I would like to thank all the GMs who have run games for me over the years. A special shout out to John at Age of Ruins. Thank you all for the good times, and hard work you put in so we can have hours of fun. I present to you all this Golder D20 or at least a picture of one anyway.
Golden D20 of fun providing and PC slaying. Picture form Awesomedice.com
So today I ran Perils of the Sunken City, by Purple Sorcerer Games for my current campaign group and the game master of my play group. (Check out his blog, Age of Ruins). I put down on the table five face down sheets with four pre-generated 0 level characters on them. After the picking process happened I had everyone roll up one 0 level so we could all go through the process. I let them choose one of the four 0s to cover over and off to funnelville we went.
I started them walking down into Mustertown, they quickly made their way to the Soiled Dove. After forming their Free company, they were sized up for gambling purposes by No Legs. The PCs placed some bets with No Legs about their survival. I also gave them a chance to buy any supplies they may have wanted and as a group they chipped in for a 50′ section of rope. As they were about to start down the path I added in a little girl that was selling bobbles that would provide good luck. The little girl is favored by the Lady, maybe a daughter or just a girl she likes (More on this later). Shark Tooth Nigel (halfling dyer) had his slave Ursala Rotmeat (slave) buy him a polished stone, Sleepy Bone Harding (dwarf chest maker) bought a twig that had the bark whittled off and was died red with swamp water, Smudge McUrchin (14 year old orphan) bought a broken Daisy.
So they set off down the path about half way between the start of a the path and the Lady’s hut another group of adventures were heading down the path. One of them spots a chest half buried in the muck of the swamp (again something I just threw in for flavor). He makes it out to the chest and from 10′ away a giant frog rises up out of the swamp. The giant frog’s tongue whipped out and sucked the unsuspecting fool to his death. The frog hopped away legs still dangling out of his mouth. Now his four remaining friends shocked turned and headed up the road.
After seeing this the PCs first thoughts weren’t maybe we should stay on the path no it was, hmmm what is in the chest. Enter the first unscripted chance to thin the herd. They begin to discuss ways to get the chest or distract the frogs with “bait.” They cry out to the party that just lost one party member. The guy at the end of the line turns as the PCs say they want to help him get revenge and the chest. He leaves his other friends and walks down to meet this group of 16 PCs. Murder-hobo mode engaged as Smudge McUrchin lethally clubs this stranger over the head to provide the bait the party needed. Smudge now declares his name to be Smudge Chump Slayer. The party ties up the body with the rope and and the four strongest all grab a limb and start swinging the corpse. They fling him out into the swamp and start reeling him in to catch a frog so they can make a play on the chest while it is distracted. Now the adventure mentions snakes, bigger snakes, crocodillos, two-tonged mud wumpers, and even the occasional shiny-spined turf-hurdler as swap creatures. Now I don’t know what a shiny-spined turf-hurdler is but me and the PCs where about to find out. No stats were provided so I just made it up as I went. I described a giant geyser of water erupting from the swamp and suddenly landing near the body the beast standing about 9 feet tall (6 feet of leg and an armless 3 foot body) it is covered in spins that are laying flat against its body. (Imagine a barrel with legs) It blinks its 3 eyes and and then screeches and flares out its spins.
No legs and the crowd come down the path and start placing bets on the party’s chances. Initiative is rolled and the party wins and they descend on it. In all about half of them go down to fight it. They are lumping it up critical hits are flying everywhere. The party strong man Jadongo (animal handler) yanks the rope with all his might and slams the body into the turf-hurdler and it gets stuck on the spines and before it can attack once it is stuck down. Two PCs run to the chest and pry it from the ground, one is bitten by a snake but makes his Fort save and lives to fight on. The check the turf-hurdler for loot but there is none they untie the body (which they never looted, tisk, tisk) they get back on dry land a start in on the chest. The crowd is pissed that no one died and disburses. A two tonged mud wumper surfaces briefly and swallows the bait corpse, and then I point out they never looted it. A massive group face palming occurs and the chest is busted open. They find a bag with 75 copper that have corroded together and a book that has turned to slop.
So the party has gone off book in the first hour of game play resulting in wild adventure, free form problem solving, murder hobo style attacks, fought a wild swamp spawn monster that had no stats forcing me to make it up on the fly. Damn I love this game, it has delivered everything I was hoping for and they haven’t even gotten to the “adventure” part of the module.
They get to the Lady’s hut now and see that it is surrounded by the bobbles the little girl was selling. As they approach closer the curtain style door is pushed open revealing the Lady’s beautiful body she swings her hair away revealing a withered hags face. The party’s nameless dwarf (dwarven stonemason) says to Sleepy Bone that they should attack her, now mind you the two are about 3′ apart. The Lady moves each eye independently so that one can look at each dwarf. This freaks them out and nameless dwarf says, that it would be a bad idea.
Shark Tooth Nigel offer up his bobble to the Lady she examines him poking his checks checking down his mouth and finally grabbing his crotch. She tells him he has more balls than most halfings and dots his forehead with with three ash marks in the shape of a triangle. Next she heads over to Sleepy Bones who is holding his twig out, she looks him over and takes the twig. She reaches in the ash pouch and swings her hand out slapping Sleepy Bones across the face. She now steps over to 14 year old orphan Smudge Chump Slayer she gently rubs his shoulder slides her hand down his back pulls the daisy from his back pocket and squeezes his ass. He looks at her and he sees her lips coat over with ash and she plants a long and disgusting kiss on him leaving Smudges lips and face covered with ash and spittle. Now Ishmael Ibn Ayshid (wizard apprentice) tosses her a copper and asks what is the fate of the party, Lady says they stand a good chance of finding their fate in the sunken city and that they are touched for the killed a shiny-spined turf-hurdler. She then places a hand his chest leaving an ashen mark.
The group now ventures down the path to the Sending Stone and Proving Stone and this is where we have our first death. As they gather around the stone and are observing it the Proving stone starts to crackle in energy as it prepares to return a group of adventures. After the first NPC appears form the proving stone, the nameless dwarf says he is going to ambush the next NPC that appears. Suddenly a bolt of lightning rips out of the Sending Stone vaporizing the nameless dwarf leaving behind is only his possessions. His death taught them that whatever makes these stones work doesn’t like ambushing those that use them for travel.
In part two I will pick up with their arrival at the Arena grounds.
I have been doodling a series of maps while I try to find the mojo to start on a much bigger dungeon system. Here is one I did today detailing a series of caves used by a local group of bandits. It is going to be generic no DCs, bandit stats, or treasure list use it to fit your needs. Trying to get the old school feel pumping through my veins again.
Cave described left to right top row first.
Cave 1: Large room three cots, small fire ring, three barrels, Smaller room: makeshift desk (planks on barrels), three barrels, empty barrel seat, papers on desk detailing manifests of recently robbed caravan.
Cave 2: Two cots, both side chamber are made to look like cave in piles. If removed each room holds three chests or crates or a combo of the two.
Cave 3: Small crate, three barrels
Cave 4: Two cots and make shift table (boards on barrels). Larger room with fire ring: two logs and fire ring, 14 barrels, surface of underground lake (what mysteries do its depths hold, mwahahahaha).
Cave 5: The Hideout
This cave system serves as the main base of operations for the bandits. The first defensive item is a series of 4 large boulders that will role out and down hill towards the entrance crushing all that are in their path till they pile up in the choke point. You can apply a ref save or whatever you wish to avoid them. The boulders are triggered by a lever which is behind the log wall. Two bandits operate the lever they should be equipped with ranged weapons.
Next item is a pressure plate (DC or notice check or trap sense, etc to detect), if triggered it releases a concealed steal spiked gate. Damage as per your system of choice and reflex save to avoid if you wish.
The “Doghouse” contains a massive (large scale canine, demon dog, etc) it is on enough chain to reach anywhere in the room. If party falls back to ranged attack it it will seek shelter behind the doghouse or just down the corridor they are not occupying.
The room of pillars contains 3′ high stone pillars set about 18″apart. They will slow the movement of all that pass through to half except halfings, or gnomes. They can be walked across (dex, agility, acrobatics etc) at 3/4 or full speed your choice. The room itself has a 15′ high ceiling with three archer positions, they floor of the archer opening is 10′ off the ground. If the PCs crawl through the pillar area it should afford cover but slow them further.
In the large cave after the defenses there is a kitchen area with fire pit and hanging pot, plank table on barrels with barrel chairs, and a barrel prep table. It has a archery range consisting of 3 round hay bail targets 3′ around. The bunk room has cots for 9. There is a secret room which holds high value treasure, 3 large locked chests, 7 large barrels. Behind a wooden door is the bandit leaders room. It contains a large hay mattress on top of 6 crates, a plank desk on barrels, a locked chest and two barrels. Under the crates of the bed is a tunnel that leads back out to the surface. I thought of this after the map was scanned, and I am still knocking the rust off. You can decide it the PCs stand any chance of discovering the secret tunnel. Only the bandit chief and his two Lieutenants know of it, and they will only talk if tortured. Feel free to change, add, subtract whatever you wish.
Admittedly the final cave is really set up to make it hard on the PCs. I may turn this into a DCC funnel since it is a meat grinder. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
This weeks Notable Neighbors are figures that will help with getting the town back on it’s feet. Illamor Teradin, chief forester and millwright and Gnome wine maker, Gavin Gundolpho heir the the Gundopho vineyards and winery.
Illamor Teradin
Illamor Teradin is a seasoned ranger and expert millwright. Early in his career he worked for Lord Rivalton’s lumber mill, but parted ways before the town was overrun. He made his way across the elvish lands scouting the wilderness and working as a lumber jack. He learned over the years that he was a better millwright than wilderness scout. He has since left his adventure days behind him and works full time in the timber industry. He may not like to head out into the dark woods for adventure anymore but he is never without his trusty bow and wolf Smoke.
Gavin Gundolpho
Gavin Gundolpho is the last Gundolpho remaining , and is looking to restore the family name to glory. The Gundolphos fled for their lives as Orodtaur feel to the evil army that washed over it. They left behind their vineyards and winery, but there secrets stayed with them. For centuries before the fall of Orodtaur the Gundolpho name was synonymous with the utmost quality in wine. Their wine had won awards around the world, and fetched a rather high price on the open market. After the fall though it has been plagued with tragedy, Gavin’s father, Gustof, tried to rebuild the vineyards and winery in another region but the soil never produced the same results. Gustof, mired in debt and haunted by the loss of his wife and daughter at Orodtaur sunk into depression and alcohol. The Gundolpho wine and reputation started to sour. The once great wine makers, now could barley sell their bottles as vinegar. One day Gavin went down to the cask room to find his father hanging from he rafters, his remaining brother Gisbon didn’t react well to the loss of his father well. Gisbon turned to gambling and whoring about, he eventually found himself deep in debt to a half-orc pimp and loan shark. Gisbon was cut down in a hail of crossbow bolts one evening while stumbling home penniless. Gavin had heard rumors that an effort to reclaim Orodtaur was in the works, and with no family left Gavin sold all his current holdings. He payed off all the debtors legal and otherwise and helped finance the army that was marching to take back Orodtaur. He hopes to restore the family winery and his name.
While exploring the area surrounding the mine just north of Orodtaur the party came upon an unusually clean desk in an office that had been ransacked over 100 years ago. Dust a half an inch thick blanketed the entire room yet, the desk and chair where clean, and the papers where perfectly ordered. The Dwarven corpse that sat in the chair hadn’t rotted away to bones like all the others, instead he just appeared dehydrated. His clothes showed no signs of damage or age. This puzzled the party for a few minutes, speculation began as to what caused this, the paladin detected evil, there was none. The wizard did find magic though. After some more speculation and a few checks where made and some more spells where cast it was determined it was a Dwarven Desk of Order.
Dwarven Desk of Order
Aura: mild transmutation and abjuration; CL: 5th; Slot: none; Price: 6000gp base (varies by cost of desk used during creation); Weight: Varies by desk/chair type
photo from antiques.com
This finely crafted desk made of ancient hardwoods, and beautifully stained is free from scratches, imperfections, and blemishes. The drawers all sit square and true, they glide open and closed with ease. The desk and chair are enchanted so that they are resistant to stains, rips, scrapes, nicks, and burns. The metal work on the desk will not tarnish or rust. The drawers will close if left open for longer than 30 seconds, and re-lock if the key is not in contact with the desk. Papers will always stay neatly arranged in piles, rows, and columns. The desk and chair will preserve the condition of any object they are in contact with but only in a matter of stopping decay, or from gathering dust. Also the desk and chair will repair themselves, damage done by magical means however will not self repair.
Construction requirements:
Masterwork desk and chair of Dwarven make, Craft Wondrous Item Feat, Make Whole, Resist Energy Acid, Fire Cost: 3000gp (varies based on price of desk and chair)
I am launching a new aspect of the blog. As the PCs have now liberated the town of Orodtaur and will now begin the process of help to maintain it’s security and reconstruction a lot of NPCs are going to start pouring in. Now Paizo has published the NPC Codex which will be very useful for the less important NPCs, but this weekly article is going to profile a Notable Neighbor in the community of Orodtaur. These NPCs will have recurring roles as well as defined personalities, also a PDF version of the Herolab characters sheets for the featured NPC will up on the site. So with out further ado I present to you Orodtaur’s first Notable Neighbor:
Rogdar Deephammer
deviantART by Narcotic-Nightmares
Bio: Rogdar is a master engineer and mining specialist. In Orodtaur’s early days he started out as just a miner in the mine north of town. Over the years he quickly rose up the ranks till at the young age 50 he was placed in charge of the mine by Lord Rivalton. Rodgar quickly set out implementing his plans of fuzing Lord Rivlaton’s magic to his mechanization. In the years that followed Rogdar’s innovations and efficiency tripled the out put of the mine and helped spur the growth of Orodtaur. During the invasion, Rogdar took up his hammer in defense of the town and the mine. Alas he was unable to help turn the tide of the battle, he did manage to shut the mine down by caving in key veins, and sabotaging key equipment. He fled the town, and returned to his homeland in the north. He eventually found work in a Dwarven mine, and again rose up the ranks till he was in charge. Although he spent over a century running the Dwarven mine, he always longed for another opportunity to go back to Orodtaur and restore his baby. When he was approached by Mystalynn Rivalton, heir to Orodtaur, and asked to return to the mine and restore it to it’s former glory he jumped at it.
Physical Description: Rogdar stand an even four foot tall, and wighs in at just over two hundred pounds. He is the kind of dwarf that is as wide as he is tall. He has strong thick arms from years working in the mines though age have weakened them. He has a copper hued skin, and his red hair and braided beard has faded to grey with only feint strands of red remaining.
Gear: All item can be found on Rogdar’s inventory in the PDFs with the exception of two listed here. The Desk of Order (appearing in Monday 2/18/13 Magic Monday post), and his every handy light orb. Rogdar’s latern was a gift from Lord Rivalton for his great leadership, and service to the mine. The orb follows the wearer of a necklace which is attuned to the orb. The orb itself is 6″ in diameter, and wights 5 pounds and has the appearance of a giant pearl, it can float at a height of 2″ off the ground to a maximum height of 20′. It can support a weight of 300 pounds after which it will slowly sink to the ground and shut off till the weight is removed. It produce light in three different modes. The first is as a bullseye lantern with the light cast from this function treated as a from a Daylight spell, the duration for this mode 4 hours constant use with a 1 hour cool down. The second function is the whole sphere is illuminated like a torch or Sunrod this mode lasts for 12 hours with a 2 hour cool down. The third option is a simultaneous use of both modes this mode lasts for 1 hour with a cool down of 12 hours.
Wish I had more a post about my campaign world, or progress but I have been battling illness. The sickness took me down hard Monday night and I am just getting back to work and some semblance of normalcy now. Filed and primed ranger and paladin. 
Sorry the photos aren’t the best and the post isn’t that in depth but I am still getting back to full speed.
Thursday is going to be my day to post about topics related to my campaign. The topics could range from miniatures, mapping, world development, game play scenarios, etc.
Today I am talking about minis, and in particular modding them. I am by no means an artist, or sculptor but I figured I should try my hand at it. The base minis I choose are Reaper’s Prince Danithal from the Warlord series, to be the mini for the party’s new Elven ranger. Next I choose Daereth, Royal Guard, also from the Warlord series, for the party’s Elven paladin.
The PC who, plays the ranger choose to go down the two weapon fighting path. He fights with a long sword and a light mace. I used a morning star weapon from the Reaper weapon rack though. It was easier to mod onto the hand than the small maces. I clipped the sword off at the hilt, and filed it flat. Next I drilled the hand so it could receive the pin that was already on the morning star.
14066: Danithal, Elven Warlord ($7.49) Werner Klocke
picture from Reaper.com
front view
A view of the mace/morning star
The PC who plays the paladin fights with a heavy mace and shield. I cut Daereth’s hand and sword off. I used green stuff to mold a new hand to hold the mace. I also used a bit to hold the shield arm on.
14439: Daereth, Elven Royal Guard Sergeant ($6.99) Bobby Jackson photo from Reaper.com
Daereth rear view
So there you have my modded minis, next it is off to touch up, primer, and paint for them. Is it Bones time yet?
I want to take a moment to to address the whole Games Workshops/space marines issue. My initial response was less than civilized (think a Dwarf getting kicked out of an all you can eat buffet before he had all he could eat), but I won’t repeat that here. As a business owner I understand wanting to protect your rights but this goes beyond that. It would be one thing if the author was writing about a space marine in the Warhammer 40K world but they weren’t. It would be like someone trying to trademark elves or dwarves they are concepts that are part of the common mythos. Our love of fantasy and sci-fi didn’t come from some miniatures game it came from the books, the movies, the TV shows and cartoons. They are an industry profiting off of the ground work laid by Sci-fi writers that came before them. I was on the fence about buying some 40k stuff but not gonna happen now. Should they decide to pull their head out of their asses then maybe. I urge you all to put your wallets where our outrage is and stop buying their products.
Here is a link to Games Workshop contact page.
“I stand here atop my mage’s tower, I am master of all that see. I have bent the will of men to serve me and used my power to warp the forces of nature and time. I hereby declare that today and all Mondays that have yet to pass to be: Magic and Monster Monday.”
In an effort to post on a more regular basis I am going to pick a few days a week to post about certain topics.
I have been thinking about a list of powers, costs, and how to feed the mirror.
The possessor must spend an hour a day for 2 weeks stand before the mirror looking into it. After this time the possessor is attuned to the mirror and will receive a +6 to one attribute and a +3 to a second attribute. The possessor must spend an hour a day gazing into the mirror to to keep these bonuses active. Should more then pass with out staring into the mirror the bonuses half (round down), should a second day pass the possessor must re-attune the mirror.
Discern Lies: while mirror has at least two charges it grants its possessor this power as per the spell as long as the possessor is within 25′ of the mirror.
Augery: 1 charge
Divination: 1 charge
Scrying: 2 charges
Greater Scrying: 3 charges
Discern location 4 charges
Charging the Devil’s Mirror requires offering it souls. The sacrifice must be facing the mirror when they are offered to it. For every HD of the sacrifice half a charge is added to the mirror. If the sacrifice is good aligned it is a one to one exchange (1HD to 1 charge). The Devil’s Mirror takes a cut of the take once a day, it takes 1 charge/soul, this is Asmodeus’ cut. The mirror holds 25 charges, and after 40 charges have been spent the mirror will no longer accept sacrificed souls. The possessor must make a personal offering of to the Devil’s Mirror. The possessor must take a permanent negative level. Once the possessor has taken four negative levels the mirror has captured their soul. After the possessor has lost their soul the mirror will be lost in 2d4 weeks. Should the former possessor die they can only be returned to life via a limited wish or wish. It is rumored in long ago lost tomes that there is way to venture to Hell to retrieve ones lost soul.
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A journey behind the Gm's screen
A journey behind the Gm's screen
Swords of Legend 