After a couple of weeks off (from meetings, not posts.), the group got back together to continue the adventure. Kami still has not found his dice, or he rolled so well last time that he just wanted to use my dice again. Anyway, to the adventure.
The last we saw our heroes, they had defeated a group of goblins that had set a trap for them. They walked down a hallway and saw three doors, in order to decide which way to go Aiur suggests that they play "spin the drunk" as Rameus consumed quite a bit of booze to fuel his arcane powers. Rameus, even in his inebriated state, did not enjoy the idea, which led Nieen to pick the door to the right. She lead the way down a hall, curtains hanging on the other side of the room, when they got to the room two goblins at a table were looking up from their card game at them. The goblins fumbled to ring a bell, alerting nearby goblins that there were intruders, and then rushed towards them. The goblins fell quickly, but more soon came, Marric jumped on the Table, knives covered in blood, and started taunting the goblins that were pouring out from behind the curtains.
yeah, I've been reading too much OOTS.
As the goblins came into the room, our heroes mowed them down. Eventually in their third wave the goblins began to overwhelm our heroes with their numbers, but a few well placed hits began to solve that problem. Aiur Cut the goblins down before they got a chance to hit him, as Marric stabbed away and Nieen and Rameus dealt out damage from the back row. Just as the goblins were just about done for, a few more pulled the curtains down on one side. Behind it were three goblins, two that seemed to be similarly undernourished as the rest of the goblins, and one that looked like he must be in charge and got to eat as much as he wanted, a goblin called Balgron the fat.
At this point, where Balgron enters, the conditions for Balgron to run away had already been met. Luckily what happened next... happened.
Aiur, seeing the last newcomers appear, Let out a devastating roar that weakened the knees of two of the goblins, and caused Balgron to flee. The two goblins surrendered, and Marric ran around the room to cut Balgron off before he could escape. Aiur charged past his new prisoners and brutally attacked Balgron with his axe, and then strikes him again, nearly killing him in two strikes.
Aiur makes a intimidate check, natural twenty. Thats why the goblins, who usually fight to the death, just drop their weapons. then he runs down the hall, hits Balgron, then uses an action point to hit him again.
With their prisoners captured and tied, Marric goes in to interrogate them about any treasure that they have, and fearing to see the outcome, Nieen walks around the corner. Balgron pleads for his life, offering a key to a chest in the next room, this pleases Marric and he takes the key to search for the treasure, leaving the goblins in Aiur's hands. Aiur is conflicted between his devotion to extinguishing evil and upholding the laws, such as how to deal with prisoners, and he decides to pray to Bahamut for guidance. Given no reply, he looks to his old friend Rameus, who douses the goblins in his booze and magically ignites them, long ago having learned to not trust most things.
Although this was fun to develop the NPC characters, I really should have let the players decide what to do. It really showed Marric's commonly shown greed, and Rameus's occasionally shown mistrust of anything that is not a part of his team. Though, it did do a little bit of development of the PC's characteristics, as Nieen went around the corner not caring of the goblins' fate, which might fit, since she worships the goddess of nature, and Aiur's conflict. kinda touching, both could have been better managed by me, had I thought of it at the time. marric found the treasure, i think Rameus got a new +1 wand.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Fantasy Setting Name
Whats in a name?
don't believe any nonsense about a rose smelling as sweet even if it was not called a rose. Names can have power.
"Then he explained the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley."
-Wesley, The Princess Bride.
And so I have a bit of a dilemma, I obviously cant go on referring to my fantasy setting as "fantasy setting," especially since I actually have two of them now. So what should the setting be called?
This is the point where if I had any readers, I'd ask them. Soon followed by them pointing out that I haven't actually told them much about the setting. You non-existent jerks...
Well, its kinda a normal fantasy setting... except not.
I don't explain things well.
All I have is the setting and groups of characters. No actual adventures for them to go on. I am the worst writer ever.
don't believe any nonsense about a rose smelling as sweet even if it was not called a rose. Names can have power.
"Then he explained the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley."
-Wesley, The Princess Bride.
And so I have a bit of a dilemma, I obviously cant go on referring to my fantasy setting as "fantasy setting," especially since I actually have two of them now. So what should the setting be called?
This is the point where if I had any readers, I'd ask them. Soon followed by them pointing out that I haven't actually told them much about the setting. You non-existent jerks...
Well, its kinda a normal fantasy setting... except not.
I don't explain things well.
All I have is the setting and groups of characters. No actual adventures for them to go on. I am the worst writer ever.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
"Lost" the RPG
Dang it, I have a terrible idea.
But its so funny!
Ok, here's the idea: get a bunch of players to play a lost-ish RPG where they are stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean, they think that they have to survive and figure out whats going on on the island.
The twist is: Its a Gilligan's Island RPG
Somehow, Gilligan is the antagonist, accidentally at least, and whatever they do, as long as it relates to escaping from the island, Gilligan will mess it up. It would be even better if i made the characters for them and they did not catch that there is the first mate, the Skipper , the Millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the Professor and someeye candy random girl.
And then I'd go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like "a three hour tour."
A three hour tour....
But its so funny!
Ok, here's the idea: get a bunch of players to play a lost-ish RPG where they are stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean, they think that they have to survive and figure out whats going on on the island.
The twist is: Its a Gilligan's Island RPG
Somehow, Gilligan is the antagonist, accidentally at least, and whatever they do, as long as it relates to escaping from the island, Gilligan will mess it up. It would be even better if i made the characters for them and they did not catch that there is the first mate, the Skipper , the Millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the Professor and some
And then I'd go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like "a three hour tour."
A three hour tour....
Thursday, December 18, 2008
4e size rules Grumbles & Races for my Fantasy Setting
I like 4th edition D&D.
It's not perfect, but I enjoy playing.
One of the imperfections is that in its simplification, it has removed a lot most of the rules and info for sizes. I'm sure that this does not bug many people, but it bugs me. Why? Because I'm weird. Most playable classes are of the Medium size category, with a few exceptions that are small sized (four out of the twenty five playable races), and the only difference between medium and small races is a small box labeled as "being small."
The only other mentioning of size rules was in the monster manual where it explain how many squares creatures of different size fill. This is a pretty large difference from the 3.5 rules for size, where it was in the race description that they have a bonus to AC, attack rolls, and hide checks, but got smaller weapons and could only carry 3/4 of what a medium sized character could. Also in the 3.5 PHB, is a table explaining the sizes (not just in squares) and has a handy diagram showing the sizes in relation to each other. The main reason I have a problem with the size rules in 4e is that I want to create races that are not medium or small in size, although the over simplification of the small size rules bugs me as well. I mean, they don't even have size rules for monsters!
But anyway, I wanted to post the races in my fantasy setting, according to the ages they first show up in (I'll explain those later), odds are that nobody will want to ever play the first few ages, but you never know. The three central planes: Avion (the main setting), Avito, and Avire. All of these are "material planes."
First age: age of kingdoms- Humans fighting amongst themselves, ends when one king takes over all of the known lands and continues to expand until he runs into elf and dwarf lands.
Humans-
as PHB, from Avion
Second age: War between Elves, Humans and Dwarves, ends when they finally make a truce.
Elves-
as player's handbook(PHB), from Avion
Dwarves-
as PHB, from Avion
Third age: First age of exploration- meeting of the little folk, races and cultures mix, ends when the three inter planes collide.
Halflings-
as PHB, from Avion
Gnomes-
6" tall "lawn gnome" type of gnomes, tiny but fierce warriors, almost feral but speak common and gnomish, from Avion. Still working on the tiny size rules for these.
Ellobin-
6" tall Snails, more intelligent than most medium sized people, tendency towards arcane magics. Still working on the tiny size rules for these, somehow found on all the main planes.
Portal Cats-
Looks like an ordinary house cat, but is intelligent and can create small portals that it can leap through to somewhere within 30 ft. Portals are only about 1ft in size, but some say that when large numbers of portal cats gather, they can make larger portals that can go further, and even go to other planes, which explains how they are on all of the planes. Just came up with them before writing this post. Still working on the tiny size rules for these.
Half Breeds-
half-elf- Half elf and half human, as PHB
Half-Dwarf- Half dwarf and half human. Looks like a short, stocky human. Rules to come.
"Dwelf" (tentative title)- Half elf and half dwarf, looks unnervingly human, and yet quite attractive to elves, dwarves, and humans alike.
Fourth age- After the planar collision, people (and large chunks of land) from all of the planes are sent to the other planes. Some believe it to be an invasion, others that it is the end of the world. War begins between the grouped races of each plane, a war that is fueled by confusion and fear, the age ends as the war ends and portals between the worlds are opened.
Orcs-
As Monster manual(MM), from Avire.
Hobgoblins-
As MM, are decedents of goblin/orc pairings, ancestors were slaves, from Avire.
Goblins-
As MM, From Avire.
Imps-
Tiny, bat-winged humanoids with red Fur, thought to be demons when they were first seen by people from Avion. from Avire.
Beastfolk-
A collection of many different animal-like Humanoid races. Each Animal-type has several sub races. (dragonborn count as dragon [or maybe lizard] type Beastfolk.) From Avito.
Kobolds-
As MM, The ruling class of Avito, built many powerful kingdoms.
Pixies-
Small winged humanoids with tribal tendencies, usually ignores intelligent creatures unless they steal their prey, attack them, or they are in need of food enough. Still working on the tiny size rules for these.
Fifth age- The new peace allows people to explore their planes as well as new planes that they discover- the elemental planes
More half-breeds
Sixth age- *Top Secret*
Playable stats on the new races and more details on old favorites later on, as well as more of an explanation of the planes.
It's not perfect, but I enjoy playing.
One of the imperfections is that in its simplification, it has removed
BEING SMALL
Small characters follow most of the same rules as Medium
ones, with the following exceptions.
✦ You can’t use two-handed weapons.
✦ When you use a versatile weapon you must use it two-handed,
but you don’t deal additional damage for doing so.
The only other mentioning of size rules was in the monster manual where it explain how many squares creatures of different size fill. This is a pretty large difference from the 3.5 rules for size, where it was in the race description that they have a bonus to AC, attack rolls, and hide checks, but got smaller weapons and could only carry 3/4 of what a medium sized character could. Also in the 3.5 PHB, is a table explaining the sizes (not just in squares) and has a handy diagram showing the sizes in relation to each other. The main reason I have a problem with the size rules in 4e is that I want to create races that are not medium or small in size, although the over simplification of the small size rules bugs me as well. I mean, they don't even have size rules for monsters!
But anyway, I wanted to post the races in my fantasy setting, according to the ages they first show up in (I'll explain those later), odds are that nobody will want to ever play the first few ages, but you never know. The three central planes: Avion (the main setting), Avito, and Avire. All of these are "material planes."
First age: age of kingdoms- Humans fighting amongst themselves, ends when one king takes over all of the known lands and continues to expand until he runs into elf and dwarf lands.
Humans-
as PHB, from Avion
Second age: War between Elves, Humans and Dwarves, ends when they finally make a truce.
Elves-
as player's handbook(PHB), from Avion
Dwarves-
as PHB, from Avion
Third age: First age of exploration- meeting of the little folk, races and cultures mix, ends when the three inter planes collide.
Halflings-
as PHB, from Avion
Gnomes-
6" tall "lawn gnome" type of gnomes, tiny but fierce warriors, almost feral but speak common and gnomish, from Avion. Still working on the tiny size rules for these.
Ellobin-
6" tall Snails, more intelligent than most medium sized people, tendency towards arcane magics. Still working on the tiny size rules for these, somehow found on all the main planes.
Portal Cats-
Looks like an ordinary house cat, but is intelligent and can create small portals that it can leap through to somewhere within 30 ft. Portals are only about 1ft in size, but some say that when large numbers of portal cats gather, they can make larger portals that can go further, and even go to other planes, which explains how they are on all of the planes. Just came up with them before writing this post. Still working on the tiny size rules for these.
Half Breeds-
half-elf- Half elf and half human, as PHB
Half-Dwarf- Half dwarf and half human. Looks like a short, stocky human. Rules to come.
"Dwelf" (tentative title)- Half elf and half dwarf, looks unnervingly human, and yet quite attractive to elves, dwarves, and humans alike.
Fourth age- After the planar collision, people (and large chunks of land) from all of the planes are sent to the other planes. Some believe it to be an invasion, others that it is the end of the world. War begins between the grouped races of each plane, a war that is fueled by confusion and fear, the age ends as the war ends and portals between the worlds are opened.
Orcs-
As Monster manual(MM), from Avire.
Hobgoblins-
As MM, are decedents of goblin/orc pairings, ancestors were slaves, from Avire.
Goblins-
As MM, From Avire.
Imps-
Tiny, bat-winged humanoids with red Fur, thought to be demons when they were first seen by people from Avion. from Avire.
Beastfolk-
A collection of many different animal-like Humanoid races. Each Animal-type has several sub races. (dragonborn count as dragon [or maybe lizard] type Beastfolk.) From Avito.
Kobolds-
As MM, The ruling class of Avito, built many powerful kingdoms.
Pixies-
Small winged humanoids with tribal tendencies, usually ignores intelligent creatures unless they steal their prey, attack them, or they are in need of food enough. Still working on the tiny size rules for these.
Fifth age- The new peace allows people to explore their planes as well as new planes that they discover- the elemental planes
More half-breeds
Sixth age- *Top Secret*
Playable stats on the new races and more details on old favorites later on, as well as more of an explanation of the planes.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
D&D session 6
First of all, I'd like to point this out, second one down if my favorite. ^^ So true.
Anyway, here is the sixth session Of keep on the Shadowfell that I am running my players through. Kami has lost his dice and has to use my extra set, but that doesn't really have anything to do with anything.
Last we saw our heroes, they had just returned to town with Douven Staul. Once there, they notice that the locals seem to be a little out of sorts, when asked he simply replies that something doesn't feel right, as though someone was walking over his grave. Aiur goes to the town lord to ask him about the people acting strangely, but he hadn't noticed anything since he spends most of his time in his office. Nieen went to Val at the tavern to ask him the same thing, and he was a bit more helpful, saying that it might be because of the rift being opened at the keep. Before leaving town, our heroes went to the market square to sell some extra equipment they had acquired and buy several potions.
It was about this time that they figured out that the potions were the only magic items in their price range, potions work somewhat oddly in this version, but I suppose that it makes sense given how the new healing system works. Healing potions are basically: "use a healing surge and gain X HP" where X varies on the type of potion it is. its sort of a way to A) heal yourself as a minor action, B)heal yourself more times per battle, and C) possibly heal yourself for more HP than you would normally.
After Purchasing supplies, the group heads towards the keep, noticing that the scenery slowly changes to dull colors, and all noises are muted with even the wind not making a sound. Now understanding why the locals say the place is haunted, they get to the ruins of the keep and see a path cleared leading to the entrance of the keep, and cautiously they enter. Descending a flight of stairs, they emerge into a square room with four pillars. Aiur cautiously moves forward into the center of the room, setting off a pit trap. He falls to the bottom of the pit and is immediately swarmed by hungry rats, as goblins peer into the room and start lobbing spears at the heroes.
Heh heh heh... I don't think they expected the trap and, as it turns out, Nieen is afraid of rats. Had I known that, I might have made her fall in. >: ) Wait... A cleric of the goddess of nature... Afraid of a rodent... Seems mildly silly now that I think about it...
Natural twenties are a sight to behold. Sure they are not extremely rare, with one in twenty odds, but an automatic hit is just something to enjoy. Kami looked at me and stated that he (Aiur) wanted to jump out of the hole, I told him to roll the d20, and he did. A natural 20. I think the pit was supposed to be ten feet deep, but I did not actually ever specify that to them, and I let him Jump straight out of the pit, run down the hall, and attack a gob. He hit and then rolled the maximum damage possible with his weapon. I don't feel as though I am doing this even justice in its telling, but oh, it was fun when it happened.
This session seems really short, and it seems like we don't get very far in our sessions, only during one session we got two encounters and that was because they were one right after the other. I can't help but wonder if I am doing something wrong, as the DM, but I'm running the game as best I can. I try to keep it fun and interesting for my players, what else can a DM do?
And it suddenly occurred to me that the villain's motivation is not really discussed (as far as I have noticed) in the module beyond the implied "he fanaticly wants to release his master/ become powerful by releasing a powerful entity on the world." Then I realized that he had been made fun of at wizard/cleric school (I don't actually know which he is...) and they called him "Kalarel, Borrower of Souls!"
Ok, I lied, I came up with "Borrower of Souls" and wanted a way to put it in here...
Anyway, here is the sixth session Of keep on the Shadowfell that I am running my players through. Kami has lost his dice and has to use my extra set, but that doesn't really have anything to do with anything.
Last we saw our heroes, they had just returned to town with Douven Staul. Once there, they notice that the locals seem to be a little out of sorts, when asked he simply replies that something doesn't feel right, as though someone was walking over his grave. Aiur goes to the town lord to ask him about the people acting strangely, but he hadn't noticed anything since he spends most of his time in his office. Nieen went to Val at the tavern to ask him the same thing, and he was a bit more helpful, saying that it might be because of the rift being opened at the keep. Before leaving town, our heroes went to the market square to sell some extra equipment they had acquired and buy several potions.
It was about this time that they figured out that the potions were the only magic items in their price range, potions work somewhat oddly in this version, but I suppose that it makes sense given how the new healing system works. Healing potions are basically: "use a healing surge and gain X HP" where X varies on the type of potion it is. its sort of a way to A) heal yourself as a minor action, B)heal yourself more times per battle, and C) possibly heal yourself for more HP than you would normally.
After Purchasing supplies, the group heads towards the keep, noticing that the scenery slowly changes to dull colors, and all noises are muted with even the wind not making a sound. Now understanding why the locals say the place is haunted, they get to the ruins of the keep and see a path cleared leading to the entrance of the keep, and cautiously they enter. Descending a flight of stairs, they emerge into a square room with four pillars. Aiur cautiously moves forward into the center of the room, setting off a pit trap. He falls to the bottom of the pit and is immediately swarmed by hungry rats, as goblins peer into the room and start lobbing spears at the heroes.
Heh heh heh... I don't think they expected the trap and, as it turns out, Nieen is afraid of rats. Had I known that, I might have made her fall in. >: ) Wait... A cleric of the goddess of nature... Afraid of a rodent... Seems mildly silly now that I think about it...
Aiur tried to fight off the rats, with little luck. Nieen, eager to dispose of the rats scorched them with her Sacred Flame as Rameus and Marric attacked the goblins. Once Nieen finished off the Rats, Aiur did a Rage fueled jump straight out of the pit and ran down a hallway to smash one of the shocked goblins, who now believed the dragonborn could fly. He then let out a roar and took down another goblin, finally letting his rage subside. Rameus, who had been drinking since before the gobs had attacked, was now pretty tipsy and was burning and magic missiling the gobs left and right, and Marric was stabbing the goblins as much as he could. Nieen Jumped behind a wall to avoid a flying goblin spear and accidentally used sacred flame after she was behind cover and burnt herself a little. Eventually the goblins all fell, and our heroes breathed a sigh of relief.
Natural twenties are a sight to behold. Sure they are not extremely rare, with one in twenty odds, but an automatic hit is just something to enjoy. Kami looked at me and stated that he (Aiur) wanted to jump out of the hole, I told him to roll the d20, and he did. A natural 20. I think the pit was supposed to be ten feet deep, but I did not actually ever specify that to them, and I let him Jump straight out of the pit, run down the hall, and attack a gob. He hit and then rolled the maximum damage possible with his weapon. I don't feel as though I am doing this even justice in its telling, but oh, it was fun when it happened.
This session seems really short, and it seems like we don't get very far in our sessions, only during one session we got two encounters and that was because they were one right after the other. I can't help but wonder if I am doing something wrong, as the DM, but I'm running the game as best I can. I try to keep it fun and interesting for my players, what else can a DM do?
And it suddenly occurred to me that the villain's motivation is not really discussed (as far as I have noticed) in the module beyond the implied "he fanaticly wants to release his master/ become powerful by releasing a powerful entity on the world." Then I realized that he had been made fun of at wizard/cleric school (I don't actually know which he is...) and they called him "Kalarel, Borrower of Souls!"
Ok, I lied, I came up with "Borrower of Souls" and wanted a way to put it in here...
Current Ideas
currently there are three ideas going through my head at this time.
1. Broadswords and Boomsticks (B&B)
characters fight a number of unnatural, super natural, and extraterrestrial entities trying to take over or destroy the world or just plain be evil.
possible media for this include:
table top RPG
Video game (3rd person shooter/hack and slash or tactics-type RPG are my top ideas)
graphic novel/webcomic
novel
2. My fantasy setting(s)
I have half a post on a new fantasy setting, involving a lot of planes. Think of what would happen if technology had advanced a couple hundred years after a typical D&D setting. Something like that.
And for my other setting, I have been thinking about a religion system which I will post when I get the chance... and get a little more solid.
3. After my players make it though the current module, I plan to make a continuing story of what happens to them after- discoveries are made, and the heroes will try to make the world a safer place. I can't say any more because my only reader is one of the players.
Dang... that brings me up to... five posts that I plan to write. Two D&D sessions that I need to catch up on, the religion stuff for my fantasy setting, the post about the other fantasy setting (fantasy setting 2?) , and a post about some character ideas I have for my fantasy setting... Six if I am gonna make a post about B&B... Well, I had better get writing...
1. Broadswords and Boomsticks (B&B)
characters fight a number of unnatural, super natural, and extraterrestrial entities trying to take over or destroy the world or just plain be evil.
possible media for this include:
table top RPG
Video game (3rd person shooter/hack and slash or tactics-type RPG are my top ideas)
graphic novel/webcomic
novel
2. My fantasy setting(s)
I have half a post on a new fantasy setting, involving a lot of planes. Think of what would happen if technology had advanced a couple hundred years after a typical D&D setting. Something like that.
And for my other setting, I have been thinking about a religion system which I will post when I get the chance... and get a little more solid.
3. After my players make it though the current module, I plan to make a continuing story of what happens to them after- discoveries are made, and the heroes will try to make the world a safer place. I can't say any more because my only reader is one of the players.
Dang... that brings me up to... five posts that I plan to write. Two D&D sessions that I need to catch up on, the religion stuff for my fantasy setting, the post about the other fantasy setting (fantasy setting 2?) , and a post about some character ideas I have for my fantasy setting... Six if I am gonna make a post about B&B... Well, I had better get writing...
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Presidential Vacuum Squad (PVS)
Ok, assuming that it will one day be possible, when cloning gets advanced enough to create exact copies of people, will there be a group of people that follows the president around with vacuums to collect all of his skin cells to keep anyone from getting his DNA to make a clone for them to control?
I swear, with ideas like this I'd be an evil genius if not for my conscience. It occurred to me that I could use these talents to fake an attempt to take over the world, in hope of causing a hero to emerge and lead the people (or at least a small group of adventurers) to fight my "evil" growing empire. All in the intents of creating heroes, i have no desire to take over the world because once you do that then you have to RUN the world. Despite how much fun it would be to take over the world, I really don't want to be in charge of the whole world, and I certainly don't trust anyone to control the whole planet, so its not like I can just have my own little island to sneak off to and give away supreme ultimate power of leadership. Meh, I'll probably wait for Kami to make his attempt to take over the world and then be the hero myself. Then again... I'll probably find someone else to be the hero and just support him while hiding in the background. At least to the press.
Wow, this was supposed to be a short post...
I swear, with ideas like this I'd be an evil genius if not for my conscience. It occurred to me that I could use these talents to fake an attempt to take over the world, in hope of causing a hero to emerge and lead the people (or at least a small group of adventurers) to fight my "evil" growing empire. All in the intents of creating heroes, i have no desire to take over the world because once you do that then you have to RUN the world. Despite how much fun it would be to take over the world, I really don't want to be in charge of the whole world, and I certainly don't trust anyone to control the whole planet, so its not like I can just have my own little island to sneak off to and give away supreme ultimate power of leadership. Meh, I'll probably wait for Kami to make his attempt to take over the world and then be the hero myself. Then again... I'll probably find someone else to be the hero and just support him while hiding in the background. At least to the press.
Wow, this was supposed to be a short post...
Monday, December 1, 2008
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