I'm getting my West Marches style hexcrawl prepped. I've got a wilderness map, and thanks to Enworld's Phineas Crow and OSR bloggers Dyson Logos and Matt Jackson (among others), I've got a plethora of lair/ruin/small dungeon maps to sprinkle here and there, along with a few classic TSR modules I plan to plop down in a few select places.
I started stocking the map over the weekend, and decided it would be nice if there was a good randomizer for deciding the contents of a hex if I didn't already have anything special planned for it...and then it hit me. I've had one for years! It's the random dungeon room contents chart in the Basic Set.
For a wilderness setting, it breaks down a little differently, and in addition to potential treasure there's also a potential for discovering an exploitable resource (if the players bother to look for that sort of thing). My revised version looks something like this:
Roll a d6 for Hex Contents:
1-2 Empty
3 Hazard (quicksand, rock fall, lava flow, sentient thorn bushes, whatever)
4-5 Lair (animal den, monster lair, human or demi-human outpost, etc.)
6 Unusual (all the weird unnatural stuff, special ruins relating to the backstory, etc.)
Then roll another d6 for Valuables
Empty: 1 Treasure, 2 nothing, 3-6 resource
Hazard: 1-2 treasure, 3 nothing, 4-6 resource
Lair: 1-3 treasure, 4 nothing, 5-6 resource
Unusual: 1-4 treasure, 5 nothing, 6 resource
Not quite exactly the version passed down from Gygax, Moldvay and Mentzer, but close enough.
I've got some tables from an old hex crawl that I can use for determining chances to locate the above contents/treasures/resources in a hex when passing through, depending on how much time the party spends interacting with each hex. Just passing through, not much chance. Spend most of the day there, you're nearly guaranteed to find something.
Showing posts with label Sandbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandbox. Show all posts
Monday, April 17, 2017
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Sand in the Box
My son just turned 9, and has been wanting to play D&D with people other than just me. There is a local group with three spots open (playing 5E), but when I asked the DM if he would mind playing with a 9-year-old, he reluctantly said he'd ask his players. I told him don't bother. I figure if he's uncomfortable with the idea, it really doesn't matter what the other players say. So, I'm falling back on my plan to start a new face-to-face group where my son can play.
A while back, I made several posts about running Dragonlance as a sandbox campaign in 5E, thinking I'd run that for my son and whoever else. Dragonlance because the world does have a lot of neat elements to it, and I read tons of the novels when I was a kid, so I know it pretty well. 5E because that will make it easier to attract other players. Sandbox, because I'd rather not introduce my son to playing group games by making him ride the DL module railroad.
But then I thought, why not save myself a lot of time, and just run it with 1E AD&D? It may be harder to get players, but easier to run the game. It would be even easier if I ran it using my BECMI houserules but with race and class separate. But again, getting players might be a problem.
Then, last week, I found a game on RPOL.net with an old school DM running a West Marches game using 5E, and I joined it. And I've decided to copy that rather than set my game on Krynn. Part of the decision was a bed-time discussion with my son, before I got the answer from the local DM, about what sort of character he'd like to play. I gave him a run-down of the 5E races and classes, and he thought a Dragonborn Monk would be fun to play. Not very DL, at least not pre-War of the Lance. So something more open, less defined, and with plenty of options might be in order.
So, I'm thinking how I'd run my own West Marches style sandbox game. There's a bit of a desire on my part to try my saltbox Maritime Campaign from a few years ago, but that's more work for me. With a more standard West Marches type set-up, I can plop down TSR modules, old dungeons I've made, free downloads from WotC/Dragonsfoot/the OSR community, and the like throughout the wilderness, and let the players explore to find them.
I say "West Marches style" because I'm planning to only run it with this one group, meeting regularly. It will be pretty open ended, but since there's only the one group, I'll probably need to lay down lots of rumors and the occasional mission/request for the townsfolk to get them motivated to explore, at least in the beginning.
So now we get to the nitty-gritty of this post. What do I need to run a West Marches style hexcrawl sandbox?
1. A Map: Of course, I need a wilderness hex map. The home town is on the far eastern edge, in the middle, and players have free reign to explore to the west, northwest, or southwest of the town. But if you go east, you're entering into retirement in the civilized settled lands of the Empire.
I'll probably start with a small scale map at 6 miles per hex, with various Basic level dungeons scattered here and there, and a few tougher dungeons and monster lairs. Later, if the campaign lasts long enough, I can create a larger scale map (24 miles per hex).
2. Wilderness Encounter Tables: These are most important, since from the beginning the players will be exploring the wilds trying to find dungeons or monster lairs with treasure. I don't have the 5E DMG yet, just the PHB and MM, and I don't remember if there are wilderness encounter tables in the free Basic Rules DM download, so I may have to just use the Expert Set ones, or make my own custom ones. Custom ones would be a better West Marches fit, so that each area of the wilds can have its own flavor, so I'll probably work up some custom jobbo.
3. A Home Base: In the RPOL game, the home base town is really more of a hamlet, with about 30 residents, not including adventurers. That's easy enough - the town just has the basics needed by adventurers and nothing else. But I may use the "home town" I've been developing for years now, Silverwood, just because I know it and the NPCs there well. I'll likely scale it down in size from around 5,000 residents to merely 500 residents for this game, but the various inns and shops, the mayor and town officials, the temples and thieves' guild, will all remain the same. Like I said, I want this game to be easy for me to run.
4. A Few House Rules: Just exploring for the sake of exploring may not really interest the players. Like I said above, unlike the original West Marches campaign, I'll need to bait the hooks with rumors and missions to get the players out of town and where the action is. Old school games do this well by giving XP for gold. 5E, however, has a very very fast progression rate compared to BECMI or AD&D, so I'll need to tinker either with the amount of treasure worth 1 XP or else with the advancement table.
I think 5E works well getting PCs to level 3 quickly, so that everyone can choose their specialization early on. I'd like to keep that. So I'm thinking I'll give out 1 XP for every 1pp (10gp) in treasure, plus use monster XP from BECMI. That might actually give more XP for higher level monsters, I'd better check on that. Also, the old school "no more than one level per adventure" rule must be implemented.
5. A Jeff's Gameblog style Triple Secret Random Wilderness Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom: Even though I'm only going to be running this game with one party, I'd rather not leave them out in the wilderness between sessions. There will be "safe haven" locations on the map, which can be used to rest and recuperate, resupply and maybe get a bit of information, and of course the players may set up more of their own if they attempt such. If they don't get back to town or to one of these safe havens by the end of the game session, I'll roll and see what happens to them.
6. Dungeons (and dragons, too!): I've still got the Caves of Chaos 5E conversion from the Play Test, and the Isle of Dread, and maybe there was another adventure in there? So I have some stuff already with 5E stats and the like to use. I've got plenty of old TSR era and 3E WotC era modules/adventures on the computer that can be easily converted to 5E, I think. And it's not hard to whip up a few 5 to 10 room ruins, caves, and the like. So I can scatter those around the map, plus leave clues/rumors to other locations in each. I'll also need to decide on a few "pockets of danger" like dragons, undead, or other tough beasties who have a known (or easy to recognize as a more dangerous place) lair in some of the easier areas closer to the home base.
Goodman Games is apparently releasing classic modules with 5E conversions soon, but I'll likely just do the work myself instead of waiting for them to get around to it. The good thing is that I can put a few things I already have near the town (like the Caves of Chaos...in fact, maybe I should use Castellan Keep instead of Silverwood as the home base...), and work up or convert other stuff, as the players get closer to them in their explorations. I could even use those Dragonlance dungeons I was planning to convert to 5E anyway!
That should do it!
A while back, I made several posts about running Dragonlance as a sandbox campaign in 5E, thinking I'd run that for my son and whoever else. Dragonlance because the world does have a lot of neat elements to it, and I read tons of the novels when I was a kid, so I know it pretty well. 5E because that will make it easier to attract other players. Sandbox, because I'd rather not introduce my son to playing group games by making him ride the DL module railroad.
But then I thought, why not save myself a lot of time, and just run it with 1E AD&D? It may be harder to get players, but easier to run the game. It would be even easier if I ran it using my BECMI houserules but with race and class separate. But again, getting players might be a problem.
Then, last week, I found a game on RPOL.net with an old school DM running a West Marches game using 5E, and I joined it. And I've decided to copy that rather than set my game on Krynn. Part of the decision was a bed-time discussion with my son, before I got the answer from the local DM, about what sort of character he'd like to play. I gave him a run-down of the 5E races and classes, and he thought a Dragonborn Monk would be fun to play. Not very DL, at least not pre-War of the Lance. So something more open, less defined, and with plenty of options might be in order.
So, I'm thinking how I'd run my own West Marches style sandbox game. There's a bit of a desire on my part to try my saltbox Maritime Campaign from a few years ago, but that's more work for me. With a more standard West Marches type set-up, I can plop down TSR modules, old dungeons I've made, free downloads from WotC/Dragonsfoot/the OSR community, and the like throughout the wilderness, and let the players explore to find them.
I say "West Marches style" because I'm planning to only run it with this one group, meeting regularly. It will be pretty open ended, but since there's only the one group, I'll probably need to lay down lots of rumors and the occasional mission/request for the townsfolk to get them motivated to explore, at least in the beginning.
So now we get to the nitty-gritty of this post. What do I need to run a West Marches style hexcrawl sandbox?
1. A Map: Of course, I need a wilderness hex map. The home town is on the far eastern edge, in the middle, and players have free reign to explore to the west, northwest, or southwest of the town. But if you go east, you're entering into retirement in the civilized settled lands of the Empire.
I'll probably start with a small scale map at 6 miles per hex, with various Basic level dungeons scattered here and there, and a few tougher dungeons and monster lairs. Later, if the campaign lasts long enough, I can create a larger scale map (24 miles per hex).
2. Wilderness Encounter Tables: These are most important, since from the beginning the players will be exploring the wilds trying to find dungeons or monster lairs with treasure. I don't have the 5E DMG yet, just the PHB and MM, and I don't remember if there are wilderness encounter tables in the free Basic Rules DM download, so I may have to just use the Expert Set ones, or make my own custom ones. Custom ones would be a better West Marches fit, so that each area of the wilds can have its own flavor, so I'll probably work up some custom jobbo.
3. A Home Base: In the RPOL game, the home base town is really more of a hamlet, with about 30 residents, not including adventurers. That's easy enough - the town just has the basics needed by adventurers and nothing else. But I may use the "home town" I've been developing for years now, Silverwood, just because I know it and the NPCs there well. I'll likely scale it down in size from around 5,000 residents to merely 500 residents for this game, but the various inns and shops, the mayor and town officials, the temples and thieves' guild, will all remain the same. Like I said, I want this game to be easy for me to run.
4. A Few House Rules: Just exploring for the sake of exploring may not really interest the players. Like I said above, unlike the original West Marches campaign, I'll need to bait the hooks with rumors and missions to get the players out of town and where the action is. Old school games do this well by giving XP for gold. 5E, however, has a very very fast progression rate compared to BECMI or AD&D, so I'll need to tinker either with the amount of treasure worth 1 XP or else with the advancement table.
I think 5E works well getting PCs to level 3 quickly, so that everyone can choose their specialization early on. I'd like to keep that. So I'm thinking I'll give out 1 XP for every 1pp (10gp) in treasure, plus use monster XP from BECMI. That might actually give more XP for higher level monsters, I'd better check on that. Also, the old school "no more than one level per adventure" rule must be implemented.
5. A Jeff's Gameblog style Triple Secret Random Wilderness Fate Chart of Very Probable Doom: Even though I'm only going to be running this game with one party, I'd rather not leave them out in the wilderness between sessions. There will be "safe haven" locations on the map, which can be used to rest and recuperate, resupply and maybe get a bit of information, and of course the players may set up more of their own if they attempt such. If they don't get back to town or to one of these safe havens by the end of the game session, I'll roll and see what happens to them.
6. Dungeons (and dragons, too!): I've still got the Caves of Chaos 5E conversion from the Play Test, and the Isle of Dread, and maybe there was another adventure in there? So I have some stuff already with 5E stats and the like to use. I've got plenty of old TSR era and 3E WotC era modules/adventures on the computer that can be easily converted to 5E, I think. And it's not hard to whip up a few 5 to 10 room ruins, caves, and the like. So I can scatter those around the map, plus leave clues/rumors to other locations in each. I'll also need to decide on a few "pockets of danger" like dragons, undead, or other tough beasties who have a known (or easy to recognize as a more dangerous place) lair in some of the easier areas closer to the home base.
Goodman Games is apparently releasing classic modules with 5E conversions soon, but I'll likely just do the work myself instead of waiting for them to get around to it. The good thing is that I can put a few things I already have near the town (like the Caves of Chaos...in fact, maybe I should use Castellan Keep instead of Silverwood as the home base...), and work up or convert other stuff, as the players get closer to them in their explorations. I could even use those Dragonlance dungeons I was planning to convert to 5E anyway!
That should do it!
Friday, January 30, 2015
Brainstorming through Rumors
Years ago (I was still in Japan, so eight maybe?), I started writing down random rumors for a dungeon on the back of an unused worksheet during a break period. The list grew over the next two or three days, and in the end I went through it and started using the ideas to work up my first attempt at a Megadungeon.
That first attempt wasn't very satisfactory, but when I went about re-creating the dungeon, that list of rumors remained the core of many of the ideas in the version that saw play a couple years ago.
Starting with rumors was a novel innovation for me. Usually, I'd create the dungeon from general idea to map to key to rumors. Starting with the rumors gave me more creative freedom. Not only did I have lots of cool ideas (and some not so cool) to work with, but I didn't have to waste any of the extra ideas, as the ones I didn't use could be used as false rumors.
Now, I've just about finished my house rules for GamMarvel World, and I've written a few rumors and have finished the first location (map thanks to Dyson Logos, key by me) based on one of the rumors. Because this is a wilderness sandbox, I want all of the rumors to at least point to some sort of adventure (even if the rumor is partially or completely false), so I'm not creating nearly as many. I've got a handful at the moment, and plan to come up with more over time as some rumors get followed, and others are decided not worthy (or the players miss their chance). A half-dozen or so rumors leading to some sort of interesting place or ruin of the Ancients or faction stronghold gives plenty of choice to the players. Plus, they always have the default option of just loading up on supplies and striking out for parts unknown.
With XP for exploration and loot acquired instead of monsters defeated and loot acquired, this final option may end up more popular than it normally would be. Of course, that means I need at least a skeleton of an idea about certain important locations, and an ability to come up with minor adventure sites on the fly. I may try to prep a few small encounter areas and NOT put them on the map just for that purpose. Then I can add "Unknown Ruin" to the wilderness encounter charts and pull out one of these when the players run across them.
All in all, I think this campaign will go well, as long as the players' interest remains high. And I'm hopefully striking the right balance between too much and too little prep.
That first attempt wasn't very satisfactory, but when I went about re-creating the dungeon, that list of rumors remained the core of many of the ideas in the version that saw play a couple years ago.
Starting with rumors was a novel innovation for me. Usually, I'd create the dungeon from general idea to map to key to rumors. Starting with the rumors gave me more creative freedom. Not only did I have lots of cool ideas (and some not so cool) to work with, but I didn't have to waste any of the extra ideas, as the ones I didn't use could be used as false rumors.
Now, I've just about finished my house rules for GamMarvel World, and I've written a few rumors and have finished the first location (map thanks to Dyson Logos, key by me) based on one of the rumors. Because this is a wilderness sandbox, I want all of the rumors to at least point to some sort of adventure (even if the rumor is partially or completely false), so I'm not creating nearly as many. I've got a handful at the moment, and plan to come up with more over time as some rumors get followed, and others are decided not worthy (or the players miss their chance). A half-dozen or so rumors leading to some sort of interesting place or ruin of the Ancients or faction stronghold gives plenty of choice to the players. Plus, they always have the default option of just loading up on supplies and striking out for parts unknown.
With XP for exploration and loot acquired instead of monsters defeated and loot acquired, this final option may end up more popular than it normally would be. Of course, that means I need at least a skeleton of an idea about certain important locations, and an ability to come up with minor adventure sites on the fly. I may try to prep a few small encounter areas and NOT put them on the map just for that purpose. Then I can add "Unknown Ruin" to the wilderness encounter charts and pull out one of these when the players run across them.
All in all, I think this campaign will go well, as long as the players' interest remains high. And I'm hopefully striking the right balance between too much and too little prep.
Monday, July 22, 2013
High and Low Fantasy: Can we have it both ways?
OK, half formed idea to follow, but I think it has potential.
Imagine a D&D campaign starting up. Sandbox style, possibly with a tent-pole adventuring location (mega-dungeon) near the starting home base.
The sandbox is full of low fantasy swords & sorcery style locations/NPCs/adventure hooks. Duplicitous thieves' guilds. Ruins full of loot, guarded by unsavory things from a past age. What passes for civilization in these parts are wretched hives of scum and villainy.
But there are rumors, legends, travelers' tales about what lies just beyond the edge of the map (or far beyond it). Lands of evil magical overlords, legendary dragons and their hoards of gold, kingdoms of light and darkness engaged in eternal warfare.
The important point is that this setting is a sandbox. Players would be free to stay in the starting location their entire careers, looting ruins for treasure, then carousing away the winnings on harlots and black lotus powder, then skipping town just before the enforcers from the guild come to collect on the debt to try their luck in another expedition to kill things and take their stuff.
OR, they could listen to the rumors of the far off lands, the great evils that need fighting, the legendary monsters that could be slain if only the right legendary weapons were to be located, and set off on a Campbellian hero-journey.
Would there be an audience for a product like this? A setting book that gives a DM the tools to run a Lankhmar/Conan-esque S&S game and also an Tolkien/Eddings/Jordan-esque epic high fantasy game, in the same game world? Without being 400 pages long?
I think the beauty of the idea is that a set-up like this would allow for occasional crossovers. The epic questers might take a break and do a bit of dungeon delving. Or the cutthroat treasure hunters might decide to go after one of those magic weapons to make dungeon delving easier.
So, any settings like this? The Known World/Mystara was sorta like that after the fact, or it was at least in the way we played it back in the day. It was set up to be a place modules could easily be slotted into, but eventually (thanks to the epic scope of the Companion/Masters/Immortals sets) became the home of far-flung epic adventures.
More importantly, would people find such a product useful for their games?
Imagine a D&D campaign starting up. Sandbox style, possibly with a tent-pole adventuring location (mega-dungeon) near the starting home base.
The sandbox is full of low fantasy swords & sorcery style locations/NPCs/adventure hooks. Duplicitous thieves' guilds. Ruins full of loot, guarded by unsavory things from a past age. What passes for civilization in these parts are wretched hives of scum and villainy.
But there are rumors, legends, travelers' tales about what lies just beyond the edge of the map (or far beyond it). Lands of evil magical overlords, legendary dragons and their hoards of gold, kingdoms of light and darkness engaged in eternal warfare.
The important point is that this setting is a sandbox. Players would be free to stay in the starting location their entire careers, looting ruins for treasure, then carousing away the winnings on harlots and black lotus powder, then skipping town just before the enforcers from the guild come to collect on the debt to try their luck in another expedition to kill things and take their stuff.
OR, they could listen to the rumors of the far off lands, the great evils that need fighting, the legendary monsters that could be slain if only the right legendary weapons were to be located, and set off on a Campbellian hero-journey.
Would there be an audience for a product like this? A setting book that gives a DM the tools to run a Lankhmar/Conan-esque S&S game and also an Tolkien/Eddings/Jordan-esque epic high fantasy game, in the same game world? Without being 400 pages long?
I think the beauty of the idea is that a set-up like this would allow for occasional crossovers. The epic questers might take a break and do a bit of dungeon delving. Or the cutthroat treasure hunters might decide to go after one of those magic weapons to make dungeon delving easier.
So, any settings like this? The Known World/Mystara was sorta like that after the fact, or it was at least in the way we played it back in the day. It was set up to be a place modules could easily be slotted into, but eventually (thanks to the epic scope of the Companion/Masters/Immortals sets) became the home of far-flung epic adventures.
More importantly, would people find such a product useful for their games?
Monday, February 25, 2013
The Dragon Sandbox: Plotting
Damn, now I've thrown my mind out of samurai/ninja gear, and into my "dragon sandbox" idea.
Plotted out what I think I'd need to do to get it off the ground.
1. Use my old Maritime Campaign maps. Here's the Maritime Campaign that barely got off the ground a few years back.
2. Name those islands and peninsulas! At least name ones where lairs will be placed, and ports will be located.
3. Place dragon, giant, and other large monster lairs. At least a dozen to start, maybe more. Maps of lairs (some caves, some ruined castles or cities, some in the wilderness, etc.), denizens (the big monster & it's treasure, plus any guardian creatures/traps, and lesser beasts that dwell in conjunction with or in the shadow of the big attraction).
4. Have a list of what sorts of information/help could be found at ports, with some info specific to each port location (sages, libraries, wizards, navigators, heroes retired and active, etc.)
5. Have at least 5 "treasure maps" of varying levels of accuracy for the players to discover (and they should likely start with at least one already).
6. Make sure each lair's treasure hoard contains some Keystone Treasures (famous named items, whether gems/jewelry like Hope Diamonds, or famous magic items like in my Unique Magic Items downloads over there on the sidebar). For hoards that are only coins, have a history of how they got there (lost pirate treasure, cultists sacrificing to the beast, ransoms paid, or whatever).
7. Make a big ol' list of rumors of all of the above. Make sure the players start with a bunch of rumors, not just one or two (one of the problems last time was that I still hadn't developed much, so I didn't have many rumors for the players).
8. Have a few stock ruined cities, mysterious temples, etc. that could be thrown onto unstocked islands, which would provide some clues to other lairs/important locations if they are explored.
Plotted out what I think I'd need to do to get it off the ground.
1. Use my old Maritime Campaign maps. Here's the Maritime Campaign that barely got off the ground a few years back.
2. Name those islands and peninsulas! At least name ones where lairs will be placed, and ports will be located.
3. Place dragon, giant, and other large monster lairs. At least a dozen to start, maybe more. Maps of lairs (some caves, some ruined castles or cities, some in the wilderness, etc.), denizens (the big monster & it's treasure, plus any guardian creatures/traps, and lesser beasts that dwell in conjunction with or in the shadow of the big attraction).
4. Have a list of what sorts of information/help could be found at ports, with some info specific to each port location (sages, libraries, wizards, navigators, heroes retired and active, etc.)
5. Have at least 5 "treasure maps" of varying levels of accuracy for the players to discover (and they should likely start with at least one already).
6. Make sure each lair's treasure hoard contains some Keystone Treasures (famous named items, whether gems/jewelry like Hope Diamonds, or famous magic items like in my Unique Magic Items downloads over there on the sidebar). For hoards that are only coins, have a history of how they got there (lost pirate treasure, cultists sacrificing to the beast, ransoms paid, or whatever).
7. Make a big ol' list of rumors of all of the above. Make sure the players start with a bunch of rumors, not just one or two (one of the problems last time was that I still hadn't developed much, so I didn't have many rumors for the players).
8. Have a few stock ruined cities, mysterious temples, etc. that could be thrown onto unstocked islands, which would provide some clues to other lairs/important locations if they are explored.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
The Dragon Sandbox?
Just had a thought inspired by Dean. In a FLAILSNAILS game he was part of a party that defeated a crystal dragon and earned "billions" of gold (Dean's words, no idea what the actual tally was). Anyway, this thought popped into my head.
A sandbox campaign where there were only dragon lairs as adventure locations. Of course, there would be other guardian beasts, symbiotic creatures, or worshiping cultists/humanoids in some of the lairs. But each and every place where you could earn XP through slaying creatures and taking their stuff would be a dragon's lair of one sort or another.
Low level PCs would strive to just get in and make off with a bit of loot and their skins. Mid-level PCs would then try to take out some of the younger/weaker dragons. High level PCs would - well, whatever they want, pretty much.
It would likely be a harsh campaign, as the risks would be very high, but the rewards commensurate. Could be fun.
A sandbox campaign where there were only dragon lairs as adventure locations. Of course, there would be other guardian beasts, symbiotic creatures, or worshiping cultists/humanoids in some of the lairs. But each and every place where you could earn XP through slaying creatures and taking their stuff would be a dragon's lair of one sort or another.
Low level PCs would strive to just get in and make off with a bit of loot and their skins. Mid-level PCs would then try to take out some of the younger/weaker dragons. High level PCs would - well, whatever they want, pretty much.
It would likely be a harsh campaign, as the risks would be very high, but the rewards commensurate. Could be fun.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The City and the Sandbox
My buddy Dave just put up a post on his blog about a Conan game he ran when he was in grad school. It was using the Mongoose d20 Conan game, but he's got some good pointers on things he did for that campaign that would be good advice for anyone running a city-based campaign, or any sandbox game where the DM wants to get a noir feel to the game.
It's a good read, and he's got some good advice.
It's a good read, and he's got some good advice.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Back on track?
Pat, Josh and myself were the only ones to show up for board games last night. Lucy and the other Korean gals were busy, Alex had to work late (as always), and Chloe canceled at the last minute.
Anyway, Josh had asked me to bring my Classic D&D stuff, and I did.
Because there were only the two players, Josh ran both his lvl 2 Magic-User Mork, and his 1st level (but with some XP) Fighter Mindy. Pat's Fighter had died fighting a bear, so he ran both his lvl 3 Cleric Sarda and a new Fighter he rolled up on the spot.
I decided to try out the "shields shall be splintered" house rule, as well as the idea that any 'special maneuvers' or 'called shots' would be handled with a normal attack roll, with the defender deciding to accept the penalty or else take normal damage, unless the attacker rolled a natural 20, as I've discussed before.
We started where we'd left them (Amy's in Ireland for a year, so we just ignored her character and assumed Pat's new Fighter had been there all along). They'd pissed off Cliodna, Queen of the Elves of the Blackwood, but still wanted to get their magic items identified. So they went to the village's blacksmith (who happened to be a Hero-Magician), hoping that he could ID their stuff and would have some magical gear for sale. [Too much 3/4E lately, I think...]
Anyway, he told them how to identify the stuff themselves. Use read magic on the scroll, sip the potion, and just open up the bag and look inside. The scroll was cursed, and I had Josh roll randomly by the book. He rolled to lose 1 magic item, and he had that ring of wishes and 2 potions of healing. Another d6 roll with a result of 1-2 would have meant the ring went bye-bye, but he rolled a 5, so a potion disappeared instead. Pat's Cleric ended up with 5 sling stones +1 (in the bag) and a potion of animal control.
As they were headed back out to confront the hobgoblins again, one of the elves stopped them and asked them to reconsider. If they did a favor to Cliodna, he assured them, she'd be happy to perform a favor for them in the future. Being typical greedy human adventurers, they didn't want favors--they wanted magic items that would help them take out the hobgoblins and kobolds on Whitebeard Mountain (and get that magic sword they'd heard rumors that the hobgoblins had).
Well, that worked, and they went back to Cliodna, explained their plan, and agreed to take out the other orc tribe plaguing the elves in exchange for some magic items (one potion or scroll for each survivor if they brought back the orc chieftain's head).
They go to the orc caves, and the first room in there's a giant horned chameleon which doesn't surprise them, but they manage to surprise. I let them know they had the options of getting a free round of attacks, or just sneaking by without it even noticing them. They eventually decided to try to lure it closer, then try a sleep spell, running when that didn't work. They came back and put a sling stone through its eye using the called shot house rule, then ran away again. About this time, I reminded them that they had a potion of animal control.
Pat's Cleric downed it, and with the help of the giant lizard, and throwing severed orc heads around in strange doorways (also avoiding a trap by sheer dumb luck--2 in 6 chance to dump anyone passing over into a pit, but no luck for my dice...) they cleared out the orcs just one turn before the potion wore off. When they got to the chieftain's throne room the lizard was on its last legs, and they were out of spells and sorta wounded. Josh had Mork use a wish to restore the party to full strength (hit points and spells memorized) and I allowed it (having discussed how greedy or metagame wishes tend to backfire, while altruistic wishes with in-game intentions tend to be allowed, at least by me).
With that, the lizard and a sleep spell took out most of the orcs. Two lost morale finally at the end, so there was one captive (the lizard ate one surrendering orc at the PC's command). They found the trade goods that had been stolen, as well as a box of gems, and took the gems, prisoner and chieftain's head back to Cliodna (who sent people to recover the trade goods).
No PC deaths, clever play especially by Josh, although Pat also had some good ideas, a bunch of dead orcs, and a nice treasure netted them an even 8000xp. Divided 4 ways, and that was not only just enough for the new Fighter to level, but put the other 3 characters over the top as well. So now Sarda is 4th level and Mork is 3rd level, meaning they each get 2nd level spells. Josh thought about it a lot and chose ESP, as it's good for dungeoneering and scouting.
They were rewarded by Cliodna with their choice of potion or scroll. Pat's Fighter got a potion of water breathing, and his Cleric got a scroll of snake charm. Josh's Fighter got a scroll of protection from undead, and his Magic-User got a 'special' scroll (using the borrowed Holmes idea) that turned out to be a scroll of petrification (rolled on the wands table).
Only one special attack was attempted (Pat put out the lizard's eye before it was controlled by the potion), but Josh's Fighter went through about 5 shields (replacing his lost shields with orc shields whenever a combat was finished). I'm liking both of those rules, even though we didn't get much chance to try out the special attacks one.
Anyway, Josh had asked me to bring my Classic D&D stuff, and I did.
Because there were only the two players, Josh ran both his lvl 2 Magic-User Mork, and his 1st level (but with some XP) Fighter Mindy. Pat's Fighter had died fighting a bear, so he ran both his lvl 3 Cleric Sarda and a new Fighter he rolled up on the spot.
I decided to try out the "shields shall be splintered" house rule, as well as the idea that any 'special maneuvers' or 'called shots' would be handled with a normal attack roll, with the defender deciding to accept the penalty or else take normal damage, unless the attacker rolled a natural 20, as I've discussed before.
We started where we'd left them (Amy's in Ireland for a year, so we just ignored her character and assumed Pat's new Fighter had been there all along). They'd pissed off Cliodna, Queen of the Elves of the Blackwood, but still wanted to get their magic items identified. So they went to the village's blacksmith (who happened to be a Hero-Magician), hoping that he could ID their stuff and would have some magical gear for sale. [Too much 3/4E lately, I think...]
Anyway, he told them how to identify the stuff themselves. Use read magic on the scroll, sip the potion, and just open up the bag and look inside. The scroll was cursed, and I had Josh roll randomly by the book. He rolled to lose 1 magic item, and he had that ring of wishes and 2 potions of healing. Another d6 roll with a result of 1-2 would have meant the ring went bye-bye, but he rolled a 5, so a potion disappeared instead. Pat's Cleric ended up with 5 sling stones +1 (in the bag) and a potion of animal control.
As they were headed back out to confront the hobgoblins again, one of the elves stopped them and asked them to reconsider. If they did a favor to Cliodna, he assured them, she'd be happy to perform a favor for them in the future. Being typical greedy human adventurers, they didn't want favors--they wanted magic items that would help them take out the hobgoblins and kobolds on Whitebeard Mountain (and get that magic sword they'd heard rumors that the hobgoblins had).
Well, that worked, and they went back to Cliodna, explained their plan, and agreed to take out the other orc tribe plaguing the elves in exchange for some magic items (one potion or scroll for each survivor if they brought back the orc chieftain's head).
They go to the orc caves, and the first room in there's a giant horned chameleon which doesn't surprise them, but they manage to surprise. I let them know they had the options of getting a free round of attacks, or just sneaking by without it even noticing them. They eventually decided to try to lure it closer, then try a sleep spell, running when that didn't work. They came back and put a sling stone through its eye using the called shot house rule, then ran away again. About this time, I reminded them that they had a potion of animal control.
Pat's Cleric downed it, and with the help of the giant lizard, and throwing severed orc heads around in strange doorways (also avoiding a trap by sheer dumb luck--2 in 6 chance to dump anyone passing over into a pit, but no luck for my dice...) they cleared out the orcs just one turn before the potion wore off. When they got to the chieftain's throne room the lizard was on its last legs, and they were out of spells and sorta wounded. Josh had Mork use a wish to restore the party to full strength (hit points and spells memorized) and I allowed it (having discussed how greedy or metagame wishes tend to backfire, while altruistic wishes with in-game intentions tend to be allowed, at least by me).
With that, the lizard and a sleep spell took out most of the orcs. Two lost morale finally at the end, so there was one captive (the lizard ate one surrendering orc at the PC's command). They found the trade goods that had been stolen, as well as a box of gems, and took the gems, prisoner and chieftain's head back to Cliodna (who sent people to recover the trade goods).
No PC deaths, clever play especially by Josh, although Pat also had some good ideas, a bunch of dead orcs, and a nice treasure netted them an even 8000xp. Divided 4 ways, and that was not only just enough for the new Fighter to level, but put the other 3 characters over the top as well. So now Sarda is 4th level and Mork is 3rd level, meaning they each get 2nd level spells. Josh thought about it a lot and chose ESP, as it's good for dungeoneering and scouting.
They were rewarded by Cliodna with their choice of potion or scroll. Pat's Fighter got a potion of water breathing, and his Cleric got a scroll of snake charm. Josh's Fighter got a scroll of protection from undead, and his Magic-User got a 'special' scroll (using the borrowed Holmes idea) that turned out to be a scroll of petrification (rolled on the wands table).
Only one special attack was attempted (Pat put out the lizard's eye before it was controlled by the potion), but Josh's Fighter went through about 5 shields (replacing his lost shields with orc shields whenever a combat was finished). I'm liking both of those rules, even though we didn't get much chance to try out the special attacks one.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Goings on at the Game Group
I've been meaning to post this since Tuesday, when we had our last game. Steve and Alex weren't coming, so I brought along the D&D. Ended up being me, Pat, Josh, and Amy. Amy hadn't enjoyed D&D the last time so much, as the language and the pace of the game got a little too fast for her, but she was a good sport and played again.
Pat's Fighter died last time, so he was playing his Cleric (L3), Amy also has a Cleric (L1), and Josh decided to play his Magic-User (L1). They followed some rumors that the hobgoblins and kobolds were at odds. They bought some kegs of booze to try to bribe the hobgoblins into allying to slay the kobolds, then the plan was to turn on the now weakened hobgoblins and loot both lairs.
On the way there, they had a random encounter with Sprites. The sprites had decent reactions toward the group, and when they asked the party to disrobe, Josh said his mage was game and pulled up his robes. The sprites rewarded him with a random magic item, and I rolled up--a ring of 2 wishes. I'm always a fan of giving players wishes. It makes them nervous.
Later they encountered a solitary 1HD elf. He introduced himself as a ranger, so they of course recruited him to help take out the humanoids. He led them to the mountains, but I had him take them to the wrong cavern entrance (I've got various goblinoids in interconnected lairs within the mountain). They went to the Orc cave, and ended up finding some pterodactyls which they slaughtered after a sleep spell and a bit of minor damage. They rested to heal and prepare spells, then went back. The first orcs they encountered offered to join them take out the orc boss if they split the treasure. The party agreed to this, and another sleep spell pretty much rendered the orc chieftain and his guards helpless.
The treasure chest contained 1000gp, a potion, a scroll, and a bag. The players gave all the gold to the orcs, and took the magic loot. Instead of being brave (foolish?) they decided to take the items somewhere where they could be identified. The "ranger" suggested they go to the Elf Queen Cliodna.
They get through the elf defenses thanks to the ranger, but as soon as they enter the throne room Josh has his M-U say something like, "I hear you've got some monsters you need slaying. Pay us and we'll do it for you." Small penalty to reaciton rolls wasn't necessary as I rolled pretty poorly for it. They managed to salvage the effort, but Josh (who was game to have his character flash some sprites) refused to have his M-U bow down on all-4s, merely bowing at the waist (the two Clerics both got down on the ground to appologize).
So they didn't get their magic items identified, but they have permission to rearm and resupply from the elves, and if they manage to defeat the other tribe of orcs who are bothering the elves, they may end up on the elves' good side after all.
After the game, though, we got the bad news that the board game cafe in Seomyeon where we play is closing down at the end of the month. We've got to find a new place to meet up, or the board game group may be finished.
Pat's Fighter died last time, so he was playing his Cleric (L3), Amy also has a Cleric (L1), and Josh decided to play his Magic-User (L1). They followed some rumors that the hobgoblins and kobolds were at odds. They bought some kegs of booze to try to bribe the hobgoblins into allying to slay the kobolds, then the plan was to turn on the now weakened hobgoblins and loot both lairs.
On the way there, they had a random encounter with Sprites. The sprites had decent reactions toward the group, and when they asked the party to disrobe, Josh said his mage was game and pulled up his robes. The sprites rewarded him with a random magic item, and I rolled up--a ring of 2 wishes. I'm always a fan of giving players wishes. It makes them nervous.
Later they encountered a solitary 1HD elf. He introduced himself as a ranger, so they of course recruited him to help take out the humanoids. He led them to the mountains, but I had him take them to the wrong cavern entrance (I've got various goblinoids in interconnected lairs within the mountain). They went to the Orc cave, and ended up finding some pterodactyls which they slaughtered after a sleep spell and a bit of minor damage. They rested to heal and prepare spells, then went back. The first orcs they encountered offered to join them take out the orc boss if they split the treasure. The party agreed to this, and another sleep spell pretty much rendered the orc chieftain and his guards helpless.
The treasure chest contained 1000gp, a potion, a scroll, and a bag. The players gave all the gold to the orcs, and took the magic loot. Instead of being brave (foolish?) they decided to take the items somewhere where they could be identified. The "ranger" suggested they go to the Elf Queen Cliodna.
They get through the elf defenses thanks to the ranger, but as soon as they enter the throne room Josh has his M-U say something like, "I hear you've got some monsters you need slaying. Pay us and we'll do it for you." Small penalty to reaciton rolls wasn't necessary as I rolled pretty poorly for it. They managed to salvage the effort, but Josh (who was game to have his character flash some sprites) refused to have his M-U bow down on all-4s, merely bowing at the waist (the two Clerics both got down on the ground to appologize).
So they didn't get their magic items identified, but they have permission to rearm and resupply from the elves, and if they manage to defeat the other tribe of orcs who are bothering the elves, they may end up on the elves' good side after all.
After the game, though, we got the bad news that the board game cafe in Seomyeon where we play is closing down at the end of the month. We've got to find a new place to meet up, or the board game group may be finished.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Interest in the Maritime Campaign
At the Board Game Group last night, we played Wizkids' Pirates again. Actually, except for me, no one who played before showed up, so I had to explain it all again (and play a simple, cut down version) for Pat, Josh, Lucy, Vlada, and another of Lucy's friends whose name I've of course forgotten.
Josh, who's into tabletop minis wargames (he playes 40K) really enjoyed it. He and Pat were lamenting the loss of the Saturday RPG sessions, and I mentioned that Alex had expressed an interest in my Maritime Campaign idea. Josh and Pat also seemed interested.
Josh, though, I should admit, was most interested in the fact that I called it a "campaign." I think we have slightly different ideas about what a campaign entails. For me, it's a series of adventures which may or may not have a connection plot-wise, but involve the same characters in the same world(s). For him, I get the idea from his 3E game, it's a railroad plot for the characters to play out. He's stated a firm dislike of sandbox play in the past.
Anyway, I plan to pitch the game play as sorta like the X-Files. There will be an overriding quest that they'll have, but not every encounter, island, pirate ship, cannibal tribe or lost ruin will involve that quest. They'll encounter a lot of other stuff as they search for clues to the quest, and that other stuff will be just that--stuff.
Of course, this is assuming I have the time to prepare the campaign, and the time to run it. Josh and Pat were again talking about Pat running a 4E game since he's got the rules, and we're all interested in giving it a go to see how it plays. So who knows?
Josh, who's into tabletop minis wargames (he playes 40K) really enjoyed it. He and Pat were lamenting the loss of the Saturday RPG sessions, and I mentioned that Alex had expressed an interest in my Maritime Campaign idea. Josh and Pat also seemed interested.
Josh, though, I should admit, was most interested in the fact that I called it a "campaign." I think we have slightly different ideas about what a campaign entails. For me, it's a series of adventures which may or may not have a connection plot-wise, but involve the same characters in the same world(s). For him, I get the idea from his 3E game, it's a railroad plot for the characters to play out. He's stated a firm dislike of sandbox play in the past.
Anyway, I plan to pitch the game play as sorta like the X-Files. There will be an overriding quest that they'll have, but not every encounter, island, pirate ship, cannibal tribe or lost ruin will involve that quest. They'll encounter a lot of other stuff as they search for clues to the quest, and that other stuff will be just that--stuff.
Of course, this is assuming I have the time to prepare the campaign, and the time to run it. Josh and Pat were again talking about Pat running a 4E game since he's got the rules, and we're all interested in giving it a go to see how it plays. So who knows?
Friday, February 26, 2010
More musings on a Maritime Campaign
The basic setup would be to make a big old map with lots of rugged coasts, peninsulas, straights, fjords, etc. along the borders, then several archipelago throughout the middle. I imagine using 4 or 6 sheets of hex paper for the sea maps, including a few Bosporus/Dardanelles/Pillars of Hercules type narrow straights dividing some sea areas from others.
For archipelagos, I plan to just transpose the layouts of some real world ones--the Caribbean islands, the Aegean, parts of Indonesia or the Philippines.
The mainland coastal areas will have Greco-Roman, Norse/Celtic, Middle-Eastern/East African, Meso-American, and maybe Chinese/SE Asian and Sub-Saharan African type regions. Various islands may have similar cultures, or may be totally bizarre or unique.
I plan to mine any sort of nautical source material--Jason and the Argonauts, the Odyssey, the Vinland Sagas, Sindbad the Sailor, any sort of pirate stories, Captain Nemo, etc. Whether it be literature or film, I'll likely steal it. So Nemo, Jack Sparrow, Jason, and Sindbad will likely all be running around and encounterable.
I'm thinking now, start all characters at around 8000 XP, so Fighters are at Hero level, and making each player role up 4 or 5 characters at the beginning, who are all on a 'hero ship' similar to the Argo, and give them a macguffin quest that will lead them to explore the seas until they find whatever they're after, sail home, and take out the king who sent them on the quest in the first place to get rid of them. This way, everyone's got a few extra characters on the ship if someone dies. And they can pick up more replacements if they land in ports.
For archipelagos, I plan to just transpose the layouts of some real world ones--the Caribbean islands, the Aegean, parts of Indonesia or the Philippines.
The mainland coastal areas will have Greco-Roman, Norse/Celtic, Middle-Eastern/East African, Meso-American, and maybe Chinese/SE Asian and Sub-Saharan African type regions. Various islands may have similar cultures, or may be totally bizarre or unique.
I plan to mine any sort of nautical source material--Jason and the Argonauts, the Odyssey, the Vinland Sagas, Sindbad the Sailor, any sort of pirate stories, Captain Nemo, etc. Whether it be literature or film, I'll likely steal it. So Nemo, Jack Sparrow, Jason, and Sindbad will likely all be running around and encounterable.
I'm thinking now, start all characters at around 8000 XP, so Fighters are at Hero level, and making each player role up 4 or 5 characters at the beginning, who are all on a 'hero ship' similar to the Argo, and give them a macguffin quest that will lead them to explore the seas until they find whatever they're after, sail home, and take out the king who sent them on the quest in the first place to get rid of them. This way, everyone's got a few extra characters on the ship if someone dies. And they can pick up more replacements if they land in ports.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Musings on a Maritime Campaign
Initial thoughts on running a campaign where the PCs are all sailors on a ship of some sort--
Lots of useful modules out there. Isle of Dread, Drums on Fire Mountain, War Rafts of Kron, not to mention being able to stick land-based modules on some island somewhere.
Just give the players lots of rumors, and let them sail around the sea until they find something interesting. Could be really easy, and really fun.
Lots of useful modules out there. Isle of Dread, Drums on Fire Mountain, War Rafts of Kron, not to mention being able to stick land-based modules on some island somewhere.
Just give the players lots of rumors, and let them sail around the sea until they find something interesting. Could be really easy, and really fun.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A New Hope
Last night, I brought my Wizkids Pirates of the "X" game to the Board Game Group. It was the first time I'd brought it, and the first time to play for everyone else. During the game, Alex was busy thinking of ways to modify the game, and I showed him some of the alternate ideas my old group in Japan and I had come up with.
I also mentioned that the little cardboard ships would be great for a maritime D&D campaign. Alex mentioned that there aren't rules for that (he played lots of 2E, and I think they all ended up in one of the numerous splatbooks for that edition). I said that Classic actually has some fairly decent rules for sea-faring, and he got interested.
If I shift my sandbox to a mysterious Aegean/Caribbean type setting, I think I could get him to play...
I also mentioned that the little cardboard ships would be great for a maritime D&D campaign. Alex mentioned that there aren't rules for that (he played lots of 2E, and I think they all ended up in one of the numerous splatbooks for that edition). I said that Classic actually has some fairly decent rules for sea-faring, and he got interested.
If I shift my sandbox to a mysterious Aegean/Caribbean type setting, I think I could get him to play...
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Playing in the Sandbox III
My report here is a bit late. I've been busy at work, and didn't have time last night to write this up either. Now the wife and son are asleep, so I've got a bit of time.
Tuesday night I brought D&D to the Board Game Group. Once everyone was there--everyone for this week being myself, Pat, Chloe, Amy (Chloe's Korean friend), Dave, Lucy, Robin and Prada (Lucy and Robin's friend--yes, that's the name she chose for herself in English...).
We spent a bit of time giving Amy and Prada the basic rundown. Amy rolled up a Cleric, and Prada a Fighter. Lucy and Robin had a good laugh when Prada's Charisma ended up below average and I wouldn't let her re-roll. Well, she had a 17 Str, plus decent Int and Dex, so that should be good enough, right? Yeah, I'm an evil DM.
Pat only played his Fighter 3, Dave and Robin had Elves, Lucy had a Cleric 2, and Chloe has her Illusionist in addition to the two new characters.
They started out the session reviewing rumors. Several had gotten the rumor that demons infested the old Chapter House, but that there was lots of treasure there as well. Undaunted by demon rumors, they set out seeking more advice on the subject. They got the basic history of the place from the town historian, and then a bit more advice from the town's most unusual resident, Elmithrisar, an Elf said to be over 3000 years old (and he looks old, unusual for Elves). Elmithrisar wasn't sure what might lurk in the Chapter House, but thought the party might need some magical weapons before they ventured forth there.
Then they started wondering where to get magical gear. Elmithrisar pointed them in the direction of Cliodna, the leader of the local Elf clan that lives in the Black Wood just west of town. They decided to put that on hold for the moment, and investigate another rumor that Lizard Men had abducted a local farm family (I'd decided a little while ago that this was a false rumor--werewolves had killed the family and blamed it on the Lizard Men once they were back in human form).
They went to the farm, and found it deserted and trashed. They found the family dog in the barn, and used some scraps of clothes to get the dog to track by scent. It led them not to the Lizard Man stronghold (it would have eventually if things had gone differently), but to a lair on the path to the Lizard Men, which was the home of some bears.
They investigated the caves. The first bear they found was sleeping, and they left it alone. Dave's Elf snuck in to check out the bones that were on the floor, and found a human skull among them. This shook people up a bit. They assumed that it was from the farm family until they took it outside, saw that it looked old, and the dog didn't seem to find it familiar (not sure a dog could identify it's owner's bones though anyway...).
They went back in and took the other branch in the cave, and found two bears there. The bears were awake and threatening, so they started to back off, but then Pat suggested that they had enough numbers to take two bears. So the party attacked, rather than follow Dave's suggestion of going back to town for long spears to try to fight the bears while keeping them at bay.
It didn't end well. Dave's Elf went down in the first or second round, and Pat's Fighter followed him a few rounds later (bear hugs are nasty, even for a L3 Fighter!). The group managed to take the bears down eventually, once I stopped rolling so well to hit. Lucy's Cleric was damaged a little, but that was all.
Searching the room after looting their comrades for anything of worth (while Pat and Dave took the chance to make a run to the convenience store), they found a boulder blocking another passage. Inside, they found some loot stashed there by bandits long ago (the bones being those of dead bandits). There were some silver and copper coins, some large barrels of fish oil, and a falchion made of greenish steel. They took the loot back to town, paid the Grey Friars to bury their dead comrades properly, then met up with Pat's Cleric and Dave's new Cavalier. We decided to end the session there.
The sword is magical, of course. I rolled one off of my Unique Magic Weapons book which I still need to get around to giving a final edit. The sword wasn't there originally, but since they're interested in the Chapter House and they fought a tough battle with the bears, I decided to throw in a magic weapon for them. It's a +1 dancing weapon, but they have yet to identify it.
In other news, after 2 days of lots of emails and text messages exchanged, it looks like Alex will not be running Heroes Unlimited after all. Dave may be running d20 Conan instead. I've actually got an itch to run some Star Frontiers, but I really don't have the time right now to do it. Unless I ditched the D&D game. So it looks like we'll be running Hyborians and Turanians and Hyperboreans the next time we have a Saturday game.
Tuesday night I brought D&D to the Board Game Group. Once everyone was there--everyone for this week being myself, Pat, Chloe, Amy (Chloe's Korean friend), Dave, Lucy, Robin and Prada (Lucy and Robin's friend--yes, that's the name she chose for herself in English...).
We spent a bit of time giving Amy and Prada the basic rundown. Amy rolled up a Cleric, and Prada a Fighter. Lucy and Robin had a good laugh when Prada's Charisma ended up below average and I wouldn't let her re-roll. Well, she had a 17 Str, plus decent Int and Dex, so that should be good enough, right? Yeah, I'm an evil DM.
Pat only played his Fighter 3, Dave and Robin had Elves, Lucy had a Cleric 2, and Chloe has her Illusionist in addition to the two new characters.
They started out the session reviewing rumors. Several had gotten the rumor that demons infested the old Chapter House, but that there was lots of treasure there as well. Undaunted by demon rumors, they set out seeking more advice on the subject. They got the basic history of the place from the town historian, and then a bit more advice from the town's most unusual resident, Elmithrisar, an Elf said to be over 3000 years old (and he looks old, unusual for Elves). Elmithrisar wasn't sure what might lurk in the Chapter House, but thought the party might need some magical weapons before they ventured forth there.
Then they started wondering where to get magical gear. Elmithrisar pointed them in the direction of Cliodna, the leader of the local Elf clan that lives in the Black Wood just west of town. They decided to put that on hold for the moment, and investigate another rumor that Lizard Men had abducted a local farm family (I'd decided a little while ago that this was a false rumor--werewolves had killed the family and blamed it on the Lizard Men once they were back in human form).
They went to the farm, and found it deserted and trashed. They found the family dog in the barn, and used some scraps of clothes to get the dog to track by scent. It led them not to the Lizard Man stronghold (it would have eventually if things had gone differently), but to a lair on the path to the Lizard Men, which was the home of some bears.
They investigated the caves. The first bear they found was sleeping, and they left it alone. Dave's Elf snuck in to check out the bones that were on the floor, and found a human skull among them. This shook people up a bit. They assumed that it was from the farm family until they took it outside, saw that it looked old, and the dog didn't seem to find it familiar (not sure a dog could identify it's owner's bones though anyway...).
They went back in and took the other branch in the cave, and found two bears there. The bears were awake and threatening, so they started to back off, but then Pat suggested that they had enough numbers to take two bears. So the party attacked, rather than follow Dave's suggestion of going back to town for long spears to try to fight the bears while keeping them at bay.
It didn't end well. Dave's Elf went down in the first or second round, and Pat's Fighter followed him a few rounds later (bear hugs are nasty, even for a L3 Fighter!). The group managed to take the bears down eventually, once I stopped rolling so well to hit. Lucy's Cleric was damaged a little, but that was all.
Searching the room after looting their comrades for anything of worth (while Pat and Dave took the chance to make a run to the convenience store), they found a boulder blocking another passage. Inside, they found some loot stashed there by bandits long ago (the bones being those of dead bandits). There were some silver and copper coins, some large barrels of fish oil, and a falchion made of greenish steel. They took the loot back to town, paid the Grey Friars to bury their dead comrades properly, then met up with Pat's Cleric and Dave's new Cavalier. We decided to end the session there.
The sword is magical, of course. I rolled one off of my Unique Magic Weapons book which I still need to get around to giving a final edit. The sword wasn't there originally, but since they're interested in the Chapter House and they fought a tough battle with the bears, I decided to throw in a magic weapon for them. It's a +1 dancing weapon, but they have yet to identify it.
In other news, after 2 days of lots of emails and text messages exchanged, it looks like Alex will not be running Heroes Unlimited after all. Dave may be running d20 Conan instead. I've actually got an itch to run some Star Frontiers, but I really don't have the time right now to do it. Unless I ditched the D&D game. So it looks like we'll be running Hyborians and Turanians and Hyperboreans the next time we have a Saturday game.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Playing in the Sandbox II
Last night we played my Classic D&D game at the board game group again. It had been a month or so since the last game. Due to final tests this week, Lucy, Robin and Erika couldn't come. Josh is still in Canada, and Steve and Alex couldn't make it. Miyeong said she would come, but got out of work late so couldn't make it after all. That left Pat, Chloe, and Dave, besides myself.
I was a bit disorganized, since I'd had to rush out of the radio station (yeah, I'm on the radio here in Busan) and home to eat dinner, help my wife with a few Christmas cards, play with the baby a bit, then off to games all within an hour! I forgot to bring my 'monster book' but didn't need it, and forgot my 'box of rumors' as well. Dave had the only new character and Pat and Chloe were content to follow up rumors they'd already gathered, so we didn't need it after all either.
Dave finished rolling up his Elf, while Pat (playing his Cleric and Fighter, both level 2 now) and Chloe (playing her Illusionist level 1) did some stuff around town. They decided they'd follow up the rumor that a valuable pendant could be found in the Dread Mausoleum. They thought about following up on information about the sword Chrysaor, but decided to wait until Lucy was back to do anything with that.
They first went to the local Dwarven drinking establishment, and got a somewhat cool reaction. They were introduced to a pair of stupidly drunk Dwarves who it was said could help them, but they decided to not bring the boasting pair along because they were drunk, rude, and wanted shares of treasure (I would have let them get in for only 1/2 shares if offered, but the group decided they were strong enough).
Dave's Elf joined them, and they got some information about the Mausoleum--where it was, roughly, and that to the best knowledge of the local Sun priestess, it was very old and haunted by 'demons' or so the superstitous peasants told her. Undaunted, they bought rations and set out for the day's march to the Mausoleum. On the way, they encountered some giant tiger beetles, but evaded them successfully. They couldn't find the Mausoleum in the dead woods on that first night, so they retreated back across a stream and camped for the night.
The next morning they finally found the place. The actual mausoleum was a slate structure, with a large stagnant pool with a non-functioning fountain in front, and a smaller structure to the back (they couldn't make it out at first because of the trees). Going to the secondary structure first, they found an altar to the Serpent of Chaos, surrounded by a pair of devil statues, on a stone platform. They thought about desecrating the altar, but then thought they'd better not yet in case demons really were around!
Next, they checked out the pool, which was home to a Gray Ooze. They beat the ooze without any major losses (Pat's fighter lost his shield--a Save vs. Wands successfully kept it from disolving his chainmail!), and drained the pool, locating a small gem.
They went in the Mausoleum, and found it had seven plain stone sarcophogi, 3 on each side and one at the far end, flanked by statues. There was also a trap door in the floor. They avoided the sarcophogi and statues, other than a cursory examination to see if there was any writing on them (none), then opened up the trap door (after checking for traps--they checked every door for traps, I'll just skip writing that from now on). They dropped down a torch, and saw a corridor at the bottom, 40' below. They secured their rope to a statue, and dropped it down, then climbed down--Dave's Elf first, to use infravision.
The tunnel went north and south, and they went north first. They quickly came to a large crypt, with alcoves stuffed with bones to east and west, and noticed giant bats hanging from the ceiling and starting to stir because of the torch light. They quickly retreated, with the Elf sticking around quietly to see if they went back to sleep with infravision (they did).
Going south, the corridor split in a Y shape, and they went SE first, to a door. Opening it, they got the jump on a trio of living corpses. Thinking they were zombies, they attacked. Mistake! They were ghouls!
The Fighter, Elf and Cleric all charged, while the Illusionist threw a javelin. I made a mistake of my own, though. I didn't hear Pat say his Cleric and Fighter were attacking the same one, so I assumed they were going after different ones. The Fighter and Elf each took a ghoul down to 1 hit point, and the Cleric hit as well. If I'd heard Pat, one ghoul would have been down. As it was, in the first real round the Cleric got paralyzed, and the other two wounded. They managed to kill the two severely wounded ones, but the Fighter was also paralyzed, and the Illusionist and Elf killed. TPK.
But then when Pat pointed out my mistake, I asked if they wanted to replay the combat. They said sure. (Screw narrativism--besides, how many times does Simon Belmont die before he gets to Dracula?) In the second battle, with only two ghouls, they did better. The Fighter got paralyzed again, but the Cleric turned one, and they finished off the third. They debated what to do with the ghoul cringing in a corner, but when they saw that the two they killed had jewelry, and so did the one they turned, they decided to finish it off. They got the jewelry and headed back out to rest up.
They camped across the stream for a few nights to get everyone back on their feet, having an encounter with a band of sprites who were charmed by the Elf (rolled high on reactions) and gave the party some giant bee honey. Rested up, they went back to the Mausoleum and took the south-west tunnel.
Down that path, they found another room with sarcophogi, but these were all carved in effigy of the people entombed. The last one had the inscription "Heroes take what they may." Opening that sarcophogus, they found the remains of a magician (spellbook rotted and worthless), with a silver dagger and a potion bottle. They decided not to disturb the remains of the other dead, and opened a door in the room. Inside, they found a 10x10 room full of treasure.
Thinking that was suspicious, Chloe decided her Illusionist would try to see through any illusions--she gets a +2 bonus on saves, which she made. Everyone else tried a save when she told them it was an illusion and failed, but they listened to her and shut the door.
They didn't find the pendant they were looking for, but they had found some loot and were running low on rations so they headed back to town, got the jewelry appraised (and were surprised that the 3 torques the ghouls wore were each worth 1200gp!), and got their experience points.
Pat's guys both leveled up again, so they'll be level 3 while everyone else is level 2 (although next time we play Josh should be back, and his characters are both on the cusp of level 2).
All in all, except for the miscommunication leading to a TPK, it was a good night.
I was a bit disorganized, since I'd had to rush out of the radio station (yeah, I'm on the radio here in Busan) and home to eat dinner, help my wife with a few Christmas cards, play with the baby a bit, then off to games all within an hour! I forgot to bring my 'monster book' but didn't need it, and forgot my 'box of rumors' as well. Dave had the only new character and Pat and Chloe were content to follow up rumors they'd already gathered, so we didn't need it after all either.
Dave finished rolling up his Elf, while Pat (playing his Cleric and Fighter, both level 2 now) and Chloe (playing her Illusionist level 1) did some stuff around town. They decided they'd follow up the rumor that a valuable pendant could be found in the Dread Mausoleum. They thought about following up on information about the sword Chrysaor, but decided to wait until Lucy was back to do anything with that.
They first went to the local Dwarven drinking establishment, and got a somewhat cool reaction. They were introduced to a pair of stupidly drunk Dwarves who it was said could help them, but they decided to not bring the boasting pair along because they were drunk, rude, and wanted shares of treasure (I would have let them get in for only 1/2 shares if offered, but the group decided they were strong enough).
Dave's Elf joined them, and they got some information about the Mausoleum--where it was, roughly, and that to the best knowledge of the local Sun priestess, it was very old and haunted by 'demons' or so the superstitous peasants told her. Undaunted, they bought rations and set out for the day's march to the Mausoleum. On the way, they encountered some giant tiger beetles, but evaded them successfully. They couldn't find the Mausoleum in the dead woods on that first night, so they retreated back across a stream and camped for the night.
The next morning they finally found the place. The actual mausoleum was a slate structure, with a large stagnant pool with a non-functioning fountain in front, and a smaller structure to the back (they couldn't make it out at first because of the trees). Going to the secondary structure first, they found an altar to the Serpent of Chaos, surrounded by a pair of devil statues, on a stone platform. They thought about desecrating the altar, but then thought they'd better not yet in case demons really were around!
Next, they checked out the pool, which was home to a Gray Ooze. They beat the ooze without any major losses (Pat's fighter lost his shield--a Save vs. Wands successfully kept it from disolving his chainmail!), and drained the pool, locating a small gem.
They went in the Mausoleum, and found it had seven plain stone sarcophogi, 3 on each side and one at the far end, flanked by statues. There was also a trap door in the floor. They avoided the sarcophogi and statues, other than a cursory examination to see if there was any writing on them (none), then opened up the trap door (after checking for traps--they checked every door for traps, I'll just skip writing that from now on). They dropped down a torch, and saw a corridor at the bottom, 40' below. They secured their rope to a statue, and dropped it down, then climbed down--Dave's Elf first, to use infravision.
The tunnel went north and south, and they went north first. They quickly came to a large crypt, with alcoves stuffed with bones to east and west, and noticed giant bats hanging from the ceiling and starting to stir because of the torch light. They quickly retreated, with the Elf sticking around quietly to see if they went back to sleep with infravision (they did).
Going south, the corridor split in a Y shape, and they went SE first, to a door. Opening it, they got the jump on a trio of living corpses. Thinking they were zombies, they attacked. Mistake! They were ghouls!
The Fighter, Elf and Cleric all charged, while the Illusionist threw a javelin. I made a mistake of my own, though. I didn't hear Pat say his Cleric and Fighter were attacking the same one, so I assumed they were going after different ones. The Fighter and Elf each took a ghoul down to 1 hit point, and the Cleric hit as well. If I'd heard Pat, one ghoul would have been down. As it was, in the first real round the Cleric got paralyzed, and the other two wounded. They managed to kill the two severely wounded ones, but the Fighter was also paralyzed, and the Illusionist and Elf killed. TPK.
But then when Pat pointed out my mistake, I asked if they wanted to replay the combat. They said sure. (Screw narrativism--besides, how many times does Simon Belmont die before he gets to Dracula?) In the second battle, with only two ghouls, they did better. The Fighter got paralyzed again, but the Cleric turned one, and they finished off the third. They debated what to do with the ghoul cringing in a corner, but when they saw that the two they killed had jewelry, and so did the one they turned, they decided to finish it off. They got the jewelry and headed back out to rest up.
They camped across the stream for a few nights to get everyone back on their feet, having an encounter with a band of sprites who were charmed by the Elf (rolled high on reactions) and gave the party some giant bee honey. Rested up, they went back to the Mausoleum and took the south-west tunnel.
Down that path, they found another room with sarcophogi, but these were all carved in effigy of the people entombed. The last one had the inscription "Heroes take what they may." Opening that sarcophogus, they found the remains of a magician (spellbook rotted and worthless), with a silver dagger and a potion bottle. They decided not to disturb the remains of the other dead, and opened a door in the room. Inside, they found a 10x10 room full of treasure.
Thinking that was suspicious, Chloe decided her Illusionist would try to see through any illusions--she gets a +2 bonus on saves, which she made. Everyone else tried a save when she told them it was an illusion and failed, but they listened to her and shut the door.
They didn't find the pendant they were looking for, but they had found some loot and were running low on rations so they headed back to town, got the jewelry appraised (and were surprised that the 3 torques the ghouls wore were each worth 1200gp!), and got their experience points.
Pat's guys both leveled up again, so they'll be level 3 while everyone else is level 2 (although next time we play Josh should be back, and his characters are both on the cusp of level 2).
All in all, except for the miscommunication leading to a TPK, it was a good night.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Game on!!!
Well, I didn't think I'd have time to post this month, but what do you know, my NaNoWriMo novel is already at 35k out of 50k needed to win and it's only the 12th. By the way, it's hopefully an entertaining mix of S&S and Gothic fantasy, about a knight vs. werewolves. More on that when I read it through upon completion and see how much I can salvage into a second draft.
Anyway, on Monday, I brought D&D to the Board Game Group meet-up. Josh was out, quarantined because of the flu (he didn't say if it was H1N1 or not, not that it really matters, I'd rather my son not get either form if possible...). Dave, who's really keen to get some Classic D&D in, and July (Mi Young) were busy. Steve and Alex were out as usual on Mondays, but they don't like Classic D&D anyway. Erica was too lazy to go out on a cool evening (she lives kinda far away anyway).
That left me, Lucy, Pat, and Pat's friend Chloe who was there for the first time. Chloe and I arrived first, which was good because it gave me a chance to show her the basics. She's played Diablo and some other CRPG/MMORPGs before, so she was familiar with the basic tropes. The only really funny newbie question she asked was, "So if I use my mirror, does it go away?"
She decided to try out my home brew Illusionist class. Yeah! Aside from a short-lived Half-Orc played by Alex before he decided he didn't want to play Classic, we hadn't had anyone playing any of my new classes. She took Change Self for her spell, but as the game played out, she didn't actually get to use it. She was kicking some ass with her thrown javelins, however! (My Illusionist, being a cross between M-U and Thief, can use thrown weapons and 1-handed melee weapons if they want to...).
Because Josh, who was sick, is really invested in exploring the Ruins of Castle Mistamere and rooting out the kobold menace there, everyone decided to strike out into the sandbox and see what else there was to see. I had my rumors handy, and let each PC (Pat was playing both his Fighter and Cleric, and Lucy has a Cleric, everyone still Level 1) get 3 rumors plus or minus their Cha adjustment.
There were a few repeat rumors found, and of the short list of potential ones (they wisely ignored the one they got twice about hill giants), they decided to check out the rumor that the castle north of town, that of the town's founder, was haunted.
This was an area I wasn't prepared for them to explore yet, I had thought the ghost would be scary to them--but they don't know how nasty BECM ghosts are, let alone spectres or wraiths. Luckily for me, though, this was a dungeon I'd semi-prepped for the original version of the Silverwood Campaign for 3E years ago, so I had the map from WotC's Map a Week feature, and the knowledge that I wanted lots of spider monsters.
I also wanted to use my new Caesar goblins so I threw in a goblin encounter, as well. And the ghost, who ended up having a quest for them--recover his sword, stolen by looters. Rolling on my Unique Magic Weapons tables (something I'm still working on but plan to release to the RPG internets in the future), I got Chrysaor, a short sword +3. Not sure if I want them running around with that for too long, if they manage to find it (still got to figure out where it might be hidden!), but they're now on the lookout for rumors about this sword.
The actual play went well. They solved problems by thinking about them logically (can't unlock the door? Try to bash it down. That doesn't work? Try to jimmy the lock with a weapon or tool), not just by resorting to game mechanics or things written on the character sheet. They took what rumors they had, researched a bit, and chose their own course for the evening. They defeated the monsters they encountered, found a bit of treasure, and everyone but the brand new Illusionist made 2nd level finally by the end of the night.
And I got to DM by the seat of my pants for the first time in over a decade. Man, it was fun! And I'm no longer sweating not having all the pieces filled in on my sandbox map yet.
Anyway, on Monday, I brought D&D to the Board Game Group meet-up. Josh was out, quarantined because of the flu (he didn't say if it was H1N1 or not, not that it really matters, I'd rather my son not get either form if possible...). Dave, who's really keen to get some Classic D&D in, and July (Mi Young) were busy. Steve and Alex were out as usual on Mondays, but they don't like Classic D&D anyway. Erica was too lazy to go out on a cool evening (she lives kinda far away anyway).
That left me, Lucy, Pat, and Pat's friend Chloe who was there for the first time. Chloe and I arrived first, which was good because it gave me a chance to show her the basics. She's played Diablo and some other CRPG/MMORPGs before, so she was familiar with the basic tropes. The only really funny newbie question she asked was, "So if I use my mirror, does it go away?"
She decided to try out my home brew Illusionist class. Yeah! Aside from a short-lived Half-Orc played by Alex before he decided he didn't want to play Classic, we hadn't had anyone playing any of my new classes. She took Change Self for her spell, but as the game played out, she didn't actually get to use it. She was kicking some ass with her thrown javelins, however! (My Illusionist, being a cross between M-U and Thief, can use thrown weapons and 1-handed melee weapons if they want to...).
Because Josh, who was sick, is really invested in exploring the Ruins of Castle Mistamere and rooting out the kobold menace there, everyone decided to strike out into the sandbox and see what else there was to see. I had my rumors handy, and let each PC (Pat was playing both his Fighter and Cleric, and Lucy has a Cleric, everyone still Level 1) get 3 rumors plus or minus their Cha adjustment.
There were a few repeat rumors found, and of the short list of potential ones (they wisely ignored the one they got twice about hill giants), they decided to check out the rumor that the castle north of town, that of the town's founder, was haunted.
This was an area I wasn't prepared for them to explore yet, I had thought the ghost would be scary to them--but they don't know how nasty BECM ghosts are, let alone spectres or wraiths. Luckily for me, though, this was a dungeon I'd semi-prepped for the original version of the Silverwood Campaign for 3E years ago, so I had the map from WotC's Map a Week feature, and the knowledge that I wanted lots of spider monsters.
I also wanted to use my new Caesar goblins so I threw in a goblin encounter, as well. And the ghost, who ended up having a quest for them--recover his sword, stolen by looters. Rolling on my Unique Magic Weapons tables (something I'm still working on but plan to release to the RPG internets in the future), I got Chrysaor, a short sword +3. Not sure if I want them running around with that for too long, if they manage to find it (still got to figure out where it might be hidden!), but they're now on the lookout for rumors about this sword.
The actual play went well. They solved problems by thinking about them logically (can't unlock the door? Try to bash it down. That doesn't work? Try to jimmy the lock with a weapon or tool), not just by resorting to game mechanics or things written on the character sheet. They took what rumors they had, researched a bit, and chose their own course for the evening. They defeated the monsters they encountered, found a bit of treasure, and everyone but the brand new Illusionist made 2nd level finally by the end of the night.
And I got to DM by the seat of my pants for the first time in over a decade. Man, it was fun! And I'm no longer sweating not having all the pieces filled in on my sandbox map yet.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Building Sandcastles
I'm working on the next bit of expansion for my sandbox setting.
With the way my current group operates, I realized that a mega-dungeon type campaign just isn't going to cut it. We meet for 3-4 hours once a week, but that's to play board games. We play RPGs maybe once a month at that. Our new 3E game will be on Saturdays, not during board game time, so we can still play Classic once a month or so. But with the time limit involved, and the limited English skills of a few players, having one big site that is the campaign won't work.
I've been working on a bunch of mini-dungeons, all of them around a home town (converted to Classic from an attempted sandbox I tried with 3.5 on RPOL many years ago). I figure that we can start sessions in town, gathering some rumors. Then they can decide which rumor to track down, and then we maybe do a bit of wilderness travel to get there, then play through a mini-dungeon. Seems like it should usually be doable in 3-4 hours.
One of the locations from the original sandbox is called Whitebeard Mountain. I never drew maps or anything for it, but it's a goblin lair. Well, I decided instead of the big multilevel lair I'd originally planned, I'd go with interconnected mini-dungeons. I've got an overall layout of how they interconnect (the side-view map), and the first two of the mini-dungeons drawn. I've also decided on what, more or less, will be in each section (kobolds, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, thouls, bugbears, a mixed area, then the 'boss' M-U or Cleric and underlings).
I think I may eventually write it up as an old school module, probably for Labyrinth Lord, or maybe generic. I just wonder if people would be interested, since it may end up very similar to the Caves of Chaos.
With the way my current group operates, I realized that a mega-dungeon type campaign just isn't going to cut it. We meet for 3-4 hours once a week, but that's to play board games. We play RPGs maybe once a month at that. Our new 3E game will be on Saturdays, not during board game time, so we can still play Classic once a month or so. But with the time limit involved, and the limited English skills of a few players, having one big site that is the campaign won't work.
I've been working on a bunch of mini-dungeons, all of them around a home town (converted to Classic from an attempted sandbox I tried with 3.5 on RPOL many years ago). I figure that we can start sessions in town, gathering some rumors. Then they can decide which rumor to track down, and then we maybe do a bit of wilderness travel to get there, then play through a mini-dungeon. Seems like it should usually be doable in 3-4 hours.
One of the locations from the original sandbox is called Whitebeard Mountain. I never drew maps or anything for it, but it's a goblin lair. Well, I decided instead of the big multilevel lair I'd originally planned, I'd go with interconnected mini-dungeons. I've got an overall layout of how they interconnect (the side-view map), and the first two of the mini-dungeons drawn. I've also decided on what, more or less, will be in each section (kobolds, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, thouls, bugbears, a mixed area, then the 'boss' M-U or Cleric and underlings).
I think I may eventually write it up as an old school module, probably for Labyrinth Lord, or maybe generic. I just wonder if people would be interested, since it may end up very similar to the Caves of Chaos.
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