Saturday, June 10, 2017

Family Game Knights - Doom of the Savage Kings, Part 4


Exploring the Chained Coffin


Welcome to Family Game Knights, our regular tour through of the Shudder Mountains and  The Chained Coffin box set.  

For those uninitiated with the Chained Coffin, creative lead +Michael Curtis and the rest of the Goodman Games crew have created a wonderful and vibrant fantasy campaign setting based on Appalachian myth and legend.  As someone who spent nearly every summer vacationing at Hungry Mother State Park in western Virginia as a kid, with many day trips to the Great Smokey Mountains, coal mine tours, and outdoor theater at the Cherokee Reservation, the Shudder Mountains feel right at home.  

It's my intention on running pretty much all of these Family Game Knights sessions in the Shudder Mountains as a campaign.  

Here are our previously spun yarns:


The Adventuring Party


  • Jen
    • Wize Wizard McBride - Cleric
  • Evie
    • Jeffff - Warrior (she plans to add another "f" after each gained level)
  • Carrie
    • P. Specs - Thief
    • Andy
      • Waldon - Thief
    • Jeremy
      • Sir Huey, Keeper of the Sacred Door - Warrior
    • Ella
      • Quinn - Wizard
    • Elise
      • Yenzu - Halfling



    Doom of the Savage Kings, Part Four


    Judge's Note:  Another week with Doom of the Savage Kings, along with a new creation by Cooper... 

    Why is there a picture of +andrew lyon as Rambo?  Well that's how his thief Walden looks whenever he jumps out of the water for a killer sneak attack!  Or at least, that's how Evie envisioned it on her tablet.

    Last night's game was a bit chaotic in the beginning, but ended up taking flight as the night went on.  Carrie's friend Ella has been playing with our group for a few weeks now as Quinn the Wizard, and Evie wanted to invite a someone over to play too.  So her friend Elise joined us, playing as Yenzu the Halfling.  This was a big night for Elise!  First time trying out a role-playing game.

    I think she had a good time. She certainly had no problem getting into character as a murderous dual-wiedling halfling.

    It actually ended up being a shorter game.  By the last session we were right up to the last scene in Doom of the Savage Kings, but it was also really late.  We started the evening with the party preparing to enter the swamp home of the Hound of Hirot.  

    But no one wanted to enter the swamp!  There was even some discussion about just waiting another couple days for the Hound to reappear near town, and to attack it on the party's own turf.  Actually that was a pretty decent idea!  But I didn't let the players get that far.  We started a little late, and Elise had to leave early, so I let one of Cooper's monstrosities join the game...

    ... the Borisyfly!  

    The full stats can be found at the end of this blog, but the Borisyfly is a floating animal head and a pair of floating cartoon gloves that all have fire attacks.  This battle ended up being the most brutal of the entire adventure, with the Borisyfly nearly killing both Sir Huey and the Wize Wizard McBride's ghoul companion, Brock.  As retribution, the Wize Wizard McBride cast Word of Command on the Borisyfly head and commanded it to eat it's own hands.  This worked, and the rest of the party concentrated their attacks on the hands as well.  

    Eventually both hands were defeated, and the head fled into the swamp.  Victory!

    Searching the black miasma of the swamp, the party eventually came to a great cavern with a seventy-five foot drop.  Figuring that this was the lair of the Hound of Hirot, Walden and Quinn quickly scampered down a rope.  At the bottom of the cave mouth, the two could hear deep, and sinister breathing.  The rest of the party was called to come down the rope as well.  

    This worked great for everyone except for Sir Huey, who fell the full seventy-five feet and was on the verge of death until the Wize Wizard McBride healed him.  But coming back from the brink of death took it's toll on the poor knight's stamina.  He'd never feel the same again.

    Then the Hound of Hirot pounced!

    Due to the fantastic rolls by pretty much everyone in the party, this battle ended up being a bit anti-climactic... especially following the epic struggle with the Borisyfly.  An enlarged Jeffff the Warrior easily stabbed and pinned the creature, allowing Sir Huey to bind it with Ymae's manacles.  The rest of the team just wailed on the creature repeatedly, and it was never able to break free.  How sad!  

    After gathering all of the treasure and magical items from the Hound of Hirot's lair, the party went back to the village of Hirot for their reward.  As soon as they arrived to a hero's welcome, the old lady Ymae appeared.  She called for the brave Sir Huey, her betrothed.  As Sir Huey stepped forward, and Ymae prepared to take his hands, everyone watched the old crone transform from an aged hag to a beautiful maiden. 

    That's when Sir Huey chopped off Ymae's head.  

    It was fast too.  One quick critical swipe, and Ymae collapsed to the ground.  

    "She was evil!" Sir Huey screamed at the rest of the party as they were chased out of town by the Vinlanders.  The party would need to find a new base of operations in the Shudder Mountains.

    A Fine Selection of Quotes from the Table



    "I'm part of the millennia.. uh... I mean militia." - Evie making some kind of point.  Still not sure what.

    "Four seconds of Jeffff." - Carrie was referring to the "fff" sound, although we all agreed that this would be a great movie title.  


    Campaign Crematorium


    • None this session



    Cooper's Creation



    The Borisyfly

    I'm too terrified to find out where the Borisyfly idea came from, but given the face, I'm guessing Cooper's design was somewhat inspired by Five Nights at Freddy's.  The Borisyfly is a swamp dwelling creature that consists of a floating head and two floating, cartoon hands.  The head spits fire and the hands each wield a flaming blade.  

    It has been widely disputed that the Borisyfly is resistant to all arrows.  Last night Cooper insisted this after Andy's character hit it with his crossbow, but then the entire table started arguing with the six year old that he couldn't just come up with new rules for the monster on the fly.  

    Anyway, here are the stats.


    • Borisyfly Head:  Init +3; Atk Bite +3 (1d6) or Breath Fire (Ref save DC 14 or take 3d4 dmg); AC 13; HD 3d8; MV 40; Act 1d20; SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2; AL C.  
      • Special:  May or may not be immune to all missile fire.
    • Borisyfly Hand:  Init +3; Atk Flaming Sword +4 (1d6+1); AC 15; HD 1d8; MV 40; Act 1d20; SV Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +2; AL C.
      • Special:  May or may not be immune to all missile fire.

    No comments:

    Post a Comment