By Noel Bagwell
November 28, 2009

I was surfing the web for something else entirely, and came across an article about Tabletop Gaming on Microsoft Surface. It was intriguing. More information on the project trying to bring tabletop gaming experiences – like Dungeons & Dragons – together with new technologies like Microsoft Surface, is available here.

Very interesting stuff. I love the idea of interactive surfaces for tabletop gaming.

I started this geomorph with the snaking corridor. I think I’ll go with the theme of “interesting hallways” for this week.

Geomorph 5a

The theme this week was caverns and the maps are a collection of natural caves, some with man-made (or perhaps inhuman) accessories – a strange ziggurat to explore, a few old statues, and a secret underground lake.

Geomorph Set 4

In a role that looks likely to eclipse fellow rocker Steven Adler’s appearance in slasher comedy ‘Dahmer vs. Gacy’ erstwhile Black Label Society/Ozzy axeman Zakk Wylde plays Uncle Jed to title charcter Bones White in late-80s set coming-of-age flick ‘`Bones.’

The movie,  the writing and directorial debut of Frank Pestarino, is described as a “heart-breaking…story [about] four teens growing up in 1989 blue-collar New York” and a bond that ties them together for life. Hmmm. Like…finding a dead body?!

swimming pools, movie stars....

And then there’s the cast. Wylde notwithstanding it consists of a bunch of still unknown but rapidly climbing actors such as 13-year old Jimmy Bennett (‘Bones White’), most recently — and geekily — seen as ‘Young James T. Kirk’ in ‘Star Trek’ and Toe Thompson in Robert Rodriguez’ ‘Shorts.’

Melissa Ordway (‘17 Again’) plays ‘Samantha Reeves.’ Jonna Walsh (‘Couple’s Retreat’) is Samantha’s little sis, ‘Kelly Reeves.’ Jesse James plays ‘Derrick Scott’ in this movie. At 20-years old  his resume already stretches back as far as ‘Walker, Texas Ranger,’ ‘As Good As It Gets,’ and ’Gods and Monsters,’ making stops in ”Blow’ and ‘The Butterfly Effect’ along the way. 

Perhaps most Geektastic of all, however, is the casting of Donnie Most, sorry Don Most, as ‘Mr. Reeves,’ the girls’ father. Most remains most famous for  his role as ‘Ralph Malph’ in ’Happy Days,’ but was also in early 80s series ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ the late 80s’ ‘Teen Wolf’ animated series, and had one- or two-off appearances in ‘Baywatch,’ ‘Star Trek: Voyager,’ and as the voice of ‘The White Rabbit’ in ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch.’

I’m not privvy to the plot at all, but the general premise and a cast consisting of a very unlikely musician crossover, a bunch of legit up-and-comers, and a Tarantino-style resurrection move, smell to me like either a classic-in-the-making or an unmitigated disaster.

Mr. Pestarino, it is now largely down to you.

Partially inspired by the pond in geomorph 4c, and partially by the latest Harry Potter movie, this geomorph features a small underground lake. But none of the caves entering the geomorph actually can see the main lake – just a shore of it. You have to go underwater to get to the central location and the island with the strange statue of a forgotten god.

Geomorph 4f

Dia 29 de novembro teremos o  RAF – Ribeirão Anime Fest, o maior evento de animes, mangá e cultura japonesa da região. E o RPG Club vai marcar presença com muito RPG e mais… O “Desafio dos Mestres”, vamos testar a criatividade dos mestres. Não Perca!

A while back I sketched out “SV1A Slave Pits of the Overlords,” a truly skeletal outline featuring an 8.5″ by 11″ graph paper map and a room key.  Having now stumbled across the “One Page Dungeon” format over at Sham’s Grog and Blog, I now realize that I could’ve put SV1A in a OPD format with little difficulty.

It also made me realize what a handy little paradigm that OPD is.  Or rather, can be with a little tweaking.  The biggest gripe out there is that the OPD doesn’t allow for pre-designed backstories, elaborate NPC’s, or complex encounters.  But when Michael Curtis released his megadungeon Stonehell Dungeon, he did so with what can really only be called a “Two Page Dungeon” layout.  He has the classic One Page with mini-map (a shrunk down grid of 30 by 30 squares), one-line-per-room key, wandering monster list, etc.  But it also has a second page (which actually comes first) that has a brief description of the area, some NPC’s, and one or two major encounter areas.  Four of these two-page sections make up a single level of the dungeon.  Stonehell has twelve levels, meaning that Curtis has basically created 48 OPD’s.

So, I’m inspired.  I’ve got a long holiday coming up and thought I’d curl up with a table of graph paper, a pencil, a ruler, some percentile dice and a copy of Central Casting: Dungeons.  Four 30×30 square maps sounds about right (each map would be 7″ on a side on a sheet of graph paper) but I like sub-levels, perhaps one OPD each.

This morning I sat down for about an hour or so and mapped out half of level 1A, and it looks good.  Sometimes maps from Central Casting can be random, but not in that good sort of way.  This one has a nice flow to it, though.  I’ll see how far I can get.

The central cavern here has three large platforms ten feet above the cavern floor, which winds between them. Nice place for an ambush or a fight with flying creatures (or rock-flinging stone giants).

Geomorph 4e

Hey guys, I’m back with yet another artsy post today (you may have noticed that the Unsorted Page was updated again a few days back with all the updates of recent times).

As per usual with my sketching arm, it seems to be most inspired shortly after I’ve completed a spree with reading novels. In this case, I recently finished Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire, which I thought was most intreguing. And I decided to sketch the other important NPC from my long running 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons campaign: Zakura Fafnir, the so called ‘White Devil’ of Renais, heir to the trade union great house of Fafnir, and Dark Warlock superior. Check her out:

As always, click it to get a bigger version.

As you might guess, she is done in a very similar style to the similar sketch I did of Alicia Silverscale (whom is also in the party)

As explained in an age old post, my setting, Retoria, has no elves, but instead has a few non-traditional races of my own devising: Auricans, Drakahn and Necrists.

Zakura is an Aurican, which is a race of half-Human, half-Yinn (spirit) borne from a magical cataclysm that occured in the final days of the Spirit Wars. They appear human, but are slim like Eladrin and yet also tall like Drakahn. All Auricans have shock-white hair but their eyes can be practically any colour of the spectrum. Their other distinguishing features are their star-shaped pupils and pale white skin which glows luminescently in moonlight and the presence of high magic. You can READ the race article I created for the campaign HERE, if you like. It goes into more detail about the biology and stats.

She showed up in the campaign somewhat later than Alicia did. Shortly after returning from the Western isles of Golgotha, the party re-entered the service of Gordon Rosalind, and after some diplomatic process found themselves in charge of the re-development of the island of Hassan, which is a natural fortress (and which they had cleared a necromancer out of previously…literally blowing the top off of one of the castle towers in the process -_-;)

Of course, to prevent dissent, this reconstruction had to be approved by each of the three great Houses of the mercantile islands of Renais: Rosalind, Veruna and Fafnir. Naturally, Gordon Rosalind was not an issue (an early part of the campaign involved them rescuing his young daughter whom was going to be used as a sacrifice and then also basically becoming privateers for Rosalind in his employ).

Christopher Veruna also wasn’t too hard since they had already gained the trust of his lover, Liliana Lunlun LuGunther.

Souten Fafnir, however was a much tougher nut to crack. It was only through some expert diplomacy he even conceded. Then, Zakura, his daughter and heir, was sent to find issues with the project. Amazingly, however, she gained grudging respect for the party after the Fighter managed to out-intimidate her (!) and then she was defeated in one-on-one combat by the Swordmage.

After this, she decided it would be amusing to follow the party, much to their chagrim. However, since she is perpetually surrounded by reverent flunkies and minions, at least they didn’t need any new crew for the ship for awhile. LOL. She seems to continually be chasing the Fighter of the party and either beating the crap out of him or showering him in arcane worms ever since the incident when he walked in on her in the hotsprings (LOL). She also seems to have a strange friend/foe/rival/enemy relationship with Alicia. Nevertheless, she also became rather useful when the party needed to get into Hell, being a Warlock and knowledgable about such things.

Her manner is haughty, arrogant and ill-tolerant of idiots; but quite willing and able to use all the tools at her disposal to achieve maximum impact in her own agenda. That obviously includes her natural beauty~ the 40 odd minions she has that get used as basically cannon fodder and footstools obviously have some reason for being that way, eh?

I guess it should also be noted that Warlocks of all varieties in my setting gain a ‘Fzvir’ (pronounced Veer), which is a large tattoo along their right arm as an expression of their contract (usually with an angel of a certain deity~ Infernal Contracts with Saulm, Star with Kinah, Fey with Corticarte and Dark contracts with Dahlia). It seems to be a pseudo-living thing, which writhes, snake-like, along the skin, when a Warlock casts a spell.

And, to match Alicia, I also made Zakura into a Wallpaper version:

Just in case you want an Arousing Aurican for you desktop (makes a set with the Desirable Drakahn, LOL).

Anyways, thats all for today. Stay tuned.

Hasan saw nothing above beyond the pit’s rim, but the jangling, noisy progress of a band of orcs could be confused only with the ways of goblins. In either case, Hasan wanted to be on level ground with them. “Up, up, up,” he urged. “Defend the rope, we have to get out of here!” He pushed those climbing the rope forward, trying to help as many up as he could.

Stephan hastily accepted the statuette back from Hasan. A nod of thanks was all he could afford before following the Prince’s advice, and was the first to scramble out of the pit.

He saw Miklos come up the rope behind him as he heard the approaching orcs’ armor clank as they started to maneuver through the ‘teeth’ at the entrance to the spider’s cave. “Blessed Halav,” Stephan blasphemed at the unpleasant thought of more battle. He genuflected the Halav sign telling himself to later repent to a greater degree for having muttered His name out of frustration.

Drawing his sword and hefting his shield into place, Stephan tried to assess the approach of the orcs. How close were they? He glanced around the chamber looking for advantages. See a pile of slag, he alighted on top, making sure he had good footing, so as to have a height advantage. He was, additionally, poised to the side of where the orcs would likely enter, giving him more upper hand.

Feldard agreed with Hasan’s assessment of the situation. Better to be fighting the orcs on level than to be trapped below. The dwarf impatiently waited his turn on the rope and clambered his way up as quick as his bulk would allow. It was by no means graceful or quiet but with the help of the others he managed to make it over the ledge of the pit before the orcs were on scene.

Miklos silently cursed. The orcs would be in the cavern before they were all up the rope. Feldard rose from the pit, and Miklos gestured toward the tunnel where the marching was coming from. He silently drifted to the right, flipped his book open and prepared a sleep spell. He gestured to the dwarf to take to the left.

Feldard moved away from the pit edge and pulled out his crossbow loading it as swiftly as possible. He’d likely only get one shot with it .. but the dwarf was quickly learning to take the advantage in a battle where ever and however it presented itself. A quick check assured him that his axe was easily at hand once the bolt was away. Feldard waited crossbow already in position.

Hernane sighed with frustration, she knew the orcs would be back. She hoped that they had not found Tekaryon and that he was safe. She quickly clambered up the rope after Feldard and crouched down beside him, pulling out her handaxe. The last encounter had unnerved her, what a chaotic situation however facing orcs in battle was something that she could make sense of. Let these orcs come on, she would give them cold Dwarf iron. She glanced at her companions, and noticed that everyone apart from a few minor scratches looked healthy enough. She could not help but admire the way that they all took up the best battle positions depending on their specific skills. Feldard has done well training this group she thought to herself.

Miklos suggested the center ground to Hernane with another gesture then continued with his study.

It was always difficult holding a read spell in his mind under pressure, still the battle at Sukiskyn had steeled his mettle, and he prepared as best he could awaiting the shadows of the orc guard before he released his incantation.

When the first of the party of orcs emerged from the stalactite/stalagmite bars, Miklos released his spell. He only caught three of them. It seemed the orc scouting party numbered eight, which left five orcs to contend with.

The humanoid warriors threw their spears, targeting the dwarves and mage. Stephan leapt from his ambush position, cutting down one of the them from behind before it could execute its spear throw. The orc party now numbered four.

Miklos cursed again as he saw that his spell was not as effective as he had intended. Then his eyes grew wide as he saw two spears headed his way. He awkwardly attempted to duck and roll away. One of the weapons pierced his calf muscle.

Feldard released his crossbow bolt. A miss. Damn! He glanced to his former betrothed. She too was struck by one of the spears, but it was only a scratch.

The orcs drew their swords. One turned to face Stephan and three charged toward the others.

Maruc hauled his bulk up the rope, the armour slowing him down. The sounds of battle spurred him on. With relief, he elbowed himself to the lip and watched the dwarves charge forth to meet the orcs. The priest grunted as he brought his knee over the edge and crawled heavily to his feet. He swung his shield from his back, loosened his flail and smiled as joined the fray.

Hasan was the last to scale the rope and he did so quickly and with fluid grace typical of an elf.

Because killing and collecting can be fun. That’s why thousands of people play those games.

A lot of the gripes about similarity between classes and general meh-ing of 4E are valid. It’s fun, but it’s a very particular kind of fun, and doesn’t really support any other kind.

Here’s what I’d like to see in my killing and collecting games: a system whereby the characters face greater and greater challenges, which they can overcome not just through increased character power, but primarily through increased player skill. Increased character power is not the only way a character can change, but it is a valid one. But maybe getting *stronger* is less interesting than getting *broader*, and having more options. Knowing how to best use those options only comes through PLAYER experience.

Also, finding a magic item should be 1) Rare, and 2) Freakin’ Awesome. It should not happen every level, or every game, or even every campaign. When I find a magic sword, it should be a major event. And that sword should be 1) A plot device, and 2) Freakin’ Awesome. A +1 vs Undead is not a bonus. I do not give a rip about a 5% or even a 10% bonus against one type of enemy. That’s not a magic item. I want the White Hammer of Aarda to VAPORIZE the undead. And I want Vrrgonath the Dark Lord of Kittens to sit up and take notice and realize he’s got a problem, and set about making my life difficult.

4E is essentially a WoW clone converted for tabletop play. And that’s fine. It does that well. And I’d rather sit around a table with minis and a pizza and my friends than in front of a screen knowing I pay 15$ a month for this experience.

But it’s definitely not the only game I’m gonna have fun playing.

Wow, that was… almost completely incoherent. Sorry ’bout that. There’s a point in there… somewhere. I think. =\

A terceira sessão na campanha Echoes of Heroes foi a 7 de Novembro. Pode encontrar os links para os relatos anteriores aqui.

Na última sessão:
Depois de deixar o Lord Major Bren ir’Gadden a salvo em Oakfields, o grupo separou-se, cada um prosseguindo com as suas vidas. Anos passados depois do Dia de Mourning, os quatro que salvaram o Lord Major das garras dos Dolgrims recebem um convite do Lord Major para um pequeno memorial do quarto aniversário do Dia do Mourning. Reunidos no local, Bran d’Deneith, VII, Sariel e Vril Dox testemunham o aparecimento de um monstro que começa a matar os convidados. O Lord Major pede o seu auxílio para descobrir a origem do monstro e o grupo desconfia do seu antigo assistente, Aric Blacktree.

As pistas levam-nos até à Lower City, onde rufias e bandidos se podem encontrar a cada esquina. O que mais irão encontrar?

A história até agora

Mikal tinha recebido o convite para o Memorial de Lord Bren ir’Gadden, mas atrasou-se, talvez devido a trânsito nos céus de Sharn. Quando lá chegou, halflings estavam a transportar corpos em discos mágicos flutuantes, tapados por lençóis, para fora da casa do Major. Este monitorizava a situação.

Bren ir’Gadden reconheceu Mikal, informou-o do sucedido e indicou que os Marshals tinham descido até à Lower City no rasto do monstro. O Major chamou um skycoach, cujo condutor era um humano amigável de bigode chamado Mário, para que Mikal pudesse reunir-se aos seus companheiros.

O skycoach seguiu pelo caminho indicado, aterrando num largo entre a base das torres. Mikal avistou os outros facilmente, com corpos de bandidos aos seus pés, e decidiram usar o skycoach para os voar para outro acesso da Lower City, já que receavam ter dado demasiado nas vistas com a morte dos bandidos que os tentaram assaltar. Mário, feliz por ajudar os Marshals assim o fez.

Desceram pelo lado oposto, tentando meter conversa com os locais, indicando que procuravam fantasmas (don’t ask) e casas com ruídos estranhos ou qualquer indicação da presença de Aric. As suas investigações levaram-nos até uma habitação na base da torre Dalannan, cujas janelas estavam barradas por longas traves de madeira. Ouvia-se um som “Hmm” vindo de dentro.

Convencidos que tinham encontrado o sítio certo, pararam por uma taberna resguardada, chamada Dragão Azul, onde o barman não era muito simpático e os tremoços pareciam ter qualidade duvidosa. Aproveitaram para planear a abordagem a esta situação. O plano era bater à porta e entrar rapidamente, evitando chamar muita atenção. Mas a execução foi ligeiramente diferente…

Eles bateram à porta, mas ninguém abriu. Então bateram de novo, e de novo, e de novo… Até que Vril, com a sua força “imensa” decide arrombar a porta, indo aterrar perto da ponta da short sword de um goblin.

A porta dava acesso a uma divisão, que seria uma espécie de sala de estar. Havia uma lareira e um sofá gasto. Dois goblins esperavam-nos atrás de uma esquina da parede. Os goblins dão o alerta e surgem dos corredores e portas que existiam para aquela divisão, um half-orc de arco esticado apontado aos nossos heróis, dois shifters de pêlo pintado de vermelho, identificados como sendo Red Jackals, um clã conhecido e violento da Lower City, e mais dois goblins, tão ou mais feios que os dois primeiros. Da luta que se seguiu apenas restaram os corpos dos seus adversários, podendo o grupo descansar e resgatar o desejado “loot”.

Enquanto recuperavam o seu fôlego, um ruidoso “crack”, forte como trovoada fez-se ouvir do andar acima, seguido de um tremer do chão e da torre em volta. Alguém gritava lá em cima “O que raio se está a passar?!”.

Por momentos o grupo pensou em esperar que os senhores lá de cima descessem para os encherem de porrada, no entanto, os tremores continuavam. Decidiram então, lenta e silenciosamente verificar o andar de cima. Após dois lances de escadas, avistaram uma estranha cena: uma criatura horrenda, sem olhos, que identificaram como sendo um Dolgaunt, inclinava-se agitadamente sobre uma bancada cheia de tubos, globos, gemas encrustadas, ossos secos e pedras que irradiavam energia arcana. De vez em quando, raios de energia purpura, eram libertados na direcção de dois corredores.

Dolgaunt: talvez já tenha sido humano?

Aproveitando a distracçaõ do monstro, Vril pode observar e perceber que o dispositivo estava a armazenar energia, de tal maneira forte, que poderia destruir toda a torre se fosse libertada de uma só vez. E a ideia de que nem o monstro percebia o que estava a acontecer não era propriamente tranquilizadora. Decidiram atacar, evitando os raios de energia, e outros atacantes que surgiram entretanto dos corredores. Vril, depois de analizar mais de perto, conseguiu reduzir a intensidade da energia libertada em cada um dos raios negros e purpura e explicou a Sariel como ela poderia, com o seu jeito de mãos, desactivar o dispositivo.

No fim da luta, a geringonça tinha sido totalmente parada (havia ao todo quatro dispositivos) que pareciam comunicar entre si e trocar raios arcanos. Capturaram também um doppelganger, que tentou disfarçar-se de mulher para lhes trocar as voltas, mas sem grande sucesso.

De tesouro debaixo do braço, doppelganger do outro, sairam da casa. Não tinham encontrado quaisquer vestígios ou pistas que os levassem ao assistente Aric Blacktree, tendo decido voltar para a casa do Major.

Coincidência ou não, o skycoach de Mário encontrava-se por ali a entregar um cliente. VII estava com vontade de voar de novo e a sua sugestão foi aceite pelos outros para irem de boleia de skyacoach. A carruagem aérea elevou-se nos ares, por entre as torres de Sharn e os olhos rápidos e perspicazes de Vril, Bran e VII detectaram um brilho azul estranho pelo canto do olho. Tratava-se de um goblin, que voava numa espécie de disco voador azul e lhes apontava o seu arco. Bran apenas disse “Eu mato!”.

O Jogo

Os Personagens em jogo foram:

- Sariel, Eladrin Bard
- VII, Warforged Warden
- Bran, Human Ranger
- Vril Dox, Human Artificer
- Mikal, Human Wizard

Logo no princípio da sessão, um esclarecimento de regras:

Immediate Action

Trigger: Each immediate action—usually a power—defines its specific trigger. The one type of immediate action that every combatant can take is a readied action.

Once per Round: You can take only one immediate action per round, either an immediate interrupt or an immediate reaction. If you take an immediate action, you can’t take another one until the start of your next turn, but you can’t take an immediate action on your own turn.

Interrupt: An immediate interrupt lets you jump in when a certain trigger condition arises, acting before the trigger resolves. If an interrupt invalidates a triggering action, that action is lost. For example, an enemy makes a melee attack against you, but you use a power that lets you shift away as an immediate interrupt. If your enemy can no longer reach you, the enemy’s attack action is lost.

Reaction: An immediate reaction lets you act in response to a trigger. The triggering action, event, or condition occurs and is completely resolved before you take your reaction, except that you can interrupt a creature’s movement. If a creature triggers your immediate reaction while moving (by coming into range, for example), you take your action before the creature finishes moving but after it has moved at least 1 square.

As Immediate Interrupts não estavam a ser usadas correctamente, sendo que eu estava assumir que interrompiam de todo a acção que fez trigger, mas, como diz a regra, a acção que faz trigger pode ser continuada, se ainda houver condições para tal. Explicada a regra, pode ser usada com a perícia de Bran e VII em combate com toda a segurança.

Nesta sessão tivemos finalmente os cinco jogadores presentes. Foi necessário novamente pôr o jogador que tinha falhado a sessão anterior rapidamente em jogo, algo que funcionou bastante bem e deu-me a oportunidade de introduzir o skycoach (táxi voador).

O segundo encontro, colocou os jogadores em cena com uma máquina de destruição (Eldritch Machine), que disparava aleatoriamente raios nos vários lados de um quadrado. Neste encontro, funcionava como uma espécie de armadilha que para ser desarmada requeria Thievery Checks, sendo que em caso de falha, o personagem corria o risco de levar dano. A execução não foi perfeita da minha parte mas creio que o sentido de urgência conseguiu passar para os jogadores.

A sessão terminou com a party reparar que vinha na sua direcção um goblin de arco na mão, preparado para os atacar, deixando o combate pendurado até à próxima semana. A técnica de deixar o grupo num cliffhanger é engraçada e gostei da reacção do grupo, no entanto, para quem corre aventuras pré-feitas, como está a ser o caso, nem sempre é possível ou fácil. Por outro lado, de vez em quando devemos dar a hipótese de terminar a sessão num ponto estável, para os jogadores terem oportunidade de efectuar coisas off-session (por exemplo, loot costumo deixar para vender entre sessões, para não demorarmos tempo com a minha fraca matemática).

Now I’m sure many questions are running through your head, some of which may include (1) What is this display? and (2) What enticed you to come within picture-taking distance of this display? Yes, well, I ask myself these questions too. If you can answer the first question, which I’m sure some of you talented souls can, kudos to you. I certainly cannot. In fact, such a towering display of gamer glory rather intimidates me, especially seeing how as I was (1) below ground / in a basement of some sorts (?) and (2) surrounded on 3 sides by shelves containing this sort of miscellany.

Here’s how I arrived at this picture: I had taken the 1 Bus down Mass Ave, gotten off at Pleasant Street in Central Square and was en route to film a flamenco dancer for a documentary short I am working on. As is usually the case with my poor timing, I am either too early or too late, and in this particular instance, I was too early. So in addition to ambling at the slowest pace possible while still appearing to be a functionally mobile/able human being, I decided that if I saw anything on the way (down Pleasant Street) that caught my eye, a short detour would be acceptable. Now as I began walking down Pleasant Street, I discovered that this kind of detour would probably be unlikely seeing as how there really is nothing on Pleasant Street except for small houses – and it was a dark rainy Saturday evening. But before the hustle and bustle of Mass Ave completely dissipated into pseudo-suburbia, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a store that had a sign in its window reading “BOOKS & GAMES.” This was around the corner from a 7-11 convenience store and it looked pretty normal from the outside. I didn’t really pay much attention to anything else except for the “BOOKS & GAMES” sign because I had automatically zoned in on one thing I was hoping to find in the store: Scrabble. A couple weeks ago, my suitemates and I had played Speed Scrabble in our Resident Tutors’ suite over a dinner of Home-baked Corn Flake Corn/Egg/Cheese Casserole and had decided that we were going to get our own Scrabble set for Sunday afternoons or other times when we wanted to procrastinate. Seeing the word “GAMES” in the storefront, I thought that this might be the perfect place to go because if you really think about it, where else (practically) would you go to find a Scrabble set?

I set foot inside the store enthusiastically, determined to leave with a Scrabble set and the triumph of knowing my suitemates would be pleased with my having obtained the set. Once inside, however, I knew immediately from the (1) emptiness of the place, (2) militant figurines lining the walls (3) duos and trios of twelve-year old boys that perhaps I was in for something more than just a Scrabble set. I scanned the room quickly and realized that everything I was seeing – mainly figurines and boxes wrapped in cellophane – was darker-hued than I imagined a game store would be. I saw a lot of ambers, camo greens, blacks, browns – colors I associate with Journey to the Center of the Earth, Indiana Jones, and mud monsters. There were no reds and yellows and pastel greens – you know, like Monopoly sets and Candyland and Chutes and Ladders type colors.

But I didn’t lose hope. I saw that at the end of this front room there were stairs to the left, so I went down. Mind you, I realized at this point I was the only female within the entire store after several boyish-looking men gave me odd looks – looks that screamed “Your presence in this store is weirding me out.”

So that brings me to the above display. Didn’t pause long enough to engage in my senses in what was actually available for purchase, but I did briefly take note of my surroundings:

In the adjacent room, which reminded me more of a cavern than a room, was a congregation of middle-aged men, mostly a little tubby, some wearing glasses, most wearing t-shirts, sitting around a shoddy wooden table thoroughly engrossed in whatever each was holding, which I presume was a hand of cards. I’m pretty sure they were playing Dungeon & Dragons, or Magic Cards or something, not that I am familiar with either, but in such a setting – I’ll be honest – I made quite a few assumptions which either speaks to my ignorance, my tendency to stereotype, or my complete and utter unfamiliarity with a particular kind of male. There were a few twelve-year old boys hanging around there too, peering over the shoulders of the older men, and it was an odd conglomerate of sorts. Thinking back to this scene and trying to conjure up the mental image of it in my head, one of the most striking elements of the room as I picture it is the composition of the walls: cold grey stones, lined with mortar – acting as a backdrop against rickety metal chairs and a few faded amber/rose-colored sofas. But at this point I begin to question my visual memory, which I am sure is so heavily constructed, in part by my incapacity to secure a mental image so strange and foreign, so colored, probably by my stereotypes and assumptions as to what exactly that social environment should look like, and so exaggerated, by my own desires to showcase just what an anomaly of a place I had stepped into.

Is this truly an anomaly? You tell me. I have no experience with these kinds of places!!!!!!! I really do not enjoy playing games, except for: Jeopardy (does this count? when I am screaming answers at the television set?), Scrabble, Botticelli, Crossword Puzzles – anything trivia/word-related; no violence or anime characters involved.

Conclusion: Our suite is still lacking a Scrabble set. If you have one you would like to donate, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

A ziggurat? In my caverns? What strange creatures used to worship here?

Geomorph 4d

Another birthday, so that means…

That’s right–treating myself to another OSR  free pdf printed and bound in a binder and plastic page pockets, in this case Swords & Wizardry by Matthew J. Finch, who also wrote “A Quick Primer to Old School Gaming.”  This goes into my collection along with Basic Fantasy RPG and Labyrinth Lord.

Review after the break

I don’t want to play a game that doesn’t have rogues.

read in a chat room I went to today

I was sent a copy of S&W by Matthew Finch, the author, after writing about what a frugal guy I am.  S&W comes from the “Old School Renaissance” movement that seems to believe that, the earlier the edition of D&D, the better.  I’m not wholly convinced that its true, but I’m gaining an appreciation of what the deconstructive nature of earlier editions has to offer.

The one most marked difference between S&W and say, LL, is that there is no thief (or rogue) class available.  S&W has “Fighting Men,” clerics, wizards, dwarfs and elves.  Halflings are also absent, but it wouldn’t be difficult to port those in for the odd person who wants to play one.

Like my friend said above, thieves are a popular class, perhaps one of the most popular classes out there, and its absence here can be attributed to two things, I think.  First, its absence in the earlier manifestations of D&D.  But second, because of Finch’s philosophy regarding roleplaying games.  It’s a philosophy that isn’t explicitly spelled out in S&W, but is alluded to in his “Quick Primer” essay.

Thieves are popular, in my opinion, because in “typical” D&D games, thieves do stuff.  Fighters hurt things and get hurt.  Clerics heal people (usually fighters).  Wizards are the wild card, usually with limited effectivenss.  But thieves steal.  They listen at doors.  They lie to people.  They are interesting people usually straddling lines of good and evil.  They’re Han Solo, or Mal Reynolds, or James Bond.  They’re cool and they are clever, and they tend to be played by clever people, like your average gamer.

But now every one has to be clever, because all the players need to be thinking about traps and wondering what’s behind the door and all that good stuff.  And S&W has flanking and backstabbing bonuses for everyone.  “But what about sneaking around?” I hear you ask?  Well, just put a modifer based on the armor the person is wearing against the surprised/not surprised roll.

I’m not sure I’m totally won over on no thieves at all.  They have become so iconic in the D&D ethos and all the fantasy tropes that have derived from it.  But it is an intriguing idea to kick around, especially when celebrating a birthday.

Now this is interesting.

It looks like a group working under the name of Nosfecatu Publishing has come up with a 4e campaign setting based on Philippine Mythology.  Titled Tikbalang: Guardians of Kalikasan, the supplement is now available over at DrivethruRPG.

The Buan Campaign Setting starts here! Explore Kalupaan with the Tikbalang, one of the most iconic creatures of Philippine Mythology. These feyborn creatures bear an affinity with the winds, and they protect the gateways leading to the fey realms with the subtlety of the breeze and the fury of the cyclone.

Tikbalang: Guardians of Kalikasan presents the players with a new character race – their motivations and culture, as well as the myths other races have regarding them.Game masters are likewise presented with three new tikbalang monsters, all at the lower paragon tier, as well as a skill challenge that can make for a memorable tikbalang encounter.

This 13-page product includes the following:

• A fully playable character race that favors the barbarian, paladin, and warlock classes
• Nine tikbalang feats
• Two racial paragon paths
• Three new monsters
• An optional skill challenge for dealing with the tikbalangs
• Two new rituals that are thematically linked with the tikbalang race

*While it is designed for the upcoming Buan Campaign Setting, this product can be adapted seamlessly to your D&D 4E Game.

It’s good to see that people are actually coming up with stuff from the Philippines.  It’s a small supplement at 13 pages, but all signs point towards it being only a part of a larger production, like a Buan Campaign Setting book.

I had a little more time today so I put more detail into this geomorph. A ladder, a small pond, multiple levels, and some debris makes this one stand out a bit.

Geomorph 4c

An intersection of major and minor caves deep underground. There’s even signs that someone once set up a small fort, home or guard post along the way here, but has long abandoned it.

Geomorph 4b

As a break from dungeons, this week I’m going to focus on cavern geomorphs. Not only useful for random dungeon generation, but also for extending the options for encounter locations when running the classic D series of modules.

Geomorph 4a

My friends and I were hanging out one night talking about the “good old days” and D&D came up, of course. We were discussing all the fun we had playing D&D during High School. October tends to be the time of year that I get an itch to start reading up on D&D. One of the guys said, “Hey, we should play some D&D.” And that was that. We started making characters, and I started to look for something to DM.

Rappan Athuk, by Necromancer Games, was the obvious choice. I’ve owned this set of modules since they came out. I bought them at Comics, Games, & Stuff in Maryland. The concept is great. And it’s written to be real D&D rather than the flashy stuff that’s out there right now.

So the first thing I did was come up with a way to “knock the dust off” in the first session. I really didn’t want to start killing characters right away. I decided to add a 1/2 level between levels 0 and 1. Level 0 is the cemetary and level 1 is roughly 30 feet below the cemetary. So I added level 1/2 at about 12-18 feet below the cemetary. I took the map from level 1, cut away some of the details, and simply used this as a map for the players to go by during play. Keep in mind that I added an entryway on the top of the Main Mausolem. This is in the form of a hatchway. This hatch is not in the original version of the module.

They managed to get about half way through Level 1/2 during the first session.

In case you want to use Level 1/2 in your version of Rappan Athuk, I have provided the “Introductory Characteristics” as per the usual with the module. (Refer to page 4 in Rappan Athuk 1.)

—

DUNGEON LEVEL  1/2

Difficulty Level: 3

Entrances: From hatchway on top of Main Mausoleum in area G-6.

Exits: Stairs to area G-5 Empty Mausoleum. Opens a secret door that is one-way.

Wandering Monsters: (Same as given in Dungeon Level 1 on page 9.)

Detections: Faint evil from the whole place, slightly more to the southeast.

Continuous Effects: The whole level is dusy and smells of mold. No effects.

Standard Features: (Same as in Dungeon Level 1 on page 9.)

—

This level is an abandoned level of the Temple. It was once used by soldiers who were in charge of keeping the cemetray under wraps. As the temple extended lower and lower, the soldiers adandoned the level and now reside fully on Level 9. The only remaining inhabitants of the level are ghosts, and monsters. The ghosts are the damned spirts of Orcus’s faithful, going about their duties hoping to be blessed by their dark god.

If a theme was needed for this week, it would be warrens & stairs (although only half of the maps have stairs, they are all pretty confused and nearly overlapping). I am particularly fond of the ones with stairs however, and like the multi-level feel.

Geomorph Set 3

Well, we had a small group gather to play the first session of THE DUNGEON OF GRAVES.

I modified the module somehwhat for the first session. I added an additional level to the Dungeon, allowing the players to get their feet wet before actually getting into the thick of things. They have a healthy paranoia of the adventure (…because after all .. there all going to die down there…) and this is amusing as a Dungeon Master.

The use of the “Open Maps” has been a success. The players being able to look at the same map I am and seeing the marked areas where events are going to happen not only moves along the play of the game but also allows players to visually gauge that they are making progress. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel as to say. This also solves a problem I had in my last attempt at Dungeons & Dragons because it gives the players clear goals.

Thokk has acted more as a protector than anything else thus far, and this is interesting. His combat output has not been as high as I thought it would be. He has been effective, but not as deadly as I thought. This isn’t a bad thing as I guess it means that things are fairly balanced in the game thus far. I bet that once the real onslaught of monsters starts rolling on, things will change somewhat. And once Thokk gets his grubby hands on some of the magical weapons that I have planned to provide for him throughout the Dungeon, things will get bloody.

Sovee has taken the role of a wanna-be Legolas well. She is ranged support, popping out a hail of arrows to cover the other characters. She has also done well in using Listen and Search to fill the role of our currently missing Rouge. I have a feeling that as the game progresses, Sovee will fill an excellent role as a Ranger … part Fighter and part Rouge.

Sara has been acting as a full on Fighter. The next Feat she needs to take is Bull Rush because she keeps doing this without the benefit of actually having the Feat to use. She has had a lot of bad luck so far. She missed her big jump and nearly fell off the roof of the mausoleum and she also nearly took a serious injury when she tripped the Ankle Breaker trap in the stairs. She hasn’t had a real opportunity to use her Cleave yet, but that will become important very soon.

We will be playing again sometime around December 4. We plan on playing for a couple weeks in succession, and then taking a week or so off between. That way things won’t be too hectic or boring.

Also, since players can come and go as they please, there are plenty of pre-made characters ready for play if someone decides that they want to play for one night and then not come the next few times. We’re doing this very casually.

Currently all the characters are 7th level.

Stay tuned.