Session Report

So I'm splitting up the session recap and the session report. The session recap will either be player's recollections of the events that transpired or my rambling recount.

The Session Report, however, will be more of the mechanics of the game and discussion of any odd rule situations that came up during play and just general game table stuff.

It seems most likely that I'll post the session report prior to posting the session recap as these will be my initial impressions of the previous night.

So without further ado….

So our session last night was just after the RinCon 2010 weekend. Corey (Level 1 Gamer), Clay and I attend the Con so needless to say that some of us were a bit on the verge of being gamed out (Clay having gamed from 10am to 1am on Saturday!). Also, my Swords & Wizardry session that I planned on running at the Con was a bit of a bust seeing as only one person ended up signing up for the game.I did end up running a solo session and the player was quite the experienced old school roller, adding a lot of color to the solo session. As fun as that was it was still a bit of a disappointment not exposing the game to some new players.

Oh, well.

So last night we gathered for our usual bi-monthly dice rolling fun. We had two birthdays in our group this weekend so my wife, Christy (who seems to be getting more and more into the game) and I rolled out a little birthday celebration for Clay and Tim. Since the general sessions are usually more like a party anyway, we went with party hats and favors along with tasty cupcakes. Mike just happened to bring by some brownies as well. We were short a couple of players but that didn't stop a festive evening of gaming.

The session began with continued exploration of the natural tunnels beneath Zenopus' Tower. A lot of mapping and connecting of overlapping passages and tunnels (which slowed the pace of the game but made room for the usual table talk debauchery). Things picked up with a room of mysterious green mist and ended with a huge battle within the crotch-goblin's enclave. I mean, there were tons of these little buggers.

At first the players thought they had a pretty good strategy in dealing with the hoard but they soon found themselves over-run as the goblins climbed along the walls and ceilings and then dropping on the players.

These goblins dropped on my wife's character, Maudlin the dwarf, almost killing her and actually ripping her arm off (a couple of rolls on the new death chart)! Now this is my wife, mind you, who has just joined us for her third session, who is just beginning to get the concept of Role-playing, and who enthusiastically created the festive party atmosphere and here she is near death.

Not a good predicament for a DM gently getting his wife into playing a fantasy RPG!

So some quick thinking on the player's part to make a fighting retreat to a larger area (they were single file in a 3 foot wide passage) and a quick heal and reattachment of Maudlin's arm set things right.

Now some of you might think that a cure light wounds spell would really not help in this situation of a quite obvious serious wound. Well, I tend to agree with that. But in this situation, I think I made the right call considering the circumstances. I mean, ya gotta keep the wife in the game, right?

Besides, I won't let them off so easy. There are always…..complications, no?

Anyway, another good fun session and quite exciting at the end.

Tim, we tried to save you a cup-cake but, alas, they've all been gobbled up!

Dungeon Art

This is a cover illustration that will be used for an adventure called Ruins of the White Watch written Ronald Redmond and soon to be available on Dragonsfoot as a free download.

I did the illustration while my wife Christy did the watercolor. We've been trying out some new techniques to add color to my illustrations. I'm still working out the kinks but I think this is a step in a good direction (I think the line-work came out a bit heavy).

I hope to do some more collaborations with my wife on these projects.

Friday Fantasy Pop: Gandalf

Friday Fantasy Pop presents a trip to Middle-Earth with the song stylings of Gandalf and "Can You Travel In The Dark Alone?"
Light those lanterns of your minds my friends....

RinCon 2010 This Weekend In Tucson AZ

This weekend, Friday October 8th through Sunday October 10th is RinCon 10 here in Tucson Arizona. It's a big general gaming convention put together by SAGA (Southern Arizona Gaming Association). The event features many board-games and a number of modern RPGs are mostly featured. I'll be running a grand Swords & Wizardry game on Saturday afternoon so if you're heading down here you're more than welcome to attend.

One of the players in my campaign, Corey (Level 1 Gamer) will be running the 4th ed. Red Box Starter Game so if you're looking to check out what all the brew-ha-ha about 4th ed is all about, check out Corey's game. You can read about Corey's experience at last years event when Will Wheaton (who will be attending once again) ran a Dungeon Delve of Doom.

A number of my other players will be wandering around (roll for encounter 1 in 6 every half hour) playing many a game as well.

So if you're in the area, come check out RinCon 10!

Session XXIII: The Bitter Taste Of Victory

From the Chronicles of Wolfheir the Barbarian

I find I am lost.

I have joined up with a group in my quest to be a better warrior.

Many nights I entertain the idea of running away again. Finding another way to the truth.

I do miss Gedlee. He always annoyed me but I think it was only because he was of similar spirit. His quest was pure materialistic though. I care not for treasures of this world. Odin will take care of me when I pass if I prove myself.

I spent the last few days practicing my techniques alone near the Temple of Mithra. Got some strange looks but what do I worry about these silly Clerics.

Turns out we are going back to the Tower of Zenopus.

It is a foul old place filled with death. Lots of creatures to slay there. Will I find a battle worthy?

I hope so!

Tis the night of the Black Sabbath.

All of these weaklings here in Caladan are fearing the worst.

I am use to superstitious folks but here they are really concerned.

The group has decided that it is best to return to the Tower of Zenopus.
I concur! What better time. Let's fight the beast on its strongest day and survive to tell the tale or die with honor in glorious combat.

Now if only Swanky would stop eating we could get a move on. He is gonna need some armor after that last encounter...

We picked up another Cleric recently..he is how can I say this...strange.
I find him very irritating. He talks of dreams and some god named Morphius ? Even the Clerics at the Temple of Mithra think he is a strange one.

As long as he stays out of my way then I can tolerate his antics.
I think Tibag is annoyed by him as well.

That damn wizard has disappeared on us again? I think he has a secret that he does not want us to know yet...or ever.

I will finish this mead and we can get on with slaying whatever lies in the Tower!

The Tower of Zenopus awaits.

It is snowing here much like my homeland.

I see some of the others trying to not let it get to them.

I am sure they will be fine. We have a pretty tough group here.

Death has come calling a few times....though it did claim our eclectic Dwarf companion.

Tonight we come to slay the Vampiress that lives here.

I made sure when we were getting the Halfling some armor that I made some wooden stakes.

We can't even see anything but snow around us.

The Tower lay before us.

I lead the way inside with torch in hand.

What will we find tonight?

From the journal of Tibag the Robber - Night of the Black Sabbath

3pm - got a shopkeeper to open up, gold always wins. Got the little guy some armor. Had to let it out quite a bit - apparently he ate everything at the Cloven Hoof, including the Hooves. Paid the armorer an extra gold piece to hook a tiny bell to the back. Told little guy the sound was a fairy. Not sure if he's figured it out yet.

5pm - Waited for the magician, planning to follow him to his party, scout out these white wizards. Never showed. Went without us? Got captured by the white wizards? Too hard to follow them anyway, white robes in all this damned snow. Probably too hard to sneak, as well. Cold - missed my tree in Sackwood for the first time on trip.

7pm - Back to full fighting force (mostly), no party to crash, so we headed back to the tower of Zenopus. Wanted to see what's in the sarcophagus. Probably not the Vampire since it seems to be an older digging, but we took plenty of garlic and stakes and holy water anyway. Never hurts. Also took the hired girl and the other priest - again, never hurts.

7:30pm - On the way to the tower, we debated the merit of assaulting ancient evil on the night of the black sabbath. Agreed that it would be the most interesting time to do it.

8:30pm - New priest hitting on the hired girl, offering dream interpretations. She seems interested. New dwarf rolled her eyes and said something about dreaming she entered a dungeon without armor.

9pm - Made our way back to the tomb, someone stole the black flame jackals. Damned crotch-goblins. Wanted to make a flame-jackal jacket.

9:05pm - The hired girl and the little guy tried to take the lid off...Big Hair had to give the little guy a boost. Pretty funny-

9:06pm - Biggest Skeleton I Ever Saw

9:10pm - Destroyed the 8-foot skeleton. We managed to (mostly) dodge his huge sword and bash it to pieces. Not Zenopus, but could have been ugly. Found a shiny silver spear and some huge dagger. Might use his armor for a sled.

9:30pm - Yuck - attacked by some kind of snot golem as we finished searching the room. Covered my face with his slime. It was a little frightening, but also strangely invigorating. My skin is tingling. Swords cut right through it, but it burned nicely. Little guy was up in some hole in the wall, said it connected back to the filthy rat tunnels. Suppose we should clear those out sometime (rat god? King rat?) but we decided tonight wasn't the night.

10pm - Continued our pattern of seeking out the worst thing in the area: followed the bloody trail down the passage to what must be the crotch goblin warrens. Began exterminating the last few crotch goblins.

10:15pm - "Last few" crotch goblins called their friends. These things must do nothing but breed. Thankfully we kill them faster than they can reproduce...just barely, though. It's fun to watch hair guy and little guy kill three of them with one sweep. Nature guy skewered a couple at once. Twenty or thirty crotch goblins down. I worry sometimes that I'm enjoying this too much.

10:16pm - Not worried any more. Crotch goblin jumped on my face and started tearing at my head with his claws. I bit his junk off. Nobody teabags Tibag. Did NOT enjoy that. Crotch goblin blood tastes like evil and decay. Hope someone has some mead.

10:30pm - Other crotch goblins stunned, easy to dispatch. Victory! Still feel kind of sick. We decide to take a break.

This session is brought to you my Milkman-x (Wolfheir) and Brian (Tibag).

The session recaps may be changing a bit to allow the players to provide a POV of their character's experiences. I think it may be a bit more interesting than my usual rambled collection of the sessions events. Hopefully their recollections will overlap to give you all a larger picture of the session's happenings. If this continues, I'll let the players tell the story while I'll post additional session mechanics and highlights that have more to do with the playing of the game.

Wolfheir's chronicles can be found here.

Here's hoping my players keep this up!

Oh, and just for fun....

New Race: Beast-man

Beast-Man

Beast-men are brutish, somewhat harry primitive humanoids who like to collect shiny objects and enjoy bashing things.


Prime Attribute: Strength 13+ (5%xp)
Hit Dice: 1d8
Armor/Shield Permitted: Leather only, no shields
Weapon of choice: Bludgeoning
XP progression chart: As Fighting Man
Combat Chart: As Fighting Man

Attribute adjustments:

+2 STR
+1 Con
-2 CHA
-2 INT

Class Abilities
Beast-men can only be fighters and only wear leather armor. Bludgeoning weapons are their weapons of choice (such as clubs, hammers, tables and chairs) but they can use bladed weapons but as a -1 to hit. They can also use a sling as a ranged weapon or throw heavy rocks.

They have a type of darkvision and can see 20' in complete darkness.

When grappling an opponent, the Beast-man can put the squeeze on him for 2-8 points of damage. They are suspicious of magic but gain a +2 to save against poison.

They can also climb sheer surfaces like a thief of the same level.

Friday Fantasy Pop: The Wizard

Continuing our explorations of pop fantasy music's dabbling into fantasy, Sci-Fi and worlds beyond. The good, the bad and the WTF is all represented.

Today the spell is cast by Tony Iommi, Geezer Buter, Ozzy Osbourn and Bill Ward playing together in The Black Sabbath performing The Wizard!
Again, visuals provided by your own imagination...