Session #9 of The Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon part II

Having purified the Moon Well and the Nymph that dwells in it, the PCs were told by Gildaril, the Warden Master, that Sir Parcifal and the rest of the Warden Patrol were to accompany him back to the Outpost, shortly. The characters were also told that they would soon be given a period of leave, in which they could rest, train, research, etc. Smyrynel chose to go on retreat back at the river-side cliff cave shrine that the party had restored. Parcifal chose to attempt to rehabilitate the Goblinoids captured at the Moon Well. Kelvin has voiced interest in gathering components for his infamous flash bombs and researching the mysterious scroll that the shaman had in its possession. The Sword Sisters opted fro martial training. All of the characters will meet at the Wayfarer's Inn in a couple of weeks to look for the Loremaster so they can get some questions about the past history of Sylvaeon answered. A bit of relaxation at the Inn was discussed, too.

Before they PCs set out, they participated in a meal with the Nord-Landers and the Acolyte Druid. The spot was chosen by the Druid among ancient burial mounds from the time of the Great Wars, over 3000 years ago. In this area, Airdane, the Druid buried the unknown elf who had served as an unfortunate living sacrifice during the summoning of the Red Moon. There, atop the highest of the mounds, under the night sky, as the cleansed aurora danced overhead, the party had a solemn meal. Afterwards, Erel Jolfsen, the Nord-Lander leader, said that during the times of significant event the Runes of old were often sought among his people. While they cannot foretell the future, Erel said, they can aid in unlocking and understanding aspects of a person's Wyrd. All of the PCs drew from the Runes, but their significance is as yet unknown. The wizard kelvin was sternly warned by Erel that the study of the Runes has given great power to the one they call Loge the Despiser, known to the Folk as the Corrupter. Erel said that the twisting of the Rune lore was one of the things the Corrupter has done as he slipped ever deeper into the seduction for power. Leaving the party to return to their search for more Elves and Folk of the Realm, the Nord-Landers parted in peace.

The Paladin of the White Lady, who recently shows skill in the Way of the Balance, the ways of the Druids, was taken aside by the young Acolyte. He told her that the sacrificed elf's spirit may not be returning again to the Realm, which sorrowed him. He also spoke of how he marvelled that humans, who only come once into existence in the Realm should ever give their short lives to the cause of Sylvaeon. Smyrynel and Airdane exchanged gifts of fellowship amidst the burial mounds.

Now, with no charges or quests before them, the PCs will be finding themselves adrift in the Realm. Their Wyrd lies before them, such as they choose to make it...

Session #9 of the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon

Session #9 of The Eternal Realm of Sylvaeon

Last time, the PCs had just defeated the Goblinoid horde which was melting some sort of slag from a nearby mine. The two large large hulk-like goblinoids that the PCs killed were dumping it into a hole in the ice into the Moon Well. The tribe's shaman had summoned the Red Moon with power drawn from the Moon Well through an elaborate ritual involving a shine placed at the center of the Moon Well, the burnt sacrifice of an Elf (which the PCs were sadly unable to stop) and a desecrated standing stone devoted to the White Lady, which had a red moon crescent drawn on it with the elf's blood.

The first of the obstacles to the liberation and restoration of the Moon Well had been overcome; namely the defeat of the Goblinoids. Now the PCs set to disabling the red aurora and its pillar manifestation that emanated from the center of the Moon Well. The Sword Sister Airyka thought that the pillar might be some transport to the Red Moon and placed her hand inside of it. Whether it was a transport or not, she did not figure out, because she was violently thrown back and went skidding unconscious across 70 feet of the ice.

Some of the party began to chop the ice around the aurora pillar & the goblinoid shine at the heart of it with the aid of the newly arrived Nord-Lander Warden, Erel Jolfsen, and some of his fellow clansmen. After an hour's labor the shine fell into the lake with a steamy explosion that rocked the ice, sending Nord-Landers tumbling into the cold water of the Moon Well. These were rescued by the mighty aid of Brynn, a Sword Sister of such prowess that she almost effortlessly drew several of the large Nord-Landers from the waters.

Smyrynel dove into the water to rescue one Nord-Lander that had sunk. As she tied him off to a rope held by another Nord-Lander above and signaled that the rope be drawn up, she spied a water nymph struggling to break free from the slaggy muck that now polluted the bottom of the moon well heavily. The evil shrine that had sunk to the bottom was pulsing fading light and had illuminated this scene, so Smyrynel caught the Nymph's ethereal hand, which became tangible in her grasp and plucked her to the surface of the small lake. The Paladin of the WHite Lady, Smyrynel cleansed the nymph with the water that she had gotten from the magical stream in the druid's grove. When she saw this was effective, she swam back to the center of pollution at the bottom of the moon well and cleansed it by releasing the stream water into the heart of the moon well. This caused the pollution to scatter almost sentiently, but it did dissolve the pollution of the moon well in a brief period of time.

Kelvin the Curious wizard had searched the shaman's body and found he wore a carved bone ring that said "Me No Sleep" upon it. He deduced that it was probably the reason his sleep spell upon the shaman failed in the battle that had recently raged. Kelvin also found the scroll that the goblinoid shaman had used to perform his summoning ritual. The scroll contained lore and spells of the goblinoids that Kelvin decided to decipher better at a later time.

In the shelter structure near the moon well was found a druid acolyte that had previously been tasked by Mellion to seek out the forgotten moon well which now lay in goblinoid territory and to discover its plight.  The moon well had alerted the the great druid to its distress somehow, but Mellion was nearing his time of Winter hibernation and could not go himself. The acolyte was beater and cut, but was alive. Kelvin aided the young druid in removing the body of the burnt elf for burial.

Sir Parcifal helped Brynn, Airyka and the Nord-Landers to tie up the remaining living goblinoids that had either been entangled or had emerged from the mine in surrender. Gildaril, the Warden master and Lydia, the elf maiden that had been rescued from the sink hole, arrived on the scene around this time. Gildaril agreed that Parcifal could attempt to reform the prisoners at the Outpost and placed him in charge of this task. Lydia gave Parcifal a white scarf to carry in her name and told Parcifal that she wished it to bring him good fortune. Being gallant, Parcifal kissed the maiden's hand and the two set about calming and herding the very frightened goblinoids in preparation to take them to the Outpost. Parcifal did need to recapture one of the frightened creatures, which slipped its bonds and tried to run off.

Erel told Airyka that a couple of the Nord-Landers wanted to know if she was interested in marriage. She politely declined, but was given a Nord-Lander axe as a sign of respect for her battle prowess.

The Pcs finally managed to clean up the desecration of the Moon Well. The aura obove it is a now a faint white, but the smallish red moon still glows in the night sky…

(more to come)

20 Questions Quiz Circulating Around The OSR Blogosphere

20 rules clarification

1. Ability scores generation method?

For OD&D/S&W I do 3d6 assigned to the stats straight down in order.

If I am using AD&D/OSRIC, then I use a point buy system OR 4d6-lowest with the player assigning them as they wish.

2. How are death and dying handled?

Back in the day, 0 HP was death, plain and simple. I am seriously considering that being the rule for my Sylvaeon campaign... this questionnaire is timely in that respect, because I have been considering this hard. I have used other methods, such as up to CON in negative damage (with possible Saving Rolls vs Death each round), but I am open to input here.

3. What about raising the dead?

A rarity at best... an impossibility most of the time. However, I do have a “secret” rule, where Elves reincarnate anywhere from 40 days to 1000 years later!

4. How are replacement PCs handled?

In Sylvaeon, I use the Arduin Hit Point System. Replacement PCs can easily adventure along with an established party and be able to take similar damage... of course, they do not have the same skills. If a party is extremely high-leveled, I may bump the starting Class Level of a replacement PC to ¼ of what the lowest party member has, if I am in a good mood that day ;)

5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else?

D10 (counting down) individual initiative for PCs. I may roll a group initiative for similar monster types or individual for leveled humanoid PCs and similar. I allow DEX bonuses to be counted to the d10 if the current melee circumstances of a PC allow it.

6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?

Once more, back in the day, I have had many characters of my own die hideous and quick deaths because of a crit inflicted upon them using the Arduin Critical Hit Table (or even the Fumble Table!). I used to say what's good for the goose is good for the gander and have monsters and NPCs do critical hits the same way. Now I have modified it to double damage for Natural 20s for both monsters/NPCs and PCs, EXCEPT PCs may get a critical upon an opponent if they roll the max damage for their weapon type. I stole that last part from Michael Moscrip, because I found it was a reasonable option and limited the number of crits. Even though it isn't a perfect solution, it works in practice very well.

7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?

Yes, your character has nice head gear and their noggin is protected from head-specific damage.

8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?

Yes! It happens frequently in Sylvaeon when PCs fire into crowded combat or misfire, etc.

9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?

There is a chance to “defeat” most encounters via combat or often times in another way. Ot everything is for killing and I give experience for overcoming encounters creatively. However, there are encounters that will bring almost certain death if they are not avoided or disengaged from. I let the dice fall where they may in such cases. I have been foolish enough to hang around when death was imminent, but there have also been times I have triumphed in the face of overwhelming odds, so I cannot blame my players for doing either – but they will suffer any consequences.

10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no? No – I dislike level draining, but I do substitute other types of damage that simulate this.

  11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? Rarely, yes, but that would be discretionary. I'd rather death resulted as a consequence of actions, not random chance only. It really depends on the actual situation. This question is a bit hypothetical and open-ended for me.

12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?

For carrying treasure, yeah, I will use encumbrance. In Sylvaeon this is important, because the PCs are extremely mobile and currently have no base of operations to dump loot. Also, resources are critical in Sylvaeon. If you don't have rations and don't hunt or run out of water, you WILL die! Sylvaeon is a wilderness hex crawl and in wilderness environments resources are critical to survival.

Note to PCs: If you guys are keeping track, you would know that you only have one day worth of rations left (except Brynn, who has more) :D

13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?

The PCs in Sylvaeon are in a constant state of training. I allow for leveling in the middle of an adventure. If there is a specific case for training or other requirements for leveling (rare) I will have them work that out in down time or in game time as I see fit. It could make for a nice little side adventure :)

14. What do I get experience for?

“Defeating” encounters, for life-changing or special events, etc.

Sylvaeon is not always about how many bodies you can pile up, nor is it about loot earned. Experience for treasure is only given for how it is used, if at all. Usually, treasure is its own reward.

15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?

If you are actively looking for traps, both methods come into play at various times.

16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work? At this point, retainers are antithetical to the philosophy of the characters in the Aeternal Realm of Syvaeon. The PCs are sworn to protect others, not to use them as fodder. If there are ever followers or hirelings that will be used in the game, how the CPs treat them affects their Wyrd, their reputations and a host of other things.

17. How do I identify magic items?

Almost always by trying to use them or by subtle clues as to what the item is. I never announce “This is a +1 sword!”. What does that mean to the characters anyway? One could also visit a Loremaster or the Hermetic Order of Wizardry for possible insight, but this option is rare.

18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?

NO!!!

19. Can I create magic items? When and how?

YES!!! This is encouraged. PCs creating spells, items and such makes me happy as a GM. They may need study time, components or whatever, but if it is plausible I am all for it!

20. What about splitting the party?

That is often a bad idea, but sometimes it isn't. If the players want to do that, I will let them.

Session #8 in the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon

The events of session #8 in the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon were perhaps a hallow victory for the party.

click for larger image

The last session ended with the encounter with the goblinoids back in their home turf and also with the mysterious "Old Man" (see previous post). The wizard, Kelvin the Curious was still wreathed in the black flames cast upon him by the Old Man. Trying to put the flames out in the snow availed naught. The black fire was not burning Kelvin's skin, but was consuming his very essence, so he called upon the aid of his Wyrd to cause them to subside.

Night now descended as the waxing crescent of the Silver Moon rose. Deciding to move on towards the North, where a few of the goblinoids had escaped to and where the Moon Well that was reported to be in peril lay, the party pressed on into the darkness. Soon a strange phenomenon that none had seen before illuminated the Northern skies. A red aurora that seemed to sometimes have the shape of a dragon from the old tales lit up the night. Smyrynel's Kite companion returned with a message that "new" Wardens would meet the party... and Sedgewick the giant snowy owl arrived shortly afterwards to confirm the message that wardens would join the party to the North.


During the night, whole families of animals were seen to move through the forest to the south, fleeing the direction that the PCs were moving towards. After a brief daytime rest, the party continued to follow the tracks in the snow of the fleeing goblinoids, who made no attempt to cover their escape, but were moving post-haste deeper into their territory. During the day as large black cloud swallowed up a flock of hundreds of crows that were also fleeing from the north. As night descended again, the red aurora was seen again and the aurora pillar was originating just up ahead of the group.

 Coming upon the Moon Well clearing the PCs heard the cries of "Lady have mercy!", as to their horror the beheld the burning sacrifice of an elf and a chanting goblinoid shaman... and to the polluted moon well which had become the center of great evil caused by the green-black menaces. Some goblinoids worked to mine slag while others heated it in a huge kettle. An eight foot tall hulk of their kind was pouring the boiling mess into a hole in the moon well ice, as another hulk tried to push down one of the giant standing stones around the moon well. Yet another standing stone near the shaman and his grim sacrifice had been turned into a totem. It has been augmented with large, bat-like wings and a red moon crescent was painted upon it in the elf's blood.


The party decided to split into three groups in order to attack the three main congregation of creatures... rushing in on horseback, they had the surprise!

Airyka and Brynn, the two sword sisters fought one of the hulks and several lesser goblinoid and had a tough melee against them. One sister was pounced on the hulk, while the other dispatched the other goblinoids, but ultimately it took them both to take down the foes together.

The male paladin, Parcifal tried to save the elf, but was blocked by the alpha Black Wolf that he had encountered once before and grudge battle between them ensued; swords and teeth flashing! Kelvin was "called out" for a wizard duel by the Shaman and it got pretty nasty after spells were exhausted - the shaman kicking the Wizard with his clawed feet, biting and trying to knife him!

Oban the Ranger and Smyranel the female elven paladin/druid rode across the frozen moon well, avoiding the horrid red aurora pillar at its center. On the other side they faced two of the black wolves, which brought down Oban's horse. The miners were entangled by Smyranel in the wintered thorn vines that snaked across the lower forest floor. Then the hulk began to pound mercilessly on Smyranel as she sliced it again and again. Oban shot arrows at the hulk to further wear it down and managed to kill one of the wolves that had caused him to have to leave his horse.

At the end of the battle, tall men with fair skin and blondish hair, dressed in heavy chain mail and furs
(quite unlike the usual Folk of the Realm) came crashing through the woods, killing goblins that were fleeing into the clearing from them.

Eventually only the alpha Black wolf and one of his pack members escaped... before the shaman was dispatched, it cackled and pointed to the sky, saying it did not matter that he lived or died because "he now comes"... the "he" being a large red light in the sky that was larger than a star.


The moon well is still tainted as the evils of the goblinoid tribe continue their course... there is a new red light in the heavens.... an unknown group of new humans has arrived on the scene... what will next week bring?

Session #7 of the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon

Well, it was a strange session for the characters in Sylvaeon today.
They succeeded in clearing the cliff cave of the hundreds of offspring of the giant phasing spiders that they slew last session. The baby spiders phased in and out and bit the PCs repeatedly for 1 point of damage every time, but they were finally burned out from the cave. The PCs also restored an ancient shrine that had been disturbed within the cave, with its elven metal statue and thousands of  silverish coins - of which only a few PCs dared take any (and a small amount at that!).

A new party member, Brynn (a Sword Sister) joined the party when she was sent to track down the other wardens to inquire about the status of Lydia, an elven Warden maiden that they had rescued last session. Brynn slew some of the creatures that appeared later, but did not avoid being hit by several arrows.

Oban the Ranger hunted to replenish the dwindling rations with some venison.

They encountered a shamanic goblinoid burial platform in the woods north of the riverside cliff cave. Evil juju magic struck the Sword Sister Airyka, but they were able to overcome it by destroying and burning the burial platform and its hideous humanoid and fur banner (complete with animal skull and a red crescent moon upon it). However, the black smoking fire alerted the nearby goblinoid tribe patrols who engaged the PCs with hit and run tactics. The party overran some of the retreating goblinoids and slew them viciously.



The bombs of the wizard, Kelvin the Curious, once more were used against him and he suffered other further humiliations at the hands of an old man that Smyranel, the female elven paladin of the White Lady "detected" as being non-existent. The old man was "rescued" from the goblinoids, but was really a manifestation of Corruption. The male paladin, Sir Parcifal, tried to heal the old man, but instead took a great amount of damage as the old man revealed his malice with black energy that struck the paladin as he laid on hands. The "old man" levitated was enveloped in a thing black swirling mist and began to cackle and taunt the PCs, telling them they were fool, that their path was only a dream and that everything they do only serves him. The old man was deal damage to all of the party by telekenetic-like slaps, black flames, etc. Nothing they did affected him, except Smyrynel's abjuration, which she accomplished by burning her point of Wyrd.

Smyrynel taunted the corruption manifestation, but he did not leave before telling Smyrynel that he would have the last laugh.

The moon pool situation has not yet been discovered by the PCs, who were sent to investigate an unbalance in it by the druid Mellion from his slumber in his ice block amidst a grove.

If the PCs survive the next session, perhaps they will discover what is infecting the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon.

Synopsis of Session #4 of the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon

it is a few days overdue, but here is the skinny on the continuing misadventures of my player's party:

After helping defend the Warden outpost from the goblinoid attack, the party set forth on New Years Day in the year 10,000. They decided to head to the southwest in order to find the missing Elf Warden, Lydia.

The rapid and rocky Broken Arrow River, which is impassable from any other direction that the PCs know, had to be forded. The ranger found the least dangerous place to cross it in the immediate area. Everyone made it across, but not before the mage and his horse were nearly swept down river! Continuing on, the party had to ford yet another river, the Drakes wash, which is a tributary that joins the Broken Arrow later on downstream. Thankfully the Drakes Wash is slower and more shallow, so it was not a difficult crossing.

Heading into the edge of the prairie lands, the party decided to camp for the night. They set up their six person tent and made a fire. Attracted by the fire was a wandering soul, Beldac the Mad Trapper, who explained that he had lost his mule recently to some trolls. Beldac sold a few skunk pelts and their scent glands to the party for some silver. Parcifal offered to share a meal with the trapper, who promptly ate the entire evening's rations. Setting in near the fire, Beldac slept and snored. This and the fire attracted something: the trolls!

Hunting the trapper down, the trolls finally had a clue as to his whereabouts and they approached the camp. Beldac ran off as the party gave combat. The mage was severely injured, but the PCs eventually slew the horrid towering creatures just as the trapper returned with a stick to help them fight the now dead trolls. Everyone was quite effective against them. Hard work does not go unrewarded! Inside pouches that the trolls carried was an uncut diamond, 2 dried bullfrogs and a few silver pieces! Parcifal also found a quivering green blob in one of the pouches, which Kelvin wanted to experiment upon, but Parcifal decide to keep to determine what it was and whether it was living or not. Some of the party affectionately named it the "troll booger".

in the morning, the mad trapper departed, heading towards the village of Arrowsmouth to procure another mule. The party broke camp and headed out on the trail of Lydia once more, eventually picking up a faint trail, because it had not snowed.

Following this disappearing then reappearing trail, the party reached the place where Lydia abruptly ended her journey to see Mellion the Druid - a sinkhole! Oban the ranger almost fell into it, too, as he came upon it. Leaving Parcifal and Oban to watch the horses, the rest of the party tied off a few ropes and defended into the sinkhole. It initially bottomed out at 60 feet, but had a slightly downward sloping part that continued from the floor of it. The carcass of the horse of the missing Warden was found at the bottom of the sinkhole.

As Airyka the sword sister, Kelvin the mage and Smyrynel the Paladin delved deeper into the darkness, a voice cried out. It demanded to know who and what the characters were, told them that nobody was here and to go away. Kelvin cried out a challenge in return and the voice from the shadows ceased.

Eventually the party came upon a creature dressed in patchwork rags, that one decried as a "dirty Gnome". In reality, unbeknownst to the party, this is a Brownie. The creature was seen in the light of the sword sister's lantern to be emptying a pouch into its hand. Not knowing what the diminutive being was doing, the party was fearful and attacked. What the thing was pouring out was Kelvin's pouch, which it had deftly stolen without being seen. I guess the Brownie was not impressed with Kelvin's unprovoked challenge ;)

There were some slapstick events:
 The mage grabbed it upon realizing just what it had in its hands. The Brownie placed the paladin in a stasis after she tried to continue past down the tunnel. It then blew sparks out of its mouth at Kelvin's eyes, so that the mage let go of the mischievous little thing. Running down the passage back into the darkness, the Brownie made a deal with the two mobile PCs in the sinkhole for the release of Smyrynel from its spell. Kelvin the Curious curiously decided to trade it one of his flash bombs for the release of the paladin! The being told them to back up and came and retrieved the bomb which was now in the darkness. The being emerged after a bit with the bomb in one hand and its dagger in the other! Keeping his word, the Brownie released Smyrynel from the enchantment, but she then launched upon the attack once more! Airyka also drew her sword, but hit the sinkhole wall, dropping her sword. The Brownie tossed the bomb at the mage, giving him a taste of his own medicine. The mage, recovering, tossed a net at the Brownie, but in the narrow passageway only managed to ensnare the sword sister. The Brownie, after doing a dance near the enraged Smyrynel, dodging her blows, finally ran off down the passage, which split into three other channels…

Sylvaeon Session #3 - The Outpost

"…Finally, at dawn, after meager rest, we forced march to relative safety. By dusk, our party stumbled wearily into the Wayfarer's Inn. There, the Loremaster's sweet songs and Matilda's hearty meal lulled us into dreams of the White and Blue Dragons until morning came and found us once again on our way."
-from the travel journal of Oban, Elven Ranger/Thief [Michael Henry's character]


At the end of Session #2, the character had a reprieve at the Wayfarer's Inn, where they're served cheerfully by the proprietor's wife, Matilda. The wine was still not to Parcifal's liking, but the ale there is good, as is all the ale from the nearby village of Arrowmouth.

A restful night and a bright, clear morn made for a good day's travel that next day. The temperature was still hovering around the freezing point, so it had been mild weather-wise so far.

Around mid-day, from the sides along the boggy sides of the ever deteriorating road, two greyish-white giant toads attacked the party; one giving out a croak and a blast of cold air that froze Airyka' the Sword Sister's arm. Parcifal tried to parley with it, but to no avail.After the PCs recovered from the ambush, that creature was wounded slightly, then jumped and plopped unceremoniously in front of the party. Kelvin, the resident mage, put the grotesque creature to sleep.The other toad thing rose and Smyrynel took a non-combative attitude towards it - the creature proceeded to try to blast cold at her, but missed. Brandished her blade at the one attacking her, the female paladin told it to desist. After blinking it's eyes, it leapt off and did as Smyrynel had instructed. Leaving sleeping toads lie and force marching onward, the PCs reached the Warden outpost just before dusk.

Gildiril, the Warden Master, came and greeted the recruits outside of the gates to the fort. Once inside, the PCs were given quarters and all but Smyrynel shared a meal and later some Pixie wine, with their fellow wardens, becoming inebriated. The solitary female elf, Smyrynel. keep a vigil outside. Reaching out for the guidance of the blue moon, she was "told" that a missing warden elf was still alive. She had gone missing some weeks ago and though lost forever.

After a few weeks of training in special skills chosen by each of the adventurers, they were chosen to remain as a group to become a Wayfaring patrol to be sent out into the nearby wilderness. However, the night before their departure, the goblinoids that make infrequent raids upon the fort, probing the outpost for weakness, had returned in numbers. Setting fire to the wooden palisade and hurling spears and arrows at the defenders, things looked grim. The PCs slayed around a dozen of the foul creatures, but a couple of them took hits from the spears and poisoned arrows. Oban, the ranger/thief took out a few with well-placed arrows, but had to be healed from the poison of those that were returned at him. Smyrynel's bowstring broke during the exchange of missiles and Kelvin tossed flash bombs at the goblins, burning several to death. Parcifal helped put out the fires, his cloak becoming burned in the process. Finally, the loss of so many of the raiders forced the goblinoids to retreat back into the night. The outpost had a breach in it;s timbers, but all inside were now safe - there were no casualties among the defenders.

At the dawn, New Year's Day of 10,000 SRC (Sylvaeon Revised Calendar) the PCs set off into the wlderness, provisioned and with their mandate… so their true duty as Wardens of Sylvaeon begins...

Encounters in the Wilderness

Giant Snowy Owl

Today was session #2 of the Aeternal Realm of Sylvaeon campaign. The party is made up elves and humans: two chivalric Paladins of the Order of the White Rose, a brain-addled but resourceful Mage of the Hermetic Order of Wizardry, A skillful and deadly Sword Sister and a cunning Ranger/Thief.

Being inducted as recruit Wardens in the first session, with fanfare at a celebration located in the village of Arrowmouth, the recruits received their marking as a Warden - the Glyph of the Silver Moon. This was placed upon their hand by the Druid Mellion at their swearing in ceremony.

The PCs left Arrowmouth the next day, traveling roughly Northwest, by the old road that follows the Broken Arrow River. Making camp for the night, the party built a sturdy, large lean-to shelter and a fire to protect them from the freezing Winter elements. After a bit, they heard a hooting noise in a nearby oak tree. The Huge round eyes, reflected in the firelight, were seen in the tree....

As the clouds parted some, partial moonlight revealed the silhouette of a large bird-like figure in the tree. The ranger, Oban,  knocked an arrow as the sword sister lit a lanterns for better illumination. The creature spoke, asking the ranger to please not shoot it as the lantern reveal a giant snowy owl in the branches of the oak. The creature introduced itself and said that it had seen their fire, so it knew they were there. Mistaking all of the adventurers as "Parcifal"s, because the male elven paladin introduced himself first, but the bird quickly learned that they all were named differently, which amused him. Smyrynel, the female elven Paladin, tried to read the birds aura, which was somewhat hidden to her for some reason, but she did see a bluish-white aura and felt no malice from the bird. After some banter, in which the snowy owl said it was sent to tell them something, but could not remember, a howling was heard in the night. This jogged the memory of the bird, who said that he now remembered that the Dark Wolves were coming to waylay the adventurers journey to the Warden outpost.

malevolent Dark Wolf

As the beasts were crossing the river to the PCs by leaping across on boulders in the water, Kelvin, the magic user put two to sleep and they fell in and drowned in the rough-flowing river. After a vicious battle, in which three wolves of the pack were slain (the Alpha almost becoming another!) the Dark Wolves were routed. The Paladins and the Ranger took some severe bites. The mage used fire to hold a wolf at bay and the sword sister, Airyka, showed her prowess, along with the other fighting types, in cutting wolves into several pieces. The pack howled off into the darkness, but as the leader left, it spoke in a foul voice, telling one of the paladins that he would slay him yet!

The owl had been hurt badly by one of the wolves, as it tried to intervene between one of the PCs that was trying to bravely help another. The paladins healed the bird a bit and it showed them a power of the Warden glyph: he instructed the hurt PCs to raise the glyph to the moonlight and beams shone to their palms from the orb. Within a short time, the PCs were completely healed of their wolf wounds. The owl took his leave, saying he had been called elsewhere to serve.

The PCs placed 2 more small watchfires around the camp and as they were doing so, they found a moderate-sized stele on the far side of the oak tree, facing the river. The elves of the group were confused, as the carved runes on it was very similar to their own, but it seemed like an ancient variant, by the looks of this weathered stone.  There was a battle scene on the stone, depicting humans and elves joined against dark wolves and goblinoids - something vaguely similar to the recent encounter, minus the goblin-creatures. The mage a took a rubbing of the stele with parchment. After searching around the stele, two ancient elven arrowheads were found. They were made of an unknown silver metal and were not tarnished after perhaps many centuries of lying upon this battlefield.

After an eventless rest of the night, the sun rose on a clear day. The temperature was just above freezing that morn. Breaking camp, the party continued on the next leg of the journey along the river road to an isolated inn on their way to the Warden wilderness outpost...

(more later)

The Hex Crawl Adventure

As I try to finish the prep for my first session of my new Sylvaeon campaign, I am excited to be getting back into the DMs chair again. I haven't game mastered in about two years, because my old group broke up, but I have been playing a few face-to-face games. Also, the goodness that is Google+, ConstantCon & FLAILSNAILS games via Googleplus Hangouts has been a joy to engage in. I mentioned some of the games I have played in previously and I have tried a few more since. I have to say that the gamers on G+ are a great lot and I am thankful that they are so passionate about RPGs. This Sunday I will be running Sylvaeon. I hope the rust is shaken off of my DM'ing skills quickly ;)

I will eventually be running pick-up sessions for FLAILSNAILS characters, once I get into the groove of things. This first iteration of the game will be a modified version of OSRIC. I chose OSRIC because I think it does a good job with the numerics of an AD&D-like experience - I feel it is slightly more balanced in that respect.

However, I am going to be using a Hit Point system in this first campaign that is similar to the Arduin Revised HP System. I will use standard OSRIC hit points for the FLAILSNAILS sessions, but since I have played Arduin in the distant past and am enamored with its particular approach to this, I have decided to give it a shot in the 21st century!

Over the past couple of days, I have been working on an area of my world map for a wilderness hex crawl. I have found some article that have encouraged me; a few I will post links to below. When it comes to hex crawls, I feel they can be somewhat challenging, but I wish to make it as easy on myself and the players as possible.

I enjoy hex maps - they are a bit Old School and they make mapping fun to me. There are different methods of dealing with overland travel, but the hex map works for me. I believe it is essential when creating wilderness maps for a sandbox to not reinvent the wheel. Using such things as : Hexographer, paper and colored pencil or hexGIMP, I can make maps quickly and populate them as I see fit.

Taking advantage of what is already out there to make something that works for you is a great way to cut to the chase in hex crawls. I do not see anything wrong with doing it all by hand or from scratch with some sort of mapping software, but not all of us are cartographers. Just as in coding, in the game world, there are "libraries" to use to find things you need, without having to recreate what has already been done.

From the growing re-interest in the gaming blogosphere, I think 2012 may be the year of the Hex Crawl. I am happy to give it a shot again after so long.

I appreciated these articles for sandbox/hex crawls. There were more that I may post later, but these are an excellent start:

Robert Chandler  @ http://rwchandler.blogspot.com/2012/01/hexcrawling-and-its-fundamental-use-in.html

http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-fantasy-sandbox.html

http://inkwellideas.com/worldbuilding/worldbuilding-local-area-design-example-part-1/

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/search/label/Maps