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To the Sanctuary of Albahith, Jigow Township

Greetings to the Masters of the Pilgrims, and hail to The Luxon:

Mission Report from Childe Raymonde (Part 2)

We were in the swamplands between Urzen town and the forward outpost of the Empire, looking for the Goblin-witch Bollbarra, who had been missing for some time. I don't know how we can find one person in all these miles of swamp, especially when we have no tracks to follow, but we are doing our best.

We had taken a short rest after our encounter with the snake swarm, and then continued to the southwest. A rudimentary map carried by Morgid, our Hobgoblin guide, indicated some sort of landmark -- bones? -- to our southwest, so we trekked that way.

The landmark was some distance, and we camped for the night before reaching it. It turned out that the place was a giant bone-yard, an area of swamp littered with the skeletons of giant tortoises. In the center was a huge mound of bones. The place was eerie and forbidding, and we made our way towards it carefully. Remembering that Urzen town was built on the back of living giant tortoises, I asked if this could be a dead neighborhood formerly belonging to Urzen. Morgid recoiled from the idea and refused to acknowledge that this was even possible.

Suddenly! The swamp ground erupted in wooden spikes, like gargantuan thorns. Some kind of magic spell was afoot. We found ourselves under bombardment from stones hurled from the center mass of bones.

It turned out that this was the haunt of a tribe of Lizardfolk, all festooned in macabre bone-jewelry, and ruled by a spell-casting shaman.

At first, I spoke in Draconic to them, attempting to be friendly. I told them that we meant them no harm and were sorry to trespass. We would leave them in peace, but we did want to ask them about the missing witch. Bell the Kenku attempted to amplify my diplomatic efforts with his mimickry and miming. They ignored my words and continued to pelt us with rocks. The spikes were replaced by grasping tendrils of vines -- I had heard of the spell Plant Growth, but had never seen it before.

My comrades sought cover and gave the Lizardfolk a chance to resolve our encounter peacefully, but it was not to be. The shaman began to animate humanoid skeletons to come attack us, and some of the rocks began to hit home on us. Not only that, but some of the Lizardmen began to advance on us with clubs.

We had given peace a chance, but now it was war. Bumi, our Goblin mystic, launched a cloud of debris at one of the club-wielders, obliterating him instantly. Things got even more violent after that. We could hear the Lizardfolk screaming in Draconic: "Die, heretics! Begone, unclean!" and things of that nature.

Bell seemed very focused on destroying the undead skeleton, no doubt part of his religious ethos.

As the fight progressed, some of us began to be seriously wounded, and the shaman was proving particularly troublesome, but Lizardfolk and skeletons continued to drop.

The shaman was finally dispatched, and the party turned the tide, eliminating our foes.

Afterwards, we searched the environs. Apparently, this bone-yard was holy to the Lizardfolk, for they had created it as a tribute to their demon-lord Sassenach. They were homicidally enraged by our mere presence. Too bad! There was really no cause for us to fight, but if death was their destiny, then so be it.

Not much treasure was found, just some gold teeth. Nor did we find any trace of the Goblin-witch Bollbarra. Weary and wounded, we rested on the battleground.

(Level Up! Everybody gets 6 Hero Points!)

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I'll start posting the journals of our D&D 5.0 Netherdeep Campaign here, as well as anything else seeming worthy of posting.

To the Sanctuary of Albahith, Jigow Township

Greetings to the Masters of the Pilgrims, and hail to The Luxon:

First Mission Report from Childe Raymonde

Taking your advice, O Masters, in order to begin my mission as a Paladin I left the area of Jigow, without preconceived notion of what I might do.

Finding myself in the Xhorhas Wastes far from home, I took the first work assignment that came my way -- caravan guard for a shipment along the Harrowalk Road all the way to Urzen, the swamp town.

The passage was uneventful, but I did strike up an acquaintance with several of the other guards. These included:

  • Blynce (pronounced "Blink") - a Human hybrid of some sort with long white hair and gray skin. Apparently he has Gnome ancestry? There would seem to be an interesting story there, but I have not yet learned it. Despite his small stature, he is a trained warrior, equipped with chainmail, longbow, and a rapier.
  • Bell, a Kenku avian creature in humanoid shape. He has black plumage, and speaks with some difficulty, sounding something like an enormous crow. He has, like myself, taken on a holy mission of some sort. Unlike myself, he serves not the Luxon but the White Raven. In fact, he has apparently travelled from the Empire and wears clothing and symbols of that realm. Like Blynce, there is no doubt an interesting story there, but he has not yet told it.
  • Vaal, an Eladrin with green hair and violet eyes. He dresses in finery, apparently to the limit (or beyond) of his finances. He claims descent from a noble family in Port Demali on the Menagerie Coast, and declared his intention to become "rich and famous." While his materialism is repellant, he carries himself with wit and charm. It remains to be seen whether he will rise to become a force for good or descend into base greed.
  • Bumi, a Goblin wielder of arcane power, I immediately took a liking to. He seems clever and capable, but is keenly aware of his small size and lowly appearance. (As you know, O Masters, I have a soft spot for Goblins, for it was in the act of rescuing a trio of Goblins from a bullying Orc that I discovered the power of The Luxon flowing through me, and you decided henceforth that I should be trained as a Paladin.) Bumi troubles my spirit, though. Taking me aside, he questioned me about the Umavi, and those The Luxon has reincarnated. I was abashed by my own lack of knowledge and experience. I wish to know more! The final thing he said to me was chilling: "Beware, for they do not always tell you the truth." What could this mean?

Upon reaching Urzen town, we found that it was several confederated settlements built on the back of a pack of enormous turtles! Like Jigow, it is people mainly by goblinoids, orcs, gnolls, and many other kinds of humanoids. Unlike Jigow, this region is only recently become part of the territory of the Kryn Dynasty, having previously been part of the Empire.

We received our pay and discharge from the duties of caravan guards, and Vaal treated us to a round of drinks at a local tavern. I approached and hailed a group of Aurora Watch guards, and immediately felt foolish -- they had never heard of the Pilgrims, and looked upon me as a boorish stranger.

We were approached by a Hobgoblin, one Morgid, who we later found out was an aide to the "mayor" of Urzen town, Buff-All the 2nd. Taking us to his master, we were offered an adventuring quest.

We were asked to search the swamp environs for the missing Bollbarra, a Goblin witch and chief advisor to Buff-All the 2nd. She went into the swamp to search for spell components, but then failed to return in a timely manner. The presence of an outpost of the Empire creates fears of foul play. Buff-All the 2nd wished us to take up the quest rather than local forces due to political reasons -- he does not wish it known that his chief advisor (who is a power in town in her own right) is missing.

Buff-All the 2nd offered us weaponry, but we all had superior arms of our own already and we declined his generosity (but accepted the promise of 200 gold pieces each upon successful return of his witch).

Trekking through the swamp (with the aforementioned Morgid as a tracker and guide), we came upon a raft carrying the corpse of an Imperial soldier. Investigating, we were attacked by a swarm of snakes! Their venom was foul, but we managed to dispatch them with only some little trouble.

We shall rest briefly and resume our quest….

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February 15, 1898 - Havana harbor - USS Maine (ACR-1)
Shortly before midnight, two midshipmen, Ben Finney and Matt Decker, are having an illicit smoke on the forward deck. They spot a strange glowing swirling in the water just off the bow. Thinking it was a group of phosphorescent jellyfish, they looked closely, and were shocked to discover three men fighting with long knives in the water, trying to drown each other. Two were human looking, but badly mis-shapen and non-symetrical. The last one, an older man with a very muscular build, also had some sort of heavy barreled rifle, like a long shotgun. He fired and missed, but the shot went right through the armored band of the ship. There was an explosion…

…and the two Earthmen slowly regained consciousness over a matter of weeks, losing almost all their memories in the process. They became Mat and Ben, pit fighters and slaves of Ciloon Kor, warlord of Barsoom.

Mat and Ben were put back together and indoctrinated by a First One scientist, the chief servant of Ciloon Kor. Their lives consisted of eating, sleeping, fighting savage beasts or prisoners of war in the arena pit, and healing up. Their past was forgotten, and they figured they were "synthetic men" created by the scientist, since it was mentioned a few times that he created such things.

One day, while fighting two Barsoomian "lions" (eight-legged fanged horrors far more fearsome than the Earthly version), one of the spectators leaned too far over into the pit and fell right into Ben's arms! This was Princess Darlah, sister of Ciloon Kor and only daughter of the high king Utan Kor the Conqueror! Mat and Ben succesfully rescued her, but at the price of both of them being mauled almost to death.

Only the weird science of their master's scientist saved them from doom. As they rested up in their cages, Princess Darlah came to them and set them free! Ignoring Mat and Ben's inappropriate suggestions, she recruited them to her cause. The high king was presumed dead … at least, he was gone … and she suspected one of her three brothers of being the culprit behind the assassination. For justice, honor, and revenge, she was determined to rally the Synthetic Men who lived outside the city in the nearby Valley of Doom, lead them back to the city, and force her brothers to reveal their guilt or prove their innocence. Mat and Ben weren't so sure about this "Valley of Doom" business.

The princess led them from their basement cage to one of the high spires towering above the city. At the top was an airship platform -- her plan was to steal a small ship and sail off to the lair of the synthetic men. The trio was intercepted by one of her brothers with a coterie of guards! Risking all, Mat tackled the warlord, sending them both down the stairwell. Ben and the princess pushed off in the air-boat, trying to find the level when Mat ended up. One of the guards jumped down onto the boat. Mat broke away from the warlord and jumped out the window, also landing on the boat! Ben managed to knock the guard off the deck, but on the way to his doom managed to grab Mat's ankles. Mat was now hanging onto the edge of the deck by his fingertips, while an enraged guard was trying to climb him! Also, the warlord had recovered and was trying to take potshots at the boat with a radium gun! Fortunately, Mat shook his opponent loose, and Ben maneuvered the craft away from the gun. They were free!

Several hours later, they reached the valley where the synthetic men dwelled. These were escaped slaves of Ciloon Kor, the same as themselves. They were wary of Mat and Ben, not accepting them as synthetic men, since they were mis-shapen, asymetrical versions of Red Martians, and Mat and Ben, being Earthmen in reality, didn't really look like them at all. The leader challenged Mat to a bare-handed fight, and beat Mat into unconsciousness, but he put up enough of a struggle to convince them of their honor and sincerity. They agreed to aid the princess in her struggle.

The synthetic men, Mat and Ben among them, stormed the city! Mat and Ben found the laboratory of the First One scientist, who was firing up the Lok Nar, which created gates between worlds. They dispatched the mad scientist, but the golden radiation enveloped them and they found themselves in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, their memories restored. They found glory in that war, but nothing to compare with their adventure on Barsoom.

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The Heroes of Cularin left the decimated Almas to take care of itself and sped to Genarius, the gas giant home of many cloud cities. Toransa, not seeing any point in a side trip to Genarius, arranged separate transportation directly to Cularin.

As the Heroes' ship dipped into the clouds, they noted that several of the huge jellyfish-creatures were dead from blaster wounds. Sirena managed to partially heal the one wounded one they found.

Upon landing, the Heroes noticed wreckage and debris from a recent battle. Had the Empire already attacked? When they left the ship, they found themselves mobbed by desperate civilians demanding news and help. The Heroes tried to be reassuring, but they totally weren't. Mashin in particular seemed to be consumed by a desire for revenge and carnage, which really wasn't what the people wanted to hear.

Swiftly taken to a meeting of the mayors of the various cloud cities, as well as the overall governor of Genarius, they were told that an Imperial scout ship buzzed the city, and was attacked by high-spirited, civic-minded city security forces, joined by patriotic unlicensed import-export operators. The Imperial scout destroyed practically all its opponents, but wound up crashing into the city. Now the forces that had just attacked Almas were coming to Genarius, and were already demanding complete surrender of the planet. The Cularin System Navy was forming its fleet at Cularin -- Genarius was on its own.

Mainly just to see what would happen, Watlow pointed out that the Imperial forces completely outmatched the Genarius local defenses, and that their best bet would be to surrender with a big show of complete abjection, and then hope that the Imperials didn't land a big occupation force. That way, they could continue on with their lives reasonably close to the way they'd always done. All but one of the mayors categorically rejected that argument -- they wanted to fight.

The Heroes began to plan their course of action, when who should show up but Darce Lightdawn! Working for Kreidcon now, he brought the Heroes equipment, which, when installed on a couple ships, would draw static charges from the clouds and direct them at the Imperial ships, hopefully disabling them. Taking everything Darce said at face value, the Heroes started planning how to get hold of a suitable ship and what tactics they could use to get into position. Leaving the Heroes to their certain deaths, Darce took off.

The Heroes got hold of a suitable ship from the council of mayors and were approaching it to install the lightning generator, when the one mayor who was in favor of accommodation stopped them. Flanked by his goons, he tried to reason with the Heroes. Watlow began whispering to Mashin that he should give in to his anger and let the true power of the Force be unleashed. Watlow should have been watching Sirena, however, because it was she who started the fight.

The goons (who included a few Imperial Security Bureau agents) went down easily and permanently, but the quisling mayor was still alive. All Watlow's persuasion couldn't get Mashin to do what obviously needed done, however, and with that unsatisfactory note, the game ended for the day.

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At the last Winter War, I had a great time playing the rules-lite RPG Lady Blackbird. The mechanics are self-contained and easily adaptable to all kinds of scenarios. The RPG style is more story-based, more "fluff" than "crunch," than D&D or even Savage Worlds, and makes for a very fast, improv-style game.

Anyway, I was inspired to write up a scenario using the old TSR Star Frontiers RPG setting. I left off the page with the gamemaster notes, so don't worry about spoilers here.

The Dramune Blues

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Published on 3 Comments on Godslayers Campaign Prep

Anyone wanting to get a head start on character creation for the Godslayers campaign, here is some background info:

We will use the Pathfinder point buy system, with 20 points for stats.
Characters receive the max gold for their class to buy starting equipment.

Your characters will all begin the campaign on a boat, sailing to the Promised Land.  The journey to the Promised Land is several weeks by sea, and very rarely do people journey to the Promised Land and return, but those that do tell tales of adventure, riches, and opportunity.  The reason your character is on this journey is an important part of their background that they will need to explain.

Please see the recently uploaded document for Bonds Between Characters for ideas on how to tie your characters together.  Keep in mind these are only suggestions and examples.

More info to come during the session...

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Finally got to try out a new RPG game system, The Black Hack. It's a very minimalist, old-school style D&D lite sort of thing. I ran a short (two hour) scenario that was just a shoot-em-up chase/combat scene.

The Black Hack is particularly well-suited for re-skinning into various genres, and several spin-off versions already exist. I've seen Cthulhu Hack, Super Hack, Blood Hack, Cat Hack, Kid Hack, Modern Hack, Pirate Hack, Zombie Hack, Bikini Hack, and Gene Hack (with a picture of Gene Hackman on the cover -- the game is a Gamma World knock-off).
...continue reading "SWITCH (a Black Hack scenario)"

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Published on 1 Comment on D&D 3.0 – Sylmore Campaign

Hey, I spoke too soon! I found some stuff from the old D&D 3.0  game I ran after the Mars campaign concluded. This was a really good campaign, maybe the most successful long campaign I've ever run (although there was a 1st edition game I'm still proud of).
...continue reading "D&D 3.0 – Sylmore Campaign"

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It's bothering me that I seem to have all this material for games I never ran, but for the games I actually did run I can't find any record! There was a D&D 3.5 game I ran for years (the Sylmore campaign) ... can't find a thing about it except for one scrap of background information about the Norse religion.

Anyway, here's the start of a campaign handbook for yet another game that I never ran. This time, it's a D&D 3.5 game. Path of Swords Campaign Handbook. (You can see that I was inspired by Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed here.)