I just ran across this web comic. I normally don't give a fig for web comics, but this is brilliant. My Monday morning is already in shambles because of reading it.
I found out about it because I'm supporting the Goblin Quest Kickstarter. You should get in on this - it looks outstanding.
Pass it on.
Also, I'm re-reading all the classic HPLovecraft. My game is going to get seriously dark.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Session Report: The Aldsburg Chronicles [A1]
...in which the players create new PCs as a group and decide the Undercity is bad news...
Rebooting Aldsburg
While there were some good moments in the new campaign one of the things that kept coming up was party in-fighting about the morality of actions. In my heavy metal gritty pulp adventure setting this is really really boring for me to run and, honestly, taking away from the tone of badass adventurers looking for lost treasure, causing social mayhem, and generally being "adventury". So while we were grilling before the game on Sunday, I proposed that we shelf the existing characters (low level anyway) and as a group come up with a new party. There was a bit of grumbling, but everyone agreed. Phew.
Group Party and Character Creation
While we were enjoying excellent food grilled by J. and a fantastic tomato feta basil salad made by my kick-ass wife I asked the players to figure out what kind of party they would like. Don't worry about character classes or what they want to play specifically, but what kind of game they want to have - starting with the tone and style of party. A lot of italics there, but I also stressed that this is going to help drive the overall game experience for these guys. After some false starts, they got into it. Way into it. My only guidelines were that I don't want to run a game for evil characters (I don't find that particularly fun) and they need to work within the existing Aldsburg Campaign.
The group decided they were going to be some "underworld businessmen". A little smuggling, some light racketeering, perhaps offer a bit of protection to a group of working ladies of the "seamstress guild", adventuring for profit, maybe some simple mercenary work. The group is definitely not evil (a bit morally ambiguous and that is fine) and has some specific types of activities that they get into.
Everyone then proceeded to roll dice and create characters.
As the character were made, I started asking players about other player's characters. Everyone got to declare a "Damn True Fact" about someone else. E for example declared that J's character (Alois) was unable to not purchase fruit when he come across it - the guy just loves fruit. B declared the M's character was stolen from his real parents who later killed his "adoptive" parents but then abandoned him because he was already "raised broken". It was fantastic. I made notes as we went and handed out some small bonuses based on what the players said about the other characters - small bumps to skills, that sort of thing. We also set up the relationships this way. It was pretty awesome. And, most importantly, in the end we had a cohesive party.
HackMaster is a tough game and I have no problems letting PCs get in way over their heads and die off. When new characters come on board, they are going to come into an established group of characters and the player can work within that framework. This should smooth things out and make the game move along at a good clip.
Also the four players ended up making a party that contains 1 cleric, 1 fighter, 1 mage, and 1 thief. Gawds Bless the Old School.
Player Generated Rumors!
One thing I've been wanting to do for a while (and started this campaign) was to have players generate rumors about what is going on and base adventures on that. A lot more of me winging it, which is tough, but I love it. More importantly, though, it brings in more thoughts and plots and we now have 5 people (4 players and 1 GM) generating things afoot in the city rather than just me. In the end these are rumors and may have nothing to do with the truth, but it gets things moving.
Players have the ability to go on the type of adventure they want and everyone is more into it. And and and it makes the city feel more alive and dynamic, which is fucking great. If you want to read them check out my previous post.
A Brief Adventure to find Loot
It turns out that investigating an abandoned bakery that is haunted and no one has ever returned from and finding piles of gold and jewels is beyond tempting to a bunch of adventurers. Top Notch.
The post is getting long, so a few highlights.
Good session - I really liked the way the group character building went. Also, the rumors the players are coming up with are kicking ass! Sweet Zombie Jesus I love it when a campaign comes together.
Rebooting Aldsburg
While there were some good moments in the new campaign one of the things that kept coming up was party in-fighting about the morality of actions. In my heavy metal gritty pulp adventure setting this is really really boring for me to run and, honestly, taking away from the tone of badass adventurers looking for lost treasure, causing social mayhem, and generally being "adventury". So while we were grilling before the game on Sunday, I proposed that we shelf the existing characters (low level anyway) and as a group come up with a new party. There was a bit of grumbling, but everyone agreed. Phew.
Group Party and Character Creation
 |
| What our game looked like except we had more beer and were louder. Image from http://digital-art-gallery.com/picture/4639 |
The group decided they were going to be some "underworld businessmen". A little smuggling, some light racketeering, perhaps offer a bit of protection to a group of working ladies of the "seamstress guild", adventuring for profit, maybe some simple mercenary work. The group is definitely not evil (a bit morally ambiguous and that is fine) and has some specific types of activities that they get into.
Everyone then proceeded to roll dice and create characters.
As the character were made, I started asking players about other player's characters. Everyone got to declare a "Damn True Fact" about someone else. E for example declared that J's character (Alois) was unable to not purchase fruit when he come across it - the guy just loves fruit. B declared the M's character was stolen from his real parents who later killed his "adoptive" parents but then abandoned him because he was already "raised broken". It was fantastic. I made notes as we went and handed out some small bonuses based on what the players said about the other characters - small bumps to skills, that sort of thing. We also set up the relationships this way. It was pretty awesome. And, most importantly, in the end we had a cohesive party.
HackMaster is a tough game and I have no problems letting PCs get in way over their heads and die off. When new characters come on board, they are going to come into an established group of characters and the player can work within that framework. This should smooth things out and make the game move along at a good clip.
Also the four players ended up making a party that contains 1 cleric, 1 fighter, 1 mage, and 1 thief. Gawds Bless the Old School.
Player Generated Rumors!
One thing I've been wanting to do for a while (and started this campaign) was to have players generate rumors about what is going on and base adventures on that. A lot more of me winging it, which is tough, but I love it. More importantly, though, it brings in more thoughts and plots and we now have 5 people (4 players and 1 GM) generating things afoot in the city rather than just me. In the end these are rumors and may have nothing to do with the truth, but it gets things moving.
Players have the ability to go on the type of adventure they want and everyone is more into it. And and and it makes the city feel more alive and dynamic, which is fucking great. If you want to read them check out my previous post.
A Brief Adventure to find Loot
It turns out that investigating an abandoned bakery that is haunted and no one has ever returned from and finding piles of gold and jewels is beyond tempting to a bunch of adventurers. Top Notch.
The post is getting long, so a few highlights.
- Someone fell through a rotting floor.
- Everyone went through the hole.
- They found a temple to the dark daemon-god Axterlix (an aspect of the most fearsome and vile Demogorgon).
- A worshiper (identified later as Larissa, companion of the adventurer mage Titus Crow) was found speared to the wall.
- After some puttering two monstrous beast men were encountered and fought. Apparently they are "orcs".
- Secret door, stairs into the undercity.
- Fought some weird skeletons attached to wires and metal rods that went into the ceiling.
- Some wandering revealed a portcullis the party could not open.
- More orcs on the way and seeing the skeletons being rebuilt (and it was getting real-life late) the party bailed.
Good session - I really liked the way the group character building went. Also, the rumors the players are coming up with are kicking ass! Sweet Zombie Jesus I love it when a campaign comes together.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Rumors from Aldsburg
These are generated from the players in my group from the game on September 7, 2014. I'm writing them up and just adding a bit of detail where appropriate, but all credit goes to the players!
(1) In the shantytown outside of the tower there is a particular hovel (looks like all the others) that is offering up high end drugs. I heard that some nobles are even wandering down to slum a bit and partake in these rare treats. Sounds like a prime target for some robbery.
(2) The Red Shield mercenaries have been taking over territory from the Magnolia Street Runners. The interesting part is that Cid, one of the leaders of the MSR Council, is apparently thinking about defecting and might need some protection. Could be very lucrative.
(3) Some adventurer named Henderson has been hanging about at the Red Spot yammering about exploring the Undercity by an entrance on Dexter Street. He said he saw some small green freaks that were wielding blades of steel. Actual Steel! Steel weapons are worth a pretty penny and, perhaps more-so, would be an awesome status symbol.
(4) Old Brighound sais that Clarissa's Praetoria were cracking down on the religious types in Wormwood Scrub. Wouldn't matter too much but a mutual mate of Brighound and me got roughed up and I sort of owe him a favor. Also, what the hell doesn't Clariss's guard care about the fanatics in Wormwood?
(5) Murders most foul! One thing for sure is that there have been more murders recently - and weird ones at that. People waking up next to their dead husband or parents finding all of their children with their throats cut. Some folks say that Footpads of Kane (Kane being a dark god of Murder) are aligned with the freaking ratmen in the Undercity. This is bad.
(6) Found scrawled in many places around the city written by many hands: "Death is Coming". That is freaky if it isn't just a damn prank.
(7) Over in the Tumbledowns someone has been bum rushing the itinerants - busting in on them in the middle of the night, beating them, dragging them into the street, shitting and pissing on them, and stealing what little they have. Who would do that? We could make some good contacts if we helped out, I'm sure.
(8) Abandoned/Haunted Bakery - haunted, none have returned. Gold and jewels. Hella Yea! Like 20 years ago there was a free halfling family living there and then one night the wife took an axe and went all bloodbath murder-hobo on her wife and two kids! Even after she was hung they say that the ghosts of her husband and kids still attack any who enter. Also, they were rich as hell - hence the gold and jewels. Rich pissed off ghosts.
(9) There have been some nasty rumors that a cult worshiping one of the Old Gods and is trying to summon demons to do their bidding. Fucking wizards are no good! We can't let some demons start causing trouble in our town. Hell No! We should find this cult and kick their asses and smash their stuff and take all of their loot. You know - for the good of Lions Teeth Tower and All of Aldsburg.
(1) In the shantytown outside of the tower there is a particular hovel (looks like all the others) that is offering up high end drugs. I heard that some nobles are even wandering down to slum a bit and partake in these rare treats. Sounds like a prime target for some robbery.
(2) The Red Shield mercenaries have been taking over territory from the Magnolia Street Runners. The interesting part is that Cid, one of the leaders of the MSR Council, is apparently thinking about defecting and might need some protection. Could be very lucrative.
(3) Some adventurer named Henderson has been hanging about at the Red Spot yammering about exploring the Undercity by an entrance on Dexter Street. He said he saw some small green freaks that were wielding blades of steel. Actual Steel! Steel weapons are worth a pretty penny and, perhaps more-so, would be an awesome status symbol.
(4) Old Brighound sais that Clarissa's Praetoria were cracking down on the religious types in Wormwood Scrub. Wouldn't matter too much but a mutual mate of Brighound and me got roughed up and I sort of owe him a favor. Also, what the hell doesn't Clariss's guard care about the fanatics in Wormwood?
(5) Murders most foul! One thing for sure is that there have been more murders recently - and weird ones at that. People waking up next to their dead husband or parents finding all of their children with their throats cut. Some folks say that Footpads of Kane (Kane being a dark god of Murder) are aligned with the freaking ratmen in the Undercity. This is bad.
(6) Found scrawled in many places around the city written by many hands: "Death is Coming". That is freaky if it isn't just a damn prank.
(7) Over in the Tumbledowns someone has been bum rushing the itinerants - busting in on them in the middle of the night, beating them, dragging them into the street, shitting and pissing on them, and stealing what little they have. Who would do that? We could make some good contacts if we helped out, I'm sure.
(8) Abandoned/Haunted Bakery - haunted, none have returned. Gold and jewels. Hella Yea! Like 20 years ago there was a free halfling family living there and then one night the wife took an axe and went all bloodbath murder-hobo on her wife and two kids! Even after she was hung they say that the ghosts of her husband and kids still attack any who enter. Also, they were rich as hell - hence the gold and jewels. Rich pissed off ghosts.
(9) There have been some nasty rumors that a cult worshiping one of the Old Gods and is trying to summon demons to do their bidding. Fucking wizards are no good! We can't let some demons start causing trouble in our town. Hell No! We should find this cult and kick their asses and smash their stuff and take all of their loot. You know - for the good of Lions Teeth Tower and All of Aldsburg.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Enemies of Man: The Chain Roach [EoM_5]
First up, the original idea is from this awesome blog. Something really struck me about how absolutely horrible these things would be. I thought I'd HackMaster it up a bit because damn right the Chain Roach is going to show up in Eradu (likely deep in the Undercity of Aldsburg or possibly rampage in the streets of the Aldsburg Warrens. Who even knows anymore!).
| The Chain Roach [Hacked] When roaches are swarming over the corpse of some fallen being slick with the oiled resedue of magic (a gobbet of quivering flesh from the Patchwork or that 5th level mage you loved so much) there is the occasional shard of shadow for the Patchwork that binds the things together. They grow immense (for roaches at least) and are connected to each other ass-to-mouth in descending size. They slither along like centipedes but their true nature is much more foul. | 
image stolen from some blog
where it was uncredited |
|
CHAIN ROACH HP: 10+4d6 Size: Small / 20# Tenacity: Fearless Intelligence: non Fatigue: n/a Move: walk 15/run 25 Save: P+5 M+0 D+2 Init: -2 Speed: 10 Atk: +5 Damage: disgust & disease Def: +0 DR: 4 (10 Crushing) Number Appearing: 1-6 Chance in Lair: 0% Frequency: Rare Alignment: Non Vision: poor Awareness: vibration Habitat: filthy underground Diet: every damn thing Ogranization: Swarm Climate: all but arctic Yield: Nothing XP: 67 |
Combat A successful "attack" by a roach chain means the damnable thing has climbed onto you searching for whatever morsels it can find. Character must make a saving throw vs Poison (vs d20p+max chain roach HP) or be frozen with disgust. An attempt every 5 seconds can be made to throw the thing off with a successful Feat of Strength (vs d20p + (max roach HP/5)). Any physical attacks against a roach chain climbing on someone will hit the character 50% of the time (no matter if the chain roach is hit or not, including attacks from the character being climbed on). A character can make an unarmed attack (-4 to hit) to grab it giving them a +5 to their FoS to rip the damn thing off. Worse than all that, the things are diseased. Roll 1d6 to determine what kind. 1-3: Black Rash 4-5: Flesh Rot 6: Plague Starting with the first second a character is crawled on and every 10 second thereafter they are exposed to whatever nasty bug the nasty bugs are carrying. There is a (max roach HP)% chance of being exposed - use the specific disease for communicability and severity rolls. Habitat They live in underground filth. Sewers, dungeon, that sort of thing. Rumors that some swamps have them is unverified, but we wou;dn't be surprised. Giant Roach Chain? Nasty. Ecology These are creatures of the Underworld. They eat and grow until they die. Rumors of Scarf Roaches double the size (20+8d6 HP) that have strange scraps of metal as part of their weirdness have been reported as well. These fuckers actually do damage 1d3 per hit ignoring DR. Each wound increases the chance of disease exposure by 10%. |
Monday, August 25, 2014
Session Report: The Worldgod Campaign [Island of Storms]
...wherein a great plot is revealed and the party chooses their fate...
The Party
Yurg - violent thief with a penchant for poison and vulgarity
Black Wilder - a low level thief making his way toward greatness
Wolfgang - a Cleric of the Insurgent One finding himself through battle
Darvik Who Is Tarlon - A mage reveling in his power and fighting corruption
Kyle - a stalwart warrior/thief struggling with leadership and Chen (his bow)
The Setup
It had been quite some time since the group had gotten together to play, so a quick recap.
The party was on a mission to kill the World God (who would eventually destroy the world and likely everything in the cosmos since it was a huge space demon that was trapped in the center of their world and strange minions of evil had been trying to free it plus there were some Beholders From Space, known as the Greyjax, that were also causing some problems). They were following a previously undiscovered prophecy that they must travel in the footsteps of their previous lives to defeat this wickedness - first stop the Island of Storms to kill the Great Storm Serpent Aloo who, as fate would have it, was already slain by their previous lives.
After having landed and dealt with catpeople ghosts, wereboar samurai, a torrential never ending storm, a water elemental, and an army of undead (who now stand scattered around the forest waiting for someone to enter) the party found an old Legion of the Phoenix camp and settled in for the night. The map indicating that the cave led to where they wanted to go.
As they camped a something, a gigantic spider by all accounts, whispered taunts and offered deals to everyone on watch. Through conversation it was discovered that the creature worshiped Claire. The story of Claire is an entire other blog post, but briefly: old party member, spider mage, was in love with Tarlon, suffered many backlash aberrations, was stoned by a basilisk and left behind, later to be found lost, has tormented the party for YEARS.
The sun has risen, the storm has stirred up, and the party is ready for spider mayhem. The players are suitably nervous.
Adventure Highlights
After avoiding a log trap and a pit (100' down, spikes in an unknown depth of water with something living in it) the party stood in a large cave and encountered the first of the Spider Cult Goblins. The little bugger was painted black and white and had gemstones attached to his head to look more like a spider. He becked the adventurers forward saying "peace" and "she calls".
Of course it was an ambush. The party laid waste to the goblins in short order because, well, they are a 9th level party and there were only a few goblins (4 melee, 3 with bows). Of course the problem was the fact that everythign the goblins had was covered in some crazy debilitating poison.
After taking a few captives and exploring a bit more the party came across a huge barrier built into the caves. Heading back to where their captives were they found them being devoured by huge terrier-sized spiders. Battle ensued and exploration of the other tunnel.
The adventurers came across a chamber with 6 of these huge spiders guarding what appeared to be a gigantic egg sack filled with hundreds of these huge spiders (some help from a special item let them in on the specifics). It was decided to burn this shit to the ground. Darvik pulled out his wand of Zeus and let loose with a huge chain lighting wide bolt at full strength. The results were dramatic.
While the initial group of gigantic spiders was killed in a single stroke of the wand the huge egg sack split open spilling hundreds of the eight-legged horrors into the chamber. While the egg sack did burst into flames there was still a tsunami of giant spiders rushing the party. The battle was terrifying and if it weren't for Darvik and his wand it was likely going to go poorly. Standing amidst a chamber full of smoking spider corpses the party made various faces of disgust and walked away back to the barrier. Having luck with the wand it was then used to demolish the huge barrier as well. Best magic item ever.
After making the previously encountered goblin their bitch (the thing was terrified of the adventuring party and no amount of religious fervor was going to change that) it led them to the temple where they worshiped Claire.
A huge statue to Claire was carved from the very rock itself and a moment later the party was engaged in a heated battle with two spider-headed trolls. It could have gone otherwise, but hell - who doesn't want to kill trolls! As the battle raged on the enormous pony-sized spider that had been taunting them the night before made an appearance and started ... wait for it ... casting spells! It was ON!
As Black Wilder learned first hand that a troll doesn't die just because you cut his head off a wall of ice appeared separating Darvik from the rest of the group. The battle raged on as much was revealed. Claire still loved Darvik who is Tarlon and asked her to come away with him. She had seen the face of the World God and he had shown her things. Claire had set all these things in motion by traveling the gates back and forward in time to lay clues and paths to bring them here just so she could be with Tarlon. If he would show his loyalty by helping her destroy his companions they could travel to another cosmos - abandon this one to the Xinthian and rule entire worlds together. She pulled him into her weird spider arms and wanted to seal the deal with a kiss.
Important: This was a huge culmination of years of role playing. B had to make a choice that could end the campaign once and for all with a massive TPK which would have been epic. This exact offer with a known NPC for exactly what the character wanted more than anything was a Hard Choice (HM is agame of hard choices). As I chatted with B in the secret meeting I told him that we would rejoin the group and he would get to describe the scene. Even I didn't know which way he would choose.
As the battle raged on the giant spell casting spider an army of skeletons, and two badass trolls were beating the hell out of the adventurers. Yurg was flying around with his magic ring and stabbing folks, Kyle waded in and was doing his best to protect and slaughter, even Wolfgang was using his hammer with great effectiveness ... but everyhting stopped as the ice wall fell.
Tarlon, embraced in the numerous legs of Claire leaned in and kissed her deeply. There was an audible gasp from the other players. As the freaky make-out session continued the mage pulled his wand of Zeus and, point blank, blew a hole into the spider mage who loved him...
The battle petered out after that and it was a mop-up. Yurg had managed to coup de grace Claire and was flying around with her severed head. Darvik was shouting that "Evil will never triumph!" and the rest of the party was trying to take care of monster-based business. There was a LOT of fire.
With the battle ended, the party moved deeper into the temple and discovered the Gate that Claire had told Darvik of. After much debate to go to the City of Portals, Midian, or the Machine Core itself they chose to move directly into confrontation with the worldgod itself. The Gate Key vibrating and demanding action, it was placed and the gate began to open ...
Summary & GM Notes
Well ... that could not have gone better! Everyone had a blast including me. There was danger and choices that decided the fate of campaign and awesome fighting and the return and vanquishing of a villain who has plagued the party for years (about 5 years of real life). Having a game like this reminds me why I love this hobby. The party is off to the Machine Core to try and deal with the World God. They still aren't entirely sure what they are going to do or how they are going to do it, but it should be excellent.
I need to get painting and get the minis ready for these games. While I'm damn happy to be bringing this epic campaign to a close, I already know I'm going to miss these characters and the setting. The Aldsburg campaign is fun and going to be the go-to for some time, but I think this campaign will be the crown jewel of my gaming career ... at least until I come up with another idea this fun (and have the ability to pull it off).
Damn that was a great session!
The Party
Yurg - violent thief with a penchant for poison and vulgarity
Black Wilder - a low level thief making his way toward greatness
Wolfgang - a Cleric of the Insurgent One finding himself through battle
Darvik Who Is Tarlon - A mage reveling in his power and fighting corruption
Kyle - a stalwart warrior/thief struggling with leadership and Chen (his bow)
The Setup
It had been quite some time since the group had gotten together to play, so a quick recap.
The party was on a mission to kill the World God (who would eventually destroy the world and likely everything in the cosmos since it was a huge space demon that was trapped in the center of their world and strange minions of evil had been trying to free it plus there were some Beholders From Space, known as the Greyjax, that were also causing some problems). They were following a previously undiscovered prophecy that they must travel in the footsteps of their previous lives to defeat this wickedness - first stop the Island of Storms to kill the Great Storm Serpent Aloo who, as fate would have it, was already slain by their previous lives.
After having landed and dealt with catpeople ghosts, wereboar samurai, a torrential never ending storm, a water elemental, and an army of undead (who now stand scattered around the forest waiting for someone to enter) the party found an old Legion of the Phoenix camp and settled in for the night. The map indicating that the cave led to where they wanted to go.
As they camped a something, a gigantic spider by all accounts, whispered taunts and offered deals to everyone on watch. Through conversation it was discovered that the creature worshiped Claire. The story of Claire is an entire other blog post, but briefly: old party member, spider mage, was in love with Tarlon, suffered many backlash aberrations, was stoned by a basilisk and left behind, later to be found lost, has tormented the party for YEARS.
The sun has risen, the storm has stirred up, and the party is ready for spider mayhem. The players are suitably nervous.
Adventure Highlights
After avoiding a log trap and a pit (100' down, spikes in an unknown depth of water with something living in it) the party stood in a large cave and encountered the first of the Spider Cult Goblins. The little bugger was painted black and white and had gemstones attached to his head to look more like a spider. He becked the adventurers forward saying "peace" and "she calls".
Of course it was an ambush. The party laid waste to the goblins in short order because, well, they are a 9th level party and there were only a few goblins (4 melee, 3 with bows). Of course the problem was the fact that everythign the goblins had was covered in some crazy debilitating poison.
After taking a few captives and exploring a bit more the party came across a huge barrier built into the caves. Heading back to where their captives were they found them being devoured by huge terrier-sized spiders. Battle ensued and exploration of the other tunnel.
The adventurers came across a chamber with 6 of these huge spiders guarding what appeared to be a gigantic egg sack filled with hundreds of these huge spiders (some help from a special item let them in on the specifics). It was decided to burn this shit to the ground. Darvik pulled out his wand of Zeus and let loose with a huge chain lighting wide bolt at full strength. The results were dramatic.
While the initial group of gigantic spiders was killed in a single stroke of the wand the huge egg sack split open spilling hundreds of the eight-legged horrors into the chamber. While the egg sack did burst into flames there was still a tsunami of giant spiders rushing the party. The battle was terrifying and if it weren't for Darvik and his wand it was likely going to go poorly. Standing amidst a chamber full of smoking spider corpses the party made various faces of disgust and walked away back to the barrier. Having luck with the wand it was then used to demolish the huge barrier as well. Best magic item ever.
After making the previously encountered goblin their bitch (the thing was terrified of the adventuring party and no amount of religious fervor was going to change that) it led them to the temple where they worshiped Claire.
A huge statue to Claire was carved from the very rock itself and a moment later the party was engaged in a heated battle with two spider-headed trolls. It could have gone otherwise, but hell - who doesn't want to kill trolls! As the battle raged on the enormous pony-sized spider that had been taunting them the night before made an appearance and started ... wait for it ... casting spells! It was ON!
As Black Wilder learned first hand that a troll doesn't die just because you cut his head off a wall of ice appeared separating Darvik from the rest of the group. The battle raged on as much was revealed. Claire still loved Darvik who is Tarlon and asked her to come away with him. She had seen the face of the World God and he had shown her things. Claire had set all these things in motion by traveling the gates back and forward in time to lay clues and paths to bring them here just so she could be with Tarlon. If he would show his loyalty by helping her destroy his companions they could travel to another cosmos - abandon this one to the Xinthian and rule entire worlds together. She pulled him into her weird spider arms and wanted to seal the deal with a kiss.
Important: This was a huge culmination of years of role playing. B had to make a choice that could end the campaign once and for all with a massive TPK which would have been epic. This exact offer with a known NPC for exactly what the character wanted more than anything was a Hard Choice (HM is agame of hard choices). As I chatted with B in the secret meeting I told him that we would rejoin the group and he would get to describe the scene. Even I didn't know which way he would choose.
As the battle raged on the giant spell casting spider an army of skeletons, and two badass trolls were beating the hell out of the adventurers. Yurg was flying around with his magic ring and stabbing folks, Kyle waded in and was doing his best to protect and slaughter, even Wolfgang was using his hammer with great effectiveness ... but everyhting stopped as the ice wall fell.
Tarlon, embraced in the numerous legs of Claire leaned in and kissed her deeply. There was an audible gasp from the other players. As the freaky make-out session continued the mage pulled his wand of Zeus and, point blank, blew a hole into the spider mage who loved him...
The battle petered out after that and it was a mop-up. Yurg had managed to coup de grace Claire and was flying around with her severed head. Darvik was shouting that "Evil will never triumph!" and the rest of the party was trying to take care of monster-based business. There was a LOT of fire.
With the battle ended, the party moved deeper into the temple and discovered the Gate that Claire had told Darvik of. After much debate to go to the City of Portals, Midian, or the Machine Core itself they chose to move directly into confrontation with the worldgod itself. The Gate Key vibrating and demanding action, it was placed and the gate began to open ...
Summary & GM Notes
Well ... that could not have gone better! Everyone had a blast including me. There was danger and choices that decided the fate of campaign and awesome fighting and the return and vanquishing of a villain who has plagued the party for years (about 5 years of real life). Having a game like this reminds me why I love this hobby. The party is off to the Machine Core to try and deal with the World God. They still aren't entirely sure what they are going to do or how they are going to do it, but it should be excellent.
I need to get painting and get the minis ready for these games. While I'm damn happy to be bringing this epic campaign to a close, I already know I'm going to miss these characters and the setting. The Aldsburg campaign is fun and going to be the go-to for some time, but I think this campaign will be the crown jewel of my gaming career ... at least until I come up with another idea this fun (and have the ability to pull it off).
Damn that was a great session!
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Mage Lineages in Eradu
I've let mages pick a specific totem to define their personality and use as a metaphor for creating new spells. I'm trying out a new idea to keep things a bit more focused - lineage. Within each lineage are a number of totems. For example, Winter Mages learn from a lineage of the northmen and their totems and possible aberrations are similar.
Mage is the class, Lineage (four examples below) is the sub-class, and a Totem is the specialization. Totems and Aberrations are examples but surely not the extend of options. Notes give a general feel for the mage and the quote hopefully seals the tonal deal. Mechanically all of the mages work the same - this is entirely for flavor and role playing.
Mage is the class, Lineage (four examples below) is the sub-class, and a Totem is the specialization. Totems and Aberrations are examples but surely not the extend of options. Notes give a general feel for the mage and the quote hopefully seals the tonal deal. Mechanically all of the mages work the same - this is entirely for flavor and role playing.
| Winter Totems: Ice, Snow, Wind, Rain, Storms, Lightning, Wolf, Bear Aberrations: snow white hair, crystalline or blue skin, limbs made of ice, lightning issues from their mouth when they speak, they are always damp, hair and clothes being blown by an mysterious wind, radiate extreme cold, very susceptible to heat Notes: The Winter mage is born of solitude and personal struggle. Most discover their abilities during a time of intense isolation (either physical or mental). The Winter mage holds most others in disdain and feels no allegiance to others of his ilk. Quote: "When the razor snow rakes your skin and the wrath of Odin's lightning strikes your soul you may then know what a single thought of mine feels like." | 
image by devburmak (used without permission)
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| Promythean Totems: Fire, Stone, Steam, Lava, Cogs of the Earth, Serpent, Badger Aberrations: bright red and orange hair, rough hewn skin, always in a haze of steam, everything touched begins to smoulder, teeth are stones, weep pebbles, limbs replaced with cogs and lever mechanisms, glowing eyes Notes: Initiation rites of the Promythen Mage are harsh, some would say brutal, most would say strange and cruel. There is a master & apprentice relationship that usually ends with the master's death. The Promythean Mage takes no guff from anyone. Quote: "Step across the line, milkback. Please step across the line and show your pathetic friends that you aren't a kitten. Come on over here and play with me." | 
image by jujusaurus (used without permission)
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| Skyward Totems: light, the sun, birds, open sky, celestial mechanics, astrology Aberrations: moving tattoos, glowing skin, eyes are pinpoints of light, sprout wings, small objects orbit around head, eyes and mouth always wide open, always building or disassembling things, inability to articulate, obsessed with future events. Notes: The Skyward are strange and esoteric mages. They are seriously deficient when it comes to social interaction except with others of their kind. They have gained insight into things that are so far beyond the comprehension of mortal man they simply don't think like the rest of folks any longer. Quote: "I understand that the most recent 0.05e quantael shift within the aesthereal plane may have disturbed your interlaced cog contsruct, so I don't blame you for being so stupid." | 
image found on some blog, no credit given
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| Dusk Totems: fog, moon, starlight, dusk, night, quiet, bat, feline, darkness Aberrations: flesh is cloudy, can only whisper, shadows engulf face, shadows flee from caster, cat eyes, bat teeth, aversion to daylight, eyes are tiny stars, breath is a black cloud Notes:While not evil, Dusk Mages tend to walk on the darker side of humanity. Often silent or, when they do speak, barely audible, the Dusk Mage keep to themselves. Rumor has it there are elaborate temples where the Dusk Mage revels rival the most boisterous of Ilkori pirate celebrations. But this is likely just a rumor. Quote: "Shhh. Quiet now. Try not to struggle." |
image found on some blog, no credit given
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Session Report: The Aldsburg Chronicles [T4]
...in which the GM decides that he needs to get things organized...
The actual adventure the was shaping up was, once again, derailed by morality arguments among characters. ARG! This game was 2 weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting because while all of my players professed fun, it was not a game I enjoyed running.
This weekend we are playing the Worldgod Campaign but next Aldsburg Chronicles game I may reboot - new characters created as a group, redefine the tone as gritty but evil characters not being tolerated, and I'm even thinking of regnining in what had previously been a free-and-open magic style.
I think that I opened things up too quickly - a bit of solid direction and everyone making characters together as a party will help create a solid group of characters that play well together.
The actual adventure the was shaping up was, once again, derailed by morality arguments among characters. ARG! This game was 2 weeks ago and I'm just getting around to posting because while all of my players professed fun, it was not a game I enjoyed running.
This weekend we are playing the Worldgod Campaign but next Aldsburg Chronicles game I may reboot - new characters created as a group, redefine the tone as gritty but evil characters not being tolerated, and I'm even thinking of regnining in what had previously been a free-and-open magic style.
I think that I opened things up too quickly - a bit of solid direction and everyone making characters together as a party will help create a solid group of characters that play well together.
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