A not-terribly-interesting update

Short roundup of what's happening in game world.

Den - the one-shot adventure I am running for a group of 4e novices - has gone well.  They've survived a horrible cult, a deranged halfling priestess and a selection of misguided mushroom people.  They've also acquired a meteorite shard of dubious origin and rescued most of the people they set out to rescue.  Result all around I'd say.  Even better is that the group wants to continue.  Makes me happy. 

Tombs I are confronting one of the more irritating opponents the Tomb of Horrors has to offer.  A gargoyle that turns itself back into impervious stone when you hit it hard enough.  Alas for them, it guards the way to their ultimate quarry, so they are currently surrounding it and waiting for it to come back to life long enough for them to hit it.

Tombs II are engaged in negotiations with a group of pirates as they attempt to make their way to Sigil.  Slaad eggs are involved.  Their tiefling warlord has been notably inventive.  It was her plan to take a brass band and mercenaries to a dock to create a large-scale distraction. 

Our home game is approaching a climactic encounter.  We get to play tonight and I'm looking forward to it.  This is a campaign devised and run by my son, so we're making the most of him before he vanishes into exam hell.

On the practical front, washing machine loaded with bloodstained shirts (fake blood, which I'm assured comes out with pre-washing, although I have my doubts).

Planning session for next years Youth Theatre productions.  With a team of two, it's extremely difficult to get all 150+ members on stage every year, so I think we may have to think again about how we do this.  And find plays.

What else?  Oh, yes.  Replace the burst tire.  Leaving the boot depot of dreams yesterday, I managed to burst a tire and ended up waiting for the AA in a garage forecourt while they fitted the temporary wheel.  All was well and the necessarily slow journey home was rather therapeutic.  Driving through the Dales in the rain is remarkably beautiful.  Soul food - which let's face it, I probably needed.

Back to the games and other trivia

Ah Crivelli.  One of my favourite artists.  His fruit obsession is a source of joy.  Anyway, an image of a Mother for the day.  One who bears precisely no resemblence to me.

Shush.

I should be at the theatre and will be in about half an hour.  Overslept.

However, it is Mother's Day.  I am a Mother.  Therefore it is decreed that as a  Mother I can have on this day an hour to do what I want.  Which is update games.  So I did.  So there.

And where are they now, those brave gamers of mine?

Well, it's all fairly exciting.

Tombs I are embarking on the epic fight against their fully-equipped, fully-rested evil selves.  From experience, this is a very tough one.  See here for why. 

Tombs II are busy concocting an elaborate and wondrous plan to raid a Gith pirate ship.  This involves incompetent mercenaries, a small band and a missing otyugh.

Lost City are dealing with Trignotarb succession issues on the one hand and a gigantic spider with nasty young on the other.  In both cases, the tool of choice is violence.  Team Spider are also getting to know the oklu - as strange servitor race with interesting powers.

Den of the Slave Takers have met the Slave Takers and are trying to get far enough into the nasty temple of Torog to rescue the prisoners. 

All normal stuff in fact, but I am happy to be back to more regular updating.

In other news, my Twelfth Night costume does not make me look like a light-fitting.  It is made of upholstery fabric and feels suitably heavy and good although I'm dimly aware that I may resemble a short, fat armchair from the back.

Today I learn to climb stairs in a long, full skirt, up a vertical ladder and down again.   This will be entertaining.  Or not.

Awardage went hilariously awry.  Many of my nominees were also nominated by other nominees leading to a sort of knock out effect.  It doesn't help that Google has taken it upon itself to prune my reading list.  Apologies to all concerned.

Splitting the party - everybody's doing it

Suddenly I'm not running four games.  Now I'm running seven.

Since the Lost City party decided to split up, the Tombs II team have followed suit.

There are valid reasons for those choices, but I now find myself attempting to run consecutive combats for Lost City.  This morning I made a crucial error when I thought one party member was dealing with Trignotarb royalty when in fact he was supposed to be several miles away fighting a spider invasion.

So far I haven't stuffed up the Tombs II  group who are mercifully  not in combat right now.  They however, have upped the ante yet again by splitting themselves into three groups.  Again, they have valid reasons.

At this rate, multiple personality disorder may be beckoning.

If the Den of the Slave Takers party decide to follow the trend I'll really worry. Luckily Tombs I have no good reason to split that I can see, but I may be underestimating them.

Party time

A quick canter through the ongoing adventures of my various PbP games - as much for my own benefit as any dubious interest it may have for the casual reader.

The Tombs teams are both at a crossroads.  In the case of Group II, they have plunged through a portal and ended up in an alleyway stinking of fish.  Amazingly (and indeed for the first time ever), nobody is attacking them.


Group I are about to embark on the dispatching the architect of the Tomb of Horrors.  They have to get there first, which is an endeavour in itself.  Or should be.  I've already run this scenario with Group II and it was pretty tough for them. 

Group II comprise a well-bred tiefling warlord (almost certainly educated at Roedean), a lecherous wizard, a kickass halfling monk, a half-elf assassin and a rather insecure paladin. 

Group I have a serious masked avenger, a lunatic half-elf invoker, a deva attempting to atone for a lifetime as a rakshasa, a half-orc rogue raised by dwarves and a hobgoblin battlemind who moves like a tiger on vaseline.  With a flail. 

One of the joys of running the same adventure for two separate parties is watching the way they approach the same challenges entirely differently.

The Lost City gang have done something I would normally frown upon as it's generally reckoned insane.  They have split their eight strong party into two.  One bunch are dabbling in insect politics, while the other lot have discovered a bizarre race living in the ruins.  Both groups have a lot of information to take in and some interesting stuff to do.  I'm thoroughly intrigued to know how this will work out.

With four per group, it's probably not as crazy as it might sound to split up.  Plus, they're all good players and know the risks.  From my GMing perspective, it makes a lot of sense as between them they can pick up twice as much plot and information and it allows the individual characters a little more shine time - hard to manage with eight.

The 4e taster game (Den of the Slave Takers) is rattling along.  They sluiced through the first encounter with considerable ease and are about to enter the mushroomy depths of a crazed halfling priestess's hideout. 

Frankly, I'm agog with all of it. 

Where are they now?

Time for a brief update on what has happened to my hapless adventuring groups.

NOTE THAT THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE FOR ANY TOMBS II READERS

Tombs I are possibly forging an unlikely alliance.  Talking weaponry is chancy stuff.  I haven't played an artifact in a while and given the circumstances of how they found the thing, and its treatment of its previous owner, the party are probably right to be cautious.  All I will say is that wrapping it up in a dwarf's blanket is a definite affront to its dignity.

Tombs II are splashing through the shallows and confronting a slightly deranged eladrin water mage.  She isn't pleased to see them and is doing her utmost to drive them all into the enticing but mind-devouring mist.  So far she hasn't succeeded, but this combat is in its early stages yet.

The Lost City crew have been rejoined  by their rogue chum.  He arrived just in time to miss the bust-up with the tunnel-visioned glass golems.  Since then they've been wandering the (mercifully dry) sewer system and have passed up a chance to visit a market in favour of invading some inverted gardens.  Whether this is a good idea or not remains to be seen, but that's sandbox adventures for you.  The insectoid life forms have introduced themselves by showering hungry larvae in their general direction.  Communication may yet be possible, but getting their cleric out of the grip of the outsize flying wasp/spider thing is the current priority.  Otherwise there is a good chance that their healer will be eaten alive from the inside.

Just how good are 4e pcs compared to 4e monsters?

Warning:  Possible spoilers for Tombs I

Some of the Tombs I players read this thing and I don't want to give too much away, but I've got a truly interesting fight going on right now.  The group in Tombs II are busy fighting two of their number and are finding it tough.  So am I.

They are meeting exact replicas of themselves with a full set of powers and equipment.  That's complex enough before you even go into the mechanics of it.  Today has been a feast of immediate interrupts and immediate reactions.  Since this is the one and only outing of the false characters, they (unlike the real things) have no need to nurse their powers and can let rip with all the best stuff at their disposal.  Amazingly, I'm rolling well enough to make that a good threat.

While that is satisfying in itself, of course (thank you, GM dice), it's also interesting how powerful they are compared to the average monster.  Now, I knew this in an abstract way, but it's very interesting to see it in practice.  I'm also incredibly glad that not all fights work out like this.  The sheer volume of stuff to remember and things to do to get the best from these particular monsters is daunting.  Don't forget that this is using a system which makes it comparatively easy to do. 

Back when I started playing D&D using the AD&D system, creating monsters was a nightmare.  Well, actually, it wasn't a nightmare as I was a very antisocial teenager and spending hours creating monsters and dungeons nobody would ever play was just fine.  I could think of very few better ways to spend the summer holidays.  At that time (and onwards into other iterations of D&D as far as I'm aware), creating a high level magic user or fighter or paladin on the enemy team meant creating a character and knowing it well enough to run it.  Inevitably I'd forget to cast some vital spell and kaboom, end of encounter.  Alternatively, I overcooked them and kaboom, end of party. 

Now, however, time is a luxury I don't have so much of and the simplicity of creating and running suitable encounters is vastly easier with 4e.  It's also possible to run a paragon level character you don't know the details of and make it threat without too much preparation.  That is a robust system.

I need to remember this for the future.  Next time I want to really challenge a party, I may just hit character builder and see what I get.

Gamery updates

Coming to the end of another week and I realised I haven't done an update on the games I'm running for a while.  Our home game is canceled this week, so I'll just have to indulge myself online while Itigiak and his spirit weasel wait in gaming limbo to track down the missing portal.

Online, however, things are ongoing.  My gadget-Queen rogue, Angalia, is sobbing over the body of her fallen friend and hoping someone knows more about healing than her and can save his life.  She is the only character I'm playing under any non-4e system at the moment - and I hasten to point out there is no prejudice.  I've had Savage Worlds, Swords and Wizardry, Arcana Unearthed, 3.5 and Pathfinder characters at various times, but the games have all died.  I swear it isn't my fault. 

However it comes about, Angalia is the sole representative of anything non-4e at the moment and she is not a very awesome example.  In combat with a deformed and extremely evil Surgeon, she rolled almost nothing above a 6.  Even with combat advantage and sneak attack, that's not going to do very much.  On the plus side, she rolls extremely high when looking for ingredients.  It may not be enough to keep her alive.

My other online PCs are mostly on hiatus or in slow games and I don't need to worry about them at the moment.  The games I'm running are also in a mixed state. 

Halls of the Mountain King is just about at the turning point of their climactic battle.  I suspect the party are about to turn things around for themselves in a major way now they've eradicated some of the irritating artillery.  They are keeping a decent set of effects on the Big Bad (now Big Bads as he split into two different entities when bloodied) and trying to finish off the taunting devils who keep making them drop their weapons (a sweet power, thank you Open Design).  I have a few tricks left up my sleeve and am hopeful I may manage to drop one of them at least.

Once they're done there, we'll move on to The Lost City which I've been pruning judiciously.  Mostly this pruning will apply to maps and generally empty areas.  I'm also trying to get ahead of myself by sorting out some treasure parcels in advance.  This is good DMG advice and I never do it.  I forget and then realise my parties are grossly under-equipped.  At this point treasure arrives in a mysterious glittering heap for some vaguely concocted reason.  My aim this time is to make the process smoother and more organic for myself and the players.  We are using the inherent bonus system, which means I can plunder the more amusing magic items with impunity as they will never be catastrophically out of whack with the encounters.  I know all too well how easy it is to get bogged down with upgrading mainstay kit, but personally I love the crazy knick-knacks more.  Enterprising players get some unexpected uses out of them as well.

Tombs I are about to enter the old Tomb of Horrors site in Skull City - recent victim of a cataclysm, but still containing some dangers.  Tombs II are investigating one of said dangers and have spent a lot of time this week splashing across a shallow pool.  In both situations the parties know something terrible will happen to them, but they don't know what it is or when it will strike.  In game terms, this tends to slow things down as they take all the precautions they can reasonably think of.  My job, really, is to hit the starter button and throw something at them before they get too bored.

Rune Stones are mid-battle with a batch of Cylopes.  They've turned out to be a lot of fun as I suddenly realised they were slightly Jeevsian in outlook.  Accustomed to tending the whims of fruitloop fomorians, they treat the PCs like philosophical nannies while attempting to mallet them to death. 

Gaming update - possible spoilers for players - be warned.

I mentioned I have four campaigns running.  That's a little  misleading, as one of them is the same campaign with two different groups, but that's still a lot of updating and dice rolling.  Anyway, this is what is happening to them all right now.  Note that PbP time is not time as we know it.  Halls has been running for nearly two years, Tombs I and II just over a year and Rune Stones for three and a half years.  In game time, mere weeks have passed, if that.  Oh, except for Rune Stones where a trip to the Feywild took twelve years. 

Halls of the Mountain King - the party have just started their climactic final battle with Mammon and his forces.  They have been exploring a mountain full of cursed gold and done rather well so far. They've even managed not to get cursed themselves, despite being in the presence of more gold than any of them have ever seen.  To put this in perspective, adventurers everywhere ALWAYS need gold.  They need it to to buy cool stuff, which is a way of keeping score - since in RPGs you don't really win, you just don't die.  For this group to pass up the chance of acquiring enough gold to buy pretty much any magic thingbob they could ever want is nothing short of amazing.

That said, the battle is not going that well for them and they may yet die horribly, if heroically.  I'm hoping my team (the monsters) continue to roll well and make them suffer for their victory.  Or preferably wipe them out and leave Mammon grinning as he starts to take over the known world from his new base in Mount Rygar.

Tomb of Horrors (I and II)
Group I have been behind Group 2 for a while but both are now in Skull City.  Group I came under serious fire and came as close as they've ever been to a TPK (Total party kill).  They're recovering and hunting for a safe place to rest for a while.  Such will be difficult to find, given that they're in the middle of a city full of fractious undead factions.  Group II are finding out about the undead up close and personal elsewhere.  One of them has contracted a nasty disease in the process. 

Rune Stones
This has been evolving for a long time and the plot is multi-layered.  Due to player loss, the group are meeting their new front line fighter and making plans to invade a mine infested with crazed giants. 

All in a days work for RPGs.  The only place on earth you'll hear someone say something like "Akahale searches the squalid bedding for bones" and it will make sense rather than assuming a psychiatrist is needed immediately.