Man, I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, gaming-wise. Still no gaming group here, but I’m keeping myself busy.

I’m doing this here blog, as well as a host on RPG Circus (as all of you should know and should listen to every two weeks). I’ve started to work on Pointman, Hacker & Thief, my espionage RPG. I”m running the TwitteRPG on Twitter (currently, the hashtag to find it is #TRP, but I’m thinking about changing it to #TwitteRP) and I’m working with Enrique and Quinn on the Home D&D Encounters project.

I’m beginning plans to run a game of D&D 4e for my family when I go home for Christmas. My sister-in-law and brother haven’t ever played 4e, my sister hasn’t ever played at all, and my mom and dad haven’t played in almost 30 years. The only other person at the table with experience will be Bridget. I’m looking forward to it, and will write up a post about it soon.

I’m also planning on running a quick game of D&D for my sister-in-law and her husband this upcoming weekend. Neither of them have ever played, but they’re both big WoW players.

I’m running my Star Wars RPG on RPOL, which is going swimmingly. I’ll post up all about the progress there soon.

And finally, I’m trying to see about setting up a Dark Sun group locally.

Whew! Am I missing anything? I don’t think so.

It’s been keeping me busy and occupied, and I’m really excited about the stuff I’m working on.

How about you guys? Keeping yourselves busy?

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I may be shooting myself in the foot by putting this idea out there, due to my general lack of the ability to finish anything. Someone will probably take this idea and have it out on RPGNow within a week. If anyone is interested in helping me out with this, let me know.

Now that I’ve built it up, here’s my idea: Write a make your own adventure for people to run solo games for their characters.

Now, I understand this is not an original idea. In the old Star Wars Adventure Journals, it gave you a character to use, rolling abilities as you encountered different enemies and obstacles. The same with some old Marvel Superheroes supplements, designed specifically for certain heroes in mind (one for Captain America, one for Spider-Man, etc.)

What I’m talking about, though, is a Make Your Own Adventure book that would say, “for a 4-6th level Striker.” You would then tailor an adventure around the role.

When a hero would encounter an enemy, the monster’s stats would be in that section, allowing the hero to fight it. They would roll back and forth, the player rolling for the monster’s attacks. They would be scripted out (for example, it would suggest using the monster’s encounter power first, followed by at-wills.)

It’s possible that this could all be too broad, and it should instead suggest a level and specific class. I think, at that point, though, you might as well give the player a pre-made character. I’d prefer they were able to make their own.

How well would all this work? Who knows. It could turn out to be a horrible idea. But I think it’s something worth exploring.

What do you all think? anyone interested in helping out?

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So far, so good has been my motto.  My husband and I have been gaming partners for going on 3 years with no incidents.  He’s often the DM or GM and I never feel singled out, either for positive rewards or harsh punishments.  I have always felt like one of the group and our groups have always said there wasn’t any interference with our being a couple.  That is, until our last session!

With that being said, our last gaming session brought our first bout of discourse once everyone had left.  You see, we picked back up the campaign we have been playing for a good portion of the year.  Our characters have been traipsing all around Eberron.  It’s been a blast.  Up to level 9 I played a Genesai Sorcerer who, at our temporary hiatus before the holidays, helped to save a Hellforged.

I decided as a nice thematic element that I would let my Genesai wander and begin to play Pillar, my redeemed Warforged.  We have played 2 sessions now after our holiday break, and Pillar has a known soft spot for Elementals thanks to the character who ‘saved’ him.

My husband and I spend a lot of time discussing the game, plot ideas, etc. outside of actual game time.  Therefore, when I mentioned to my husband that Pillar seemed like his character should feel sorry for the Elemental running the train, my husband agreed this was rational.  I then suggested, “What if at the end of the encoutner, Pillar frees the Elemental?”

“GREAT IDEA,” my husband tells me.  So, at the end of our session last week, we had fought all the Goblins and other foes who were riding with us and ended up in the carriage that housed the trapped Elemental.  I was so excited to play out my part of the story.  It was going to be epic and it was… just not the way I expected it to be.  I worked my magic, speaking in Primordial, to let the trapped being know we meant it no harm and only wished to save it.

I slashed away it’s prison.  It burst out and devoured the train in fire!?!

What?  I was so stunned I couldn’t speak.  Then to top it off, the rest of the players do the, “Perhaps that was a bit impetuous?” and “Weren’t there some innocent people left on the train?”

After everyone left I did what any redeemed Hellforged/Warforged would do…. I cried.  Ok, silly I know, but I was upset.  I felt betrayed by my GM husband who had never thrown me under the bus much less a flaming train.

Moral of the story:

Just when you think you’re safe with your spouse running the game… think twice and remember there is always a story to be told and the story comes first… Oh, and don’t cry… it’s stupid to cry over a game… but I am a girl and that’s what we do.

Now I need to spend the next week trying to figure out what my fiesty if not fiery character will do next

Enjoy couple’s gaming. It’s a guaranteed conversation starter!  hahaha

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Yesterday afternoon, my Amazon.com order came in. I’m a few books behind in the WotC release of books, so I ordered the Player’s Handbook Races: Dragonborn supplement, as well as Underdark. I’ve only cursorily glanced over them, but here’s my initial thoughts.

Dragonborn is a pretty solid book, with some great flavor material. Unfortunatley, most of the material would only be useful for people playing in the implied setting, as it has lots of references to Io and such.

On the plus side, I plan on writing up my own campaign world soon, using a lot of the elements of the implied setting, so I’ll be able to use a lot of this.

For 10 bucks, it’s worth picking up, whether you’re going to be playing a Dragonborn or not.

One beef I have, is that the book feels like a chapter in one of the Power books (Arcane Power, Divine Power, etc). I think this would be much better served if they had come out with a larger book called Player’s Handbook Races, with all the races of PHB 1. You could follow that up with Player’s Handbook 2 Races, and so on. The problem, I think, is the same as the Power books. As the books go on, you’re going to get better and better supplements, leaving the others in the dirt. Eventually, the Dragonborn book will pale in comparison to the Eladrin book they’re sure to someday release.

Underdark is a fantastic book, simply from the initial glance I’ve given it. It’s definitely worth getting if you ever have any interest in running anything remotely underground. There’s a wealth of monsters, encounters and more, as well as fairly fleshed out locations and some gorgeous pictures.

I agree with NewbieDM though, a lack of maps is an issue.

I cringed a little when I saw the picture of Torog, god of the Underdark, in the back of the book. In the past, my players have encountered shrines to him, but they were always to a frog-like entity, so I wasn’t expecting the image they have for him, a tortured and flayed human, weeping with wounds. I’m not saying that Wizards shouldn’t depict him this way (I would love to watch my players recoil in horror when they realized they’d have to face him), but I’ll definitely be keeping this book on the top shelf away from toddler’s eyes. That’s a scarring image.

Definitely pick the both of these books up to fill out your collection. You won’t be disappointed.

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Last night’s game was phenomenal.

Normally the group gets together at around 6 to get the talkies out of their system before we begin playing at 7 or 7:30. Last night, however, the group had to get together at 7, due to me and Bridget not being around until then. Then Bri threw her lasagna in the oven, and it wasn’t until about 8:30 before we were able to play.

We had a good mix of people. The “Regulars” included Brian (emptythreat), Dave and Bridget (capuchincaptions) as well as Dave’s friend Lindsay, who has come to one session months ago to observe, and a new guy, Mike. I handed Mike my Human Fighter Alric, and Lindsay was going to play a rogue who was currently squaring off against the heroes.

When last we saw our heroes, as you may have noted before, they were about to face down a group of adversaries who were trying to sneak into Candlekeep. After a quick combat involving Das the pirate (Brian) Sparta kicking the leader of the rogues (Lindsay) down a hill, the bandits were dispatched and Lindsay was offered the chance to surrender. Being surrounded by a pirate, a knight in full plate, a warlock and a gnome with a crossbow, she complied. They took her inside, where they grilled her for information: Who sent her, and what she was after. The answer to the former was a man in blue robes (a description they’ve been hearing for the last couple of sessions about the BBEG), and the latter, a book about the Ancient Guardians. At this point, Mike had to leave.

Written in ancient draconic, the paper spoke of the Ancient Guardians...

Thorsil the gnome (Bridget) leapt into action, scouring the library for the book, finding it in almost no time flat. They read an entry that said the Ancient Guardians could only be truly destroyed by speaking their True Name. A page slipped out of the book, which I had happened to have made the day before, and is presented here.

It was my first time devising a puzzle for the group, and everyone loved the results. Though two players spoke draconic, I said it was an ancient form of draconic, and would require careful study and translation. I had used the Draconomicion: Chromatic Dragons to find the words I needed (Page 25), then translated the English characters into draconic characters (Page 24), then wrote them out on a piece of paper, drew a rudimentary illustration of the guardian they’d be facing (in no way am I an artist), then burnt the page around the edges (accidentally burning one of the letters, adding to their riddle, trying to discover what the missing letter was), and then dripping on a little red food dye (which turned into a lot of red food dye as the color spread) to represent blood.

Bridget and Bryan immediately took up the book, scribing down the letter translations then looking up their respective words on the next page. Lindsay and Dave looked bored, so I had them translate the next line, which they did with relish. Then Bridget and Lindsay poured over the end of the document, translating the rest of it. They got stumped when they couldn’t translate one word, until they realized that since there was no translation, that must mean that word was the Guardian’s name. It took no prompting from me, which I loved.

Lindsay and Bridget (Capuchincaptions) scour over the Draconomicon while I (Dicemonkey) look on.

The final translation came out to “Stone Skin in Forest. DANGER. Turin’s Hammer Slaughters.” It was very simple, but took about a half hour, and all the players loved it. I was grinning from ear to ear watching them try to solve the puzzle.

And that was the end of the session. It was very short, but very rewarding. All the players are excited, since they’re only about 750 xp away from Level 4, and can expect to advance after the next game.

All in all, I think it was a great session. Everyone was at the top of their game, and helped out our two new players, Lindsay and Mike.

Mike at least had played 2e and 3e, but Lindsay had only ever played WoW, and kept saying how it would be easier if all her powers were simply managed on the computer.

P.S. Everyone should go check out my review for Gestalt: The Hero Within over at Game Cryer! It’s practically like being a published author! Almost… right?

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Hello my dear readers.  It feels like it’s been awhile since I have written last.  I was in a groove and then I was apparently out.  With all of our hiatuses I have felt a little out of the writing loop.  But with the games back in session so is my muse.

Recently, I have been more carefully watching my husband, our group’s DM, during our game play.  And then I decided that I wanted to be just like him… No not over six feet tall and male…. BUT  I did want to try my hand at being a DM.

On D&D game day I was intending to play at our local game store but wouldn’t you know it our toddler fell asleep in the car on the way there and I just couldn’t wake him up from his nice little nap.  So, while I sent my husband in the store to play for an hour, there I was contemplating my prospects at DMing.

I figured that there was no better day for trying than on D&D game day.  I have played a lot over the course of this year.  I am very familiar with the 4th edition rules AND we just so happened to have picked up Dungeon Delve.  What could be better?  There was an encounter/adventure already set up with the bad guys and a plot!  Fantastic!  I can do this… So I thought…

There were a few perfunctory questions that I had to ask of my spouse before we got started and then I was off and studying the first delve.  It looked simple enough.  I spent 20 minutes pouring over two pages while I was on the cross country machine.  I was ready!

Then I made the mistake of leaving the book open on my desk.  My husband, who can’t leave the DMing alone nor his helpfulness, took it upon himself to pull out all the bad guy miniatures I would need and proceeded to tell me which ones would work for which.  The only problem here was that I didn’t want him to know what to expect.  I really was like a little kid and wanted to do it all on my own.

I told him not to ‘help’ anymore and we got the stuff all out on our living room floor.  I was ready to go.  I had it all.  And then I read my intro at which point he started to give immediate pointers i.e. ‘well if you were running a campaign…blah blah blah’.  Honestly, I gave up and there might have been a few tears.

I know he was just trying to help but I felt like I wasn’t even able to get my feet off the ground.  I put the stuff away for the night.

Have I given up completely?  Absolutely not!

In fact, I have learned a valuable lesson… keep the information in your head or hidden at the bottom of the sock drawer… someplace your intended gamers can’t/won’t find it.  I have been working on a very simple idea for a one encounter quasi adventure.  I think it’s going to be alright.  I am looking forward to sitting behind that DM screen and this time knowing he doesn’t have a clue what’s coming!

Wish me luck!!!!

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Holy crap. Skill challenges.

I encountered my first one in our last 4th Edition game session, and I wish I would’ve brought a change of underpants. The system is absolutely awesome, one of the  most welcome rules-additions in my opinion.

I play dwarven twins in game, a male dwarf paladin, and a female dwarf cleric. We walk into the room, and there’s a giant  cage with a dire boar inside, arrows sticking out of its belly, and a pack of hyenas cackling and circling the cage. There were no people with bows in the room though, strangely enough.

My male dwarf normally gets decent initiative; however, my female is cursed to having initative rolls of less than 10. So my dwarf waded into combat with the hideous dogs and I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if we could improve the attitude of that boar and have it help us out…we don’t have Handle Animal anymore…but hell, maybe the DM will think of something suitable’.

So my turn came around, and I explain to the DM that I want to undergo a skill challenge to improve the attitude of the boar, and what do you know, the skill challenge “Taming The Beast” was listed in the rules for the adventure. Sweet.

This was turning out to be no easy task though. 4 successes before 2 failures? This thing was just built for failure. Fortunately for me though, I was allowed to use the better of my Heal or Nature checks. Asking a cleric to make a Heal check is like asking a clown to make a balloon giraffe, so I was pretty excited. Much to my chagrin, my clerics +11 Heal modifier does very little when you roll a 2 on a d20. One failure already. Not good.

The next two rounds, a 15 and 16 consecutively, making 26 and 27 Heal checks, and successful ones at that. The next turn, two have a bit of a safety net, her brother, the paladin, came over and aided her on her checks, giving her a +2. She made the next check with a roll of 10, and spent an action point for her last skill check, rolling a 10 once again. The boar was calm, and finallly, so was I.

I was definitely put more on the edge of my seat by this skill challenge than I have in combat thus far in the adventure. What are some of your experiences with skill challenges? And what are your opinions on them?

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Last night I decided that it was about time for my Eladrin Wizard to get her butt back into gear. She is supposed to be this incredibly cold wizard, highly skilled and has special skills in thievery…

As you can guess she now has herself back in gear. We are close to completing Thunderspire Labyrinth. We were back in the seven pillared hall and came upon the tower of the The Mages of Saruun.
There was no apparent way in, therefore, I tried doing things as my character would and not necessarily as I would.

It was great. She fay stepped into the tower and began floor by floor uncovering special items and books. At one point she came across a magic mouth spell cast on a wall that warned her against her activities. My Eladrin promptly prestidigitated a sock and shoved it in his mouth.
She continued to thieve, placing things in her bag of holding, until reaching the top floor where she was greeted by a Phantom Warrior. Sensing danger she jumped out a window and used Feather Fall until she touched safely to the ground below.

So much fun!

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Hey guys and dolls, it’s your old pal Patrick.  So I have my own two cents to add to this topic of discussion and I’m going to use my own group(s) as examples.

Everyone has specific roles they enjoy playing.  It’s true.  I tend to play an extremely headstrong bruiser.  Strong enough that if I choose to play jokes on people, or ‘talk trash’ to some of the NPC(s), I’m more than capable to defend myself, if necessary.  One of the guys that I have been gaming with for the past few years has a tendency to take the leadership position, and whether he knows it or not, brow-beats the rest of the players into following him.  One of the ways he does it is by simply saying, “Well, you can do whatever the hell you want, I’m going this way.”

Gamers, gamers please; it’s an amazing way to get your way in a group that doesn’t like splitting its alliances and groups, but an overall effective way to create dissention amongst players.

Part of playing headstrong characters, means separating leadership and the team from your own desires.  Some people are incapable.  I know I have a difficult time when someone is waving that +5 Great Sword in my face and telling me I can’t have it

There’s also the new guy archetype.  Some new guys don’t move out of it until much later in their gaming career, and often far later than necessary. 

Newbies, it’s acceptable to take a game or two to get used to the roles, but branch out!  By game three you get the concept, and mostly the rules.  Try being something else, or doing something else.  Try being the leader or giving input.  We appreciate you coming along and having absolutely nothing to say or vote for, but we like the input.  Don’t be afraid, we’re role playing; I highly doubt anyone has the right to laugh at you in the group. 

Veterans; this next section belongs to you.  Support your newbies as best as possible.  Many of them are afraid to come out of their shells because of you.  Yes, you. Look in the mirror kiddies, it’s you. 

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when you (the veteran) take complete control of the game, the new characters (often, but not always) have a difficult time coming out of their shells and certainly need the aid of the vets.  Now don’t take this wrong: don’t be afraid to lead, but additionally, don’t be afraid to follow.  The game will be much more interesting if you allow a different path to be chosen.  Don’t you think so?

Everyone all around, for an incredibly interesting game:  Take flaws, or give your character flaws, and stick to them.  In the campaign I’m about to play, my character is a human rogue, whom only has one eye.  I am willingly taking negative penalties to all ranged attacks, because my character will obviously have horrible depth perception, and I’m going to make it a recent wound, so the person hasn’t had it long enough to physically adapt to the problem.

In campaigns past, my characters have taken all kinds of flaws, and some don’t only affect my character, but the party as well.  This tests the party’s ability to adapt, and helps them learn to be a better cohesive unit.

Anyway, that’s about all the happy advice I have for this time, but I’ll be back.  Remember Noobs, Vets, and all around Middle Guys, I’ll be gamin’ and I’ll be watching.

            - Patrick

PS: Despite all I say.  Just have fun mmmk?

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So, at some point in the future, after completing Thunderspire Labyrinth, I’m going to be running a Forgotten Realms campaign.

Now, I’ve never read any of the Forgotten Realms books, and though I owned the 3.5 Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Player’s Guide to Faerun, and the Shining South sourcebook, I had only ever played one game, in which I played a Halfling Bard who was set upon by a BLACK DRAGON. In my first session with the group.

Go ahead and ask if I ever played with that DM again…

But the Realms always intimidated me. There is literally thousands of years of in-game history, and over 20 years of real world history. That’s a lot to take in.

With that in mind, I saw that the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide was going to be coming out, I looked into it, and saw that not only has the timeline jumped forward 100 years (It’s like the 2nd season finale of Battlestar Galactica on a larger scale!), but doing so allowed new players to finally get into it. I picked up the book, and have decided it’s time to run the Realms.

Doing quite a bit of research online (my specialty), I stumbled upon a few resources that any goodly game master will need to completely Rock the Realms.

Forgotten Realms Wiki: The Forgotten Realms Wiki is the perfect place to look up almost anything about the Forgotten Realms.

Forgotten Realms Calendar Tool: This wonderful resource by Wizards is not only viewable on their site, it’s also downloadable. You can look up any year, any month, and see the phases of the moon, and even write in your own campaign events if you’ve downloaded it. Very, very nice. I heartily approve.

Forgotten Realms Helps: This site includes a character birthday finder, which gives you a horoscope for your character, which could definitely aid in roleplaying your character out. It also has an equipment store generator and many other wonders and prizes!

Realms Lore: An extensive encyclopedia of knowledge and history of the Realms. A must see for any Realms DM or player.

Old 2e Official Downloads: You can go to WotC’s website and download some old Realms material from 2e to brush up on some historical lore.
That’s all I’ve found so far. Any else you want everyone to know about? Let us all know by leaving a comment!

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