In the past I’ve really enjoyed keeping a campaign journal for D&D and Shadowrun. I find it’s a nice way to recap, keep track and sort of analyze our game sessions. With our new Shadowrun game starting up I wanted to do something again, but not quite the same old. Truthfully, keeping a journal can be rather time consuming. On top of planning for the next week and trying to maintain a game blog it often felt like a chore to make sure that I posted each week. After talking it over with the group we decided to create a campaign wiki to document what is occurring in the alternate world of our fantasy lives. I just got it set up and I must admit that I am sort of stoked on it. It’s located here.
One aspect that I really like about the wiki is that everyone in the group can contribute to it, rather than it just being a GM dictatorship. We sit at a round table so we should all be equal. I think that is the best practice for all, it’s all of our game. It’s cool to get the point of view of everyone involved rather than just a narration of events. I imagine there being conflicting accounts of certain things, which I think is great. Shadowrun is such a morally grey universe that nothing has an absolute truth to it. It does raise the question, though, of what it is that the players should be contributing. For now I have asked them to create character bios and some background info on their contacts. I did ask them to keep everything reasonable as far as their contacts are concerned. No megacorps presidents, dragons, or super generous wealthy benefactors. In the past I have always created their contacts (after they selected them) and I sort of see this as a challenge to me because I have to use and develop these NPC’s in ways that I need, but their origins are coming from someone else. I’m into it.
I am still struggling with exactly how game events will appear in the wiki. They can certainly pop up in an entry for a character and summarize their role in a certain situation, but that doesn’t really provide the big picture. I was thinking maybe anonymous Shadowland style posts about something that went down, or perhaps a media account from a third party. I was in a Shadowrun campaign years ago with a different group of players and one of the players would routinely write these newspaper style accounts of our runs and send them around. It was actually pretty cool. And I’ve already told everyone that I will be giving out karma for contributions, so that should give an incentive to put some work into it.
So what is the point of this whole thing? Well, it can keep track of NPC’s, give an additional platform for the players to flesh out their characters and is another method to include all sorts of superfluous info (or maybe it’s actually really useful info). I imagine that if it’s successful the players will be able to find pertinent information in there that can aid them in game. In a way it is some sort of ultra metagaming, but it is also realistic for the world that the party is in. Why wouldn’t they turn up some info if they snoop around about their latest Johnson? They could certainly just make a skill check and get the info, but this could be a little incentive to do a little more. In this case it’s my job to drop some “Easter Egg” style info into the game and see if it turns up when we meet at the table. One example so far involves the party shaman. In her backstory is some sort of corp character that she fell in love with. That’s all that had been decided. So I created an entry for this guy, gave him a name and a story and dropped it into the wiki. Now he exists and he has never really come up in game so far. It gives the player some info if she wants to pursue that storyline and it’s something to maker her ears perk up at the table if a certain name should come up. This is also opening the door for Shadowrun to occupy even more of our time, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it.
Another aspect that I like is that it gives some permanence to the game. Now I am not the most sentimental of people and I think that RPG campaigns are rather disposable in the grand scheme of things, but I actually really like the idea that this campaign can live on in the cloud of the internet. Anyone can read it, we can also reminisce about it and check in and laugh (or cry?) over these characters for years to come. Perhaps some other folks will even get some inspiration or ideas from something that they read there. Which is neat.
The most surprising part of it for me is how fun it is to include pictures in the entries. I didn’t really think about that and then one of the players added a picture entry to all of the PC’s. Totally awesome to see some imagining of who these people are that we pretend to be. They are just images taken from Google and plugged in, but they are completely our characters now. We never use miniatures in our game, rarely maps as well. So this is the most visual we have ever really been with characters.
I used Google Sites to set the wiki up, employing their wiki template to get started. I’m not the most tech savvy but I found it very easy to use. The appearance of the page still leaves a lot to be desired, as does the layout but these are both aspects that can be improved over time.
Showing posts with label Campaign Journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campaign Journal. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Shadowrun Campaign Journal #3
After a session which consisted mainly of downtime investigation and off color jokes the party was eager to make something happen. Bring a little action to the shadows of the Outer Edge. Gathered in Mr. White’s warehouse they discussed their options and worked out some potential plans. The ultimate goal was to flush out the Trashcan Man and free themselves of his blackmail, but being the wily raccoon shaman that he is that was not going to be easy. They checked in with their contacts again but not much was moving on that front so they decided to set a plan in motion. Puppy picked up the waitress at the local Long John Silver’s, but she did not yield as much information as Puppy was hoping that she would.
The party assumed that if they made some sort of move on the drug dealer Dark Cloud that Trashcan Man would be in the area watching it go down. Why would he be doing that? Well, his covetous nature made them think that he would want to be involved in whatever was happening, but also as a blackmailer he would probably want to record the whole situation as a future source of income and manipulation. With this in mind the party rolled over to the area of Dark Cloud’s warehouse, not entirely sure of what was going to happen.
Most of the party sort of had their own desired outcome for what they wanted to happen and how it was going to happen. They considered trying to have a face to face with Dark Cloud and let him know that there was a hit out on him. They also toyed with the idea of ignoring him all together and looking for an alternate way of getting Trashy to make an appearance. There was also some debate about the use of the infamous autocannon. Katsin was dead set about not using it, while Mr. White was extremely anxious to bust it out and mow down some degenerates.
The party assumed that if they made some sort of move on the drug dealer Dark Cloud that Trashcan Man would be in the area watching it go down. Why would he be doing that? Well, his covetous nature made them think that he would want to be involved in whatever was happening, but also as a blackmailer he would probably want to record the whole situation as a future source of income and manipulation. With this in mind the party rolled over to the area of Dark Cloud’s warehouse, not entirely sure of what was going to happen.
Most of the party sort of had their own desired outcome for what they wanted to happen and how it was going to happen. They considered trying to have a face to face with Dark Cloud and let him know that there was a hit out on him. They also toyed with the idea of ignoring him all together and looking for an alternate way of getting Trashy to make an appearance. There was also some debate about the use of the infamous autocannon. Katsin was dead set about not using it, while Mr. White was extremely anxious to bust it out and mow down some degenerates.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Shadowrun Campaign Journal #2
The party started the night in Mr. White’s warehouse, licking their wounds from the previous encounter. Both Puppy and Phil the Kill had serious injuries so they decided to hole up a while and do some healing. Mr. White did some computer recon to learn about the fallout over the shootout at Morpheus’ Throne. Apparently the police thought it was the work of some amateurs considering the haphazard way that everything seemed to go down. The party seemed to get a kick out of that, especially since the police were right. There was a mention of some military grade weaponry used in the fracas, this seemed to be of some concern to the local police force.
After a couple of days of laying low they decided to contact Zapper and get their payment for killing Handsome Dick. Phil and Katsin met up with a grim faced Zapper who had some bad news for them. First, he informed them that they had all been had by his employer. The “Aztechnology” corp man does not exist, Zapper thought the whole thing was a setup and that there was no money for any of them. Someone just wanted Handsome Dick, and perhaps all of the Silver Streaks, dead. Secondly, he played them some video footage on a small player of the incident with the Silver Streaks. Clear as day they watched Mr. White unload with the autocannon, reducing some gang members to red mist and tearing apart a section of a building in a hail of lead. There was also footage of the inside of the bar showing the rest of the crew doing work. Zapper told them that the footage was going to be released to the police unless the party cooperated with the wishes of the mysterious client. Zapper apologized to the group and assured them that he had no part in this and was very sorry that they were being manipulated this way. After a perception test Katsin believed him, but the party seems unlikely to ever trust Zapper again.
With the blackmail in place the party was assigned a new job. In the Outer Edge section of Seattle (the same area that housed the once semi-prominent Silver Streaks) there is a drug dealer named Dark Cloud. He is to be killed. They were given the address of his warehouse but not much else. Now is where things started to get interesting…
After a couple of days of laying low they decided to contact Zapper and get their payment for killing Handsome Dick. Phil and Katsin met up with a grim faced Zapper who had some bad news for them. First, he informed them that they had all been had by his employer. The “Aztechnology” corp man does not exist, Zapper thought the whole thing was a setup and that there was no money for any of them. Someone just wanted Handsome Dick, and perhaps all of the Silver Streaks, dead. Secondly, he played them some video footage on a small player of the incident with the Silver Streaks. Clear as day they watched Mr. White unload with the autocannon, reducing some gang members to red mist and tearing apart a section of a building in a hail of lead. There was also footage of the inside of the bar showing the rest of the crew doing work. Zapper told them that the footage was going to be released to the police unless the party cooperated with the wishes of the mysterious client. Zapper apologized to the group and assured them that he had no part in this and was very sorry that they were being manipulated this way. After a perception test Katsin believed him, but the party seems unlikely to ever trust Zapper again.
With the blackmail in place the party was assigned a new job. In the Outer Edge section of Seattle (the same area that housed the once semi-prominent Silver Streaks) there is a drug dealer named Dark Cloud. He is to be killed. They were given the address of his warehouse but not much else. Now is where things started to get interesting…
Monday, July 19, 2010
Shadowrun Campaign Journal #1
I’ve decided to run a Shadowrun mini-campaign over the next couple of weeks. It has been a couple of years since I have played Shadowrun and probably 15 years since I have been a GM for the Seattle based cyber punk RPG. I’m looking forward to it. I also don’t feel like buying some new books for a game that is only going to last a couple of weeks so I am sticking with the one book that I have; the 2nd Edition basic book. Also, none of the players in the game have ever run the shadows before and Shadowrun (especially 2nd Edition) is not the most novice friendly game. So I’ve decided to do a stripped down easy version of the rules with an emphasis being on quickness of play and a good time. We will see how it goes.
For the sake of brevity I made all the characters ahead of time. Yes, I understand that creating a character is a ton of fun. But so is playing and I wanted to get down to it. We only have a couple of weeks before D&D picks back up. We got together and the players decided to randomly pick the people that they were going to be playing. I gave everyone a basic history of the Shadowrun world so that they understood exactly where they were in time and space. Everyone seemed into it. In my opinion the strength of this game has always been the universe that it exists in. It’s just pretty awesome and has a ton of possibilities for adventure. I also explained that there was really no such thing as alignment and as good and evil, just varying shades of grey. I think that they liked that as well, knowing that they were free to indulge whatever they wanted to without having to adhere to some sort of ideology that may or may not apply to their situation. After the intro we stacked silly amounts of six sided dice on the table and I distributed the characters. Let’s meet the party.
For the sake of brevity I made all the characters ahead of time. Yes, I understand that creating a character is a ton of fun. But so is playing and I wanted to get down to it. We only have a couple of weeks before D&D picks back up. We got together and the players decided to randomly pick the people that they were going to be playing. I gave everyone a basic history of the Shadowrun world so that they understood exactly where they were in time and space. Everyone seemed into it. In my opinion the strength of this game has always been the universe that it exists in. It’s just pretty awesome and has a ton of possibilities for adventure. I also explained that there was really no such thing as alignment and as good and evil, just varying shades of grey. I think that they liked that as well, knowing that they were free to indulge whatever they wanted to without having to adhere to some sort of ideology that may or may not apply to their situation. After the intro we stacked silly amounts of six sided dice on the table and I distributed the characters. Let’s meet the party.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Campaign Journal #15- Bad Times in Ocrist
The party decided that they would rescue the soon to be executed prisoner for a variety of reasons. They thought that by doing so they would get in good with the insurgency, which would lead to the leadership of the rebel faction, who they would in turn give over to the DuChamps for the reward money. Then, using their connections with the DuChamps, kill everyone and loot all the rumored money that the crown was said to have. Got that? Kill some people, betray some people, kill some more, stack up piles of gold. Sounds like a plan. What could go wrong?
After leaving the meeting with Firebeard they checked into a room at Oh Starry Night, a local inn recommended by the red haired rebel spokesman. Since it was still early at this point they decided to have a night on the town; gather some intel, scout the route the prisoner would be taking the next day, and try to avoid getting into trouble. They knew the path that the prisoner would be taking from the prison to the town square from the documents that Firbebeard had given them. It was a simple path that passed through a residential neighborhood to a commercial district. After much deliberation they decided that they would most likely strike before the doomed man reached the town square. Originally they wanted to free him from the gallows to make the most public showing that they could, but common sense intervened and they thought that this may be a better approach.
After leaving the meeting with Firebeard they checked into a room at Oh Starry Night, a local inn recommended by the red haired rebel spokesman. Since it was still early at this point they decided to have a night on the town; gather some intel, scout the route the prisoner would be taking the next day, and try to avoid getting into trouble. They knew the path that the prisoner would be taking from the prison to the town square from the documents that Firbebeard had given them. It was a simple path that passed through a residential neighborhood to a commercial district. After much deliberation they decided that they would most likely strike before the doomed man reached the town square. Originally they wanted to free him from the gallows to make the most public showing that they could, but common sense intervened and they thought that this may be a better approach.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Campaign Journal #14- Poison! Death! A Den of Spies!
While fleeing from the Wicked Annabella roadside inn Glee, Romulus, and Lela heard voices coming from the woods. The muffled voices were bickering about something and the party snuck up on them to get a closer look. Within moments they were exchanging pleasantries with their wayward adventurers Henri and Mgabwe. Henri had a black eye and Mgabwe seemed to have every bit of hair on his body burnt off, but for the time being they had resolved their argument about the nature of arcane magic. The party filled them in on their most recent adventures and then they set off for Ocrist. Mgabwe did not get on well with Corwyn, which was to be expected.
They decided to travel along the road since they are not openly warring with either faction. After several hours on the road they found themselves on a bluff overlooking a large open field, the Field of Sorrows that they had heard talked about from several sources. From their vantage point they could see a large force of the DuChamp army massing on the field, off in the distance they could vaguely make out another gathering force. They also saw the wagon of death driven by Ichabod on the opposite side of the field, he waved to them. They saw no reason to jump into a battlefield so they kept following the road to the East.
They decided to travel along the road since they are not openly warring with either faction. After several hours on the road they found themselves on a bluff overlooking a large open field, the Field of Sorrows that they had heard talked about from several sources. From their vantage point they could see a large force of the DuChamp army massing on the field, off in the distance they could vaguely make out another gathering force. They also saw the wagon of death driven by Ichabod on the opposite side of the field, he waved to them. They saw no reason to jump into a battlefield so they kept following the road to the East.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Campaign Journal #12- Finishing Up at the Temple
With the medusas in the Temple taken care of it was time for the party to loot and pillage the area that they had lusted after for so long. Exploring the top of the Temple they found piles of bedrolls and other mundane supplies, it seems as if many of the creatures lived and slept at the top of the steps. They also found a slightly raised section of the floor that contained the familiar indentation of the snake that they have seen several times before. Before trying to open it up they decided to check out the half dozen buildings that were built up around the Temple.
At about this time Henri and Mgabwe got into a fierce debate about the nature of he arcane arts. A debate that could only be decided by the two of them teleporting far away to the appropriate research facility. And with that they were gone! (Both of these players are on separate European vacations for the next couple of weeks and will not be playing)
At about this time Henri and Mgabwe got into a fierce debate about the nature of he arcane arts. A debate that could only be decided by the two of them teleporting far away to the appropriate research facility. And with that they were gone! (Both of these players are on separate European vacations for the next couple of weeks and will not be playing)
Monday, December 21, 2009
Campaign Journal #11-The Long Awaited Temple. At Last.
Having dispatched with the winter wolves the party decided to make camp in their mountain lair. Shielded from the elements and easily defensible it made a good temporary base. During the night while on guard duty Glee heard the sound of some falling rocks not far from their location, he awakened Romulus and the two of them stared out into the night, scanning the area for the source of the noise. They spotted a lean, muscular figure climbing across the face of the mountain opposite where they were, several hundred feet on the other side of the valley. Before they could react the figure disappeared into a small cave opening on the side of the rock.
The next morning Glee and Romulus filled the others in on what happened during the night. Packing up they traveled along the mountain tops with the goal of ultimately winding up above the cave opening that they had seen. After being on the move for about an hour they came across a herd of mountain goats, they were doing goat like things. One of the goats seemed larger than the others and had a long black beard. Immediately suspicious of anything even slightly abnormal the party attacked the strange goat, sending arrows and fireballs it’s way. The goats did not last long; some were pierced by arrows, others done in by a fiery ball of destruction, and others leapt to their death in the confusion. Expecting to find the corpse of a wild shaped druid the party was somewhat surprised by what appeared to be body of an ordinary goat. Suspicious indeed.
The next morning Glee and Romulus filled the others in on what happened during the night. Packing up they traveled along the mountain tops with the goal of ultimately winding up above the cave opening that they had seen. After being on the move for about an hour they came across a herd of mountain goats, they were doing goat like things. One of the goats seemed larger than the others and had a long black beard. Immediately suspicious of anything even slightly abnormal the party attacked the strange goat, sending arrows and fireballs it’s way. The goats did not last long; some were pierced by arrows, others done in by a fiery ball of destruction, and others leapt to their death in the confusion. Expecting to find the corpse of a wild shaped druid the party was somewhat surprised by what appeared to be body of an ordinary goat. Suspicious indeed.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Campaign Journal #10- The Battle of Bowerstone
…as the party stepped out of the Church and into the street it was obvious that combat was imminent. A group of a dozen half orcs armed with longswords and shields were quickly approaching, looks of anger and revenge flashed on their piggish faces. The party surveyed the area and also saw two more figures, an archer on an adjacent rooftop and the elven female spellcaster who was part of the ambush on the party several nights prior. Everyone leapt into action, thirsty for blood and fighting for survival!
Henri lobbed a fireball at half the approaching group, burning the lot of them but they remained on their feet. Romulus and Glee paired up and tried to take out the other mob, working together with their team flanking tactics and cutting through flesh as if it was paper. Mgabwe started to buff up before heading into melee and was struck by a cluster of arrows from an unseen assailant, he spied a ninja on the roof of the Church for a moment before the figure vanished. Finally becoming comfortable in her support role, Lela went about buffing up the party with haste, bardic music, and healing when they needed it. I was surprised to see the initial onslaught of the party focus on the rank and file goons that were approaching them, rather than on the clearly more dangerous trio that was beginning to do some serious damage. A ray of enfeeblement from Mgabwe left the archer too weak to pull his composite bow, but the mysterious ninja moved around the battlefield invisibly and caused some grievous wounds with sudden striking nunchakus.
Henri lobbed a fireball at half the approaching group, burning the lot of them but they remained on their feet. Romulus and Glee paired up and tried to take out the other mob, working together with their team flanking tactics and cutting through flesh as if it was paper. Mgabwe started to buff up before heading into melee and was struck by a cluster of arrows from an unseen assailant, he spied a ninja on the roof of the Church for a moment before the figure vanished. Finally becoming comfortable in her support role, Lela went about buffing up the party with haste, bardic music, and healing when they needed it. I was surprised to see the initial onslaught of the party focus on the rank and file goons that were approaching them, rather than on the clearly more dangerous trio that was beginning to do some serious damage. A ray of enfeeblement from Mgabwe left the archer too weak to pull his composite bow, but the mysterious ninja moved around the battlefield invisibly and caused some grievous wounds with sudden striking nunchakus.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Campaign Journal #9- The Day the Music Died
The party decided that they were done with Bowerstone and were ready to move onto other adventures. I agree, four whole nights of gaming is a long time to spend in one town, even if it is as seedy and filled with adventure as Bowerstone is. However, before leaving there was the small matter of the Association and a certain do-wop group that needed to be taken care of. The group spent about half a day getting some more supplies around town to prepare for their journey back into the mountains and towards the medusas, the goal being to make it to the far off temple that they had seen perched away atop the mountain range. Also, Lela penned a letter to Mrs. Goldborn informing her that she would not be making it to her scheduled performance for the birthday party.
No one likes a bully and the party decided that before leaving they would kill the lead singer of the Dockside Boys, the charming Swooner Simon Schooner. After seeing Simon interact with Abraham at the Squires Club they had pegged the crooner as a rat, since he had seen the party leaving the docks after stealing a package, which then led to the initial encounter with Abraham. Simon had to die, it was that simple. Plus, Glee has had a long standing hatred of the man since first encountering him on the street. Smart enough to realize that murdering the well liked and well connected Schooner will probably spell the end of their time in Bowerstone they planned their assault very carefully.
No one likes a bully and the party decided that before leaving they would kill the lead singer of the Dockside Boys, the charming Swooner Simon Schooner. After seeing Simon interact with Abraham at the Squires Club they had pegged the crooner as a rat, since he had seen the party leaving the docks after stealing a package, which then led to the initial encounter with Abraham. Simon had to die, it was that simple. Plus, Glee has had a long standing hatred of the man since first encountering him on the street. Smart enough to realize that murdering the well liked and well connected Schooner will probably spell the end of their time in Bowerstone they planned their assault very carefully.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Campaign Journal #8- Burning Bridges in a Town with No Bridges
Again the party found themselves beginning the adventure in town. They still had some time to kill while waiting for payment from Lord Monty and for Lela’s performance at the Goldborn residence in several days, though they suspected things may be a little dicey around Bowerstone considering the heist at the docks from the prior night. That morning Mgabwe purchased a scroll of Break Enchantment and used it to free Al’londia from her stony constraints. A bit bitter, but more anxious to stretch her legs the elf departed from the party, vowing to regroup at a later date.
Deciding it was in their best interest to figure out what was happening in town Lela, Henri, and Romulus went out on a fact finding mission to gauge the town views on what happened at the docks the night before. The extremely charming Lela set to work and learned that some were talking about the incident, but it by no means dominated the news cycle. However it was clear that Arlen Starcrush was the target of the heist since it was his package that was stolen and not much else. The party was predictably concerned about making enemies with a retired conjurer.
Glee went out to spend some party gold at Up in Arms, the weapon shop run by Percy the survivalist nut orc. After trying on many items he settled on a +1 Greatsword and a suit of +1 glamered studded leather. Like I had mentioned in a previous post
Deciding it was in their best interest to figure out what was happening in town Lela, Henri, and Romulus went out on a fact finding mission to gauge the town views on what happened at the docks the night before. The extremely charming Lela set to work and learned that some were talking about the incident, but it by no means dominated the news cycle. However it was clear that Arlen Starcrush was the target of the heist since it was his package that was stolen and not much else. The party was predictably concerned about making enemies with a retired conjurer.
Glee went out to spend some party gold at Up in Arms, the weapon shop run by Percy the survivalist nut orc. After trying on many items he settled on a +1 Greatsword and a suit of +1 glamered studded leather. Like I had mentioned in a previous post
Monday, November 16, 2009
Campaign Journal #7- Heist at the Docks
After a couple of days of relaxing around town and gathering information, the party was clearly lusting for combat and treasure, fortune and (mis)adventure. Gathered at the house they have rented from Lord Montgomery the party weighed the options before them; a return to the Medusa mountains, investigating spies on behalf of the DuChamp family, trying to learn more about the mysterious child in their care, and slaughtering everything that crosses their path. While pondering these lofty issues there was a knock at the door. A messenger from Lord Monty said that the shady nobleman wanted to see them immediately.
After traveling up the hill to his house, Lord Monty presented them with a job. Due to the illegal nature of it he withheld the details until they accepted, though he assured them it was suited to their strengths and that it would pay very generously.
After traveling up the hill to his house, Lord Monty presented them with a job. Due to the illegal nature of it he withheld the details until they accepted, though he assured them it was suited to their strengths and that it would pay very generously.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Campaign Journal #6- Men About Town
For the first time since the initial adventure in the campaign the party is back in town, having arrived at Bowerstone early in the morning after traveling through the night. Because of real world obligations Al’londia, Mgabwe, and Henri would not be with us, leaving the party of Glee, Romulus, and Lela alone to get into all sorts of trouble. The entire adventure was spent in the town; making contacts, setting up future work engagements, buying and selling, and nearly blinding half of the town’s residents.
Lela had her scheduled debut performance at the Bandit Mask the evening that they arrived. After getting some rest she headed over to the place and found that she was the opening act for someone named Vinegar Bend, a lute player who seemed to have a following in the region. Prior to the performance Lela had purchased a new pearl buttoned fancy outfit from the Silver Needle, a high end clothing shop in town. Originally hesitant to spend the money (450gp), she returned and bought the outfit after attempted bullying of the shopkeeper on the part of Romulus. It did nothing to lower the price. Back at the tavern the crowd seemed lively and Lela launched into her distinctive brand of storytelling whistling, recounting the recent saga of the medusas without words.
Lela had her scheduled debut performance at the Bandit Mask the evening that they arrived. After getting some rest she headed over to the place and found that she was the opening act for someone named Vinegar Bend, a lute player who seemed to have a following in the region. Prior to the performance Lela had purchased a new pearl buttoned fancy outfit from the Silver Needle, a high end clothing shop in town. Originally hesitant to spend the money (450gp), she returned and bought the outfit after attempted bullying of the shopkeeper on the part of Romulus. It did nothing to lower the price. Back at the tavern the crowd seemed lively and Lela launched into her distinctive brand of storytelling whistling, recounting the recent saga of the medusas without words.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Campaign Journal #5- Lair of the Giant Snake
The party began the night’s adventure atop the mountains they had flown to after Henri crashed their boat along the rocky canal leading to the sea. While traversing the craggy landscape they had a pair of encounters; a trio of flying hipprogriffs were attacked by Glee the moment that they came into range, and then Romulus and Henri were surprised by a dire lion during their watch when camping. Neither battle was intended to be particularly challenging, though some hijinks ensued when Henri turned invisible and fled, leaving Romulus to deal with the enormous lion on his own. He scored a paired a criticals which probably saved his half orc hide.
For the first time they are also doing some traveling with young Fiona and some accommodations had to be made for the infant turned adventurer. Due to her entertaining whistling and ability to cast
For the first time they are also doing some traveling with young Fiona and some accommodations had to be made for the infant turned adventurer. Due to her entertaining whistling and ability to cast
Monday, October 19, 2009
Campaign Journal #4- Come Sail Away. Or Not.
After having killed the forces guarding The Cage and exploring the prison, the PC’s decided to rest up a bit in the fortress. They have also chosen to take the small child that they found in the cell and bring her along on their adventures. Convinced that she is worth some money they are going to try and find out more about her.
While taking shifts on guard duty, Romulus spotted some movement in the valley leading to the prison. After a moment Romulus recognized the figure as Al’londia, who was trying to silently communicate with him. Unable to figure out her message, eventually Mgabwe flew down to her and brought her into the fort. Al’londia informed the rest of the party that there was a group of mounted knights traveling in the valley to the prison, one of which had a banner bearing the symbol of the DuChamp family affixed to their saddle. They also appeared to have a captive with them. Knowing that they were going to arrive at the fort in the next couple of hours the PC’s got
While taking shifts on guard duty, Romulus spotted some movement in the valley leading to the prison. After a moment Romulus recognized the figure as Al’londia, who was trying to silently communicate with him. Unable to figure out her message, eventually Mgabwe flew down to her and brought her into the fort. Al’londia informed the rest of the party that there was a group of mounted knights traveling in the valley to the prison, one of which had a banner bearing the symbol of the DuChamp family affixed to their saddle. They also appeared to have a captive with them. Knowing that they were going to arrive at the fort in the next couple of hours the PC’s got
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Campaign Journal #3- Prison Break(in)!
We started off the night’s adventuring with the PC’s having just survived an ambush from a group of medusa archers. Post battle Romulus climbed up to the ledge that one of the archers was attacking from to discover that there was a cave that led further back into the mountains, there was also a similar one on the opposite side of the valley. I was a bit surprised to see how eager the party was to explore the cavernous tunnels, though it was somewhat in character for the group. If there is even a chance that there could be some gold stashed away they are all about it. At this point Al’landia decided to head back into the valley from the way that they came to cover up their tracks and see if they were being followed (the player for Al’landia was unable to make the session, so this was her exit). Romulus threw a rope down to the rest and within moments they were creeping through a narrow corridor, heading deeper into the mountains. Again they were let down by their perception abilities (Spot and Search in this case) and walked right into a trip wire that sprung a falling rock trap. It didn’t do a lot of damage, but certainly served as an alarm for whoever may be lurking in the darkness.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Campaign Journal #2- Bowerstone and Beyond
The campaign started with the party being filled in on their recent happenings. They had been contracted by a longtime employer named Vespian the Black to deliver a package to the port city of Bowerstone. The job paid not a great deal (500gp) but the party was looking to relocate after burning some bridges in the area that they had been operating in as of late. Greedy mercenary types tend to do that. The party was aboard a merchant ship called the Holy Diver, captained by Thelonius Seasworn, and as they approached the city I gave them some background on the region.
Glee has some ranks in Knowledge (Local) and it has been established that he and Romulus have done some traveling in their careers as mercenaries, so he was the vehicle through which I imparted some background on Bowerstone and the entire island. They knew that the island had been ruled by the same ruling family for some time, the DuChamps. It was also a region that has a lot of racial diversity, just about all of the major humanoids are represented. It was also established that at some point in the past orcs were a slave class, though now many have been integrated into the mainstream. The party is aware that there are two other major cities on the island; Ocrist and Thundra. Ocrist has served as the seat of power for the DuChamps for quite some time. Glee and Romulus had gotten mixed up in their preferred line of work some time ago, but they had no specific contacts or allies in the area.
Glee has some ranks in Knowledge (Local) and it has been established that he and Romulus have done some traveling in their careers as mercenaries, so he was the vehicle through which I imparted some background on Bowerstone and the entire island. They knew that the island had been ruled by the same ruling family for some time, the DuChamps. It was also a region that has a lot of racial diversity, just about all of the major humanoids are represented. It was also established that at some point in the past orcs were a slave class, though now many have been integrated into the mainstream. The party is aware that there are two other major cities on the island; Ocrist and Thundra. Ocrist has served as the seat of power for the DuChamps for quite some time. Glee and Romulus had gotten mixed up in their preferred line of work some time ago, but they had no specific contacts or allies in the area.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Campaign Journal #1- Character Creation
I’m back to DMing after about a five month hiatus (I did run a one shot over the summer) while some other players in our game ran things for a little bit. Honestly, I’ve been itching to get at it though and we started up a new game this week and I’ve decided to keep a campaign journal for the first time.
I think that a little background on our gaming group is necessary to set things up. We’ve been playing together for about three years and currently there are six players and myself. The majority of them had no roleplaying experience prior to our gaming (I’ve played for about 20 years). I had a great gaming group a couple of years back but it fell apart when half of the group moved away, so I decided that the best thing to do would be to take the people that I was normally hanging out with and turn them into gamers. The results? It has worked out great and I’m pretty sure that Tuesday night is a weekly highlight for most of us. I also really dig that the majority of the group are people who would have never ever imagined themselves playing D&D. I’ve run three long campaigns with these players; we always start at 1st level and wind up somewhere around 10th. Somewhere around 30-35 adventures in a campaign. We’ve had a ton of good times.
This time around we decided to start with a little more power so the characters are all at 9th level. We are also not a group that heavily optimizes, but I’ve encouraged them to use prestige classes and make characters that can really do some damage. I’ve also helped them put together characters that work well. They were each given 28,000 gp to purchase magic items and watching them go through the DMG and buy stuff was a lot of fun. They were like adventurers in a magic shop.
Going into character creation I told them that they were an established adventuring group, there would be no meet up in the first quest. As 9th level they also had a fair amount of power so I wanted to hear what they had done. Did they have enemies? Friends? What kind of quests have they been on? What were their great victories? Losses? I thought that this would be good for everyone involved. It would help me design hooks and plots that would appeal to them and they would benefit from having a shared history from the get go. So who are these intrepid adventurers? Let’s take a look.
Romulus Blitzbane is a half orc neutral evil Rogue 5/Fighter 2/Nightsong Enforcer 2. He specializes in two weapon fighting and sneak attacking. He fancies himself a master of breaking and entering and will do just about anything for money. He spent his gold on a pair of+2 weapons (longsword and handaxe) and some gloves of Dex and has gone the two weapon fighting route with his feats (including two weapon defense). With his sneak attack and two weapon his damage can pile up in a hurry, though his lowish hitpoints should encourage him to stay out of longer fights.
Mgabwe King is some sort of bizarre scythe wielding voodoo witch doctor. In game terms he is a Ranger 4/Necromancer 2/Abjurant Champion 3. This player has the most experience and he built Solomon to be pretty bad ass. I believe he plans in reveling in death, not just causing it (which he should do plenty of) but sort of making a ceremony of the whole thing. He has no qualms about doing dirty work, to the extent that I don’t think he can ever get clean. As a human with Favored Enemy (Human) I suspect some of his anger comes from self loathing.
At a young age the half elf Lela Bonnaire ran away from her gypsy home with a much older elf and learned the mysterious ways of enchantment magic and esoteric lore. She can fight a little too. For those keeping track this makes her a Fighter 2/Bard 7. Her perform skill is whistle! Focusing on social skills and enchantments I assume that she will be the face of the party. In combat she will be buffing her allies and firing her bow. Her main magic items are a Cloak of Charisma +4 and a circlet of persuasion. Cure light wounds is one of her first level spells, making her the only healer in the party.
As a former member of an elven military unit Alandia Leafwhisper learned what she doesn’t like. Mainly order and rules. The chaotic neutral Ranger 6/Scout 3 will serve as the primary guide and survivalist for the party, for as long as she sticks around. A true free spirit she seems to have little loyalty or use for the conventions of society. (This player plans on not being around for much of the campaign, so she designed a character that can easily come and go, for which I am thankful) She has a longbow of shock to deal some damage and a wide assortment of skills, including stealth and thievery.
Definitely the oddest character in the group, Glee Drango takes just about every stereotype of a gnome and turns it on it’s head. A trained killer this Rogue 2/Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Ghost Faced Killer 3 plans on dealing lethal damage quickly and often. He has a twisted sense of humor and, not surprisingly, gets on quite well with Romulus. The two of them have been paired up since before the party got together. Glee spent just about all of his gold on a single magic item, a ring of blinking. The ring, which causes him to blink in and out of the ethereal and material planes, has also had the effect of making him sort of crazy since he stole it from a sorceror some years ago. It also allows him to use sneak attack and sudden strike on just about all of his attacks. Low hit points and bad armor make him also rely on the ring for protection.
Playing the role of the ambitious, forward thinker is Henri DeGaule (human Sorceror 9). He has a pretty general list of useful spells; from direct damage to party buffs and essentials like dispel magic. He is the only full caster in the party which makes him very valuable, and also vulnerable. This player is also the most inexperienced, having only played in the aforementioned one shot and one other short campaign over the summer. With his high charisma I suspect that he will serve as a secondary face for the group, also aided by a circlet of persuasion. I also find it funny that there are two characters in the party with French sounding names that have circlets of persuasion. They were also created independently of one another, which is sort of strange.
So far it seems like this party is going to be petty, ambitious, cruel, and thoroughly evil. I am so into it. Fortunately I cut my teeth as a DM on just that type of group so I should be okay with it. I also really like that for the most part they made their characters together and there is definitely a group cohesion to them. They all have some degree of stealth, every character but the sorceror has Improved Initiative, and they all seem to be of dubious morals. I think that they will all be interested in the same type of adventures. The bard, in particular, has expressed interest in having a chance to be a double agent and get mixed up in all sorts of intrigue and scandal. I plan on doing my best to accommodate. Combat wise they should also be a lot of fun. They pack quite a punch, especially with the ability to get the drop on opponents, but they have very little staying power due to generally poor AC across the board and not too many hit points. I see battles ending quickly or going very poorly for the PCs.
Truthfully, it is a wonderful group of players and we have a blast each week. I’m really looking forward to getting started.
I think that a little background on our gaming group is necessary to set things up. We’ve been playing together for about three years and currently there are six players and myself. The majority of them had no roleplaying experience prior to our gaming (I’ve played for about 20 years). I had a great gaming group a couple of years back but it fell apart when half of the group moved away, so I decided that the best thing to do would be to take the people that I was normally hanging out with and turn them into gamers. The results? It has worked out great and I’m pretty sure that Tuesday night is a weekly highlight for most of us. I also really dig that the majority of the group are people who would have never ever imagined themselves playing D&D. I’ve run three long campaigns with these players; we always start at 1st level and wind up somewhere around 10th. Somewhere around 30-35 adventures in a campaign. We’ve had a ton of good times.
This time around we decided to start with a little more power so the characters are all at 9th level. We are also not a group that heavily optimizes, but I’ve encouraged them to use prestige classes and make characters that can really do some damage. I’ve also helped them put together characters that work well. They were each given 28,000 gp to purchase magic items and watching them go through the DMG and buy stuff was a lot of fun. They were like adventurers in a magic shop.
Going into character creation I told them that they were an established adventuring group, there would be no meet up in the first quest. As 9th level they also had a fair amount of power so I wanted to hear what they had done. Did they have enemies? Friends? What kind of quests have they been on? What were their great victories? Losses? I thought that this would be good for everyone involved. It would help me design hooks and plots that would appeal to them and they would benefit from having a shared history from the get go. So who are these intrepid adventurers? Let’s take a look.
Romulus Blitzbane is a half orc neutral evil Rogue 5/Fighter 2/Nightsong Enforcer 2. He specializes in two weapon fighting and sneak attacking. He fancies himself a master of breaking and entering and will do just about anything for money. He spent his gold on a pair of+2 weapons (longsword and handaxe) and some gloves of Dex and has gone the two weapon fighting route with his feats (including two weapon defense). With his sneak attack and two weapon his damage can pile up in a hurry, though his lowish hitpoints should encourage him to stay out of longer fights.
Mgabwe King is some sort of bizarre scythe wielding voodoo witch doctor. In game terms he is a Ranger 4/Necromancer 2/Abjurant Champion 3. This player has the most experience and he built Solomon to be pretty bad ass. I believe he plans in reveling in death, not just causing it (which he should do plenty of) but sort of making a ceremony of the whole thing. He has no qualms about doing dirty work, to the extent that I don’t think he can ever get clean. As a human with Favored Enemy (Human) I suspect some of his anger comes from self loathing.
At a young age the half elf Lela Bonnaire ran away from her gypsy home with a much older elf and learned the mysterious ways of enchantment magic and esoteric lore. She can fight a little too. For those keeping track this makes her a Fighter 2/Bard 7. Her perform skill is whistle! Focusing on social skills and enchantments I assume that she will be the face of the party. In combat she will be buffing her allies and firing her bow. Her main magic items are a Cloak of Charisma +4 and a circlet of persuasion. Cure light wounds is one of her first level spells, making her the only healer in the party.
As a former member of an elven military unit Alandia Leafwhisper learned what she doesn’t like. Mainly order and rules. The chaotic neutral Ranger 6/Scout 3 will serve as the primary guide and survivalist for the party, for as long as she sticks around. A true free spirit she seems to have little loyalty or use for the conventions of society. (This player plans on not being around for much of the campaign, so she designed a character that can easily come and go, for which I am thankful) She has a longbow of shock to deal some damage and a wide assortment of skills, including stealth and thievery.
Definitely the oddest character in the group, Glee Drango takes just about every stereotype of a gnome and turns it on it’s head. A trained killer this Rogue 2/Ranger 2/Fighter 2/Ghost Faced Killer 3 plans on dealing lethal damage quickly and often. He has a twisted sense of humor and, not surprisingly, gets on quite well with Romulus. The two of them have been paired up since before the party got together. Glee spent just about all of his gold on a single magic item, a ring of blinking. The ring, which causes him to blink in and out of the ethereal and material planes, has also had the effect of making him sort of crazy since he stole it from a sorceror some years ago. It also allows him to use sneak attack and sudden strike on just about all of his attacks. Low hit points and bad armor make him also rely on the ring for protection.
Playing the role of the ambitious, forward thinker is Henri DeGaule (human Sorceror 9). He has a pretty general list of useful spells; from direct damage to party buffs and essentials like dispel magic. He is the only full caster in the party which makes him very valuable, and also vulnerable. This player is also the most inexperienced, having only played in the aforementioned one shot and one other short campaign over the summer. With his high charisma I suspect that he will serve as a secondary face for the group, also aided by a circlet of persuasion. I also find it funny that there are two characters in the party with French sounding names that have circlets of persuasion. They were also created independently of one another, which is sort of strange.
So far it seems like this party is going to be petty, ambitious, cruel, and thoroughly evil. I am so into it. Fortunately I cut my teeth as a DM on just that type of group so I should be okay with it. I also really like that for the most part they made their characters together and there is definitely a group cohesion to them. They all have some degree of stealth, every character but the sorceror has Improved Initiative, and they all seem to be of dubious morals. I think that they will all be interested in the same type of adventures. The bard, in particular, has expressed interest in having a chance to be a double agent and get mixed up in all sorts of intrigue and scandal. I plan on doing my best to accommodate. Combat wise they should also be a lot of fun. They pack quite a punch, especially with the ability to get the drop on opponents, but they have very little staying power due to generally poor AC across the board and not too many hit points. I see battles ending quickly or going very poorly for the PCs.
Truthfully, it is a wonderful group of players and we have a blast each week. I’m really looking forward to getting started.
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