... surveying the wreckage that the PCs have caused over the campaign setting and enjoying the glorious chaos that will ensue as the world reacts.
... watching a miracle missile attack succeed with a natural 20 and derail the villians' plans.
... sacrificing a favorite NPC to save a PC and seeing real emotion from the players as "a short female scream is heard... then cut off and silence."
... watching half your monsters cut down by a well executed ambush and contemplating the screamings and cryings when you (the DM) pull off that same tactic in the future.
... hearing players say "Wow, that was an awesome/amazing/fun/crazy game!" as they pack up to leave.
I'm exhausted, mentally, from the game yesterday, so this is the extent of posting today. I'm going to be busy this week finishing up my tweaks and prep for the Classic D&D Marathon this coming Saturday (11am to 9pm at Unique Gifts & Games, Grayslake IL) using the X1 Isle of Dread module. Don't be surprised if you see Morrowind influences here... something about both module and setting go together like peanut butter and chocolate.
But man... what a cool game. Nothing like doing a warhorse charge on the players. Good thing the hirelings weren't there.. immediate morale check. Oh yea...
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Taxation, again
My online AD&D group has just had almost the same exact reaction as my tabletop players had about 2 years ago when they came hauling a load of loot to the city gates... and then were stopped for inspection and taxation. The screamings... the wailings... the plotting of how to get around it... there were machinations that rivaled anything else in the game to avoid paying gold to the King.
I'm amused for two reasons. One, I don't charge for training to increase levels. I take care of that via taxation on goods brought in and in "cost of living" which I have a published formula and cost for. I confess that if I weren't so against training costs, from a personal "I don't like it" POV, this wouldn't be an issue. Second, from the perspective of their characters - taxation in this form would be normal. Yes, it can be avoided, but the lengths both the tabletop and online group wanted to go through would seem crazy to normal people in the imaginary world.
... and the players in my online game were coming up with some funny ways of getting around it... from casting charm person on the guard (there are multiple guards and people around... that would be an attack. A Bad Thing, especially for a 1st level guy that's probably not going to last long against guards.) to levitating over the wall with the loot... to trying to somehow transport the NPCs outside the city to to the loot...
I had this to say to them:
BTW, this is not a bitch at my players, we've had a good discussion and they're actually more worried about the guards opening the urns that they wish to keep intact till they deliver them to the NPC. That's a valid concern and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
It's just funny, to me, that they're doing the same thing my tabletop guys did 2 years ago.
Do your players do the same thing when you extract gold from them?
I'm amused for two reasons. One, I don't charge for training to increase levels. I take care of that via taxation on goods brought in and in "cost of living" which I have a published formula and cost for. I confess that if I weren't so against training costs, from a personal "I don't like it" POV, this wouldn't be an issue. Second, from the perspective of their characters - taxation in this form would be normal. Yes, it can be avoided, but the lengths both the tabletop and online group wanted to go through would seem crazy to normal people in the imaginary world.
... and the players in my online game were coming up with some funny ways of getting around it... from casting charm person on the guard (there are multiple guards and people around... that would be an attack. A Bad Thing, especially for a 1st level guy that's probably not going to last long against guards.) to levitating over the wall with the loot... to trying to somehow transport the NPCs outside the city to to the loot...
I had this to say to them:
Me: BTW, just as a note... this is not unusual for this world as this would be the practice in almost all human cities and places where a goverment existed. Only in small villages, hamlets and places where mostly locals operated would this activity not appear. It's a common custom of taxing incoming goods/items that had been "found" or brought in or even items being shipped.
Player: Do you mean that our backpacks are checked everytime we go into the walled part of the city, but since we're not usually carrying anything unusual we don't RP it?
Me: No, you've just never presented the profile of a merchant or someone who has goods to be checked.
Look at it from the perspective of a guard. He probably is looking at 5 to 10 people a minute coming in, on a busy stretch. He'll look at what they're doing, if they've already entered and are leaving, what they're carrying, if they appear to be a merchant or not, if they have some sort of reason to be searched, etc. The times you've entered the cities, you've presented the profile of mere travelers. With urns, boxes and sacks, you're going to look a bit different.
(Just as an aside, I'm astounded - again and I don't know why I should be - at how the brakes screech and the heads snap around and the "WTF"ing starts when I mention taxing ... imaginary... gold :D)
So yes, you'll definitely look like merchants, you'll probably be stopped and checked. This would, from your character's perspectives, be business as usual and unless you really were interested in saving every last gp, most "ordinary" people would not go out of their way to avoid it.I swear, I'm starting to channel Alexis more and more each day... ;)
BTW, this is not a bitch at my players, we've had a good discussion and they're actually more worried about the guards opening the urns that they wish to keep intact till they deliver them to the NPC. That's a valid concern and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
It's just funny, to me, that they're doing the same thing my tabletop guys did 2 years ago.
Do your players do the same thing when you extract gold from them?
Friday, February 25, 2011
OD&D Solo game w/wife - The (second) death of Alaxus
"WHO DARES TO DISTURB MY SLUMBER? IS IT YOU, ANNOYING RAT KING?" thundered a sepulcherous voice from the elaborate coffin at the top of the dais. Before it stood 8 hulking, rotted minotaur zombies. Behind the dais crouched 8 piles of bones, with a bull skull perched ominous on top.
"No, it's just me!" Aeli (@thePrincessWife's character) called back. Beside her stood her loyal henchmen, Turchao and Rather. Behind her stood 6 hirelings with flasks of oil and torches, her mage companion Tironell and the mysterious Osash - acolyte to the Patriarch of Valetown.
"A WOMAN?!" boomed the voice. "NO... NO... I SAW YOU DIE AS LIFE LEFT MY BODY. I KILLED YOU ONCE. NO... NOT THAT SWORD! NOT THAT ACCURSED SWORD! NO, IT CANNOT BE YOU AGAIN! I WILL KILL YOU AGAIN!" With that challenge, a cadaverous form of a minotaur skeleton wreathed in a layer of rotted skin stood in the coffin, draped in rotted mage robes. This had to be Alaxus, in some type of evil undead form.
Aeli and her companions waited. Hands gripped swords and spears with white knuckles. Short breaths were heard as everyone stared in dread at the sight before them. In the rear, Tironell muttered as he desperately tried to figure out how to activate the thin "Fizbin's Shooting Stars" wand he had recently acquired but not yet figured out.
"GO AND DESTROY THEM, MY MINIONS!" Alaxus thundered and he gestured towards the group standing in the doorway.
"This is it!" Aeli called out. "Stand your ground and force them to fight into the door. Osash, can you turn them?!"
"I believe so..." called out Osash in a strangely untroubled voice. He chanted words that made the group's collective skin crawl and Aeli felt a chill run down her spine. The zombies lurched to a halt, and then turned around!
"Aha!" called out Tironell as Osash triumphantly concluded his chanting and gestured the zombies away. "I've figured it out... FIZBINS SHOOTING STARS!" and the wand's end burst into a silvery/purple glow and a small glowing "star" shot out of it and smashed into the hulking minotaur mage.
"ARRRGH!" Alaxus groaned and then he lifted his right hand. "ARISE MY LOYAL WARRIORS! CRUSH THESE INTRUDERS!" Behind him, to the left, four of the piles of bones began to spin in a circular motion, rising up from the ground to form shambling skeletal minotaur warriors. They lurched forward at the door.
"Down and throw at the mage!" Aeli commanded. The front rank immediately went to one knee and hunkered behind shields. Behind them, Osash again chanted his odd words and Tironell sang out "FIZBINS SHOOTING STARS!" again. The skeletons immediately spun on their heels and fled for the opposite wall of the sepulcher, scratching at the wall to get out. Flasks of oil sailed towards the mage as another silvery star smashed into him. One flask sailed overhead, but the other two broke on him and the coffin, covering him in dripping oil.
"NO! ARISE MY WARRIORS!" Alaxus called out and he gestured to his left. In similar fashion, two more piles of bones spun in the air and arose to skeletons. Alaxus boomed in laughter. "YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE THE SUN AGAIN!"
In answer, Osash again chanted his faith in his religion and the two skeletons were repulsed. As if to answer in challenge, three torches sailed from the second rank towards Alaxus. One hit the doorway and broke apart, covering the party in cinders, which they quickly beat out. One sailed over Alaxus but the last skittered across the dais and touched the oil puddled at his feet. Almost immediately, the oil burst into a conflagration which burned away the rotting robes and charred the mage's undead skin. (**1) Once again, Tironell called out the words that caused the wand to spit a magic missile at Alaxus.
"NOOOO!!!!" howled Alaxus. "PROTECT ME, MY FAITHFUL!" and he gestured one last time to the remaining two bone piles, which arose into warriors.
"Tironell, why aren't you using that wand?" Aeli called out urgently, still hunched over behind her shield.
"I... I... if I use this wand up, it's gone! It's the only one I have!" confessed Tironell.
"If we make it out of here, I'll buy you all the wands you want! Kill that damn thing!" snapped Aeli.
Tironell muttered, but his response was lost due to the chanting of Osash, who faltered and then trailed off... the skeletons continued to advance.
"Up and hold! Wait till they get close enough! Second rank, spears at ready!" Aeli barked. She hefted the Blade of Runes which was shining a bright blue light so painful, it was almost too much to look at directly. As Turchao and Rather glanced at her, she almost seemed to look like the famous heroine of legend that slew Alaxus originally. In their stupefied state, they almost immediately dropped their swords as the skeletons charged in their attack.
The skeletons clawed at Aeli and the front rank, ripping flesh and bone on Turchao who screamed in pain. Alaxus laughed coldly and gestured at Aeli.
"NOW YOU DIE!" and he snarled words that seem to stab at her, in the form of three small red/silver balls of energy that smashed in her, nearly knocking her on her feet. Behind her, the hirelings stabbed at the skeletons with their spears, smashing bones and destroying one completely.
"Tironell... use that wand!" Aeli groaned in pain as she staggered to her feet and battled the last skeleton, her sword slicing it into an unmoving pile. The flaming oil encasing Alaxus had burned out, leaving scraps of skin hanging like tattered curtains on the undead mage's bones. He snarled another spell and before the party's unbelieving eyes, he grew.. and grew... and grew to a huge form! His evil laughter filled the sepulcher.
"YES, LOOK UPON YOUR DOOM... " began Alaxus and then a small voice was heard "FIZBIN'S SHOOTING STARS!" and a silvery/purple missile shot out and smashed into Alaxus. He staggered...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo....." he wailed as his form began to crumble into dust from the inside out. A whistling sound was heard as the ancient mage of Evil fell.. again...
The party stopped moving for a moment in disbelief... then Aeli turned, grabbed Tironell by his waist and hoisted him so high, he almost hit the tunnel's ceiling with his head.
"We did it!" she yelled. "We did it! We won!!!"
And that, my friends, is how @thePrincessWife slew the proto-lich Alaxus, found his treasure haul (which gained her about 5,000 XP), found a blackened skin covered spell book, found his notes which may give her clues to her ancestor Kellus and found a mysterious silver-filigreed black crystal ball, which she had to pry from the coffin's lid. She almost forgot to check the coffin, she was a bit in shock and awe of having achieved her goal.
Mechanically, I made Tironell do a 5d6 attribute check to figure out the wand - he passed quite handily. That wand, the oil, and the discipline of Aeli's attack at the door, holding her ground and forcing Alaxus to commit his forces, were the keys to success. I was going to have Tironell stop using his wand, but Aeli made him continue to fire it. @thePrincessWife really roleplayed the session well.
Turchao and Rather, her henchmen, both fumbled at the same time, in the same way, when the skeletons charged. Aeli used the Fighting Man - Multiple Attacks rule and we successfully converted to DAC so I could use the Target20 algorithm. I use it in my AD&D games and it's just so easy for me now.
We also had a treat that I used my big Battlemat for the first time with her. She liked it! I may have to use it again. I don't want to focus on the miniatures as boardgame pieces, but she enjoyed "seeing" the room.
Now Aeli has a lot of things to do. She's got the books, written in the Black Tongue of Mhaldor(**2) to translate. She has a mysterious orb she knows nothing about. She has a favor to return to the Patriarch for use of his acolyte. She also still has to find out why her arch-enemy Calypso was so interested in her ancestor Kellus that he'd kill her entire family over it.
I can't wait for the next game!
**1 - in my OD&D campaign, I've ruled that most physical undead can be affected by fire, the more powerful at half damage. Non-corporeal cannot.
**2 - one genuine ChicagoWiz No-Prize to the person who not only can identify where Mhaldor came from, but has virtually been there and can tell me what my use of this place probably means... :)
"No, it's just me!" Aeli (@thePrincessWife's character) called back. Beside her stood her loyal henchmen, Turchao and Rather. Behind her stood 6 hirelings with flasks of oil and torches, her mage companion Tironell and the mysterious Osash - acolyte to the Patriarch of Valetown.
"A WOMAN?!" boomed the voice. "NO... NO... I SAW YOU DIE AS LIFE LEFT MY BODY. I KILLED YOU ONCE. NO... NOT THAT SWORD! NOT THAT ACCURSED SWORD! NO, IT CANNOT BE YOU AGAIN! I WILL KILL YOU AGAIN!" With that challenge, a cadaverous form of a minotaur skeleton wreathed in a layer of rotted skin stood in the coffin, draped in rotted mage robes. This had to be Alaxus, in some type of evil undead form.
Aeli and her companions waited. Hands gripped swords and spears with white knuckles. Short breaths were heard as everyone stared in dread at the sight before them. In the rear, Tironell muttered as he desperately tried to figure out how to activate the thin "Fizbin's Shooting Stars" wand he had recently acquired but not yet figured out.
"GO AND DESTROY THEM, MY MINIONS!" Alaxus thundered and he gestured towards the group standing in the doorway.
"This is it!" Aeli called out. "Stand your ground and force them to fight into the door. Osash, can you turn them?!"
"I believe so..." called out Osash in a strangely untroubled voice. He chanted words that made the group's collective skin crawl and Aeli felt a chill run down her spine. The zombies lurched to a halt, and then turned around!
"Aha!" called out Tironell as Osash triumphantly concluded his chanting and gestured the zombies away. "I've figured it out... FIZBINS SHOOTING STARS!" and the wand's end burst into a silvery/purple glow and a small glowing "star" shot out of it and smashed into the hulking minotaur mage.
"ARRRGH!" Alaxus groaned and then he lifted his right hand. "ARISE MY LOYAL WARRIORS! CRUSH THESE INTRUDERS!" Behind him, to the left, four of the piles of bones began to spin in a circular motion, rising up from the ground to form shambling skeletal minotaur warriors. They lurched forward at the door.
"Down and throw at the mage!" Aeli commanded. The front rank immediately went to one knee and hunkered behind shields. Behind them, Osash again chanted his odd words and Tironell sang out "FIZBINS SHOOTING STARS!" again. The skeletons immediately spun on their heels and fled for the opposite wall of the sepulcher, scratching at the wall to get out. Flasks of oil sailed towards the mage as another silvery star smashed into him. One flask sailed overhead, but the other two broke on him and the coffin, covering him in dripping oil.
"NO! ARISE MY WARRIORS!" Alaxus called out and he gestured to his left. In similar fashion, two more piles of bones spun in the air and arose to skeletons. Alaxus boomed in laughter. "YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE THE SUN AGAIN!"
In answer, Osash again chanted his faith in his religion and the two skeletons were repulsed. As if to answer in challenge, three torches sailed from the second rank towards Alaxus. One hit the doorway and broke apart, covering the party in cinders, which they quickly beat out. One sailed over Alaxus but the last skittered across the dais and touched the oil puddled at his feet. Almost immediately, the oil burst into a conflagration which burned away the rotting robes and charred the mage's undead skin. (**1) Once again, Tironell called out the words that caused the wand to spit a magic missile at Alaxus.
"NOOOO!!!!" howled Alaxus. "PROTECT ME, MY FAITHFUL!" and he gestured one last time to the remaining two bone piles, which arose into warriors.
"Tironell, why aren't you using that wand?" Aeli called out urgently, still hunched over behind her shield.
"I... I... if I use this wand up, it's gone! It's the only one I have!" confessed Tironell.
"If we make it out of here, I'll buy you all the wands you want! Kill that damn thing!" snapped Aeli.
Tironell muttered, but his response was lost due to the chanting of Osash, who faltered and then trailed off... the skeletons continued to advance.
"Up and hold! Wait till they get close enough! Second rank, spears at ready!" Aeli barked. She hefted the Blade of Runes which was shining a bright blue light so painful, it was almost too much to look at directly. As Turchao and Rather glanced at her, she almost seemed to look like the famous heroine of legend that slew Alaxus originally. In their stupefied state, they almost immediately dropped their swords as the skeletons charged in their attack.
The skeletons clawed at Aeli and the front rank, ripping flesh and bone on Turchao who screamed in pain. Alaxus laughed coldly and gestured at Aeli.
"NOW YOU DIE!" and he snarled words that seem to stab at her, in the form of three small red/silver balls of energy that smashed in her, nearly knocking her on her feet. Behind her, the hirelings stabbed at the skeletons with their spears, smashing bones and destroying one completely.
"Tironell... use that wand!" Aeli groaned in pain as she staggered to her feet and battled the last skeleton, her sword slicing it into an unmoving pile. The flaming oil encasing Alaxus had burned out, leaving scraps of skin hanging like tattered curtains on the undead mage's bones. He snarled another spell and before the party's unbelieving eyes, he grew.. and grew... and grew to a huge form! His evil laughter filled the sepulcher.
"YES, LOOK UPON YOUR DOOM... " began Alaxus and then a small voice was heard "FIZBIN'S SHOOTING STARS!" and a silvery/purple missile shot out and smashed into Alaxus. He staggered...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo....." he wailed as his form began to crumble into dust from the inside out. A whistling sound was heard as the ancient mage of Evil fell.. again...
The party stopped moving for a moment in disbelief... then Aeli turned, grabbed Tironell by his waist and hoisted him so high, he almost hit the tunnel's ceiling with his head.
"We did it!" she yelled. "We did it! We won!!!"
And that, my friends, is how @thePrincessWife slew the proto-lich Alaxus, found his treasure haul (which gained her about 5,000 XP), found a blackened skin covered spell book, found his notes which may give her clues to her ancestor Kellus and found a mysterious silver-filigreed black crystal ball, which she had to pry from the coffin's lid. She almost forgot to check the coffin, she was a bit in shock and awe of having achieved her goal.
Mechanically, I made Tironell do a 5d6 attribute check to figure out the wand - he passed quite handily. That wand, the oil, and the discipline of Aeli's attack at the door, holding her ground and forcing Alaxus to commit his forces, were the keys to success. I was going to have Tironell stop using his wand, but Aeli made him continue to fire it. @thePrincessWife really roleplayed the session well.
Turchao and Rather, her henchmen, both fumbled at the same time, in the same way, when the skeletons charged. Aeli used the Fighting Man - Multiple Attacks rule and we successfully converted to DAC so I could use the Target20 algorithm. I use it in my AD&D games and it's just so easy for me now.
We also had a treat that I used my big Battlemat for the first time with her. She liked it! I may have to use it again. I don't want to focus on the miniatures as boardgame pieces, but she enjoyed "seeing" the room.
Now Aeli has a lot of things to do. She's got the books, written in the Black Tongue of Mhaldor(**2) to translate. She has a mysterious orb she knows nothing about. She has a favor to return to the Patriarch for use of his acolyte. She also still has to find out why her arch-enemy Calypso was so interested in her ancestor Kellus that he'd kill her entire family over it.
I can't wait for the next game!
**1 - in my OD&D campaign, I've ruled that most physical undead can be affected by fire, the more powerful at half damage. Non-corporeal cannot.
**2 - one genuine ChicagoWiz No-Prize to the person who not only can identify where Mhaldor came from, but has virtually been there and can tell me what my use of this place probably means... :)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
No game tonight - but here's a free AD&D/OSRIC tool
... thanks to this miserable cold. I've had two this year already and I'm really ^@#$@#$%#@!!! done with the cold season, thankyouverymuch. I hate cancelling games, but as I told my players, if I can't give 100%, I won't waste my time or their's. Nor do I want to get anyone sick with this crap...
There is quite a bit of planning going on the campaign email list, much of it centering around coming up with a strike force to attack a slaver town. A couple of games ago, my players were exploring the plains between Enonia (their home base) and Irecia (the abandoned city that everyone wants to get back to) and they stumbled onto a hamlet that seemed to be occupied by orcs and goblins! They were about to mount an attack when a mysterious figure rose out of the ground in a gilly suit - it was the former mercenary Anya! She seems quite off her rocker now, but she's waging a one-crazy-woman campaign against the orcs, leaving heads on spikes all over the place. She let the players know how overmatched they were, as the force was at least 30 orcs/goblins but that they met at the location approximately every 30 days or so.
Now the effort is to raise a force to strike at the orcs and the players are discovering that things are expensive. It's not like hiring a two or three zero-level meatshields for a jaunt to the old dungeon, no, this requires planning, it requires expert hirelings and it requires gold. Lots of it.
One of my Dark Ages campaign players, Tyson, made a spreadsheet for figuring out how much a force would cost. I made a copy of it and updated it against the OSRIC/tables. It's AD&D compatible. It's a Google Spreadsheet (AD&D/OSRIC Army Calculator) and the only thing it lacks is a lookup dropdown list - if you want to use it, you're more than welcome. I'm not sure if you have to copy/paste to your own document or if you can save your own copy, but by all means, go for it! You will have to unhide the data to update for your own campaign prices, but it should be fairly straightforward. The prices are all in silver (as OSRIC listed silver for the wage) and the wages are on a monthly basis.
Here are the valid names to put in the cyan column header in order to populate the calculator. If you need to expand the number of calculated columns, don't insert a column, move stuff over. The columns under the grid are the data for calculating all those numbers.
Enjoy!
There is quite a bit of planning going on the campaign email list, much of it centering around coming up with a strike force to attack a slaver town. A couple of games ago, my players were exploring the plains between Enonia (their home base) and Irecia (the abandoned city that everyone wants to get back to) and they stumbled onto a hamlet that seemed to be occupied by orcs and goblins! They were about to mount an attack when a mysterious figure rose out of the ground in a gilly suit - it was the former mercenary Anya! She seems quite off her rocker now, but she's waging a one-crazy-woman campaign against the orcs, leaving heads on spikes all over the place. She let the players know how overmatched they were, as the force was at least 30 orcs/goblins but that they met at the location approximately every 30 days or so.
Now the effort is to raise a force to strike at the orcs and the players are discovering that things are expensive. It's not like hiring a two or three zero-level meatshields for a jaunt to the old dungeon, no, this requires planning, it requires expert hirelings and it requires gold. Lots of it.
One of my Dark Ages campaign players, Tyson, made a spreadsheet for figuring out how much a force would cost. I made a copy of it and updated it against the OSRIC/tables. It's AD&D compatible. It's a Google Spreadsheet (AD&D/OSRIC Army Calculator) and the only thing it lacks is a lookup dropdown list - if you want to use it, you're more than welcome. I'm not sure if you have to copy/paste to your own document or if you can save your own copy, but by all means, go for it! You will have to unhide the data to update for your own campaign prices, but it should be fairly straightforward. The prices are all in silver (as OSRIC listed silver for the wage) and the wages are on a monthly basis.
Here are the valid names to put in the cyan column header in order to populate the calculator. If you need to expand the number of calculated columns, don't insert a column, move stuff over. The columns under the grid are the data for calculating all those numbers.
Archer, Longbow; Archer, Mounted; Archer, Shortbow; Crossbowman; Footman, Heavy; Footman, Light; Footman, Hvy Mount; Footman, Light Mount; Horseman, Heavy; Horseman, Light; Horseman, Medium; Pikeman; Slinger
Sgt, Longbow; Sgt, Archer Mount; Sgt, Shortbow; Sgt, Crossbowman; Sgt, Hvy Foot; Sgt, Light Foot; Sgt, Hvy Foot Mount; Sgt, Light Foot Mount; Sgt, Hvy Horse; Sgt, Light Horse; Sgt, Med Horse; Sgt, Pikeman; Sgt, Slinger
(To create lieutenants or captains, simply replace Sgt w/ Lt or Capt)Some assumptions - Sgts are first level, Lts are 2nd level, Captains are 5th level. Although it's not automatic, my metric is a Sgt for 5 to 10 men, a Lt for every 10 men, a Capt for every 20 men.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A few bits...
In lieu of a real blog post, I'm going to post a few links.
Dark Ages Elves - my online Google game has encountered some elves on a pilgrimage to their home base of Skalfier. So I've been busy fleshing out more details on elves. It's interesting how sometimes the online game pushes me, then the tabletop does and so on.
The different thing about my elves is that they're more human than most D&D games allow for. Think of Norsemen sailors that are shorter than humans. Or think of the iconic OD&D elf picture to the left there. Those are my elves. I've never quibbled about the ears thing, but I've never seen elves as almond-eyed, pointy-eared in my campaign. I've mostly let the players go about elves as they typically seen them. As I'm maturing into my campaign and growing comfortable in how to articulate (and document) these little tidbits, I'm stressing them more and more.
Solo Game - Blade of Runes - @thePrincessWife finally freed herself of the influence of the "Fancy Blade" and now she has a nice shiny Blade of Runes. If you own "Wrath of the Minotaur", you can look up the stats on it - it's a nice little blade! We're still trying to get some peace and quiet time when neither of us is exhausted to try and finish the Tomb of Alaxus. In speaking of the solo game, I've also codified the Combat - Fighting Man attacks houserule and the Combat - Fighting Man Cleave houserule. Nice additions for her to survive better in a solo game, maybe you'll find them useful.
Oh yea, and one other thing - the Classic D&D Marathon is coming up in 11 days! This means that 1) It's time to officially PANIC [haha] and 2) it's time to repimp the game. This year, it's at Unique Gifts & Games in Grayslake. I know 4 people have RSVP'd on the meetup group and the owner tells me he has some signups. Whether I have partial or full table, there will be a lot of fun to be had! I'm running X1 - Isle of Dread with some quirks and twists... no telling if Dragon Turtles will be seen or not... muahahaha...
The different thing about my elves is that they're more human than most D&D games allow for. Think of Norsemen sailors that are shorter than humans. Or think of the iconic OD&D elf picture to the left there. Those are my elves. I've never quibbled about the ears thing, but I've never seen elves as almond-eyed, pointy-eared in my campaign. I've mostly let the players go about elves as they typically seen them. As I'm maturing into my campaign and growing comfortable in how to articulate (and document) these little tidbits, I'm stressing them more and more.
Solo Game - Blade of Runes - @thePrincessWife finally freed herself of the influence of the "Fancy Blade" and now she has a nice shiny Blade of Runes. If you own "Wrath of the Minotaur", you can look up the stats on it - it's a nice little blade! We're still trying to get some peace and quiet time when neither of us is exhausted to try and finish the Tomb of Alaxus. In speaking of the solo game, I've also codified the Combat - Fighting Man attacks houserule and the Combat - Fighting Man Cleave houserule. Nice additions for her to survive better in a solo game, maybe you'll find them useful.
Oh yea, and one other thing - the Classic D&D Marathon is coming up in 11 days! This means that 1) It's time to officially PANIC [haha] and 2) it's time to repimp the game. This year, it's at Unique Gifts & Games in Grayslake. I know 4 people have RSVP'd on the meetup group and the owner tells me he has some signups. Whether I have partial or full table, there will be a lot of fun to be had! I'm running X1 - Isle of Dread with some quirks and twists... no telling if Dragon Turtles will be seen or not... muahahaha...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
AD&D - XP for magic items
I've had a mental back and forth for a few days on the subject of XP for magic items. By the book AD&D Dungeon Master Guide says:
Well, this is all well and good, but let's look at an example - a wand of magic missiles. Now while acquiring this wand spanned multiple games, got people really excited and has resulted in some hilarious "off line" emails in how they tested it to figure out how it works, but the DMG says this sucker is worth 35,000 gold pieces and 4,000 experience points.
Uh, woah.
Now I know, BTB is BTB and for my campaign, not always applicable, but I'd like chew on this a bit here. Based on those values, I can say that the XP value for this item is roughly an eighth and a half of it's value. That's not a formula that follows in the XP/gold value ratios for other items. It seems there's a relative value based on the difficulty of making the item, but that is still a huge jump.
Now, for wands, there is an interesting note that says "Assumes full charges are in the item", which I'm not quite sure how that would affect XP, unless they are ranking the value's "worth" and XP on how many times this lil stick is gonna pop a monster for 1d4+1 (twice a round too!) OK, so the max charges are 100, so lessee... that's about 40 XP per charge and 350 gold per charge. While I can understand the cost, given it takes a 6th level spell enchant an item which can be cast only by a 12th level wizard or higher, and requires a crap-load of components to make, for a 90 charge wand (on average) that's 3,600 XP. So some first level wizard who was on a quest and participated in finding this magic item and somehow gets to keep it is going to now be 2nd level just for holding Fizbin's thingie. Same with 2nd level - it's an automatic upgrade.
Is this how AD&D balances things - mages usually get the magic items, so because they need more XP, they get more powerful by dint of finding the magic cookies? Am I just being stingy with the concept in my head?
I'm leaning towards thinking that I'm going to go BTB for several reasons. Mages are already on fragile grounds, unless they're doing double-duty as a multi-classed demihuman. The human mage is still 2nd level, but close to third, if I remember correctly. I also go back to the eXPloration justification - if a fresh/newly minted first level character picked up a wand of magic missiles, should they get 3,600 XP for a wand of magic missiles? Should that bump them to 2nd level?
Given that magic is so rare in my game, yes. I think I don't have a problem with that. The players are slowly beginning to find stuff, but not anything near what most people might expect in a D&D game. I want magic to be mysterious and cool and valued when found. To me, XP isn't just about a person's own ability, it's also about their standing in the world, their ability to do things and their overall "power" that comes with the stuff they carry about. Heroes in Chainmail were powerful in many ways, not just because they'd crossed swords with hundreds of orcs.
Side note - It's a testament to one of my player's tenacity that as an elf fighter/mage, he's hit 3rd level in each. If he'd been in one or the other as a human, he'd probably be the most powerful character. Of course, he's coming to almost every game.
(Those magic items not sold gain only a relatively small amount of experience points, for their value is in their usage.)
Uh, woah.
Now I know, BTB is BTB and for my campaign, not always applicable, but I'd like chew on this a bit here. Based on those values, I can say that the XP value for this item is roughly an eighth and a half of it's value. That's not a formula that follows in the XP/gold value ratios for other items. It seems there's a relative value based on the difficulty of making the item, but that is still a huge jump.
Now, for wands, there is an interesting note that says "Assumes full charges are in the item", which I'm not quite sure how that would affect XP, unless they are ranking the value's "worth" and XP on how many times this lil stick is gonna pop a monster for 1d4+1 (twice a round too!) OK, so the max charges are 100, so lessee... that's about 40 XP per charge and 350 gold per charge. While I can understand the cost, given it takes a 6th level spell enchant an item which can be cast only by a 12th level wizard or higher, and requires a crap-load of components to make, for a 90 charge wand (on average) that's 3,600 XP. So some first level wizard who was on a quest and participated in finding this magic item and somehow gets to keep it is going to now be 2nd level just for holding Fizbin's thingie. Same with 2nd level - it's an automatic upgrade.
Is this how AD&D balances things - mages usually get the magic items, so because they need more XP, they get more powerful by dint of finding the magic cookies? Am I just being stingy with the concept in my head?
I'm leaning towards thinking that I'm going to go BTB for several reasons. Mages are already on fragile grounds, unless they're doing double-duty as a multi-classed demihuman. The human mage is still 2nd level, but close to third, if I remember correctly. I also go back to the eXPloration justification - if a fresh/newly minted first level character picked up a wand of magic missiles, should they get 3,600 XP for a wand of magic missiles? Should that bump them to 2nd level?
Given that magic is so rare in my game, yes. I think I don't have a problem with that. The players are slowly beginning to find stuff, but not anything near what most people might expect in a D&D game. I want magic to be mysterious and cool and valued when found. To me, XP isn't just about a person's own ability, it's also about their standing in the world, their ability to do things and their overall "power" that comes with the stuff they carry about. Heroes in Chainmail were powerful in many ways, not just because they'd crossed swords with hundreds of orcs.
Side note - It's a testament to one of my player's tenacity that as an elf fighter/mage, he's hit 3rd level in each. If he'd been in one or the other as a human, he'd probably be the most powerful character. Of course, he's coming to almost every game.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Red Dragon mini painting musings
I'm just about to start on the "POS WotC Red Dragon" that I've complained about for awhile now. It was a difficult sculpt to assemble but the figure looks nice enough when it finally stays together. :) A picture of what it looks like is below. (paint job is NOT mine..)
So speaking of paint job, I'm trying to figure out how to paint the damn thing. My mind wanders back to 1979 when I first got involved in D&D. My intros to Red Dragons looked a little something like this:
(Holmes box picture from http://xeveninti.blogspot.com/ )
Yea, I like that, iconic, old school, always how I picture.. WAIT!!! What is up with those damn wings!?!
The grey wings are a theme that has popped up before, with the cockatrices - they had leathery grey wings according to ye-olde AD&D Monster Manual. A check of the AD&D book, and going back to OD&D Monsters & Treasures doesn't help - colors were not really described. That's not a problem, per se, but I'm still at a loss what the deal is with the grey wings. There's something I'm not liking about this deal.
(Anyone know why the fascination with the grey leathery wings theme?)
Then I saw this by an artist known as Kevin Mayle. (From here... http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=workshop&thread=969&page=1#22807 and he was still doing posts in 2010... very nice work.)
I like the way he has the wings - a more developed black/grey theme that hews to the original and yet has a much nicer look than the dull grey from the covers. Now we're cookin here! Thanks for the inspiration Kevin.
So the dilemma is this... stick to the simple or go off the ranch? I'm not looking to go much beyond this scheme, but I'm going to be digging to see how I can enrich the red/orange/yellows here to make them more evocative. Interestingly, the picture I used in my post last year has a lot of influence from the same old covers - that artist and I have the same idea.
Wish me luck on this one...
So speaking of paint job, I'm trying to figure out how to paint the damn thing. My mind wanders back to 1979 when I first got involved in D&D. My intros to Red Dragons looked a little something like this:
(Holmes box picture from http://xeveninti.blogspot.com/ )
Yea, I like that, iconic, old school, always how I picture.. WAIT!!! What is up with those damn wings!?!
The grey wings are a theme that has popped up before, with the cockatrices - they had leathery grey wings according to ye-olde AD&D Monster Manual. A check of the AD&D book, and going back to OD&D Monsters & Treasures doesn't help - colors were not really described. That's not a problem, per se, but I'm still at a loss what the deal is with the grey wings. There's something I'm not liking about this deal.
(Anyone know why the fascination with the grey leathery wings theme?)
Then I saw this by an artist known as Kevin Mayle. (From here... http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=workshop&thread=969&page=1#22807 and he was still doing posts in 2010... very nice work.)
I like the way he has the wings - a more developed black/grey theme that hews to the original and yet has a much nicer look than the dull grey from the covers. Now we're cookin here! Thanks for the inspiration Kevin.
So the dilemma is this... stick to the simple or go off the ranch? I'm not looking to go much beyond this scheme, but I'm going to be digging to see how I can enrich the red/orange/yellows here to make them more evocative. Interestingly, the picture I used in my post last year has a lot of influence from the same old covers - that artist and I have the same idea.
Wish me luck on this one...
Friday, February 18, 2011
Plans for the weekend
Plumbing & Furniture... that should be some sort of game. "I rolled a 1! The pipes leak all over the place!"
Wait, that's probably gonna happen anyway. My first time soldering copper piping. If you have small children or weak constitutions, you probably should stay away - the cussing will be epic.
Anyway, I'll finish up on my 5 OWM/Reaper orcs. It took about a week to crank out 5 of them - probably about 12 to 15 hours of work in them but it's worth it - they look great and the emulation of a particular theme came out like I hoped. I'm also extra-grossifying the OWM orc shaman, but I'll let the Februrary minis recap tell that story.
Next on the list is a quick 'break' of two old Citadel ghosts in a neat fashion, then I'm moving on to "the piece of shit that shall be cool" WotC Red Dragon. With that, I'll conclude all 39 of my "primed" list I started in January. What will I do after? I should be getting some archers in a minis exchange soon, so I'll have my DBA Sumerian I/1a army waiting to be done... but more OWM pretties first!
Oh and if anyone has a spare Merry/Pippen for the Games Workshop Mines of Moria game... I tossed them out by accident when I was separating the sprues. I'm still a little WTF over that...
So all that and hopefully, hopefully... @thePrincessWife will take on Alaxus in our OD&D solo game! She's rid of the cursed "fancy sword" and hired some extra muscle to take on the 8 rotting things, 8 piles of bones (they're not sure if they're alive or not.. and I'm not telling -yet-) and one "something" that closed a door by pointing at it. We'll see how it all turns out... I'm excited! :)
Wait, that's probably gonna happen anyway. My first time soldering copper piping. If you have small children or weak constitutions, you probably should stay away - the cussing will be epic.
Anyway, I'll finish up on my 5 OWM/Reaper orcs. It took about a week to crank out 5 of them - probably about 12 to 15 hours of work in them but it's worth it - they look great and the emulation of a particular theme came out like I hoped. I'm also extra-grossifying the OWM orc shaman, but I'll let the Februrary minis recap tell that story.
Next on the list is a quick 'break' of two old Citadel ghosts in a neat fashion, then I'm moving on to "the piece of shit that shall be cool" WotC Red Dragon. With that, I'll conclude all 39 of my "primed" list I started in January. What will I do after? I should be getting some archers in a minis exchange soon, so I'll have my DBA Sumerian I/1a army waiting to be done... but more OWM pretties first!
Oh and if anyone has a spare Merry/Pippen for the Games Workshop Mines of Moria game... I tossed them out by accident when I was separating the sprues. I'm still a little WTF over that...
So all that and hopefully, hopefully... @thePrincessWife will take on Alaxus in our OD&D solo game! She's rid of the cursed "fancy sword" and hired some extra muscle to take on the 8 rotting things, 8 piles of bones (they're not sure if they're alive or not.. and I'm not telling -yet-) and one "something" that closed a door by pointing at it. We'll see how it all turns out... I'm excited! :)
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
HOTT + OD&D Swords & Spells
I'm an idiot because I didn't think to look at how it adjudicated magic - probably the biggest thing keeping me from implementing HOTT style mass combat into my games using PCs. It wasn't including PCs into the elements that bothered me, no, I handle that like this:
When a PC/NPC becomes a HOTT element or "leads" (is merged with) a HOTT element (a PC/NPC may be integrated with a unit, like a HOTT general is part of a unit), they have Hits To Kill = their # of HD. Each time a PC/NPC has a kill scored against the unit they lead (or themselves if they are an individual unit), they lose a HTK. Upon 0 HTK, they are dead.
If a PC/NPC leads a HOTT unit that is destroyed and the PC/NPC survives, they become their own element.
PC/NPC individual elements function as regular HOTT elements for purposes of movement, flanking, closing the door maneuvers, melee, etc.
A PC/NPC may be designated as the side's general - a general does not have to be a PC/NPC.Easy-peasy. I'm still tinkering on any bonuses/minuses, and number of attacks, but I'm leaning towards Chainmail inspiration to say you have to be 4th level or above to add any bonuses to the Combat Factor.
Anyway, it was magic that gave me heartburn. I wanted the mages and clerics to be able to do their thing. Turn a unit of undead? Sure! Frag a unit with a Fireball? You betcha! Magic Missile? Uh... wait...
Magic Users and Clerics would not waste spells of an individual basis, like Magic Missile, unless they were in a man-to-man or skirmish battle (at which point, we'd move from HOTT to Man to Man and adjudicate the contest.) They would use area effect spells or spells that would influence multiple men. But, you may say... what about scale? Ah, that's a very good point.
HOTT makes no real distinction of how many men a unit ("element") represents. It could be 10, 50, 100 - the idea was abstract. So while a Magic Missile might affect a unit at a 10:1 scale, at a 50 or 100 to one, it's not really worth the effort. So when would *I* use HOTT instead of the normal D&D rules?
Well, HOTT says you create an army from 24 "points", and DBA (HOTT's Ancient Warfare parent) puts you at 12 units per army. So let's average that. The biggest battle I've run with my players is about 30 enemies and 15 PCs/hirelings. So a 20 or 50:1 scale feels about right... 12 * 20 = 240 creatures and I don't ever see myself adjudicating 240 enemies versus the players on a 1:1 scale, and at 50:1, we're up to ~ 600 guys in an "army" which I definitely would not adjudicate at 1:1!
So.. the magic missile. A magic missile taking out a single person in a 20 man unit is not going to seriously affect it all that much. So we can ignore Magic Missile... but what about sleep? A sleep spell taking out the max result of 2d8 HD affected could degrade/disrupt a unit consisting of 20 1 HD creatures.
Swords & Spells put the area of Sleep's effect at an inch (10 yards) and punted the specifics of the effects back to the spell listing in OD&D. In my mind, at @ 2d8 HD affected at 1", it's enough to hit a unit or two, although the Game Referee might have to be creative on how low you could go before a unit as a whole wasn't affected. Chainmail didn't have Sleep, but it did have Slowness and Confusion which affects 1 figure: 20 men (at the 20:1 scale - which the Fantasy Supplement is scaled at.)
The end result of all this comparing S&S/CM to my HOTT+D&D is that I have some metrics to help me in deciding how to "whittle down" what spells will truly affect a unit. In all honesty, CM is probably going to be the bigger help, although S&S does a nice job in ranges.
Now I just need to find some of my Dark Ages guys/gals who are brave enough to test some of this out...
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Pendragon Solo game w/wife - Laughing giants and Picts
For about a year or so, I've been reading SirLarkin's blog The RPG Corner for updates of his Great Pendragon Campaign solo game with his wife. As far as I can tell, we're the only two who are actively blogging about RPG'ing with our significant others. I'm not sure what that says, aside from maybe we're either very lucky or very crazy ... or both ... but it's been a fun ride reading about Sir Herringdale, his wife's character. I have to confess, when the old valiant knight finally passes on, I'm going to feel some sadness.
Anyway... the whole deal sounded like great fun and I know that @thePrincessWife loves the Merlin tales. I've never been much of any opinion about them, but between SirLarkins and her, I was convinced to seek out a 1st edition box of Pendragon and give it a shot. It's sat on my bookshelf for about 6 months now, and it wasn't until I could get the Great Pendragon Campaign sourcebook as POD book from RPGNow that I finally decided to start playing.
@thePrincessWife's RPG experiences are singularly D&D, so I wanted something that we both could "quick start" into. Fortunately, Green Knight provided a "How To Play Pendragon" demo that is available on the web (not sure if it's legal or not, but since it's billed as a demonstration module, I'm guessing it's nothing I'll get sued over.) This covers the basics of combat, traits, passions and skills as well as providing an easy-peasy scenario that leads right to the wacking of swords and stabbing of lances.
So my wife was given the character of Sir Caradoc of Malahaut (I don't know if it's supposed to be the same Caradoc as of Arthurian legend, but we weren't focused on that.) and after being told he was a giant of a man, she played him as a fun-loving, lets-all-have-a-ball knight, even when he was getting punched off his horse. But more of that in a minute...
So the scenario has Sir Caradoc about to cross a bridge when he notices a knight's party tent (aka pavilion), a couple of warhorses and a shield whose heraldry Caradoc didn't recognize. (she didn't make her Heraldry roll... off by 1!) A squire with a ridiculous Monty-Python-esque French accent asked Caradoc to halt and joust with his Lord, as the mysterious Blue Knight wished to see if all zeeze Breeteesh kin-ites are ze bezt zat zey all zey zey arrrrrr! (.. if all these British knights are the best that they all say they are. Told ya it was bad.)
Sir Caradoc, being all chivalrous and honorly (and the wife wanting to do some old fashioned Medieval wacking) accepted the challenge. Now he being squireless, Caradoc was on his own lugging his crap, so he set up while the Blue Knight waited on the other side of the field. There would be three passes of the lance and three swings of the sword.
The combat system of opposed rolls at or under the skill used is a neat and easy mechanic and very much concentrates on mano-v-mano. Unfortunately, it went badly for Caradoc on his horse. The first pass, Caradoc was able to bring up his shield and deflect the Blue Knight's lance, but it was clearly the visitor's point. The second pass, Caradoc shattered his lance and took a nice glancing blow that he'd feel tomorrow. After dismounting, getting his own backup lance and remounting, Caradoc took to the field for the third pass. He didn't get himself and his lance set right because the Blue Knight not only connected, but Caradoc was knocked out of his saddle and landed in a heap. THUD! (@thePrincessWife fumbled the final pass, so I ruled she fell off her horse due to not having a squire help Caradoc prepare adequately.)
So it looked like the Blue Knight was going to best Caradoc, but we had the sword battle to deal with. This whole time, Caradoc was laughing and saluting his opponent. Despite being knocked for almost half his hit points, he was enjoying the contest.
The sword fight was short, brutal and composed primarily of Caradoc knocking the Blue Knight around. @thePrincessWife lost the first blow which her armor soaked up, but handily beat out the Blue Knight the last two, landing a pretty damn good shot that rattled the Blue Knight through and through. Having each won a contest, the Blue Knight revealed himself as Sir Norman St. Germaine, here in Britain to travel to the tourney at Camelot and pit himself against the best. Having seen that British knights were indeed honorable, chivalrous as well as being able to take a lot of punishment and then dish it out, he asked Caradoc for an invite, which was gladly given. The crazeeee squire with ze out-rahgious French ahhc-cent applied a great deal of effective first aid to Caradoc and off they traveled to Camelot. Close curtain.
We then decided to start rolling up a character for @thePrincessWife. Thus, Sir Smitely of the Wall, a Pict knight with a family who knows a thing or two about heraldry, was born. We got most of the way through chargen, which is a game in itself, when the eyes started glazing over and we knocked it off for awhile. We were up in the Dells to have some alone time, not crunch numbers! Still, the whole deal seems pretty neat, and I'm going to use one of the beginning adventures from the Pendragon adventure book "Tales of Chivalry and Romance" to put us on our way to learning this game.
No, I'm not buying Arthurian miniatures... er... yet...
Anyway... the whole deal sounded like great fun and I know that @thePrincessWife loves the Merlin tales. I've never been much of any opinion about them, but between SirLarkins and her, I was convinced to seek out a 1st edition box of Pendragon and give it a shot. It's sat on my bookshelf for about 6 months now, and it wasn't until I could get the Great Pendragon Campaign sourcebook as POD book from RPGNow that I finally decided to start playing.
@thePrincessWife's RPG experiences are singularly D&D, so I wanted something that we both could "quick start" into. Fortunately, Green Knight provided a "How To Play Pendragon" demo that is available on the web (not sure if it's legal or not, but since it's billed as a demonstration module, I'm guessing it's nothing I'll get sued over.) This covers the basics of combat, traits, passions and skills as well as providing an easy-peasy scenario that leads right to the wacking of swords and stabbing of lances.
So my wife was given the character of Sir Caradoc of Malahaut (I don't know if it's supposed to be the same Caradoc as of Arthurian legend, but we weren't focused on that.) and after being told he was a giant of a man, she played him as a fun-loving, lets-all-have-a-ball knight, even when he was getting punched off his horse. But more of that in a minute...
So the scenario has Sir Caradoc about to cross a bridge when he notices a knight's party tent (aka pavilion), a couple of warhorses and a shield whose heraldry Caradoc didn't recognize. (she didn't make her Heraldry roll... off by 1!) A squire with a ridiculous Monty-Python-esque French accent asked Caradoc to halt and joust with his Lord, as the mysterious Blue Knight wished to see if all zeeze Breeteesh kin-ites are ze bezt zat zey all zey zey arrrrrr! (.. if all these British knights are the best that they all say they are. Told ya it was bad.)
Sir Caradoc, being all chivalrous and honorly (and the wife wanting to do some old fashioned Medieval wacking) accepted the challenge. Now he being squireless, Caradoc was on his own lugging his crap, so he set up while the Blue Knight waited on the other side of the field. There would be three passes of the lance and three swings of the sword.
The combat system of opposed rolls at or under the skill used is a neat and easy mechanic and very much concentrates on mano-v-mano. Unfortunately, it went badly for Caradoc on his horse. The first pass, Caradoc was able to bring up his shield and deflect the Blue Knight's lance, but it was clearly the visitor's point. The second pass, Caradoc shattered his lance and took a nice glancing blow that he'd feel tomorrow. After dismounting, getting his own backup lance and remounting, Caradoc took to the field for the third pass. He didn't get himself and his lance set right because the Blue Knight not only connected, but Caradoc was knocked out of his saddle and landed in a heap. THUD! (@thePrincessWife fumbled the final pass, so I ruled she fell off her horse due to not having a squire help Caradoc prepare adequately.)
So it looked like the Blue Knight was going to best Caradoc, but we had the sword battle to deal with. This whole time, Caradoc was laughing and saluting his opponent. Despite being knocked for almost half his hit points, he was enjoying the contest.
The sword fight was short, brutal and composed primarily of Caradoc knocking the Blue Knight around. @thePrincessWife lost the first blow which her armor soaked up, but handily beat out the Blue Knight the last two, landing a pretty damn good shot that rattled the Blue Knight through and through. Having each won a contest, the Blue Knight revealed himself as Sir Norman St. Germaine, here in Britain to travel to the tourney at Camelot and pit himself against the best. Having seen that British knights were indeed honorable, chivalrous as well as being able to take a lot of punishment and then dish it out, he asked Caradoc for an invite, which was gladly given. The crazeeee squire with ze out-rahgious French ahhc-cent applied a great deal of effective first aid to Caradoc and off they traveled to Camelot. Close curtain.
We then decided to start rolling up a character for @thePrincessWife. Thus, Sir Smitely of the Wall, a Pict knight with a family who knows a thing or two about heraldry, was born. We got most of the way through chargen, which is a game in itself, when the eyes started glazing over and we knocked it off for awhile. We were up in the Dells to have some alone time, not crunch numbers! Still, the whole deal seems pretty neat, and I'm going to use one of the beginning adventures from the Pendragon adventure book "Tales of Chivalry and Romance" to put us on our way to learning this game.
No, I'm not buying Arthurian miniatures... er... yet...
Monday, February 14, 2011
Quick Review - Knowledge Illuminates
This is a quick review of the new module Knowledge Illuminates by Tim Shorts of GM Games / Gothridge Manor blog. It is in PDF format for $4.00. Tim generously sent me a copy and it's much appreciated. I've not played the module. It's made for Swords & Wizardy - although I'm not sure if the flavor of S&W is Complete or Core.
So... quick review in a list of pros and cons. There are spoilers so read no further if you intend on being a player.
So... quick review in a list of pros and cons. There are spoilers so read no further if you intend on being a player.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Minis Madness
I'm in full swing of the winter Minis-madness that seems to grip me. I think I have to be a bit crazy to be putting in all this time for little figures that people are going to push around the table and (in the case of monsters) try to get removed from the table as fast as possible.
Part of it is that when I'm modeling or painting, I'm in a zen place. This probably is how I spent some of my happiest moments as a young lad, downstairs working on my model balsa airplanes or plastic models while my Dad was working in his woodshop. One of my earliest/youngest memories is of putting together these small three or four piece biplane models and then going to watch Emergency! after a fun-filled birthday party at my best friend's father's house. So none of this is probably a surprise.
I've given myself some definitive goals of getting my backlog reduced. I'm doing my best to not purchase any minis in February and March (until the Spring Auction at Games Plus where I hope to fill out my need for Sumerian or generic Biblical archers. If you have these in 1/72 or 20mm size, let's talk trade!)
Anyway... it's a madness because I'm finally feeling "good" about what I'm doing and thus it has become a positive feedback loop. An addiction of sorts. I have my new Winsor/Newton #1 and #2 brushes (quick review - OMGBUYTHESENOWTHEYROCK!) and I've set up my space down in the basement (I feel the influence of Dad there...) and I just do my thing. I have my assembly line, my quota/primed/modeled box and my "waiting to be picked" box. I come home and as soon as I'm done with required stuff, I almost feel like a kid escaping to his favorite game or hobby - back to the brush and modeling.
This month, I've done some serious customization on one of the Otherworld Miniature orcs - eschewing the dwarf head hand for a hand holding a green-stuff shield. I've also had to do some creative adjustments on an Otherworlds skeleton - pinning the shoulders resulted in a nightmare and I thought I would have to trash one of the figures. That was prevented by a timely suggestion of a rotting tabard over the shoulders to cover the mound of JB Weld I put to hold the damn arms in place. Great figures, very easy to fuck up if you get the pinning and gluing wrong.
I should mention again the new brushes. Up till now, I've been using mostly Loew-Cornell brushes. Not the worst in the world, but these guys have been beat up and no good points at all. When I started using my Winsor Newtons - wow. I felt like I gained a level in painting just by tools alone. I'm amazed at what I can do with these brushes. They require more attention and I definitely lick/shape these brushes a lot more, but the results hopefully will speak for themselves. Provided I can take decent photos this month... Anyway - the tools definitely make the job.
This weekend will see me heading to the Dells for an "adults only" get-away to be alone - maybe play some more solo OD&D and a sample game of Pendragon.
So why is there a tiny bit of me grumbling about the loss of two painting days...? Madness, I tell you. Wait till the weather changes and Harley in the garage starts growling. *sigh*
Part of it is that when I'm modeling or painting, I'm in a zen place. This probably is how I spent some of my happiest moments as a young lad, downstairs working on my model balsa airplanes or plastic models while my Dad was working in his woodshop. One of my earliest/youngest memories is of putting together these small three or four piece biplane models and then going to watch Emergency! after a fun-filled birthday party at my best friend's father's house. So none of this is probably a surprise.
I've given myself some definitive goals of getting my backlog reduced. I'm doing my best to not purchase any minis in February and March (until the Spring Auction at Games Plus where I hope to fill out my need for Sumerian or generic Biblical archers. If you have these in 1/72 or 20mm size, let's talk trade!)
Anyway... it's a madness because I'm finally feeling "good" about what I'm doing and thus it has become a positive feedback loop. An addiction of sorts. I have my new Winsor/Newton #1 and #2 brushes (quick review - OMGBUYTHESENOWTHEYROCK!) and I've set up my space down in the basement (I feel the influence of Dad there...) and I just do my thing. I have my assembly line, my quota/primed/modeled box and my "waiting to be picked" box. I come home and as soon as I'm done with required stuff, I almost feel like a kid escaping to his favorite game or hobby - back to the brush and modeling.
This month, I've done some serious customization on one of the Otherworld Miniature orcs - eschewing the dwarf head hand for a hand holding a green-stuff shield. I've also had to do some creative adjustments on an Otherworlds skeleton - pinning the shoulders resulted in a nightmare and I thought I would have to trash one of the figures. That was prevented by a timely suggestion of a rotting tabard over the shoulders to cover the mound of JB Weld I put to hold the damn arms in place. Great figures, very easy to fuck up if you get the pinning and gluing wrong.
I should mention again the new brushes. Up till now, I've been using mostly Loew-Cornell brushes. Not the worst in the world, but these guys have been beat up and no good points at all. When I started using my Winsor Newtons - wow. I felt like I gained a level in painting just by tools alone. I'm amazed at what I can do with these brushes. They require more attention and I definitely lick/shape these brushes a lot more, but the results hopefully will speak for themselves. Provided I can take decent photos this month... Anyway - the tools definitely make the job.
This weekend will see me heading to the Dells for an "adults only" get-away to be alone - maybe play some more solo OD&D and a sample game of Pendragon.
So why is there a tiny bit of me grumbling about the loss of two painting days...? Madness, I tell you. Wait till the weather changes and Harley in the garage starts growling. *sigh*
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Internetpeeps Power Activate!
(I have heard that phrase somewhere else...)
Anyway... I am looking for a generic CCG card creator - preferably online. I've tried Trading Card Maker.NET and it was too clunky for my purposes. The rest are geared specifically towards Yugio and other genres. I've tried using a MtG card creator for the desktop and it kinda works, but I'm not 100% happy with it.
Why?
With all the discussion on cards and people liking "having" things, it occurs to me that having someone's magic items (or items they suspect are magic) as "cards" might be an interesting possibility. I can put the legendary name on it, if they know it, or just a generic reminder. This also does something for me, I can have a master sheet of what's been handed out so that I'm not doing a character sheet inventory every so often. It could make it more engaging to them and gives them something tangible.
I just thought it'd be kinda neat and I didn't want to do something that looked too generic.
(Edited to update)
Paladin in comments pointed me here: http://carjackedseraphim.blogspot.com/2011/02/old-school-gamer-bling.html which points me to GoDeckYourself.com. I think this is simple enough even for this old guy. Thanks!
Anyway... I am looking for a generic CCG card creator - preferably online. I've tried Trading Card Maker.NET and it was too clunky for my purposes. The rest are geared specifically towards Yugio and other genres. I've tried using a MtG card creator for the desktop and it kinda works, but I'm not 100% happy with it.
Why?
With all the discussion on cards and people liking "having" things, it occurs to me that having someone's magic items (or items they suspect are magic) as "cards" might be an interesting possibility. I can put the legendary name on it, if they know it, or just a generic reminder. This also does something for me, I can have a master sheet of what's been handed out so that I'm not doing a character sheet inventory every so often. It could make it more engaging to them and gives them something tangible.
I just thought it'd be kinda neat and I didn't want to do something that looked too generic.
(Edited to update)
Paladin in comments pointed me here: http://carjackedseraphim.blogspot.com/2011/02/old-school-gamer-bling.html which points me to GoDeckYourself.com. I think this is simple enough even for this old guy. Thanks!
Followup on "Revisiting Alignment"
Inspiration comes from unexpected places.
I have a slight confession to make. I'm very much the tinkerer, but I also have this odd habit of avoiding sources of inspiration from other people's games. I've taken some great rules (d30, Shields Shall Be Splintered!, Philotomy's Combat) but for the most part, I tend to be Mr. Homebrew/Homegrown. So I'll download and read a lot of great stuff, but I don't lift it as-is.
So while I posted my thoughts Monday on alignment, I still wasn't entirely happy. I didn't like the thought that to the players, this all would still be arbitrary and I still was missing "something". Then Rob Conley laid a comment on me:
BTW, reading Majestic Wilderness was a treat to jogging the brain cells. Get it. No really, it's worth it, just for some seeds. I know all 137(x2) of you already know that but hey...
So this is what I came up with for "the Light" and sent to my players as a starting point for discussion:
The Tenents of the Light
Simple and direct, but gives my clerics something to hang their hat on. I've also started talking to clerics of the "old gods" (Jorann who worships Tangorin, and Kjeld who worships Vanir).
Edited 2/10 to add:
Here's a link to the campaign wiki's description on Tangadorin - one of the Judges Guild "Unknown Gods" entries that a player of mine uses as his cleric character's deity. The creed/rules for Tangadorin are there. The player helped me to come up with some of these.
I have a slight confession to make. I'm very much the tinkerer, but I also have this odd habit of avoiding sources of inspiration from other people's games. I've taken some great rules (d30, Shields Shall Be Splintered!, Philotomy's Combat) but for the most part, I tend to be Mr. Homebrew/Homegrown. So I'll download and read a lot of great stuff, but I don't lift it as-is.
So while I posted my thoughts Monday on alignment, I still wasn't entirely happy. I didn't like the thought that to the players, this all would still be arbitrary and I still was missing "something". Then Rob Conley laid a comment on me:
For clerics and paladins (myrmidons and the other crazy stuff I use in MW) I spell out what the creed and exceptions are in my one page handout. Players taking those classes catch on pretty quick to how things work.That sound of "click click BOOM" was the gears in my head sliding into place. Pretty much every religion has it's expectations and limitations - so write them down and codify them. Make the players figure out how to follow the Light, but with something to anchor on, they can figure it out and explore it themselves. It gives me the yardstick to measure their actions.
...
However it is import to have some type of culture/society. Even if it the default merrie olde england fantasy kingdom. This give context to the player in which to make moral decisions.
BTW, reading Majestic Wilderness was a treat to jogging the brain cells. Get it. No really, it's worth it, just for some seeds. I know all 137(x2) of you already know that but hey...
So this is what I came up with for "the Light" and sent to my players as a starting point for discussion:
The Tenents of the Light
- Protect your fellow human against the forces of darkness, but do not let the acts of Chaos and Darkness become your weapon of protection.
- Show mercy for the weak and unprotected, but show no mercy to the forces of Darkness and Chaos that threaten our great civilization.
- Truth shall be the beacon of Light that clears the darkness from our souls and brings us back to our rightful place. Be truthful and honest in all that you do.
- Stand forth and show no fear, lead your fellow humans to work together to overcome all that is lost.
- The Holy Priests, Champions and the King are the flames of the Light that shine in the darkness. Follow them and their orders. Without their orders, Chaos will darken the world.
Simple and direct, but gives my clerics something to hang their hat on. I've also started talking to clerics of the "old gods" (Jorann who worships Tangorin, and Kjeld who worships Vanir).
Edited 2/10 to add:
Here's a link to the campaign wiki's description on Tangadorin - one of the Judges Guild "Unknown Gods" entries that a player of mine uses as his cleric character's deity. The creed/rules for Tangadorin are there. The player helped me to come up with some of these.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
OD&D Solo game w/wife - The fancy sword of "I don't think so..."
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| Calypso (the miniature) Yes, I'm painting him. |
I took the opportunity to help @thePrincessWife plot some strategy on how to fight the things that she saw surrounding the probable coffin of Alaxus. I suggested ways of using the dungeon terrain (the door) and gave tips on how to use oil/missile weapons, plus spears in the second rank. So off they went... and shortly, they found themselves confronting the ratling king, his host of ratling followers and two very nasty giant weasels. The vast majority of ratlings went down from an NPC's Sleep spell, but the weasels proved very difficult. @thePrincessWife sacrificed her shield arm (Shields Shall Be Splintered!) to prevent a blow that would have taken her to 3 hit points (the weasel attached and was sucking hp automatically per round until successfully damaged to cause it to break off). The brave cleric of Patharcus healed Aeli, only to die from a weasel's bite shortly thereafter. In the end, the other hirelings proved their worth by defeating the weasels and the Ratling King was killed in a fight to the death (he wanted to retreat, but there was no other way out, so it was to the death.)
I am coaching @thePrincessWife on using some of the variant rules for OD&D to make the fighter an interesting choice, as well as giving her some options to increase her survivability as a solo player. The ones I have been using mainly are the "Cleave" (if she kills an opponent, she can immediately attack another opponent of lesser HD in that same round, provided the opponent is within melee range - 10') and the "Multiple Attacks per round" at FM Level - Creature HD = # of attacks.
With the ratling king dead, she could now retrieve the sword with crystal runes embedded in the blade that glowed an odd blue. Tironell, the NPC mage, saw the blade for what is was: the fabled Runeblade that legends say slew Alaxus! So Aeli bent down to pick up the blade and...
... 10 minutes later, she realized she was happily cleaning and sharpening her "fancy blade" (the one with runes on it that say "Covet Me"). Everyone else is looking at her like she's out of her mind. Shrugging it off, she took the large silver key that dangled about the ratling king's neck, noting that it was very similar to the key displayed in various murals found in Alaxus's tomb - and hopefully the key that would open the sepulcher doors! With only 8 hp and no cleric, she decided to return to town to heal and discuss the Runeblade.
Thus began some of the better roleplaying that we've had so far in the two plus years of this on-again, off-again campaign. Aeli was very reluctant to admit that there might be something wrong with her "fancy sword" but when pressed by Tironell, she tried to pick up the Runeblade again. 10 minutes later, she realizes Tironell is staring at her while she's cleaning her precious fancy sword. So, as a test, he offers to trade her his dagger for her sword as a permanent exchange. 10 minutes later, she realizes she's cleaning her sword (AGAIN) while Tironell is hiding behind the door, with the dagger stuck into the door about where his head HAD been!
It was at this point that Aeli finally admitted that yes, something might be wrong. Next game, we'll be resolving this with a trip to the Patriarch priest to have Remove Curse cast upon her.
In game terms, @thePrincessWife has a sword with some personality! She's not entirely sure that the sword has been beneficial to her, although it seems to have been a good sword. She is playing up her character to be a "damn the torpedos" type of person who doesn't like to admit she's wrong and wants to present a brave front. She also likes her pretties as well (life/art imitation? *grin*) and this "fancy sword" has been her mainstay, although @thePrincessWife said she really does want the Runeblade.
So on to the next game! Will she be forced to confront whatever lies in Alaxus's sepulcher with the Runeblade or the "fancy sword"?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
This is why the d30 rocks...
“... Still more Goblins poured forth. Irem and Mazlor took grave wounds and a score of Goblins converged on our four man front, threatening to drive them back into the river! Then, to our horror, the great Goblin shaman and his elite guard emerged from the tunnels. Our forces were split, our front line crumbling and our most powerful adversaries had now just entered the fray.This is a completely awesome adventure recap from a player's POV. Man, I want to play in this game! Oh wait...
The situation was dire. Then, when things looked darkest, a brilliant flash of light erupted from Treen and streaked across the cavern, striking the Goblin Shaman. The Shamans head turned to pulp, like a rotten tomato under hammer and he fell to the floor lifeless and twitching.”
Heh. It was a fun Sunday.
26 goblins + one shaman vs. a party of 8 PCs + 7 hirelings. I'm running the goblins like the slimy bastards that they are, pinning the players down with crossbow teams and the goblins charging the ford to cut off the attack. The players were unloading spells left and right.
Then... the Goblin shaman comes out and the player of Treen invokes the d30 rule and wastes the shaman with a single magic missile that somehow delivered 17 hit points of damage. Blam! One d12 = 12 roll later and there are now 12 surrendered goblins (4 were KIA, 10 magically sleeping) keening a lament over their fallen leader and the fact that they will "never reach perfection" from "the Master."
Talk about awesoming up the players. Now they have a new pretty wand and some very evil looking arm wraps with bits of a strange ebony rock embedded within to play with.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Revisiting alignment
Quick recap on my opinion on alignment. I'm ambivalent towards alignment. I use a form of Jeff Rient's "Ragnorak" explanation of Law vs. Chaos with the opinion that most of us probably lean towards Neutral. For the first two years of my AD&D campaign, I've kept alignment out of focus because there was no need. For my game, alignment's not important.
Except when it is.
Clerics are a good class to be in. You advance quick, you have decent HD (d6) and you get the best of both worlds - spell-casting and fighting. You can use all armors, there's no real disadvantage to blade vs. blunt and you can be assured of at least one chance at saving your own ass - Cure Light Wounds. You have access to ALL your level spells (assuming you're not a DM like me that makes the clerics go ask the gods for 3rd level and above spells...) unlike the poor mage that has to collect/amass libraries.
So where' the catch? Ah, you're subordinate to a deity(ies)/religion that might have its own agenda. Membership has its privileges and responsibilities.
I have two clerics of "the Light" that are 4th level. In OD&D terms, they're "heroes" and they are starting to gain a reputation of their own. (It also helps to have an annoying hireling who runs around proclaiming the grand stories of the "Mighty Mazlor" and "Amazing Alana"! The other players are cracking up now everytime "Isty" is hired to come along.) So they are cranking along... except now I'm starting to show them a new side to being a cleric... being responsible TO your ideals.
The Light is "lawful" in that it has rules, structure and believes in a code of conduct and morality. The good of mankind, the benefit of all, we're all in this together, kumbayah. No, really. It has a hierarchy but it also has people at the grassroots who really do believe and are trying to do the best they can. The people want to have some hope and after the Doom, "the Light" became the official religion of the Kingdom.
So now Mazlor and Alana are more than just joe-priests running around exploring dungeons and getting rich. The actions they do have consequences. The choices they make will affect more than just the party. The hirelings look to them (as they do the other 4th and above level players) as heroes, as bigger than life and they watch what they do. So do the deities. They're not high priests, but the choices they make can and will affect them.
So if the characters do something that I as the deity in question would not like, the clerics will face consequences. At this point, it was the "light" not giving Mazlor a 2nd level spell back for a couple of days. He'd not stood up to what was (in "the Light"'s opinion) a chaotic/evil act and so there was a small consequence.
Alignment won't be a huge DM hammer. It'll be reactive, but there will be reminders. This gave the players on Sunday a stage to really have a discussion on what was right (from their character's POV) and they thought hard about it and RP'ed it pretty good. I only asked "clerics, how do you feel about this" and now Mazlor/Alana are giving thought to actions - as they should be! They are heroes of the Light, they should be promoting what the Light is about. Benefits have costs.
It's still a fine wire and I want to avoid what Mazlor's player spelled out:
That seems to fit well with me and it's something I'm going to continue to explore gently.
Except when it is.
Clerics are a good class to be in. You advance quick, you have decent HD (d6) and you get the best of both worlds - spell-casting and fighting. You can use all armors, there's no real disadvantage to blade vs. blunt and you can be assured of at least one chance at saving your own ass - Cure Light Wounds. You have access to ALL your level spells (assuming you're not a DM like me that makes the clerics go ask the gods for 3rd level and above spells...) unlike the poor mage that has to collect/amass libraries.
So where' the catch? Ah, you're subordinate to a deity(ies)/religion that might have its own agenda. Membership has its privileges and responsibilities.
I have two clerics of "the Light" that are 4th level. In OD&D terms, they're "heroes" and they are starting to gain a reputation of their own. (It also helps to have an annoying hireling who runs around proclaiming the grand stories of the "Mighty Mazlor" and "Amazing Alana"! The other players are cracking up now everytime "Isty" is hired to come along.) So they are cranking along... except now I'm starting to show them a new side to being a cleric... being responsible TO your ideals.
The Light is "lawful" in that it has rules, structure and believes in a code of conduct and morality. The good of mankind, the benefit of all, we're all in this together, kumbayah. No, really. It has a hierarchy but it also has people at the grassroots who really do believe and are trying to do the best they can. The people want to have some hope and after the Doom, "the Light" became the official religion of the Kingdom.
So now Mazlor and Alana are more than just joe-priests running around exploring dungeons and getting rich. The actions they do have consequences. The choices they make will affect more than just the party. The hirelings look to them (as they do the other 4th and above level players) as heroes, as bigger than life and they watch what they do. So do the deities. They're not high priests, but the choices they make can and will affect them.
So if the characters do something that I as the deity in question would not like, the clerics will face consequences. At this point, it was the "light" not giving Mazlor a 2nd level spell back for a couple of days. He'd not stood up to what was (in "the Light"'s opinion) a chaotic/evil act and so there was a small consequence.
Alignment won't be a huge DM hammer. It'll be reactive, but there will be reminders. This gave the players on Sunday a stage to really have a discussion on what was right (from their character's POV) and they thought hard about it and RP'ed it pretty good. I only asked "clerics, how do you feel about this" and now Mazlor/Alana are giving thought to actions - as they should be! They are heroes of the Light, they should be promoting what the Light is about. Benefits have costs.
It's still a fine wire and I want to avoid what Mazlor's player spelled out:
"But trying to restrict/penalize player actions very easily and frequently slips over the line into rigid stereotypes and/or a DM trying to dictate values.Trust me, buddy, neither do I. I won't stop players from doing things, nor do I have a "code of conduct/values" that everyone has to follow. If Mazlor wants to tie up helpless prisoners and brain them, I'm not going to stop him. If "the Light" disagrees with his actions/choices, he'll find out. If he goes over to the Dark Side, well, that's awesome as well and I'll have no problem with helping him adjust to his new world - but it will be his choices and his decisions, not mine. I won't use alignment as a limit, but I will use it as a consequence or reaction.
So far, I haven’t had problems with feeling handcuffed or being pigeonholed, but I’m a little bit apprehensive and I hope whatever you’re planning involving alignment isn’t going to change that.
For example, I liked how Phalleum and Averin have both served as heads of the local Temple of Light, but were totally different people with very different attitudes and philosophies towards the Marshall, other religions, etc.
That seems to fit well with me and it's something I'm going to continue to explore gently.
Friday, February 4, 2011
In the minority...
Hello all! I survived the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011, although I made myself very sick by too much exertion at the snow removal. I was already with a cold and I pushed myself too hard. Go figure, me do that? Heh.
Anyway, back for a moment and I wanted to mention something that's an unexpected item that I have to take care of due to the nature of my campaign being "drop in/drop out" ... player/character maintenance.
Judging from a recent thread I participated in on K&KA, I'm apparently in the minority when it comes to gaming. Most of the people I chatted with seem to game with mainly an already established group of social friends, and that doesn't lead to much new blood? Me? I have had close to 30 people participate in the campaign since it started two years ago. About half of those stay in touch or continue to game, most have been onsie-twosies. That's OK! That was something I brought into the West Marches game and while it has given me grief a couple of times (in the form of players who didn't match the social/campaign style/flow that we have going) on the whole it's been a positive, rewarding thing.
Still, I'm in the unusual position today of "doing maintenance" in the form of contacting long silent players to see if they ever plan on returning or if I should retire their characters. I've already heard back from a couple, which is a nice surprise - it's always nice to hear from the original players who've had to break away for life reasons. It's probably something that is particular to my style of campaign - the people with established gamer/social circles probably don't have to do this.
Another thing that I seem to be in the minority of, when it comes to "old/original gaming" is using email to conduct business or "in between games" activities. I do have a limit on what I can do/accomplish between games, usually subject to my ever-shrinking amount of free-time. I usually also limit this to transactional type of things or the results of stuff done off-table, like making scrolls, carousing, etc. To me, if I can limit the amount of "paperwork" like activities on game day, it's a benefit. And sometimes we have some great discussions/RP via email. Maybe it's because I'm comfortable with the medium, or maybe it's an aspect that my campaign group isn't a social friends group, although there are some overlaps between the two?
A couple of quick minis notes...
- Painting with a Winsor/Newton Series 7 brush is like moving from a demolition derby car to a NASCAR Sprint Cup series Late Model. Holy crap! I may have made the vast majority of my other brushes obsolete!
- JB Weld is going to become my friend. I love Otherworlds Miniatures, but some of the figures are decidedly difficult to pin/glue and one particular arm on one particular skeleton is giving me fits. I'm up to attempt #5.
- I also attempted serious sculpting with green stuff by making an orc shield! We'll see how it goes, I had to make the hand as well. It's going on one of the Otherworlds pig-nosed orcs, so I'm feeling "meh" about doing such a radical modification. If it works, I'm going to be thrilled!
Anyway, back for a moment and I wanted to mention something that's an unexpected item that I have to take care of due to the nature of my campaign being "drop in/drop out" ... player/character maintenance.
Judging from a recent thread I participated in on K&KA, I'm apparently in the minority when it comes to gaming. Most of the people I chatted with seem to game with mainly an already established group of social friends, and that doesn't lead to much new blood? Me? I have had close to 30 people participate in the campaign since it started two years ago. About half of those stay in touch or continue to game, most have been onsie-twosies. That's OK! That was something I brought into the West Marches game and while it has given me grief a couple of times (in the form of players who didn't match the social/campaign style/flow that we have going) on the whole it's been a positive, rewarding thing.
Still, I'm in the unusual position today of "doing maintenance" in the form of contacting long silent players to see if they ever plan on returning or if I should retire their characters. I've already heard back from a couple, which is a nice surprise - it's always nice to hear from the original players who've had to break away for life reasons. It's probably something that is particular to my style of campaign - the people with established gamer/social circles probably don't have to do this.
Another thing that I seem to be in the minority of, when it comes to "old/original gaming" is using email to conduct business or "in between games" activities. I do have a limit on what I can do/accomplish between games, usually subject to my ever-shrinking amount of free-time. I usually also limit this to transactional type of things or the results of stuff done off-table, like making scrolls, carousing, etc. To me, if I can limit the amount of "paperwork" like activities on game day, it's a benefit. And sometimes we have some great discussions/RP via email. Maybe it's because I'm comfortable with the medium, or maybe it's an aspect that my campaign group isn't a social friends group, although there are some overlaps between the two?
A couple of quick minis notes...
- Painting with a Winsor/Newton Series 7 brush is like moving from a demolition derby car to a NASCAR Sprint Cup series Late Model. Holy crap! I may have made the vast majority of my other brushes obsolete!
- JB Weld is going to become my friend. I love Otherworlds Miniatures, but some of the figures are decidedly difficult to pin/glue and one particular arm on one particular skeleton is giving me fits. I'm up to attempt #5.
- I also attempted serious sculpting with green stuff by making an orc shield! We'll see how it goes, I had to make the hand as well. It's going on one of the Otherworlds pig-nosed orcs, so I'm feeling "meh" about doing such a radical modification. If it works, I'm going to be thrilled!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
January Minis Painting recap
I'm going to start doing my minis recaps/picture posts as monthly updates, we'll see how this works.
I started the month with 103 minis primed/unpainted.
I added 104 miniatures this month:
I started the month with 103 minis primed/unpainted.
I added 104 miniatures this month:
- 2 Mega-Minis cockatrices
- Mega-Minis ghost
- Mega-Minis Guthrie Druid
- 3 Mega-Minis dogs: bull terrier, Scottish terrier, German Shepard
- 2 unnamed Reaper monsters (Dark Ages campaign-specific)
- 92 HäT Sumerian infantry (1/72 DBA Army)
- 3 HäT Sumerian chariots (1/72 DBA Army - 12 donkeys, 6 figures, 3 war wagons)
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