Gilar the Dwarf

While driving home from work today I decided that I wanted to create a character for D&D. But not any of those newfangled editions... I wanted to go back to my roots:

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition.

It's only fitting, given our recent move. I grew up in the Philadelphia area playing AD&D 2nd Ed. in the 90's. Now that I'm back, I should be spending a little time with the game that turned me into an RPG fanatic. Ever since unpacking our books, I've been reading through some of my old Player's Handbook Rules Supplements - the old brown back splat books chock full of crazy optional rules, kits, and gonzo proficiencies. 

I should be clear that I'm not making this character for any particular game. Once I'm done, they'll probably just stay here on the blog gathering virtual dust. 

But you never know.

First a few rules for this character's generation:

• I'll be rolling 4d6 drop the lowest in order. No swapping stats, no seventh roll, just the six. Am I breaking my personal rule of 3d6 in order? Sure, however this is how we did things back in the 90's. This is how Ace of Base or Green Day would want me to roll. This is how we're doing it. 
• The character will be 3rd level (or 2/2 if multi-classed). We never, EVER started campaigns at 1st level. Actually that's not true, I started one campaign at 1st level one time. That was it, and it was pretty much just a campaign with my brother. 3rd level was where the fun started. 
• I'm going to use one of the Player's Handbook Rules Supplements. I'll definitely be taking a super-swank kit as well!
• I hope I can make a Dwarf!

Here goes:

Gilar* the Dwarf Thief (Pest Controller), Level 3

*Name generated with the Dwarf Name Generator Tables on page 36 of PHBR6

• Strength: 9, Dexterity: 14, Constitution: 15, Intelligence: 16, Wisdom: 10, Charisma: 12
• HP: 15 (3d6+3), AC: 8 (Leather Armor), THAC0 19
• Proficiencies:
• Weapon (2): Dagger, Short Bow
• Non-Weapon (8+Kit+Craft): Animal Lore (K), Pest Control (K), Brewing (C), Underground Survival, Fungi Recognition, Fire-Building, Local History, Alertness, Gaming, Rope Use, Tumbling 
• Languages (5): Common, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Thieves' Cant
• Thief Skills:
• 5% Pick Pockets
• 60% Open Locks
• 60% Find/Remove Traps
• 50% Move Silently
• 5% Hide in Shadows
• 15% Detect Noise
• 60% Climb Walls
• -5% Read Languages
• Age: 65, Height: 3'11", Weight: 151 lbs
• Equipment: Leather Armor, 3 Daggers, Short Bow, Thieves' Picks, Backpack, Quiver, Arrows (24), 50' Hemp Rope, Grappling Hook
• Treasure: 3 gp, 8 sp

Could I have made a Mage? Yeah, sure. But I didn't want to make a Mage, I wanted to be a Dwarf, and Dwarves can't be Mages. And that's how it was during the old days. Sometimes to play what you wanted to play something in particular, you had to go with a weird build. 

Shudderscape - A DCCRPG Reunion Game

The Monster Squad Returns

A little over four years ago I wrapped up an epic, three-and-a-half year long D&D 4th Edition campaign. The players included my brother Tom, two friends from middle-school and high-school (Randy and Chris, aka "Cone"), and Randy's friend Tym. When we started the campaign, a spinoff of a previous D&D 3.5 Ravenloft game, my brother wanted to give Planescape another try, however I was still interested in Ravenloft. 

So I decided to split the difference.

Our Ravenscape campaign began with four player characters getting summoned to the Domain of Dread to do the bidding of a foul summoner. Each player character had a monstrous twist:

• Obsidian, the Shifter Druid, played by Randy 
• Wonk Urhugar, the Dhampir Goliath Fighter, played by Tom 
• Guhlmorg, the Goblin Sorcerer, played by Tym 
• Gravesend, the Tiefling Bard, played by Cone 

We eventually started calling this foursome the Monster Squad. 

Meeting weekly, most of our initial adventures centered around evading vicious monster hunters, clandestinely slaying foul fiends, and befriending the more kindly monsters who just wanted to live in peace. As the campaign progressed we moved on to Planescape, with the PC's getting involved in Sigil faction politics, and operating a bar and brothel called the Trunk of Junk (formerly the Tenth Pit Alehouse). Epic tier brought interaction with deities, the inclusion of my friend Frank, who played the Lady of Pain as a Deva Ardent, the death of Strahd von Zarovich, and all the ramifications of dealing with Gravesend's daddy: Orcus. 

The campaign ended with the ringed city of Sigil crashing off the coast of Dementlieu, the Monster Squad's battle against the largest possible dragon while in their Elven Man-O-War Spelljamming ship (we really did mash up everything), and the final battle against Orcus himself. Sigil was returned to it's former place atop the spire, and the cosmology of Planescape returned to the original, AD&D 2nd Edition Wheel, rather than the weird 4th Edition version.

When the campaign was over, our crew disbanded and we went our separate ways. Over the years I've had the chance to play with a couple of these guys during one-shots and mini-campaigns, but never as a group. 

So imagine my glee when I suckered the entire crew of Monster Squad alumni back to the virtual tabletop again last night! With a stack of Dungeon Crawl Classics swag, and a copy of Sour Spring Hollow by +Michael Curtis, I was ready to reintroduce this crew to glory, riches, and certain death.

Reunion World Tour!

As I concocted the plan to get my Ravenscape players back to the table, I figured that the most exciting way to add spark to what could end up being a one-shot,would be to include backstory from our last campaign. Since the best way to truly experience the visceral sensations of Dungeon Crawl Classics for the first time is through the 0-level funnel concept, I needed to somehow connect those epic, 30th level 4E characters to a bunch of ragtag, know-nothing, commoners. 

First I advanced the story five-hundred years from our previous campaign. Sigil now resembles a more Victorian society, while the Outlands surrounding the great spire, as well as the planes themselves, have a bit of a "Wild West" feel. I pulled this idea from way back when I wanted to blend Planescape and Deadlands for a Plane Justice concept. The Trunk of Junk Bar/Brothel/Wedding Chapel was still owned by two members of the original Monster Squad, and the famous establishment had an entire cast of interesting employees working hard to keep the joint looking fine and fit. 

For our 0-level funnel our PC's would be those employees. 

Shudderscape

Now that I had a jumping-off point, I needed an adventure. 

I've had my eyes on The Chained Coffin for quite some time, ever since the boxed set arrived as part of my Kickstarter reward for the DCCRPG 4th printing. I love the Appalachian feel of the Shudder Mountains, and the touches of American folklore and mythology. My maternal grandmother was from West Virginia, and we used to vacation as a family in Hungry Mother State Park near Marion, Virginia almost every year as kids. The Appalachian Mountains are connected to my own personal history, so the images and scenes contained within this beautiful box really strike home.  

Not content with just the main box, and even though it could take me months, if not years to play through all the added content that comes with the main Chained Coffin box and the two additional modules (Chained Coffin DLC), I had to have it all... all things Shudder Mountains! 

But where to place the Shudder Mountains in the Planescape cosmology... 

Looking at one of the Planescape maps, I saw some mountains in the Outlands that rested right up along the edge of the Great Spire. What a perfect image! Beautiful, rolling, lush hills sidling right up next to an infinitely tall spire. The starter adventure, Sour Spring Hollow, even opens with a teleportation to a haunted farm, so there was very little customization necessary to get this module to fit a Planescape campaign...

... or should I say Shudderscape?

I should note that immediately after our adventure last night several of the players asked about grabbing their own weird dice. With their surviving characters advancing to 1st level we are planning a follow-up session next month, perhaps exploring another section of these twisted hills. But whatever we do, and whatever we play, I'll be content knowing that the band is back together. 

Dramatis Personae 

The Employees of the Trunk of Junk:

• Cone's 0-levels 
• Ren "Choppy" Swilligen the Woodcutter 
• Jer "Dirtbane" Kane the Gravedigger 
• Tarris "Goes to Blowin" Midtower the Elven Glassblower 
• Gran "Too Tan" Topknot the Halfling Dyer 
• Randy's 0-levels 
• Ronda Wolf the Halfling Dyer 
• Slim Whitman the Outlaw 
• Ryuh Haw the Herder 
• Buz Beevis the Herder 
• Tink the Robot Merchant 
• Tom's 0-levels 
• Cockswain McCrane the Halfing Mariner 
• Puck Pace the Costermonger 
• Bilbo Swaggins the Confidence Artist 
• Tutone Malone the Guild Begger 
• Tym's 0-levels 
• Feddi the Elven Glassblower 
• Grendy the Herbalist 
• Nemo the Minstrel 
• Adeelsa the Halfling Trader 

Sour Spring Hollow

Sixteen employees are hard at work in the infamous "Trunk of Junk" Bar/Brothel/Wedding Chapel in the great planar city of Sigil. A local spirit-delivery-bauriar (ram-centaur) named Sanderson arrives with a new tasty drink called "Sour Springs Spirits." The terrible beverage knocks all the tasters out, and plane-shifts them to a part of the Outlands at the base of the Great Spire known as the Shudder Mountains.

The employees quickly realize that they are on haunted ground, as they are beset upon by cackling and crowing spirits that can turn blood to dust, and flesh to husk. The Sigilian employees figure out some relatively interesting ways to divert some of the spirits (prayers to Smeesh - God of Lint and Cheese, and really bad jokes), but ultimately suffer terrible losses as the entities are not affected by regular weapons. The wayward tavern-workers discover than anyone killed by the spirits is transformed into a corn-husk doll. 

The spirits eventually leave, but return time and time again, each time claiming more lives.

A well to the east reveals little but a shambling mound that continues to moan the word "Hobb."

Four buildings stand on the haunted ground. One by one the players search, finding useful gear and equipment. A broken stick of hawthorn seems particularly interesting, and it proves to be a useful weapon against the spirits... especially when combined with a hammer-head. There's also a building with a magic, flapping book full of spells. The last building has a child's drawings depicting a woman with a holy symbol coming to some houses, getting her walking stick broken, and her body crucified.

One of the buildings turns out to be a Gardinel, a living building that can digest visitors (claiming two employees), but otherwise these investigations lead to some great loot. 

Grendy tries burying one of the dolls in the nearby graveyard but disturbs three Earth Hounds that hill him. Ronda Wolf lures the Earth Hounds to the Gardinel with a crushed hamster, but the living house uses its great tongue to lash out and drag the halfling inside. Fortunate they hounds follow. 

Eventually the party discovers the body of a priest of the Sovereign crucified on a scarecrow at the top of the corn field. Investigating the corpse, the employees notice that it is reaching out to the sky. They try a whole mess of ideas to interact with the corpse. They put some stuff in the corpse's hands. Nothing. Nemo calls upon the Sovereign for guidance, and is zapped by lightning, inducted into the priesthood instantly.

But that doesn't lift the curse.

Since they did not explore the well, the party goes back down and communicates with the bushy construct. They trade the mound a piece of hawthorn for an abandoned holy symbol of the Sovereign. Back to the scarecrow. 

Once back at the scarecrow and priestess' body, the party places the holy symbol in the dead's outstretched hand. There is a great thunder clap in the sky, and a ring of positive energy flows over the farm, destroying the remaining spirits. A few cackling spirits attempt a final attack on the party of Trunk of Junk employees, but they are successfully repelled.

Adventure Notes

• Sour Spring Hollow is a piece of cake to place, and offers a quick but smart adventure for a starting group of 0-level characters.  We made it through the adventure in about three hours of total gameplay.

• At the beginning of our session I gave all of the players a bit of backstory as to what had happened to their previous D&D 4th Edition characters:
• Gravesend ascended to godhood at the end of our last campaign, and now rules over the land of the dead as the Raven King.  His son Kell, daughter of a drow general who led a demon army, is now a prominent politician and businessperson in Sigil.  He's also kind of a dick.  
• Obsidian the Shifter Druid is still alive, still an owner of the Trunk of Junk, but has been missing for quite some time (... hmmm... future quest?)
• Guhlmorg the Goblin Sorcerer, known by many as the Chronomancer, spent so much time bending and warping time that he exists a few moments ahead of existence.  This means that when he's bartending you can only remember him if you are looking right at him (obligatory Doctor Who reference.)
• Wonk Urhugar the Dhampir Goliath Fighter died centuries ago, but his great-great-great grandson Krad Urhugar acts as bar manager for the Trunk of Junk.

• To showcase the wild and crazy, do-it-yourself feel of DCCRPG, I started bending the rules early.  I asked each player to talk about backstory from the previous campaign.  Depending on the stories they told, and how they were displayed as art around the walls of the Bar/Brothel/Wedding Chapel, I dished out some bonuses to attributes and Luck.  One PC, Randy's character Slim Whitman, died during this sequence after drinking something called Guhlmorg's Prolapse in Time.  He should've just had a beer.  

• In the original adventure the Deadfall in the well doesn't really say anything, but I thought that moaning "Hobb" like the name "Hodor" would come off as super creepy.   It also gave me the opportunity to do a creepy voice in the mic repeatedly, as if doing the bird calls prior to the Hobb Spirit arrivals wasn't creepy enough.

• Cthulhu's Suspenders of Swag:  I needed to throw a magic item into the game, and so many of the descriptions of cabin contents included clothing.  I made one of the pieces of clothing be a set of overalls with way too many suspenders.  Wearing these grant +5 to Personality rolls when talking with someone else wearing suspenders. 

Quotes?

"I'm having trouble with the mathematics." - It's been a long time since Randy's rolled dice.

"This is like the hardest choose your own adventure book I've ever played." - Cone wasn't far from the truth.

"You said when someone dies, you can get their stuff, but that doesn't count when they get eaten by a house... right?" - Randy longed for all the sweet swag that Tink the Robot Merchant was carrying.

The Crematorium 

• Jer "Dirtbane" Kane the Gravedigger - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Tarris "Goes to Blowin" Midtower the Elven Glassblower - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Gran "Too Tan" Topknot the Halfling Dyer - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Ronda Wolf the Halfling Dyer - Grabbed by the Gardinel (living house) 
• Slim Whitman the Outlaw - Violent intestinal prolapse after drinking the "Prolapse in Time" beverage at the bar 
• Ryuh Haw the Herder - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Tink the Robot Merchant - Crushed by the Gardinel's stomach 
• Cockswain McCrane the Halfing Mariner - Digested in the Gardinel 
• Puck Pace the Costermonger - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Bilbo Swaggins the Confidence Artist - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Feddi the Elven Glassblower - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom 
• Grendy the Herbalist - Arm torn off by Earth Hound while digging in a grave 
• Adeelsa the Halfling Trader - Turned to a husk by a Hobb Phantom

My Favorite Green Books

Early one Christmas morning in the 1990's, I stumbled out of bed and into the living room of my old house in Levittown, Pennsylvania.  I think I was around fifteen years old, but can't be certain now.  Although it had been years since I believed in Santa Claus, my parents never gave up the tradition of leaving presents for both me and my brother under the Christmas Tree.  Being the good, geek-inspiring parents that they were, typically I find a gaming book or two waiting for me amidst a sea of classic computer games like Privateer or Master of Orion 2.  

This Christmas in particular I discovered a book that I didn't even know existed.  It was an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition softcover book, very similar to my Complete Book of Elves or Thief's Handbook.  But instead of the brown cover, this book was green, with bright gold lettering.  

"The Glory of Rome - Campaign Sourcebook."

What a perfect gaming gift!  My mom and dad knew that I was a fan of Roman history, ever since watching the original Spartacus with Kirk Douglas.  Opening this intriguing guide I quickly learned how to run complete AD&D 2nd Ed. sessions in the ancient Roman Republic, and how to integrate some classical mythology into my existing campaign.  This was where I first learned about the "pilum", the devastating Roman heavy javelin, and that "garum" was a funky fish sauce made from rotten guts.  From the chronology of the Roman world to detailed accounts of Gladiatorial combat, The Glory of Rome had everything that a multi-classed History Fan/Tabletop Gamer could desire!

The Glory of Rome sparked a love for historical role-playing, that has stuck with me, and certainly blossomed as I've grown older.  I continued collecting these beautiful green gems, and each would play a significant role in developing my craft as a game master.

Age of Heroes, a sourcebook covering Ancient Greece, showed up in my house during the last days of high school.  I used it briefly during a Planescape campaign, and then later during a full-fledged, home-brewed, Greco-Roman inspired college campaign.  Once I acquired the Celts Campaign Sourcebook, my collection covered the entire ancient Mediterranean.  Although Age of Heroes tends to spend a lot of time on the shelf (I prefer the grittier realities of Rome to the flamboyant gods and goddesses of Greek mythology), Celts showed up in a long running D&D 3rd Edition campaign as inspiration.  

Interested in exploring Europe's Dark Ages, I discovered Charlemagne's Paladins while in college as well.  I used the themes of Carolingian Western Europe for a very successful Ravenloft campaign one summer.  To this day, I use Charlemagne's Paladins alongside the Vikings Campaign Sourcebook when I want to give my Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG sessions a historical twist.  

A Mighty Fortress arrived late on my bookshelf, at the tail end of AD&D 2nd Edition and the beginning of D&D 3E.  This dark and gritty book covers the battles of the Thirty Years War, and is brought completely to life by the interior art.  

Here's a quote from the credits that shows the authentic direction of A Mighty Fortress:

"All of the interior illos in this book are the work of contemporary artists and illustrators, as noted."

That's right!  Rembrandt is the interior artist for this Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook!  

The only green AD&D 2nd Edition Historical Reference sourcebook I haven't really used that much is The Crusades.  Not that there is anything wrong with the book, it was an interesting read and would match up very well with a campaign mirroring the first Assassins Creed game.  I've just never had the desire to run a game during that period of history...

... but to complete my collection I had to have the book!

*     *     *

Next time you are in a used game store, and you happen to spot one of these green-bound historical references, pay the $10 and walk away with a winner.  Who knows, maybe you will learn a thing or two!

If, like me, you are a fan of these historical references, share your experiences.  How have you used these books at your table?  Do you run entire campaigns during these time periods, or do you pilfer the parts that work best?

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

All the players signed our last foe

When Great Gaming Groups Disband

I am sure there are some gaming groups who have been together for decades, but I’d reckon for most of us, we’ve changed “parties” at least a time or two as we’ve grown in our hobby.  I played Dungeons & Dragons for three and a half years (2009 - 2012) with a creative, sharp-witted, tremendously outgoing group of close friends.  But at the end of our epic campaign, the group split up, most of the players going their separate ways.  As a thirty-something, happily married man, this was the closest to a break-up that I have ever felt. 

Let’s rewind a bit…

… and be warned, this gets a little sentimental...

My weekly game setup

Ravenscape

Six years ago I started my first online role-playing group with some friends from Levittown, Pennsylvania, where I grew up.  I was still relatively new to social media, having just joined Facebook a few months earlier, and it didn’t take long for me to connect with people from my high school years.   Since most of us were gaming-geeks, we shared stories of our amazing quests and campaigns from the old days, and lamented about gaming as an adult.  It was the tail-end of the 3.5 Edition era of Dungeons & Dragons, and I was starting to burn out, not just on the d20 system, but on the campaigns I had been running.  

I needed a fresh start, with some creative players, and new ideas.  It would be great to get back together with my old friends, and just play a few games together.   Before I even had a method to play, I was out recruiting on Facebook and managed to dig up a terrific ensemble.  To bridge the distance between the players and myself I started plotting a way to game online.  Over the years I had tried some chatroom RPG’s, which could be fun for the occasional evening, but was slow and ponderous.  There had to be a faster and more efficient way of gaming online.  

Organizing the players on Facebook, I soon turned to Yahoo Groups and created “Qualanthorus’ Keep”, the name derived from an old NPC in a AD&D 2^nd Edition campaign.  I would use the Yahoo Group to organize play sessions and send group messages.  To talk to everyone, we used a newfangled program called “Skype”.  Since we started off with D&D 3.5 and eventually transitioned into 4^th Edition, we would need a map-grid and miniatures.  Maptool would eventually become our virtual table of choice, since it was easy to create pogs, and I could drag .jpg maps directly onto the screen.  

Our goal was to play at least once or twice per month, but after only a few sessions we all realized that we had found something special.  At the time I was drowning in homework, since I was going back to school for my MBA.  I was also trying to balance a pair of campaigns, the online game, and an offline campaign, with my personal life.  It was becoming too much work.  Given the ease of play, and the quality of our games, I chose to continue the online game, and backed away from the in-person group.  

We called the campaign “Ravenscape”, and it was a hybrid Ravenloft/Planescape setting, where the players started off as “monster themed” characters (Goliath, Tiefling, Goblin, and Shifter) in the xenophobic Demiplane of Dread.  During the early sessions the party spent considerable time having to ally itself with traditionally evil creatures, while fleeing monster-hunters and angry villagers.  Over time the campaign shifted to the planes, as we introduced a massive story-arc:  the great demon Orcus wanted to usurp the Raven Queen, goddess of death.  Some of the highlights of this “kitchen sink” campaign concept included the following:

• The tiefling bard character found out that he was the son of Orcus
• The party’s shifter escaped slavery-by-vampires on a ship called the “Downeaster Alexa”, only to return and rescue all of shifter-kind as a savior.
• The goblin sorcerer character became a chronomancer (time-mage)
• Time travel became a critical element to the campaign, and the party eventually realized that a “Tome” they had been following as an in-game “guidebook” was actually written by a party member… from the future.
• Strahd von Zarovich acted as a benefactor, and friend for most of the campaign until he killed off a beloved NPC.  
• When we added a new player, at level 21, we let him be the actual “Lady of Pain”, built as a Deva Ardent.
• The party at 24^th level came back to Barovia and killed Strahd (challenge rating 18, if I recall) by surrounding him and pummeling him mercilessly in only a few rounds.    
• The party killed the Tarrasque
• The tiefling’s drow lover became pregnant, which meant Orcus was going to be a grandpa.
• At the very end of the campaign, after introducing the Astral Sea, I threw Spelljammer stuff into the mix.

In other words, we did just about everything you could possibly do in a D&D campaign, as the party went all the way from 1^st to 30^th level.  

This dragon's nickname should be "Kitchen Sink"

The Dark Road Ahead

But in the summer of 2012, as the campaign started to approach its epic conclusion, I started feeling things slip.  Some of the players had been talking about taking a break after Ravenscape, and interest in another campaign seemed lukewarm at best.  Instead of recognizing this change for what it was, “player burnout”,  I desperately tried to hold onto the group.  I constantly bombarded the players with new ideas about future campaigns.  I felt that I just needed the proper spark to keep everyone interested, and once I found it, we would be good to go for another one-hundred sessions!  Some of the ideas I hatched were great, others were just desperate:

• I bought Shadowrun 4^th Edition and ran a demo of the game, even though there was no interest in sci-fi gaming from two of the players.
• I tinkered with an Alternity-based post-apocalyptic campaign.
• After picking up Savage Worlds in May of 2012, I offered to run a Steampunk spinoff of our Ravenscape campaign, blending Deadlands into the mix, and calling it “Plane Justice”.
• I offered to return to a classic fantasy setting, like Dragonlance.

There was some interest from a couple of the players in returning to 2^nd Edition AD&D with Dragonlance, and I pounced on the idea.  At the very last Ravenscape session, which was held at our “tiefling bard’s” house near Philadelphia for a two night “sleepover”, the party defeated Orcus, saved the multiverse, and we celebrated only briefly before trying to build 2^nd Edition AD&D characters.  In hindsight, we should’ve taken some serious time off, at least a few weeks, but I wouldn’t yield.  I felt that the only way to keep the game alive was to push it forward.  Didn’t work.  

Little did I know that when Orcus died, so did the magic of this group.

Some of the players seemed keen on 2^nd Edition nostalgia, while others still preferred the modern rules of 4^th Edition.  After an unproductive character creation session, I threw together a last ditched attempt to come to a middle ground:  4^th Edition Dragonlance.  This only aggravated the players interested in returning to 2^nd Edition.  I tinkered around, offering to try Pathfinder or D&D Next, but it was too late.  

The players of Qualanthorus’ Keep, a.k.a. the “Monster Squad”, broke up.  

As a somewhat obsessive game-master I was devastated.  After playing every week, sometimes twice, online for three and a half years with that incredible crew of players, losing the game left me feeling very empty.  I second-guessed myself constantly on how I concluded the campaign, and secretly hoped that the group just needed a short break before getting back together.  When that didn’t happen, I resigned myself to starting something new, but I didn’t want it to be Dungeons & Dragons.

My wife baked a special cake for our very last Ravenscape adventure

New Beginnings 

Ultimately the story has a happy ending.  I started playing Savage Worlds, but found myself not having enough players, so I founded a game club where we also started playing Numenera, and then I was introduced to many of you who read this blog.  Along the way I got my wife and kids to start gaming too… bonus points!  

One of the special aspects of being a game master is that you get to put your heart and soul into your ideas, your writing, and your play sessions.  You are opening your imagination to the players, and allowing them to go on a “guided romp” that is unique and special.  Truly great role-playing experiences leave you feeling warm, excited, and eager for the next encounter.  It is easy to see why so many of us who game-master, continue to take on the role.  But sharing our imagination also leaves us vulnerable when our ideas fall flat, or don’t create that spark with the players.  It’s natural to feel sadness when you end a campaign, leave a group, or lose a player, especially when things are going well.  

In hindsight, I think my fears and anxiety over our online group's end were based on a misconception that, as I got older, it would be harder and harder to find new people and share in our collective imagination.  I saw Qualanthorus’ Keep’s ending as a finale rather than just a simple transition.

I’m so very glad that I was wrong.  

Your Thoughts?

Have you had a similar “break up” of a special gaming group, or collection of players?  Maybe you moved away, leaving old friends behind?  Perhaps you still want to play Pathfinder but the rest of your party is jumping into 5^th Edition?  

Let us know.  Share your story, and let’s celebrate those special memories.  We’d love to hear about it!

PS… Tom, Frank, Randy, Tym, and Cone, if you do happen to read this I just want to say “thank you”.  Thank you for the best campaign I’ve ever had the pleasure of running.  You guys were phenomenal!

Adventures in the East Mark - Tower of the Swamp - Session 2

First Time Dungeon Delvers

Back in November, I assembled some of the Norwin Game Knights for an exciting session of XD Publishing's Adventures in the East Mark.  The game was a blast, and I was really excited to showcase a great OSR title in our group.  Unfortunately, we could only get through the first half of Tower of the Swamp, one of the adventures provided in the Basic Rule Set.  So I brought the game to a thrilling conclusion, and just took comfort in a great session.

Imagine my delight when I found out that some of the players wanted to regroup to finish the adventure!  It took a few months to get back to the table, between the holidays and the flu.  Finally, last night some of the original players, as well as a couple new folks, gathered to slay the evil forces plaguing the Tower's dungeons.  

Dramatis Personae

Cheryl was back in action as Landiel "The Doe of Boceret", the party's Elf leader.

Ed returned to the table as Maya the Robledan Warrior.

Not wanting to be left out of the action, Michelle grabbed Kaela the Mage's character sheet, ready to hurl some spells. 

Craig, who played Adventures in the East Mark with us back at Gen Con 2014, chose the brave Paladin, Saddin Konnin, for this dungeon delve.  

Eric, a first-time RPG player, picked Khedron Dahl, a mace-wielding Cleric ready to purge the Tower of the Swamp of all evil.    

Entering the dungeon, Landiel scouts ahead with her elvish vision

Adventure Summary

With the Tower of the Swamp's upper level cleared of evil, Landiel spoke to her adventuring party and determined who would explore the dreaded passages below.  Maya, Saddin, and Kaela zealously gathered their weapons and gear, while the party's Cleric, Khedron Dahl,  grabbed his shield and followed his guard dog, Skinner.  The steps heading down into the crypts below were ancient, and in poor repair.  Saddin slung his shield and lit a torch for the group's humans, while Landiel carefully scouted ahead for threats with the aid of her infravision.

For the first half-hour or so the party didn't come across any significant threats.  The hallways throughout the dungeon may have been cold, but lit torches placed throughout the complex proved that someone, or something, had taken up residence.  A storeroom yielded proof that the Tower's inhabitants were in fact the culprits in local raids.  

There was also the drumming.

As the party moved deeper into the dungeon corridors, there was a soft, dull, drumming echoing throughout the halls.  Down the main corridor, the group saw several doors, and Landiel's sharp eyesight revealed a secret door on the western wall.  Choosing the first doorway to the east, Landiel moved forward and opened the door.  The source of the drumming was far more terrible than anyone could imagine.  Inside the chamber, in the middle of sparse furniture, three priests of the demon Orcus chanted fell secrets while pounding on a drum made out of hairy, human flesh.  

Since she was standing in the middle of the door, the three priests charged Landiel, slashing and stabbing with wicked daggers.  Landiel backed away, clutching a vicious wound, while Maya, Saddin, and Khedron filled the gap, blocking the priests from escaping.  Swords slashed and maces smashed, and one by one the evil minions of Orcus fell dead.  Maya felt pretty good about her prowess, and was grinning ear to ear as she valiantly destroyed the forces of darkness…

… and then the strong Robledan Warrior, realized that there was a crossbow bolt sticking out of her chest!  

Shocked by the possible treachery, Maya turned around, eyes wincing in agony.  Instead of a villain, the warrior only saw Landiel holding a hand over her mouth and shaking her head.  Apparently the elf was trying to contribute to combat by firing her crossbow into melee, but missed.  

Oops.

When the last evil priest was slain, the party moved into the chamber and started digging around.  Some dirty shoes and socks, ritual knives, and a silver dagger were among the riches recovered.  Maya stuck the silver dagger in her backpack, and the team reentered the main corridor.  Landiel approached the secret door to the west, and took a look through a small gap in the wall.  Inside was a terrible torture chamber, where a yellow robed high priest of Orcus was performing some kind of sick rite involving blood, snakes, and all kinds of random, fantastic awfulness.  

The high priest was alone, save for his snake participants, so the party decided to perform a surprise attack.  Looking at each other, the strongest, deadliest, and most capable party-member was chosen for the job.

"Skin 'em!" shouted Khedron to his trained guard dog Skinner.  

The dog sprung into action, and charged the high priest who was clearly taken aback. Despite Skinner's verve, the cultist managed to fend off the attack using his magic hammer.  The high priest then commanded his snakes to attack Skinner, and started preparing a spell.  The party realized that the dog was outmatched, so Maya, Landiel, Saddin, and Kaela entered the room with weapons drawn and spells ready.  

Even though the heroes outnumbered the high priest five-to-one, they were having a very difficult time harming the demon-worshiper.  Crossbow bolts and sling stones simply missed the high priest.  Even when Maya engaged in hand to hand combat, her bastard sword wasn't drawing blood.  Keep in mind that Saddin was nowhere to be found in this combat.  When the paladin charged the high priest, he was overcome with fear and fled the room screaming.  Kaela was trying to deal with the snakes during all this mess, but when she lobbed a torch at the the pile of venomous reptiles, she missed.

[GM's note: this was the absolute worst rolling I have seen in about a decade.  The party needed either a 15 or higher to hit the priest's AC 2, so about 25% of the attacks should have been getting through.  After twelve consecutive attacks, only one hit.  That's an 8.33% success rate.  Just terrible]

So... yeah… the battle was going very poorly…

But then Landiel started turning the tide with a well placed Magic Missile spell.  The next hit would come from Khedron, who smashed through the high priest's armor with his mace, completely rattling the demon-worshipper.  The high priest started to flee, but not before Khedron caught him again with some well-placed cudgeling.  The high priest fell dead!  After Kaela successfully dispersed the tiny snakes with the torch, the team believed that enough evil had been vanquished for the day.  Victorious yet tired, Landiel decided that there had been enough battle for the day, and led the team out of the dungeon.  

Quotes

Cheryl - "I have elvish vision."
Ed - "You can only see elves?"

"It's a non-echoing, heavy dripping." - Jim the GM describes dripping in exquisite detail.  

"I have my 'Cheeseburger of Battle', that should give me a +10!"  - Cheryl pleads with the GM for an unusual bonus.  

"I have totally changed my opinion.  Skinner leads the party." - Ed found out that Khedron's dog has 2 more hit points than the party's Warrior.  

"We would be defeated by Cookie Monster at this point." - Ed was totally disgusted with the group's rolling.  

Go get started!

Another exciting adventure in the East Mark, but if this little tidbit of OSR goodness seemed like fun, you have to check out the game!  

The PDF can be found on DrivethruRPG.com for under $10.  Just want to give it a look?  The Quick Start rules are FREE!

If you want a print copy it's available as a boxed set directly from XD Publishing.

Jen's Pro Gen Con - An Interview with my Gamer Wife

Transforming my Wife of Twelve Years into a Gamer

I started dating Jen back in August of 1997.  Those were some great years!  I was a freshman at Penn State, Matchbox 20 had just released their debut album, and Harrison Ford kicked Gary Oldman off of Air Force One.  The first time I met Jen it was an amazing whirlwind evening, as we walked all over campus talking, and finished up with coffee and cheese fries at the Ye Olde College Diner.  The next afternoon I introduced Jen to my roommate, which meant showing her my dorm room.  Despite the Council of Wyrms and Dark Sun posters, and the totally wicked, custom campaign setting map next to my bed, Jen had no idea what she was getting into with that relationship.  

A year later and Jen was starting to get the idea of what a role-playing game was all about. She didn't seem interested in trying it herself, but let me play with my friends whenever I had the chance.  It took me the better part of a year to get her to a game table.  Jen joined two of my regular players, my roommate Joe and a friend who we all called "Weasel," for a little AD&D 2nd Edition.  We played on the floor of my apartment bedroom, which probably hadn't been cleaned in quite some time.  Jen was pretty freaked out.  We tried again another year later, and I made her a very special character for an AD&D 2E Dark Sun campaign.  Unfortunately she was bored out of her mind and just sat there drawing pictures on index cards.  

This lovely image was her rendition of an Athasian Oasis:

Yes… I saved it.  

But things changed as we got older and our relationship matured.  Having kids probably helped.  In 2011 I got Jen to try the D&D card game "Three Dragon Ante."  By 2012, I was running a few bedtime games of D&D Basic out of the old Rules Cyclopedia for my kids, and Jen would occasionally join as Eric the Cleric.  But at the end of 2013 something big happened:  Jen was introduced to Numenera.  The Cypher System's mechanics broke down some of Jen's "anti-RPG shield" and she began sitting in more and more often.  

Now in 2015 my wife is coming to Gen Con with me in July!  I'm absolutely thrilled, and since it's almost time to pre-register for badges, I thought I'd do an interview with my wife and get some of her perspectives on our incredible hobby.

I hope you enjoy our conversation!  

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

Q&A

Jim:  Thank you so much for sitting down on the couch with me!

Jen:  Uh… thanks for having me.  

Jim:  Are you ready for some pretty tough questions?

Jen:  Shoot.  

Jim:  I know that I consider you a gamer convert now, but would you consider yourself a "gamer?"  

Jen:  I consider myself "one who likes to play games" but I don't know if I feel defined by it.  

Jim:  So do you care that I just keep referring to you as a gamer?  

Jen:  Do I care?  No you can call me anything you want to.  

Jim:  Good enough.  What do you enjoy about tabletop gaming? 

Jen:  I enjoy the social aspect of it.  You can invite people over to play games and it gives you a jumping off point for your evening.  You don't just have to stare at each other and think "what do I do?"  

Jim:  Do you remember way back in 1998 when we tried playing AD&D 2nd Ed.?  

Jen:  Yep

Jim:  How would you describe your first encounter with an RPG?  

Jen:  Awful and forgettable at the same time.  

Jim:  Why?

Jen:  Well, the environmental aspect of the gaming event was probably not conducive to a first time introduction to gaming for a girl.  It was in a really gross apartment, with really gross boys.  They were probably gaming veterans and I still didn't understand the point of it all.  For me games always had a purpose, a conclusion… like a winner.  I didn't get that there wasn't a problem to be solved.  It wasn't like "Clue", it was just this open ended conversation that I didn't get.  And it smelled bad, in case I forgot to mention that it was gross in your apartment… 

Jim:  Okay

Jen:  … the air in that apartment was just thick.  Thick with dirt and filth.  

Jim:  Okay

Jen: … like I felt physically ill with it.  I felt like I had a cold from being in there so long.

Jim:  Alright, so maybe it's safe to say that you would've enjoyed the game if it weren't in my relatively unkept apartment?  

Jen:  I still don't know if I would've had an awesome time with it, since it was still so foreign to me.  I just had no reference point for that kind of game.  I didn't know what "D&D" was when I met you, or what it meant to "do roleplaying."

Jim:  So between 1998 and 2012 when you finally sat down again for an RPG session with the kids, what changed about your perspective?  

Jen:  I guess after living with you for "X number" of years I had a better grasp of what it was.  I always enjoyed listening to you run your games.  It also gave me a way to interject my thoughts and comments without getting dirty looks from your players.  Before I was just a weird voiceover, like the heckler whenever you were playing.  I would listen in, and always think of something funny, but I didn't have a way to really convey it.  Not that its any more welcome from me at the game table, but it seems a little more appropriate.  

Jim:  When I offered to bring you into my first Numenera game, a campaign that didn't include children, why did you agree?  

Jen:  Wasn't that the game with my friends?

Jim:  Uh… yes.  

Jen:  Well I didn't want to be left out.  There's a limit to my altruistic nature.  I didn't want to be like "hey, why don't you go hang out with my friends and I'll just stay home and watch the kids by myself."  

Jim:  But you seemed to enjoy the game.  

Jen:  I did, even though it devolved into sexual innuendo every five seconds.  Everything was naughty.

Jim:  Do you think that's because of the group we played with?

Jen:  Most likely, although I can't speak for all of the group members.  

Jim:  Do you think it was the alcohol as well?  

Jen:  Yeah, the alcohol fueled loose lips.  We would've sank many ships, right?

Jen in character, playing Oswin, the Intelligent Nano who Fuses Flesh with Steel

Jim:  I guess.  

Jen:  Isn't that what they say?  "Loose lips sink ships?"

Jim:  They do.  

Jen:  I need to read this before you actually publish it.  I'm tired and have had a lot of Ibuprofen   

Jim:  Okay.  But to come back to the system, what about Numenera, and the Cypher System in general, do you enjoy.  You've played over twenty sessions of Numenera and almost a dozen of The Strange.  What excites you about those particular games?

Jen:  I like the fact that it's not so one-sided.  It's less a dictatorship because I get the chance to re-roll things and I get more of a say of what happens to my character.  I play a part and events just don't happen to me arbitrarily.  Some of those other games you've had me play its like "...hey guess what.  You just got attacked by a pack of wolves and they ripped off your legs."  You can't do anything about it.  You're just Limbless Joe on the side of the road.  

Jim:  So the Cypher System gives you …

Jen:  … it gives you opportunity as a player to not have bad stuff happen to you. 

Jim:  Fair enough.  What are your favorite games right now?  Don't feel like you have to limit yourself to tabletop games.

Jen:  Well… my favorite tabletop game right now is probably King of Tokyo.  It's a nice quick game to play with the kids and I can play with any of them.  It's also something you can teach to new people with relative ease.

Jim:  Any other board games?  

Jen:  Hmm… I mean, I always enjoy games like Rummy-O and Ticket to Ride.  But those games can be lengthy sometimes.  Even dominoes can last forever if you have a bad set of tiles.

Jim:  Going back to the RPG's, which campaign has been your favorite?

Jen:  Well, I prefer anything that I can more easily relate to.  So it's probably The Strange.  Numenera to me is a very abstract world, and with The Last Parsec I don't really "do space stuff" because I can't really relate to space.  I have trouble relating to anything fantastical because I can't visualize it or see myself as part of that world.

Jim:  But in The Strange, your character, Jackie Dingo, takes part in some fantastic adventures, how is it different?

Jen:  You can do outrageous stuff if you still have something familiar to wrap your head around.  I know what it's like to be in a department store, so I can visualize a department store and if a big chasm opens up in the middle of Target I can visualize that in my head.  I can get it.   

Jim:  What about when your character in The Strange went to the fantasy world of Ardeyn?  Did you find that session to be less interesting?  

Jen:  Do you mean when we went down those steps into that place?

Jim:  Yeah, in Eschatology Code

Jen:  I visualized Phantom of the Opera, when they went down into the opera house and it was a whole other world.  I used that as a point of reference in my head.

Jim:  Cool.  So let's shift over to Gen Con 2015.  Why did you want to go?  

Jen:  Well I don't like staying home while you go on a trip.  It's a chance to have a grown-up getaway while still doing the stuff we like to do.  Its just a silly-fun trip but without the responsibilities of being a parent.  It'll just be us.  

Jim:  What do you expect at Gen Con?  What do you think it'll be like, having just seen pictures and video?

Jen:  Very crowded.  I imagine its going to be very crowded.  I don't think that it's going to have exponentially more men than women, but I think there will be more men. 

Jim:  Is that a concern for you?

Jen:  No.  Bathroom lines will be shorter.  

Jim:  What specific events, or types of events, are you most looking forward to?

Jen:  I'm probably most looking forward to going to the after-parties and social gatherings.  I don't really care that much about what I play.  I just want to take it all in and see what you got to see last year.  

Jim:  You mentioned that you wouldn't role-play without me.  Why?

Jen:  Because I still feel very new to it all, and I don't know the systems well enough, and I don't know if anyone else would be as patient to lead me through as you would be.  And I'm not going to play in one of your games, because that would take a seat away form someone who doesn't live with you and have access to your games.

Jim:  But if there was one game at Gen Con that you absolutely wanted to try, what would it be?  

Jen:  Really, any board games that look like they are quick and easy to pick up I'd like to try.  I'll have to go and look through all of the merchandise in the exhibit hall.  I'm not like you.  I don't know what's really out there.  You're a hunter, I'm a gatherer.  You are going to go looking for something in particular, while I'll just be "looking."  

Jim:  Thank you so much for taking the time to meet me here on our couch.  Do you have any closing comments for our readers?  

Jen:  I feel like I should say something witty.  Don't put that in there.

Jim:  Say whatever you want.

Jen:  Don't hate the player, hate the game?

Jim:  Really?  You are gonna leave it with that?

Jen:  Roses are red, violets are blue.  If I can be a gamer, so can you.  

The Last Parsec

She said it!

There you have it folks.  After first saying that she wasn't going to call herself a gamer, she outed herself at the very end.  Very cool.  I'm both thrilled and honored that my wife Jen was open to trying tabletop gaming again, especially the RPG-side of the hobby.  It has certainly given us something to chat about, and another way to bond as a couple.  I'm very glad that I didn't give up trying to showcase new games in our house!

So a few questions for those of you who have read to the end!  

Does your significant other, partner, or spouse take part in your gaming sessions?  

Have you given up on trying to get them to the table?  

Have you exposed your significant other, partner, or spouse to any "Limbless Joe" scenarios?

Let us know your experiences!  

She even cosplays on occasion!