mantra of "Say Yes or roll the dice," that has been prevalent in what used to be the OSR.
Do I think that Pathfinder, as a whole, is a simpler system-fix than 3.5 was to 3rd? No, but there is quite a bit of streamlining that I can work with to make the actual mechanical elements of gameplay cause as little friction to the flow of the game as possible.
I, admittedly, don't have anything solid to add to that, because right now, I'm learning, too. I'm considering the changes Paizo has made, taking in all the fascinating rules that are out there in the blogosphere, talking with anyone I can about my game, and even looking at non-Pathfinder/3.x games and systems to see what I can use to make my game easier.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want a simpler rules system. If I wanted something simpler, I think I'd be running Labyrinth Lord or Moldvay Basic (since it's what I own...I'm told Mentzer's edit is better, but *shrugs*.) It's nothing like that. I love 3.x, and what Pathfinder has done with it. I like the complexity of rules that it offers, and the customization I can achieve with it. Nobody can convince me of system dominance at this point.
No, what I want is to perhaps tweak what rules I do use to create just a little more transparency. More on this to come, but I have some prep to do right now, as tonight I run my Wilderlands!
3.10.2011
Planning the Assault of the Temple...
So, it's been almost a week since the group gathered for the last session, but gather we did on Sunday and the original plan was to tackle the abandoned (by worshipers, at least) temple of Tharizdun.
Sadly, that didn't happen. What did happen was alot of deliberation and planning as to how to tackle the assault. The temple itself sits within a swamp, and the perimeter is crowded by a lizardfolk village. At least two score lizardfolk, at best estimate, live in this village, and they are known to be aided there by 3 khumat (crocodilian outsiders, see the Miniatures Handbook.)
Add to that, the threat of giants that are known to be in the area (and to have traffic in and out of the complex,) and "norkers," which is another word for goblin, according to a traveling companion.
This breeds much caution. Nobody wants to go in unprepared, or without backup plans, etc, but it really bogged the session down, and we didn't accomplish much of anything except debate and planning in the session.
Since David will be out of town on Sunday, Taylor and I swapped days so that everyone could participate in the next session, meaning that (hopefully) something will happen tomorrow night, when the players plan to take the fight to the temple inhabitants!
Sadly, that didn't happen. What did happen was alot of deliberation and planning as to how to tackle the assault. The temple itself sits within a swamp, and the perimeter is crowded by a lizardfolk village. At least two score lizardfolk, at best estimate, live in this village, and they are known to be aided there by 3 khumat (crocodilian outsiders, see the Miniatures Handbook.)
Add to that, the threat of giants that are known to be in the area (and to have traffic in and out of the complex,) and "norkers," which is another word for goblin, according to a traveling companion.
This breeds much caution. Nobody wants to go in unprepared, or without backup plans, etc, but it really bogged the session down, and we didn't accomplish much of anything except debate and planning in the session.
Since David will be out of town on Sunday, Taylor and I swapped days so that everyone could participate in the next session, meaning that (hopefully) something will happen tomorrow night, when the players plan to take the fight to the temple inhabitants!
3.06.2011
Celebrating GM's Day
I know that GM's Day, or whatever they want to call it now, takes place on the 4th, the anniversary of Gary Gygax's death, but this year, my game group and I are celebrating it today, the 6th, when (I'm assuming here) my players in the Wilderlands game will finally enter The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, which I shoe-horned into the campaign.
The module was written by Gary and published by TSR just one year after I was born, in 1982, and it looks to be a blast. I personally can't wait to see how my players tackle a classic dungeon (the first TSR or Gygax product any of them have been through,) and I hope we can channel some of the old school feel tonight.
Should be a good game, at any rate, as I always enjoy this campaign.
The module was written by Gary and published by TSR just one year after I was born, in 1982, and it looks to be a blast. I personally can't wait to see how my players tackle a classic dungeon (the first TSR or Gygax product any of them have been through,) and I hope we can channel some of the old school feel tonight.
Should be a good game, at any rate, as I always enjoy this campaign.
Organization and Navigation
I took the time last night and this morning to go through and add labels/tags for every post I've written on the blog. I tried to keep them as condensed as possible, using as few keywords as I could. I know this doesn't help as much as detailed tags would, but if you remember the gist of the post, you can then at least narrow it.
I also took the time to remove every instance of spam from the comments.
You can see the tags at the bottom of the left-hand navigation bars, arranged from most popular to least.
I also took the time to remove every instance of spam from the comments.
You can see the tags at the bottom of the left-hand navigation bars, arranged from most popular to least.
3.05.2011
AP Taylor's Homebrew
Last night, Taylor ran another session of his homebrew that he's been running for a while now, and I believe at the end of the session, we all leveled. Woo level 7 Cleric!
Due to some misses recently, I'm not entirely sure what has happened up to the point I jumped back in last night, as David hits me with the highlights, and they aren't organized for me in any context in my head...
When we picked up last night, however, we were in a sprawling cavern complex near a campsite, and the rest of the party had dispatched a human tainted with what we surmised was fiendish blood.
We knew a temple had been rediscovered in this area of the caves, and we pressed on, hoping to stop whoever the half-fiend was working with, as it was likely (in our minds) that they had corrupted the temple and were doing who-knows-what kind of dastardly stuff therein!
After quite a bit of searching, we came upon a group that seemed to be either guarding an area or excavating rock, perhaps both. Since I'm not sneaky, they heard us coming and a melee ensued, with David's Kobold Wizard ending it fairly quickly with a Fireball spell, dropped right on top of us and the baddies, which had turned out to be more fiendish men.
Fearing the worst when we started surmising their numbers, we made haste deeper into the tunnels, making it to a maze, which I navigated with Angela marking off any areas where we might need to backtrack, making it eventually to a set of double doors, which we threw open after deciding there was no trap waiting for us.
Inside was a sight that made us all blanch...a huge demon crucified upon the wall with magical pinions (a balor) with many "congregants" in pews facing it, and a cloaked man at an altar before the balor, which has a cauldron catching the blood of the demon.
Here, another fight broke out, us versus the cultists, who were all also fiend-tainted men. We dispatched them fairly quickly, but now we are sat in the chapel, wondering what to do about this demon hung on the wall, his blood, the desecrated temple, and where to go from here in general.
Pretty fun evening, even if I was dead tired at the end (waking up at 5am had taken its toll)
I think we all were at a point that we could level, except David, who has the most xp in the game.
That puts us with David's Kobold Wizard 7, Angela's Drow Warlock 5, Steve's Human Rogue 7, and my Dwarf Cleric 7.
Good stuff! More to come on this game.
Due to some misses recently, I'm not entirely sure what has happened up to the point I jumped back in last night, as David hits me with the highlights, and they aren't organized for me in any context in my head...
When we picked up last night, however, we were in a sprawling cavern complex near a campsite, and the rest of the party had dispatched a human tainted with what we surmised was fiendish blood.
We knew a temple had been rediscovered in this area of the caves, and we pressed on, hoping to stop whoever the half-fiend was working with, as it was likely (in our minds) that they had corrupted the temple and were doing who-knows-what kind of dastardly stuff therein!
After quite a bit of searching, we came upon a group that seemed to be either guarding an area or excavating rock, perhaps both. Since I'm not sneaky, they heard us coming and a melee ensued, with David's Kobold Wizard ending it fairly quickly with a Fireball spell, dropped right on top of us and the baddies, which had turned out to be more fiendish men.
Fearing the worst when we started surmising their numbers, we made haste deeper into the tunnels, making it to a maze, which I navigated with Angela marking off any areas where we might need to backtrack, making it eventually to a set of double doors, which we threw open after deciding there was no trap waiting for us.
Inside was a sight that made us all blanch...a huge demon crucified upon the wall with magical pinions (a balor) with many "congregants" in pews facing it, and a cloaked man at an altar before the balor, which has a cauldron catching the blood of the demon.
Here, another fight broke out, us versus the cultists, who were all also fiend-tainted men. We dispatched them fairly quickly, but now we are sat in the chapel, wondering what to do about this demon hung on the wall, his blood, the desecrated temple, and where to go from here in general.
Pretty fun evening, even if I was dead tired at the end (waking up at 5am had taken its toll)
I think we all were at a point that we could level, except David, who has the most xp in the game.
That puts us with David's Kobold Wizard 7, Angela's Drow Warlock 5, Steve's Human Rogue 7, and my Dwarf Cleric 7.
Good stuff! More to come on this game.
More on Race and the Campaign
Thinking more on my last post, and more specifically about its context in my Wilderlands game, it occurred to me that the more likely reason that the presence of the Gnolls and Lizardfolk is tolerated is because where Bugbear Falls is located is pretty isolated, and the "monstrous" races have goods that the (primarily) human settlements need, as well as the might and intimidation factors to keep things cool when they come to town. Nobody wants to piss off a whole tribe of half-crazed hyena men that are rumored to worship demons, after all.
I think intimidation, and likely ignorance, is a powerful factor here. The human societies might not necessarily know much about their humanoid neighbors, but what they have heard - the stories that arise from twisted cautionary tales, or even second-hand tales of battles - color how they interact with them. So then, it becomes more a matter of fear. That's interesting to me for a couple of reasons...
Primarily because you might then see merchants give better prices to these "monsters" because they're afraid that charging normal prices might offend them, or they might get better quality goods or heartier portions. Tensions might increase, but never erupt toward the Gnolls or whatever race happens to be around, because "Their whole tribe will rise up!" or whatever other fearful reason might be given. This could make citizens hostile toward other citizens or the local government for inaction.
On the flip side, you have this Lizardman who doesn't know why he's getting pretty okay treatment. He might feel the tension...see the body language of the humans and know that they don't really like him around, but then be confused when his cut of pork is half again the size of everyone else's, or his shield seems sturdier. This could even lead to a sense of entitlement, which might then cause fractured relations with the humans once everyone is used to each other and the preferential treatment stops.
I find it all somewhat amusing, as social interactions are something that interest me, anyway. More to think on as I build my game further, at any rate, and more that I can share with anyone keeping up at home.
I think intimidation, and likely ignorance, is a powerful factor here. The human societies might not necessarily know much about their humanoid neighbors, but what they have heard - the stories that arise from twisted cautionary tales, or even second-hand tales of battles - color how they interact with them. So then, it becomes more a matter of fear. That's interesting to me for a couple of reasons...
Primarily because you might then see merchants give better prices to these "monsters" because they're afraid that charging normal prices might offend them, or they might get better quality goods or heartier portions. Tensions might increase, but never erupt toward the Gnolls or whatever race happens to be around, because "Their whole tribe will rise up!" or whatever other fearful reason might be given. This could make citizens hostile toward other citizens or the local government for inaction.
On the flip side, you have this Lizardman who doesn't know why he's getting pretty okay treatment. He might feel the tension...see the body language of the humans and know that they don't really like him around, but then be confused when his cut of pork is half again the size of everyone else's, or his shield seems sturdier. This could even lead to a sense of entitlement, which might then cause fractured relations with the humans once everyone is used to each other and the preferential treatment stops.
I find it all somewhat amusing, as social interactions are something that interest me, anyway. More to think on as I build my game further, at any rate, and more that I can share with anyone keeping up at home.
3.03.2011
We Don't Serve Your Kind Around Here...
As we continue further into Taylor's homebrew and my Wilderlands campaign, the thought of monsters as PCs or major NPCs has been on my mind more and more.
While I understand that in many games a monster is a monster is a monster, I also see demographics in some supplements stating that one or two types will also inhabit this or that village, making me also wonder if, perhaps, there isn't a share of acceptance for X type of "monster" in the area.
In Taylor's game, David plays a Kobold character, and we see no problems working our way through polite society with him ever-present. This can be viewed as both player convenience, allowing David to play what he wants, and colors the world view of certain "monsters," hinting that perhaps Kobolds are at least somewhat common in day to day life.
Likewise, the party was given more than a few hard looks, but not much else, when Brakish, a Gnoll warrior that had attached himself to the group went traipsing through the town with the PCs in the Pathfinder game. Gnolls, insofar as I imagine them in my game, as well as Lizardfolk, are known more for neutrality in human affairs than wrecking people's stuff/raiding/whatever.
Will this always be the case in either of the games? Absolutely not. Different places have different overall attitudes. What is cool in Bugbear Falls or Cale may not be cool in the next dale over. Gnolls may have caused a plague or famine, or Kobolds may run away in the night with elf babies. It adds color to the game to have a diversity that mimics real life.
I'm reminded of one of my very first characters, who knowingly risked his life (and lost it) by simply entering a town that had a long history of orc raids. Being a Half-Orc, maybe I should have thought better. I was cornered and beaten to death in that town, shortly after having joined the game. This sounds harsh, but the DM at the time did it properly, by presenting the dangers beforehand. Telling me that his world is brutal and real, and foreshadowing consequence and the harsh laws within.
Intolerance is a real issue, and no doubt one that most groups would like not to handle, but I like to think that my players are adult enough to understand that there will be racism and other forms of intolerance in the campaign world...after all, triumph over adversity is part of the heroics of the game!
While I understand that in many games a monster is a monster is a monster, I also see demographics in some supplements stating that one or two types will also inhabit this or that village, making me also wonder if, perhaps, there isn't a share of acceptance for X type of "monster" in the area.
In Taylor's game, David plays a Kobold character, and we see no problems working our way through polite society with him ever-present. This can be viewed as both player convenience, allowing David to play what he wants, and colors the world view of certain "monsters," hinting that perhaps Kobolds are at least somewhat common in day to day life.
Likewise, the party was given more than a few hard looks, but not much else, when Brakish, a Gnoll warrior that had attached himself to the group went traipsing through the town with the PCs in the Pathfinder game. Gnolls, insofar as I imagine them in my game, as well as Lizardfolk, are known more for neutrality in human affairs than wrecking people's stuff/raiding/whatever.
Will this always be the case in either of the games? Absolutely not. Different places have different overall attitudes. What is cool in Bugbear Falls or Cale may not be cool in the next dale over. Gnolls may have caused a plague or famine, or Kobolds may run away in the night with elf babies. It adds color to the game to have a diversity that mimics real life.
I'm reminded of one of my very first characters, who knowingly risked his life (and lost it) by simply entering a town that had a long history of orc raids. Being a Half-Orc, maybe I should have thought better. I was cornered and beaten to death in that town, shortly after having joined the game. This sounds harsh, but the DM at the time did it properly, by presenting the dangers beforehand. Telling me that his world is brutal and real, and foreshadowing consequence and the harsh laws within.
Intolerance is a real issue, and no doubt one that most groups would like not to handle, but I like to think that my players are adult enough to understand that there will be racism and other forms of intolerance in the campaign world...after all, triumph over adversity is part of the heroics of the game!
3.01.2011
Deities in My Wilderlands
I've given a glimpse into the jumble of religions I'm including in my Wilderlands campaign, and it might seem an odd mess, with known fiends as acting gods, Greyhawk deities, etc., but it's coming together organically, and it's much easier to just let them drift in, as I've been doing, than having to keep track of (in some cases) hundreds of established gods.
Like everything else in the campaign, I'm trying to let religion come about organically. My first cues were letting the PCs pick their deities, telling them that religion was open as far as their characters go, and since we were using the Pathfinder core book for character creation, Steve and Taylor went with gods listed in there from Paizo's Golarion campaign setting: Gorum and Asmodeus.
The first two deities in my game were decided then, and Angela followed suit after we started talking about her character, and selected Iomedae, bringing the Golarion gods to 3, 4 with Chris' worshipper of Zon-Kuthon. Paul's athiest, John's animist, and David's self-worshipper rounded out the party.
Through the course of the game, there has been mention of Thor, Baldur, Armadad Bog, and Shang Ta, and the PCs have met clerics of Huan Ti, Tharizdun, and Modron. This keeps divine spellcasting on a smaller scale, and much more "respectable," as you can't always run to a cleric and expect healing, etc. I think it has changed the dynamic of the game slightly that the PCs don't see a caster on every corner. I'm liking sprinkling in religion, and I think more focus can be put on the various practices and ethos when done as I'm doing it.
Again, I'm not patting my own back. There is nothing revolutionary here, just sharing my thoughts on one aspect of my game, how I implement it, and how I feel it helps set the overall tone.
Like everything else in the campaign, I'm trying to let religion come about organically. My first cues were letting the PCs pick their deities, telling them that religion was open as far as their characters go, and since we were using the Pathfinder core book for character creation, Steve and Taylor went with gods listed in there from Paizo's Golarion campaign setting: Gorum and Asmodeus.
The first two deities in my game were decided then, and Angela followed suit after we started talking about her character, and selected Iomedae, bringing the Golarion gods to 3, 4 with Chris' worshipper of Zon-Kuthon. Paul's athiest, John's animist, and David's self-worshipper rounded out the party.
Through the course of the game, there has been mention of Thor, Baldur, Armadad Bog, and Shang Ta, and the PCs have met clerics of Huan Ti, Tharizdun, and Modron. This keeps divine spellcasting on a smaller scale, and much more "respectable," as you can't always run to a cleric and expect healing, etc. I think it has changed the dynamic of the game slightly that the PCs don't see a caster on every corner. I'm liking sprinkling in religion, and I think more focus can be put on the various practices and ethos when done as I'm doing it.
Again, I'm not patting my own back. There is nothing revolutionary here, just sharing my thoughts on one aspect of my game, how I implement it, and how I feel it helps set the overall tone.
2.28.2011
Giving Steve A Fair Shake
Sounds dirty!
I wanted to touch on something else that happened last Wilderlands session, where I think there was a bit more miscommunication, and it was all on my end, and I wanted to clear it up and apologize to Steve openly.
During the exchange with the Bog Giants, Steve declared that one of his hirelings was going to try to get the monster's attention so his comrades could get away, and sacrifice himself in the process. I didn't have a problem with that...the noble self-sacrifice of a person so that the many may live is just good storytelling.
The thing I did have issue with is that Steve picked the poor schmuck that was unlucky enough to have 2 starting hp. True, this guy's down for the count in one hit from most things, but Steve chose the guy simply for his hp total, and could give me no other reason...then in frustration rolled randomly and got the dude with the highest, who subsequently did die.
I didn't want to force Steve to choose another hireling, I wanted to force a roleplay reason for the puny guy to be chosen, not a gamist reason. This was selfish of me, I admit, but I'm trying to also teach better roleplay through actions.
The way I was looking at it, Steve could have said "this guy does it because he feels he's the weakest," or "the other hirelings plead with him, knowing that he'll eventually slow them down at times, anyway," or even "I order him to stand his ground to make good the escape of the others." Jadazh is a staunch follower of Asmodeus, after all, and part of the wording of his hireling's agreement is "until the end of our lives," with no clause explaining HOW they have to die.
That's all I wanted in the game. Didn't mean for it to become a "deal," though...in hindsight, I was saying the wrong things to make my point. So, sorry Steve! Now you know what I meant.
Have a great night, everyone.
I wanted to touch on something else that happened last Wilderlands session, where I think there was a bit more miscommunication, and it was all on my end, and I wanted to clear it up and apologize to Steve openly.
During the exchange with the Bog Giants, Steve declared that one of his hirelings was going to try to get the monster's attention so his comrades could get away, and sacrifice himself in the process. I didn't have a problem with that...the noble self-sacrifice of a person so that the many may live is just good storytelling.
The thing I did have issue with is that Steve picked the poor schmuck that was unlucky enough to have 2 starting hp. True, this guy's down for the count in one hit from most things, but Steve chose the guy simply for his hp total, and could give me no other reason...then in frustration rolled randomly and got the dude with the highest, who subsequently did die.
I didn't want to force Steve to choose another hireling, I wanted to force a roleplay reason for the puny guy to be chosen, not a gamist reason. This was selfish of me, I admit, but I'm trying to also teach better roleplay through actions.
The way I was looking at it, Steve could have said "this guy does it because he feels he's the weakest," or "the other hirelings plead with him, knowing that he'll eventually slow them down at times, anyway," or even "I order him to stand his ground to make good the escape of the others." Jadazh is a staunch follower of Asmodeus, after all, and part of the wording of his hireling's agreement is "until the end of our lives," with no clause explaining HOW they have to die.
That's all I wanted in the game. Didn't mean for it to become a "deal," though...in hindsight, I was saying the wrong things to make my point. So, sorry Steve! Now you know what I meant.
Have a great night, everyone.
2.27.2011
A Few More Things on My Current Game...
A few things popped into my mind as I was reading back over my two previous posts, and I thought I might as well hit them real quick in a post, as well.
First is something that happened last session. A slight misunderstanding that could have ended much worse than it did.
When the Bog Giants began their attack by hurling stones, it was communicated to me that everyone began paddling their rafts "towards shore." Those are the words that were told to me repeatedly, not "towards the opposite shore," simply towards shore.
Since this was first communicated to me by Taylor, I assumed "towards the fight," because that's normally how he plays Borash. When David and Steve both gave me similar calls on their rafts, I also assumed that the party was going to try to rout this small group of giants. Things didn't quite work out that way...
There wasn't a tpk or anything, but I still wonder why, after the fact, everyone seemed somewhat harsh about the judgement call. They still had opportunity to run away, obviously, and they didn't stand and fight longer than they knew they could, so I really don't know what to say.
I made the joking comment that if things are left vague, I will rule in my favor. That isn't true, but I will rule in what way I feel best encompasses what the party would do. I don't feel I unnecessarily placed the characters at risk in context of that judgement. That's why being concise pays off in D&D.
Anyway, it seemed to make some people grumpy. I felt I made the right call given the information I was given.
Also, I wanted to mention that the "Keep" has a name, but almost no one who lives in or travels to the area uses it, instead calling the place "The Falls" or "Bugbear Falls" after a nearby landmark, a waterfall - surprise, surprise!
Soon, I'll be talking about house rules I use/plan to adopt in the Wilderlands campaign, some of the reasons I've decided to put options on the chopping block, the restrictions of magic item bloat, as well as talking some about Taylor's ongoing homebrew in which I play, and possibly some non-D&D stuff. Who knows!
First is something that happened last session. A slight misunderstanding that could have ended much worse than it did.
When the Bog Giants began their attack by hurling stones, it was communicated to me that everyone began paddling their rafts "towards shore." Those are the words that were told to me repeatedly, not "towards the opposite shore," simply towards shore.
Since this was first communicated to me by Taylor, I assumed "towards the fight," because that's normally how he plays Borash. When David and Steve both gave me similar calls on their rafts, I also assumed that the party was going to try to rout this small group of giants. Things didn't quite work out that way...
There wasn't a tpk or anything, but I still wonder why, after the fact, everyone seemed somewhat harsh about the judgement call. They still had opportunity to run away, obviously, and they didn't stand and fight longer than they knew they could, so I really don't know what to say.
I made the joking comment that if things are left vague, I will rule in my favor. That isn't true, but I will rule in what way I feel best encompasses what the party would do. I don't feel I unnecessarily placed the characters at risk in context of that judgement. That's why being concise pays off in D&D.
Anyway, it seemed to make some people grumpy. I felt I made the right call given the information I was given.
Also, I wanted to mention that the "Keep" has a name, but almost no one who lives in or travels to the area uses it, instead calling the place "The Falls" or "Bugbear Falls" after a nearby landmark, a waterfall - surprise, surprise!
Soon, I'll be talking about house rules I use/plan to adopt in the Wilderlands campaign, some of the reasons I've decided to put options on the chopping block, the restrictions of magic item bloat, as well as talking some about Taylor's ongoing homebrew in which I play, and possibly some non-D&D stuff. Who knows!
2.26.2011
Trials and Tribulations in Thygamus..or is it Lyoophiath?
Thygamus and Lyoophiath, for those who are wondering, are provinces of the City State of the World Emperor, or Viridistan in the Wilderlands.
For the campaign I'm currently running, I've borrowed a section in the NE of map 4, starting in the NE of my own map (hex 4101) with the unnamed keep on the Wilderlands map and stretching west to Iso Lake, then down as far south as Rappin Athuk in the SW corner of my map.
That unnamed keep became, of course (if you've been keeping up,) THE keep, from B2, Keep on the Borderlands, with the Caves of Chaos being situated at hex 4201 for those keeping score at home.
The game started, as I've mentioned, as something to pass the time when we didn't have a regular game go through. Something that could be played fast, with minimal work to make characters (everyone at 1st.) Everyone that has played has had a blast, and the game is truly one I look forward to every week, which is sometimes hard for a DM to say, as there are so few hours in the day, it seems.
The initial forays into the Caves were fairly disastrous for the party, and more than a few return trips to the keep and more expeditions wrought with death and maiming brought about an end to those journeys and a new undertaking after having won the respect and, dare I say, friendship of the gnoll tribe inhabiting the caves.
Now, the party is traipsing through a swamp I positioned in a delta between Hyyap and Kevala, just south of the keep, having first gone directly through with some gnolls to deliver an honored tribe member to an abandoned temple that they have used as a tomb for generations.
On their way there, they encountered another adventuring group headed by a Human* Cleric of an ancient god named Tharizdun, who he claimed to be a god of darkness. This priest, along with an Elf Knight, Human Fighter, Human Rogue**, Human Marshal, and a Bugbear Alchemist***, then joined with the group after deciding they were going to the same location.
A few losses, a close brush with some giants, and a nasty fight with lizardfolk and a khumat slowed the party's approach and when they reached the base of the temple and saw a whole lizardfolk village at the base, plus the added danger of khumat and a giant spotted going out of the temple and through the reptilians unmolested, a new plan was devised...to bulk their numbers more with sellswords and take the place by force.
Having done a good job resupplying in Hyyap and hiring along more mercs, plus recruiting some orcs who are eager for coin and violence, they headed back into the swamp. Their small flatboats came under attack about midway to their destination when spotted by some lamprey-mouthed bog giants, who quickly began hurling stones. The group, some 24 strong at this point, rushed to shore, and after killing one giant and badly injuring another, made fast their escape with only minor losses.
Here we left off, with the party scattered in many directions, in some cases beat to all hell, but still intact, for the most part...
* This having been changed from Changeling once I dropped the race from my game.
** This character is actually Chris S.'s character, who though originally sided with the other party was paid for services by Paul's character.
*** I've been tossing around the idea of dropping the Alchemist class. It has cool features and abilities, but I sometimes feel that it's a bit "light" for my tastes. If I do so, this character will become a Warlock.
By the by, if anyone out there has a good map of Viridistan that shows provincial divisions and can clarify for me exactly where my game takes place, that would be cool. It's possible I have one. I have heaps of Judge's Guild stuff, it's just sorting through it all to find what I want is fairly daunting. I'm making progress, though!
Current Cast of Characters
Chas DeLong, Male Human Fighter 4 - David B.
Jadazh Gr'tea, Male Human Duskblade 4 - Steve C.
Borash, Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum 4 - Taylor
Etune Yamara, Female Halfling Monk 4 - Angela
Seyji Upsul, Male Human Cleric of Tharizdun 9 - NPC
"Union", Female Human Marshal 5 - NPC
Gexzrit, Male Bugbear Alchemist 4 - NPC
Brakish, Male Gnoll Fighter 1 - NPC
Grahyip, Male Gnoll Fighter 4 - NPC
3 x Gnoll Warrior 1 - David B. controlled
4 x Human Warrior 1 - Steve C. controlled
6 x Orc Warrior 1 - Taylor controlled
For the campaign I'm currently running, I've borrowed a section in the NE of map 4, starting in the NE of my own map (hex 4101) with the unnamed keep on the Wilderlands map and stretching west to Iso Lake, then down as far south as Rappin Athuk in the SW corner of my map.
That unnamed keep became, of course (if you've been keeping up,) THE keep, from B2, Keep on the Borderlands, with the Caves of Chaos being situated at hex 4201 for those keeping score at home.
The game started, as I've mentioned, as something to pass the time when we didn't have a regular game go through. Something that could be played fast, with minimal work to make characters (everyone at 1st.) Everyone that has played has had a blast, and the game is truly one I look forward to every week, which is sometimes hard for a DM to say, as there are so few hours in the day, it seems.
The initial forays into the Caves were fairly disastrous for the party, and more than a few return trips to the keep and more expeditions wrought with death and maiming brought about an end to those journeys and a new undertaking after having won the respect and, dare I say, friendship of the gnoll tribe inhabiting the caves.
Now, the party is traipsing through a swamp I positioned in a delta between Hyyap and Kevala, just south of the keep, having first gone directly through with some gnolls to deliver an honored tribe member to an abandoned temple that they have used as a tomb for generations.
On their way there, they encountered another adventuring group headed by a Human* Cleric of an ancient god named Tharizdun, who he claimed to be a god of darkness. This priest, along with an Elf Knight, Human Fighter, Human Rogue**, Human Marshal, and a Bugbear Alchemist***, then joined with the group after deciding they were going to the same location.
A few losses, a close brush with some giants, and a nasty fight with lizardfolk and a khumat slowed the party's approach and when they reached the base of the temple and saw a whole lizardfolk village at the base, plus the added danger of khumat and a giant spotted going out of the temple and through the reptilians unmolested, a new plan was devised...to bulk their numbers more with sellswords and take the place by force.
Having done a good job resupplying in Hyyap and hiring along more mercs, plus recruiting some orcs who are eager for coin and violence, they headed back into the swamp. Their small flatboats came under attack about midway to their destination when spotted by some lamprey-mouthed bog giants, who quickly began hurling stones. The group, some 24 strong at this point, rushed to shore, and after killing one giant and badly injuring another, made fast their escape with only minor losses.
Here we left off, with the party scattered in many directions, in some cases beat to all hell, but still intact, for the most part...
* This having been changed from Changeling once I dropped the race from my game.
** This character is actually Chris S.'s character, who though originally sided with the other party was paid for services by Paul's character.
*** I've been tossing around the idea of dropping the Alchemist class. It has cool features and abilities, but I sometimes feel that it's a bit "light" for my tastes. If I do so, this character will become a Warlock.
By the by, if anyone out there has a good map of Viridistan that shows provincial divisions and can clarify for me exactly where my game takes place, that would be cool. It's possible I have one. I have heaps of Judge's Guild stuff, it's just sorting through it all to find what I want is fairly daunting. I'm making progress, though!
Current Cast of Characters
Chas DeLong, Male Human Fighter 4 - David B.
Jadazh Gr'tea, Male Human Duskblade 4 - Steve C.
Borash, Male Half-Orc Cleric of Gorum 4 - Taylor
Etune Yamara, Female Halfling Monk 4 - Angela
Seyji Upsul, Male Human Cleric of Tharizdun 9 - NPC
"Union", Female Human Marshal 5 - NPC
Gexzrit, Male Bugbear Alchemist 4 - NPC
Brakish, Male Gnoll Fighter 1 - NPC
Grahyip, Male Gnoll Fighter 4 - NPC
3 x Gnoll Warrior 1 - David B. controlled
4 x Human Warrior 1 - Steve C. controlled
6 x Orc Warrior 1 - Taylor controlled
2.17.2011
Pathfinderlands of High Fantasy...Or Something Of That Nature
Not so great a title, but I've not named the campaign yet, so you get a wonky title to the blog post.
For those of you who can't recall, and who can blame you, as I'm not the most dedicated poster...a while back I restarted a sandbox game using the 3.x D&D rules as the skeleton (albeit a beefy one.) When we picked the campaign up, I ran it primarily as 3.x with Pathfinder character building, giving the players more options, but as time has gone on, I have implemented many more Pathfinder rules and have been moving more toward what I feel an old school sandbox should feel like under a more modern rules set.
Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying I'm doing it right, by any means. Hell, I'm nowhere near the level of cool of the West Marches, if you ask me.
I have tried to work in the spirit of old school, however. I started this by concentrating on Reactionary DMing. This is nothing new, and I'm not trying to put a label to what most people just call "DMing," but my last campaign was an almost-weekly 57 session adventure path, using the first adventure path published by WotC under the 3.x rules (including The Sunless Citadel, The Forge of Fury, etc.) Sure, I tweaked the thing hard, and there were side quests and character development scenarios that weren't in the booklets, but pretty much everything else was cruise control for me.
I think this made me lazy. I'm a heavy-prep DM. I like to prepare. I like to have all possibilities covered, and since I prefer the 3.x rules, I like to have stat blocks ready when needed. With this new campaign, however, I'm willing to relax on that a little. I'm not gonna fret if the current course of action is abandoned, or if an NPC dies that maybe shouldn't have. I had almost forgotten what winging it felt like, because I was always concerned with keeping my players entertained. Everything was described as richly as I could manage. I would fill a whole notebook, sometimes 2, during the course of a campaign with session notes so that I was ready with this description or that, trying to cover every possibility...and that doesn't include my setting notes.
Anyway, I'm not gonna harsh on one style or the other, both are a great deal of fun to me, but I do like running this game loosey-goosey, not immediately giving the players anything, but waiting for what they want, then reacting accordingly, giving information as needed. It's been a few years since I ran a game like that, but it doesn't feel clunky. It just feels fun.
So far, I'm reacting, the players are exploring (YeY!), and it seems that good times are had by all.
For those of you who can't recall, and who can blame you, as I'm not the most dedicated poster...a while back I restarted a sandbox game using the 3.x D&D rules as the skeleton (albeit a beefy one.) When we picked the campaign up, I ran it primarily as 3.x with Pathfinder character building, giving the players more options, but as time has gone on, I have implemented many more Pathfinder rules and have been moving more toward what I feel an old school sandbox should feel like under a more modern rules set.
Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying I'm doing it right, by any means. Hell, I'm nowhere near the level of cool of the West Marches, if you ask me.
I have tried to work in the spirit of old school, however. I started this by concentrating on Reactionary DMing. This is nothing new, and I'm not trying to put a label to what most people just call "DMing," but my last campaign was an almost-weekly 57 session adventure path, using the first adventure path published by WotC under the 3.x rules (including The Sunless Citadel, The Forge of Fury, etc.) Sure, I tweaked the thing hard, and there were side quests and character development scenarios that weren't in the booklets, but pretty much everything else was cruise control for me.
I think this made me lazy. I'm a heavy-prep DM. I like to prepare. I like to have all possibilities covered, and since I prefer the 3.x rules, I like to have stat blocks ready when needed. With this new campaign, however, I'm willing to relax on that a little. I'm not gonna fret if the current course of action is abandoned, or if an NPC dies that maybe shouldn't have. I had almost forgotten what winging it felt like, because I was always concerned with keeping my players entertained. Everything was described as richly as I could manage. I would fill a whole notebook, sometimes 2, during the course of a campaign with session notes so that I was ready with this description or that, trying to cover every possibility...and that doesn't include my setting notes.
Anyway, I'm not gonna harsh on one style or the other, both are a great deal of fun to me, but I do like running this game loosey-goosey, not immediately giving the players anything, but waiting for what they want, then reacting accordingly, giving information as needed. It's been a few years since I ran a game like that, but it doesn't feel clunky. It just feels fun.
So far, I'm reacting, the players are exploring (YeY!), and it seems that good times are had by all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)