Back at GenCon 2009, I purchased a Battlefoam(tm) bag- a Battlefoam 216 pack. I've been pretty satisfied with the bag, I have two of their Imperial Guard trays and a 72 figure troop tray. With this bag, I get carrying capacity of 204 figures. More if I double up on the figures, which I do for my "mass troops" like the kobolds, goblins or bulk orcs. As I keep cranking out the miniatures with my painting push for this winter, I'm nearing full capacity, in fact I've ran out of the 1" x 2" spaces. I had purchased a second 216 pack, but I bought custom foam to make my own, and I've been using these for the minis that don't fit standard rectangles.
I've looked at their more expensive packs, I've looked at the Sabol Army Transports, but the idea of spending $75 to $150 for carrying around lead/plastic figures just isn't in the cards. Then I happened to see this post on DIY Foam Trays on the blog House of Paincakes. They've been doing a series of post "Gaming on a Budget" which I've enjoyed greatly. This all seems to have been inspired by an Oct 2010 blog post on DIY foam trays at a site called "War Builder."
This was all good, but I wanted some sort of a carrier - something that I could buy on the cheap, and it would work as good as the Battlefoam PACK or the Sabol. I examined a Sabol Army Transport that was for sale at Games Plus's semi-annual auction and to me, it looked no different than those soft sided cooler bags and lunch bags I've seen and used. Hmm...
(Pictures and info after the cut...)
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
OD&D Solo game w/wife - How one woman nearly starts a war
No miniatures were put on the table this game, nor were any attack dice thrown. The only table referenced in this game was the "Carousing" table from Jeff Rient's The Miscellaneum of Cinder. And yet we had a diplomatic incident, tons of roleplaying and lots of laughter. What else could you expect from a game?
The defeat of Alaxus netted the brave adventurers quite a bit of loot and some XP, but @thePrincessWife's character Aeli was lacking 550 XP to make fifth level. Being the generous and kind-hearted DM that I am (why did I just hear a ton of raspberries?) I offered her a chance at the carousing table for 275gp (I give double XP to go against the Carousing table) and even reminded her about the d30 rule. @thePrincessWife was hoping that she'd fail her saving throw...
I've never seen a "1" rolled on my d30 before, but she did it. That was not only a fail, it was an epic failure, the kind of failure that would have long lasting consequences for the character, the kind of failure where you hear a pin-drop and a gasp of breath... and then the gleeful laughter from @thePrincessWife as I made her roll her fate. A 7. According to Jeff's chart, that means: "Insult local person of rank. A successful Charisma check indicates the personage is amenable to some sort of apology and reparations."
Well crap. So far, Aeli has managed to completely befriend just about everyone of note in Valetown. It was going to be hard to find someone that might be insulted by her... hmm.. think, think, think... I asked for 5 minutes to figure out her fate. Flip over to Finch's City Encounter table, roll a few dice... no, I don't think a "local guard" counts as a local person of rank... hmm... roll again... "Sporgo Frogface, carrying the Pennant of the city’s Overlord, exhorting all to courage in the face of adversity, and loyalty to the city’s government, 1d6gp."
Well, doublecrap, there is no overlord to Valetown, so probably no Sporgo... although what kind of overbearing, stuffed shirt would be in Valetown, which is just a small farming/agricultural center, almost a market town kind of place... Wait a minute... Sporgo's kinda like an ambassador. What ambassador would care about farming? One on a trade mission. What would be best for a stuffed shirt ambassador that Aeli could insult?
Only one answer - the hidebound, strictly-by-the-book, lawful-stick-up-the-rear Southron Empire! Prepared with a name "Gale Merry" (snicker), I introduced Aeli's carousing efforts. I asked @thePrincessWife how she would have insulted the honorable ambassador during her two day-long rip-roaring bash over killing the Minotaur Mage.
Her: "I step on his toes and call him a buffoon!"
Me: "OK, he looks down his nose at you, calls you a typical Northern drunk trollop and tells you to go home to your husband who should keep a leash on you."
Her (warming up): "Oh really? Well, I laugh at him and point to his 'wee weenie' and call it that. I also tell him to wear loose trousers or stuff something into those tight pants of his." (gales of laughter)
Me: "Well.. that's impressive! The ambassador's face goes beet red and he says the only loose thing around here is you and your lips! That any man who would want you would have to keep you locked up to keep you from running them so freely."
Her (really into it now): "Oh yea, I tell him that the only thing he needs to worry about locking up is his ugly pig wife from leaving him! Hahah! I'm insulting his wife now!"
At this point, her friend and NPC party-member Tironell intervenes and attempts with help from her henchmen, to hustle her away up the stairs. As she was being escorted out, the ambassador had a parting shot.
Me: "Well, he says I would expect no less of rudeness from the so called Hero of Valetown, a swine living among pigs!"
Her: "Yea? If you're lucky, we'll give you leftover slop!"
So at this point, she passes out and wakes up to find out she has to make amends to the good ambassador. At first, Aeli was going to blow it off, but when told that news would go back to Lord Risz, the noble who the governor of the area, and that word would be passed on to the King himself as the Ambassador was threatening to end his trade mission, her face fell and thus the making up happened. Aeli ran around town, spending a good chunk of gold to find the best dress possible and she agreed to give up the two large gems found in Alaxus's tomb.
The "apology" would have to be done according to strict Southron custom, which involved Aeli taking a submissive, secondary role while Tironell acted as a proxy for a male member of her family making amends. She had to enter, assume a bended knee position and hold the gems while Tironell gave the apology. Here's where the CHA check came in. Given she was of nobility, I deemed the difficulty "normal/easy" and made her roll 3d6 to equal or be less than 12.
15. She could not make a roll this game to save her life! @thePrincessWife told me how her sword scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaped across the floor and ruined the mood of the apology. While the ambassador took the gems (duh), he also declared that she should never step foot in Southron lands, lest she fall under his rules - an implied threat!
So while the apology temporarily assuaged the ambassador's anger, it's clear that Aeli now has a possible enemy! I wonder if she'll ever have to travel to the Southron empire...
I really enjoyed the chance to broaden Aeli's/@thePrincessWife's view of the world, introduce an element that could play into her future (should she ever need to travel that far) and see how she'd roleplay it, especially since Aeli's background was nobility. We had great fun and I always enjoy bringing an element into the game that we've not had a chance to explore - this time being the relationship between the Southron Empire and the Northern Kingdom. We didn't get a chance to play much more than this, but I'm looking forward to her next game as she deals with the aftermath of her successful adventure... and maybe even find more ways of draining her gold from her. I think I got about 1,000 gp through this whole carousing deal and aftermath - thanks Jeff!
The defeat of Alaxus netted the brave adventurers quite a bit of loot and some XP, but @thePrincessWife's character Aeli was lacking 550 XP to make fifth level. Being the generous and kind-hearted DM that I am (why did I just hear a ton of raspberries?) I offered her a chance at the carousing table for 275gp (I give double XP to go against the Carousing table) and even reminded her about the d30 rule. @thePrincessWife was hoping that she'd fail her saving throw...
I've never seen a "1" rolled on my d30 before, but she did it. That was not only a fail, it was an epic failure, the kind of failure that would have long lasting consequences for the character, the kind of failure where you hear a pin-drop and a gasp of breath... and then the gleeful laughter from @thePrincessWife as I made her roll her fate. A 7. According to Jeff's chart, that means: "Insult local person of rank. A successful Charisma check indicates the personage is amenable to some sort of apology and reparations."
Well crap. So far, Aeli has managed to completely befriend just about everyone of note in Valetown. It was going to be hard to find someone that might be insulted by her... hmm.. think, think, think... I asked for 5 minutes to figure out her fate. Flip over to Finch's City Encounter table, roll a few dice... no, I don't think a "local guard" counts as a local person of rank... hmm... roll again... "Sporgo Frogface, carrying the Pennant of the city’s Overlord, exhorting all to courage in the face of adversity, and loyalty to the city’s government, 1d6gp."
Well, doublecrap, there is no overlord to Valetown, so probably no Sporgo... although what kind of overbearing, stuffed shirt would be in Valetown, which is just a small farming/agricultural center, almost a market town kind of place... Wait a minute... Sporgo's kinda like an ambassador. What ambassador would care about farming? One on a trade mission. What would be best for a stuffed shirt ambassador that Aeli could insult?
Only one answer - the hidebound, strictly-by-the-book, lawful-stick-up-the-rear Southron Empire! Prepared with a name "Gale Merry" (snicker), I introduced Aeli's carousing efforts. I asked @thePrincessWife how she would have insulted the honorable ambassador during her two day-long rip-roaring bash over killing the Minotaur Mage.
Her: "I step on his toes and call him a buffoon!"
Me: "OK, he looks down his nose at you, calls you a typical Northern drunk trollop and tells you to go home to your husband who should keep a leash on you."
Her (warming up): "Oh really? Well, I laugh at him and point to his 'wee weenie' and call it that. I also tell him to wear loose trousers or stuff something into those tight pants of his." (gales of laughter)
Me: "Well.. that's impressive! The ambassador's face goes beet red and he says the only loose thing around here is you and your lips! That any man who would want you would have to keep you locked up to keep you from running them so freely."
Her (really into it now): "Oh yea, I tell him that the only thing he needs to worry about locking up is his ugly pig wife from leaving him! Hahah! I'm insulting his wife now!"
At this point, her friend and NPC party-member Tironell intervenes and attempts with help from her henchmen, to hustle her away up the stairs. As she was being escorted out, the ambassador had a parting shot.
Me: "Well, he says I would expect no less of rudeness from the so called Hero of Valetown, a swine living among pigs!"
Her: "Yea? If you're lucky, we'll give you leftover slop!"
So at this point, she passes out and wakes up to find out she has to make amends to the good ambassador. At first, Aeli was going to blow it off, but when told that news would go back to Lord Risz, the noble who the governor of the area, and that word would be passed on to the King himself as the Ambassador was threatening to end his trade mission, her face fell and thus the making up happened. Aeli ran around town, spending a good chunk of gold to find the best dress possible and she agreed to give up the two large gems found in Alaxus's tomb.
The "apology" would have to be done according to strict Southron custom, which involved Aeli taking a submissive, secondary role while Tironell acted as a proxy for a male member of her family making amends. She had to enter, assume a bended knee position and hold the gems while Tironell gave the apology. Here's where the CHA check came in. Given she was of nobility, I deemed the difficulty "normal/easy" and made her roll 3d6 to equal or be less than 12.
15. She could not make a roll this game to save her life! @thePrincessWife told me how her sword scraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaped across the floor and ruined the mood of the apology. While the ambassador took the gems (duh), he also declared that she should never step foot in Southron lands, lest she fall under his rules - an implied threat!
So while the apology temporarily assuaged the ambassador's anger, it's clear that Aeli now has a possible enemy! I wonder if she'll ever have to travel to the Southron empire...
I really enjoyed the chance to broaden Aeli's/@thePrincessWife's view of the world, introduce an element that could play into her future (should she ever need to travel that far) and see how she'd roleplay it, especially since Aeli's background was nobility. We had great fun and I always enjoy bringing an element into the game that we've not had a chance to explore - this time being the relationship between the Southron Empire and the Northern Kingdom. We didn't get a chance to play much more than this, but I'm looking forward to her next game as she deals with the aftermath of her successful adventure... and maybe even find more ways of draining her gold from her. I think I got about 1,000 gp through this whole carousing deal and aftermath - thanks Jeff!
Friday, March 18, 2011
I need more time! Land of Two Rivers musings
James's post over at Grognardia about Historical Campaigns had me breaking silence about my regrets over not running my long-thought about Sumerian campaign in an alternative historical setting. It is something I greatly regret - both not having the stones to write the setting and not having the time to run the setting.
I remember the exact moment that "Tombs of Hulkursag" and my Two Rivers setting book projects came to screeching halts. It was the day I sat down with Michael Curtis's Stonehell and realized I was the worst module writer in the world.
No, really. I know that's funny, but it's true. There was no way I could write something half as good as what the esteemed Mr. Curtis wrote and as I picked my way through my own writings, it just seemed boring. What good was having another dungeon with reskinned orcs, goblins and gnolls (as jackalmen, insectoid invaders, jackalmen warriors)? OK, the traps and whatnot, but I really messed up with the dungeon design (only one way between levels. Dumb. DUMB!) and ... well, then I realized that what I really needed was a setting to wrap around the Tomb. The Tomb in and of itself might be a curiosity, but what would make it work was to have the Two Rivers alive around it... with the gods involved, the sorcerors who use demons to cast spells and the warrior priests who perform quests for their deity... and average joe who might be working to establish a trade route with some nearby city-states, but you have to worry about getting involved in the latest war, avoiding the plague devils and negotiate with the river goddess to be allowed to cross so you can get your goods to the other side....
... and that kind of richness is not something that just falls out of my ass. Writing the Quick Start was easy for me - take S&W Core, tinker/refit/rebolt and boom-badda-bing, you're done! The dungeon was already drawn, I just had to populate it. This though.. this requires that I know/feel/live Mesopotamia in my head. Look, it took Rob Conley playing for 30 years to get him to write Majestic Wilderlands, who knows how long Kyrinn has been gaming in Urutsk, and McKinney's probably been seeing Carcosa in his dreams for years.
So I know that in order to make Two Rivers come to live, I have to game it. I have to play it, live it, get things to work the way I want... and then maybe, just maybe, I can match my writing to the level that the above 4 named authors is at. If I'm lucky. And have a good editor. And party like Kellri. Wait, that last one I want to do first!
Anyway... I have to have some gametime and fleshed out the setting that the Tomb of Hulkursag lives in. Then, I think, things will *feel* right and Hulkursag becomes a portal to the Sumerian Underworld.
Problem... no time.
My Dark Ages campaign is rocking. I'm back to running 4 to 5 times a month. My players are busy plotting behind my back to meet the challenges I've laid before them. @thePrincessWife has taken a step into a story that is going to feel like a roller coaster to her... if she continues the path she's been taking so far. I hope to keep playing that once or twice a month... so when can I run Two Rivers? I'm mentally taken up by both tabletop and two online games - the Modern OD&D one (which may finally see some action... my players decided to go back and equip a bit more, since the portal spell to the Underworld has a finite duration and they are afraid of getting stuck over there...) and the Dark Ages online implementation (which the characters are busy looting a tomb of what seems like innumerable coins)... I'm an extremely lucky guy to have all this, and still, Mesopotamia sits in my dreams.
It doesn't help I'm painting my Sumerian DBA I/1a army and imagining how the players would get involved in a mass combat and somehow be a part of it...
Anyway...
Maybe once a month? Maybe I can game it once a month? But then that means giving up a Dark Ages game and I'm not going to do that. It's too cool of a campaign and things are really getting wild and crazy now.
I remember the exact moment that "Tombs of Hulkursag" and my Two Rivers setting book projects came to screeching halts. It was the day I sat down with Michael Curtis's Stonehell and realized I was the worst module writer in the world.
No, really. I know that's funny, but it's true. There was no way I could write something half as good as what the esteemed Mr. Curtis wrote and as I picked my way through my own writings, it just seemed boring. What good was having another dungeon with reskinned orcs, goblins and gnolls (as jackalmen, insectoid invaders, jackalmen warriors)? OK, the traps and whatnot, but I really messed up with the dungeon design (only one way between levels. Dumb. DUMB!) and ... well, then I realized that what I really needed was a setting to wrap around the Tomb. The Tomb in and of itself might be a curiosity, but what would make it work was to have the Two Rivers alive around it... with the gods involved, the sorcerors who use demons to cast spells and the warrior priests who perform quests for their deity... and average joe who might be working to establish a trade route with some nearby city-states, but you have to worry about getting involved in the latest war, avoiding the plague devils and negotiate with the river goddess to be allowed to cross so you can get your goods to the other side....
... and that kind of richness is not something that just falls out of my ass. Writing the Quick Start was easy for me - take S&W Core, tinker/refit/rebolt and boom-badda-bing, you're done! The dungeon was already drawn, I just had to populate it. This though.. this requires that I know/feel/live Mesopotamia in my head. Look, it took Rob Conley playing for 30 years to get him to write Majestic Wilderlands, who knows how long Kyrinn has been gaming in Urutsk, and McKinney's probably been seeing Carcosa in his dreams for years.
So I know that in order to make Two Rivers come to live, I have to game it. I have to play it, live it, get things to work the way I want... and then maybe, just maybe, I can match my writing to the level that the above 4 named authors is at. If I'm lucky. And have a good editor. And party like Kellri. Wait, that last one I want to do first!
Anyway... I have to have some gametime and fleshed out the setting that the Tomb of Hulkursag lives in. Then, I think, things will *feel* right and Hulkursag becomes a portal to the Sumerian Underworld.
Problem... no time.
My Dark Ages campaign is rocking. I'm back to running 4 to 5 times a month. My players are busy plotting behind my back to meet the challenges I've laid before them. @thePrincessWife has taken a step into a story that is going to feel like a roller coaster to her... if she continues the path she's been taking so far. I hope to keep playing that once or twice a month... so when can I run Two Rivers? I'm mentally taken up by both tabletop and two online games - the Modern OD&D one (which may finally see some action... my players decided to go back and equip a bit more, since the portal spell to the Underworld has a finite duration and they are afraid of getting stuck over there...) and the Dark Ages online implementation (which the characters are busy looting a tomb of what seems like innumerable coins)... I'm an extremely lucky guy to have all this, and still, Mesopotamia sits in my dreams.
It doesn't help I'm painting my Sumerian DBA I/1a army and imagining how the players would get involved in a mass combat and somehow be a part of it...
Anyway...
Maybe once a month? Maybe I can game it once a month? But then that means giving up a Dark Ages game and I'm not going to do that. It's too cool of a campaign and things are really getting wild and crazy now.
Memo to Father Time, can I have an extra couple of warp days a month, so I can pull people into it to game with me?
So the Land of Two Rivers sits in my head...
Tids and bits
- As of the 3/13 AD&D Dark Ages game this past Sunday, we've reached the 50 game milestone. That's pretty damn cool! If I were a more prepared DM, I'd have some compiled statistics and trivia, but all I got is me trying to prep for the Garycon game. If I do have a dwarf visit from another realm, it's going to be epic... the last dwarf was seen about 257 years ago by elves. Visiting characters from other campaigns though... very cool!
- The online game keeps rolling and I may have a new player. Welcome Slatz! Good luck and don't pick up any dolls. :) You might also just start cursing Kellri right now, all my other players are. It seems to rain A LOT in Skalfier. For some reason, the players blame his CDD#4...
- I started painting my Sumerian DBA I/1a army last night and realized what all shiny-new army painting n00bs realize... this shit is hard! And I was just working on the flesh areas. This is not as easy as slopping together 18 or 25 orcs...
- Been ruminating about how I'll be incorporating a megadungeon into my campaign and realized this is going to be tricky with an already skittish bunch of folks who saw a high level (for my campaign) PC die and another fall the next game. The players are convincing themselves that they're not ready for what lies to the East, although I think this is more the first time they've really struggled. The world has presented them an opportunity and while I'm not going to push them there, they've opened Pandora's Box. I'm now walking a fine line between coming off as some sort of "you must follow my plot!" DM and presenting the consequences of their actions.
"Do you hear that sound, Mr. Anderson? That's the sound of inevitability..." - Agent Smith, The Matrix
Yea. Tricky. I know how I'll navigate it (without giving anything away to the players that read this blog. *waves* Hi there!) but it's gonna be tricky. You ever run into that?
Have a great weekend!
- The online game keeps rolling and I may have a new player. Welcome Slatz! Good luck and don't pick up any dolls. :) You might also just start cursing Kellri right now, all my other players are. It seems to rain A LOT in Skalfier. For some reason, the players blame his CDD#4...
- I started painting my Sumerian DBA I/1a army last night and realized what all shiny-new army painting n00bs realize... this shit is hard! And I was just working on the flesh areas. This is not as easy as slopping together 18 or 25 orcs...
- Been ruminating about how I'll be incorporating a megadungeon into my campaign and realized this is going to be tricky with an already skittish bunch of folks who saw a high level (for my campaign) PC die and another fall the next game. The players are convincing themselves that they're not ready for what lies to the East, although I think this is more the first time they've really struggled. The world has presented them an opportunity and while I'm not going to push them there, they've opened Pandora's Box. I'm now walking a fine line between coming off as some sort of "you must follow my plot!" DM and presenting the consequences of their actions.
"Do you hear that sound, Mr. Anderson? That's the sound of inevitability..." - Agent Smith, The Matrix
Yea. Tricky. I know how I'll navigate it (without giving anything away to the players that read this blog. *waves* Hi there!) but it's gonna be tricky. You ever run into that?
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Zombie Fungi == Zombie Shriekers
(Inspired by joethelawyer's post and the Huffington Post article/BBC video here.)
Zombie Shrieker
Armor Class: 7
Move: 6" (60')
Hit Dice: 3
No. of attacks: 1 slam (Dmg. 1-8)
Zombie Shrieker
Armor Class: 7
Move: 6" (60')
Hit Dice: 3
No. of attacks: 1 slam (Dmg. 1-8)
---
Special: Nil, Frequency: Rare, No. Appearing: 3-24,
% in lair: Nil,
Treasure Type: Nil, Magical Resistance: Standard, Intelligence: None, Alignment: Neutral, Size: Medium, Psionic Ability: Campaign dependent, usually nil.)The zombie shrieker is a horrid combination of a fungus and it's dead host. The zombie shrieker is not undead in the normal sense, rather it is an animated corpse controlled by the fungus in order to reproduce. The fungus spreads by releasing it's spores, infecting those who breathe the spores. Those infected will die a slow, painful death and then sprout stalks and tendrils, while still "moving" and even attacking other creatures near it in an attempt to be hit to cause the spores to release. It will periodically release a deafening shriek (1 round) in order to attract attackers, especially in response to light (within 30') or movement (within 10'). This shriek has a 50% chance of attracting wandering monsters in the round after.
Anyone attacking the zombie shrieker in anyway has a 50% chance per attack of causing the spores to release in a 1"x1"x1" cubic area. Any creature/person within that area must make a save vs. poison or be infected by the fungus. Infection will take 1d4+2 days to complete, at which time the creature is dead, but still animated for up to 2-24 days after by the fungus. Each day of infection causes the carrier to lose 1-3 points of each attribute, a zero score means the carrier is dead. In the latter half of the infection, the carrier will have an uncontrollable desire to be within as populated an area as possible or to stay around people.
A cure disease can remove the fungus from the carrier.
(On the XP side, you might want to give them the equivalent of 4HD XP, considering the special attack with the lethal spores and shriek.)
(On the XP side, you might want to give them the equivalent of 4HD XP, considering the special attack with the lethal spores and shriek.)
(This monster and its description is designated as Open Game Content.)
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sneak peek at latest painted dragon miniature
Light posting today - but I thought you might enjoy a (blurry) sneak peek at the latest paint job - Reaper's Dark Heavens Silver Dragon (#02539) by Sandra Garrity. I've re-purposed it as a Gold Dragon, one of my all-time favorite D&D monsters.The sculpt came in 6 pieces and unlike the WotC Red Dragon, this one fit fairly well together. The only issue I had was gap filling the tail, I have a bit of a ring/bump but it's not all that noticeable. Click the thumbnail to enlarge - sorry for the blurry quality of the picture, but my phone is almost 3 years old and it was early in the morning, still getting my coffee fix!
The base is a CD with a rock from my stone walkway that's breaking apart, plus a slurry of sand/modge-podge, basecoated with 50 cent Home Depot paint reject, inked with Devlan Mud and drybrushed with Bone White (sand) and Fortress Grey (rock). The dragon is mounted on the stone with epoxy - I wasn't taking any chances!
I'll do a step by step paint on it later.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Interest in playing Dark Ages AD&D at GaryCon?
(UPDATE 3/16 - Confirmed/Maybe count is at the end of the post.)
(UPDATE 3/21 - added links to wiki, chargen/houserules and player handout that covers the basics)
GaryCon is coming in less than two weeks (Mar 25th to 27th) and judging by how the weather is shaping up, there's a good chance I can hop on the Harley and have a nice ride up to Lake Geneva for a Saturday day of gaming. One of the hallmarks of GaryCon is the huge number of open gaming tables and pickup games - it was only last year (GaryCon II) that they started doing events and event registration.
If there's interest in exploring a bit of my Dark Ages world, I'd be more than happy to lug the campaign binder and minis up for the event. If not, I'm fine with that as well, I'm hoping to get into some great games and have a good time and meet a lot of great RPG'ers.
If you're interested, just leave me a comment. If I get 4 to 8 players, I'll definitely plan on it. Say about a 4 hour scenario? Please note that this would take place "in-situ" in the campaign world as it exists right now and anything that is done will be canon and affect the ongoing tabletop game. I'll also be happy to look at people who want to bring their AD&D/1e (and OSRIC) characters from other campaigns to visit. Levels can range from 1st to 4th level and we can judge on magic items and other devices brought into my world.
Locations available:
1. A troll mage is rumored to live under the bridge on the road from Enonia (the PC Home Base) to the fabled/lost city of Irecia. It has claimed the lives of many adventurers and rumors hint it may also be opposed to the marauding orcs who've begun to threaten Enonia.
2. Dark rumors have been heard now and again about a sacred druid's temple or tomb somewhere to the north of the old Enonia Wayfarer's Inn. Of course, that's goblin-infested territory, and with the goblins now outright attacking Enonia, it's sure to be a contested journey.
3. The Dale Woods have not been explored since the Doom of Man fell 57 years ago. A generation of hunters and locals have begun to die out, making the area one of mystery and rumor. It is said a dragon lurks in the woods, as well as a "Crystal Lake". Nobody knows for sure, but now that a mysterious mage's tower has arisen from the Dale Woods, some say it's time for exploring. Who knows what could be found... or what local tales may lead to riches.
Let me just say that I'm somewhat intimidated by making this offer, knowing the high caliber of DMs and games that will be running at GC. It would be an honor to have people there play in my world, which is why I'm making the offer. So we'll see what happens...
UPDATE: Player list -
Confirmed:
1. Delve Lord
2. Friend of DL
3. Friend of DL
Maybe:
1. Mr. Zed
2. grodog
3. Jon K.
4. Charley
5. Druvas (GC Forum)
6. Tron (GC Forum)
7. Totan (GC Forum)
8. Smokin (GC Forum - maybe w/char)
UPDATE #2: Links
Player Handout - brief summary of my campaign
Campaign Chargen/Houserules
Campaign Wiki - has a lot of information and adventure logs
(UPDATE 3/21 - added links to wiki, chargen/houserules and player handout that covers the basics)
GaryCon is coming in less than two weeks (Mar 25th to 27th) and judging by how the weather is shaping up, there's a good chance I can hop on the Harley and have a nice ride up to Lake Geneva for a Saturday day of gaming. One of the hallmarks of GaryCon is the huge number of open gaming tables and pickup games - it was only last year (GaryCon II) that they started doing events and event registration.
If there's interest in exploring a bit of my Dark Ages world, I'd be more than happy to lug the campaign binder and minis up for the event. If not, I'm fine with that as well, I'm hoping to get into some great games and have a good time and meet a lot of great RPG'ers.
If you're interested, just leave me a comment. If I get 4 to 8 players, I'll definitely plan on it. Say about a 4 hour scenario? Please note that this would take place "in-situ" in the campaign world as it exists right now and anything that is done will be canon and affect the ongoing tabletop game. I'll also be happy to look at people who want to bring their AD&D/1e (and OSRIC) characters from other campaigns to visit. Levels can range from 1st to 4th level and we can judge on magic items and other devices brought into my world.
Locations available:
1. A troll mage is rumored to live under the bridge on the road from Enonia (the PC Home Base) to the fabled/lost city of Irecia. It has claimed the lives of many adventurers and rumors hint it may also be opposed to the marauding orcs who've begun to threaten Enonia.
2. Dark rumors have been heard now and again about a sacred druid's temple or tomb somewhere to the north of the old Enonia Wayfarer's Inn. Of course, that's goblin-infested territory, and with the goblins now outright attacking Enonia, it's sure to be a contested journey.
3. The Dale Woods have not been explored since the Doom of Man fell 57 years ago. A generation of hunters and locals have begun to die out, making the area one of mystery and rumor. It is said a dragon lurks in the woods, as well as a "Crystal Lake". Nobody knows for sure, but now that a mysterious mage's tower has arisen from the Dale Woods, some say it's time for exploring. Who knows what could be found... or what local tales may lead to riches.
Let me just say that I'm somewhat intimidated by making this offer, knowing the high caliber of DMs and games that will be running at GC. It would be an honor to have people there play in my world, which is why I'm making the offer. So we'll see what happens...
UPDATE: Player list -
Confirmed:
1. Delve Lord
2. Friend of DL
3. Friend of DL
Maybe:
1. Mr. Zed
2. grodog
3. Jon K.
4. Charley
5. Druvas (GC Forum)
6. Tron (GC Forum)
7. Totan (GC Forum)
8. Smokin (GC Forum - maybe w/char)
UPDATE #2: Links
Player Handout - brief summary of my campaign
Campaign Chargen/Houserules
Campaign Wiki - has a lot of information and adventure logs
AD&D/OSRIC campaign - Sometimes the vise squeezes the other way
Sunday's AD&D game saw the players discover the reaction to their previous adventure in freeing the human prisoners and killing an orc shaman. The orcs have become more deadly, more organized and, most importantly, have learned to turn the tables on the players. This time, the orcs were using ambushes by suicide troopers, traps by multiple mounted patrols and using the players' habits against them - which resulted in a loss of another brave warrior. It also didn't help that the players lost a third of their group to a temporary paralysis from a disastrous encounter with giant wasps.
In coming back, the players found that the homefront has a new sheriff, and one that might not be as appreciative of the players as before. Time will tell ... alliances fall, only to see new opportunities and new challenges. The players ratcheted up the action and the orcs have responded, will the players?
I'm finding that I'm enjoying thinking about the reactions and the ways that the monsters will react now that the players are making their mark in the world. Make no mistake, disrupting the slave trade in enemy territory and killing a shaman was a definite mark and the orcs will not soon forget it. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how the players will react. It's a fine line thought. Squeeze the vise too much and the game becomes grim and hopeless. Don't raise the bar in response to the players and it becomes boring. The world will move without the players, but it will also move when the players have enough leverage. Things are starting to get very interesting.
Unfortunately, along with the death of another PC [1], I also learned that one of my longtime players, Lu, will be leaving us in April to go back overseas. In the time Lu's been with the campaign, he's taken his human thief, Irem, to fifth level - the highest of any of the players. He's a smart player, thoughtful and has adapted well to my campaign while also challenging me to come up with things in response to his play. Unfortunately, there are two avenues that had opened up during his time in the campaign that I won't be able to explore with him directly.
One was a bad roll on the Rient's Carousing Table. Lu found himself with a "black mark" on his forehead that faded... or did it? I actually was going to start exploring that again, but with his departure, we'll have to send that hook/path on to the realm of possibilities. The other avenue was a previous contact with a man with glowing eyes. Lu never returned to that contact, but who knows what the other players may find if they start turning over some rocks?
Well, in any rate, I plan on doing something special for Lu at our final game, which looks to be April 3rd.
I've made suggestions to Lu that he join my online/Google Wave game, but time will tell. He's going to be busy with his move and whatever happens, I wish him the best and a very heartfelt "THANK YOU" for playing at my table. Lu, you're welcome back anytime.
[1] - what is it about PC deaths coming in clusters. I've gone almost a year without any and now I've had two in two games. I knew that the players were ratcheting up the game, with exploring new areas/levels and riling up the orcs, but this seems to be very coinky-dinkal. It wasn't that the monsters were more powerful.. yellow mold and orcs.
In coming back, the players found that the homefront has a new sheriff, and one that might not be as appreciative of the players as before. Time will tell ... alliances fall, only to see new opportunities and new challenges. The players ratcheted up the action and the orcs have responded, will the players?
I'm finding that I'm enjoying thinking about the reactions and the ways that the monsters will react now that the players are making their mark in the world. Make no mistake, disrupting the slave trade in enemy territory and killing a shaman was a definite mark and the orcs will not soon forget it. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how the players will react. It's a fine line thought. Squeeze the vise too much and the game becomes grim and hopeless. Don't raise the bar in response to the players and it becomes boring. The world will move without the players, but it will also move when the players have enough leverage. Things are starting to get very interesting.
Unfortunately, along with the death of another PC [1], I also learned that one of my longtime players, Lu, will be leaving us in April to go back overseas. In the time Lu's been with the campaign, he's taken his human thief, Irem, to fifth level - the highest of any of the players. He's a smart player, thoughtful and has adapted well to my campaign while also challenging me to come up with things in response to his play. Unfortunately, there are two avenues that had opened up during his time in the campaign that I won't be able to explore with him directly.
One was a bad roll on the Rient's Carousing Table. Lu found himself with a "black mark" on his forehead that faded... or did it? I actually was going to start exploring that again, but with his departure, we'll have to send that hook/path on to the realm of possibilities. The other avenue was a previous contact with a man with glowing eyes. Lu never returned to that contact, but who knows what the other players may find if they start turning over some rocks?
Well, in any rate, I plan on doing something special for Lu at our final game, which looks to be April 3rd.
I've made suggestions to Lu that he join my online/Google Wave game, but time will tell. He's going to be busy with his move and whatever happens, I wish him the best and a very heartfelt "THANK YOU" for playing at my table. Lu, you're welcome back anytime.
[1] - what is it about PC deaths coming in clusters. I've gone almost a year without any and now I've had two in two games. I knew that the players were ratcheting up the game, with exploring new areas/levels and riling up the orcs, but this seems to be very coinky-dinkal. It wasn't that the monsters were more powerful.. yellow mold and orcs.
Sidenote: I really enjoyed Monday's DM Dilemma discussion. Here are some of the topics I'm going to explore in future posts:
- Mounted combat - between two mounted combatants
- Poison and how it works
- Other spell interpretations
Monday, March 14, 2011
DM Dilemma: Charm Person
I thought that it might be useful to group some posts together under the heading of "DM Dilemma." We all run into things that cause us to scratch our heads, make rapid rulings on the fly, then we go back later and dig through the manuals and forum posts for some sort of inspiration on either solidifying a houserule or realizing we had it wrong in the first place. Dilemma might be a strong word, but it's a catchy title, so I'll go with it. I often find myself busy Monday morning looking up things that have puzzled me from the game from the weekend. I hope these posts are useful to some of you.
It's been my experience that players are pretty forgiving of a DM when the DM says "I'm ruling this way now, but I'm going to solidify my understanding to make it right for my campaign in the future." It's part and parcel to improving our skills as DMs, thus challenging our players to improve on their skills as players.
So... that said, I'll post my first "dilemma" which is more of a challenge...
So imagine this. You're a blood-thirsty orc leader. You are on a religious crusade to rid the earth of humans. You just sent your warriors to encircle a party of humans and you've watched this damn human spell-caster deal serious damage to them. In a bloodlust, you and your bodyguards charge the spell-caster, to remove the immediate threat. To your rear, a druid casts charm person on you. He then attempts to persuade you to stop your charge. (Imagine a bearded druid running after a charging orc yelling "Wait! Stop! That spellcaster means you no harm!")
As a DM, how do you rule how the charm has affected the orc?
I'll tell you what I did. The orc leader assessed that his new friend, although human, was no immediate threat to him or his orc troops. He did not order his bodyguards to attack the druid. He assessed his new friend's entreaty to not attack the magic-user. While trusting that his new friend had the best intentions, the orc concluded the mage's continuing aggressive actions were the biggest threat to the orc's survival, as were the other humans attacking him and his friends. To not protect himself and his brothers would be suicide. So the orc leader attacked the mage and damn near killed him.
I think my players were a little surprised at the way I ruled on charm person and I've chewed on it all week and come to the conclusion that my initial ruling was the right one for my campaign/table. Charm Person is an amazingly powerful spell, but it's usefulness in the middle of combat, in the middle of a charge, is dubious. A charmed being doesn't go instantly stupid, nor does he somehow completely change his way of thinking in an obedient automaton. Rather, he has a changed data point to deal with - a powerful one, but only one.
In combat, with life and death on the line, charm person will have mixed results. In the middle of a charge, probably not nearly as much as at a moment of indecision, or if the target of the spell comes into a one-on-one with the charming spell caster. If this were a non-combat situation, the charm might have led to an extremely favorable result, depending on how the magic-user or druid steered the discussion.
Now, had the party ceased their attacks, this might have turned out different with regards to the charm. Weighing the threat versus the words of the druid would have led the orc leader to different conclusions and he would have found the datum of "the most favorable way to view the druid's words" to be more powerful than immediate survival.
It's an interesting spell and ruling to chew on.
Next week will be mounted combat, as I ran into this issue yesterday (3/13/2011) and it's going to take me a few days to chew on.
If there are any DM Dilemmas that you'd like to cover, please feel free to suggest or post your own and I'll link to it.
It's been my experience that players are pretty forgiving of a DM when the DM says "I'm ruling this way now, but I'm going to solidify my understanding to make it right for my campaign in the future." It's part and parcel to improving our skills as DMs, thus challenging our players to improve on their skills as players.
So... that said, I'll post my first "dilemma" which is more of a challenge...
So imagine this. You're a blood-thirsty orc leader. You are on a religious crusade to rid the earth of humans. You just sent your warriors to encircle a party of humans and you've watched this damn human spell-caster deal serious damage to them. In a bloodlust, you and your bodyguards charge the spell-caster, to remove the immediate threat. To your rear, a druid casts charm person on you. He then attempts to persuade you to stop your charge. (Imagine a bearded druid running after a charging orc yelling "Wait! Stop! That spellcaster means you no harm!")
As a DM, how do you rule how the charm has affected the orc?
Charm Person (druid) - AD&D Players Handbook
"The creature then will regard the druid who cast the spell as a trusted friend and ally to be heeded and protected. The spell does not enable the druid to control the charmed creature as if it were an automaton, but any word or action of the druid will be viewed in its most favorable way."
(NOTE: the magic-user spell description refers to the druid version for effects)
I'll tell you what I did. The orc leader assessed that his new friend, although human, was no immediate threat to him or his orc troops. He did not order his bodyguards to attack the druid. He assessed his new friend's entreaty to not attack the magic-user. While trusting that his new friend had the best intentions, the orc concluded the mage's continuing aggressive actions were the biggest threat to the orc's survival, as were the other humans attacking him and his friends. To not protect himself and his brothers would be suicide. So the orc leader attacked the mage and damn near killed him.
I think my players were a little surprised at the way I ruled on charm person and I've chewed on it all week and come to the conclusion that my initial ruling was the right one for my campaign/table. Charm Person is an amazingly powerful spell, but it's usefulness in the middle of combat, in the middle of a charge, is dubious. A charmed being doesn't go instantly stupid, nor does he somehow completely change his way of thinking in an obedient automaton. Rather, he has a changed data point to deal with - a powerful one, but only one.
In combat, with life and death on the line, charm person will have mixed results. In the middle of a charge, probably not nearly as much as at a moment of indecision, or if the target of the spell comes into a one-on-one with the charming spell caster. If this were a non-combat situation, the charm might have led to an extremely favorable result, depending on how the magic-user or druid steered the discussion.
Now, had the party ceased their attacks, this might have turned out different with regards to the charm. Weighing the threat versus the words of the druid would have led the orc leader to different conclusions and he would have found the datum of "the most favorable way to view the druid's words" to be more powerful than immediate survival.
It's an interesting spell and ruling to chew on.
Next week will be mounted combat, as I ran into this issue yesterday (3/13/2011) and it's going to take me a few days to chew on.
If there are any DM Dilemmas that you'd like to cover, please feel free to suggest or post your own and I'll link to it.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Re-imagining AD&D orcs and monsters
What a great topic to talk about (hattip to Grognardia)... except what a bad topic for me!
You see, I've done a lot to my orcs, and many other beasties in my AD&D world. My tabletop players have ran into more differences, changes and odd things that vary off of the standard AD&D definitions... but there's a lot more they haven't run into or figured out! I can't spill all the beans here So, I will try to give you some broad brush strokes of things they already know and see how we do.
In my Dark Ages campaign:
Orcs - are pig-faced and a bit larger/bulkier than humans. Their genesis is rumored, but the exact facts are lost to history. They are religious zealots, smart, cunning, have no problem with sunlight, are very militaristic, resemble Planet of the Apes gorillas in coloring, dress and armor. They will commit suicide rather than be captured. They remove the heads of their victims after battle, and burn the bodies. They do not leave bodies of their fellows behind. They are extremely racist and view humans and elves as no more than cattle or a sub-species. They may also be breeding hybrids of some sort for some reason.
There are some specific influences to my orcs and some clues here that may give you further insights. Orcs are right now the Big Bad Guys in my campaign and have the players full attention.
Kobolds - the players ran into a strange new type of kobold a couple of games ago - these are winged kobolds that spit poisonous saliva into players' faces. In my campaign, kobolds can climb walls and ceilings like spiders.
Troll Mages - take one orge mage, reskin it as a troll, merge the best of both monsters' abilities together and you have the feared troll that lives under the bridge right outside of Enonia in the Dale Woods. This guy is responsible for one near-TPK and a lot of angst. The players still plan on taking this guy out.
Trollkins - are the "children" of the troll mage. Mysterious and fey. So far, they seem curious and childlike, but extremely wise beyond what seems normal.
Dwarfs - are a lost race. They were once slaves to the Dark Ones (ancient evil beings of Chaos that ruled the lands) but once freed, they've not been seen since.
Elves - are a seafaring race, grouped by families/clans.
Dragons - are generated using EG Palmer's amazing Dragon Generator. First published in 2009, I have a copy of that in my "Best of Old School Blogs" folder. Now that is probably news to my players that dragons will not be dragons, but they'll learn soon enough. My tabletop players are already familiar with one, even though they don't realize it... or maybe they do!
One thing that is common for all my monsters. Unless otherwise specified in the Monster Manual, they're intelligent, ruthless and committed to their own best interests. They don't particularly fear the players. They have their own agendas and I prosecute those agendas to the best of my ability.
This has caused some issues, and led to one player being asked to not come back when he couldn't deal with the changes. In his mind, kobolds should be groveling at the feet of a first level character. In my mind, these are starving kobolds who are desperate enough to try and bluff their way into robbing the players, as far as they can, because they have NOTHING ELSE TO LOSE! I'm very proud of the players that I do have that were able to deal and adjust to the world as I've presented it. I think that's something to be aware of when you alter from the "norm".
I'm looking forward to reading the other entries in this meme. I hope you've enjoyed mine and if you have any questions about them, just ask! Stats are available - feel free to email me. Bryan, close your email, I won't send them to you. :P
You see, I've done a lot to my orcs, and many other beasties in my AD&D world. My tabletop players have ran into more differences, changes and odd things that vary off of the standard AD&D definitions... but there's a lot more they haven't run into or figured out! I can't spill all the beans here So, I will try to give you some broad brush strokes of things they already know and see how we do.
In my Dark Ages campaign:
Orcs - are pig-faced and a bit larger/bulkier than humans. Their genesis is rumored, but the exact facts are lost to history. They are religious zealots, smart, cunning, have no problem with sunlight, are very militaristic, resemble Planet of the Apes gorillas in coloring, dress and armor. They will commit suicide rather than be captured. They remove the heads of their victims after battle, and burn the bodies. They do not leave bodies of their fellows behind. They are extremely racist and view humans and elves as no more than cattle or a sub-species. They may also be breeding hybrids of some sort for some reason.
There are some specific influences to my orcs and some clues here that may give you further insights. Orcs are right now the Big Bad Guys in my campaign and have the players full attention.
Kobolds - the players ran into a strange new type of kobold a couple of games ago - these are winged kobolds that spit poisonous saliva into players' faces. In my campaign, kobolds can climb walls and ceilings like spiders.
Troll Mages - take one orge mage, reskin it as a troll, merge the best of both monsters' abilities together and you have the feared troll that lives under the bridge right outside of Enonia in the Dale Woods. This guy is responsible for one near-TPK and a lot of angst. The players still plan on taking this guy out.
Trollkins - are the "children" of the troll mage. Mysterious and fey. So far, they seem curious and childlike, but extremely wise beyond what seems normal.
Dwarfs - are a lost race. They were once slaves to the Dark Ones (ancient evil beings of Chaos that ruled the lands) but once freed, they've not been seen since.
Elves - are a seafaring race, grouped by families/clans.
Dragons - are generated using EG Palmer's amazing Dragon Generator. First published in 2009, I have a copy of that in my "Best of Old School Blogs" folder. Now that is probably news to my players that dragons will not be dragons, but they'll learn soon enough. My tabletop players are already familiar with one, even though they don't realize it... or maybe they do!
One thing that is common for all my monsters. Unless otherwise specified in the Monster Manual, they're intelligent, ruthless and committed to their own best interests. They don't particularly fear the players. They have their own agendas and I prosecute those agendas to the best of my ability.
This has caused some issues, and led to one player being asked to not come back when he couldn't deal with the changes. In his mind, kobolds should be groveling at the feet of a first level character. In my mind, these are starving kobolds who are desperate enough to try and bluff their way into robbing the players, as far as they can, because they have NOTHING ELSE TO LOSE! I'm very proud of the players that I do have that were able to deal and adjust to the world as I've presented it. I think that's something to be aware of when you alter from the "norm".
I'm looking forward to reading the other entries in this meme. I hope you've enjoyed mine and if you have any questions about them, just ask! Stats are available - feel free to email me. Bryan, close your email, I won't send them to you. :P
Friday, March 11, 2011
AD&D/OSRIC campaign - Requiem for a warrior/mage
I had a post set up musing about charm person but events at last night's game are worthy of note. Last night, one of the more powerful characters, Teela the elven fighter/mage, played by Bryan N. fell.
The party crept into the strange room, populated by a large metal table and chairs. A very thick layer of dust covered the furniture, but strange ridges in a pattern could be seen in the dust covering, as if the table bore some strange symbols in its surface. At one corner of the table, the dust appeared disturbed, as if someone long ago had push it aside, the covering here was much lighter. The chairs around this area were lying on their backs, pushed away in a haphazard manner.
The party was exploring an area of the Dwarf mines, searching again for the "Hall of Records" to find treasure. Their other paths had not been fruitful and they found themselves winding through rooms with corroded, rusting metal shelves and debris, gear-works and strange pipes.
Rhys, the ranger, moved over to the eastern wall to cover the other exit. Dargellon, the ranger, stayed close to Teela, peering at the table while Talos, the druid, hung back at the south entrance to the room. Teela looked at the disturbed dust and confidently swiped her arm over the table and strange symbols, which revealed themselves to be part of a map!
"Look!" she said excitedly. "It's a map with ancient Dwarf symbols wri...." and then the dust "exploded" with a burst of yellow spores, filling the corner of the room her and Dargellon stood in!
Yea... Yellow Mold. This is the same Yellow Mold trap, in the same room, on the same table, that claimed a character almost two years ago. Bryan's character moved the dust, the 50% chance of spores popping hit and then the dice rolled for saving throws. Both players opted to invoke the d30 rule to give themselves higher chances of rolling their saves.
Dargellon coughed and gasped, stumbling away from the cloud of spores as both Rhys and Talos shouted in horror at the sight. Dargellon hacked and spat phlegm a few times and stood up, his face pale.
"I'm OK." he gasped. Then they both turned to look at Teela, who was lying on the floor next to the table. Her breath wheezed in gasps as she clawed at her throat and chest. The spores were settling down, but Teela's fate was already sealed.
Bryan needed to roll a 13 on the d30, he rolled a 7. The stunned looks on everyone's face, including mine, and even the store owner, who had been watching us play, told the tale. Teela was dead from poison. After 11 sessions over 14 months, gaining 10,354 XP, the third level fighter/third level mage was brought down. It was a pretty heavy moment and the mood grew extremely somber.
I gave Teela 6 turns to do as she wanted, I left it up to Bryan. Bryan plays another character, Jorann the cleric, and he willed most of his wealth and possessions to Jorann, which I allowed. Bryan has run both characters faithfully especially for moments where he might lose one. He's been cooperative in not linking the two as mules or trying to exploit them once we figured out how playing two characters worked best in my campaign. Teela had become a somewhat mysterious, but visible figure in the town of Enonia - becoming friends with the only NPC mage in town and serving as a type of informal ambassador for the Elven nation. She had faced terrible monsters, seen the effects of Chaos under the abandoned monastery of St. Eggyx and helped to explore the wild lands east of Enonia. This was someone that Bryan had put 14 months into, and it required consideration, respect and some understanding.
"Please give these to Jorann... and take what you need. I am almost gone." Teela gasped as her party members lay her gently on the ground. They had trekked as quick as they could to escape the mines, but civilization and help was just too far away. Her companions looked shocked and bereft and the two hirelings Aldred and Killas stood quietly in respect.
The end was quick and merciful and Dargellon swore to take her to Jorann and pass word to the elves so that her family could bear her away.
Bryan stayed in the game as one of the hirelings and he had a good nature about it. Bryan and I had to come to an understanding early on of how things worked. Bryan's a good player, he knows the rules, he is skilled at many things and most importantly, he understands the fairness and risks of the game. He was disappointed, but he was a good sport. We all were sympathetic. It was hard for Bryan to shift out of "Teela" mode, and we all joked that somehow Teela had gotten into "Killa's head" as Killas suddenly seemed to know a great deal about the mines, similar to how Teela had known.
It was a shock, to see a powerful character like Teela be brought down by lowly Yellow Mold, but that's the game. The remaining party made sure to burn the mold and pushed on, facing an undead shadow which they killed with fire and the use of the druidic shillelagh spell. They pushed on to places dark and deep, but the Hall of Records eluded them and they were forced to turn back.
Silently, the party made their way back to Enonia. Their grim visages warned the usually inquisitive guards away, who watched in a bit of awe as the returning adventurers bore Teela's body between them. They made their way to the humble church of Tangorin where a distraught Jorann ushered them in. Slowly, the rumors started spreading that one of the mightiest of of the strange adventurers of Enonia had fallen in the deadly Dwarf mines.
Farewell, Teela. You were fun to have in my game and you will be missed.
The party crept into the strange room, populated by a large metal table and chairs. A very thick layer of dust covered the furniture, but strange ridges in a pattern could be seen in the dust covering, as if the table bore some strange symbols in its surface. At one corner of the table, the dust appeared disturbed, as if someone long ago had push it aside, the covering here was much lighter. The chairs around this area were lying on their backs, pushed away in a haphazard manner.
The party was exploring an area of the Dwarf mines, searching again for the "Hall of Records" to find treasure. Their other paths had not been fruitful and they found themselves winding through rooms with corroded, rusting metal shelves and debris, gear-works and strange pipes.
Rhys, the ranger, moved over to the eastern wall to cover the other exit. Dargellon, the ranger, stayed close to Teela, peering at the table while Talos, the druid, hung back at the south entrance to the room. Teela looked at the disturbed dust and confidently swiped her arm over the table and strange symbols, which revealed themselves to be part of a map!
"Look!" she said excitedly. "It's a map with ancient Dwarf symbols wri...." and then the dust "exploded" with a burst of yellow spores, filling the corner of the room her and Dargellon stood in!
Yea... Yellow Mold. This is the same Yellow Mold trap, in the same room, on the same table, that claimed a character almost two years ago. Bryan's character moved the dust, the 50% chance of spores popping hit and then the dice rolled for saving throws. Both players opted to invoke the d30 rule to give themselves higher chances of rolling their saves.
Dargellon coughed and gasped, stumbling away from the cloud of spores as both Rhys and Talos shouted in horror at the sight. Dargellon hacked and spat phlegm a few times and stood up, his face pale.
"I'm OK." he gasped. Then they both turned to look at Teela, who was lying on the floor next to the table. Her breath wheezed in gasps as she clawed at her throat and chest. The spores were settling down, but Teela's fate was already sealed.
Bryan needed to roll a 13 on the d30, he rolled a 7. The stunned looks on everyone's face, including mine, and even the store owner, who had been watching us play, told the tale. Teela was dead from poison. After 11 sessions over 14 months, gaining 10,354 XP, the third level fighter/third level mage was brought down. It was a pretty heavy moment and the mood grew extremely somber.
I gave Teela 6 turns to do as she wanted, I left it up to Bryan. Bryan plays another character, Jorann the cleric, and he willed most of his wealth and possessions to Jorann, which I allowed. Bryan has run both characters faithfully especially for moments where he might lose one. He's been cooperative in not linking the two as mules or trying to exploit them once we figured out how playing two characters worked best in my campaign. Teela had become a somewhat mysterious, but visible figure in the town of Enonia - becoming friends with the only NPC mage in town and serving as a type of informal ambassador for the Elven nation. She had faced terrible monsters, seen the effects of Chaos under the abandoned monastery of St. Eggyx and helped to explore the wild lands east of Enonia. This was someone that Bryan had put 14 months into, and it required consideration, respect and some understanding.
"Please give these to Jorann... and take what you need. I am almost gone." Teela gasped as her party members lay her gently on the ground. They had trekked as quick as they could to escape the mines, but civilization and help was just too far away. Her companions looked shocked and bereft and the two hirelings Aldred and Killas stood quietly in respect.
The end was quick and merciful and Dargellon swore to take her to Jorann and pass word to the elves so that her family could bear her away.
Bryan stayed in the game as one of the hirelings and he had a good nature about it. Bryan and I had to come to an understanding early on of how things worked. Bryan's a good player, he knows the rules, he is skilled at many things and most importantly, he understands the fairness and risks of the game. He was disappointed, but he was a good sport. We all were sympathetic. It was hard for Bryan to shift out of "Teela" mode, and we all joked that somehow Teela had gotten into "Killa's head" as Killas suddenly seemed to know a great deal about the mines, similar to how Teela had known.
It was a shock, to see a powerful character like Teela be brought down by lowly Yellow Mold, but that's the game. The remaining party made sure to burn the mold and pushed on, facing an undead shadow which they killed with fire and the use of the druidic shillelagh spell. They pushed on to places dark and deep, but the Hall of Records eluded them and they were forced to turn back.
Silently, the party made their way back to Enonia. Their grim visages warned the usually inquisitive guards away, who watched in a bit of awe as the returning adventurers bore Teela's body between them. They made their way to the humble church of Tangorin where a distraught Jorann ushered them in. Slowly, the rumors started spreading that one of the mightiest of of the strange adventurers of Enonia had fallen in the deadly Dwarf mines.
Farewell, Teela. You were fun to have in my game and you will be missed.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Hot Elf Chick welcomes you to Classic/Old School D&D
What, you expected some anime-style shmexy babe? Ha! Not the way I roll - this is old school, baby. Horror could lurk around every corner, that pit trap may just contain a few of these and if you're prepared with the flasks of oil and spearmen in the second row, you'll stomp on this ugly creature and go looking for the loot that you're sure is somewhere ahead of you...
Now you've probably seen some posts with the same damn links to the same resources. I'd like to point you to some different, but invaluable resources that will probably benefit you right off, being that you're interested in the old school and I figure you already have the rules that you like to play...
Original D&D Message Board (1974 Little Brown Books and other out of print TSR games from the 70s - high signal to noise, extremely low drama)
Knights & Knaves Message Board (about as rabid of an AD&D board as you can get, but the best for AD&D - cranky bunch, but damn smart/experienced/worth the etiquette landmines to get to know)
Dragonsfoot Message Board (the longest running 'old school' Classic D&D forum, and tons, I mean literally tons of adventures and homebrew modules of quality, plus reviews and discussions/navel gazing.)
Jeff's Gameblog (Jeff Rients is one of the coolest DMs that I've ever run into and his posts are treasure troves of ideas)
Kellri's Classic Dungeon Designer #4 Encounter book - this + AD&D DMG could be the best D&D DM resource combo ever created. This book is invaluable for generating months of adventures)
Now, a bit of opinion for ya...
There's a lot of buzz, discussions and not a small amount of snarking over what "OSR" this and "Classic D&D" that means and even some thoughts to how much lint a navel on a D&D player can collect before you can shape it into a d20 or some shit... but if you're someone not familiar with this online D&D group of people who love the old school, original games, well... go look at any religious, political or teen-age-Justin-Bieber fan club and you'll get the idea. We're a cantankerous, creative, argumentative, self-absorbed, generous, passionate group of people who happen to love playing D&D - we just don't really know what the hell else to agree on.
So if you're feeling alone about Classic/old school D&D, take heart. You're not! It's a vibrant community. There are a lot of us continuing to play games and I'll testify to that. I've ran a 28 player Classic D&D marathon last week. I'm running an over two year old Advanced D&D campaign with two games this week - one tonight, one Sunday. I've got an online game set in the same AD&D campaign world and a smaller game/experiment in Shadowrun/Cyberpunk meets OD&D.
There are a lot of local conventions still being held and at almost everyone, there's someone running old school Classic D&D, or an out of print RPG. Ask around... do a google search or go visit the local gamestore - there are still a few around!
There are still a lot of us and we game. Hard, passionately, and with a lot of love. I hope to see you around.
Oh yea... and one final link. Joesky's blog. If you see a post on another D&D blog with a lot of "blah blah" and no "Joesky tax", you'll see Joesky getting VERY upset. You won't like making Joesky mad. Trust me. It's cool though. Joesky is one of those drunk dudes that somehow pulls wisdom out of his ass while throwing up on table, but making it look like the most fun thing possible.
Now... for my own Joesky tax, based on the pic above
d6 tricks to fool your players, like the title of this blog made you think I had an Evil DM Wednesday girl here...
1. On the next failed thief check or some sort of ability check or task, instead of failure, give them a false positive of the worst kind, make them paranoid for hours.
2. Classic Tomb of Horrors trap - open the door, the ceiling falls. Through the floor into the 10' pit trap underneath. 1d10 + 1d6 + (other damage you see fit to assign from spikes, boiling oil, poison gas, etc.)
3. Next combat, instead of describing everything, just have the monsters bum rush the players, surprise! "OK, you open the door and there are monsters. Roll for initiative." If the players want to take time to assess situation, that counts as their action - or they can just attack whatever is nearest.
4. That hot elven chick guide is really that horrible harpy vampire creature in the picture above. And she just cast charm person at your most powerful fighter as a 6th level MU. Save vs spells!
5. You're in a 50'x50' room where there is an incredible treasure on the other side... and a maze of invisible walls which shift/rotate/slide like in the movie 13 Ghosts. And yes, there are wights here.
6. The dust here is impregnated with oil or petroleum. You can smell it. Every round, for open flames, cumulative 5% chance of explosion like fireball at 6th level
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Classic D&D Marathon - Recap
This past Saturday, I held a Classic D&D marathon at Unique Gifts & Games in Grayslake, IL. This follows the Classic D&D marathon from 2010. It was scheduled at 10 hours, I halted at 9 1/2 hours mainly because the players hit a logical stopping point and there was really nothing that could be done in 30 minutes.
First, I have to tip my hat to Ken and Kathleen, the owners of UGG, for making this a welcome event. We had half of the gaming area for a large table for 9 people and they were very accommodating. They also supplied freebies to give out to players and provided me a complimentary sandwich for dinner, that was much appreciated!
It was an awesome event! I had 28 people play throughout the day. I had two of my AD&D campaigners show up for about 8 hours of gaming. My youngest player was in the range of 7 to 10 years old - Juan - and he was a great player. I had a wide range of ages and genders play. The average session was about an hour or two, and I had complete table turn-overs almost the entire day. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, the players had tromped through the Isle of Dread and survived!
Yes, Isle of Dread - the great wilderness exploring module X1. I've had a soft spot for this module ever since the Expert box set came out - I remember diving into the box expecting great things and I was never disappointed. I remember killing many PCs on just the journey from the mainland to the island, as wandering monsters on the ocean are particularly deadly! My "rules" of choice was D&D - a huge mishmash of Holmes, OD&D and house-rules. I had my pregens from my 2010 B2 Keep on the Borderlands, so I bumped them to 4th level, updated the character sheets and away we went.
A side-note before the recap... in preparing the module, I was impressed once again by how easy it is to make this module your own. You've got a dragon, nasty dinosaurs, enough races to set at each others throats and lots of places to throw your own wrinkles. The downside was the heavy-handed wording of the module in how players should be wrestled/coddled/fudged into success. There are places where it seems as if the 2e "story first!" approach was already taking root, nine years early. Those admonitions can be easily ignored, but the proliferation of magic items in almost every treasure is not. For a one-shot, I really didn't care, but for a long-term campaign, depending on your magic flavor, this module could tilt it fast.
So I put in my special sauce - changed things, modified things to my liking, grabbed my S&W Ref Sheets to make wandering monster rolls easier (as well as have other tables handy) and threw the players onto the Island!
Stealing a page from Jeff Rients and Gilligan's Island, I started the game with combat as the players found themselves marooned...
Me: "OK, let's get started. You see skeletons in front of you and zombies are pulling themselves over the rails. Everyone else is pretty much dead. You have initiative. What do you do?"
Player: "What is going on? Where am I?"
Me: "Is your action to look around and assess the situation?"
Player: "No, no.. I'll attack the nearest undead!"
and so on...
The cleric made quick work of the undead and the players found themselves shipwrecked somewhere on the Isle of Dread. A quick search of the captain's quarters found a roughly drawn (by the DM right there) map of the coastline of the Isle of Dread.
"So where are we?" the players asked.
"Somewhere on that map." I replied.
That was some people's first introduction to Classic D&D as I had a couple of requests for "What do I need to roll to figure out where I am." (Answer: "Well, you can see you're on a beach, there's a huge mountain to the NW and ocean to your east and south. Jungle is to your west. You don't need to roll for that...") Once they got over that bit of a shock, characters picked up their gear and hiked along the beach. We had a brief segue with some harpies that charmed all the demi-humans (go figure) and then the players reached the village of Mora - the outpost of the Kingdom!
Upon learning that the next boat is 30 days out, the players began looking for opportunities to kill things and take stuff. The two teenage boys were all about looting and pillaging the village, but soon enough they were heading to the jungle with "Ron the Hunter" - a guy who had a really bad Aussie accent and a cowardly streak of hiding behind the adventurers until the monster was dead, then dashing forward to plant his boot and sword in its steaming carcass.
The first adventure found one the more unusual results of dice telling the story - the constant reappearance of the damn green dragon in the game. After melting two of the players with it's breath and clawing a third to death, the players gave up most of their magic items to the dragon who flew off. Bamf! Replacements appear and on they go. (Ya gotta love just dropping the veil of verisimilitude and concentrating on just playing) This dragon ended up showing up three more times (!!!) as a wandering monster.
The players hunted down a dinosaur that was eating a villager and netted some gold and good will from the natives. They returned to hunt more animals for gold and ran into some flying-squirrel-monkey-racoon things - the famous Phanatons of X1. After some non-verbal negotiation, the players convinced the phanaton to trust them and to do some trading of intricately carved doo-dads for silver.
One of my special sauces was to have a ton of hooks for each major encounter, both prior and within the encounter. The Neanderthals would want the players to go after the Lizard folk and vice versa. The Rakasta would ask the players to join them on hunts if reactions went well. If the Arachnae captured the players, they would force them to attack the Phanaton and so on. In this case, the Phanatons got the players to go hunt Arachnae.
That ongoing hook took up most of the day. Players died to poisonous snakes, giant - 24 foot tall giant - sloths (heh, wonder how that'll go down when you reach the Halls of Valhalla...) and other misfortunes. The biggest "kill" belonged to the slimy witch-doctor and his wandering monster band of 11 zombies. I threw Hold Person on the thief and cleric and had two to three zombies per other PC. Two PCs were killed in the melee. Three PCs fled and the held players were left to their fate...
In the end, everyone had a great time, got loot, killed things and felt good about helping out cute little spider monkey/squirrel/raccoon/George Lucas wannabe Ewok things. I spoke to a number of people about my AD&D campaign and may have netted another player or two and perhaps I'll be running campaign games at UGG. We'll see.
Thanks again to everyone that showed up and UGG!
Updated 3/11/2011:
Two players have posted their recaps, I thought I'd share them. Thanks again for playing!
The Delve Lord's recap
APlus's recap
First, I have to tip my hat to Ken and Kathleen, the owners of UGG, for making this a welcome event. We had half of the gaming area for a large table for 9 people and they were very accommodating. They also supplied freebies to give out to players and provided me a complimentary sandwich for dinner, that was much appreciated!
It was an awesome event! I had 28 people play throughout the day. I had two of my AD&D campaigners show up for about 8 hours of gaming. My youngest player was in the range of 7 to 10 years old - Juan - and he was a great player. I had a wide range of ages and genders play. The average session was about an hour or two, and I had complete table turn-overs almost the entire day. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, the players had tromped through the Isle of Dread and survived!
Yes, Isle of Dread - the great wilderness exploring module X1. I've had a soft spot for this module ever since the Expert box set came out - I remember diving into the box expecting great things and I was never disappointed. I remember killing many PCs on just the journey from the mainland to the island, as wandering monsters on the ocean are particularly deadly! My "rules" of choice was D&D - a huge mishmash of Holmes, OD&D and house-rules. I had my pregens from my 2010 B2 Keep on the Borderlands, so I bumped them to 4th level, updated the character sheets and away we went.
A side-note before the recap... in preparing the module, I was impressed once again by how easy it is to make this module your own. You've got a dragon, nasty dinosaurs, enough races to set at each others throats and lots of places to throw your own wrinkles. The downside was the heavy-handed wording of the module in how players should be wrestled/coddled/fudged into success. There are places where it seems as if the 2e "story first!" approach was already taking root, nine years early. Those admonitions can be easily ignored, but the proliferation of magic items in almost every treasure is not. For a one-shot, I really didn't care, but for a long-term campaign, depending on your magic flavor, this module could tilt it fast.
So I put in my special sauce - changed things, modified things to my liking, grabbed my S&W Ref Sheets to make wandering monster rolls easier (as well as have other tables handy) and threw the players onto the Island!
Stealing a page from Jeff Rients and Gilligan's Island, I started the game with combat as the players found themselves marooned...
Me: "OK, let's get started. You see skeletons in front of you and zombies are pulling themselves over the rails. Everyone else is pretty much dead. You have initiative. What do you do?"
Player: "What is going on? Where am I?"
Me: "Is your action to look around and assess the situation?"
Player: "No, no.. I'll attack the nearest undead!"
and so on...
The cleric made quick work of the undead and the players found themselves shipwrecked somewhere on the Isle of Dread. A quick search of the captain's quarters found a roughly drawn (by the DM right there) map of the coastline of the Isle of Dread.
"So where are we?" the players asked.
"Somewhere on that map." I replied.
That was some people's first introduction to Classic D&D as I had a couple of requests for "What do I need to roll to figure out where I am." (Answer: "Well, you can see you're on a beach, there's a huge mountain to the NW and ocean to your east and south. Jungle is to your west. You don't need to roll for that...") Once they got over that bit of a shock, characters picked up their gear and hiked along the beach. We had a brief segue with some harpies that charmed all the demi-humans (go figure) and then the players reached the village of Mora - the outpost of the Kingdom!
Upon learning that the next boat is 30 days out, the players began looking for opportunities to kill things and take stuff. The two teenage boys were all about looting and pillaging the village, but soon enough they were heading to the jungle with "Ron the Hunter" - a guy who had a really bad Aussie accent and a cowardly streak of hiding behind the adventurers until the monster was dead, then dashing forward to plant his boot and sword in its steaming carcass.
The first adventure found one the more unusual results of dice telling the story - the constant reappearance of the damn green dragon in the game. After melting two of the players with it's breath and clawing a third to death, the players gave up most of their magic items to the dragon who flew off. Bamf! Replacements appear and on they go. (Ya gotta love just dropping the veil of verisimilitude and concentrating on just playing) This dragon ended up showing up three more times (!!!) as a wandering monster.
One of my special sauces was to have a ton of hooks for each major encounter, both prior and within the encounter. The Neanderthals would want the players to go after the Lizard folk and vice versa. The Rakasta would ask the players to join them on hunts if reactions went well. If the Arachnae captured the players, they would force them to attack the Phanaton and so on. In this case, the Phanatons got the players to go hunt Arachnae.
That ongoing hook took up most of the day. Players died to poisonous snakes, giant - 24 foot tall giant - sloths (heh, wonder how that'll go down when you reach the Halls of Valhalla...) and other misfortunes. The biggest "kill" belonged to the slimy witch-doctor and his wandering monster band of 11 zombies. I threw Hold Person on the thief and cleric and had two to three zombies per other PC. Two PCs were killed in the melee. Three PCs fled and the held players were left to their fate...
In the end, everyone had a great time, got loot, killed things and felt good about helping out cute little spider monkey/squirrel/raccoon/George Lucas wannabe Ewok things. I spoke to a number of people about my AD&D campaign and may have netted another player or two and perhaps I'll be running campaign games at UGG. We'll see.
Thanks again to everyone that showed up and UGG!
Updated 3/11/2011:
Two players have posted their recaps, I thought I'd share them. Thanks again for playing!
The Delve Lord's recap
APlus's recap
I will be doing another Marathon next year, I'm just not sure what the hell I'll be running. Maybe a megadungeon... something bizarro... I've got a whole 11 months to think about it...
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
February Minis Painting Roundup
Started the month with: 168 unpainted minis. (8 from my Jan "primed project list")
Purchased/added: 23 minis
Painted: 20 minis. (8 from my Jan "primed project list")
Removed: 8 minis (my 3 DBA armies will use 84 of 92 figures from the infantry set)
End the month with: 163 unpainted minis.
Completed:
Purchased/Added:
Some highlights from the month:
Winsor/Newton Series 7 brushes - extremely huge difference and well worth the cost. I made the vast majority of my brushes obsolete with two of these - #1 and #2 sizes. Amazing how well I can paint now with them. It's challenged me to get even better with my technique. I'm not sure I'm there - I think I'm hitting a plateau, but I keep trying harder stuff to improve.
Reusing recipes - The Citadel ghosts (which, BTW, I love the personalities of their expressions - there's something about the slightly sinister/slightly goofy/slightly whimsical nature of them that I really like) were painted with two separate recipes or schemes - the shrouds were painted as I did for the Mega-Minis ghost last month, and their faces were painted using a scheme from the bell clapper of a Games Workshop Skaven "Screaming Bell." I just liked the look of how the bell clapper went from this sickly green to white/green and decided it's perfect for how I see non-corporeal undead.
I have a book where I write down my recipes for later use. I also do color tests on 3x5 cards and keep those for later use, in case I want to figure out how I did something.
DBA Army - I decided to go with the I/1a army, even though I didn't have enough archers. I was going to use foamboard "flats" with labels glued to the top. Some email inquiries landed me into new territory - figure trading! Mike Monaco of Swords & Dorkery had some spare Biblical figures, as well as plenty of teaser plastics to try and lure me into the addiction of army building! In return, I traded Mike some NIB Reapers that I have laying around. Thanks again, Mike! (Although, so far, I've made my Saving Throw vs. temptation.)
After I convert a Nim skirmisher to look like an archer, and some minor conversion to be done on the Persians and Egyptians, I will have my 32 bowmen. Wahoo! I wasn't able to get started on this army in February, but that's on the roster for minis I'll be painting in March.
BTW.... one genuine ChicagoWiz-No-Prize to the person that can guess the TV show that influenced my choice of coloring for the orcs... :) (My AD&D players cannot guess, as they already know... oh yes... *evil grin*)
Purchased/added: 23 minis
Painted: 20 minis. (8 from my Jan "primed project list")
Removed: 8 minis (my 3 DBA armies will use 84 of 92 figures from the infantry set)
End the month with: 163 unpainted minis.
Completed:
- Fire Beetles (x6; Otherworld Miniatures #DV4a; 3 as Fire Beetles, 3 as Generic Beetles)
- Damien, Hellborn Wizard (Reaper Dark Heaven Legends #03321)
- Aziz Al-Jawar (Reaper Dark Heaven Legends #02426)
- "Amathor Arch Mage" (Reaper Dark Heaven #02319)
- Orc Brutes(x2 Reaper Dark Heaven Legends #02550 Orc War Party)
- Pig-nosed orcs (x3; Otherworld Miniatures #O6; combined with the Orc Brutes above to form a command unit)
- Ghosts (x2; Citadel Warhammer #8572F)
- Red Dragon (Wizards of Coast #40017)
- Skeletons (x3; Otherworld Miniatures #UD1a)
Purchased/Added:
- Egyptian Archers (x8; Atlantic Egyptian Army Set #1502)
- Persian Archers (x15; HäT Persian Light Infantry Set #8057)
Some highlights from the month:
Winsor/Newton Series 7 brushes - extremely huge difference and well worth the cost. I made the vast majority of my brushes obsolete with two of these - #1 and #2 sizes. Amazing how well I can paint now with them. It's challenged me to get even better with my technique. I'm not sure I'm there - I think I'm hitting a plateau, but I keep trying harder stuff to improve.
Green Stuff sculpting - After my success last month with the mule's packs, I attempted a hand and shield with one of my OWM pig nosed orcs. I didn't want to use the hand holding the Dwarf's head - mainly because there are no (living) Dwarfs in my campaign. So rather than hack the hand, I decided to do something even more difficult and make my own shield and hand. First one came out very rubbery, couldn't superglue it - my ratio of blue to yellow was all off. Second one was a bit rubbery at first, but after 4 to 5 days, it hardened rock solid. The hand looked terrible though, so I ended up using the dwarf head's hand. I hacked off the Dwarf head, made greenstuff thumb/finger and shield straps. It's not OWM quality sculpting but with dark paint/black wash, it's acceptable! I'm not displeased with how it turned out.
Reusing recipes - The Citadel ghosts (which, BTW, I love the personalities of their expressions - there's something about the slightly sinister/slightly goofy/slightly whimsical nature of them that I really like) were painted with two separate recipes or schemes - the shrouds were painted as I did for the Mega-Minis ghost last month, and their faces were painted using a scheme from the bell clapper of a Games Workshop Skaven "Screaming Bell." I just liked the look of how the bell clapper went from this sickly green to white/green and decided it's perfect for how I see non-corporeal undead.
I have a book where I write down my recipes for later use. I also do color tests on 3x5 cards and keep those for later use, in case I want to figure out how I did something.
OWM Skeleton - I was working on the skeletons (UD1a) and decided to take the advice I read on the Otherworld forums and pin the arms. Unfortunately, my pinning was an utter failure. Either the pin was at a "bad" angle or I didn't have enough in the ball of the arm joint to make a good fit, but I just struggled with all of them.
One in particular (the spear guard) gave me fits. I was going to put the skeleton standing at attention with a spear/shield, and after 8 times (5 with superglue, 3 with JB Weld) of putting arms on, them not bonding/holding enough and working loose, me scraping clean, regluing, I just had ruined shoulder bones and crudded up arms/sockets. I thought I would have to put that figure away as a ruined one. I was given a great idea to get the shoulders in place anyway I could, then cover the shoulders with a "rotted" cloth. Great idea!After a search around the house for non-embossed tissues or cloth, I found that my box of industrial paper towels work great. So now the model has tons of JBWeld on the shoulders but it will be tabletop acceptable. It was fitting that these were the last minis I completed in Febrary, considering I was about to give up on them. They ended up looking really good.
DBA Army - I decided to go with the I/1a army, even though I didn't have enough archers. I was going to use foamboard "flats" with labels glued to the top. Some email inquiries landed me into new territory - figure trading! Mike Monaco of Swords & Dorkery had some spare Biblical figures, as well as plenty of teaser plastics to try and lure me into the addiction of army building! In return, I traded Mike some NIB Reapers that I have laying around. Thanks again, Mike! (Although, so far, I've made my Saving Throw vs. temptation.)
After I convert a Nim skirmisher to look like an archer, and some minor conversion to be done on the Persians and Egyptians, I will have my 32 bowmen. Wahoo! I wasn't able to get started on this army in February, but that's on the roster for minis I'll be painting in March.
BTW.... one genuine ChicagoWiz-No-Prize to the person that can guess the TV show that influenced my choice of coloring for the orcs... :) (My AD&D players cannot guess, as they already know... oh yes... *evil grin*)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Here's what I'm dealing with today
If the plumbing in my house is this:
Then I'm the dude wrapped up in it... I hate plumbing/sewer pipe issues. No posting until I get it figured out.
Awesome recap from the awesome Classic D&D Marathon this past Saturday coming later this week, as is more minis pics from what I did in Feb.
Have I mentioned that I hate plumbing?
(BTW, the pic was stolen from Daddy Grognard's "Ettin vs. Otyugh" post from last year. Funny sh... uhhh... stuff! Not sure which original book it came from.)
Then I'm the dude wrapped up in it... I hate plumbing/sewer pipe issues. No posting until I get it figured out.
Awesome recap from the awesome Classic D&D Marathon this past Saturday coming later this week, as is more minis pics from what I did in Feb.
Have I mentioned that I hate plumbing?
(BTW, the pic was stolen from Daddy Grognard's "Ettin vs. Otyugh" post from last year. Funny sh... uhhh... stuff! Not sure which original book it came from.)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
The strange places minis will take you
I'm just about finished doing up my special sauce for the X1 - Isle of Dread D&D Marathon this weekend, but tomorrow to Monday will be jam-packed, so this is gonna have to do it for the week. Hopefully I'll get my February minis photos completed and we'll have a nice post for Monday or Tuesday.
Speaking of miniatures, I've found that my hobby and my particular obsessions with getting the info on the particular figures I have takes me into some strange places. My minis have influenced the direction of my game at several points - most notable are the Otherworlds troll, the figure I'm using to represent Calypso (villian in @thePrincessWife's solo game), the figure that became the Mountain Ogre and the Otherworlds orc shamen holding a heart in his hand.
How so? Well, when I was constructing my Dark Ages world, I had just started putting together the OWM troll. Putting him under a bridge on the main path to a tempting exploration destination came to me while assembling the big guy - making him a troll mage was probably the result of me slicing my finger open or something. If I feel pain... everyone feels it! The Mountain Ogre was a creation of imagination from having just played Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and looking at this figure and wondering how I could convert it away from the "Hellborne" look. The story wrote itself. The orc shamen influenced the game I just concluded on Sunday... what would be special that would cause so many orcs to show up? Hmm... shamen is doing some sort of sacrificial ritual... and that story wrote itself. The Calpyso figure was holding an orb and looking young and suave - and thus I've come up with more info on that villain and how he acts/thinks.
I also find myself discovering unusual things. For instance, did you know that FASA had released a game called Crucible that sounds an awful lot like they were wanting to take on WarHammer? (here, here and here). I found this out because I got a figure in a trade that I could not find or identify. It wasn't until I started a search based on the tiny words from the "slotta tab" on the bottom of this winged, demonic looking creature. "Olley" and "C 99 Ral Partha" led me to the photo on the left. Viola! Mystery figure found and a game that I had never heard of... and probably will never play. Sounds like it was an interesting game though. (Picture is from collecting-miniatures.com - the Olley Armies wiki)
And yes, I am going to find some reason to stick this guy in one of my games somewhere!
Some people find their inspiration from the books and magazines they collect, I find a chunk of mine in my minis. How about you?
Speaking of miniatures, I've found that my hobby and my particular obsessions with getting the info on the particular figures I have takes me into some strange places. My minis have influenced the direction of my game at several points - most notable are the Otherworlds troll, the figure I'm using to represent Calypso (villian in @thePrincessWife's solo game), the figure that became the Mountain Ogre and the Otherworlds orc shamen holding a heart in his hand.
How so? Well, when I was constructing my Dark Ages world, I had just started putting together the OWM troll. Putting him under a bridge on the main path to a tempting exploration destination came to me while assembling the big guy - making him a troll mage was probably the result of me slicing my finger open or something. If I feel pain... everyone feels it! The Mountain Ogre was a creation of imagination from having just played Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and looking at this figure and wondering how I could convert it away from the "Hellborne" look. The story wrote itself. The orc shamen influenced the game I just concluded on Sunday... what would be special that would cause so many orcs to show up? Hmm... shamen is doing some sort of sacrificial ritual... and that story wrote itself. The Calpyso figure was holding an orb and looking young and suave - and thus I've come up with more info on that villain and how he acts/thinks.
And yes, I am going to find some reason to stick this guy in one of my games somewhere!
Some people find their inspiration from the books and magazines they collect, I find a chunk of mine in my minis. How about you?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Kids D&D
I don't know how widely this has been talked about, but I just found Jimm Johnson's version of an attribute-less, extremely simple D&D game for kids. It's very much in the tradition of the microlite games. I'm talking the kind of game a four year old could play and enjoy, while remaining a bit faithful to the game we all love.
The PDFs (and picture of his sweet Dungeon Forge setup) can be found on his blog - The Contemptible Cube of Quazar - here at this link. Very nice and thank you, Jimm! I can't wait to give this a whirl.
The PDFs (and picture of his sweet Dungeon Forge setup) can be found on his blog - The Contemptible Cube of Quazar - here at this link. Very nice and thank you, Jimm! I can't wait to give this a whirl.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
AD&D/OSRIC campaign - Player's recap
Following yesterday's post, one of my players posted a recap from his character's POV. I really wanted to share it. For him, Sunday's AD&D adventure included:
- Winged kobolds that spit poison - I've been waiting for awhile to pull these guys out of the bestiary.
- A 3 to 1 monster/human ratio, at over 90 monsters in a little hamlet, we were in skirmish territory. I brought a lot of d20s. As soon as the players heard the NPC reveal what was going on, you could hear the needle scratching on the record as the players' initial plan went south in a hurry.
- Orcs riding warhorses and riding down players. The ranger took 15 points from one charge which got everyone's attention in a hurry. In this case, the treasure from the adventure wasn't gold, it was light warhorses. At 200+ gold a pop, and the ability to charge into battle and stay mounted, this was real profit.
- Orc shamen performing evil rituals by ripping the hearts out of human prisoners... and I managed to make the players all say some version of "yuck!" (@thePrincessWife jokingly asked me "What is WRONG with you?!?" to which I replied "Hey, YOU married me...")
The Orc Shamen from Otherworld Miniatures made an appearance, complete with heart and blood spattered arm/blood dripping from the heart. That picture is coming in a couple of days.
- The funniest wandering monster result I've had to make in a long time. I rolled a hit for an encounter on the day the players were going to ambush the goblins to free the human slaves. It was my not-zombie-but-zombie-like monsters - the Damned. Well, howinthehell do I work this out? While the players are figuring out their ambush, I'm rolling dice like mad to figure it out - do the PCs encounter them before or after the ambush (3 in 6), do the PCs find them or are they active, etc.... and it ends up that one of the hirelings sat on the grass-covered Damned in their somnolent slumber. Imagine a poor hireling sitting down in garbage disposal... that's about what it was like. The groans heard 'round the table as I pulled out the zombie miniatures was funny though...
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