tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37234666647199727582024-03-05T02:24:36.685-05:00Dungeons & DifferentialsDeliberating on design decisionsVan Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.comBlogger198125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-19958287095260419792018-11-23T20:19:00.001-05:002018-11-23T20:19:23.415-05:00Monsters: Breaking Down a Stat Block (Polar Bears)In today's post I'm going to do a blow by blow rundown of a monsters stat block. For this exercise we are going to use a Polar Bear.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRjUTeVGTMVPfBknpDfXNSGsgdDfyAUtEdlzpEzow9xuFH-Ae2_ATrtBvOdCkEQHPefD8Fsx2lPRI4qjmNWcu-Fn6o2y00zqMTzva03UfWWAYDAV53_Aqj1Yhuu-Zk4ygl-IoetFQs/s1600/polarbearfar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="605" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRjUTeVGTMVPfBknpDfXNSGsgdDfyAUtEdlzpEzow9xuFH-Ae2_ATrtBvOdCkEQHPefD8Fsx2lPRI4qjmNWcu-Fn6o2y00zqMTzva03UfWWAYDAV53_Aqj1Yhuu-Zk4ygl-IoetFQs/s400/polarbearfar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Impromptu Polar
Bears</div>
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These bears are
completely out of their place in green jungles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While the weather is altogether too warm for them they are willing to
broker safe passage to the party with an offering of a sugary drink.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Failing to meet that requirement the bear
will bathe in the blood of the party.</div>
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[Water] <b>Overheated
Polar Bear</b> (Dire) LVL 7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HP 7d6+17<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wounds: 4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>DEF 15 / AC 5 / ARM 2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mv: M</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Ferocious 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relentless 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rage 2</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Claw/Claw/Bite<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R: 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>SPD: 4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To-Hit: +6 DMG: 1d6+3</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Weak to Fire Damage [Edge]</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11.0pt;">QTY: 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tactics: Seek & Destroy (Fire User)</span></li>
</ul>
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Alright, let's start Left from Right.<br />
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<ol>
<li>[Water] this denotes the creatures element. It has Resist: 3 for any Water Damage, and is weak to any [Wind] attacks including Lightning. </li>
<li>Next up is the creatures Name.</li>
<li>After that is (Dire) this denotes the archetype of the creature. Monsters all have an archetype that corresponds to the player characters. As a Dire creature the Polar Bear gains +3 To-Hit and DMG.</li>
<ol>
<li>Dire = Fighter / Loathsome = Adventurer / Dreaded = Seeker. </li>
</ol>
<li>Next up we have Level which determines your Hit Points, and Terror dice if you have them. </li>
<li>Hit Points = Xd6 + X where X is your Level. </li>
<li>Wounds are an alternate way of defeating a Monster in lieu of Hit Points. Damage that is 10+ strikes a Wound. Most Monsters have between 1-3 Wounds, which is modified by Relentless or Giant attribute.</li>
<li>DEF = 10 + AC. Roll this number of higher to hit the bear. AC is noted here because some monsters will have lower defense due to being Giant sized.</li>
<li>ARM is how much damage you will reduce by. For the Bear his thick hide reduces is all DMG by 2. This game uses modified OD&D rules where all damage is abstracted as a d6, (One-handed = 1d6, Two-handed = 2d6 DMG) so -2 to everything is quite good. </li>
<li>Lastly we have Move (Mv) which specifies how far you can go. Short, Medium or Long. This is dictated by one's AC. AC 3 = Short. AC 5 = Mid. AC 7 = Long.</li>
</ol>
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Okay moving past the one liner stat block we'll start going down the list.<br />
<ol>
<li> The first line is used to describe those universal parameters detailed in this post. Ferocious 1 gives the Polar Bear +3 To-Hit, Relentless gives him +10 HP and +1 Wound, Rage 2 gives him +20 HP every time it receives a Wound. </li>
<li>The second line is used for weaponry. The Polar Bear has two claws and a bite. They have Reach 1 (Standard) Speed 4 To-Hit +6 (+3 from Dire, +3 from Ferocious) and Damage of 1d6+3 (Dire).</li>
<ol>
<li>For simplicity sake monsters with multiple attacks all have the same profile to keep it easier on the GM. The standard profile for a monster is R: 1 SPD: 4 DMG: 1d6. </li>
<li>If a monster only has a single powerful attack, like a Shark Bite then it follows R: 1 SPD: 6 DMG: 2d6</li>
</ol>
<li>Below the second line will be any special effects. Since this polar bear is pretty ordinary, aside from the fact he's far from his wintry home he doesn't have much. He is however weak to Fire given this arctic bear has been teleported into a jungle. Weakness is denoted as having the [Edge].</li>
<ol>
<li>[Edge] Whenever you have the Edge gain +1d6 To-Hit and DMG. </li>
</ol>
<li>The last line is used for Quantity, Tactics and Stealth. Just a simple one liner to give the GM an idea on how to play the monster without them resorting to reading a paragraph. Our overheated bear will single out any Pyromancy and eat them given the chance. </li>
</ol>
<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-37411596707039544092018-11-22T13:16:00.001-05:002018-11-22T13:16:12.170-05:00Turkey TarrasqueIn honor of Thanksgiving I present to you the Turkey Tarrasque, Turkeysque for short. He'll be utilizing the basic framework I discussed earlier for universal modifiers on your monster.<br />
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[Omni] Turkeysque
(Loathsome Villain)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LVL 20<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HP<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(20d12+50)x2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>TD 20d6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wounds 12<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>DEF 11 / AC 7 / ARM 1 (+3)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mv:
L<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Trample 3d6)</div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Giant 3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relentless 3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Impervious 3 Rage 3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ferocious 3 Uncanny 3</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Claw/Claw/Bite/Tailfeathersx5<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reach: 6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>SPD: 10<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To-Hit:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>+9<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>DMG:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>7d6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CRIT:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Save Vs Death</span></li>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">[Vorpal]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any 6's rolled on Damage ignore the
Rule of Three</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">[Terror Die]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reflect any Magical or Elemental effect
back at the target</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">[Terror Die] Mind-melting
Gobble - Induces bowel shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Very large area - Save Vs
Fear, Paralysis, & Insanity</span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The Turkey Tarrasque is a top level monster, sporting enormous HP and Wounds. Unlike his turtle shelled cousin he trades in some lower Armor reduction for a faster move, and the clarion call of the Mad Gobbler. In typical Tarrasque fashion magical and elemental effects can be reflected back on the unsuspecting targets.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOVsJxcHAjjGpgiv74_qGWmATPtxu8y3f5o04f1jmfSFiy0EPl9hRLgqINxbJRprvZqygiP0blrkn_jD8xB4nO_zhM6tfk4i2LoyThHFoyOa7_blAzPxrQ8EX2bU15wFYGsUUux_D/s1600/Tarrasque+Reflect.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="412" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOVsJxcHAjjGpgiv74_qGWmATPtxu8y3f5o04f1jmfSFiy0EPl9hRLgqINxbJRprvZqygiP0blrkn_jD8xB4nO_zhM6tfk4i2LoyThHFoyOa7_blAzPxrQ8EX2bU15wFYGsUUux_D/s400/Tarrasque+Reflect.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like this but with more festive tail feathers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-33317576558675989982018-11-21T22:55:00.001-05:002018-11-21T22:55:15.485-05:00Monster Framework (Gargoyles)To continue with the posting spirit I'd like to spend today talking a bit about how I've been designing monsters recently. I'm going to use these dastardly Gargoyles as an example today. In the below photo the Ork Party is playing cautiously moving their melee characters forward as they aren't sure which Gargoyles (represented by Eldar Swooping Hawks) are statues and which ones are ready to pounce.<br />
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In the past few weeks I decided to streamline how I make a monster. Back in May I was at about 75 or so monsters in my codex, now that has burgeoned out to another 118 so we're pushing 200. As I rebalance and retool things it's helpful to be able to blow through a monster entry without too many moving parts. This means making some universal abilites for monsters instead of a few handfuls of unique abilities scattered across a few dozen monsters.<br />
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The goal is to ease up on creating a monster from a design perspective and for the enterprizing GM who likes to wing it and make up some strange creature, chimera or automaton on the fly. It also cuts down on bookeeping for the GM for things like Attacks, Damage reduction, etc. I had done this a bit in the past with the [Giant] and [Ferocious] category but it has since been expanded. So here we are:<br />
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Customize Monsters</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Ferocious (1-3):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each level gives +3 To-Hit</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Uncanny (1-3):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each level gives the monster a bonus
chance to Act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; font-style: italic;">GMs these
actions are meant to be spread out, not singling out one character.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Relentless<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1-3):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each level gives +10 HP & +1 Wound</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Impervious (1-3):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each level reduces all damage by 1 and
+1 on Saving Throws</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Rage (1-3):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each level gain +10 HP whenever you take
a Wound</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Giant<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(1-3):<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Each level gives Damage +2d6, Wounds +2, Reach +2, SPD +2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DEF -2.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The largest benefit for me with these universal rules was adjudicating creatures that fall outside the realm of players. A Stone Statue Guardian for example, will have armor as strong as platemail but perhaps even more as a being made entirely of stone. Wild beasts will be ferocious and make up for their lack of weaponry with a universal to-hit bonus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This also establishes a baseline for me when it comes to setting up standards. If I say a Lion or Tiger is Ferocious level 2, then when I think of a new monster I can decided if they are less than, equal to or more ferocious than a Tiger. Perhaps a T-Rex will be Ferocious 3 and a Wolf Ferocious 1. Now then let's see how it applies to our belfry protecting gargoyles. </span><br />
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[Wind] Gargoyle
[Dreaded]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LVL 4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HP 4d6+4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wounds 2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>TD 4d12<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DEF 13 / AC 3 / ARM 3 (+1) Mv: M (Fly)</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Ferocious 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Impervious 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rage 1</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Claw/Claw/Bite/Horn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R: 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>SPD 4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To-Hit: +3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DMG: 1d6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Swooping carry: If 2+ attacks
hit, carry the target a mid-distance and drop them</span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">QTY: 1d6 / Tactics: Hit & Run / Stealth +5 among ruins and stonework</span></li>
</ul>
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Thinking of the Gargoyle I decided they were considerably less ferocious than a Tiger, but not quite harmless and gave them Ferocious 1. As weather eroded creatures I opted to give them the minimum Impervious value as well, reducing all damage by 1, reflected as +1 next to the Armor Reduction (ARM) stat. Lastly, I gave the Gargoyles Rage. <br />
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I was always a fan of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygrEVnrg3Ic" target="_blank">Gargoyles TV show</a> in the 90s, and one that stuck with me was the raw emotion these creatures felt. Living by night, and stone by light, when you've only half the day to live it's no surprise their candle burns twice as bright.<br />
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Gargoyles are pretty feisty opponents, hard to hurt, hard to take down, and they bring enough attacks to the table that even a pair of them can threaten a party if played wisely. <br />
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Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-88227064814094813602018-11-21T00:23:00.002-05:002018-11-21T00:23:35.596-05:00Zombie!Following up with yesterdays Halloween post I'm going to talk about a bit about the Zombie monster design. Zombies are meant to be dangerous cannon fodder, relatively helpless on their own but get surrounded and you'll torn to pieces. In the below photo we have one PC wisely on the roof, two PCs on the ground ready to protect some townsfolk, and to the south our brave fighter who already succumbed to six of the brain eaters represented by the grey unpainted minis.<br />
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Let's talk game mechanics. Here's the stat block.<br />
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<div style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
[Void] <span style="font-weight: bold;">Zombie</span> (Minion)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>LVL 1 HP 1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wounds 2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>DEF 10 / AC n/a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Move: Mid Distance <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="disc">
<li style="color: black; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Slam<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R: 0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>SPD: 2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To-Hit:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Auto-hit<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>DMG: 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CQC: Bite 1d6
DMG.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
<li style="color: black; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: underline;">Dead
Mob</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;"> - +1 DMG per
extra Zombie engaged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
<li style="color: black; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; text-decoration: underline;">It's
still moving</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">!
-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If a zombie would run out of HP
instead take a Wound and lose a limb (Choose: No Slam or Move: Short).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></li>
<ul style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed;" type="circle">
<li style="color: black; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">They die instantly from a
Critical Hit or Overkill.</span></li>
</ul>
<li style="color: black; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">QTY: 3d6 Tactics: Swarm! </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Zombies have a simple slam attack in melee, to represent them flailing at you, trying anything to devour your flesh. It's an automatic hit but the damage is low, only 2 points. Should the Zombie enter Close Quarters Combat (CQC) they may gnaw your ankles off for a mighty d6 of damage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">Dead Mob is when the zombies true power shine. This was stylized after zombie horror movies where your all but a guaranteed kill once a group has caught you. For each additional zombie engaged they gain +1 to DMG on all attacks. Our poor fighter above is surrounded by 6 zombies, each one gaining +5 to Damage. Even with a large pool of Hit Points he won't last long before they bring him down. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">As for Hit Points we gave the Zombies a single hit point, but their special rules means it will take two guaranteed hits in order to bring them down. Each hit will knock off either an arm (and their slam attack) or a leg (slowing their movement down). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt;">The exception is a Critical Hit or Overkill (Damage 10+) which is likened to a headshot putting the zombie out of it's misery. So there you have it, a swarm of level 1 creatures that can bring ruin onto a party with a cavalier attitude. </span><br />
Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-40084980796042256002018-11-19T23:29:00.004-05:002018-11-19T23:29:57.738-05:00Halloween One-Shot 2018This year's Halloween one-shot I decided to continuation of last year's game, where the players after successfully stopping an apocalyptic event, retired to their villa and newly betrothed Weretiger brides. (Background at the bottom of the post). <br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">An ongoing rivalry with a nearby Vampire Lord has finally proven too much for the party. The Vampire lord has been misdirecting undead hunters to the Weretigers doorsteps, unannounced. Enough is enough! The party ventures north, stakes in hand. It has been two months an no sign of them. Their apprentices now travel North in hopes to rescue them.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Scenario 1 - Zombie Outbreak</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">While enjoying a rack of ribs and inquiring with the local townsfolk, who happen to love their Vampire Liege, a zombie outbreak occurs! The Vampire Lord has sent his zombies after Greenbeard the Viking who escaped his manor, they are eating everyone in their path.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">PCs begin in the inn and can bust outside or move to the inn's roof and pepper with ranged weapons. The dice scattered around town represent pockets of townsfolk that when eaten turn into zombies a turn later. All the grey unpainted minis are Zombies, all the colorful 40k Orks are Players. The cardboard mountains in the back are the spooky backdrop to the Vampires Palace.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">PROs: I really enjoyed the new Zombie rules. They were tooled after a horror zombie movie where going off alone meant being torn to pieces.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">CON: Zombies were slightly too powerful where a group of 6 of them ripped apart a 7th level character within 1.5 turns. (Greenbeard's apprentice Stubble) They had to be toned down quite a bit. Additionally, not enough opportunities were provided for players to rescue townsfolk.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Scenario 2 - Ghouls and Gargoyles (SKIPPED)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Frustrated the Players and now rescued Greenbeard escaped his clutches, the Vampire Lord sends off his rune covered ghouls to track the party. Once they find them their goal is to paralyze and drag them back alive, well most of them. Gargoyles provide eyes in the sky and will grab any paralyzed players.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">We skipped this scenario to keep the game under 3 hours. As the party approached Octavius Castle his animated armor blocked any zombies they escaped from entering. Relived the party enters.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Scenario 3 - Skeleton fiesta!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Entering the manor and passing through the foyer the party opens the next door to the sounds of music and dancing skeletons! The dancing skeletons were minions in the last game but were quite cheerful here. The skeletons had them play games, and the players competed amongst themselves for prizes. Games: Skeleton bowling, Skeleton Xylophone contest, Skeleton Chicken (Pool sport).</span></span></span><br />
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Treasure:<span> </span>Thunderous bowling ball -<span> </span>Deals +2d6 Wind DMG in a burst when it
strikes</span></div>
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</span><div style="font-family: Calibri; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Treasure:<span> </span>Skeleton boomerang - Grapples target if it
hits them.<span> </span>Save Vs Grapple</span></div>
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</span><div style="font-family: Calibri; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Treasure:<span> </span>Haunting Music Box - Gives everyone a Save +5
Vs Charm</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Treasure:<span> </span>Consolation prize - Potions of healing 1d6+1</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After some merriment and heavy imbibing of spirits (pun intended) the skeletons make a party wave and dump the PCs into the nearest oubliette. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: Parties favorite part of the adventure</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CON: Not all games are very fun as series of dice rolls</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Scenario 4 - Shut down all the trash compacts on the detention level!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Down in the dank sewer the party is accosted by some blind tentacles. If they stay still they may avoid the Otyugh. Greenbeard and Gravedigger Bob however burped and threw a tankard at it, thus prompting a battle. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">TREASURE: Old Hunters Silver Cane +1, Silver Whip +3, Tri-Barrel Pistol, and Grim Lord's Scythe +2 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: The parties Aeromancer was extremely effective with his lightning spells</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CON: Two handed weapons are great until you miss several times in a row. The Otyugh did not survive for long.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Scenario 5 - Hammertime (SKIPPED)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The party can stumble upon an armory and a diligent Hammersmith automaton at work. They can use their quick wits of diplomacy to deal with the Hammersmith and possibly even negotiate a weapon creation. Skipped due to time constraints.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Scenario 6 - Banquet</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Escaping the dungeon the party enters into a courtyard where the Vampire Lord apologizes for all the trouble and explains he was just trying to get them to join his yearly banquet. "Oh those vampire hunters on your doorstep? That's just how we say hello in my country". He is accompanied by other members of the 'captured' party in tuxedos and top hats. The party agrees to an amazing banquet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The banquet consists of </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">salad,
sashimi, bone broth soup, grilled sausage, bread and butter, and a massive
sweet potato pie in the middle. The bold few who eat are rewarded with bonus dice in the upcoming encounter. The Vampire Lord reveals the true mastermind behind last year's one-shot. The unassuming Pumpkin Farmer!! He was but a mere underling pressed into service. He is willing to back them up if they simply kill them, but requires any non-Weretigers to become vampires as a sign of trust.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The party accepts missing out on Boss Battle and Ending #1</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: Whew, we are over by 30minutes on session length</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CON: The Party missed out on a battle with a Vampire Lord and his Thralls, some flying swords, carnivorous mind controlling top hats and a smothering rug.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Scenario 7 - The Pumpkin Man Cometh</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The party rides a giant flying manta-ray furnished by the Vampire Lord back to town and deal with the Pumpkin Farmer who plays dumb. Gravedigger Bob attacks him with a scythe decapitating him. Pumpkin farmer continues playing dumb from the ground. BUT WAIT - Sudden vibrations bring the house down and Great Pumpkin rises from the earth. The party must do battle with a Gargantuan Jack-O-Lantern who shoots a fiery Willowisp from his eyes each round.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: FIrst test of a party of 7 characters against one massive HP sponge boss</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: A crit miss followed by a random luck roll caused the Grave Lord's Scythe to spawn a Grim Reaper who attacked the party</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: The Windmage had a chance to Suplex the Great Pumpkin</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">PRO: Elemental Magics did not seem excessive in this fight</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">CON: Some characters didn't feel as though they were having a strong enough contribution but we were also playing at lightspeed by this point since it was past 1AM on the East Coast and I was late from dinner over on this side of the world</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All in all a great game. Looking forward to the next one.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">LAST GAME'S BACKGROUND:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="font-size: small;">The party consisting of Greenbeard and his apprentice Stubble, Victor Von Haman and his apprentice Orphan Boy, Vivaldi the Earth Mage and Chopin the mini-Earth Mage, and Scruffy the Renegade Janitor were taking a trip to the highlands to relax after vanquishing a banshee menace. Stopping in town they received an invitation to a nearby manor from a rather nice family the village kept talking up. They also met a pumpkin farmer who said the only way to survive the night was to paint this symbol on your door. How unusual!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Long story short the family with the invitation was a bunch of Were-Tigers who invited them to dinner.... to be dinner. Instead the party successfully escaped the tiger trap mazed and even romanced a few of the beautiful were-tiger daughters. Forging a new alliance, they were told of a great evil that would rise up on the night of the blood moon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The party headed into town only to find the population compulsively dancing towards townsquare with day-of-the-dead skeletons escorting everyone. A guillotine was going into overdrive in town square. The party met the Pumpkin reaper and our hero Earth Mage vanquished himself to take down the skeletal menace with him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It has been 2 years since then and the party has grown comfortable in their Weretiger Villa. An ongoing rivalry with a Vampire Lord has finally proven too much for them. The Vampire lord has been misdirecting undead hunters to the Weretigers doorsteps, unannounced. The party has had enough of this tom foolery and left to finish things with the Vampire Lord once and for all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It has been 1 month and the family has not heard from the party. Now it is time for the brave apprentices to journey North and rescue their noble lords.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span>Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-4793744812827160602016-11-06T01:50:00.002-04:002016-11-06T01:50:49.085-04:00A&A Design: Monsters!Since editing and re-editing a book will sometimes drive you mad it's always good to get a fresh burst of creativity and throughout the development of this game I've always found that by coming up with fresh new monsters hot off the presses.<br />
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So here I'm going to talk about how I handle basic monster design. Like characters I want these to be very quick and fluid to come up with, sometimes on the fly, which means a basic starting chassis shared across the board. To keep things on an even playing field I match them to the same mechanics as player characters.<br />
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<b>0. Imagery</b><br />
Don't forget to describe your monster to your players. Frequently it's the image of the monster that inspires the GM to stat one up so don't forget to share the visuals with your players. All the cool abilities in the world don't mean a thing if the players can't visualize it in their head.<br />
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<b>1. Archetype</b><br />
Monster archetypes match up with player archetypes.<br />
Dire = Fighter (Smash twice the amount of things!)<br />
Loathesome = Adventurer (Higher HP & Harder to kill)<br />
Dreadful = Seeker (Specialist in Monster version of Intrepid Dice) <br />
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<b>2. Level</b><br />
This determines their HP, more levels means more dice to roll, typically I'll assign a bonus Wound to a higher level monster as well. It's also vaguely defines power level in that I won't put absurdly powerful abilities on lower level monsters. Except for the Vorpal Rabbite, all bets are off with those bodyless head-hopping chompers are around.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmnJB7lwU8asM6BfJX6vXf9zifslq03IeP15L4V7FVyNlfV7B4AxCpPVwPiwBO_rkgjMLyFOqXiUM5kysxj8MDfoSV0adA695k73wqPWqUyBrynKRlRp76KAklXH6fxbKJz8hcOSh/s1600/Rabbite+1993-Secret-of-mana.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmnJB7lwU8asM6BfJX6vXf9zifslq03IeP15L4V7FVyNlfV7B4AxCpPVwPiwBO_rkgjMLyFOqXiUM5kysxj8MDfoSV0adA695k73wqPWqUyBrynKRlRp76KAklXH6fxbKJz8hcOSh/s1600/Rabbite+1993-Secret-of-mana.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Secret of Mana - A boy and his rusty sword inches away from certain death</td></tr>
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<u>Examples</u>: Vorpal Rabbite Lvl 1. Giant Psychic Eel Lvl 4. Ogre Magi Lvl 8. <br />Prehistoric Atlas Godbeetle Lvl 18.<br />
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Note: To keep things easier on the GM we removed "Reserves" from Monsters and kept them only for Heroes. This means that each monster don't have a fat stack of Hit Dice & Monster-Intrepid Dice to rely on (and for the GM to keep track of). Instead they have a single Monster-Intrepid dice to use at the right moment.<br />
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The GM already has enough on their mind balancing rules and a whole suite of creatures so all design decisions typically revolve around the keep it simple stupid principle.<br />
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<b>3. Armor</b><br />
Decide if the creature is easy to hit but harder to damage (Heavy AC3) or more nimble and made of paper (Lightly AC7 or Unarmored ACN7) or somewhere in-between (Medium armor AC5). Heavier armor means slower movement as well.<br />
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<u>Examples:</u> Long-neck Stone Serpent AC 3. Lizardman Conquistador AC5. Vine Hydra AC7<br />
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<b>4. Armaments </b><br />
Monsters that don't wield weapons typically get multiple attacks to account for their numerous natural weapons and the fact they're not getting any To-Hit bonuses (and most have Reach 0 which means they aren't counter-attacking Vs your typical sword, ax & spear). A one-handed weapon (claws) does a d6 and a two-handed or slow heavy weapon (i.e. Rhino horn, Croc bite) does 2d6 damage.<br />
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So a two-headed panther with life sucking tentacles on its shoulder-blades is making 4 attacks a round. It makes fighting monsters a very different experience than fighting bandits and raiding parties of Terror Knights who are wielding the same weaponry as the PCs and makes it easier for a single (powerful) monster to face off Vs. multiple PCs. <br />
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<b>5. Special Abilities</b><br />
Much like how all you're weapons are differentiated by their special quality Monsters are the same level and archetype are differentiated by their special abilities. That two-headed tentacle panther is a lot more dangerous when you upgrade him into a full displacer beast or have his tentacles drain life force and is radically different from your 4x attack/round vine hydra who specializes in strangling the life out of your foes after he lands multiple hits.<br />
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Note: It's rare for a monster to have more than two abilities. Remember, the GM has a lot to remember, don't overload them. You want the game (and combat) to continue cruising along without frequent or any rules look-ups.<br />
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Note: When coming up with your own abilities there's a quick litmus test before you implement. #1 Does it make sense for the monster? #2 Make sure it's not unfair or absurd.<br />
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<u>Example Monster:</u><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c7100f4b-3829-aefe-1ce6-3f2f90850e7a" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c7100f4b-3829-aefe-1ce6-3f2f90850e7a" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bears (Dire) Lvl 5 HP <b> </b>5d6+5 Wnd: 4 AC 7 Mv: L BearClaw R: 1 Dmg 2d6</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-c7100f4b-3829-aefe-1ce6-3f2f90850e7a" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maul - +2d6 damage in Close Quarters Combat</span></b></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-c7100f4b-3829-aefe-1ce6-3f2f90850e7a" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: 13.333333333333332px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rage - +2d6 HP when Wounded</span></b></li>
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Next post I'll start talking about layout design and how that has influenced the evolution of our design.<br />
Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-75531415334434375892016-04-19T02:17:00.000-04:002016-04-19T02:29:11.175-04:00A&A Quickstart Guide Example CharactersAlright! Posting daily has reminded how fun blogging can be. Now to round off the Book of Earth I'm going to use the excerpts we've posted the last few days and walk through the character creation process. For an experienced guy like me I can do this in about 3 minutes, for one of my regular players it can be done in about 15m or less which I'm happy to report meets my original design goal.<br />
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Before we jump in there are two things I forgot to mention in last week's posts. The quick one first.<br />
1. Scrolls.<br />
You may have noticed that there are 3 Cantrips per Spell School and a Spell Scroll contains 3 Cantrips. Well, for Quickstart typically you pick a Spellschool and gain all three basic Cantrips from that school. This isn't a hard requirement by any means, just for expediency. If you know what you want then by all means go ahead and hand-pick your spells; but if you're lost pick a school and keep moving.<br />
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2. Weapons<br />
Those of you with a keen eye may have noticed that Flanged Mace and Sledgehammer are nearly identical except one requires two-hands to wield. This is to show you that you can take any weapon and quickly convert it into a 2d6 damage zweihander. If you'd prefer a two-handed skullsplitting ax over the everyday battleax, go for it! <br />
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We have rules for many different weapons (and qualities) deeper in the book but if you ever want to make your own variation of weapon it's pretty easy. You have 3 points to distribute amongst ITS Impact, Thursting Slashing. After that, choose if it's one or two handed then assign a quality. You'll see an example of this in Sword Dancer Hono below who turns the Saber and Firearm into two-handers.<br />
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EXAMPLE CHARACTERS<br />
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Sondor the Pitfighter LVL 3 Fiery Fighter<br />
Hometurf: The Badlands. Profession: Gladiator. Etiquette: Uncultured Oaf.<br />
Stats: V17 A6 P8 R11 GRID Saves: +1d6/0/0/+1d6<br />
Attribute: Talented<br />
Alignment: Survivor. Drive: Become rich beyond wildest dreams. Goal: High risk/reward jobs.<br />
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Level 3 HP 3d6+3 (11) HD3 ID3 AC: 3 (Heavy Plate)<br />
Combat Clash: 1d20+1d6+ITS VS 10+Target's AC<br />
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Proficiency: Armor I (Move at mid-range while in Heavy armor)<br />
Arms & Equipment<br />
-Spear ITS 0/3/0 1d6 dmg Quality: Impale (Hit two targets on Critical/Overkill)<br />
-Shield ITS 0/0/0 1d6 dmg Quality: Splinter (Absorb a Wound in your place)<br />
-Javelins ITS 1/2/0 1d6 dmg Mid-Range Thrown. Quality: Vicious (Crit: +1d6 damage)<br />
-Claws ITS 0/1/2 1d6 dmg Flurry: 2x Attacks Quality Vicious<br />
Gear: Grappling Hook & 50ft Living Rope; Tur Kay's Wound Poultice, Gutsy Grog<br />
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(Sondor's player didn't want too many choices right away & stuck w/ vicious for his bread and butter)<br />
(Also, all his weapons are one-handed and compatible with his life saving shield)<br />
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Sword Dancer Hono LVL 3 Wind Adventurer<br />
Hometurf: The shifting Sands. Profession: Stargazer (Astronomer) Etiquette: Academic<br />
Stats: V7 A16 P13 R6 GRID Saves: 0/+1d6/+1d6/0<br />
Attribute: Adamant Resolve<br />
Alignment: Savior. Drive: Discover what it was like before the great war. Goal: Travel the world.<br />
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Level 3 HP: 3d12+3 (23) HD 3 ID 3 AC: None (+1d6 Combat Clash)<br />
Combat Clash: 1d20+1d6 + ITS VS 10+Target's AC<br />
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Proficiency: Weapon (Swords) I. +1 dmg/die and Quality.<br />
Arms & Equipment<br />
--Katana ITS 0/1/2 Zweihander 2d6+2 dmg. Speed 4 Quality: Keen (-1 Speed)<br />
--Arquebus Reload 2 Zweihander 4d6 dmg. Quality: Vicious (Crit: +4d6 damage. Recall Rule of 3)<br />
Gear & Relics: Dead man's antidote, Pepper Bomb x6, Sands of Time<br />
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(Vicious is pretty, well, vicious with a 4d6 weapon. But remember the Rule of 3. Only keep 3 dice!)<br />
(//Author's note: You forgot to include the Rule of 3 Cornerstone on the front page. Way to go!)<br />
(If you're wondering what all the fuss with Speed is about, you'll find out with Merciless Melee Combat in the Book of Fire.)<br />
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Green-Skinned Tiamult LVL 3 Earth Seeker<br />
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Hometurf: The Everglow. Profession: Green skinned Mutant (Circus Attraction) Etiquette: Outlaw<br />
Stats: V12 A5 P9 R15 GRID Saves: 0/0/+1d6/+1d6<br />
Attribute: Ogre<br />
Alignment: Nihilist. Drive: World Domination Goal: Attain more powerful magics<br />
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Level 3 HP: 3d6+3 (15) HD 3 ID 3 AC: 7 (Light leather)<br />
Combat Clash: 1d20+ITS VS 10+Target's AC<br />
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Proficiency: Spells I<br />
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Arms & Equipment<br />
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-Tomahawk (Throwing) ITS 2/0/1 Einhander d6 dmg<br />
-Wand of Earth (10 uses. -1 extra use +1 Hit)<br />
-Spellscroll (Transmutation) 10 uses before it Spontaneously combusts<br />
-Spellscroll (Witchcraft) 10 uses before it Spontaneously combusts<br />
Relics: Flying Faerie Dust, Illumina Jewel, Sands of Time<br />
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(Tiamult has a good mix of magical utility plus elemental damage meaning that he rounds out the group quite well. Elements & Magic certainly aren't a necessity to a party but it will make some fights easier. Just don't rely on it too much! Thankfully, as a Seeker with his boosted d12 Intrepid Dice Tiamult is unlikely to fall victim to many magical mishaps.)<br />
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<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-30973946728947064752016-04-18T02:41:00.002-04:002016-04-19T14:23:13.033-04:00A&A Quickstart Guide: Fury of the Elements So far we've talked about weaponry, a bit about armor and plenty about spells but in order to round out proficiencies we need to look into Elementalism, the focus of the game. You may recall that like Magic the Elements respond to the lyrical tones of your voice whether it be a monk's chant, poet's verse or a bard's song. Earlier we talked about the Elemental Crescendo, an all-purpose elemental attack option. It is the gout of flame extending from your flying kick, the razor wind from your spinning staff, the jagged rocks sent skyward by your falling heel strike and the water mirroring your swaying and whipping arms. It is unrefined, but it is effective. Now we talk about the Fury of the Elements, that requires the training of a Channeler to call upon.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>To call down an Elemental Fury you must have reached the requisite circle of power for that element. You are considered to have an internal 1st Circle of Power of your personal element, the environment begins at zero and to raise the Circle of Power you must Channel Mana. The only caveat being that for the Third Circle of Power you must take control of a Mana [Upwelling] on the battlefield which can be quite perilous.<br />
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To do this make a Channel roll, which follows most other rolls in the game. Roll your Critical die (d20) and add +/- 5 dependent on whether the element is channeled somewhere favorable or unfavorable, success is met at 10 or greater. For example if you are Channeling water mana in order to raise the environment to the 1st Circle of Water, you would have a +5 bonus on the high seas but a -5 penalty in the desert. Naturally, with any d20 roll you may add Intrepid dice to bolster the roll. If your total Channel roll is 20+ you raise the Circle of Power and unleash a Fury at the same time. <br />
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Once the Circle of Power for that element has been achieved it stays there and is usable by anyone capable of using that element. This means that if your Fire Origin Avatar is facing off against another Pyromancer, should you raise to the 2nd Circle of Fire your opponent is also able to use the "Ballad of Coming Dragons" just as you are, not to mention both of your Fire Crescendo's have been boosted by one damage die for each circle. While both sides may take advantage of the increasing power available it also means that a team of Channelers with the same element are a force to be reckoned with.<br />
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Raising the Circle of Power tends to have very obvious effects on the
environment, howling gales, trembling rocks, water spurting out of the
ground and pine needles spontaneously combusting tend to happen as you
increase in power. Now then let's take a look at what elements are available.<br />
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While designing each element was given a focus; wind was chosen for offensive support, earth for defensive, water for restoration and fire for all out destruction. For each element a terrain style piece was added at Level 1 to give enterprising Geomancers some ability to shape terrain rather than direct assaults. On the other side of the spectrum each 3rd Circle Fury was meant to be extraordinarily powerful as it required quite a bit of work to even reach it.<br />
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Wind's first two powers are excellent supports, one bolsters the entire party like a classic Bard, the other offers a windwall to shield someone from the plight of archers. The 2nd circle allows you to force an emergency landing of any (non-wind) flying creature while the 3rd provides direct damage and the ability to seal off future spellcasting and elementalism. If you will recall from the spell section, both magic and the elements respond to the lyrical tones of your voice, meaning someone deafened has temporarily had that power removed.<br />
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Earth starts off knocking people off the steady ground and allowing for immediate combat advantage, it's terrain slows down the foes with thorny brambles, either way escape will be difficult. It's 2nd Circle provides strong protection just like the barrier spell from Warding and the 3rd Circle has the capacity to to wipe out a legion of lesser men.<br />
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With Fire you can expect to burninate the countryside from 1st - 3rd Circle. It's terrain is a double edged sword, like with classical magic you need to see what you are targeting in order for it to work which means that concealment or worse, being blinded, will prevent you from doing that. Unless of course you're going for some collateral damage in which case the 2nd and 3rd circle have you covered.<br />
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Water allows for some of the few sources of healing in the game restoring HP lost this round up to 5 or 15 points depending on the Circle. Acid pools provide a strong incentive to avoid while the 2nd Circle allows you to wash away all the pesky terrain effects from other Elements.Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-88789595113050736292016-04-16T15:03:00.001-04:002016-04-16T15:03:27.096-04:00A&A Quickstart Guide Cantrips (Back)Alright, off-duty so it's time to finish off Cantrips. This time we have PSI, Transmutation, Warding, Witchcraft and of course the rest of Lifa.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Rounding out Lifa we have, Return to the Light, a spell to nullify around half of the status effects you can encounter and for any weird ailment the GM comes with it provides a 50% chance to remove it. The third spell, Planetary Reclamation, allows you to cancel out someone else's battlefield control and absorb the elements to heal yourself.<br />
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PSI is one of my favorite schools boasting power psychic and psychokinetic abilities. Telepathy is your standard mental communication useful in stealthy situations, when captured, separated or in the unthinkable splitting the party scenario. Jaunt allows for a quick teleportation to escape or reach a difficult space that you can still see (a clever player may attempt to jaunt through a sniper hole to bypass a castle walls). Lastly we have animate weapon, you can send this dancing sword to fight from a distance or keep it as a secondary weapon fighting alongside you adding ITS Attack bonus to the Combat Clash.<br />
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Next up we have the power of alchemists, Transmutation. I envision transmutation mostly for modifying material properties but also allowing someone capable of occasional superhuman feats, in this case leaping over a small building in a single bound. Poison/Purify is a good way to save yourself or to become a notable king slayer, be careful though, many with the patron element of Water are able to tell if Water is pure or not. Lastly we have Rust, a walking terror to your veteran D&D player this spells transfers the power of one of the most dreaded monsters to the player. Luckily our coveted magic arms and armor are safe, but everything else will soon crumble to red dust.<br />
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Warding is your all purpose defensive school of thought but still manages its own variety of offense by applying debilitating glyphs to change combat momentum. Barrier creates a damage buffer against one type of damage (physical, magical or elemental) which is quite useful while Immunize makes the prepared adventurer that much better off when walking into a hazardous environments they gathered good intel on. One thing to note is that any kind of spell does not last longer than a scene, so if you cast Immunize its useful life ends once a new scene or encounter begins.<br />
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Lastly we have Witchcraft which consolidates a few classic spells from common fairytales. Being able to spy on someone with a lock of their hair, applying a malignant curse and of course less ominous spells like speaking with animals.<br />
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If you're looking for more spells of varying power levels and concepts be sure to check out the <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-spell-list-table-of-contents.html" target="_blank">Vancian Spellstorming Session</a> back here.<br />
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<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-59275743382406872082016-04-14T01:30:00.003-04:002016-04-14T01:30:38.169-04:00A&A Quickstart Cantrips (Front)I'm CDO so my quickstart updates will be infrequent and interrupted much like my sleep schedule for the next 48 hours shift. Today we're going to talk about MAGICAL POWERS.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>On the front page we have the following spell schools, Chronomancy, Conjuraion, Enchantment, Illusion and half of Lifa. I talked a bit about spell schools before (...2014 gah!) and even went through a spell-storming session to develop a number of <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-spell-list-table-of-contents.html" target="_blank">Vancian inspired spells</a> for the game. For the Quickstart though we're just looking for simple and straightforward spells for your extra-ordinary explorer.<br />
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The table has two columns that could use a bit of explaining. Focus means that you spend 1HP / round to maintain that effect, and your GM <u>may</u> require a Discipline Save should you take damage or otherwise be interrupted. Saving Throws denote which Save would likely be used to resist the effect, sometimes to completely negate and other times to only mitigate the effects. If it's not spelled out then it's up the GM and the circumstances to decide. <br />
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As discussed before we have three tiers of spells, Cantrips, Lesser and Formidable, so you can thank Mazirian for their naming conventions. One thing I wanted to avoid was having Cantrips be a 'useless' level of spells reserved only for parlor tricks and as the editions advanced a paltry d3 of damage. Magic is a fantastic thing, so I see no reason to artificially weaken it even at the lowest level since that breaks up a lot of folks verisimilitude. On the other hand Formidable spells shouldn't go too far off the deep end <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2012/02/dying-earth-plot-breaker.html" target="_blank">for the same reason</a>. The Cantrips presented here offer quite a bit of potency you'd expect from a 1-3rd level spell.<br />
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Chronomancy deals with time and space so at the Cantrip level you can expect to slow down your foes, receive a bonus action on occasion or ruin someone's stockpile of Hit Dice and Intrepid Dice. While Cantrips are the lowest Tier of spell that doesn't necessarily mean they stop being useful as you advance in level and strength. Demi will be much more effective against stronger foes while Alacrity can prove useful at any level of the game.<br />
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Conjuration introduces some fun spells and quite a lot of utility for a spell-crafty player. Creation lets you create some simple objects, the basic intent is to bridge the gap in exploration, creating immediate planks or boxes to cross pits or perhaps create a weighty object on a pressure plate for a puzzle or trap. Unseen yet heard servant allows for your lazy wizard to have a cleaning service for their abode, due to their noisy nature they make for terrible scouts. Lastly you have create trap, which allows for a lot of fun when setting up ambushes or defending where you're are. The benefit to Focus here means that once the trap is triggered you know about it since your HP immediately starts draining making for a decent alarm system as well. Move too far away and your trap will disappear back into the aether.<br />
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Enchantment is always a favorite school of mine although you'll find the Cantrips fairly straightforward. Overwhelm allows you to defeat a foe non-lethally even from a range; Ensorcelled steel allows you to bolster yourself or allies (and cut through non-magical armor like butter); Disenchant allows for an all purpose spellbreaker. Rather than deal with Dispel Magic's level competition there really isn't much of a problem with allowing a universal solvent of spells to remove nasty magical effects. <br />
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Moving onto Illusion we have the always useful disguise, the ability to rout enemies Fear and the ever fun illusory wall which pairs excellently with a trap springing conjurer. <br />
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Lastly we have Lifa, who's first of three spells is quite the boon. Nightfall is when the true terrors walk the earth, the light of day is one of the few things they fear. A disciple of the Sun is a valuable companion in any environment. Although their fervent devotion to the Sun 'God' is certainly outlandish their incandescence is welcome wherever they go.Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-46243011794440110662016-04-12T02:24:00.003-04:002016-04-12T02:53:25.964-04:00A&A Quickstart Guide Weapons<br />
Alright! This should be for a short post which is great for the work week. Today we'll have a quick run through for choosing a weapon for your character. Behold!<br />
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As a new character you have four slots to load up with Armaments be it weapons, shield, tomes or staves you have quite a lot of options to go with. Choose what will be fun, what will be helpful and if there's any doubt you can always roll to randomly decide on a weapon for you. Here are a number of things you may want to consider when choosing a weapon: Number of hands needed, ITS values, Quality, mix of melee and ranged capabilities. The first is pretty easy, if it requires two hands it requires two slots.<br />
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Yesterday we talked about ITS types, the three values that describe how you dish out punishment, Impact, Thrusting and Slashing which correspond to a Attack bonus to an armor type, Heavy, Medium and Slashing respectively. When choosing a weapon it is important to be mindful of this since if all your weapons are slashing you're not going to be very effective when you encounter someone wearing plate mail or your first unfortunate run in with the animated statue of an old god.<br />
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Next up we have Qualities, I wrote about this a <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2013/11/proficiencies-in-my-game-fighter.html" target="_blank">while back</a>--Golly! 2013 where does the time go! Qualities are a boost given to someone becoming proficient in a weapon, rather than apply a penalty for being unproficient. Qualities are also a way for weapons to firmly differentiate themselves from each other, aside from the small variations with ITS values. Rather than balance a game around variable damage dice I find it's a lot more interesting and quite a bit more depth to tussle around with giving each weapon a quality. Each provide their own benefit and are not necessarily directly comparable, meaning that isn't always a right or wrong choice from an optimizing standpoint, something many folks can appreciate it.<br />
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For character creation we only spotlight a few qualities, each of these were selected to fit the theme of the weapon and because it ties in directly with core game mechanics. Brutal and Pierce for example are answers to Armor on both sides of the spectrum. Harrier teaches people about engagements; someone has to be quick on their Reflexes Save or they'll get a few lashes.<br />
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Last up in weapon choice is being able to function in different ranges. Being able to fight in both melee and ranged combat is a great boon, as you'll learn later in the Book of Fire fighting in combat allows for the defender to strike back provided they can function in that range. Wielding a melee and a ranged weapon allows you to counterattack both types of offenses.<br />
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The exception to this of course is Reach & Hand-to-Hand weapons. If you have superior Reach your foe cannot strike back. Hand-to-Hand weapons offer two attacks in the Combat Clash but because of their poor range they can rarely counter-attack. Now if you can move in close you turn their reach into your advantage since who has room to use a polearm when you're being mauled by a bear. <br />
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As a closing note while there are many fun weapons to try out you've only got four slots and you may decide your character has some magical aptitude or elemental affinity so you'll need to save a slot or two to provide them some additional versatility and literal firepower.Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-54320825710934040562016-04-10T23:41:00.000-04:002016-04-12T02:46:56.299-04:00A&A Quickstart Guide Character Creation (Back)Following up from yesterdays post I'm going to walk through the back page of Character creation which for the most part deals with outfitting your character. Part of my design is for rapid character creation, which means that
rather than dealing with starting money you simply pick what you are
outfitted with and then jump right into the game. A character has four slots relating to his primary and sidearm weaponry and a backup for each. A two-handed weapon occupies two slots which means you'll start with anywhere from 2 - 4 armaments.<br />
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On the left side we have weaponry and on the right we have instruments of elemental and magical might. Starting with melee weapons I should indicate that ever since I was introduced to Philotomy's OD&D musings I have used abstract damage rather than variable die, with some variations. This means a one-handed weapon deals a d6 of damage regardless of what it is, although I do bump up two-handers to 2d6 damage. Ranged weapons follow the same structure (sling 1d6, bow 2d6) however, any weapon that requires a reload deals extra damage dice equal to the number of reload actions (Crossbow | Reload 2 | 4d6 damage). Slings and bows are unique in that the ammo used is based off your lowest damage die, i.e. your bow deals [2,4] damage so you mark off two arrows.<br />
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Melee weapons are distinct in two categories, Speed and ITS melee types. A weapon's speed comes into play in two circumstances, when you are trying to make a surprise attack prior to combat or when you are trying to perform a merciless melee maneuver such as a cleaving or spinning attack. To do either your Intrepid Dice must exceed your weapon's Speed.<br />
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ITS is shorthand for Impact, Thrusting and Slashing which is another take on AD&D's Weapons VS Armor type system except much, much simpler and without the need for a table. ITS is the only numerical To-Hit bonus, an edge given only to Melee weapons. Each weapon has three points distributed between these melee types to describe how it functions, i.e. Gladius is ITS 0/2/1 while a Claymore ITS is 1/0/2. This allows you or your players to create many weapon variations without too much trouble.<br />
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Now, how do the ITS types work? Impact such as a flanged mace is very effective VS Heavy Plate armor (AC 3); Thrusting weapons are good at moving past chain links and scales VS Medium Armor (AC 5); Slashing weapons are effective VS Light Leather & Hide (AC 7); and each weapon is effective VS an unarmored foe. Effective means you take that weapons ITS value and use it as a To-Hit bonus VS the armor class it is effective against. So your Flanged Mace (ITS 3/0/0) would have a +3 bonus To-Hit VS heavy armor but nothing else, meanwhile your Pollax (ITS 1/1/1) Would have a +1 bonus VS any armor type and +3 VS unarmored.<br />
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On the right we cruise through the Elemental Armory. Those blessed with an Elemental Essence as their chosen Attribute have an innate connection and control over the elements. For the rest of us we have to make do with Wands and Tomes. In this case the particular Wand or Tome is keyed to an element so you would choose a Wand of Fire or Tome of Earth, at character creation you are limited to your an element of your Origin but you may use any that you find in your travels. Each of these offer 10 uses before dissolving back into its base components, the difference is that Wands may sacrifice additional uses for an equal To-Hit bonus while Tomes gain a Damage bonus instead. <br />
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Wands, Tomes and Elemental Essence allow you to do the same thing, an Elemental Crescendo. Whether through song or oratory the elements bend to those with a powerful voice and as the flow of ambient mana increases so do the power of those elemental forces. Below is an short excerpt pulled from the Book of Earth on the Elemental Crescendo and Channeling Mana to bolster its power. Lastly we have the Fury of the Elements, more potent and intricate ways to interact with the elemental world provided you have Channeled Mana to reach the necessary Circle of Power. Furys will have their own reference table in the Quickstart guide.<br />
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Whew, for a one page document there sure is a lot of explaining to do. The quickstart guide is mainly used a quick flow chart for players creating a character and guided by an experienced GM. Now then onto Spells! Most of the magic-using population was eliminated in the War of the Magi and those hermits left were mostly eaten by their spellbooks that gained sentience and hungered for more knowledge to fill their pages. It was found that a Heraldric scroll, large as they are can contain 3 Cantrips without risking sentience. As such people moved to an entirely scroll based system of magic and many explorers can find a spellstaff from the old war in their adventures. <br />
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Like Wands and Tomes the Spellstaff exists to give those without the gift for sorcery and eye lasers an opportunity to blast radiation with the best of them. However, in this olden age these relic staves from the Magi War are running out of power and there is a 1/20 chance it will be rendered a useless stick each time it is used.<br />
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Spellscrolls on the other hand allow for hilarious results once they've reached their limit. A spellscroll past the 10 limit use will spontaneously combust, an old safeguard against any pieces of paper that might take on a mind of their own. As a result magic is outlawed in most cities by the local Wizard Watch who have scapegoated every major barn and forest fire as the work of negligent/nefarious wizards. Additionally, anyone casting from a spell scroll that is interrupted allows the GM to create a magical mishap to the detriment of everyone involved. This often provides the opposite effect of a spell, making someone crash rather than land softly or turning the caster themselves into a newt.<br />
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Alright, to round out things out we have our selection of Gear & Relics. I've talked about this <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-gear-relics.html">in the past</a> and most of these items have gone through a number of revisions plus quite a number of additions. We can't fit all 64 or so of these at the bottom of the page so instead we opted for some classic and intriguing items to select as part of your initial loadout. Plus we get to avoid choice paralysis slowing down character creation. Gear & Relics turned out to be one of the most fun our play-testers had with starting characters and through smart play allowed them to turn the tables on some Dinosaurs and a cave full of man-bats. <br />
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<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-83516622181171227522016-04-10T00:12:00.000-04:002016-04-12T02:50:36.368-04:00A&A Quickstart Guide Character Creation (Front)Since I've changed careers one thing I've missed is regular blog posting, both reading what the community puts out each week and what I can contribute to the circle. Although my hours may be excessive nowadays I want to try and kick things off with a post per day this week and I figure the best way to do that is to talk about simple topics without delving too deeply into nitty gritty design like I have in the past. Without further adieu I'm going to talk about a Quick Start guide I put together for the Avatar's & Annihilation rule set I put together.<br />
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Avatars & Annihilation (A&A) is a book saturated with the elements, player
characters (Avatars) can breath fire, whip a lake into a frenzied
whirlpool or restrain a muggers hand with nearby vines, likewise the
monsters you will encounter are equally blessed with elemental essence often with more power than control. That said A&A is divided into four parts and each
one is named after an element. The Book of Earth deals with Character
creation.<br />
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Let's run through the front page really quick. At the top we have your <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-elemental-origin.html">Origin </a>and <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-origin-home-turf.html">Home Turf</a>; this is a combination of where you're from and what element you were born with as each nation is shaped both culturally and physically by the element that governs their island. Your favored element comes with a few perks while your cultural upbringing and <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/04/origin-etiquette-profession.html">Etiquette</a> on your Home Turf describes who you get along with and the types of work you had prior to the life of heroics and adventuring. Note I don't use a skill system but one's background and profession influences what you're capable of before dice become involved.<br />
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Next up we have Archetypes. While there are many different classes one could specialize in with the right training or prestigious entry everything circles back to three broad archetypes for how you survive in a dangerous world. The Fighter is best at fighting, the Adventurer is tenacious and difficult to kill and lastly we have the Seeker capable of performing impressive feats and renowned deeds. Worried there's no sign of a magic-user class? Casting from scrolls and using a spellstaff isn't limited to a single class or Archetype, really you just have to be literate but we'll get to that later.<br />
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Moving to the middle we have Stats. Your primary ability scores are merged into Vigor, Agility, Perception and Revelation (VAPR). Personally I prefer 3d6 in order but 42 point buy is available. Now these stats do not effect combat and there are no modifiers to chase after, they're simply there to check and see if you can perform various actions while exploring. When your stats fail you there is a corresponding Saving Throw (GRID) to save your bacon. <br />
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Following Stats are Danger Levels, when you want to perform a maneuver or dangerous activity the GM will specify whether it's Risky, Reckless or Absurdly Dangerous each with their own range of values. If your Stat(s) exceed those values then you can complete them with ease, otherwise you'll need to attempt an exploit. An Exploit uses Intrepid Dice to bolster your Stat to exceed the challenge.<br />
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Example: Elpis the mild-mannered courier (V9 A13 P13 R7) is attempting to free climb up part of a wall then leap off it to catch a swinging rope and reach the other side of a crumbling castle. The GM decides this is a fairly risky (8) Vigor test to scale the wall and a reckless (16) Agility challenge to catch the rope. Elpis' Vigor already makes the cut so he'll need to make an Exploit to catch the rope. Should he fail the GM may allow a Saving Throw (Reflexes) to let him cling to the nearest handhold before falling to certain doom.<br />
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Coming up on the next Trio of bubbles we have a bit of customization for your Hero. An Attribute describes an area where your character is particularly renowned and carries a useful bonus. For example a Brave character is immune to Fear and adept at fighting while outnumbered while a Talented character picks up worldly skills with ease and rerolls any 1s.<br />
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Alignment is split three ways in this world where the Sun is on its last legs and old earth will soon be cast into infinite night. We have Saviors, those who have never given up hope; Survivors those who aren't concerned with good and evil just keeping themselves and their people alive; and then we have the Nihilists whose morals, moderation and concern have waned along with the Sun's light. Drive is a quick tidbit to give your GM an idea where to take the campaign that allows your characters to grow and bloom.<br />
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Lastly we get into some of the meat of the mechanics. In this game you have Hit Dice and Intrepid Dice. Intrepid Dice can be added to any D20 roll, they are there to help you succeed or at least stave off failure whether it be in the Combat Clash, Dangerous Exploration or a last minute Saving Throw. Hit Dice are there to either improve your constantly battered Hit Points or to add some extra oomph to your hits and bolster damage. At the start of an Adventure you start off with your pool of Hit Points and die pools for Hit Dice and Intrepid Dice (i.e. Elpis Level 3 HP 3d6+3, HD 3, ID 3). You earn a HD for each battle you survive and you earn ID for Heroic action. If you play it smart and cautious you may end up with more HP & HD than you started the Adventure with.<br />
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Rounding out the front page we have Proficiencies. This is a recent development we've been considering for a while as a way to give starting characters more ability to branch off into different disciplines right out the gate and give them something to develop throughout their career. Selecting Weapons allows you to specialize with a particular group (swords, spears, bows etc.) while choosing Armor will allow your Archetype to wear heavier armor or to move faster in their armor they are wearing. Spells give you access to three of the nine spell schools starting with Cantrips moving to Lesser then the most Formidable spells. Channeler allows you to make use of an Elemental Fury which contains more exotic and nuanced elemental effects beyond hurling fireballs and wind cutters. Using a more powerful Fury requires you to Channel Mana to saturate the environment and of course the proper training.<br />
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Next post we'll tackle the back page which encompasses outfitting your character.<br />
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<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-90775210518082294112015-05-26T04:01:00.000-04:002015-05-26T04:01:01.258-04:00A&A Playtest 2.1: In Search of the Golden Bones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Long ago lived a pirate who amassed a huge amount of gold booty; so much that anyone would turn mutinous for just a sliver of that treasure trove; old golden beard Fry did the only logical thing. He had a bunch of rogue alchemists replace his entire bone structure with pure gold. Well, at least he lived a long and fulfilling life up till that point. That's what Action Hank told the party and that's what they set off to find.<br />
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After washing up on shore the remainder of the party collected their wits and set up camp for the night, setting up a fire to keep the perils of darkness at bay. Midway through the night the watchstander Balut saw a bunch of coconut sized objects floating just below the water; upon closer inspection he realized they were heads; and one of them was his former pupil who had drowned earlier. He resisted the temptation to join them and instead fled back to camp to raise the alarm. The drowned dead proved a difficult foe to best for this first level party but they prevailed with all members in tact. They chose to burn the bodies and for that many soaking wet corpses a gigantic conflagration ensued.<br />
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Naturally, the local natives weren't too pleased with this. The party surrendered in the face of overwhelming odds, those who surrendered peacefully were treated with dignity while the rest were lashed to logs and carried back. They wound up in a giant conclave trees that someone had shaped to intertwine into an impregnable fortress whose gate could only be opened by the village shaman. That's where they met Action Hank, his captured crew and his story of Long John Gold Beard.<br />
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The party realized the locals were superstitious about metal and used their remaining metal implements (and coins) to keep them at bay during the jail break. Regrettably, Line the last of the Gondola brothers took a barrage of blowgun darts shielding his comrades and subsequently went down for the long sleep, Balut also fell victim on the climb out of the tree. Fortunately, as they left they encountered Rabbababoo, the once and future king of the Sweater Bears; devouring jars of honey his halberd resting on a tree.<br />
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"Rabbababoo, my old friend, why did you not come rescue me this past week?" asked the astonished Action Hank, "Because the honey had not run out yet" replied the lazy bear.<br />
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The party fled to the north and when approaching a fork headed west towards the sounds of rushing water. There they saw a number of Salmon flopping up a series of short waterfalls towards their spawning ground. Naturally the bearman walked over and started swatting his future lunch onto shore. With that a number of Salmonmen (Salman if you will) leapt from the deep depths brandishing fish forks and demanding the party stop eating their young. Not content to give up their sushi the party did battle and feasted merrily. They moved up the waterfalls, encountered more Salman with strange pearls that allowed them to grow three times in size but even then they were no match.<br />
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Next the party found some ruins of an ancient Parthenon like structure with some powerful magic sealed in the sole remaining lode bearing column. Not interested in dealing with it they lift, only to find that Rabbababoo had started eating the strange golden flaky fish statues; after devouring his body weight in LJ's legacy he proceeded to pass out. The party pressed on without him and found the place on the treasure map where LJ Gold Beard should have been but instead found nothing but a Roc's feather. They took a gamble and summoned the Roc and were unceremoniously dropped off in its nest where they found old Gold Beard's bones. <br />
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After debating with how to get the treasure and get off the mountain peak they finally negotiated with the Roc to raise its children for the next ten years, and by we they mean the bearman that passed out an hour ago. The Roc busted open the Parthenon column and retrieved the golden oar of fish frying and used it to tame and pacify Rabbaboo as it's decade long baby sitter while the party rode the Roc to the next island and to greater riches.Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-20818111197331909262015-05-23T23:07:00.001-04:002015-05-23T23:11:48.412-04:00Avatar's & Annihilation: Monstrous Codex Design<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jason and the Argonauts (1963)</td></tr>
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Today I have a long overdue request for how I handle creatures in Avatar's & Annihilation. Bottom line up front: As simple and clean as possible. I designed this system with an eye towards putting together fights fast enough that you can do it during the course of play when your players go off the map or decide to anger the peaceful Space Terrapin tribe.<br />
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Since my occupation requires a transient lifestyle having the means to set up a regular playgroup isn't always easy. This means that a lot of times are games are spur of the moment when the guys all happen to have a free night off and our timezones aren't too out of whack. With that said when it comes to creature design I wanted a stable modular platform that was made it easy to come up with Monster combat stats on the fly with one or two add-ons to make each monster unique from one another. Not only that I wanted some differentiation within each creature entry such that flipping a lever here or there would cause the same skeleton to be quite different, or to give them an elemental theme to fit with their environment and the elemental setting as a whole.<br />
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We start off pretty basic, monsters follow the same rules as character. They pick an <b>Archetype </b>that is virtually the same as the player counterpart; a Fighter is a <b>Dire </b>creature, an Adventurer is a <b>Loathsome </b>beast and a Seeker is a <b>Terrifying </b>monster; easy enough. The creature Archetypes follow the same paradigm, Dire creatures are good at wrecking up the place, Loathsome beasts are very hard to kill eliciting curses from your players and Terrifying creatures are the best at ruining your player's good fortune.<br />
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Same as a Player Character a Monster's Hit Dice (<b>HD)</b> and Intrepid Dice (<b>ID)</b> are dictated by their <b>Level</b>. For their HP I simply list the average for the amount of HD they'd be rolling. Now if you're like me and enjoy rolling large pools of d6s then by all means determine HP for your monsters either ahead of time during dungeon design prep or on the fly simply to intimidate your players with that bucket of dice you've been hauling around. After you've got the basics of Archetype and Level we add a quirk or two to make the monsters stand out from one another, the same way qualities differentiate weapons. So Skeletons are loathsome and get back up and reform after you knock them apart; zombies are also loathsome and have more wounds to chip away at but are slayed immediately upon a Critical Hit; meanwhile they gain bonuses from having a zombie horde nearby. You want the quirks simple enough that the GM can remember it easily and adjudicate it on the fly without constant page turning.<br />
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Some very powerful monsters would get either a <b>Ferocious </b>or <b>Uncanny </b>quality; the first was a blanket to hit and damage bonus and the latter was for taking additional turns giving them a needed boost when dealing with powerful players strapped with magic gats or ones who brought along hordes of henchman. <br />
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This is how it started off and it's easy to cook these things up on the fly; and you still can if you don't feel like following what's presented in the Monstrous Codex. It's pretty easy, assign an Archetype, pick a level, determine HP, select weaponry (or default to claws and bites) then come up with a thematic quirk. <br />
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Here's a quick example:<br />
<b>Zombie (Loathsome) Lvl 1 AC - HP 8 HD 1 ID 1 Wounds 4 </b><br />
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<li>Headshot: Immediately killed by a [Critical Hit]</li>
<li>Horde: Anyone engaged with a Zombie takes damage equal to the number of Zombies surrounding them.</li>
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Voila! You're done.<br />
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Now then if you want a little more granularity I'm going to walk through the current format we have for the old reliable Skelly. We start with the title line, this lists the monsters name; it's Archetype, Level and relevant combat and exploration stats. Avatar's & Annihilation strode closer to OD&D by keeping ability scores almost entirely out of combat; no point obsessing over a high strength to get a damage bonus. I talk more about chasing high ability scores and inflation all the way back <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2012/03/abiliy-mod-inflation.html">here</a> (Wall of text warning).<br />
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Moving down the bullets we have a quick section on appearance (not all monsters in the Codex will be household names), background, which shows how the creature might be different than conventional fantasy tropes, and then we move into the combat section. This is where we start with the quirks a monster might have. Skeletons are more or less immune to thrusting, slashing and non-rock based missile weapons. They are fragile and fall apart but this is a bit of a feigned death as they will reform to assault you the next round. The last quirk is something I've included for all undead grunts, the ability to become a far more effective fighting force when a necromancer is nearby controlling them like marionettes.<br />
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The final section is for variations<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">; originally variations could be found cluttering up the combat section or just spread out through the entry making it quite messy; the way we've organized the layout now is to have each one compartmentalized so that the top half is the base creature and looking below you have various add-on your can tack on to for variety or power. </span>The ones listed here will add variety through weapon choice and tactics as well as being fueled by the elements themselves. It's a way to pallet swap your creatures in a meaningful way.<br />
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<b>Skeleton (Loathsome) Lvl 1 AC - HP 8 HD 1 TD 1 Wounds 2 VAPR 5/12/5/3</b><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Appearance: </span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dem bones are surprisingly agile and adequately surly, holding wicked sharp weapons despite all the nicks and chips.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Background: </span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Skeletons are the grunt troops for Necromancers but they are also created spontaneously when a powerful evil not yet exercised dwells in an area</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Defenses</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1/2 damage unless the weapon has Impact 1+</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No damage from Bows and Xbows</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Skeletons fall apart when they take a Wound. </span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They reform next round until they run out of Wounds.</span></b></div>
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<li><b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This can be a [Surprise] assault vs the unaware and novice </span></b></li>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If possessed by a Necromancer skeletons gain [Uncanny] +1 and +1 Wound</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Variations</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Warrior Skeleton AC 5 & Shield</span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Terror] Save VS Disease from Rusted Arms and Armor. </span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Archer Skeleton</span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Critical] A new skeleton forms from the bone arrows automatically in CQC with the target</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mage Skeleton LVL 3 HP 22 HD 3 TD 3</span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Terror] Necrotic Lance. Mid Range: Target loses a HD or takes d12 unblockable damage.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Fire] Burning Man </span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flaming Aura: d6 Fire damage VS Melee attacks. Ignites others in CQC.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Water] Ghost Ship Crew</span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Swashbuckling: +1 Clash and Damage when you have the high ground or bypass an obstacle</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Wind] Spectral Chariot LVL 5 HP 37 HD 5 TD 5</span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trample for 2d6 Wind damage every other round.</span></b></div>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Amarante; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[Earth] Dracoskeleton LVL 8 HP 60 HD 8 TD 8</span></b></h5>
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-1e38d99a-82e3-541a-a86e-65e25ec17260" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dragon Fear. Flensing breath weapon. HD/TD d6 Slashing/Sand damage.</span></b></div>
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Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-62198105606801777812015-04-19T16:02:00.000-04:002015-04-19T16:02:22.786-04:00A&A Playtest 2.0: A Storm at Sea<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjVZdqxcqtJo7Z-gVBZFZwLLzRvup5oYMbOjpnra7bkWTpBLkN8b_MrdVcCMyg9gM4Us3OZZLCgG_ttk8MLupyfT6_dZ6yeb7ukTMSWBwZviFg4sFLs-5Xa0uW_4osPSDOa_Tn4rJ3/s1600/Storm_in_the_Sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjVZdqxcqtJo7Z-gVBZFZwLLzRvup5oYMbOjpnra7bkWTpBLkN8b_MrdVcCMyg9gM4Us3OZZLCgG_ttk8MLupyfT6_dZ6yeb7ukTMSWBwZviFg4sFLs-5Xa0uW_4osPSDOa_Tn4rJ3/s1600/Storm_in_the_Sea.jpg" height="422" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Storm in the Sea by Pieter Mulier the II</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As my layout editor and I are reviewing and revising the Book of Wind I figure it would be a good time to put it through it's paces. A large number of mechanics in the Book of Wind were not incorporated into the last major playtest as they create a very different setting and exploration cycle. It also gave us a chance to try out the Grinder method where each player makes three characters sharing the same archetype and attribute off the bat, splitting their equipment, gear and relics between them; this way the GM doesn't have to feel too bad when slaughters a few PC's early on and reminds the players of the lethality of the system. For last nights game we had:<br />
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<h3>
The Shipwrecked </h3>
Cunning Ratmen Adventurers (Guile): Ikit, Skulk and Queek.<br />
Profession: Junker. Origin: Termite Cliffs (Earth)<br />
Armory: Daggers, Throwing Knives x6, Cutlass. AC - Naked bonus<br />
Gear: Dapper Hat, Thieves Tools, Burglars Lantern, Tranq Darts, Venomous Quills, Ninja Skean<br />
<br />
Brilliant Storm Acolyte Seekers (Talent): Zeru, Balut and Thanh.<br />
Profession: Cleric/Cultist. Origin: The Mountain that Meets the Heavens (Wind)<br />
Armory: Sacrificial Knife, Lightning Bolt shaped Javelins x6, Chakrams x6. AC 7 <br />
Relics: Hallowed Bone, Ishtar's Ambrosia. Gear: Tur Kay's Poultice<br />
<br />
Bold and Stylish Gondolamen Fighters (Brave): Hook, Line and Sinker<br />
Profession: Oarsmen/Gondolier. Origin: Junos 7 (Water)<br />
Armory: Oar, Harpoon x6 (Javelin), Speargun (Crossbow). Fish Scale Mail (AC 5)<br />
Gear: Silver Oar, Folding Canoe (Gondola), Compass<br />
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<h3>
The Pitch:</h3>
Setting: Volcanic Island Chain, Pitch Dark/Riddick rules in effect for above ground Darkness. Profit and Exploration are the name of the game.<br />
Rogues Gallery: Expect to see Death Cultists, Rogue Alchemists, Mutant Frogmen, Crab People, Spooky Ghost Ships, Androids and your old nemesis Doc Croctopus.<br />
<br />
The party was sailing towards the Earth Civilizations in search of the Everglow. A new expedition was about to begin and fortune seekers from all around were beginning to muster to find what awaits at the bottom of the soothing green glow.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h4>
The Everglow</h4>
A rift in the earth that always shines with a calming green light. Denizens of this area have carved out a city near the surface awash in the viridian light. Tools created here tend to retain a portion rift’s light, glowing green in the gloom. Travelers who visit the area find their bodies share this property for a time, while those born here appear to be immune; in fact, the entire city appears to be unaffected by the rampages of disease and pestilence.<br />
<br />
Some say a falling star at the bottom of the rift is the source of the bright green radiance, but all expeditions into the area have failed. All that remains of the explorers are shadows burned into the cavern walls.</blockquote>
<br />
A whirlpool opened up near their destination, a bad omen so the Ship had to reroute taking them dangerously close to sunset before reaching port. To make matters worse black sails were spotting in the distance and the Captain gave the call to man their battle stations!<br />
<br />
The Ratmen were quite irritated that the Captain couldn't keep passengers safe and retreated into the cabins. They found a Nobleman who shared their distaste for this barbarism and proceeded to get black out drunk and rob the Nobleman blind; even his pantaloons and pillows were taken.<br />
<br />
After a volley of cannonball fire their ship scored a lucky Critical and knocked out the mast of the Pirate Ship, becoming a giant boarding plank to land between the ships. At this point the pirates stormed across and were met with fierce resistance from the Gondola men. A large wave struck and a number of people were knocked overboard, Hook was the first to be eaten by a shark. Zeru Cleric of the Storm God was unhappy the Shark god was getting so many sacrifices and instead attempted to appease the Storm God. His next Chakram 'accidentally' struck the jugular of a fellow passenger, blinding a pirate in the blood spray and created a mass of storm clouds above. As the lightning bolt came down it obliterated some pirates, the Captain, the wheel, a black powder barrel and caused the ship to start sinking.<br />
<br />
The group split up, the surviving Gondola man took his Gondola and a Storm Cultists and left. The Rat people and remaining Cultists used their superior Agility to cross the Pirate Ship Mast gangplank onto the crippled pirate ship. After kicking a number of them overboard they did battle with the Captain where the tricky rats bested him and stole his chest of goods. The surviving Storm Priest took the drunken ratmen into a lifeboat along with the treasure chest and fled. Shanks Mcgee, Pirate Captain, promised revenge.<br />
<br />
On the lifeboat night fell and by the light of the moon they encountered a Mermaid. Ikit promised her all the riches he had stolen so far and thus began an underwater romance. Regrettably he swam the opposite direction of the surface and failed his Save VS Drowning. Storm Cleric Balut called down more lightning as Drowned Dead approached the boat, giving them the final heave to shore before they were pulled under. The lifeboat crew made it to shore and followed the campfire to the resting Gondolaman Line and Storm Cultist Zeru.<br />
<br />
Thoughts<br />
<ul>
<li>I enjoyed the Grinder method quite a bit, it allowed for my favorite blend of player stupidity and harsh unforgiving world. </li>
<li>The emphasis on detaching level from power worked well as a party of 9 first level characters were able to handle 11 second level Pirates and a Level 5 Captain through quick wits rather than brute force.</li>
<li>We're doing limited resources so far, thrown weapon ammunition is very low currently and what treasure they have found has just as quickly been lost due to bad luck and poor decisions. </li>
<li>Slimming Attributes down to single ability has made them far easier to remember.</li>
<li>Archetype rebalancing has gone fine so far, no one is clearly ahead or behind.</li>
<li>Bonus dice VS flat modifiers have been a welcome change.</li>
<li>Letting the player's pick the appropriate Save is a minor semantic change but I'm glad we put it in. Now I get to say Save VS KO, Save VS Deathray, Save VS Rocks falling.</li>
</ul>
Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-47759517099938635892015-03-13T01:21:00.000-04:002015-03-13T01:21:31.054-04:00Return to Civilized Life and Progress Report<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
The last few months have flown by. It started with a relocation cross country trip from East to West Coast, catching a flight overseas then eventually making it back to California for additional schooling. Now that I've just gotten back from a field exercise in the Southern Californian brushland I am ecstatic to once again have running water, three square meals a day and a nice rack to sleep in. It also means I have more time for my personal life and projects, not to mention a semi-reliable internet connection while I continue my hotel living on temporary duty assignment.<br />
<br />
Where I last left off I mentioned I had been working on a book. Well I have been for quite some time now; this rules system has taken one shape or another for many years now, each new revision building off the last. I'd say my initial encounter with the Old School Renaissance (OSR), years back is what influenced me the most. From that day forward my goal was to drop the exceptional mechanical complexity and to keep it sweet and simple, letting the theater of the mind fill in the form work laid by basic but elegant rules. Don't get me wrong, this still has plenty more fiddly bits than Holmes basic but each mechanic has been hit by Occam's razor on numerous occasions.<br />
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<br />
Currently, playtesting is focusing on finding glitches in the system and unanswered questions. For instance, Ranged weapons fire at the start of initiative so a recent question was whether or not thrown weapons or an elemental blast falls under that clause. We'll experiment a few more times before we come up with a hard answer. After a few more cycles of this I'll start working out how I will handle open playtesting. Initial batches of art have been commissioned and procured but I'd like to have a hell of a lot more so we'll see where the budget falls soon enough.<br />
<br />
Below you'll find the basic outline of the book, its contents, and an approximate percentage of how complete it is.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Introduction and the Avatar System (90% Complete pending an Avatar retest)<br />
<ul>
<li>Core Tenets </li>
<li>Avatar System</li>
<li>Intrepid and Hit Dice</li>
<li>Adventures and Encounters </li>
</ul>
<br />
Book I: Earth (80% Complete)<br />
<ul>
<li>Character Creation (100%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Origin</li>
<li>Home Turf</li>
<li>Etiquette and Profession</li>
</ul>
<li>Exploration (60%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Ability Scores</li>
<li>Interacting with the World</li>
<li>Exploits</li>
<li>Saving Throws</li>
</ul>
<li>Defining your Character (80%) </li>
<ul>
<li>Attributes</li>
<li>Archetypes</li>
<li>The Armory</li>
<li>Gear & Relics </li>
<li>Hired Help</li>
<li>Personality and a Name</li>
</ul>
<li>In text examples throughout </li>
<ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
Book II: Fire (90%)<br />
<ul>
<li>Combat Primer (90%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Initiative and the Action Phase</li>
<li>Melee Combat</li>
<ul>
<li>Merciless Melee Combat </li>
</ul>
<li>Armor & Shields </li>
<li>Missile Combat</li>
<li>Movement</li>
<ul>
<li>Engagements</li>
</ul>
<li>Interact & React</li>
<li>Status Conditions</li>
<li>Death, Dying & All the Rest</li>
</ul>
<li>Unleashing the Upwelling of Nature (90%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Channeling</li>
<li>Fury of the Elements</li>
<ul>
<li>Listed by Circle of Power </li>
</ul>
<li>The River of Light</li>
</ul>
<li>The Skinny on Spellcasting (90%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Spells Listed by Schools</li>
</ul>
<li>In-text examples throughout </li>
</ul>
<br />
Book III: Wind (70%)<br />
<ul>
<li>Voyage into the Setting Sun (80%)</li>
<ul>
<li>The Sun, the Moon and the Seas</li>
<li>A Horrible Night for a Curse </li>
<li>A World of Islands </li>
</ul>
<li>Dreamers of the Day (90%)</li>
<li>Dashed Hopes and the Coming Dusk (90%)</li>
<ul>
<li>A Moonless Night </li>
<li>The Watch</li>
</ul>
<li>A Disagreement with Dungeonkind (60%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Traps</li>
<li>Factions</li>
<li>Ancient Evils</li>
<li>Journey Through the Underworld</li>
</ul>
<li>This Ugly yet Beautiful World (30%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Ruins</li>
<li>Fantastic Locales</li>
</ul>
<li>Advancement (90%)</li>
<ul>
<li>Experience</li>
<ul>
<li>Trials, Tribulations and Treasure</li>
<li>Personality Traits</li>
</ul>
<li>Augmentations</li>
</ul>
<li>Choosing a Class (60%)</li>
<ul>
<li>(The eight Classes require a review to cut down on mechanical widgets and stay in line with similar alterations done in the Combat Primer)</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
Book IV: Water (30%)<br />
<ul>
<li>Teaching the Game</li>
<ul>
<li>Introduce Concepts Gradually </li>
<li>Getting the Gang Together</li>
<ul>
<li>Character Analysis</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Character Swap</li>
</ul>
<li>Intro Vignette vs Opening Scene</li>
<ul>
<li>The Grinder: Survival of the Fittest </li>
</ul>
<li>Greatness from Small Beginnings</li>
<li>Pregenerated Characters</li>
</ul>
<li>Running the Game</li>
<ul>
<li>Urgency and Pacing</li>
<ul>
<li>Keeping Players Engaged</li>
<li>"Meanwhile.." </li>
</ul>
<li>Experience Shapes us</li>
<ul>
<li>Take a Hike, Climb a wall, Carry Gear, Read a Book</li>
</ul>
<li> Show Don't Tell</li>
<ul>
<li>Imagery </li>
<li>Dreams, Premonitions, Prophecies and Memory Stones</li>
<ul>
<li>Relive the Past, Save the Future</li>
</ul>
<li>Foreshadowing </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> Let the Dice decide the Outcome</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<ul>
<li>Tailor descriptions to the dice roll</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Recap Method </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Rules and Rulings</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<ul>
<li>Common Sense</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Make your own call </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Success and Failure as a Spectrum</li>
<li>Dealing with power imbalances </li>
</ul>
<li>The Avatar System</li>
<ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<li> Living Breathing World</li>
<ul>
<li>Prevailing Themes</li>
<ul>
<li>Cycles of Destruction</li>
<li>Nihilism </li>
</ul>
<li>Setting</li>
<ul>
<li>Three Paragraph Opener </li>
<li>World Events Newspaper </li>
<li>Level 10 World Sweeping Terror</li>
</ul>
<li> Encounter Design</li>
<ul>
<li>Random Encounters and on the fly World Building </li>
<ul>
<li>"This whole forest is haunted!" </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Have fun with Dungeon Design </li>
<ul>
<li> Dungeon Naturalism</li>
<li>Trap Cards</li>
</ul>
<li>A Return to Peace </li>
<ul>
<li>How to Save a Life </li>
<li>Downtime and Retirement </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li> Rogues Gallery</li>
<ul>
<li>Overworld Enemy Groups</li>
<ul>
<li>Cults</li>
<li> Barbaric Hordes</li>
<li>Undead Legions</li>
<li>The Empire</li>
<li>Renegade Alchemists</li>
<li>The Bubbling Chaos </li>
</ul>
<li>Villain Classes</li>
<li>Boss Battle </li>
</ul>
<li> Styles of Play</li>
<ul>
<li>Good, Bad, I'm the Guy with the Gun</li>
<ul>
<li>We Don't Kill the Living</li>
<li>Murder Hobos</li>
</ul>
<li>Adventuring</li>
<ul>
<li>Never Going Back</li>
<li>Delving Deeper </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Game Over</li>
<ul>
<li>It Gets Worse </li>
<li>Bad End and Solipsism (Avatar)</li>
</ul>
<li>Modularity</li>
</ul>
<br />
Treasure Haul (90%)<br />
<ul>
<li>Gems: Repositories of Elemental Power</li>
<li>Why Magic Arms & Armor Rock</li>
<ul>
<li>Don't be a Christmas Tree</li>
<li>Magic Item Genesis and Morphology</li>
</ul>
<li>Weapons of Marvelous Distinction</li>
<li>Weapons of Planetary Power</li>
<li>Weapons of Tantalizing Repute</li>
<li>Weapons of a Past Age</li>
<li>Weapons from Beyond the Stars</li>
<li>Armors and Shields of Varying Invulnerability </li>
<li>Magical Trinkets and Space Age Gadgets </li>
</ul>
<br />
Monstrous Codex (50%)<br />
<br />
Appendix and Credits <br />
<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-9217857767935352312014-08-08T11:03:00.000-04:002014-08-08T11:03:09.806-04:00Hiatus till 2015Uncle Sam has my number so I will be out of state and without outside communication for a few months. I'll be returning in 2015 ready to throw a book on the shelves.<br />
<br />
Take care all.Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-10174168461492843052014-08-04T22:53:00.000-04:002014-08-04T22:57:46.708-04:00Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: Last time on Team Murder Hobo<h2>
The Last Dozen or so Sessions Log</h2>
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<br />
<br />
After discovering the location of the initial crash site, a comet landing 100 years ago the team headed back; sold all their fancy space junk for a tidy profit and were bankrolled by Lord Theodore Rodrick the Third. Unfortunately, a friend of Youjiro the Silent learned the Murder Hobos was behind Yoh's death, and a firebombing commenced. Witness pooled out of the woodwork burning the Murder Hobos and Rodrick had them spirited away, where they sought tutelage under some local folk heroes in the mega inn to the south.<br />
<br />
There they contended with an invisible stalker murdering their mentors, a pack of vampires that came in and started dining on the common room. The party followed the trail of local legend Frog God, found the innkeepers store room; a treasure trove from his adventuring days and set off with the new player Neres the Pirate. Their destination: The Great Glacier, an icy anomaly in the middle of the tropics; if the notes are correct the first crash site is here. The alien inhabiting Jingle's the Outlaw Dancer's head is dead set on discovering if the one who landed a hundred years ago is still alive.<br />
<br />
The party made their way across the icy wastes encountering a white Rakshasa they traded stories with for ancient magic, an ice eidolon corrupted and undead that nearly killed Pemba the Talented Juggler with his Coldfire reaver and a <a href="http://roll1d12.blogspot.com/2012/03/additional-nuisances-in-frozen-wastes.html">Wooly Tyrannosaurus</a> hunting down a dapper and opulent land walrus who they vowed to rob later. Along the way they stopped at the sulfurous springs, picked up new players: mini-Gojira, daughter of the rimescale dragon and Bronan the Brobarian and set off for the crystalline forest the original crash site.<br />
<br />
Inside they dealt with crystal soldiers, bear riders, polar wurms and their volcanic cores, phantom wolves from the Wolf Kings pack, and Nodens the Elder god. Nodens refused to let them down to the depths of the forest and rather than murder him in typical fashion they decided to curry his favor. They were sent to hunt down Ithaqua and his Shantaks.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
The GM forgot the level of the party and they laid waste to the poor, poor Shantaks as the reclaimed Coldfire Reaver left them as giant frozen blocks of ice, peppered with arrows. Tiamult, Doc Brown impersonator and Ghost of the Frozen Flame used Clef's Proven Dreamwalker Dweomer to bring himself and Neres the water wizard into the dreamscape of Ithaqua.<br />
<br />
There they witnessed the creation of the Glacier, the falling purple star and Ithaqua witnessing it all. The perversion of the star warped Ithaqua, instead of a god he now feasted on his people and thus the curse of the Wendigo was born. Neres and Tiamult used their iron wills and control over earth and water to contend with Ithaqua but he proved too powerful. Neres went underwater and tunneled to the crash site to find the fallen star, inside he found a glowing tree. Touching it his vision went white hot and he disappeared.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/051/3/a/ithaqua_by_quest007-d5vmppx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/051/3/a/ithaqua_by_quest007-d5vmppx.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://quest007.deviantart.com/art/Ithaqua-355458741">Ithaqua by Quest007</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Tiamult played a game of cat and mouse with Ithaqua, using the last of his Intrepid to rip off Ithaquas arms and taken them as his own. While his power grew, so did Ithaqua's control over him, until finally looking in the water's reflection he saw Ithaqua's visage and not his own. <br />
<br />
"Ithaqua you are no more!"<br />
<br />
And neither was Tiamult. The old man that traveled through time and dimensions was undone, his existence wiped clean from history. In the real world Ithaqua burned into a star, in it's place was a tiny crystal. Fred the Warper of Madness who acquired a Shantak mount touched it with the Coldfire Reaver which was transformed into Shatterstar. The crystal transformed into a glowing tree and from that emerged Neres glowing gold, thoughtless he was merely the corporeal form of the alien that fell a 100 years ago. The alien inside Jingle informed them they must reunite the echo with the original. Off the party goes to complete their mission.<br />
<br />
Final Session report up next. Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-44281339186095890592014-07-13T22:14:00.000-04:002014-07-13T22:14:08.174-04:00Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: The Gears are in Motion. (Team Good Samaritans)<br />
<br />
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<u>Conclusion of tonight's game</u><br />Kara the Jade Revenant fused with the "Beast" an embodiment of chaos as a promise of power.<br />Marshall Orvar was mangled by the now berserk Kara.<br />Shepherd Ashaw tried to separate the two using Stormbringer<br />The sudden crack of wind severed the arms of both Kara and Orvar<br />Kara fused with Orvar's arm and the return of humanity also returned her sanity.<br />Kara applied her old stony arm to Orvar who is now being slowly eaten alive by alien crystal.<br />The party is now traveling to the center of the world to kill Lavos.<br />
<br />
<br />
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Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-30763578413020483352014-07-07T22:47:00.000-04:002014-07-07T22:47:57.810-04:00Dungeon World Initial Impressions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h3>
The cast of characters:</h3>
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Laneth, Elf Hobo Ranger. Spent a century or so afflicted by a
hereditary curse, now temporarily held at bay by dark sorcery,
specifically an amulet. Currently afflicted with the curse of
weresharkdom. Jawesome.<br />
Horribly in debt: because of their hobo ways. <br />
Bonds: Sven is an ally of nature, I must protect him.<br />
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Brinn, Halfling Thief Magnet. Epitome of debauchery, kleptomania and larceny.<br />
Horribly in debt to Jabba the Hutt<br />
Bonds: Currently running a con with Morgan.<br />
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Sven Svenson, Northerner Fighterman covered in animal furs of everything he has hunted so far. Former farmer searching for his brother who left before him. <br />
Horribly in debt because of farm backtaxes.<br />
Bonds: To make Morgan, hard like me. <br />
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Morgan, Elf Wizard. Haunted child with an overall general confusion, kidnapped by a hermit wizard after taking 1st place at a village Math Fair. (Courtesy of the Dungeon Dozen) Seeks to be a normal member of society.<br />
Horribly in debt to that damn hermit.<br />
Bonds: Laneth is wrong, I must teach her the true way of the world. <br />
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I really enjoyed how short and to the point character creation was. It
was smooth to the point and really tied the team together. Also, another great use for <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/108906371861800662526" target="_blank">+Jason Sholtis</a> most excellent <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/jason-sholtis/the-dungeon-dozen-hardcover/hardcover/product-21561536.html">Dungeon Dozen copy</a>. <br />
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I started the game off 'in medias res' by explaining their part of a caravan traveling over what has so far been a very safe route through the forest of long teeth. The bard's terrible ballad was interrupted the roar of a great cat in the distance, odd climate for a jungle cat to be in. "Guess that forest guardian is some kinda megakitty" says Audran Donello the Caravan Master.<br />
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Flashback to Terminus the Merchant Capitol. The party stands amidst a throng of people listening to Donello on a soapbox recruiting the finest sellswords Terminus has to offer to protect the merchant caravan. In his possession is a map containing the path of Eldath theVerdant Lord, Sylvan Titan verified by three different sages. While the coin he is offering is incredible many do not heed the call, for there are no easy ways back to Terminus without a month of travel. Only the foolish, the adventurous and those horribly in debt are drawn to his proclamation. The PCs naturally.<br />
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They meet up the next day waiting for their new patron to show up. He's late. They take a moment to get acquainted with the other hooligans that signed up for this fool venture.<br />
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<li>Holy Alma, Saint of the Turtle Faith and her bodyguard Anders,</li>
<li>Figaro Del Rey, retired Master Fencer and his pupil Sahm</li>
<li>Ezrel, dappered sage. Curious of the veracity of the Verdant Lords path. </li>
<li>A spoony bard.</li>
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Brinn and Morgan begin running their con on poor Sahm and parts him of his savings, three coins. Figaro takes the next pair of games but luck is on the parties side and he does not notice their trick of invisibility for this shell game. Sven is propositioned by Ezrel to bring him the most curious of creatures to populate his melange as entertainment for his famous dinner parties. Laneth hears the sounds of a bird squawking and the sound of wood wheels clattered along cobblestone at an alarming place.<br />
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Brinn sensing trouble on the horizon makes use of her thievery abilities to detect imminent traps. She notices the pair smoking pipes in an alleyway have chainmail beneath their longcoats and the glint of a badge. A sting! Brinn and Morgan book it out of there, no honor among thieves.<br />
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After their departure a carriage and a wagon reinforced with steel (expensive?!) with platforms for meditating mystics roars into view being pulled by a pair of giant Moas. "No time to explain, get on!"<br />
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The NPCs hop in the carriage, Sven hops on a Moa and Laneth grabs onto the back as it speeds away. The two undercover lawman throw their pipes to the ground in distaste before blowing a whistle. Four other whistles can be heard from alleyways along their path. Its going to get pretty hairy soon.<br />
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Morgan and Brinn are looking for horses, instead they find a bull pen and Constable Gentleman. "Oh, those fives horses last month weren't enough for you? Now you're a cattle thief, for shame Brinn, best turn yourself in." No. way. "Look, there's a sniper on that rooftop, the only way you're getting out of this is to come with me". Morgan fails a number of spellcasting rolls trying to startle the bulls and the archer takes fire. Finally the bulls are sent into a stampede and the dynamic duo ride the bulls out of there after some mild trampling.<br />
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Meanwhile, Sven and Laneth have a pair of Lawmen riding giant Iguanas spring up out of the woodwork. Sven leaps off only to fall flat on his face. Laneth puts an arrow in a lawman's should and he tumbles off giving Sven the opportunity to tame the beast, upgrading his mount from a Moa to a giant Iguana. The pair head out fending off some more Iguana riders while the Caravan thunders past.<br />
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The two groups run into each other, as the Iguana riders have to duck out of the way of a stampede. Sven is struggling to control the Iguana and they find themselves hanging upside down from a rooftop. Neither of them hold on for long. A failed rescue attempt is made before everyone is trampled. The party snags the last errant bull and hightail it out of there looking for the caravan and licking their wounds.<br />
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So far, very fun introduction. Everything was fast fluid, giving the PC's narrative control and letting them spout lore to fill in the details of the world is quite fun. The chase scene was easy to handle and the players were creative with their abilities. The cracks in the system did not appear until later, I'll handle that in part two.<br />
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<br />Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-81676454182549081172014-06-06T16:50:00.000-04:002014-06-06T16:50:00.225-04:00A&A Playtest Comet Dungeon 1.1 Initial Descent<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Both groups, despite locating and scouting multiple entrances formed by the remaining fragments of the comet (spikes) that struck eventually ended up going <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-playtest-comet-dungeon-10.html">through the front</a>. Since both teams hit a lot of the same content and made a lot of similar choices I'll be talking room layout and the highlights of each team.</div>
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Dungeon Entrance</h3>
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Is blocked by a fallen log, further down the path is a way to drop down where the Comet Spike punctured</div>
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<u>Murder Hobos</u></div>
Fred the Smith easily chucks the fallen tree out of the way<br />Group moves forward towards the Comet Spike<br />A few painful randomly determined traps later they reach the Spike</div>
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<u>Good Samaritans</u><br />Tiamult, crazed leader, nearly falls into gelatinous cube garbage chute.<br />Denna the bold scout is lowered in through the hole blown in the dungeon ceiling<br />Unfortunately the comet spike is as sharp as it is sleek<br />Stanley hops down to join Denna<br />Party moves to the entrance to regroup with their trapped party members<br />Captive brontosaurus used to bust up the fallen tree on entrance<br />All this rucks causes the highly trapped front entrance to arm and a few to trigger<br />Pressured flask of carbonite drops from ceiling<br />Stanley fires off the Spell "<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-school-of-magic-psi.html">Edgar's Extended Intermission</a>" to catch it<br />Party more careful about Dinosaur horseplay<br />Proceed to 10ft pole the hallway<br />Marshall Orvar uses the "<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-gear-relics.html">Weighty Tome of Customs</a>" to set off pressure plates<br />Party almost reunited, separated by another carbonite trap<br />Stanley has the brilliant idea to use all their blankets to fireman-catch the vial<br />DM rewards player ingenuity<br />Party acquires pressurized flask of carbonite</div>
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Each team's spellcaster copies down the magical inscription on this side of the spike</div>
<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-school-of-magic-chronomancy.html">Dyne's Runaway Force</a> acquired</div>
Spell is cast on obelisk to move it from blocking the T intersection<br />The inscriptions on the obelisk cascade and multiple copies of the spell rocket the spike into the stratosphere.<br />Spike is sent hurtling off into the stratosphere</div>
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Along with the two other sides that bore magical inscriptions</div>
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<b>Murder Hobos</b><br />Party finds two hidden passages on either side of the Obelisk</div>
Torches thrown in are doused and slowly sink to the floor<br />Party correctly deduces there are Gelatinous cubes stuck inside (Garbage chute)</div>
Murder Hobos play to their strengths and leave a trap for the other group<br />Jingle fires off Dyne's Runaway Force into the room while others quickly slam door shut.</div>
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Good Samaritans have a flood of invisible acidic gelatinous goo poised to slime whoever opens that door.</div>
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Denna the overly-cautious Scout manages to avoid death trap </div>
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<h3>
Branching Paths</h3>
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<u>Good Samaritans</u> </div>
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Party scouts up north, encounter fork in the road and voice in their head</div>
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Arch Demon demands to be set free. Tiamult isn't playing ball.</div>
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ArchDemon casts "<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-school-of-magic-psi.html">Fatal Friend</a>" and Orvar nearly shoots off Tiamult's Head.</div>
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Shepherd Ashaw intervenes preventing partycide</div>
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Tiamult's new goal. Demonslaying.</div>
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<h3>
A Zoo?</h3>
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Party heads back and west, encounters ornate door with animals on it.</div>
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"OOOH a Zoo!"</div>
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Party cautiously edges forward. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<u>Good Samaritans</u></div>
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Stanley deduces these Skeletons are simply servants</div>
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Both Denna the Scout and Marshall Orvar notice Snakehead creeping out to eat Stanley</div>
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In a garish surprise round both of them unload a full quiver of arrows into the dead snake</div>
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Stanley oblivious, tries to reason with mindless skeletons</div>
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Skeletons throw hands in air and runaway.</div>
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Straight to the Chimera release lever.</div>
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Party flees South</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIgy9GiPW-gCSCeF5hhIrhrXY1paj5wz4GWdpFrQdTyUIApsmwBijhb-esmVzoXhiiTBKTE5w1jYAGe5Zfg_IxV6fusb3J50FMtyFhK3rxL8tRy00bFkCDm9yi0PaoNFJjAeCbo4U/s1600/Chim%C3%A8re_GOW_III.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIgy9GiPW-gCSCeF5hhIrhrXY1paj5wz4GWdpFrQdTyUIApsmwBijhb-esmVzoXhiiTBKTE5w1jYAGe5Zfg_IxV6fusb3J50FMtyFhK3rxL8tRy00bFkCDm9yi0PaoNFJjAeCbo4U/s1600/Chim%C3%A8re_GOW_III.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chimera God of War III</td></tr>
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<u>Murder Hobos</u> </div>
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Party creeps in, sees skeletal servants with silvery bones, some covered with space goo</div>
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CHARGE!</div>
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Skellys rush at party, party pulverizes some skeletons</div>
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But wait, they're just running past them</div>
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Skeletons pull lever, opening cages</div>
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Two Chimera walk out</div>
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Party books it, flees North</div>
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Pemba the Juggler tosses a "<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-gear-relics.html">Redstone</a>" in the opposite direction<br />Lion head snatches it out of the air. Explodes.</div>
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Remaining Chimera continues giving chase.</div>
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Part finds room with green, yellow and pink torches.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />No time for puzzles!</div>
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Party finds small side passage and shimmies through.</div>
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Snake head bites at Fred the Smith but finds naught but Armor</div>
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Party is Safe for now.</div>
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<h3>
The Lab (South)</h3>
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Party finds the resident Wizard's laboratory</div>
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A number of randomly generated potions are found and boldly tested.</div>
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A potion of healing, fire breath, 2x Slipperiness and 2x Charlie and Chocolate Factory Levitation</div>
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Remaining Skeletal servants armed themselves and bumrush the party</div>
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They are no match for Jingle the Carny's Wind magic nor Shepherd Ashaw's Pollax</div>
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<h3>
Guest Room (Furthest South)</h3>
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Party finds the ancient remains of the dungeons guests.</div>
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Occupants were trapped here by Skeletons and Chimeras and could not leave due to Demon's Curse </div>
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A pair of fighters were brought in to test the Wizard's Chimeras</div>
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A pair of on-and-off lovers stayed with the wizard</div>
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Lastly a contemporary and master of artifice stayed here</div>
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He crafted the mechanical and sygaldry binding the Demon here, it even mentions a release lever if the spell cannot be reversed</div>
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Party gathers Silver weaponry and gets back to Demonslaying </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/037/f/0/bottle_gnomes___life_counter_by_hturtseil-d4ox9tg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/037/f/0/bottle_gnomes___life_counter_by_hturtseil-d4ox9tg.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hturtseil.deviantart.com/art/Bottle-Gnomes-Life-Counter-283727860">Bottle Gnomes abacus by HturtSeil</a></td></tr>
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<h3>
Behind the Curtain (North)</h3>
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Party finds itself surrounded by Bottle Gnomes.</div>
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These potion fueled automotons are repairing dungeon traps.<br /> </div>
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<u>Murder Hobos</u> </div>
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Pemba acquires some arrows, Fred grabs a flask of carbonite.</div>
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Throws Bottle gnome as bait followed by carbonite.</div>
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No Snake present. Just shattered bottle gnomes.</div>
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Remaining gnomes flee workshop into gnome sized maintenance tunnels.</div>
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<u>Good Samaritans</u></div>
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Tiamult the Vengeful experiements by removing the head from a bottle gnome</div>
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The potion fizzles and bubbles out of the now lifeless automotan</div>
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Bottle Gnomes flee</div>
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Remains are offered, gingerly taken expecting a trap. </div>
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Party feels bad and leaves </div>
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<h3>
Portal Fun</h3>
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Heading North party finds hexagonal room<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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4 torches line opposite sides, two pink, one yellow, one green</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Good Samaritans</u></div>
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Denna attempts to use her Periscope through the Yellow Door. Goes catatonic as portal madness takes hold</div>
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Marshall Orvar explores the green warp door </div>
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Does not return</div>
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Party bickers</div>
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Faithful Ashaw ties a rope around his belt and dashes through</div>
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Tiamult takes Denna and goes through the yellow door, leaving the rest for dead </div>
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Ashaw finds Orvar battling a Hammergolem covered in Spacegoo</div>
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Party loses some weapons to spacegoo</div>
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Stanley arrives in the nick of time to save the day</div>
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Downing potions of Levitation and their innate Wind connection the party narrowly escapes with their lives</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Murder Hobos</u></div>
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No time for puzzles! </div>
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Fred walks through Yellow Torch</div>
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Parties flourishing carny loyalty takes hold and they follow</div>
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</div>
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<h3>
Spaceships..?</h3>
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Party finds itself in futuristic chamber with shiny metal walls and console in front of it</div>
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An inscription on the left console congratulates them on completing the first puzzle</div>
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Two remain. Incorrect answer will release the Nova Armor MK III to annhilate them</div>
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Party notices laminated power armor held by wires behind glass tube off to side</div>
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Fred tries to break glass, wrenches arm in proccesss as it bounces off</div>
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Party moves to second console and easily guesses riddle</div>
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Party moves to third console. Hits button and plays Asteroids.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Murder Hobos</u></div>
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Pemba the light fingered easily dispatches the foolish monochrome meteors</div>
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His Agility and Perception are increased as a result</div>
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</div>
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<u>Good Samaritans</u></div>
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Denna and Tiamult tap out to use the parties remaining Intrepid Dice to narrowly beat the game on their last life </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDvWmv47wO7jFQ_VJXWOjPAI97TFCphKCHOTjAhTbxlX-A3TuLIZIV6iDOoaGs2wObOqcNzq9WAC6XrDXZZjhM0H8UVdDW7cmzfEpaZxKtPjSbAMFM7FzPvf6MYvE2yXtUrQ5O8-g2Zo/s1600/star+trek+teleportation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDvWmv47wO7jFQ_VJXWOjPAI97TFCphKCHOTjAhTbxlX-A3TuLIZIV6iDOoaGs2wObOqcNzq9WAC6XrDXZZjhM0H8UVdDW7cmzfEpaZxKtPjSbAMFM7FzPvf6MYvE2yXtUrQ5O8-g2Zo/s1600/star+trek+teleportation.jpg" /></a></div>
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Arcade machine now a teleportation circle</div>
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Party investigates three of the four rooms collecting magic? items</div>
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Party checks out room 0. Finds maintenance room.</div>
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Loots plenty of fancy screwdrivers to deliver to eccentric billionaire curious of what mysteries lie in the comet</div>
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Finds a curious box with a button.<br />Presses button.</div>
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Holographic image of the Eien the Grey Cat Unstuck from time flashes up asking for commands</div>
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<br /></div>
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<u>Murder Hobos </u></div>
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Ask service code access to Nova Armor</div>
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DM congratulates the crafty hobos on this unexpected request</div>
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Party gets 3/4 code.</div>
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Party blindly guesses right remaining number.</div>
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Party acquires powered armor two small for them to wear (not that they know how to open it).</div>
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Fred detaches a pair of beamsabers from its back and starts lugging around the Nova Armor</div>
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<br /></div>
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Party moves to room 3, a one way teleporter leading to the resident Wizards secret chambers.</div>
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Tiamult becomes unstuck from time, begins traveling between each parties dimensions</div>
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Party loots Wizards secret bed chamber</div>
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Finds that he had trapped the Arch Demon here</div>
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BUT! through a loophole the Arch Demon also bound everyone else here. </div>
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No one living can escape.</div>
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Session Closes </div>
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Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-6276386351826029872014-04-29T09:49:00.001-04:002014-04-29T09:51:17.478-04:00A&A Playtest: Comet Dungeon 1.0<h2>
Comet Dungeon </h2>
<h4>
Behind the Scenes </h4>
Now that both teams have completed the Comet Dungeon I can talk about the design of it. As you may have noticed there is a lot of scribbled information on what originally started out as a turbine diagram with some op-amps thrown in. The dungeon began with the final room and then moving back and filling out the rest for what would fit the theme.<br />
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<h3>
The Massive Hexagon.</h3>
An old wizard had chained and bound an archdemon in this dungeon using a combination of <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-school-of-magic-warding.html">magic</a> and artifice. The binding left him immune to harm and unable to physically harm anyone else. Unfortunately for him like any good demon he worked a loophole into the binding that prevented anyone else from leaving the dungeon so long as ye olde archdemon was trapped there. As a result all the living inhabitants were trapped there and the Wizards constant struggling with the confines of the spell eventually caused a <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-skinny-on-spell-casting.html">combusting scroll </a>that was his demise.<br />
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Before the Comet Impact this dungeon was hidden away and completely undisturbed before it tore four holes into the dungeon. In addition to the three entrances to the dungeon (trapped front door, gelatinous cube chute, and lab entrance) there would be four more entrances to deposit them in the middle of the dungeon thanks to the comet shards. The caveat of course is that the comet left plenty of space goop behind that loves to bind itself to metal. Thankfully, each Team had someone who selected Piece of Ancient Tech: Hoverboard as a Relic so they could scout out these entrances.<br />
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Drop zone number one was in the Chimera room where undead servants, dipped in silver to prolong their wear and tear tended to the cages. Some of them however were hit by space goo and act kinda crazy. The second drop zone is an actual triangular shard of the comet, each side is covered in a lesser spell [Dyne's Runaway Force, Mime's Imprisonment, and Telepathy (<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-school-of-magic-psi.html">PSI</a>)]; it is blocking a T intersection. The shard is razor sharp and and rope spelunking down carries a 2/6 chance of slicing the rope and stranding them on one side of the T intersection. Not only that but the goo-less path to the hole crosses over the hidden pit that drops straight into a Gelatinous Cube chamber. The next hole is into a room with a single visible exit and a bunch of space goo that has completely covered a hammersmith automaton.<br />
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The biggest comet entrance was in the Demon's chamber, thirty feet of goo was around the massive hole so only the most ambitious would go storming in there. The melting comet destroyed half of the bindings on the Demon giving him some autonomy, but still leaving him 50% invulnerable. The Demon will telepathically call any that make it North of the blocked T intersection or who approach his room from the west. Likewise, the comet site left a large black pyramid covered in potent <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-school-of-magic-chronomancy.html">Chronomancy </a>spells near the demon. Inside the pyramid is a dying alien who beseeches any who listen to enter the pyramid so they can enter into an agreement where he uses their body as a vessel (<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/01/avatars-annihilation-introduction.html">Introduction to the Avatar System</a>). Only those that have witnessed the non-euclidean geometry from the comet touchdown, from the dead wizards journal, or simply experiencing portal madness are susceptible to the aliens call.<br />
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The guildmaster Youjiro the Silent waits patiently in the Wizards false bedchamber ignoring the petulant demon and keeping an eye on the pyramid. Also an Avatar, but his spirit comes from an ancestral magic sword rather than a space invader, he will attempt to slay any who emerge from the pyramid. The stage is set, in the next post I'll tackle how the rest of the dungeon came to be.Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-89951251990226339492014-04-12T10:32:00.002-04:002014-04-12T10:35:28.674-04:00A&A School of Spells: Lifa<h2>
A&A School of Magic: Lifa</h2>
The fundamental quintessence, Lifa, is what flows through all living things on this planet. The blessed and holy among us are a conduit for it. They can give life, offer redemption, and protect this worlds inhabitants from those who lost their lives and those that feast on the Lifa of others.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies">Grave of the Fireflies</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b>Cantrips</b><br />
<ul>
<li><u>Cloud of Fireflies</u></li>
<ul>
<li>Fireflies circle around the bodies of both the living and the dead providing a gentle illumination and momentary respite. On occasion images of the departed can be seen. </li>
</ul>
<li><u>Peacefulness</u> (Concentration) <i>Save reconsiders: Discipline</i></li>
<ul>
<li> The target ceases all hostile action unless provoked for as long as this spell remains in effect. After it expires the target may rethink their original course of action.</li>
</ul>
<li><u>Rise Warrior</u></li>
<ul>
<li> Any disabled combatants, be they beaten, battered, paralysed, petrified, sealed away or merely unconscious that can hear the casters voice arise from their slumber and fight once more.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/image/217" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/image/217" height="171" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/image/217">Nerf Now: Altered Beast</a></td></tr>
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<b>Lesser</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Infinite Unending Wellspring</li>
<ul>
<li>The lifeblood of the planet flows through the target granting them three additional Wounds. Whenever they sustain a Wound the Mana of all four elements increases by 1d6 in the area. </li>
</ul>
<li>Holy Circle (Concentration)</li>
<ul>
<li>Within this circle is hallowed ground, undead, demons and soulless creatures are barred from entering it and any that still hold the breath of life are anchored to the mortal coil providing more time to save their fading spirit. The circle is centered on the caster and moves with them.</li>
</ul>
<li>Island Gigantism</li>
<ul>
<li>All local fauna smaller than a man receives a tremendous growth spurt, enough to take the place of the local larger predators. Their new found [Giant] template allows them to prey on all sorts of new prey, even the party. The range of this spell is 100 yards from the casters feat but does not pass over boundaries of water.</li>
</ul>
<li>Last Hero</li>
<ul>
<li>When cast on a Hero they are infused with a supernatural toughness. For each fallen ally the hero is protecting they receive a +1 to Defense up to a maximum of 5. When the Hero is the last one standing they may take two consecutive turns each round.</li>
</ul>
<li>Road to Dawn </li>
<ul>
<li>Salvation for even the most hardened of hearts. This spell allows a defeated enemy a chance for repentance, to walk the path of light to control the darkness in their hearts.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/files/2012/12/haasts-eagle-large-990x797.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/files/2012/12/haasts-eagle-large-990x797.jpg" height="257" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast%27s_Eagle">Haast's Eagle</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<b>Formidable</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Life Cycle</li>
<ul><ul>
<li>This spell changes depending on the current season and lasts for the entire scene.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Jubilance of Summer </li>
<ul>
<li>Summer days that never end. The party is heavily resistant to fatigue and a surplus of energy. Whenever they determine HP any 6's rolled add a Hit Die into their reserves. </li>
</ul>
<li>Last Gasp of Autumn </li>
<ul>
<li>The leaves are awash in color, the air is cool and crisp life reaches zenith and its twilight. Whenever a party member needs to [Burn HP] it functions at a 1:2 ratio.</li>
</ul>
<li>Fade to Winter</li>
<ul>
<li>The grey, the period between life and death where we slumber and wait. The caster's party is unaffected by harsh environmental conditions provided they continue moving. Any life threatening poisons and afflictions are slowed and delayed until the world thaws.</li>
</ul>
<li>Rebirth of Spring</li>
<ul>
<li>Somehow life finds a way. When a party member is killed the caster may [Burn Intrepid] to give them a 1/6 chance of miraculously surviving.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Man From the Machine</li>
<ul>
<li> This spell grants the fundamental quintessence into an android granting them sentience, consciousness and an alignment in sync with the caster. They function as any other character would that is composed of metal, composites, oil and electrons. </li>
<ul>
<li>The question remains: Do Androids dream?</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Supernova</li>
<ul>
<li>Oh to be so grossly incandescent. The casters body glows with the pulchritude of a white hot sun. Greater Undead, demons and soulless creatures are blinded and those with hardened hearts remember their former selves as altruism freely flows through them once more. </li>
<li>One round later the caster's body reaches its Zenith, the white hot light expands outward in a sphere engulfing all in a 100 yard radius wiping out everything without the fundamental quintessence of Lifa. The caster, however, is atomized.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
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Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723466664719972758.post-74934057332794437782014-04-07T22:16:00.003-04:002014-04-07T22:16:30.554-04:00Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: The Forest of Plenty 1.1<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<a href="http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090905013606/prehistoric/images/6/66/Spinosaurus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090905013606/prehistoric/images/6/66/Spinosaurus.jpg" height="290" width="400" /></a></div>
To get to the <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/03/avatars-annihilation-playtest-chasing.html">Comet Site</a> the <a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/04/avatars-annihilation-playtest-party.html">party </a>must traverse the Forest of Plenty.</div>
<div>
Nicknamed on account of the bountiful wild game, brightly plumed birds, rare mushrooms and truffles.</div>
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The truffles of course attracted POrks (Pig Orks) which the local farmers are happy to be rid of.</div>
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Should be a cake walk.</div>
<div>
S. Wift's boss, Reginald MacReynard gives him another special delivery. A few gallons of honey directly to the UpBears known to wander those woods.</div>
<div>
Tells him to sign up with one of the new explorer's guilds and watch out for the four existing leaders.</div>
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Conveniently the The OtherWorldly (TOW) Company ordered takeout prior to leaving at dawn. </div>
<div>
Stanley joins their group. </div>
<div>
The party sets off, close on the heels of Youjiro the Silent and Loose Legs ConBa and well ahead of Archibald the Luxurious and Anaheim the Industrious.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://dungeonsddx.blogspot.com/2014/04/avatars-annihilation-playtest-forest-of.html">Time to get the old random tables ready.</a></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs32/i/2008/192/b/2/Sleeping_Spinosaurus_by_HodariNundu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs32/i/2008/192/b/2/Sleeping_Spinosaurus_by_HodariNundu.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hodarinundu.deviantart.com/art/Sleeping-Spinosaurus-91317879">Sleeping Spinosaurus</a></td></tr>
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Day 1 (Rolled a 2: Stampede. Wandering Monster: Dinosaurs?!)</div>
<div>
Birds simultaneously ditch all their trees and fly in the opposite direction. Thunderous footsteps can be heard.</div>
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Deer, Rabbits, Foxes, Possoms and Elk come running past.</div>
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Curious to the disturbance the party goes in for a closer look only to find a Spinosaurus fighting a Brontosaurus.</div>
<div>
Tiamult's superior [Revelation] recognizes that these shouldn't be alive and walking also they appear to be half their usual size.</div>
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Party agrees Giant Lizards are not to be trifled with.</div>
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Party is unlucky and the fight between these titans steamrolls towards their direction.</div>
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Legion of Extra Lives Minions scatter as dinosaurs come plowing through</div>
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Shepherd Bookbinder, Brave as he was, goes back to rescue <strike>little foot</strike> stragglers</div>
Rest of the Party not so keen on going back. Prepared to leave the wayward shepherd behind.</div>
<div>
First Encounter on what was promised to be a very lethal game. Sound decision.</div>
<div>
Fred Smith, soon to be known for unsound decisions hurls Greek Fire creating a fire line between dino's and party.</div>
<div>
Shepherd Burrana and stragglers are now cut off.</div>
<div>
Not happy about this fire business the Dinos break off their clash and the Spinosaurus catches sight of easier prey.</div>
<div>
The first shield is splintered as Ashaw Burrana's Shield narrowly avoids a devastating life severing critical hit.</div>
<div>
The spinosaurus has a mouth full of splinters and is quite irate.</div>
<div>
Two of the extras (very luckily) rallied their morale and supported Shepherd Burrana in his stand.</div>
<div>
Cutting a thin line in the dinos hide before dropping [Bouncing Caltrops] and getting his men out of dodge </div>
<div>
Movement how hampered and being peppered by arrows from the rest of the party the Spinosaurus faced another onslaught:</div>
<div>
Fred Smiths crit heavy hammer.</div>
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The Spinosaurus has been kneecapped.</div>
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Dinosaur teeth necklace acquired</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hardcoreperler.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/weegee2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://hardcoreperler.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/weegee2.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hardcoreperler.com/luigi-and-yoshi-go-for-a-ride/">Source</a></td></tr>
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<div>
Lawman Orvar has gone to assist the Shepherd and pickup the last fleeing straggler.</div>
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The party reunites just as Fred Smith turned the Dinos skull into an anvil ending the fight.</div>
<div>
Both sides of the screen were surprised by the lack of fatalities.</div>
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Congratulations given and dice praised.</div>
<div>
Pemba the Performer managed to throw a tranq. dart into an open wound and pacify the brontosaurus.</div>
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Tiamult recognizes the herbivorous teeth and the party spends the rest of the day taming it.</div>
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Fred uses Tur Kay's Poultice to treat it's wounds and the party tranqs. it daily to keep their new mount.</div>
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Day 2 Cave. Cave Contents: Desmodu Colony. Manbats!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBz8zPdy-iybOK2SSwiikY6jWBspYkyuPHPcUY6KjdsX_ycc7IrXPxxod7euvwlnvM1BNtwKV0d6MQCHq3wA3qWESgQJPGqla18IGs-USpNQ-GY34jA662LpUqE8e2a9dHCK7ehVBf/s1600/howling_mine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBz8zPdy-iybOK2SSwiikY6jWBspYkyuPHPcUY6KjdsX_ycc7IrXPxxod7euvwlnvM1BNtwKV0d6MQCHq3wA3qWESgQJPGqla18IGs-USpNQ-GY34jA662LpUqE8e2a9dHCK7ehVBf/s1600/howling_mine.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Howling Mine: Magic the Gathering</td></tr>
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Party encounters a large clearing 90 yards in diameter.<br />
In the middle is an intentionally made cave entrance atop a natural cavern.<br />
No tracks in or out.<br />
Massive party turns out to have differing playstyle and views.<br />
Rest of the party gears up to leave and get there first and collect that sweet sweet pot of gold<br />
Fred Smith decides to throw a Thunderclap stone into the Cave<br />
Manbats are understandably displeased.<br />
Due to a lucky roll the ones charging out of their cavern have 1 HP remaining.<br />
Most of party is content to leave Fred for dead, Pemba is greedy for utility belts but decides against it.<br />
After a round of mauling by dazed and disoriented Manbats Fred beats it out of there with Marshall Orvar's help.<br />
Party joked they just declared war on a peaceful band of Manbats whose sharpened tool was for harvesting the orange groves they trudged through.<br />
Later that night hunting bats spotted.<br />
Tiamult instructs them to clean up their mess <br />
Another series of lucky rolls as three arrows/bolts let fly and the bat drops out of the sky.<br />
The party seemingly escaped without consequence</div>
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<a href="http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4-Sting-naming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/4-Sting-naming.jpg" height="265" width="640" /></a></div>
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Day 3: Quiet, too quiet (Spider Ambush)<br />
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Party finds themselves lost in the oldest part of the wood with trees towering some 60ft in height. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
Those with an [Earth Origin] can tell Magnetic North so they no where to go but lack a path to make it there</div>
Stanley discovers a discarded shawl and casts [ESP]</div>
He views Youjiro's group and the 5 vagabonds. Each time they come by this place there is one fewer member until only Youjiro and the shawl's owner remains. The vision is viewed through kaleidoscope eyes.</div>
Denna the Bold climbs the trees for a better vantage point.</div>
Unfortunately whatever is boring into her sleeping mind causes her to see only streams of silver once she reaches the canopy.</div>
As she is lowered down by pulley system the party is ambushed by giant tree spiders.</div>
Aside from Shepherd the rest of the party easily dispatch the Spiders<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/272/0/1/monocle_spider_by_zinoi-d2zqtbn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/272/0/1/monocle_spider_by_zinoi-d2zqtbn.jpg" height="320" width="269" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://zinoi.deviantart.com/art/monocle-spider-180969971">Monocle Spider by zinoi</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Not before a Wizard Spider bearing 8 monocles brainwashes Denna with [Dracula Vision] into a death from above attack on Fred whose armor absorbs it all.<br />
Note to self - Give damage bonus on Death to Above Attacks </div>
The party is victorious, the GM is disappointed.</div>
Being careless while searching cocoons Pemba luckily stumbles through the Wizard Spider's stash, containing Gemstones and a scroll.</div>
After getting the Shawls owner killed by recklessly dropping cocoons to the ground below they gently get rid of the rest.</div>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Future Murderhobo party proceeds to murder some hobos. Future team good Samaritan nonplussed about it all</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Day 4: Another Cave. Oh no. ManBat Cave part deux</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Denna's birdseye view granted the party a path out of the winding woods.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">They found the Unicorn's Run which safely traversed most of the forest before passing in front of another oddly shaped cave</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Party walks by non-chalantly as quickly as possible.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/343/5/b/alvina_of_darkroot_by_rirth-d5nkj0w.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/343/5/b/alvina_of_darkroot_by_rirth-d5nkj0w.png" height="400" width="267" /></a></div>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Day 5: Time Distortion. Eien the Cat displaced from time</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Party encounters a giant grey Cheshire cat</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Promises a swift death to any that approach the comet site she is guarding</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">"How long have you been guarding it?" </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">She has always been and will always be. She neither begins nor ends.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">"Did Youjiro the Silent pass through here? How did he get through?"</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">He knew the right thing to say.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">"How can we pass?"</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Look through your Frozen Flame. You will see a path where I do not exist. Free me from my anchor and you too may escape. Behind puzzles three does my escape lie. Know that if you press on now you may never return until I am free.</span>Van Noahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13001103794042256370noreply@blogger.com0