Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report

 

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from “off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic item research and the consultation of sages.

But the big event was a seven hour session on Saturday that was a huge deal in-campaign.

The PCs and henchmen:

Clarence 6/6 Fighter/Ninja

Utigi 3^rd level samurai

Fiona 5/5 Cleric/Magic-user

Albertus 5^th level cleric

Thorin 8/8 Fighter/Thief

Carlton 7^th level paladin

Michael, 3^rd level paladin

Benny, 3^rd level fighter

Duncan, 3^rd level Courtier

Play Report: Skull Mountain, the Dead Level

 Written by Jen, a player.

We first ran into the “dead level” long ago, fairly early on in our explorations of Skull Mountain. It was incredibly scary and intimidating, and we immediately turned back and intentionally avoided that area for years. But we often talked and debated about how we could get through it – and live to tell the tale. Quite awhile ago, we asked a sage about the dead level, and we found out that there was a constant level drain and entropy effect, so that anyone who spends time there would have levels drained, and would potentially age at an accelerated rate. In addition, it would eat away at items and marks, so that it would be impossible to leave a trail. We also found out that there were many traps further inside it, and there was a ghost found at the end of the maze. Further research indicated that a Globe of Invulnerability could protect against the level drain, but we still hesitated to enter. We later found out that it was the original location of The Device, until prior explorers moved it with a misapplied Vanish spell – this is actually what created the dead level. We knew we wanted to put The Device back where it belonged, hoping it would normalize this area of the Mountain. Plus we knew there was a massive loot haul from all who died there. This all made us really motivated to deal with this level of Skull Mountain, and we thought of it often through our years of adventuring.

As we went through the years of adventuring, we found tools and spells and henchmen that we thought could help. Seeker had been agitating to go back for quite awhile now, but the timing and opportunity were just never perfect – and we knew it would need to be perfect. Recently, we realized the best characters to cope with this all had downtime at the same time. Seeker (a mage/thief played by Jack), Greystar (a magic user played by Sam), Owen (a magic user played by Nick), and Ingrid (a fighter played by Jen/me). We spent a week of real time on planning and prep work.

Our plan became thus: we would scry the way with spells, and use a potent scroll of Globe of Invulnerability to protect ourselves as we traveled. Greystar had a cube of force as back up protection, as well as protection against the Ghost’s possession attack. Before we set out, we conferred with a Bishop about the Ghost. Seeker researched the idea of putting the device back with a wish. Owen used contact other planes to gather more information, and it seemed that putting the device back would indeed be a positive change overall. Meanwhile, Ingrid – who has not had a lot of luck staying alive and uninjured in the mountain – was terrified at what could happen. Level drain and age acceleration seemed to be huge potential issues. Ingrid sent a note to Brigid, asking for shelter if things went wrong and she was able to make it out somehow – vowing to never set foot in the mountain again if things went badly. Then, we finally set out through the mountain…

We headed down towards the fifth floor dead level, stopping just before at level four. We staged here before going further.

Greystar cast Divination to try to figure out the threats. This told us that the level had – 1) a powerful undead creature, a Ghost who hates all life and good, 2) a form of corrupted magical tech that spreads corruption across all things, 3) a quasi elemental portal that we had to be aware of, 4) a teleportation trap, and 5) tremendous loot, one of which is a staff of the magi.

Owen conjured an air elemental and asked it to map the level below us. It returned visibly weakened, but it was able to draw a very confusing map that did show the end of the level, and conveyed that some of the walls move.

At the very last moment, Seeker asked his summoner henchmen to cast “find the path”, and then we figured out which of our PCs and henchmen would be best to take with us so we would all fit inside the globe of invulnerability. Then, the moment came, and we entered the dead level.

We followed the path while inside the globe and managed to avoid eight pit traps and encountered three areas where the passages closed behind us. Once we got to the stairs going down, we were outside the entropy field – but where was the Ghost? With a limited duration on the cube of force, we had to be super careful of when we turned it on, and made the decision to turn it on just before we opened the door to the lost control room – and there was the Ghost! We were able to kill him, mostly thanks to Greystar’s new manservant, Filbert. Once we secured the control room, we used a wish to return The Device to its original location.

Doing this ended the dead level’s powers, and it instantly became what looks like a server farm, complete with roomba like cleaning robots, obviously space elf tech, and what felt like air conditioning. We put a feather token door between the main level and the control room which now holds the device – at this point, only Greystar knows the password for the feather token door. We know we need to further secure this area as soon as we can!

We gathered the rest of our party from the level entrance and then explored further, looking for the storied loot haul. We headed back to an octagonal room and come to a shiny black door. Inside is a massive, ragged cavern full of gold and loot – we saw at least one goldbug. We decide to explore the other areas first and come back for the treasure later. We found two secret doors, the first one smelled of ashes, and there is a small rift to the plane of ash – this leads to the Ash Temple, untouched for all these years. We opened the other door into a room with a shadowy form in a niche – then all of a sudden, we were on the pink moon, in the western planes. Guess we found the teleport trap! As we made our way back, we encountered Rupert in the former dead level, protecting and maintaining The Device, like he did before. We didn’t talk to him and quickly made our way back to the octagonal room and into the room we left, where we managed to disarm the teleport trap. We found another apartment entrance behind a secret door, where we found a heat box and a journal with a bookmark – a diary tab. We finally got back to the treasure room and cast detect curse, setting aside the cursed items. And we did indeed find *amazing* loot!

Now, all of us that went on this adventure are rich, leveled up, and ready to set up our domains!

Play Report: Skull Mountain

   At the end of the last Skull Mountain session the PCs had retreated to safety at Owen's redoubt, met with visiting elves, and recovered from injuries for some time. A lot happened away from table with them and with many other PCs slowing their return. But yesterday they returned, the same players and so on

Epic Adventures: A Few Examples

 I spoke with a number of players, both those currently active and those from the past(!) about adventures they felt were epic, the sorts of adventures yu still talk about years later. They all pretty much agreed on a list of the most epic adventures, which follows.

New Blogging Arc - Epic Adventures!

   By special request I am doing an arc on epic adventures. To prepare for this I have spent a few days talking to current and former players about the adventures they felt were the biggest, baddest, and most epic. From them I have picked a few examples and will use them to describe how you can run the sorts of sessions that players talk about 30 years later!

  To pass this along I will start with a few posts and podcasts about examples of epic adventures. Then I will discuss the elements I think are required to make an epic adventure. Then some discussion of the options that can take the epic to the unforgettable. Finally I will wrap up with a live Q&A about adventure design. 

  Stay tuned for more details!

Play report: Blackstone

   On Black Friday we had a long, involved session set in Blackstone, my AD&D 2e Players Option campaign, which is 14 years old ('the new campaign').

The party:
Disco (6th level fighter, master of the battle axe) [Alex]
Joan (6th level cleric, front line fighter) [Jen]
Albrecht (6th level mage, creator of the School of Healing) [Jack]
Alazne (7th level thief, assistant guildmaster of East Port) [Sam]
Lawrence (6th level mage, master of Song magic) [Nick]

Play Report: Atlantaverse Cleveland

   As a change of pace the crew decided to play villains for a while! We started off with the following:

Sam is playing Singularity, a cyborg with an special senses and built-in weapons and a huge chip on his shoulder about how he is 'the future of humanity'. Not always in touch with reality.

Nick is playing Electron Davis, frustrated candidate for the city council who has sworn to use his new electrical powers to make the citizens too dim to elect him pay the price for their foolishness. Underwent tricky procedures to get powers and he isn't quite right anymore.

Jack is playing Captain Claw, whose father, grand-father, and great-grand-father were all professional henchmen to supervillains. Between his own 2 years henching and the gear, trophies, and loot of his family he's been able to cobbled together a decent costume and weapon, the Claw. He hopes to become the first generation of his family to have henchmen rather than being one.

DM Play Report, Champions 6e: Atlantaverse - Pulp

The adventurers:

Jack: Francis Xavier 'Frank' O'Brien, called 'Philosopher' by cops and criminals alike. An International Courier and P.I. based in Chicago, he specializes in cases involving ghosts and magic. Can see auras and his gun can fie 'ghost bullets'.

Sam: Edward Oliver Wilson Arthur John 'Hammy' Hamm-Smythe, called 'The Mask'.  Amateur archaeologist and professional polo player. Wields numerous magical artifacts.

    Edmund. Hammy's valet is Edmund, a gorilla of Gorillaville in Africa. Human-level intelligence and speaks French. Other seem to never notice he is a gorilla until it is pointed out to them.

Nick: Grigore Zugravescu, Carpathian nobleman called 'The Baron'. Master of mystical 'sunshine boxing' techniques and a vampire hunter.

Play Report for Vampire: the Masquerade

 Son #4, Nick, offered to run a few V:tM sessions and we said 'yes'. Last night was the first session.

Players and Characters-

Me: Juan, an 8th generation Brujah. Dressed like a high-end lawyer he is very political but remains a Brujah killing machine.

Jack: Miles, 10th generation Malkavian. Focused on mystical knowledge and his manic-depression, dressed like a business manager, excellent marksman.

Alex: Stanton, 10th generation Tremere focused on magical powers. Dressed as an Anglican priest from the 800's.

Sam: Ratboy, 10th generation Nosferatu. Dressed like a 1930's stage magician in a velvet tuxedo. Rich from money-laundering and information brokering.

Play Report: Dragon Heist

  I get to write a play report!
  For my birthday everyone promised to get me at the table in front of the screen more often.
  Jack picked up the adventure Dragon Heist.

  Players:
  Me: 1st level dwarven wizard Don Jose Francisco Diego Bernardino Mateo Marco Maria Mateo de la Chula Vista, Conde de San Luis Obispo. Noble, bon vivant, and natural philosopher.
  Sam: 1st level skeleton bard Mr. Skeleton. A good, decent man who loved music so much he returned from the grave to play. Can't speak.
  Nick: 1st level half-elven cleric of war Elendil the Blackhearted. Formerly a pirate notorious for his viciousness, he had an epiphany, changed his ways forever, and is now a mighty force for Good and foe of injustice.

Battle Report: Warhammer 40K, Guards v. Orks

  As we continue the odyssey of learning W40k live Jack and I fought mano a mano where he had Orks and I had the IG.

We decided to leave doctrines and stratagems off the table one more time.
Rough army breakdowns-

Orks:
2 groups of 30 gretchin
a runt herder
3 war bikes
a boss on a war trike (warlord)
3 x groups of 20 Boyz and Nobs
2 battle wagons

IG:
Platoon Commander (warlord)
Commisar
Astropath
Techpriest Enginseer
5 Taurox
Heavy weapons squad with lascannons
Hydra
Wyvern
4 squads of infantry
2 squads of ratlings

We started by alternating terrain and ended up with forest at each end of neutral ground and some low walls in a far corner.

Knowing the Orks had initiative I deployed with all troops inside Tauroxes - 3 tauroxes, the wyvern and the hydra on my right flank, the other 2 tauroxes on the left.  The orks set up with their mobs, runt herder, and a battle wagon opposite my left everything else opposite my right. One group of Boyz was on foot, the others were in battle wagons.

Jack had initiative and did everything in his power to get his bikes to the wyvern immediately, juuuuust barely pulling off a charge to engage it. Everything approaching heavy he had he fired at ome of the tauroxes on my left, then everything else in range after the mobs moved up fired at it, too, damaging it.
  The Wyvern withdrew with no damage, a squad deployed, and a taurox charged the war bikes and the Ork warlord, tying them up. The other two tauroxes on the right moved forward and fired on the opposing battle wagon, chewing it up with autocannons.
  On my left the characters and heavy weapons piled out of the heavily damaged taurox, the other one also deployed its squad, the general shooting began. the hydra got lucky and tore up one group of Boyz; infantry did well against the Orks; the ratlings annihilated the runt herder; the astropath smote the leftmost mob; and the heavy weapons squad began a legacy of missing with every shot.
  The taurox on the right that charged actually damaged a warbike. The one on the left managed to charge into the mob of Gretchin and squish one before they fell on it with meat cleavers. It took its last wound and with a shout of,
  "For the emperor!"
  It exploded, causing a surprising amount of damage to the two gretchin mobs.

  The Orks then had a ton of fun - the rightmost battle wagon deployed one group og Boyz and the one I had been shooting embarked on it. They shot up one of the untouched tauroxes on the right and the gretchin kept coming. The warbikes and chief pounded on the taurox tying them up and, with a shout of,
  "For the emperor!"
  ...it also exploded, killing a bike, wounding another, and wounding the war boss.
  Assorted fire from Orks took out a trooper and damaged a vehicle or two.

  On the right another squad deployed and fired into the Boyz, hurting them. The three surviving tauroxes poured fire into the battle wagons, crippling one. The troops on the left (plus the ratlings) were cutting down Gretchin like wheat. The Wyvern got a shot off and TORE UP some Boyz.

  The Orks were undaunted; the bikes and chief again engaged the Wyvern  and the Hydra; the Boyz on foot charged the deployed infantry in the 'northeast' and wiped them out in a single rush (although not without casualties). The gretchin mobs swarmed the troops and leaders on the left, taking out a fair number of troops and wounding a heavy weapons team (although gretchin vs. chainswords, servo arms, etc. was not in their favor!)

The ratlings did better than expected vs. the leftmost battle wagon, but not good enough. More troops deployed on the right and the tauroxes fired, finally destroying a battle wagon. The infantry squad near the hydra and wyvern charged the bikes - and took two of them out!!

The pistols of the gretchin hurt; the vehicle on vehicle combat continued; The last 'northeast' sqaud took casualties, but dished two out on overwatch. The northeast squad also went down in initial impact. The standard sqaud on the left made them pay, but only the sergeant survived melee. the leaders types prevailed and the surviving heavy weapons squad was actually freed from fighting hand to hand. The last men on the right went down and a mob of Boyz assaulted the damaged taurox. With a cry of,
  "or the emperor!"
  It actually freakin' exploded, wiping out one of the groups of Boyz nearby (they'd been mauled by squads, melee, and taurox fire already).

  he Boyz turned and fired at another taurox, then charged it. The gretchin kept fighting, killing the lone sergeant and getting everyone in command to wounded pretty badly. The wyvern and the war boss were still fighting, as were the last biker and the hydra. The ratlings were still pinging the lone, damaged, smoking battle wagon.
  The Guard fought back and the few survivng gretchin finally broke completely. Firing and fighting were almost anti-climactic, at this point.

Results:
Jack won handily on points, having control of the objectives.

Stuff Jack Learned, per him:
- Orks are stabby, not shooty. He was so frustrated with Orks trying to shoot things he doesn't think it is worth the effort. They are very good at stabbing however....
- Toughness matters more than newbies think.
- Speed matters more than newbies think
- gretchin mobs are exactly what he thought - damage sponges you can't ignore
- Orks are cool

Stuff I learned
- the Guard is shooty, not stabby.
- Flak armor works
- Sweet merciful heavens I now love the taurox.
- Keep people away from your artillery.
- concentrate your infantry.
- ratlings in cover are amazing

Two key mistakes I made were not deploying infantry immediately and letting the Orks get to the wyvern. Jack is convinced if the wyvern had been free he would have lost. Also, the three turns they were free to fire my heavy weapons team missed with all nine lascannon shots; very, very bad luck.

The entire family had a ton of fun. Next is more of the same but with doctrines, stratagems, etc.

Back from the Holidays: Battle Report for Warhammer 40k

Hi!
I am busy writing my own AD&D 1e clone book: it is going very well and we are having a ton of fun. But with 5 kids, a new business (taking off! we did our first payroll this month!), close friends getting married, and the holidays, I took some time off from blogging.

A New Interest
At Christmas my darling wife bought some Warhammer 40k books (Imperial Guard and Space Marines) for the boys who asked for them. I used one of the gift cards to buy the Core Rules.
We read them. The last time I read the rules was version 2, we got 8th ed.
By Thursday we had purchsed about all the Codices (mainly as PDFs)! We got the dining room ready and we played a game this last weekend, our first as a family.

Warhammer 40k Battle Report
From Jack

"After finding the starter rules free online and receiving the Imperial Guard Codex as a very welcome Christmas present, two of us, me and Sam, decided to try our hands at a game of Warhammer 40,000.

 For our test game, we used simply tokens in place of painted models (don't judge us; we're new), and did a more-or-less matched play game at 500 points with no stratagems or army doctrines, on an empty field with no terrain modifiers.

We planned and reviewed for several days, then fielded the following forces:

 Me: using a
    Platoon Commander as warlord
    2 infantry squads, each with a lascannon team.
    A command squad, with regimental banner and voxcaster, all armed with pistols and chainswords.      A team of 3 ogryn. A commissar.
    A minimum size wyrdvane psyker choir.
    3 armored sentinel walkers, each equipped with a missile launcher.

   Sam:
   Techpriest as warlord
    4 servitors, 2 with heavy bolters, accompanying the Techpriest.
    A commissar.
    A command squad.
    2 scout sentinel walkers, each with a multilaser and a sentinel chainsaw.
    An infantry squad.
    A minimum size wyrdvane psyker choir.
    A Leman Russ battle tank, with 2 additional heavy bolters.

   My plan was to use the sentinels to counter any deployed vehicles while the rest of the force moved up so the ogryn and command squad could close to meele combat.
  Sam's plan was to use a storm of heavy bolter fire and the tank's battle cannon to obliterate opposition, while the Techpriest kept the vehicle alive.

  This was complicated by our using the scenario Only War, and rolling that the objective was a relic, which was on the other side of the field from where our lines were drawn.

 I won initiative by a single point of power and mostly stuck to plan, moving my force up and doing good damage with lucky initial infantry fire, although I diverted one of the missiles to a scout sentinel, doing brutal damage to it but leaving the Leman Russ only moderately wounded.
  Sam countered with scathing fire, which suffered from an initial bout of bad luck that rapidly evened out, and used the Techpriest to continuously repair the tank, leaving it in the fight for the whole battle.

   The resulting battle was a meat grinder, as is to be expected from new players. The bulk of our forces met in the middle, where concentrated fire from both sides eventually killed everyone after my poor understanding of the charge rules coupled with Sam putting his commissar in exactly the right space blunted the ogryn's charge.

  By the final round, only our two commissars were left on the middle of the table surrounded by a lot of dead infantry. The commissars fought in an epic duel in which mine won the final fight phase with only 1 wound remaining.

  Meanwhile, the Techpriest's prayers and Sam's constant shouts of,
  "Praise the Omnissiah!"
  kept the Leman Russ alive in spite of constant missile fire.

  Too late did I realize that I should've targeted the servitors immediately; they are weak units, but their heavy bolter fire chewed through my infantry ranks, and taking them out of the fight might've saved me.

  Meanwhile, Sam realized too late that with our sentinels set up facing each other head on, the obvious move was to have the scouts charge. Once they did, my armored sentinels were occupied and could no longer fire, crippling my heavy weapons capacity.

  Contrary to our expectations, even a team of 3 wyrdvane psykers, basically the weakest psychic unit in the whole game, seriously influenced the flow of battle. Their ability to deny the witch meant that they largely neutralized each other, but well placed smites did take out some of my infantry and contribute to downing one of his scout sentinels, with fascinating effects on the flow of gameplay.
 Moreover, a lucky roll that nightshrouded the Leman Russ on turn two took its survivability from high to outright guaranteed.

  Finally, by pivoting and sending one of my squads to hold the relic, where they miraculously made every morale check even outside of the range of all my officers, I was able to hold the objective the whole game. On the final turn, heavy bolter fire finally wiped them out, but by having the platoon commander advance by himself to its position, I won on a technicality. With my armored sentinels tied up, the Leman Russ near full health, and my officers scattered, Sam would've certainly won if it went even one more turn, so in the end, we called it a tie.

   Everyone involved, even the spectators, had no prior experience in the game. With that in mind, a few notable things leapt out.

In no particular order:
    1) The game is actually very simple. The rules are straightforward and easy to understand. The only trick is that the correct sequence needs to be followed. If you get the firing process and the flow of melee combat in order, it's not a difficult game at all.
     2) The dynamic between ranged and hand-to-hand combat is fascinating, and probably a big part of the longevity of the rules. Ranged combat gives you much more tactical flexibility and adaptability, but not only does going hand-to-hand kill models faster, but it locks the target down so they can't do anything else. The dynamic this puts between ranged infantry, melee infantry, ranged vehicles, and melee vehicles is enormously deep.
     3) On that note, the dynamic between infantry and vehicles is enormous in and of itself! I hesitate to make further statements until we're experienced in other armies, since the Astra Militarum are so vehicle-focused.
     4) Contrary to our fears, setup and gameplay were both fast. There are plenty of tabletop games where just getting ready to play is an investment, but this is not one of them. Furthermore, while the actual gameplay does take a while, it's downright short compared to even a quick game of D&D. I can definitely anticipate slipping in a game after work on a weekday!
     5) Characters are actually quite survivable. Even without the fact that they can't be targeted normally, they're tough enough and good enough hand-to-hand that they tend to survive. This is good, since so much of any given strategy revolves around them.
     6) Perusing the other codices, it really seems like most overall judgments should be reserved for now until we can play more with other factions. As near as I can tell, one of the best things about this game is that every army has its own unique feel and playstyle without being pigeonholed into a single strategy, and I can't wait to make use of that.

   In any case, we very much liked the game, and are looking forward to playing it more. Some of us have since fought small battles of Necron vs. Space Marines and Necron vs. Thousand Sons, but I wasn't really there for those, and can't vouch for them (it doesn't sound like they went as well, anyway).
  [Note from Rick: we were trying out the unusual rules to see how they worked on the table, so - not much to say.]

  I've got Orks vs. Imperial Guard, Imperial Guard vs. Space Marines, and Orks vs. Space Marines all lined up with different members of the family, so we'll see how that goes. Right now, it seems like Space Marines aren't good enough to justify their high point cost per unit, but only time will tell if that holds true in gameplay.

  More reports to come! Wish us luck!

Ravenloft, Buy-in, Style of Play, a Sort of Review, and Birthdays.

  As I have mentioned before, October is one heck of a month for my family because we have 4 birthdays and a Holy Day of Obligation in just 15 days. Toss in that I am teaching this year, the teenagers want lives (the jerks), and the fact that I am working on my own OSR clone and, well.

  I'm back.

  Another family tradition is the Annual Halloween Classic Module; I run the Clan through an old-school module. We've done Tamoachan, Ghost Tower, Castle Amber, and more. 

  This year?

  Ravenloft!

  

  The crew had never read the module in any of its forms, but knew about it (of course). Everyone was pumped and looking forward to a killer dungeon with a high body count.

  Each player (five people) made three 7th level characters using 3d6 in order, swap 2, and being equipped via the charts from the DMG on making instant characters and Magic Items for Everyman in Dragon #45. They divided into three teams; Scout, Strike, and Emergency, and we started play on Saturday evening, a bit late.

Spoilers for the module follow

  I had Ravenloft digital on two tablets and the maps printed out for notes and references. I had tweaked the module a bit (explained below) and had a modified deck of cards at hand. I had already run the Fortunes of Ravenloft as per the module. 

  The entire group of 15 PCs travelled together into Barovia after getting the call for help. They encountered the dead body that showed the call for help was fake, and continued. They had a random encounter with Barovian woodcutters and travelled with the men to the village, learning a great deal from them via high charisma and roleplay. They ignored damn near everything in the village and headed straight to the church, meeting the priest well before sunset.

        My modifications: The villagers explained that every few years more people, sometimes adventures and sometimes merchants. were lured into Barovia to ensure the village always had a certain minimum population and could still get clothing, food, etc. The gypsies also brought needed items. The priest at the chapel was convinced that God was protecting the people because there was always a cleric for the church in town, all through the ages.

  I also introduced Father Gabriel, the priest of the church in the village when the Curse of Strahd first struck. Inspired by the phantoms of dead adventurers and the 'helpful spirits' encounter I had Fr. Gabriel as a "mechanic"; his spirit was invisible and undetectable. He would travel with the party and if they failed report all that was seen, heard, and done to the survivors. Thus player knowledge after character death was explained.

  The party slept as the cleric prayed, and set out the next morning. Straight on target, the party headed directly for the castle. They hit the gypsy camp fairly directly and, after a lot of party discussion, went for the fortune telling. We played out the Fortunes of Ravenloft with the party taking careful notes, and then before too long they reached the entrance to the castle at nightfall (taking the carriage, after a wrangle).

  They entered and heard faint organ music. Focused on one of the fortunes (that of the Tome, which the Fortunes had placed in the tower) they decided up was best. They went straight, more organ music. Turned right, louder. They saw the double doors with the organ music obviously on the other side (I was playing Widor) and the spiral stairs up opposite the doors...

  ...and took the stairs. Jack said the organ music was 'over the top' and 'too obviously a trap, illusion, or something'.They went to the next floor, opened a door into the throne room, checked their notes, went to the throne, and recovered the Holy Symbol. Travelling to try to define the dimensions of the castle they found the chapel overlook, killed the zombies in a round, and descended with a Rope of Climbing, finding the Icon of Ravenloft. They uncovered the altar, left the Icon, and took the stairs up a tower.

        Let the Dice Roll as they May: I really strongly favor letting the dice roll and stand as they land. I don't fudge a number, re-roll, throw in five more monsters or have 2 run away, etc. Party curb stomps kobolds? Sure. Bunch of kobolds curb stomp the party? Sure. I have found that the results of this are far more dramatic than anything I can railroad.

  All this time I rolled zero random encounters. 

  At this point we broke it off for the day. All the talking and walking in Barovia ate up some time. We reconvened the next day with a large volume of snacks and drinks for a long session.

  They continued up, up, up, then found the bridge to the other tower. Midnight and Strahd sent 40+ bats. The party locked themselves away in a room, waited 10 minutes, then came out with a Potion of Fire Breath, wiping out the bored stragglers. They crossed to the other tower, it animated, the party used a Wand of Lightning Bolts, the tower's heart shattered, and the party inexplicably (to me; they insist it made sense) abandoned their plan to find the knowledge in the tall place and headed straight back to the Chapel. They finally had a random encounter, a group of 4 gypsies. The gypsies were cut down in 4 rounds, the party healed minor damage, and they kept on to the chapel. 

  Just at the Chapel they had another random encounter. Roll, cascade, roll, and - Strahd himself! He leapt out, struck the toughest fighter, and drained two levels while the party was surprised!

  He won initiative and struck the fighter again, effectively crippling him, as the cleric fumbled in her bag. The rest of the party was trying to get to where they could fight. Third round the fighter, who was weakened where any blow would kill him, missed - and the Cleric activated the Holy Symbol....

   ...and rolled a 10 on a d10.

  Sunlight blazed from the Holy Symbol, instantly rendering Strahd immobile and helpless. In short order the party staked him, cut off his head and stuffed his mouth with holy wafers, and let the 10 rounds of sunlight annihilate him, hitting the combo that kills a vampire the first time every time.

  The storms broke, the mist cleared, the sun rose shining and bright, and the party headed to the chapel with only 3 of 15 characters taking any damage. The party cleric read a scroll with Restorations on it and the drained fighter was good as new.

  The session ended so fast the pizzas weren't done.

My History with the Ravenloft Module

  When Ravenloft came out there was a fair amount of buzz. My friend Brice, who had his own D&D group, invited me to guest DM it in return for food and my own copy of the module. I did, we had a ton of fun over a 4 day weekend, and lots of characters died before Strahd went down.

  A month later I ran it for my own group. George's group asked me to run it for them, etc. The year after it came out I ran it at least 5 times. I ran it at the Presidio of Monterey in '86 and at Bragg in '88, twice in '89, and at an airbase in '90. So this was at least the 10th time I have run the module making it the classic module I have run most often, very easily.

My Opinion of the Ravenloft Module

  ...I don't like it much. The setup is odd, the optional 'girl reincarnated, brother in love past the grave' is clumsy, the timeline of the curse versus the status of the village requires the DM to fix a ton of things, the 'mist' mechanic is lazy DMing of the first water, and I really, really dislike the maps. While iconic and eye catching, the maps are damn hard to use at times. And I think the 'assume an identity' motivation is ridiculous and possibly outside the rules.

  And the tone is so uneven! The big sell is 'Gothic Horror' yet the tombs are chock-a-block with terrible puns that would make Piers Anthony roll his eyes.

  I do like the Fortunes concept, although the assumption that modules will be played over and over is... odd, to me.

Tone, Buy In, and Style of Play

  I think that my most recent party was actually the one to finally match the Gothic Horror tone of the main module. My party is rather 'murder hobo avoidant' - they slam through dungeons with a time limit because they seem to have time-suck radar, they often start with parley, and avoid all combat they think is a waste.

  When they were in Ravenloft they got the Fortunes, which are direct clues that are meant to lead the party to the tools they need to defeat Strahd. The party focused on the Fortunes and they basically led them straight to the tool they used to defeat Strahd on the very first night in the castle. I believe this is more 'true' to the idea of the party being a force for good versus evil rather than looters searching for high-value swag.

  Looking at the module after the 'cleared Ravenloft with a dead Strahd in 270 real-world minutes' sessions and I realized the castle is a murder hobo graveyard. Don't open every tomb in the vault? Suddenly a huge number of undead aren't to be encountered. Carefully follow the clues and get the sword, holy symbol, etc? You have multiple tools that can kill Strahd quickly in the group. 

  Again, the style of play of my party (heroes opposing evil rather than bandits looking for loot) plus the tone of the module may have very well allowed them to skip a lot of death.

  But at the same time, the players did not buy into the Gothic Horror part. At all. Empty house with the sound of a woman weeping drifting out in the village?

  "If I was trapped in a vampiretown I'd cry, too."

  And they walked on by.

  Learned that the daughter of the burgomeister was adopted when she was found wandering the forest as a very young child?

  "A reincarnated woman from the vampires past, obviously. Who has bets on mother, fiancée, or unrequited love?"

  The players weren't in a Wuthering Heights mood.

  Don't get me wrong, they emotionally invest into adventures. I have had them actually panic for real and have been told that my description of a subterranean lake with the sound of someone singing in the distance over the water gave players nightmares.

  Just not Ravenloft.

  But they played like it. 

  I think I need to write more about this!

Play Report: 5e

  I got to play, which is nice. We had done a single session once before, this time we did a two-day-in-real-life game.

Party
Me - Human Cleric (Tempest domain)
Jen - Halfling Rogue
Alex - Half-elf Warlock
Sam - Human Fighter
Nick - Human Mage

DM Report: Back to the Briars All Over Again

  After a long break to "catch up the timelines" the party returned to the Briars. Still in the High Briars (more rugged, more remote, much more dangerous) they are hoping to map the eastern half of thsi High Briars before Winter arrives in earnest.
  They probably won't make it.

Play Report: First Session in Whiteford

  The world building was summed up or linked.

Characters
Jack played Flavius, a 3rd level Cleric from a mariner culture.
Sam played Harald, a 3rd level Warrior Monk from the Patchwork Lands.
Nick played Butters, a 3rd level Dabbler from the Patchwork Lands.

The Fall of the Temple of Gruumsh

Yes The Background
In my 1e campaign the Orcish City-States of the West spend a lot of time fighting each other, more than they do fighting Men or Dwarves. But every few generations the shamans prophecy that the time for an Overking has come and orc begin questing in the Stone Hills for the Regalia of the Orcish Overking. Any one item is said to be enough to make an orc the unrivaled leader of a city-state. All items? Every orc in the region will obey you. This has occurred 5 times in the past, and each time the lands of Men and their allies have trembled on the verge of destruction.

A little of Orc society in Seaward
The Orcs are in 5 great tribes, the Dripping Blade (with the devil-lord Ilneval as their 'patron'), the Broken Bone (under Baghtru), the Blood Moon (under Shargaas), the Pale Hand (under Yurtrus), and the Black Cave (under Luthic). The sixth 'tribe' is the Vile Rune, the shamans and witch-doctors, whose ultimate allegiance is to Gruumsh. The bearers of the vile rune travel freely among the Orcs.

Orcs brook no hereditary nepotism; the sons of a chief are just orcs. All are born level at the foot of Gruumsh's hellish throne and all positions must be won via effort. When an Overking dies his body is taken by shamans to the long-hidden temple of Gruumsh hidden deep in the Stone Hills and buried, his regalia scattered and hidden. Then those shamans are murdered to hide the locations.

But after the Fifth Overking the prophecy changed; all of the regalia was kept in Gruumsh's temple and the next Overking could find them at once.

Recently
The Baron of Wyvern Keep warned that orcs were crawling the Stone Hills during the Winter 7 years gone. Patrols and adventurers soon found that the vile tune had announced it was time for a new Overking. The players confirmed this...
...and promptly spent years assaulting Skull Mountain, dealing with the bandits of the borderlands, venturing to Banath, and wiping out foul demon cults!

But finally things were getting very bad, with organized orcish warbands cooperating between tribes to drive back patrols! The call went out the the Company of the Dark Moon sent a team.

Players and Characters
Nick played Owen (5th level magic-user human)
Sam played Konrad (4/5 fighter/cleric dwarf)
Jen played Ingrid (6th level fighter human)
Jack played Seamus (5th level druid human)
Alex played Starfalcon (6th level ranger half-elf)
Henchmen - ten total, including Octavius, the 5th level half-ogre fighter

Adventure Overview
With divination, help from a genie (long story), sage research, notes from a book found in Skull Mountain, ranger work, and some luck the party was able to get a rough location of the entrance to the temple complex. Getting there involved fighting two orcish warbands, one with a leveled half-orc commander, the other with a brace of tough ogres. A third warband, much larger than the first two, began pursuing them but they were able to find the illusion-cloaked entrance.
They were attacked by a grizzly bear (an enchanted bearskin akin to a Figurine of Wondrous Power they left behind because of its bulk). In the maze-like upper levels they found many zombies and skeletons. As they went deeper into the complex they fought a number of dretches and strange devil-dogs (based on wild hunt hounds from the old Deities and Demigods) in a series of skirmishes. At a great stair they had to answer the questions of a spectator. Realizing that they had to think like an orc, they passed the test.
Deeper still they fought two massive algoids and a ju-ju zombie who was obviously formerly a Broken Bone chief (the fate of those who fail to become Overking!) and finally were attacked by an invisible stalker guarding a door.
Exhausted, they rested and recovered spells.
The pause was also to prepare for the next cavern, a massive space larger than the Cavern of Herds -  a cyst within the earth a mile across and half a mile high filled with a fungus forest. They descended a 1/4 mile ladder after learning the mobats were only interested in flying creatures. While odd tracks were visible in the fungus forest, the trail was clear. After a half-mile they came to a chasm; at the base was a roaring river riddled with obsidian rocks a quarter of a mile below. The 50 yard long rope bridges (with no guide ropes!) stretched from the edge to 2 rock spires and finally to the massive orcish temple on another rock spire. The rope bridges were such that only one person could safely dross at a time and a slow walk - otherwise the oscillations would pitch people into the river.

The Temple
Within the gigantic temple the party was immediately attacked by 5 ju-ju zombies. Moments later the former Overkings shambled from their tombs to stop the invaders - each as a mummy! Since the last rope bridge was now only mist the party went all-out, releasing Golden Lions, a Quartz Warhorse, and using spells and items with abandon. The weaker henchmen without magic weapons all lit torches and prepared oil flasks for a last stand.
The ju-ju zombies bought enough time for the mummies to close and the fighting was fierce, lasting a total of 10 rounds. With careful battlefield maneuvering, the use of oil on closing mummies, and some hard fighting the party prevailed with no deaths (although mummy rot was had by quite a few!).

The Aftermath
The statues of the various orcish devil patrons all collapsed because non-orcs had desecrated it. The party found the five tombs of the Overkings with their symbolic burial goods (4,000 electrum pieces and 5 amethysts each), and teh regalia of the Overking, which they took with them.
The orcish warband that had been following them was within the fungus cavern, but they had found a passage to an iron boat on the rver. They cut free the last bridge and left, eventually reaching a landing (the enchanted boat returned to the temple after they left it).
The trip back to Wyvern Keep was easier than anticipated - all shamans and witch-doctors had lost their spells and the inter-tribal truce was off. The party force-marched to Wyvern Keep and met with Bishop Alturin (visiting from the Four Counties) and the Royal Magister (dispatched from the capitol) and with their aid destroyed the regalia! The kept their loot and received rewards from the king.

Thus ended a 7 year adventure arc.

The Regalia
These items are meant for orcs; if used by anyone else they slowly warp that person's will until they seek out an orc shaman and volunteer to be a slave to the orcs.

The Ring of Yurtrus- Grants Leadership.

Bands of Baghtru- Grants strength and endurance.

Shargaas' Amulet- Grants great resistance to poison and disease.

Luthic's Armor- Grants incredible protection from physical harm.

The Dripping Blade- This scimitar rivals the greatest elven and dwarven weapons of power.

The Eyepatch of the Chosen of Gruumsh- Grants resistance to magic and light.

Street Level Champions Play Report: Two Down

  Sat down with the kids today and played an afternoon game.
  We are using the Hudson City: The Urban Abyss supplement for a setting. I am using some of the villains and heroes, plus my own.
  Hudson City is an amazing book and one of the best supplements I have ever seen for any game.
  The clan and I played a short intro against street gangs a few days back, but this is the first 'non-intro' session.

Play Report and Mild Review: Scythe

  Son #3, Sam, asked for Scythe for Christmas and got it, so yesterday we played a quick game of it. This is a very quick play report and review:

Guest Post: Play Report for 4e

  I am still working a contract that is eating up 50 hours a week and managing my own business, so my writing is still spare. In the meantime, 3 of the Fun Lads Four have been play-testing 4e. Thus follows this play report