Joel's Scattered Thoughts

Notes on things that interest me

Archive for January, 2006

Jan 28, 2006 AE Campaign 2

Jan 31

Posted by Joel in AE Campaign 2 (RoI), Games | No Comments

I had a couple of different adventures as possibilities. They decided to go with clearing out a tower for the Merchant’s Guild. (Scarlet Tower, Fast Forward Entertainment).

It wasn’t a particularly good adventure – nice enough in that it only took an evening to complete, but short on action or interest. The initial door puzzle provided a bit of entertainment.

Jaimie’s oathsworn was killed by the invisible stalker. This was a mercy killing. Jaimie was sick of playing such a weak character. The oathsworn as written might be interesting as a backup in a large party, but is pretty much useless as a front line fighter, especially in a three player party. If one of my players is interested in playing an oathsworn, I would go with one of the variants on the AE boards or just use a monk from D&D. Jaimie made a ritual warrior as a replacement.

Kayla, Faith’s litorian akashic, made a tremendous search check and found the book holding the passwords for the whole place. It took the PCs some time to figure out what to do with the crystal head. They had some fun once they figured it out. However, they were leery of the summoning circle it was held in and left the circle and the head for the merchant’s guild.

This definitely needed more encounters, puzzles, or other things for the players to do. It might have made a nice investigative adventure, save that there weren’t many clues. As I said, it worked well for an evening’s entertainment and I’ve got a few higher-action possibilities lined up for next time.

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WLD Jan 25, 2006

Jan 28

Posted by Joel in Games, WLD on OpenRPG | No Comments

Present this week were:
* Riamara – loresong faen greenbond
* Cinner – dwarven rogue
* Rosco – deep halfling barbarian
* Valik – dwarven wizard
* Kevgretor – dwarven cleric

A whole group of barghests led by Morat came their way. The barghests didn’t immediately charge into the fray, but instead tried to negotiate with the party. Morat demanded that the party hunt down Menert and Saraas, alive or dead. In exchange he would point the party towards the celestials. The PCs were a little dubious but decided to pretend to cooperate and see what Saraas had to say.

They found Saraas’ barghests manning a barricade. After some back and forth, they called Saraas to talk to the PCs. She asked them if they would serve as her ambassadors to the celestials if she showed them the way. The party decided to go back and kill Morat first.

The party got past Morat’s sentries, then snuck up on some sleeping barghests and coup-de-graced them. They then proceeded to jump the sentries from behind. Miru got in a good blow, then Rosco’s mighty sword killed another barghest. Valik fired off a few magic missiles.

The repeating crossbow proved to be beyond Cinner’s skills. The wounded barghest made a run for the door, but Valik dropped him in his tracks. Riamara froze a barghest with a well-placed icebolt. Miru and Riamara managed to nail another as it tried to flee to the south. The last barghest was destroyed by Rosco’s mighty blade.

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Once again fog issues plagued us. Fog minis work pretty well, but they hide any minis that might be beneath them. This makes adding minis to a covered map a royal pain. I ended up going with the fog layer. I set the players who were having fog issues to GM status. That wasn’t a good solution, but we wasted far too much time to playing with fog minis and trying to get the fog to work.

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Fair election results would tell a different story | Digital Copyright Canada

Jan 26

Posted by Joel in General | No Comments

Fair election results would tell a different story . I’ve often thought about this kind of thing. The trouble is that I’m not sure how elections should be structured to be more representative.

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WLD on OpenRPG Jan 18, 2006

Jan 24

Posted by Joel in Games, WLD on OpenRPG | No Comments

Present this week were:
* Cinner – dwarven rogue
* Rosco – deep halfling barbarian
* Valik – dwarven wizard
* Kevgretor – dwarven cleric
* Miru – human fighter

Cinner spotted some creatures that Valik identified as barghests. As the party prepared to take them on, Miru blew a sneak roll wandering around a hallway. The barghests moved into attack. The first one managed to charm Rosco as Rosco was bracing himself for an attack. Valik hit one with a couple of magic missiles. Cinner whipped a cup at the first barghest.

With the narrow hallway, the fight was awkward. Cinner managed to slash the first barghest. Rosco was chocked that his buddies were fighting. Miru couldn’t get past Cinner and so shouted helpful advice. The barghest’s crushing despair snapped Rosco out of his charmed state. The barghest easily dodged Valik’s flaming sphere.

Cinner moved out of the way, but Rosco’s attack proved ineffective as did the rest of the attacks for the round on both sides. On the next rounds, Rosco’s new sword showed its power by cutting the barghest in two. Miru was a blur as she moved into the room to attack the remaining barghests. With a little of Valik’s magic, she became a giantess.

Rosco’s sword continued to cut through the barghests like cordwood. Cinner managed to crush one’s skull with his attack. At this point, two of the wolf-like creatures had fled down the hallway. After a bit of miscommunication about the door – Miru closed it for defense, then Cinner opened it to pursue – Rosco caught one of the fleeing barghests with a well-thrown dagger.

Cinner scouted around a bend in the hallway and heard a lot of movement headed towards them.

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Valik’s player had to go and as we were down three players at that point we called it a night. It was a fun little fight. Hopefully we get to play longer next week.

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RPG Plot – To Die For Love

Jan 23

Posted by Joel in Games | No Comments

Please don’t follow this link if you’re one of my players. To Die For Love By manfred looks like a lovely plot. Now to see if I can work it into one of my games…

March Upcountry

Jan 14

Posted by Joel in Books | No Comments

An article I was reading linked to a book I enjoyed as a canonical example of bad science fiction. The book is March Upcountry by John Ringo and David Weber. I started wondering what it was about the book that made the article’s author think of it as bad science fiction. Here’s what I’ve come up with.

This isn’t a novel full of deep ideas and shattering concepts. It’s a yarn about a spoiled prince who is stranded on a backwater planet and how he becomes a leader. Mostly it’s an adventure with a bit of a coming-of-age story thrown in. Essentially the same book could have been written a century ago about a prince getting stranded in Africa, or South America, or some other isolated locale. The science fiction bits are largely window dressing rather than essential plot elements. This book is for entertainment. There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read. -G.K. Chesterton

The main protagonist is extremely competent once he gets over being a spoiled rich boy. The story isn’t about the angst he suffers or his various failures, The emotions evoked are primarily about triumph – winning out against the odds by doing your best and surpassing your limitations. Unlike the most of the so-called great literature I was exposed in high school, this isn’t a story about failure, about things going wrong, about despair and hopelessness. Why I like heroic, cinematic, high-magic campaigns: “I already have a place where I can get little recognition for my accomplishments, advance at a very slow pace, and have to work hard to eke out minimum rewards for my efforts. It’s called work.” — toberane.

In sum, if you’re looking for deep thoughts or angst this book will disappoint you. Otherwise it’s a fun, if not particularly deep story.

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WLD on OpenRPG Jan 11, 2006

Jan 13

Posted by Joel in Games, WLD on OpenRPG | No Comments

Present this week were:
* Riamara – loresong faen greenbond
* Cinner – dwarven rogue
* Rosco – deep halfling barbarian
* Valik – dwarven wizard
* Kevgretor – dwarven cleric

Cinner disabled a trap with panache and the party found a guardroom. There was a pressure plate in here that also boomed “READY” and “COMPLETE” in celestial when pressed.

Cinner found a room with some shadows in it and quickly retreated back around the corner. Next he found a room with a shrieker fungus. For some reason he decided to try to burn it with oil. Rosco was watching the next room and spotted a shadow responding to the shrieker’s cries. Riamara blasted the shadow with positive energy, Cinner continued to attack the fungus, and Valik burned both the shadow and the fungus with a flaming sphere. The smell of roast mushroom whetted Cinner and Rosco’s appetites and they helped themselves to roast shrieker.

The party then wandered through a couple of empty rooms before finding one with frescoes of celestials fighting demons and a closet full of cleaning supplies. The next room proved to be full of weapons, armor, and shadows. Kevgretor managed to turn three of the shadows, and the rest of the party destroyed the remaining one. They found a humanoid corpse with a magical sword, and a variety of weapons and armor. Riamara used her improved spellcraft skills to identify the tusk Rosco had been hauling around.

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Short session this week. My kids wouldn’t go to sleep and I was dead tired, so we only played 2 hours instead of the 3 or four we played the last few games.

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Fresh Start: Replace one project

Jan 9

Posted by Joel in General | No Comments

Fresh Start: Replace one project | 43 Folders
looks like a great idea. In short, take one project you’re not doing anything with and replace it with it with one project you’d love to do. Now let’s see if I get around to doing it…

Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’ — Lao Tzu

Most people are too busy to have time for anything important.

Online games and disappearing players

Jan 5

Posted by Joel in Games | No Comments

I’ve been DMing the World’s Largest Dungeon via OpenRPG since October 19, 2005. It’s been a lot of fun. My biggest peeve is disappearing players.

So far I have three of my original players left and two original characters. Two of the newer players joined in six sessions ago and have been attending regularly, the last one just joined two sessions ago. I figure that with six players I can afford to have one or two absent or drop out and even when they’re all there I can still keep up.

The thing that bugs me the most is when players drop off the face of the earth. No email, no notification of any kind – they just stop showing up and don’t respond to my queries. Of the five (?) players that showed up for at least one game and then dropped it, only one let me know he was quitting. The rest don’t even respond to emails, which stinks because if I did something to offend them I’d like to know what it is so that I can fix it. Ah well, at least their disappearances didn’t kill my game.

WLD on OpenRPG Jan 4, 2006

Jan 5

Posted by Joel in Games, WLD on OpenRPG | No Comments

Last night’s game was a lot of fun. Hopefully this is a sign for the new year.

Present this week were:
* Riamara – loresong faen greenbond
* Cinner – dwarven rogue
* Rosco – deep halfling barbarian
* Miru – human fighter
* Valik – dwarven wizard
* Kevgretor – dwarven cleric

Last week the party rested up in the area between regions A and E. Cinner snuck into the first room, followed by a not-so-stealthy Rosco, who was promptly attacked by shadows. Rosco managed to get a shot in but his weapons passed through the shadows without affecting them. Riamara’s icebolt also failed to make contact with the shadows. One of the shadows managed to touch Rosco and drained strength from him. Valik blasted one with a magic missile. Cinner tumbled somewhat clumsily towards the back ranks as Kevgretor failed to turn the creatures. Miru decided to try using the repeating crossbow they had found in the armory.

Rosco withdrew toward the party while Riamara’s crossbow bolt failed to hit a shadow. Valik enchanted Rosco’s club and this time one of the shadows hit Miru. Cinner continued to move towards the back of the party and Kevgretor followed him. Miru used to repeating crossbow to return the favor to the shadow that hit her.

Rosco flailed wildly at the shadow and missed it. Riamara’s icebolt hit the ceiling instead of the shadow. Valik enlarged Rosco while the two shadows missed him and Miru completely. Cinner cast mage armor and prepared his wand of healing while Kevgretor blessed the party. Miru stabbed futilely at the shadow using the magical tusk Rosco had picked up earlier.

The shadow’s incorporeal nature caused Rosco to miss it completely but Riamara nearly destroyed the shadow in front of Miru with a blast of positive energy. The magic users were in fine form as Valik followed up with a blast from his wand of magic missile. A shadow once again pulled strength from Miru, causing her to miss her return swing.

Again, Rosco’s greatclub passed through the shadows without hitting anything. Riamara destroyed one of the shadows with more positive energy. Valik blasted another with a magic missile. The shadows swung ineffectually at Rosco and Miru. Cinner took a turn with the repeating crossbow, but didn’t have any luck. Neither did Miru.

Rosco finally hit a solid blow that rocked the shadow back. Another shadow faded away shrieking as Riamara’s positive energy rends its fabric. The missiles that fired from Valik’s wand blasted the last shadow, leaving it futilely swiping at Rosco for sustenance. Cinner managed to hit it with a bolt from the repeating crossbow, but Miru’s tusk passed through the shadow without making contact.

Once again Rosco’s greatclub battered the air. The shadow struggles to fight off the torrent of positive energy from Riamara, but was returned to the darkness that spawned it!

They barred themselves into a room to recover from the fight and spent a fairly peaceful night. The next morning screams suddenly came from the very air, but didn’t seem to have any other effect. Cinner found a secret door at the end of a small hallway and the party went through it. Cinner found another secret door, leading to a small room with a raised pedestal on which a six-foot metal staff rested. The staff was covered in runes and a brightly glowing orb illuminated it from above. Cinner found some glyph traps which seemed to be targeted at evil creatures. After some debate, Miru just picked up the staff, and nothing happened. After studying the staff, Riamara concluded that it is overwhelmingly powerful and appears to be a warding staff against evil.

They proceeded down the hallway towards a buzzing sound. Cinner opened the door from which the buzzing came and was greeted by a swarm of hellwasps. Rosco quickly leaped forward and slammed the door shut again before the hellwasp swarm could escape. Cinner wanted to try and smoke it out, but the rest of the party showed no interest in such a conflict.

They found a trapped and heavily locked door. As Cinner fiddled with the lock, he triggered the trap a couple of times, but finally got through. The room turned out to be a barracks with neatly made beds and a pressure plate on the wall. When Cinner pushed the plate, a booming voice said “READY” in Celestial. When he pushed it again, the voice boomed “COMPLETE.” This seemed like a safe place to rest, so the party turned in for the night.

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Tonight’s game was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, version 1.6.3 of OpenRPG still has fog issues. Guess I’ll keep using fog minis. I did figure out a way to speed up the use of fog minis, so that’s something. I loved the reaction to the hellwasp swarm – I managed to pull the fog minis out of the way to reveal it just as the PCs opened the door and gave them quite a shock. The fight with the shadows was tough, but it gave the magic users a chance to shine.

Now the PCs need to figure out why the voice booms “READY” and “COMPLETE”, what the staff is for, and how they’re going to get out of here.

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