Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Story Thus Far...

Our intreped explorers have found themselves amnesiac and only recently come to their senses in the strange castle of some wizard with whom they are allowed no contact. For weeks, they have been his "guests" without thinking much of it until now. They find themselves suddenly aware of their lack of memory, their strange surroundings, and their immenent danger.

So they band together to take the wizard's laboratory only to find that the old mage has died in the middle of some horrible rituals. He lived long enough to summon dire creatures from the underworld, but not long enough (alas) to control them. After defeating the wraiths, the characters decided to flee the now ruined and burning old tower and make for the nearest human settlement, as they descended the hill, the rains began.

By the time they had reached the bottom what began as a heavy shower had become a deluge from the sky. Creekbeds, swelled into rivers, and the thin ravines which the charcters were travelling down because of muddy slopes were quickly threatening to become flooded. Atop a slope, one of the more perceptive in the party spied a figure out in the rain, and beyond it, a cave!

Having climbed the horrible slope with the strong arms of Thorin, the party discovered the figure to be a strange statue of some aztec looking deity. Seeking refuge inside the cave, they are quickly met with the sound of some poor sould crying for help as a revolving door of stone turned at the end of the tunnel. Solving the room's riddle, the party ventured onward through a forgotten temple to a primordial.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Adding monsters to the mythology

I don't want to be a bummer, but there really was something about first edition AD and D that was intuitive for the D.M.. When the creatures walked into a room, you sort of knew what kind of monsters just ought to be in there based on the creatures that populated your fantastic visions as spawned by movies, myths and books. So, you know about goblins, you get fairies and giants and crap like Rumpelstiltskin.

While I love the new Dungeons and Dragons(s, 3.0, 3.5, and 4.), where the F are they getting these monsters? Are they Mangan or something? Who, while planning a dungeon, thinks 'this would be a great place for some faceless mountain lions?' The end result is kind of like old Jorune or Call of Cthulhu where the monsters are crazy but you have no idea what they are and no frame of reference to remember them on the fly. Plus, with Jorune or Call of Cthulhu, you really only need a couple of monsters for the adventure. In Dungeons and Dragons, I'm seriously getting to the point where I just open the book to a random page and that's whats hanging out waiting for everybody. What's their motive? What does their lair look like that makes it unique to that creature?

Let's try it this way, old Dungeons and Dragons--the characters enter a forbiddon glen in the middle of the forest, slowly they creep forward until--
a--they hear the sound of pan flute and see a man with goat legs run by
b--the sound of hoofbeats shows a herd of creatures half man, half horse. They raise their bows because you have tread on their domain.
c--a nearby tree whips you and says, "who dares disturb my slumber."
d--a horrible spirit rises out of a forgotten grave and floats towards you angrilly.

New Dungeons and Dragons
a--a horrible giant with lightening for skin, says, "who dares my...what the hell am I doing in the middle of a glen with lightening for skin. What the hell, is this street fighter?"
b--you see a bunch of clockwork bugs examining a map of the continent trying to figure out which kingdom to take out. Luckilly you've caught them at step one of their master plan: conquer this forgotten glen with no discernible value.
c--you see a half eagle half horse creature that is perpetually on fire waiting for Spring to end so that it can start a forest fire...because....um....because... Anyway, you see it a mile off because it's on fire so you avoid the glen.
d--you hear the creeking of gears. My lord is that an iron golem?! Or a guardian...or maybe a hommunculi...or, who the hell keeps making these things...maybe its warforged...or...why are there so many robots in this game...and do they really eat old peoples' medicine? And, hey, how did this thing get in the middle of the woods.

When you know what the monsters are, you don't need to spend hours trying to figure out what should be in the next room and why. When you don't know, you have only two options--either the encounters are just crazy random (evil thing at the middle of the dungeon seems to attract everything to it and charm them so that they're all friendly to one another) or overprescribed (everything in this dungeon is a goblin). Personally, I think Dungeons and Dragons aught to either get back to using monsters from real legends or write up a hell of a lot more description. Obviously, some of the monsters like Sahuagin, have become classics by now, but some of the other creatures really need some description of where they might be found and what sorts of lairs they inhabit.

Strangely though, the real answer seems to be to custom build monsters with abandon. After all, if you know that you want some kind of fungal monstrosity, you're unlikely to find the right fungal monstrosity in the monster manuals--they'll probably have fire for skin or have some kind of connection to mind flayers. Your best bet, I think, is probably just to make the crap up. And why not...afr all, you don't have to worry about making a creature that is somehow out of character with the other monsters in the game which are, by now, so damn random that they don't make much sense anyways.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

4th edition and hit points

Alright, after a long hiatus, I'm thinking of taking up fourth edition to see how the rules play out. My first feeling, and this comes from having played 4th at three game days, is that the monsters simply have too many hit points. The length of time that it takes to kill goblins is ultimately ridiculous.

So, in running the game, I have decided to halve the creatures hit points except in key encounters. I expect that this will affect the game in the following ways:
  • Encounter powers: Since each encounter is technically half an encounter, I'm only allowing characters to recuperate powers after every other encounter. They may still rest so as to use healing surges. This will mean that encounter powers will have to be used with some discretion. On the other hand, creatures will still have their encounter powers. This will, I think, make for more and more interesting encounters as their will be more creatures gone through in the same ammount of time, with the same number of cool effects.
  • Minions: minions are likely to become more powerful. After all, they won't lose half their hit points so they will remain the same power level while everything else goes down.
  • Strikers: Strikers who do 25 points of damage and etc., will be more effective at killing things in one shot, however, they're likely to find a lot of the damage they do going for nought. This takes striker's power down a step which in my opionion, makes them as attractive an option as all the other characters, who are kind of less worthwhile than strikers as they stand right now.
  • Controllers: Particularly wizards, are kind of a joke with effects that last until the end of their next turn on dailies. Who cares? One turn? Battles with creatures who have 120 hit points are going to go for too long for that one turn to really matter that much. However, if the creature has half as many hit points, controller effects will matter all the more.
  • Looks like AD and D: In my opinion, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was a great game with some problems. Subsequent additions have done a lot to fix those problems at the expense of taking away a lot of what made the game great. Dungeons have gone from forty rooms with a bunch of interesting stuff to five. By halving the hit points and experience, you are doubling the number of encounters the characters get between levels, the size of their adventures, and the number of encounters a party can get through in one session.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Last time--March 28th

So, lots of stuff happened, most of which revolved around Geoffrey Flinthurst, the Fade expert from Kaydtch. Having rescued Flinthurst and a single guard from Kaydtch before the little town turned evil, it was only a matter of time before the guard alerted his superiors that you had Flinthurst under your protection. Only one way around it....

Give Flinthurst to the halflings.

Boaben Fee, leader of the halflings, was only too happy to supplement his new business of selling weapons to scared peasants with a little job of hiding Geoffrey from the powers that be. As the halflings are not allowed in the city, they have no love for Drodswell or his Defenders. In fact, as a sign of good faith, they decided to return all of the items stolen from one of their less scrupulous fellows whom Boaben assures you has been run out of town. Among the items (all of which could have only been taken off characters in town, was a wooden box with an ivory seal).

When Earthmoon returned from town, having been hassled by a guard who still wants revenge on Emord, she immediately recognized on the box the sign of the Southern Jungle Trading Company--basically the Belgian colonial government in Heart of Darkness who are notorious more mistreating their lizard man slave populations during expeditions into the jungle. What's more, inside the box was a medallion awarded to Virgil Breech for his years of solid service to the company.

AT this point the party decided to split. Grengulia decided to head back to the farmhouse to guard Geoffrey Flinthurst until nighfall when he could be moved. Earthmoon and Felden headed off to Hyberoan to watch Breech and Emord and Neri waited with the halflings, Neri all the while losing gold coins.

While watching Flinthurst, Grengulia spied a convoy of Defendeer guards headed off to burned out ruins into which they disapeared. She did not pursue but instead waited for Neri and Emord.

Meanwhile in the city, Felden spent the day hanging around defender HQ listening in on important business. She learned that Breech was kicking in farmdoors all around the surrounding area looking for clues to the Fade ruins, and that the prisoners were to be taken away the next day in a caravan. Later, when Virgil got off duty, she and Earthmoon followed Breech to the Foul Toad--discovering there the faint odor of hard drugs.

Neri, Emord, and Grengulia headed back to the halfling camp with Flinthurst in toe. Grengulia who was riding ahead was jumped by two Owlbears which she completely destroyed.

Earthmoon summoned a Thoqua to burrow out of the city walls, putting a large tunnel right in the center of the Kaydtch stockade and then out into the surrounding field. The party now re-united, hoped to convince the people held in the Kaydtch stockade to escape. The plan worked to lesser and greater degrees. Half of the people made it away, now to wonder the country side, where they will, in all likelihood, get picked up again. The other half were happy enough where they were (too afraid to flee). The guards who were knocked unconscious during the escape attempt will be able to easilly identify their attackers (there are only so many half orcs and dwarves in the area) so the characters are likely to be implicated in this escape. Earthmoon, of course, isn't happy because there is still half of the stockade left that needs to be rescued.

This means, of course, that on top of all other difficulties, the characters are now likely to be hunted by Drodswell's Defenders, who are themselves looking to play with powers cosmic and ancient.

Treasure list

Here's what you all have:

MONEY
CP
SP
GP – 3202
PP – 171


POTIONS
Potion of Invisibility – Feldin (used)
3 Potions of Speak w/Animals – Earthmoon, Emord, Neri
Potion of Swimming – Feldin
Potion of Ventriloquism – Neri
Potion of Mirror Image – Grengulia
2 Potions of Levitate – Feldin (used), Emord
Potion of Charisma – Grengulia
4 Potions of CLW – Emord (used three, gave one to Neri)
3 Potions of Dark Vision – Earthmoon, Feldin, Neri
5 Potions of Neutralize Poison – 2 Emord, Earthmoon, Feldin, Neri


SCROLLS
Scroll w/Identify, Cat’s Grace, and Mount X3 – Feldin
Scroll w/Locate Object X3, Change Self, and Spider Climb – Neri (used spider climb, change self, and locate object)
Scroll of Fire Resistance
Scroll of Fire Shield Mass
Scroll of CMW (3rd level)


MAGIC ITEMS
Rod of Silent MetaMagic – Feldin
Ring of Electric Resistance – Grengulia
Horn of Blasting – Grengulia
Staff w/Runes (CMW) – Emord
Gem (creates telepathic link) – Grengulia
Cloak of Resistance (+1) – Feldin
Wand from Buonam’s Cript (Bulls Strength X10)-- Emord

WEAPONS & ARMOR
MW Mighty Composite Short Bow (+1) – Grengulia
20 MW Arrows – Grengulia
Rapier – Neri
MW Buckler – sold 45GP, added already to treasure GP total
Studded Leather – sold 13 GP, added already to treasure GP total


MISC.
3 gems – 600 GP (200/piece) – Earthmoon
Bag of Stones & Dust – Neri
2 Thief’s Tools - Feldin

Friday, March 28, 2008

What's Happened: sphinxes and other stuff: adventure 2

The characters, sans Earthmoon, went to see Eugene. He had a book on the Fade that he had procured for a valuable customer. Unfortunately, he feared that the book might be a fake. The only Fade expert available was currently serving in the Kaydtch stockade and so he wanted to hire the characters to take the book to that expert for verification. He figured that the characters' status as soldiers would grant them the ability to get into the stockade.

Unfortunately, the guards had already taken the expert away in order to examine Fade ruins in the area. The characters tried to get more information, but nobody seemed to know where the expert had been taken. Eventually, someone mentioned that there were quite a few spots of Fade ruins in Kaydtch. Before they left, the characters tried to help Alicia escape, but got a lesson in peasant courage. The peasents of Kaydtch feared escaping the stockade and being rounded up by the Defenders.

The characters went to Kaydtch only to find the place deserted except for various apparitions running around. Emord detected evil from a manor house on the near by hill. While the characters attempted to figure out what to do next, they were attacked by a gigantic gargoyle that seemed to be made of rock and fungi. The gargoyle turned out to be a mean adversary and in defeating him, the characters lit another of Kaydtch's buildings on fire.

Meanwhile, Earthmoon was chased by hobgoblins away from her place of meditation and towards Kaydtch which had been set partially ablaze. Deciding that everyone needed to rest and recoup, the party decided to head off into the forest to set up camp. Unfortunately, they were set upon by a Wolf/Worg hunting party that was chasing down a herd of dire elk. The characters learned that they had met one of the worgs outside the temple of Boccob. Having slain most of the vile beasts, the party captured the last worg and charmed it into answering questions about the near by Fade ruins.

It then led them to those ruins which were set up in the center of the Kaydtch graveyard outside of town. Sitting atop one grave, which was covered with a chainmail blanket, was an insane sphinx waiting to ask riddles of passerbys. The sphinxes name was Hiromon and she claimed to have looked beyond time (thus the insanity).

The characters figured out how to move the chain blanket without revealing (too many) of the Symbol spells beneath. They were then able to trace a design which summoned up the spirit of a fade known as Buanhum the Hunter. Buahnhum traced a set of symbols on the Fade Ruins thus summoning Oash Koleesh, a remant of the monster Bokrug.

Oash Koleesh detailed that it could only be set free from the confines of Vargas if the characters traced the symbol of the fourth fade onto the fifth temple. The first fade was Buanhum. The second and third fade are up in the air (one is Vargas). The fourth fade is known as Ubbo Naphan.

Okay, so, four fade, each with a symbol. Somewhere is a fifth temple where a symbol needs to be drawn to release Bokrug from its eternal imprisonment with Vargas. Vargas is the reason for all the undead. Right.

According to Oash Koleesh, Ubbo Naphan is in his tomb where he is eaten by worms...whatever that means (wyrms?). The characters conversation with Oash was interrupted when a group of Drodswell's defenders came down the road with Geoffrey Flinthurst. He claimed to know nothing and that they brought him out to the ruins every day, but that he was no closer to figuring this out than before. The guards explained that Hiromon was always there and a royal pain with her never ending riddles, but that she, at least, kept the ghouls at bay.

The defenders assumed that the characters were there under order from Virgil Breech and so offerred the characters a safe place to sleep for the night. The characters went back with the defenders to the mansion they had taken over (the Old Pran place, same place that was glowing earlier). In the middle of the night, the Pran mansion came under attack by more gargoyle thingees and some spellstiched ghasts, no fun. Earthmoon nearly died. Emord learned that it takes a long time to put on armor and...yeah.

Feldon, turning invisible, made it to Geoffrey who was cowering in the corner and the party ran for it. Earthmoon turned into a dire badger in order to get everyone safely out of town but not before noticing that the sky was filled with green glowing fireflies (the gargoyles). Interogating Flinthurst revealed the legend of Bokrug in greater detail. The characters headed back to their room at Bruno Kielers where Blenbury has been kicking back like it was a bed and breakfast (which it kind of is).

What's happenned- hyberoan, still: adventure 2

I almost forgot. Emord stepped in at a shop, keeping a defender from threatening some poor shop keep. The soldier left incensed.

Also, while waiting for the decision, Gringulia talked to an elf named Alicia Twain. She recognized the horse that the party was using (which they got from Blenbury) as her friends: a message courier between the frontier and the lands across The March.