I am so afraid for DnD I do not plan enough.
Part of it is because I like to run my games with a plot line encased in a very open world. It's like Skyrim (which I've been playing a lot of these days), but I'm hoping a better received main plot line.
The problem with this is that you never know what your players will latch on to and want to pursue. It's not only the little tidbits you thought would be easy to have your players forget, it's also the players interpretation of the big things.
For example, the last two times I ran a game in my setting, I definitely had players who took the role of working for the King seriously. They had experience and honor and lineages that they wants to make sure came into play. They knew that they were the best of the best for a reason, and it was an honor to be serving the King.
These players feel they are not the best of the best. They have bad habits and not the most impressive histories. Two of them are from a friendly kingdom, and aren't entirely 100% sworn to the king (they already have one). One was busy trying to sell potent potables to the public as a druid. One is busy trying to impregnate every lady he can. And one is merely amazed that he has a warm bed and food provided to him as a courtesy. They know they are not the best of the best, and if anything it makes this same setting feel more desperate. This isn't a position of honor. This is proof that the Kingdom needs to be pitied.
With the same introduction and the same world, the feelings are entirely different. Imagine then the difference between the person who knows everything in the world as "God" so the speak, and the difference between the players who only know what I tell them.
Therefore, considering all the unknowns with the decisions made, you cannot plan enough.
Showing posts with label DnD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DnD. Show all posts
August 8, 2012
May 16, 2012
I missed tabletop
In a way, video games are one of the easiest nerdoms to get into, along with TV shows and some books, in the sense that it's something you can easily find and get into. I think that's part of the reason I devote a lot of time to video games in this blog. It's something that easiest for me to enjoy after a long day of work. But I really became a full fledged nerd with tabletop, and now I'm finally getting back to that.
You all got a peak of my character in a friend's Obsidian game Amy Valencia. I had never really played a truly carefree character before so I decided in this universe I would play one. She is kind of a ditz following the easiest path of a high power, a high demonic power. She's not entirely stupid, just entirely honest about her love of drugs, parties and the occasional visit to the masseuse. It's been very liberating playing her because she is not one to give two shits about most dramatic stuff. I think the most concerned she got was when a bomb was about to kill her and her group in a tiny office. Having traditionally played characters that have stressed out very easily, it's great to play one that is not.
I think my experiences with Amy have colored my choices in playing a new character in another game. I got invited to play in a Apocalypse World game that has been going for some time but had some people playing new characters due to old characters dying off or becoming unplayable. I came in with Iris, the classiest brainer in the tree town. Brainers actually can manipulate people with their psychic powers and find out personal things just by touching people. Usually people go for the mystic in rags look for brainers. I went a little more fabulous. She has her kinky hair in an up do and wears a shiny pants suit with a corset. Still weird, but a bit more approachable. Like Amy she is a social creature who looks for the fun in life. Unlike Amy, she strategizes more in the long run. She's not really book smart but she is definitely world-smart. If someone has recently become very powerful, you damn well make sure that you are their friend. Things like that.
On top of those two games I am also running my 3.5 D&D campaign again! I'm super excited about it. The last two times I ran the game we had a ton of characters who were honored, privileged and eager to serve a king to the 2nd largest kingdom in the world. This time I have a lot of hesitant characters who decided to go along merely because is somewhat fulfills their alternative goals, which include siring a messiah and selling potables to whoever will buy them. The first session happened last week and even though it ran so late I was working on low brain power, we all had fun. Next session will immediately start with combat!
It's so great to go back to my roots. I really became a nerd when a friend of mine in high school invited me to play a game of Dungeons and Dragons that her father was running. I'm not sure how nerdy I really was before then, but after that there was no turning back. It now feels like I'm really a nerd again, spending a significant amount of time rolling dice and playing make believe with friends.
You all got a peak of my character in a friend's Obsidian game Amy Valencia. I had never really played a truly carefree character before so I decided in this universe I would play one. She is kind of a ditz following the easiest path of a high power, a high demonic power. She's not entirely stupid, just entirely honest about her love of drugs, parties and the occasional visit to the masseuse. It's been very liberating playing her because she is not one to give two shits about most dramatic stuff. I think the most concerned she got was when a bomb was about to kill her and her group in a tiny office. Having traditionally played characters that have stressed out very easily, it's great to play one that is not.
I think my experiences with Amy have colored my choices in playing a new character in another game. I got invited to play in a Apocalypse World game that has been going for some time but had some people playing new characters due to old characters dying off or becoming unplayable. I came in with Iris, the classiest brainer in the tree town. Brainers actually can manipulate people with their psychic powers and find out personal things just by touching people. Usually people go for the mystic in rags look for brainers. I went a little more fabulous. She has her kinky hair in an up do and wears a shiny pants suit with a corset. Still weird, but a bit more approachable. Like Amy she is a social creature who looks for the fun in life. Unlike Amy, she strategizes more in the long run. She's not really book smart but she is definitely world-smart. If someone has recently become very powerful, you damn well make sure that you are their friend. Things like that.
On top of those two games I am also running my 3.5 D&D campaign again! I'm super excited about it. The last two times I ran the game we had a ton of characters who were honored, privileged and eager to serve a king to the 2nd largest kingdom in the world. This time I have a lot of hesitant characters who decided to go along merely because is somewhat fulfills their alternative goals, which include siring a messiah and selling potables to whoever will buy them. The first session happened last week and even though it ran so late I was working on low brain power, we all had fun. Next session will immediately start with combat!
It's so great to go back to my roots. I really became a nerd when a friend of mine in high school invited me to play a game of Dungeons and Dragons that her father was running. I'm not sure how nerdy I really was before then, but after that there was no turning back. It now feels like I'm really a nerd again, spending a significant amount of time rolling dice and playing make believe with friends.
April 24, 2012
Rewriting the Campaign
They beauty of having a world you invented is that as long as it's not officially published, you can change it.
I have been looking on and off at my notes for the last few days for my first game, and at first I thought I wanted to just organize the notes in a different way. Something wasn't right, something was off about how I began this... did I just have to retype it in a different format?
Nope, upon further inspection I just realized I had done some silly stuff as "DM porn", where there was a character I was definitely excited to introduce to the PCs, but definitely introduced way too early. Other structure things... including long times of boring where I was like "Here's a place where you can do stuff!", not realizing that PCs are usually pretty good at letting you know when they're doing something without being given a gap.
Unfortunately only experience would teach me about that stuff. It'll be interesting as I go on and rewrite this to have it make more sense. However, the big events are going to stay the same. I'm not telling anybody those yet, who knows what future players may be reading...
I have been looking on and off at my notes for the last few days for my first game, and at first I thought I wanted to just organize the notes in a different way. Something wasn't right, something was off about how I began this... did I just have to retype it in a different format?
Nope, upon further inspection I just realized I had done some silly stuff as "DM porn", where there was a character I was definitely excited to introduce to the PCs, but definitely introduced way too early. Other structure things... including long times of boring where I was like "Here's a place where you can do stuff!", not realizing that PCs are usually pretty good at letting you know when they're doing something without being given a gap.
Unfortunately only experience would teach me about that stuff. It'll be interesting as I go on and rewrite this to have it make more sense. However, the big events are going to stay the same. I'm not telling anybody those yet, who knows what future players may be reading...
May 8, 2011
Bad Surprises for the GM.
First of all Happy Mother's day! I hope you all are giving your mother or special women in your life candy and flowers and hugs.
Second, I was hoping to do a proper recap of my DnD campaign yesterday, but things apparently exploded on me. I'm not going to get into details, because it's not necessary, but unbeknownst to me the group of players in my game we're fizzling away due to personal problems with each other, and it came to a head last night in what would've been the beginning of a dungeon crawl. Well, cave crawl, but the specifics aren't necessary. It ended with me flabbergasted with a maker in my hand still trying to draw the entrance area of the first level of the cave as people left because they were mad at other people.
I'm not going to blame anyone for it, sometimes things just happen, and I'm not going to rant about upset I was, because I'm sure many of you have been in similar situations and have been similarly frustrated. But I figured I can use this to make some sort of plea towards some... I'm not sure if game etiquette is the right word for it, but I will go with that for now.
If you have a good GM, one who listens and is genuinely making a game for you to enjoy, let them know if you're not enjoying it for any reason. Good GM's want to give you a fun challenge. Good GMs want to have a fun time with everyone. If that's not happening for some reason on a consistent basis, let them know so the GM can try to rectify it. Sometimes he can't, or he can't immediately, but a good GM will try to make sure the game is fun for the players.
I know this isn't always an option, but there a lot of GMs out there, like myself, who put in the work they do to make a fun, enjoyable world who want to know if what he or she is doing isn't working. It's really disappointing to try to make a fun game and realize no one is having fun out of the blue.
I've seen situations like this that would be rectified by a good conversation with the GM before, mostly in other games though where I wasn't running anything. This, to be honest, was the first time something had to break up completely mid-game over any kind of issue when I was participating. And now part of me is kicking myself for not seeing it and trying to fix it sooner, or wishing someone could've told me so I could've helped.
I need to see what to ret-con and where to go from here, and I'm really hoping to get back to the campaign, especially with characters that are engaging in the world I gave them and want to find out more. I'm hoping to work around my recent move, because I would hate to start out with a new group again. After a while you get attached to the PCs, no matter how ridiculous they are or how much they may annoy you with finding the chink in your GM plans. It's actually kind of more fun when that happens.
In the hopes of ending this post on a lighter note, I'm going to share a video that Dan Eastwood was nice enough to share with me earlier this week. Enjoy!
Second, I was hoping to do a proper recap of my DnD campaign yesterday, but things apparently exploded on me. I'm not going to get into details, because it's not necessary, but unbeknownst to me the group of players in my game we're fizzling away due to personal problems with each other, and it came to a head last night in what would've been the beginning of a dungeon crawl. Well, cave crawl, but the specifics aren't necessary. It ended with me flabbergasted with a maker in my hand still trying to draw the entrance area of the first level of the cave as people left because they were mad at other people.
I'm not going to blame anyone for it, sometimes things just happen, and I'm not going to rant about upset I was, because I'm sure many of you have been in similar situations and have been similarly frustrated. But I figured I can use this to make some sort of plea towards some... I'm not sure if game etiquette is the right word for it, but I will go with that for now.
If you have a good GM, one who listens and is genuinely making a game for you to enjoy, let them know if you're not enjoying it for any reason. Good GM's want to give you a fun challenge. Good GMs want to have a fun time with everyone. If that's not happening for some reason on a consistent basis, let them know so the GM can try to rectify it. Sometimes he can't, or he can't immediately, but a good GM will try to make sure the game is fun for the players.
I know this isn't always an option, but there a lot of GMs out there, like myself, who put in the work they do to make a fun, enjoyable world who want to know if what he or she is doing isn't working. It's really disappointing to try to make a fun game and realize no one is having fun out of the blue.
I've seen situations like this that would be rectified by a good conversation with the GM before, mostly in other games though where I wasn't running anything. This, to be honest, was the first time something had to break up completely mid-game over any kind of issue when I was participating. And now part of me is kicking myself for not seeing it and trying to fix it sooner, or wishing someone could've told me so I could've helped.
I need to see what to ret-con and where to go from here, and I'm really hoping to get back to the campaign, especially with characters that are engaging in the world I gave them and want to find out more. I'm hoping to work around my recent move, because I would hate to start out with a new group again. After a while you get attached to the PCs, no matter how ridiculous they are or how much they may annoy you with finding the chink in your GM plans. It's actually kind of more fun when that happens.
In the hopes of ending this post on a lighter note, I'm going to share a video that Dan Eastwood was nice enough to share with me earlier this week. Enjoy!
May 6, 2011
Managing Battle
With any RPG, you're going to have to manage battle. I'm running D&D two Saturdays in a row, and considering last week was uber investigation time (part of the reason why I'm recapping after tomorrow night) I'm going to do battle.
Oh battle.
The thing is, in any RPG, it gets complicated. D&D has a lot of rules to manage, but in games with less rules you have to figure out how certain things work together. Even if everyone knows exactly what they're doing in battle, it can get confusing. So how do you keep all of it together?
I'll offer a few of my tips, but I know some of you who've played longer probably have you're own to share. Please do so in the comments! I think anyone can benefit from them.
1) Grids for Initiative. Using them not only to establish turn order but knowing when certain sustained effects go way are great. Graph paper is your best friend.
2) Maps are also great. Even if you don't have a battle map with miniatures, use graph paper to draw out where everything is as the DM. That way, it's easy to say how far something is when a PC asks.
3) No distractions during battle, especially laptops. This is one I'm recently deciding on, but computers are multitasking machines that can delay battle if you're looking up your email.
4) Clarity is something that the DM must convey. Be clear about what is going on, who is hitting whom, and why certain things happen.
5) Planning the next move is something every PC playing should do. Have a good idea what you're going to do when the DM comes to you, don't look up spells and effects at the last minute.
Oh battle.
The thing is, in any RPG, it gets complicated. D&D has a lot of rules to manage, but in games with less rules you have to figure out how certain things work together. Even if everyone knows exactly what they're doing in battle, it can get confusing. So how do you keep all of it together?
I'll offer a few of my tips, but I know some of you who've played longer probably have you're own to share. Please do so in the comments! I think anyone can benefit from them.
1) Grids for Initiative. Using them not only to establish turn order but knowing when certain sustained effects go way are great. Graph paper is your best friend.
2) Maps are also great. Even if you don't have a battle map with miniatures, use graph paper to draw out where everything is as the DM. That way, it's easy to say how far something is when a PC asks.
3) No distractions during battle, especially laptops. This is one I'm recently deciding on, but computers are multitasking machines that can delay battle if you're looking up your email.
4) Clarity is something that the DM must convey. Be clear about what is going on, who is hitting whom, and why certain things happen.
5) Planning the next move is something every PC playing should do. Have a good idea what you're going to do when the DM comes to you, don't look up spells and effects at the last minute.
April 13, 2011
DnD Recap: New Additions
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The PCs decided to stay in the superbly urban Ouestpolis to find Jareth, having to leave Roto behind across seas to pursue other growingly important life pursuits.
Atreyu did some reconnaissance to find a place where Jareth was known to hang out. Instead, Escrow found an old (and strange looking bat-like) druid friend of his named Pippy, who was travelling with Oakland Bash, cleric of many missions. Escrow invited them along, though the urgings of Atreyu and Bram prevented them from revealing their true reasons as to why to seek out Jareth. Pippy had seen Jareth the other day in another inn, and the PCs head over there. Indeed Jareth was there, and he was joined by two bodyguards, who didn't seem to be natural creatures. After observing him for a while, Atreyu approached him and with a little help from Bram, learned a little bit about who may have bought young Teleport Mavericks for nefarious reasons. The team was sent on the trail of a coin.
A particularly thin coin of Vidrigan origin was found in a shop where Jareth restrung his ukelele, that was originally from a brown haired gentleman. The druids did scrying to find that the man was someone who was talking to a notable man in Vidrigan politics. The team decided it was best to not follow the man and start acts of war.
Instead, they headed back to the capital, where Pippy and Oakland were introduced to Queen Elish before being excused while the other three shared their findings. They were dismissed and after a couple hours the group was about to meet up where Atreyu was enjoying his house arrest on the Hughes estate when there was an attack in the front of the castle. More undead with long arms, talking and preaching, before the team, old and new, defeated them.
March 10, 2011
DnD Recap: The Saboteur Confesses
My campaign last Saturday had a couple of good twists, and now I finally have time to write about it! (Don't ask, work this week is friggin' bizarre).
Legal Jargon!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The PCs had just recovered from a random attack of what seemed to be large metal ramming beasts, unlike anything they had seen before, all while capturing Teleport Mavericks who had been transporting boxes from the port they had just visited. They secured the TMs in cells that would be protected from magic. Bram and Atreyu decided to retire early while Escrow and Roto did a little more investigating by questioning the TM in her cell. Both were interrupted by a huge attack within the capital with a dozen of those metal chargers. The party woke up and took half of them out of the capital, the town guard able to take the other half out. Some were captured and taken back to be questioned and studied. Finally, the party had some time to rest.
The next day the party spoke to Councilman Hughes to report their findings and how next to proceed. And then Atreyu confessed that he was acting as a double agent for Vidrigez. He stated that these acts of war are not going to help Vidrigez or the Cornwellian Kingdom, so he wanted to stop a war before it was started. Atreyu was immediately escorted to the Queen to report his confession, and the rest of the party spoke about what value he has. Queen Elish was willing to give Atreyu a second chance, where Councilman Hughes would keep close watch on him through his agents in the city. Atreyu did meet with one of his contacts and is now keeping an eye out on Councilman Pullman, seeing if he can be bribed.
Meanwhile, the questioning of the Teleport Maverick revealed that a man named Jareth was recruiting Teleport Mavericks straight from the university and giving them reasonable amounts of money for transporting things that they had no knowledge about. The party is thinking of going undercover to discover Jareth and his connections, but they're still figuring out exactly how....
This may seem a little short but battle and deliberation can take up a lot of time in a game session. Also, we lost the person who plays Roto this week, so we're on the lookout for another player. We'll see who joins, and how it may change the dynamic of the game.
Legal Jargon!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The PCs had just recovered from a random attack of what seemed to be large metal ramming beasts, unlike anything they had seen before, all while capturing Teleport Mavericks who had been transporting boxes from the port they had just visited. They secured the TMs in cells that would be protected from magic. Bram and Atreyu decided to retire early while Escrow and Roto did a little more investigating by questioning the TM in her cell. Both were interrupted by a huge attack within the capital with a dozen of those metal chargers. The party woke up and took half of them out of the capital, the town guard able to take the other half out. Some were captured and taken back to be questioned and studied. Finally, the party had some time to rest.
The next day the party spoke to Councilman Hughes to report their findings and how next to proceed. And then Atreyu confessed that he was acting as a double agent for Vidrigez. He stated that these acts of war are not going to help Vidrigez or the Cornwellian Kingdom, so he wanted to stop a war before it was started. Atreyu was immediately escorted to the Queen to report his confession, and the rest of the party spoke about what value he has. Queen Elish was willing to give Atreyu a second chance, where Councilman Hughes would keep close watch on him through his agents in the city. Atreyu did meet with one of his contacts and is now keeping an eye out on Councilman Pullman, seeing if he can be bribed.
Meanwhile, the questioning of the Teleport Maverick revealed that a man named Jareth was recruiting Teleport Mavericks straight from the university and giving them reasonable amounts of money for transporting things that they had no knowledge about. The party is thinking of going undercover to discover Jareth and his connections, but they're still figuring out exactly how....
_______________
February 25, 2011
Recap Session 7 though...???: A clear enemy emerges
So It's been forever since I posted about my D&D campaign, but it has not died off! We had a couple of unfortunate long breaks and lost one player, but the story still forges on with some interesting developments.
Again, legal jargon for all characters and setting that I, d20sapphire, have created.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Last time, it was quite apparent that Ingard, the head of the city guard, had Prince Aeriche in his custody. The next session Atreyu finally confronted him, when Ingard said the man was found drunk in the woods, recovering from a stupor. Atreyu called him out for his treachery and sent him along to the capital, where he privately talked to the King Aust. Ingard was executed, with his wife and child sent to opposite ends of the country, and the party was handsomely rewarded before heading back to the Cornwellian Kingdom, where Queen Elish asked some questions about the state of the Vidrigez kingdom.
After a couple days of rest, Samsana, the holy fighter blessed from a relatively unknown goddess, wanted help from the party to investigate the organization of the Yuan-ti armies. The party was willing to investigate for the good of the crown, even without the promise of pay. Samsana navigated the jungle with them, bumping into a couple of monsters and taking a rest at a tribe before they found themselves at half power after a tussle with some Yuan-ti. Dreamatar and Roto had to head back early due to complications, and the rest of the team realized they weren't strong enough to do it on their own. They headed back to see the tribe they had stayed with had been attacked, and Samsana found one lone scared child to save. Another Yuan-ti scuffle on the way before they could go back to the capital and report their findings.
Continuing with their investigation when the first king of Cornwell's body had been stolen, the party made way to the Xephs lands, which border the Monster's Forest. With the help of one of Bram's old adventuring friends, the adventurers traveled deep into the forest and fought some monsters. They talked to some minotaurs about people in black robes, and were pointed in the direction of the dangerous range, the thick jungle that no empire or kingdom has ever been able to conquer due to dangerous flora and fauna as well as disease. A couple days more journeying and they were in the jungle, one that is thicker and more dangerous than the Amazon. A perfect hiding place.
There they found individuals, later proven to be connected to the Yuan-ti and the Vidrigez Kingdom, training tweens and teenagers of previously unknown origins to be spies. In fact, these young people could easily change their appearance, and the training improved their metamorphoses as well as their strength. They killed most of the trainers, sparing one to take back for questioning. The children went off on their own, except for one who is almost a young man, and decided to follow Escrow back to the Cornwellian Kingdom. The party went back to Queen Elish to report what they found, only to find Queen Elish would only greet them veiled, gloved and completely covered. She didn't reveal what ailed her but was very appreciative of the information.
In the meantime, Escrow gave the changeling child a new family, Roto started a temple for his rare dragon god, Atreyu began to court Swan Hughes with Councilman Fox's close eye, and Bram began to miss the taste of seafood while inland.
Councilman Fox Hughes asked the party to investigate shipments that had been coming in around the South-Eastern ports, in ships seemingly small with cargos reported from all over the place. The PCs travelled to what was called the "beard" of the continent. They set up shop very close to the coast and kept watch. In the wee hours of the morning they noticed a strange shipment come in. Following it, they lead to an empty building that should've been stacked with 20ft cube boxes. Finding ribbon to scry made locating the foreign Teleport Mavericks in the Cornwellian Kingdom easy, and the surprise attack on them in the slums of the capital even easier. And the Warforged Chargers bursting out a floor below to attack our heros, proving to be the cargo in the crates, only was a minor setback.
Again, legal jargon for all characters and setting that I, d20sapphire, have created.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Last time, it was quite apparent that Ingard, the head of the city guard, had Prince Aeriche in his custody. The next session Atreyu finally confronted him, when Ingard said the man was found drunk in the woods, recovering from a stupor. Atreyu called him out for his treachery and sent him along to the capital, where he privately talked to the King Aust. Ingard was executed, with his wife and child sent to opposite ends of the country, and the party was handsomely rewarded before heading back to the Cornwellian Kingdom, where Queen Elish asked some questions about the state of the Vidrigez kingdom.
After a couple days of rest, Samsana, the holy fighter blessed from a relatively unknown goddess, wanted help from the party to investigate the organization of the Yuan-ti armies. The party was willing to investigate for the good of the crown, even without the promise of pay. Samsana navigated the jungle with them, bumping into a couple of monsters and taking a rest at a tribe before they found themselves at half power after a tussle with some Yuan-ti. Dreamatar and Roto had to head back early due to complications, and the rest of the team realized they weren't strong enough to do it on their own. They headed back to see the tribe they had stayed with had been attacked, and Samsana found one lone scared child to save. Another Yuan-ti scuffle on the way before they could go back to the capital and report their findings.
Continuing with their investigation when the first king of Cornwell's body had been stolen, the party made way to the Xephs lands, which border the Monster's Forest. With the help of one of Bram's old adventuring friends, the adventurers traveled deep into the forest and fought some monsters. They talked to some minotaurs about people in black robes, and were pointed in the direction of the dangerous range, the thick jungle that no empire or kingdom has ever been able to conquer due to dangerous flora and fauna as well as disease. A couple days more journeying and they were in the jungle, one that is thicker and more dangerous than the Amazon. A perfect hiding place.
There they found individuals, later proven to be connected to the Yuan-ti and the Vidrigez Kingdom, training tweens and teenagers of previously unknown origins to be spies. In fact, these young people could easily change their appearance, and the training improved their metamorphoses as well as their strength. They killed most of the trainers, sparing one to take back for questioning. The children went off on their own, except for one who is almost a young man, and decided to follow Escrow back to the Cornwellian Kingdom. The party went back to Queen Elish to report what they found, only to find Queen Elish would only greet them veiled, gloved and completely covered. She didn't reveal what ailed her but was very appreciative of the information.
In the meantime, Escrow gave the changeling child a new family, Roto started a temple for his rare dragon god, Atreyu began to court Swan Hughes with Councilman Fox's close eye, and Bram began to miss the taste of seafood while inland.
Councilman Fox Hughes asked the party to investigate shipments that had been coming in around the South-Eastern ports, in ships seemingly small with cargos reported from all over the place. The PCs travelled to what was called the "beard" of the continent. They set up shop very close to the coast and kept watch. In the wee hours of the morning they noticed a strange shipment come in. Following it, they lead to an empty building that should've been stacked with 20ft cube boxes. Finding ribbon to scry made locating the foreign Teleport Mavericks in the Cornwellian Kingdom easy, and the surprise attack on them in the slums of the capital even easier. And the Warforged Chargers bursting out a floor below to attack our heros, proving to be the cargo in the crates, only was a minor setback.
______________________________________________________
Oh man, that was a lot of typing. Luckily next session will be less catch up and more "Oh, so about Vidrigez... what are we going to do about it?"
Yeah, I love being a DM.
December 17, 2010
DnDnD
Tomorrow I shall be starting again a tradition that I had since high school: DnDnD. Dungeons and Dragons and Dinner.
You would think that the combination would not work, but believe me, it does. In high school, when I could get a few of my friends over for DnD (conflicting schedules prevented consistent games) we would have Chinese food. A feast even. We would eat and then I would run my game.
In college the chinese food tradition continued. We would play friday evenings around dinnertime (around 7 to 11 most nights) and people would get hungry because they hadn't had dinner yet. Chinese food was ordered a lot of those times. We were in a college parlor where there was space to spread out and eat while rolling dice. It was conducive to the RP parts of the story more than the battle parts. For some reason, some people are a lot more comfortable in a communal story while munching on delicious. One of my players called it DnDnD, and it stuck in my head.
Tomorrow, I think my players will get accustomed to NPCs and Pizza. There's a place near my house that will be open late and a player of mine was nice enough to call and see that the place would be accommodating. Hooray!
Food and gaming go hand in hand, surprisingly.
You would think that the combination would not work, but believe me, it does. In high school, when I could get a few of my friends over for DnD (conflicting schedules prevented consistent games) we would have Chinese food. A feast even. We would eat and then I would run my game.
In college the chinese food tradition continued. We would play friday evenings around dinnertime (around 7 to 11 most nights) and people would get hungry because they hadn't had dinner yet. Chinese food was ordered a lot of those times. We were in a college parlor where there was space to spread out and eat while rolling dice. It was conducive to the RP parts of the story more than the battle parts. For some reason, some people are a lot more comfortable in a communal story while munching on delicious. One of my players called it DnDnD, and it stuck in my head.
Tomorrow, I think my players will get accustomed to NPCs and Pizza. There's a place near my house that will be open late and a player of mine was nice enough to call and see that the place would be accommodating. Hooray!
Food and gaming go hand in hand, surprisingly.
October 17, 2010
Recap, Session 6: Good Spy, Bad Spy
Today's game was short because of previous obligations by players. Real life does come before game, which is something that you have to do if you want to be a functioning adult. But we did get a lot done.
Again, regarding the world and characters that I created:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Before the party could leave the capital of Vidrigez to investigate the disappearance of Prince Aeriche, Escrow the druid came down with a horrible stomach ailment again, unable to join his associates in the trip to Everterre. After a random attack by some wandering trolls, the party was able to get to Everterre mostly in tact, although the trolls certainly weren't.
Atreyu confirmed that the man they were looking for was actually the head of the guard, who's named Ingard. He proceeded to find the man and tail him for a while. Dreamtar took another approach and actually filed a missing person's report with the guard, giving the exact description of Aeriche. In the process of revealing himself and some of his assignment, the guard ended up arresting him, telling him they needed to protect him as a witness while telling Bram and Atreyu that he had been arrested due to implicating himself in that crime (that they were also investigating).
Atreyu continued to follow Ingard into the night and saw that he with another fellow guard went back into his home's cellar. Atreyu quickly went back in town and roused Roto and Bram to see if they could catch Ingard and his coworker in the act. Instead they came back to an empty cellar, where amongst the stored food were the leavings of someone living there.
The three went back to the inn at the night, knowing that Ingard had been keeping someone in there. In the morning Atreyu scolded Dreamatar for putting Ingard on their trail. Dreamatar defended his tactics. Meanwhile Atreyu also received a note from the guard's office...
Again, regarding the world and characters that I created:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Before the party could leave the capital of Vidrigez to investigate the disappearance of Prince Aeriche, Escrow the druid came down with a horrible stomach ailment again, unable to join his associates in the trip to Everterre. After a random attack by some wandering trolls, the party was able to get to Everterre mostly in tact, although the trolls certainly weren't.
Atreyu confirmed that the man they were looking for was actually the head of the guard, who's named Ingard. He proceeded to find the man and tail him for a while. Dreamtar took another approach and actually filed a missing person's report with the guard, giving the exact description of Aeriche. In the process of revealing himself and some of his assignment, the guard ended up arresting him, telling him they needed to protect him as a witness while telling Bram and Atreyu that he had been arrested due to implicating himself in that crime (that they were also investigating).
Atreyu continued to follow Ingard into the night and saw that he with another fellow guard went back into his home's cellar. Atreyu quickly went back in town and roused Roto and Bram to see if they could catch Ingard and his coworker in the act. Instead they came back to an empty cellar, where amongst the stored food were the leavings of someone living there.
The three went back to the inn at the night, knowing that Ingard had been keeping someone in there. In the morning Atreyu scolded Dreamatar for putting Ingard on their trail. Dreamatar defended his tactics. Meanwhile Atreyu also received a note from the guard's office...
________________________________________
I am sad that we were only able to get three hours in, but we're hoping to find a new space that is less restricting on time than the local library. If any of you know of any place where gaming for long hours is acceptable in Chicago, leave a comment. We have some ideas in mind. the question is convenience at this point. (we seem to live in totally opposite corners of Chicagoland)
Next time, will we figure out where Aeriche was? Did Ingard have him? Will the PCs go to King Aust empty handed? Find out next game session... which is going to be a while from now.
September 28, 2010
Recap, Session 5: Please Visit My Adversary
Sorry it's taken so long! Yesterday was my birthday (I'm officially 24 year old--woot!) and Sunday was crazy since I had to bake some mac and cheese. So I finally can post this recap.
You should know the drill by now. Anything pertaining to the original world I created, including fictional characters and countries:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The Cornwellian Kingdom was experiencing a first, the coronation of a Queen to the throne, when the ceremonial procession was attacked by a large, long armed undead that none of the PCs had seen before. It took them a long time to finally keep it dead. The Queen and her procesion party were all rushed into the castle quickly. The PCs did some investigation, including Bram making sure the body of the creature was researched by the local magic university. Dreamatar had his sister work on a Legend Lore spell. Atreyu and Dreamatar made sure the Queen knew they were still in her service. The PCs stayed in the castle for a while to make sure the nobles were fine, some making conversation here and there, including Roto with the Queen's sister Faoiltiarna. The people of the capital seemed disturbed, but did not revolt in any way violent. The Queen gave a speech to calm them down.
The next day proved to be quiet for the PCs. They checked up on their own affairs, and some viewed the execution of the minotaur that was left from the crypt raid. There was some talk about where to proceed next with the crypt investigation, but many were happy to have a day of rest to themselves for once.
Next morning made the vacation short. Queen Elish told the party that the Vidrigez Kingdom have found out about the services they were providing to the Cornwellian Kingdom, and wished them to help with something at Vidrigez. The PCs agreed, although some were hesitant. When they went over Atreyu made sure all the PCs knew how to act and speak in front of King Aust, a man with ram's horns and coal black eyes. Although leaving in the morning, due to the time difference King Aust greeted the PCs in the evening, and told them in confidence about how his youngest brother, Aeriche, went missing. A prince known to pretend to be the common folk during the evening, he hadn't been seen during his excursion a couple night ago, and King Aust decided to search for him. The PCs were asked to investigate and find him, but were invited to a dinner celebrating the middle of the winter season the next night. All the PCs except Bram had dinner with the King and his family their first night in.
The next day the PCs investigated around town. Atreyu visited his family to see if they had any news. Bram checked around the castle, Roto checked around town in general, and Escrow had some success checking out the taverns. He heard that a man with a bushy beard and deep set eyes was last seen with a man that looked like Aeriche, a human. Considering the capital of Vidrigez is 95% half-elf, this man stuck out like a sore thumb. The witness was questioned several times over, and the PCs tried to figure out what the next step was.
That evening the grand festivities to celebrate the middle of winter happened. Arteyu spent some more time with his family, and was luckily not embarrassed by his party members. Dreamatar learned how to do some of the local dances, and Bram talked with some of the significant individuals of the party.
The PCs decided that next morning, they would investigate the town that is straight north of the capital.
You should know the drill by now. Anything pertaining to the original world I created, including fictional characters and countries:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The Cornwellian Kingdom was experiencing a first, the coronation of a Queen to the throne, when the ceremonial procession was attacked by a large, long armed undead that none of the PCs had seen before. It took them a long time to finally keep it dead. The Queen and her procesion party were all rushed into the castle quickly. The PCs did some investigation, including Bram making sure the body of the creature was researched by the local magic university. Dreamatar had his sister work on a Legend Lore spell. Atreyu and Dreamatar made sure the Queen knew they were still in her service. The PCs stayed in the castle for a while to make sure the nobles were fine, some making conversation here and there, including Roto with the Queen's sister Faoiltiarna. The people of the capital seemed disturbed, but did not revolt in any way violent. The Queen gave a speech to calm them down.
The next day proved to be quiet for the PCs. They checked up on their own affairs, and some viewed the execution of the minotaur that was left from the crypt raid. There was some talk about where to proceed next with the crypt investigation, but many were happy to have a day of rest to themselves for once.
Next morning made the vacation short. Queen Elish told the party that the Vidrigez Kingdom have found out about the services they were providing to the Cornwellian Kingdom, and wished them to help with something at Vidrigez. The PCs agreed, although some were hesitant. When they went over Atreyu made sure all the PCs knew how to act and speak in front of King Aust, a man with ram's horns and coal black eyes. Although leaving in the morning, due to the time difference King Aust greeted the PCs in the evening, and told them in confidence about how his youngest brother, Aeriche, went missing. A prince known to pretend to be the common folk during the evening, he hadn't been seen during his excursion a couple night ago, and King Aust decided to search for him. The PCs were asked to investigate and find him, but were invited to a dinner celebrating the middle of the winter season the next night. All the PCs except Bram had dinner with the King and his family their first night in.
The next day the PCs investigated around town. Atreyu visited his family to see if they had any news. Bram checked around the castle, Roto checked around town in general, and Escrow had some success checking out the taverns. He heard that a man with a bushy beard and deep set eyes was last seen with a man that looked like Aeriche, a human. Considering the capital of Vidrigez is 95% half-elf, this man stuck out like a sore thumb. The witness was questioned several times over, and the PCs tried to figure out what the next step was.
That evening the grand festivities to celebrate the middle of winter happened. Arteyu spent some more time with his family, and was luckily not embarrassed by his party members. Dreamatar learned how to do some of the local dances, and Bram talked with some of the significant individuals of the party.
The PCs decided that next morning, they would investigate the town that is straight north of the capital.
________________
There was a lot of RPing going on that I don't think I remembered, or at least remembered all of it. Session went late since we didn't have a time constraint, and it was pretty fun with some good hang out breaks in there. If you guys int he campaign have anything you'd like to add in the comments, totally feel free!
September 13, 2010
Recap, Session 4: Change is in the Heir
I've been using puns a lot. Cake Wrecks is proving to be a bad influence. Or a good one, depending on who you are.
Once again, pertaining to the characters and world I personally created:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The players continued their investigation into the destruction of the royal tombs, and had gained some rest after that long day of questioning and investigation. The next day Escrow found himself doubled over in stomach pains, unable to join the rest of the party as they went around town searching. There was more questioning of the minotaur, and research into the Teleport Maverick system and seeing who could do the right amount of teleportation skills. Before midday, they were called in by Councilman Hughes and asked to help assist an announcement made by Princess Elish. Bram acted as a bodyguard of hers, letting the gleem of his skin show as she spoke. The rest of the party stayed on the ground, monitoring the reaction of the crowd to the announcement.
Princess Elish let the public know that the issue of an heir to the Cornwellian throne had been resolved. The crowd celebrated. Many went to the local inns and taverns, others went to the streets. There was music and singing and dancing. A couple of the PCs decided to observe this in multiple areas. Roto was suspicious of the situation and asked Councilman Hughes about the situation, but was assured that the situation was not related to the previous incident at the tombs. Dreamatar and Atreyu appreciated a late night with some common folk, Bram enjoyed the festivities on the streets, and Roto began to investigate ways to locate the King.
After a late morning the PCs returned to Hughes' office for another investigation: signs posted all over town merely asking "Where is the king?" After Dreamatar annoyed Hughes by demanding to see the King, and being repeatedly reminded that he was indisposed at the moment, the PCs proceeded to do their own research. Roto spoke with a calligrapher, Atreyu tried to get word off the street, and Bram decided to research the whole heir situation since he was not familiar with the fascination. Roto discovered that the job had been done by someone with little to no experience, and possibly not even part of the calligrapher guild. Bram figured out that the heir had to bear the last name Cornwell of the royal family, and had to be of male descent. Such had been the way for 300 years. Bram also talked to the minotaur again, and with his natural (psionic) skills of persuasion, was able to gain a better rapport, even if he didn't get much more information.
That evening, Dreamatar and Atreyu staked out an area of town not covered in signs yet, and caught up with a small boy posting signs. He admitted he got paid to and described the man who gave him the money and signs, before running off a little frightened. The next day, the party went to the Teleport Maverick Academy and quite easily obtained the names of Teleport Mavericks that could produce 4 teleports in one day. They also went to the make-shift temple of Olidammara, where they enjoyed spirits as the cleric there performed a divination for them. Then, that evening while at the Hughes' guest house, Danacia informed them that King Franklin had died that evening, and his burial will be the next morning, followed by the crowning of his heir. Councilman Hughes asked that they will guard the casket and then the heir during the rite, and all the PCs agreed.
The next day, the PCs marched alongside the casket, with a grieving public around the procession. When the casket went in to the tomb, the coronation ceremony inside revealed that Princess Elish was crowned as the new ruler of the Cornwellian Kingdom, and a shocked and confused citizenry had no time to react to the female heir as the guards forced them to bow. Seeming that the grave danger had been avoided, those assurances had been cast aside as a tall, skeletal creature in black robes came towards the procesion, holding its long arms close to it's body. The PCs readied to fight...
Of course it was 20 minutes to when the library closed so combat will begin next game, possibly with the whole party together. It was the smoothest game we had yet! Woot! We'll see what happens with this new Queen, and her first assassination attempt within minutes of ascending the throne. And what about all that other stuff happening? It's crazy really.
Enjoy the D&D tales.
Once again, pertaining to the characters and world I personally created:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The players continued their investigation into the destruction of the royal tombs, and had gained some rest after that long day of questioning and investigation. The next day Escrow found himself doubled over in stomach pains, unable to join the rest of the party as they went around town searching. There was more questioning of the minotaur, and research into the Teleport Maverick system and seeing who could do the right amount of teleportation skills. Before midday, they were called in by Councilman Hughes and asked to help assist an announcement made by Princess Elish. Bram acted as a bodyguard of hers, letting the gleem of his skin show as she spoke. The rest of the party stayed on the ground, monitoring the reaction of the crowd to the announcement.
Princess Elish let the public know that the issue of an heir to the Cornwellian throne had been resolved. The crowd celebrated. Many went to the local inns and taverns, others went to the streets. There was music and singing and dancing. A couple of the PCs decided to observe this in multiple areas. Roto was suspicious of the situation and asked Councilman Hughes about the situation, but was assured that the situation was not related to the previous incident at the tombs. Dreamatar and Atreyu appreciated a late night with some common folk, Bram enjoyed the festivities on the streets, and Roto began to investigate ways to locate the King.
After a late morning the PCs returned to Hughes' office for another investigation: signs posted all over town merely asking "Where is the king?" After Dreamatar annoyed Hughes by demanding to see the King, and being repeatedly reminded that he was indisposed at the moment, the PCs proceeded to do their own research. Roto spoke with a calligrapher, Atreyu tried to get word off the street, and Bram decided to research the whole heir situation since he was not familiar with the fascination. Roto discovered that the job had been done by someone with little to no experience, and possibly not even part of the calligrapher guild. Bram figured out that the heir had to bear the last name Cornwell of the royal family, and had to be of male descent. Such had been the way for 300 years. Bram also talked to the minotaur again, and with his natural (psionic) skills of persuasion, was able to gain a better rapport, even if he didn't get much more information.
That evening, Dreamatar and Atreyu staked out an area of town not covered in signs yet, and caught up with a small boy posting signs. He admitted he got paid to and described the man who gave him the money and signs, before running off a little frightened. The next day, the party went to the Teleport Maverick Academy and quite easily obtained the names of Teleport Mavericks that could produce 4 teleports in one day. They also went to the make-shift temple of Olidammara, where they enjoyed spirits as the cleric there performed a divination for them. Then, that evening while at the Hughes' guest house, Danacia informed them that King Franklin had died that evening, and his burial will be the next morning, followed by the crowning of his heir. Councilman Hughes asked that they will guard the casket and then the heir during the rite, and all the PCs agreed.
The next day, the PCs marched alongside the casket, with a grieving public around the procession. When the casket went in to the tomb, the coronation ceremony inside revealed that Princess Elish was crowned as the new ruler of the Cornwellian Kingdom, and a shocked and confused citizenry had no time to react to the female heir as the guards forced them to bow. Seeming that the grave danger had been avoided, those assurances had been cast aside as a tall, skeletal creature in black robes came towards the procesion, holding its long arms close to it's body. The PCs readied to fight...
______________
Of course it was 20 minutes to when the library closed so combat will begin next game, possibly with the whole party together. It was the smoothest game we had yet! Woot! We'll see what happens with this new Queen, and her first assassination attempt within minutes of ascending the throne. And what about all that other stuff happening? It's crazy really.
Enjoy the D&D tales.
September 5, 2010
Comparing Old to New: Only three sessions in
Due to the crazy that is Labor Day Weekend, I am not running a game for my campaign this weekend. But I'm noticing the differences between this group of adventures compared to my last group of adventures. This isn't going to get too descriptive because I don't want to reveal too much.
The last time I was running this game, about 4 years ago as a sophomore in college, I was playing with guys that I knew. So the dynamic is of course going to be different rather than a bunch of strangers I met on the internet. However, I couldn't exactly predict how they were going to act.
To be honest, they were quite thoughtful about how they approached things, and even with the original group that started everyone was discussing not only their actions and implications. Even though their characters hadn't known each other for long, there was a sense of teamwork when approaching a problem. Also, they were a bit more paranoid. These were players wounded by previous experiences, so didn't trust ANYTHING. Safety was an issue.
Three sessions in, and this current group is doing thing extremely different. Most of these players are not as thoughtful when it comes to a plan of attack. And they are very much individuals. Hence, you get a lot of miscommunication on the field, which is hilarious in some respects as a DM, and taxing in others.
I think the opportunity here is to get a story where the PCs find out what makes them a good team and grow in that respect. The trick is making sure everyone is on that path. There are some people who already have goals in mind that would bring them into a team way of thinking. There are also others who are following very individual goals and not paying attention to the team potential.
Am I saying my players have to play like a team? No. But it will make things a lot easier down the line. Why am I saying this? Because I friggin' know. I'm the one who made the game and I've seen it played out before. The individualism that is thriving three games in could be costly?
Not to say that the previous PCs had other flaws. They tended to over-think, and in that midst complicate solutions that I knew could be a lot simpler. I'm not favoring the tactics of one group over another. It's just interesting, knowing the path and seeing what different people do on the path.
There is of course a lot more that is happening behind the scenes, but alas, if I share any of it I'm going to spoil the surprises.
The last time I was running this game, about 4 years ago as a sophomore in college, I was playing with guys that I knew. So the dynamic is of course going to be different rather than a bunch of strangers I met on the internet. However, I couldn't exactly predict how they were going to act.
To be honest, they were quite thoughtful about how they approached things, and even with the original group that started everyone was discussing not only their actions and implications. Even though their characters hadn't known each other for long, there was a sense of teamwork when approaching a problem. Also, they were a bit more paranoid. These were players wounded by previous experiences, so didn't trust ANYTHING. Safety was an issue.
Three sessions in, and this current group is doing thing extremely different. Most of these players are not as thoughtful when it comes to a plan of attack. And they are very much individuals. Hence, you get a lot of miscommunication on the field, which is hilarious in some respects as a DM, and taxing in others.
I think the opportunity here is to get a story where the PCs find out what makes them a good team and grow in that respect. The trick is making sure everyone is on that path. There are some people who already have goals in mind that would bring them into a team way of thinking. There are also others who are following very individual goals and not paying attention to the team potential.
Am I saying my players have to play like a team? No. But it will make things a lot easier down the line. Why am I saying this? Because I friggin' know. I'm the one who made the game and I've seen it played out before. The individualism that is thriving three games in could be costly?
Not to say that the previous PCs had other flaws. They tended to over-think, and in that midst complicate solutions that I knew could be a lot simpler. I'm not favoring the tactics of one group over another. It's just interesting, knowing the path and seeing what different people do on the path.
There is of course a lot more that is happening behind the scenes, but alas, if I share any of it I'm going to spoil the surprises.
August 23, 2010
Recap, Session 3: Foes Small and Large
Let's just get to nitty-gritty, shall we? And again, for anything pertaining to the world I have created:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
After ending last session divided, the PCs discussed not only how to conduct spells on each other (preferably not without permission), but what should they do to the meenlocks. Starting last session with a common goal, they finally decided to destroy the meenlocks and make sure they did not come back to the dromites. With stone shapes it took them two days to finally see where the meenlocks had finally ended up. Escrow and Roto jumped in first, only to be paralyzed by the creatures. Luckily, the rest of the group rallied and killed a good number of the foes, especially Bram with his psionic shredding crystals, causing the rest of them to run away.
Some investigation of the space revealed another room with a slain Dromite, which looked as though it was taking on some meenlock qualities. The group followed the meenlock tracks for some time until the trail was completely lost. Feeling that the threat to at least the dromites was gone, the PCs returned the next day to the Capital of the Cornwellian Kingdom. Dreamatar brought with him some new dromite workers for his new plot of land, Roto wrote a report of his faith for Councilman Pullman (councilor of Religious Affairs) and Atreyu decided to pursue research on these creatures, in hopes of understanding them in case they came back.
In the middle of the day, Atreyu was told to assemble his team immediately to a disturbance that was happening in the royal tombs. As swiftly as possible everyone was found and ran over to the tomb to see 3 minotaurs running amok. The PCs did some swift justice, killing two and saving one that had passed out. And then the horrifying discovery: the tomb of the founding King of the land had been raided and left empty. Atreyu immediately told the situation to Councilman Hughes, who told him he'd reconvine with the team possibly for witness statements later. Questioning the lone Minotaur took a while, since Dreamatar decided to let out his anger on the beast with random blows. Atreyu was finally able to get out that he and his brothers had been hired to merely make a ruckus. All he could tell was that his employers were from the desert. The day ended with research, questions, and some old fashioned government cover-up.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
After ending last session divided, the PCs discussed not only how to conduct spells on each other (preferably not without permission), but what should they do to the meenlocks. Starting last session with a common goal, they finally decided to destroy the meenlocks and make sure they did not come back to the dromites. With stone shapes it took them two days to finally see where the meenlocks had finally ended up. Escrow and Roto jumped in first, only to be paralyzed by the creatures. Luckily, the rest of the group rallied and killed a good number of the foes, especially Bram with his psionic shredding crystals, causing the rest of them to run away.
Some investigation of the space revealed another room with a slain Dromite, which looked as though it was taking on some meenlock qualities. The group followed the meenlock tracks for some time until the trail was completely lost. Feeling that the threat to at least the dromites was gone, the PCs returned the next day to the Capital of the Cornwellian Kingdom. Dreamatar brought with him some new dromite workers for his new plot of land, Roto wrote a report of his faith for Councilman Pullman (councilor of Religious Affairs) and Atreyu decided to pursue research on these creatures, in hopes of understanding them in case they came back.
In the middle of the day, Atreyu was told to assemble his team immediately to a disturbance that was happening in the royal tombs. As swiftly as possible everyone was found and ran over to the tomb to see 3 minotaurs running amok. The PCs did some swift justice, killing two and saving one that had passed out. And then the horrifying discovery: the tomb of the founding King of the land had been raided and left empty. Atreyu immediately told the situation to Councilman Hughes, who told him he'd reconvine with the team possibly for witness statements later. Questioning the lone Minotaur took a while, since Dreamatar decided to let out his anger on the beast with random blows. Atreyu was finally able to get out that he and his brothers had been hired to merely make a ruckus. All he could tell was that his employers were from the desert. The day ended with research, questions, and some old fashioned government cover-up.
__________________________
The PCs are slowly getting toward the meat and potatoes of the world, but they haven't discovered what a delicious buffet it is yet. I'm excited to see where the investigating leads them.
In other news, I don't know when the next session is going to be considering the first weekend of September is Labor day weekend. Will there be game? Who knows.
August 9, 2010
Recap, Session 2: All together now
Hey all! Even though I'm trying to do only the first and third weekend of the week for game, I decided to do the first weekend of August so that way we can get the schedule going.
And Dan Eastwood mentioned this, so I don't have to put an annoying IP announcement up! This of course applies to the work I put into making the campaign:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
And Dan Eastwood mentioned this, so I don't have to put an annoying IP announcement up! This of course applies to the work I put into making the campaign:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
When we last left Roto, Atreyu and Escrow they were in the midst of battle with a gang of men blocking the road with arbitrary tolls. The PCs decided that kicking their asses into shape was the right step, and noticed one exhibiting powers that were not spells, but seemed to be magic. Unfortunately that one got away when the fight was over, along with another man. They saved one of the fighters from death to get info, and then decided to let him free after they scared him enough. The trudged along and found the base that Samsana had mentioned. Two Yuan-ti battled them (one with snakes for arms), but fell. Trying to question one proved fruitless, and so they killed him for being uncooperative. The three searched the base, and discovered a secret room to a basement. In this basement was a chest full of silver and copper that was guarded by a viper. Escrow talked the viper away from the chest, and after splitting the spoils of war they found a couple letters that seemed to be en route. Both shared interesting information, but was not sure as to whom each letter was intended.
Meanwhile, the King had hired two more adventures to the group. Bram was a well adventured professional, a Maenad from their native island. Dreamatar is a local teamster who has a plethora of useful contacts through his work. The two had a formal dinner with King Franklin and his family, where they proved to be at least civil enough to work for the crown.
When Roto, Atreyu and Escrow returned they were introduced to their new team members and all awaited to here their next mission. In the meantime, Dreamatar asked Escrow to use his very recent contacts to obtain a whore from the Jolly Hallow and buy her outright. After Escrow was succesful in this endeavor, meeting a very strange but seemingly important figure at the Jolly Hallow, Dreamatar explained to the new hireling Jezabel what was and wasn't expected of her.
With that finished, the PCs embarked on their next mission in the northern part of the Cornwellian Kingdom, in the duchy of Garrison. Immediately they were led through the snow covered plains to the underground domain of the Dromites, small ant-like people who have a hive structure in their subterranean home. Recent expansions in their hive has caused some strange events to happen. Workers and dromites living near the site have inexplicably become paralyzed with fear and had many paranoid delusions. Three of the workers from the site were missing. Dreamatar gathered some miners to continue some work (in hopes of evening the odds), and the party waited in the small rooms, knowing the incident would happen again.
Within a couple hours the miners were fearful and ran away from the site, and with a perfectly laid trap outside a suspicious hole, they caught one of the creatures and proceeded to shred it to bits. Atreyu recognized it as a meenlock, and relayed what little information in his dungeoneering research he had discovered. Quickly, Escrow stone shaped the small hole so the entire party could get through. Dreamatar had a short, telepathic conversation with them and from that decided the best course of action was to fight. While he, along with Atreyu and Bram, began to fight with the ones that did not disappear with simple Dimension Door spells, Escrow and Roto began to have thoughts of diplomacy. Escrow merely walked away from battle, but Roto decided to cast Calm Emotions on the party in hopes of facilitating peaceful talks. Melee ended quickly thereafter, with an argument following. Should the meenlocks be killed outright, or are the dromites expanding into the rightful home of the meenlocks? Roto and Escrow wish to talk things out, Atreyu and Bram wish to defend the dromites from hostile outsiders.
Meanwhile, the King had hired two more adventures to the group. Bram was a well adventured professional, a Maenad from their native island. Dreamatar is a local teamster who has a plethora of useful contacts through his work. The two had a formal dinner with King Franklin and his family, where they proved to be at least civil enough to work for the crown.
When Roto, Atreyu and Escrow returned they were introduced to their new team members and all awaited to here their next mission. In the meantime, Dreamatar asked Escrow to use his very recent contacts to obtain a whore from the Jolly Hallow and buy her outright. After Escrow was succesful in this endeavor, meeting a very strange but seemingly important figure at the Jolly Hallow, Dreamatar explained to the new hireling Jezabel what was and wasn't expected of her.
With that finished, the PCs embarked on their next mission in the northern part of the Cornwellian Kingdom, in the duchy of Garrison. Immediately they were led through the snow covered plains to the underground domain of the Dromites, small ant-like people who have a hive structure in their subterranean home. Recent expansions in their hive has caused some strange events to happen. Workers and dromites living near the site have inexplicably become paralyzed with fear and had many paranoid delusions. Three of the workers from the site were missing. Dreamatar gathered some miners to continue some work (in hopes of evening the odds), and the party waited in the small rooms, knowing the incident would happen again.
Within a couple hours the miners were fearful and ran away from the site, and with a perfectly laid trap outside a suspicious hole, they caught one of the creatures and proceeded to shred it to bits. Atreyu recognized it as a meenlock, and relayed what little information in his dungeoneering research he had discovered. Quickly, Escrow stone shaped the small hole so the entire party could get through. Dreamatar had a short, telepathic conversation with them and from that decided the best course of action was to fight. While he, along with Atreyu and Bram, began to fight with the ones that did not disappear with simple Dimension Door spells, Escrow and Roto began to have thoughts of diplomacy. Escrow merely walked away from battle, but Roto decided to cast Calm Emotions on the party in hopes of facilitating peaceful talks. Melee ended quickly thereafter, with an argument following. Should the meenlocks be killed outright, or are the dromites expanding into the rightful home of the meenlocks? Roto and Escrow wish to talk things out, Atreyu and Bram wish to defend the dromites from hostile outsiders.
______________________
It was a crazy session this Saturday, with the group in full force and a lot of people anxious to show how awesome their characters were. We'll see if they destroy the meenlocks outright or not. Of course, that's not the only thing I have in store for them come next session... what? I'm not that devious.
Most of the time.
August 2, 2010
Recap, Session 1: Meeting (most of) the team
I have decided to post the recaps of my D&D sessions on the blog! It encourages me to write on the blog a little more, about more than just video games (I'm always afraid this blog talks too much about video games) and it's also a great way to keep track about what happened in the campaign. I find that as the DM you have to remember what happens in a campaign a lot, partially because your players won't remember the things they need to know later on. At the same time, as a DM you want to keep some info to yourself before the PCs find it out. Blabbing would be bad. So recaps are my solution.
Feel like I have to post that just in case there are some thieves amongst you honest readers. Sorry.
Roto, Atreyu, and Escrow (names maybe mispelled) first met each other on an overcast winter day in the Hughes Estate, home to Councilaman Fox Hughes, and his wife, Danancia. Danacia actually greeted them, a strange sight with her violet hair and a halo over her head, along with being very pregnant. She greeted the PCs since her husband was busy. She explained that the Cornwellian Kingdom was concerned of reports of the Yuan-ti starting with organized attacks in the Unconquered Lands, south and west of the Cornwellian sovereign land Ashland. They would be working for King Franklin Cornwell directly, and were told that the next night they would swear their allegiance with him.
The three decided to try out some of the not so prestigious faire and entertainment, so all three took a visit the the Jolly Hallow, an inn that is really a dirty brothel. Escrow, a druid dwarf, decided to get information from some of the whores. Atreyu, a secretive half-elf, decided to enjoy the inn. Cleric of a lesser known god Roto left early out of displeasure of the situation. Roto and Escrow did join the Hughes for dinner, and only Roto spent the night in the Hughes guest house while Escrow and Atreyu spent the night at the Jolly Hallow, not participating in the obvious extracurriculars.
The next evening the three went to a small affair with King Franklin, his family, the councilman and their families. All three swore to serve the Cornwellian Kingdom, and enjoyed the evening with great conversation and dancing.
Next day in the morning the PCs used one of the King's Teleport Mavericks to get to Ashland, and after meeting up with their contact in the Greeting's Inn, where they met Samsana, former Yuan-ti fighting partner with Danacia. She said that she needed to be able to sneak by and see what's going on deeper in the Dangerous Range, where the Yuan-ti are now. They have been attack her people and their tribes, and now the attacks are more organized than the ones years before. The PCs were asked to distract the thugs on the road from Samsana sneaking past them, and then investigating a base not far off. They decided to start the next morning.
Finally, the day of actual kicking butt began. When they got to the road, Samsana stayed behind to let the PCs serve as the distraction. And in the midst of a battle where animals were summoned and arrows were shot, things were not as they seemed. Most seemed like local thugs, but one seemed to have powers that none of the party could recognize...
NOTE: ALL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGARDING THE DND CAMPAIGN IN THE CORNWELLIAN-VIDRIGEZ UNIVERSE BELONGS TO ME, D20 SAPPHIRE. THIS INCLUDES NPCS, COUNTRIES, AND ADAPTED CONTENT FOR A D20 RPG.
Roto, Atreyu, and Escrow (names maybe mispelled) first met each other on an overcast winter day in the Hughes Estate, home to Councilaman Fox Hughes, and his wife, Danancia. Danacia actually greeted them, a strange sight with her violet hair and a halo over her head, along with being very pregnant. She greeted the PCs since her husband was busy. She explained that the Cornwellian Kingdom was concerned of reports of the Yuan-ti starting with organized attacks in the Unconquered Lands, south and west of the Cornwellian sovereign land Ashland. They would be working for King Franklin Cornwell directly, and were told that the next night they would swear their allegiance with him.
The three decided to try out some of the not so prestigious faire and entertainment, so all three took a visit the the Jolly Hallow, an inn that is really a dirty brothel. Escrow, a druid dwarf, decided to get information from some of the whores. Atreyu, a secretive half-elf, decided to enjoy the inn. Cleric of a lesser known god Roto left early out of displeasure of the situation. Roto and Escrow did join the Hughes for dinner, and only Roto spent the night in the Hughes guest house while Escrow and Atreyu spent the night at the Jolly Hallow, not participating in the obvious extracurriculars.
The next evening the three went to a small affair with King Franklin, his family, the councilman and their families. All three swore to serve the Cornwellian Kingdom, and enjoyed the evening with great conversation and dancing.
Next day in the morning the PCs used one of the King's Teleport Mavericks to get to Ashland, and after meeting up with their contact in the Greeting's Inn, where they met Samsana, former Yuan-ti fighting partner with Danacia. She said that she needed to be able to sneak by and see what's going on deeper in the Dangerous Range, where the Yuan-ti are now. They have been attack her people and their tribes, and now the attacks are more organized than the ones years before. The PCs were asked to distract the thugs on the road from Samsana sneaking past them, and then investigating a base not far off. They decided to start the next morning.
Finally, the day of actual kicking butt began. When they got to the road, Samsana stayed behind to let the PCs serve as the distraction. And in the midst of a battle where animals were summoned and arrows were shot, things were not as they seemed. Most seemed like local thugs, but one seemed to have powers that none of the party could recognize...
________________
And then we realized the library was closing so we had to stop in the middle of battle. Luckily I have graph paper recording how we left it. The next session is next week, where we will hopefully have more people and be able to introduce more players to the game. This is going to be an interesting campaign, and I'm pretty excited to see where it goes. You readers will of course be hearing more about this.
July 12, 2010
RPG weekend!
Fantastic weekend of nerd goodness. It's not going to be as intense as next weekend, when I will be attending GLARE Con, one of the many regional conventions for LARPing goodness run by White Wolf's Camarilla group. But it was pretty epic.
After over a month, I decided to LARP to get ready for GLARE. I am very cool with Ellen being a side character. She's not a big player, she's just doing her thing to help out everyone, specifically her fellow vampires who are of her covenant. She was rewarded for her service to the city by obtaining domain over a significant part of Chicago. Woot!
On Sunday I met (almost) everyone who is going to be in my campaign, and we'll be starting in late July/early August. I am super excited. I've got some people who obviously love to play a thoughtful game. One guy made sure the rest of the players didn't have a clue what his class was so he could roleplay it out for the first game. One guy is very smart about his items and his multi-classing, and I sense he'll be the strategist. And I am bout to respond to another player's awesome backstory for his Wilder.
All in all, this is going to be a fantastic continuation of the nerd hobby I love. It's in a setting I've been working with forever and it looks like the balance I love of fighting and world interaction will stay in tact.
Now, to mange 6 players is going to be interesting.
July 6, 2010
Same campaign, different people
I finally just sucked it up and let the people at RPG Chicago know that I'm starting up a new campaign. Well, an old campaign. The one I said goodbye to when I left college. I posted here about it over a year ago. I decided that I liked that world so much that I wasn't ready to leave it.
This Sunday I am hoping to meet up with people who like a 3.5 DnD campaign with some psionics and eberron influences, and who like a good balance of role-play with their combat.
I am excited to see how it goes! I will be sure to post details on the following Monday. If anyone is in the Chicago area and would like to check out the situation, here's a link to the event.
This Sunday I am hoping to meet up with people who like a 3.5 DnD campaign with some psionics and eberron influences, and who like a good balance of role-play with their combat.
I am excited to see how it goes! I will be sure to post details on the following Monday. If anyone is in the Chicago area and would like to check out the situation, here's a link to the event.
May 5, 2010
Getting back to RPGs!
Thanks to my new found time I am getting back into the swing of things rpg wise.
First, I finally got around to running an Unknown Armies one shot. The boyfriend and a couple other friends joined. I think I could've done better with a compelling plot line, but it was fun. And crazy. The crazy is actually kind of necessary.
Second, I started playing through a Nemesis game on Google Wave. Now that I've sufficiently done a game through it, I will say this--play with people you trust and try to avoid roll programs if you want to try the 1 roll engine. There is one out there that works, but it's a lot easier to either have the GM or the players roll and give what the roll is. For example, since you're looking for the best match, if you roll 8 dice and your best match is 3 5's, it's easier to read that as a player that you got a 3x5 than reading out every number and figuring it out. Also, I just like physically rolling dice a lot better, and honestly that's a preference.
Finally, I'm going to have a chance to try out pathfinder! I'm really excited to try it out because I loved DnD 3.5 but admitted it needed some work. So now I can see what a little work can do to it! The funny thing is I'm slowly realizing that in a group composed of me, the Boyfriend as a GM, and his two friends, I'm the one who knows most about that system. It's weird to think that the only girl is the one pwning when it comes to rules. I don't want to say that the guys don't know what they're doing, but I do think the people I played fantasy roleplay with last had a better grasp, so I'm used to higher standards. Anyway, this is going to be a long campaign, so I'll let you know what my elf illusionist who's personality is based on Severus Snape is like.
I am sooo glad the RPGs are back, there was a little void in my heart, not gonna lie. But it is now filled!
First, I finally got around to running an Unknown Armies one shot. The boyfriend and a couple other friends joined. I think I could've done better with a compelling plot line, but it was fun. And crazy. The crazy is actually kind of necessary.
Second, I started playing through a Nemesis game on Google Wave. Now that I've sufficiently done a game through it, I will say this--play with people you trust and try to avoid roll programs if you want to try the 1 roll engine. There is one out there that works, but it's a lot easier to either have the GM or the players roll and give what the roll is. For example, since you're looking for the best match, if you roll 8 dice and your best match is 3 5's, it's easier to read that as a player that you got a 3x5 than reading out every number and figuring it out. Also, I just like physically rolling dice a lot better, and honestly that's a preference.
Finally, I'm going to have a chance to try out pathfinder! I'm really excited to try it out because I loved DnD 3.5 but admitted it needed some work. So now I can see what a little work can do to it! The funny thing is I'm slowly realizing that in a group composed of me, the Boyfriend as a GM, and his two friends, I'm the one who knows most about that system. It's weird to think that the only girl is the one pwning when it comes to rules. I don't want to say that the guys don't know what they're doing, but I do think the people I played fantasy roleplay with last had a better grasp, so I'm used to higher standards. Anyway, this is going to be a long campaign, so I'll let you know what my elf illusionist who's personality is based on Severus Snape is like.
I am sooo glad the RPGs are back, there was a little void in my heart, not gonna lie. But it is now filled!
March 26, 2010
Re-running my campaign!
I talked to The Boyfriend and another friend of ours last night about finally playing an RPG. It's been a while since any of us were in consistent campaigns. I've been filling the void with bioware games, which works to some degree but it's still not the same.
I have told some of you guys about the D&D game I ran in college, but you all only got the tale end of it since I only put in the last semester I ran it--which happened to be my last semester at college. I told you about the fantastic characters I got to play with and how they ended the campaign.
But at the same time, I love have alternate endings to books. And what if different heros were in the same world? I mean, my players were in it for justice considering their backstories, and maintained fairly good "business" and political relationships. Hell, one even fell in love with the Queen he was serving! I know the people that will be playing will have very different views and very different motivations. The Boyfriend is more into setting, and our other friend who wants to play is more into characters but won't be doing the same stuff my college friends did.
I'm definitely someone who's willing to see something go in a different direction. I want to see where this will lead. And at this point, considering I think I will have some time free up soon (I'm switching around my 5 jobs essentially) this is actually feasible.
And I'll be sure to update what happens in my campaign on this blog! Hooray!
I have told some of you guys about the D&D game I ran in college, but you all only got the tale end of it since I only put in the last semester I ran it--which happened to be my last semester at college. I told you about the fantastic characters I got to play with and how they ended the campaign.
But at the same time, I love have alternate endings to books. And what if different heros were in the same world? I mean, my players were in it for justice considering their backstories, and maintained fairly good "business" and political relationships. Hell, one even fell in love with the Queen he was serving! I know the people that will be playing will have very different views and very different motivations. The Boyfriend is more into setting, and our other friend who wants to play is more into characters but won't be doing the same stuff my college friends did.
I'm definitely someone who's willing to see something go in a different direction. I want to see where this will lead. And at this point, considering I think I will have some time free up soon (I'm switching around my 5 jobs essentially) this is actually feasible.
And I'll be sure to update what happens in my campaign on this blog! Hooray!
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