The Ballad of the Swiftblade

After a long hiatus, my group finally got a chance to play some C&C last Friday.  It was a blast of a session.

Our campaign is set in the Southern Reaches of the Wilderlands, with the party operating out of Sacred Rock. They decided to follow-up on an old adventure lead about an abandoned guard tower outside of town. Quite some time back, they saw a gargoyle floating around there.

A darkwing (notably, not Darkwing Duck).

There was a stable and an armory on the ground level, and the upper levels consisted of  a series of walkways (i.e., upper interior was mostly hollow). After breaking in and battling some zombie guardsmen, they were set upon by darkwings and, later, a gargoyle swooping down from the upper reaches of the tower.

It was a tremendous battle with plenty of "fantasy #@#$! Vietnam"-style play. Thanks to a critical hit dealt out by the gargoyle, the party's wood elf ranger, Ash Swiftblade, bled out at the very end.  The party's bard player posted the ballad below on the campaign's EpicWords site afterwards.

As much as I take pot-shots at bards, there is no doubt this is awesome:


The Ballad of the Swiftblade

To the forgotten tower I did journey
with Wil, Gravel, Ash, and Antonin
through its sealed doors we sought the secrets 
held in darkness within.

The air was thick with dust and must
We found arms and bones of horse
But in its draft we did find 
something much, much worse.

Bold Gravel cried, "I need no help
To vanquish this undead foe!"
But was soon beset by death
taken wing to dive from above to below.

Swift as his blade, Ash ran up,
his companion beset by undead scum
but a rushing, flapping sound from above
foretold of death to come.

Wings violet as night swarm in the dark
trimmed with fangs and claws
that will lift you up to heights so high
that the fall should give any man pause

A swarm so large it should be said
that it could even lift large Gravel
"We must pull back!" the Swiftblade said
"Lest upwards you wish to travel!"

Gravel found the quickest way down,
landing with a sickening thud
"To the armory!" the Swiftblade called
"They'll not have our blood!"

Through a hail of death taken wing
We struggled to the door
When it was slammed and leaned upon
We numbered only four

Potions were quaffed by one and all
both magics and fermented
The door was braced, but slowly gave
under attack unrelented.

As we took stock and readied to fight
to the bold and bitter death
When the scratching and clawing of our foe
eased like a sighing breath.

"This is our chance!" the Swiftblade growled
"We open this door and fight!"
All agreed and so we did,
his blade the first to cut right.

Only a few remained, the rest drawn away
A riddle quickly won
When a voice we heard, Antonio's cry out
"These beasts, they fear the sun!"

Took flight we did for the door we came in,
cutting through the winged lot
seeking the solace of the sun
and its warming rays most hot.

As we did a beast did join, 
larger than the rest
It sought our blood as its favorite sweet
Nearly putting enormous Gravel to his rest.

Wil came up to the giant half-man,
"We make our stand now and here!"
And all did turn to fire upon
the gargoyle without fear.

Know that gargoyles are not the sort to shy
with their stony bodies and hide
Though pelt it we did with arrows and blows
With our line it did collide.

"You'll not have my friends!" the Swiftblade yelled
His sword arced for a mighty blow
But the gargoyle tore with tooth and claw
to lay him bloody low.

As there he lay, his lifeblood spilling
He beckoned me to take his blade
"Take this now and run him through,
before to darkness I do fade."

I wish I could say I did such a thing,
though at least I can say that I tried.
But even as he lay bleeding he save me once more
or else I would have died.

Slick with his blood, I could not stand
And the gargoyle terrible and fierce
Expected with my rise to run me through
With its horns it meant to pierce.

With it low to the ground my companions did strike
They ran it through front and back
And there it fell, beside the Swiftblade
Its blood as Ash's name most black.

"Thank you for that," he sighed me
as he died there in the sun
But he'd done much, much greater for us
for because of him the battle was won.

So when into darkness you must tread
or through trouble you must wade
hope you have a noble friend
as brave as Ash the Swiftblade!

A Rough Night in Rappan Athuk

Rappan Athuk brought down three more PCs tonight.  We just finished playing a half-hour or so ago.  It was a rough one.  The PCs went down the well, which was warned against from the start.  That being said, come on, when you tell anyone "don't do that" it only entices them more. I'm amazed they held out this long.

What is particularly rough about tonight's game is that two of the three PCs to drop had been around for a while.  Plum Blossom (Dave the Knave's monk/rogue) and Jocelyn (Jim's ranger) had been kicking around in the game for three years or more.  The third, Bonnie's cleric/fighter/hunter of the dead, had been around for quite some time as well.

Despite this, it was a hell of a night of play.  The party put up a valiant fight and did what they could.  They cut their losses and bailed, but only at the last moment. More than that, it was a fun night. As bloody as it was, the players were laughing and carrying on just like any other session. The usual dick and fart jokes abounded.

I commend my players. I know this loss stung.  Jim, Dave, and Bonnie put in a lot of hours in getting those PCs to their current levels.  But did they gripe and moan?  Nope. My group is awesome. They really are.

My Players are Awesome



Ha freakin' ha.



We had our last session for 2010 last Friday and my players surprised me with a bucket load of Christmas gifts.

• Dungeon Master For Dummies (Smart-asses. Yes, that is the correct title; I'm not sure why it's not Dungeon Mastering for Dummies)
• A LEGO Jester (I use a Red Jester from the Tome of Horrors II as a reoccuring character in the campaign.)
• An Orcus and his followers mini gift pack (an Aspect of Orcus as well as a ton of Orcus priest minis)
• AND Oh-hell-no-you-didn't-fuck-yeah-you-did!:

1 GARGANTUAN ORCUS MINIATURE!



Orcus impresses Snow White and Sleeping Beauty with his "wand."



My Kind of Friday Night…

  Two growlers of Yuengling in the mini-fridge.   My motley crew chomping at the bit to roll  dice.  New sections of Rappan Athuk to explore.  It’s my kind of Friday night.

A Day Trip to Origins 2010: Part 1 – Meetin’ folks

On my way back from Chicago, my family stopped in Ohio for a bit of R & R at Lake Erie. I’d had been kicking around the idea of hitting Origins since it wasn’t all that far away from where we were staying. (Well, it was a 2 1/2 hour drive, but that seemed reasonable for game-starved me. Yes, yes, I had a good gaming fix at Games Plus in Chicago, but I didn’t actually play anything there.)  So I woke up early on Saturday, packed a couple bologna sandwiches and headed out.

I arrived at the convention just prior to the Exhibit Hall opening.  I debated getting a full-fledged day badge, which would have been $30 plus whatever event tickets I bought. The Pathfinder events were tempting, but, in the end, I opted to go on the cheap and spent $5 for a day pass (which provided access to the Exhibit Hall and open gaming).  Besides, I figured I could get my fix in the Exhibit Hall and I wanted to keep my schedule open so I could meet up with some folks. 

First off, I met the Tabletop Adventures crew.  A couple years back, Vicki Potter (TTA editor) posted an open call for a proofreader on ENWorld and I responded. I helped proofread and edit the second printing of Against the Darkness, their Vatican horror RPG (a cool mix of action and The Exorcist-style horror).  Check it out if you get a chance. It was nice to finally meet the TTA team in person, as we had communicated solely via email for the proofreading project.  I myself picked up a copy of The Mother of All Treasure Tables, which they were kind enough to sign. This book is a true gem and I highly recommend it. It fits in well with the TTA motto of providing “help for the harried GM.”

I also meet up with some folks from the Troll Lord Games forums, namely Christina Stiles and Duke Omote (a.k.a. Derrick).  Christina is the author of the excellent SpirosBlaak setting book and was kind enough to provide Omote and I with signed copies. SpirosBlaak is a great setting: 160 pages of lycanthrope and black powder madness. I originally came across it during one of Green Ronin’s sales and picked it up on a whim. It turned out to be my favorite item from that purchase and is definitely on my “to do” list of campaign settings.  She also has written several adventures for The Crusader magazine and other goodies.  Check out her stuff at Misfit Studios.

The three of us swapped gaming stories, chatted about C&C and Savage Worlds (Christina is a big fan and I’m coming around).  It was great to actually meet these folks in person.  Omote and I share a common passion for Rappan Athuk and we swapped war stories. Omote’s group actually finished it and hearing that was a shot in the arm. Time to kick my own campaign into high gear.

We talked a lot about other conventions and I hope to meet up with Christina and Omote, and hopefully more of the TLG forum crew, at Con on the Cob in the fall.

I know I’m a bit late to the game here on Origins, but I have more posts to come, including a general photo dump and a review of the few games I demoed.

StruebCon IV

In mid-May, I attended StruebCon IV, a gaming convention hosted by Polymythic Steve. By "gaming convention," I mean a bunch of dudes taking over his house, playing games non-stop, and drinking his beer (also non-stop). The attendees are members of the StruebSquad, most of which are DC area gamers that Steve has assembled over the years. Others, such as myself, are from PA.

So what is with the “Strueb” stuff? It’s derived from Steve’s name. I should point out that Steve himself named neither the event nor the squad, but rather the group named both after him because he brought both the ‘con and the group together.

The guys do a great job with this. Hans worked up convention badges and DohJoe (of LaserPup fame) had commemorative dice made.

It was a lot of fun, although Chaos learned to ride her bike without training wheels while I was gone. It's not easy knowing I missed that. It wasn't intentional (Mrs. Frost didn't make the attempt without me), but was simply a matter of Chaos trying out a neighbor kid's old, smaller bike and taking off on it.

Anyhow, StruebCon is mainly a board game event, with a smattering of miniature gaming and one RPG event (mine). The board game library amassed by the Squad is damn impressive, so it's a nice chance for a RPG guy like myself to play games I've never heard of before.

The big hits of the convention were:

• Dominion – This is non-collectable card game that is a deck-building game. You have to balance amassing action cards with point cards in order to win in the end. I get the sense it’s the Settlers of Catan of the moment (i.e., it’s the hot game going around).
• Ricochet Robots – A real brain tester of a game. You can play with as many people as you want, as long as they can see the board. Players must mentally find the shortest way to move a pawn to a randomized board location. The concept is amazingly simple. Finding the short path (or any path at all) is amazingly tough.
  
  
• Werewolf – This is a blast of a party game. Players sit around accusing one another of who are the werewolves while the wolves silently execute the others. It’s funny, I completely forgot I had played this before as Mafia until Hans mentioned this alternate name on the way home.
• Battlestar Galactica - I didn’t play this myself (I opted for a game of Puerto Rico and Ambush Alley instead). I don’t know much about other than it’s a cooperative game based on the popular TV show remake and involves one or two Cylon (i.e., traitor) players. From the shouts and rants I heard, it looked like a great game. DohJoe played a Cylon and from all reports played it like a damn master. He used the fact that it was everyone’s first time playing (himself included) to his advantage, using his seeming naivety to throw off suspicion.
• Ambush Alley – I’d been looking forward to playing this game and was happy to finally
  
  
  get a chance to do so. As advertised, it was a down-and-dirty miniatures, modern warfare skirmish with a high body count. I played once as the insurgents and once as the US forces. I lost both times, but enjoyed the hell out it. The rules are a bit sketchy at times, but I’ve grown to see that as a plus. We just settled ambiguity with a die roll and move on (e.g., “I’m not sure that is enough cover or not. Hell, evens it is, odds it is not.”)

I myself ran a Castles & Crusades event and I officially became a C & C Ambassador for the event (well, for this and for GASPCon coming up in the fall). I’ll write more about that particular event in a separate post, but in short, it was some good late night fun and God bless the guys for staying up to play.

StruebCon IV was another rousing success. Many thanks to the Polymythic Steve and Mrs. Polymythic Steve for the beer, the brats, the omelets, and the kick-arse gaming.

Well, there goes what little DM cred I had....

I have shamed myself.  I once mentioned that a certain yuan-ti really knows how to get down.  To be precise, I said that the yuan-ti abomination knows how to party.  For the record, this is a yuan-ti abomination:

Clearly, this fellow does not know how to party.  He is all business.  Yes, he likely kicks ass and would be good to have on your side in a bar fight, but he doesn't look like a barrel of laughs.

However, the yuan-ti anathema knows how to party like a golden god.


On a side note, for no apparent reason, this party hound has been named "Steve."  Not sure why, but two sessions back, Dave the Knave was taking pictures and said, "pass me Steve."  No one knew who or what the hell he was talking about.  He was referring to the dude to the right.

The Survival Trophy

So because I run a freakin’ lethal campaign, I figured some reward - some badge of honor- should be bestowed to the player whose character has lasted the longest.  Once your character bites it, you must hand over the trophy to the next person in line.  When the campaign ends, the last player holding the trophy keeps it for good.

In my first campaign (this is my second Rappan Athuk campaign), the survival trophy was a Magneto bobble head (or, I’m sorry, it was a Magneto Wacky Wobbler, which is clearly MUCH different).  I’m not really sure why I went with it.  Perhaps because:

1. It is vaguely trophy-like
2. It is bizarre

This time around, I went with something more appropriate (albeit less colorful): a styrofoam skull from Macy’s, of all places (it was Halloween at the time).  The trophy is currently in the hands of “Grim” Jim, who runs the party’s ranger (see below).  To his credit, Jim has held onto it for a few years now (and Dave the Knave has been eying it up for just as long). Jim took it from Sam when Sam’s paladin was dropped like a bad habit by an onslaught of spectres.  Jim fled; poor Sam never got the chance.

I never really thought of it until now, but, rather morbidly, this trophy doesn’t come into play until after the first near-TPK (obviously, if it’s a full-fledged TPK, no one gets it). Along those lines, both of the trophies were handed out early on in both campaigns….

The Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus continues tonight.  We'll see if Jim retains the trophy.

Nobody parties as hard as the Yuan-Ti Abomination!

So, my friends and I have discovered that the Yuan-Ti Abomination really is misunderstood.  Sure, he is a 12-foot tall, chaotic evil monstrosity composed of venomous snakes… but buy the guy a few rounds of the ol’ Hyperion Ale and he’s the life of the party!

Semi-Drunk Rant and Post

So, as the title states, I have a bit of a buzz going on. Not so strong that I can't insert a pic or a link or two, but, well, yeah. We consumed a good bit of alcohol at tonight's game. Good ol' Sam brought some Crown Royal (the bag naturally already being used as his dice bag) and Dave White brought some high-octane Belgium beer.

So another great session tonight. The group headed back to Rappan Athuk after a bit of restocking and spell scribing in Bard's Gate. They described to restart from square one (i.e., dungeon level 1) and that allowed me to bring back some of the RA classics, including the Dung Monster and the Green Gargoyles. They also headed to the Red Jester (from Tome of Horrors II), which I use as a substitute for Sacarcek on level 2. That allowed for some great role-playing and lots of laughs.

Anyhow, no real point to this post other than I have a blast gaming. It bothers me that other folks look down on it. They don't realize what they're missing. It's not the game so much as the fun you get from sharing laughs and dice over a table week after week. It's like a poker night, but unlike the poker night, the group is working together. There is camaraderie (thank you spell check for that one).

Any way, damn I like me some D&D.

Nothing quite like game night

It's been kind of hectic around the ol' home front, so I'm eagerly awaiting tonight's game to blow off some steam. Nothing better than throwing down some beer and letting the dice roll as a way to end the week.

The last two sessions have been kind of lack-luster due to my DMing, but I feel back on my game, as it were, so I anticipate tonight to be a blast. The party plans on staking out an ancient necropolis near Bard's Gate, so I worked up a pretty interesting encounter for that one. Then it's back to Rappan Athuk!