And so it is that Halloween is pretty much upon us. In the spirit of the holiday, I'll be doing three things related to role-playing games.
The first of these is that this afternoon, I will be running "Under a Harvest Moon," a 7th Sea 2nd edition conversion of the Shadow of the Demon Lord adventure "Apple of Her Eye" for one group of gamers that want to try out 7th Sea 2e. I've had a fair amount of success with this adventure, which you can grab from my blog here: http://jedimorningfire.blogspot.com/2017/10/once-upon-harvest-moon-7th-sea-2e.html
The second of these will be later this night I will be gaming with an online group via Discord to engage in what may very well be the final confrontation with Strahd Von Zarovich in the possible conclusion of the 5e Curse of Strahd adventure. As our group's DM for this adventure, Eric has done a bang-up job, not only in running the adventure but in customizing it so that the lands and culture of Barovia have some very distinctive elements. I've had fun playing an Oath of Vengeance Paladin who due to decisions made has taken a much darker turn, and to be honest I'm not sure he's going to come out of this even remotely close to the person he was when the adventure started. But as much fun as I've had, I think I am ready for this to wrap-up and for our group to move onto something a bit more cheerful and less dark.
As for the third, well you're reading it, as I thought I'd post up a couple of D&D 5e characters who are about as different as night and day, an aasimar paladin and a half-elf warlock, both of good alignment though of very different means and outlooks. I opted to go ahead and post the third level versions of these, as the general agreement online seems to be that 3rd level is when a character really starts to "come alive" in terms of their abilities on top of not being frail enough that a single wayward encounter could spell their doom.
Aramir Greyhaven, Aasimar Paladin of Lathander
Class/Level: Paladin 3
Alignment: Lawful Good
Background: Acolyte
Personality Trait - I've spent so long in the temple that I have little practical experience dealing with people in the outside world.
Ideal - I trust that Lathander will guide my actions; I have faith that if I work hard enough, things will go well.
Bond - I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died.
Flaw - Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.
Ability Scores
STR 15 (+2), DEX 10 (+0), CON 12 (+1), INT 10 (+0), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 14 (+2)
Armor Class: 18 (chain mail and shield)
Melee Attack: +4 (longsword, 1d8+4 slashing, versatile)
Ranged Attack: +4 (javelin, 1d6+2 piercing, range 30/120, thrown)
Hit Dice: 3d10
Hit Points: 25
Speed: 30 feet
Class and Species Abilities
Darkvision - see in dim light as bright light out to 60 feet, and in darkness as dim light.
Celestial Resistance - resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.
Celestial Legacy - knows the light cantrip and can cast lesser restoration once per long rest.
Divine Sense (3/day) - as per page 84 of the Player's Handbook
Fighting Style - Dueling (as per page 84 of the Player's Handbook)
Divine Health - as per page 85 of the Player's Handbook
Divine Smite - As per page 85 of the Player's Handbook.
Sacred Oath - Oath of Devotion (as per page 86 of the Player's Handbook)
Spellcasting (Spell DC 12, Spell Attack +4)
1st - Compelled Duel, Divine Favor, Searing Smite
Languages and Proficiencies
Saving Throws - Wisdom and Charisma
Languages - Common, Celestial, Draconic, Elvish
Skill Proficiencies - Athletics (+4), Insight (+4), Persuasion (+4), Religion (+2)
Gear: Longsword, 5 javelins, chain mail, shield, holy symbol of Lathander, explorer's pack, prayer book, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, set of common clothes, belt pouch containing 15 gold pieces.
Image: Aramir is quite tall, standing just over six feet, but with a lithe build that belies his strength of arms. His weapons and armor are kept in near-pristine condition, which along with his shoulder-length mane of golden-blonde hair and soft blue eyes marks him as a champion of the light, with a gaze that is resolute and firm yet fair.
Summary: Aramir is at heart your typical knight in shining armor type, the heroic and noble champion of all that is good in the world. He's also not very worldly, and will probably be likely to take most people at their word unless he has cause to distrust them. From my own experiences with playing a Paladin, he'll be able to hit pretty hard a couple times of per day, and with his Oath of Devotion he can power up his sword to be able to inflict substantial damage to creatures that are otherwise resistant or immune to non-magical attacks. As for the source of Aramir's racial traits, I used the Aasimir write-up from pages 286 and 287 of the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide, so check with your GM to see if they will allow that race at their table.
Xevlanna Nightblossom, Half-Elf Warlock
Class/Level: Warlock 3
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Background: Entertainer (Routines - Dancer/Tumbler, Storyteller)
Personality Trait - Nobody stays angry at me or around me for long, since I can defuse any amount of tension.
Ideal - The world is in need of new ideas and bold action.
Bond - I want to be famous, whatever it takes.
Flaw - I have trouble keeping my true feelings hidden; my sharp tongue lands me in trouble.
Ability Scores
STR 8 (-1), DEX 15 (+2), CON 14 (+2), INT 12 (+1), WIS 10 (+0), CHA 17 (+3)
Armor Class: 13 (leather armor)
Melee Attack: +1 (spear, 1d6-1 piercing, versatile)
Melee Attack +5 (Shocking Grasp, 1d8 lightning)
Ranged Attack: +4 (dagger, 1d4+2 slashing, light, range 20/60, thrown)
Ranged Attack: +5 (Eldritch Blast, 1d10 force, range 120)
Hit Dice: 3d8
Hit Points: 24
Speed: 30 feet
Class and Species Abilities
Darkvision - see in dim light as bright light out to 60 feet, and in darkness as dim light.
Celestial Resistance - resistance to necrotic and radiant damage.
Fey Ancestry - advantage on saving throws against being charmed, cannot be magically put to sleep.
Skill Versatility - proficient in two skills of your choice
Otherworldy Patron - The Fiend (as per page 109 of the Player's Handbook)
Pact Boon - Pact of the Tome (as per page 108 of the Player's Handbook)
Spellcasting (Spell DC 13, Spell Attack +5)
Cantrips - Eldritch Blast, Minor Illusion, Shocking Grasp*, Thaumaturgy*, Vicious Mockery*
Spells (cast as 2nd level) - Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Scorching Ray, Suggestion
*from Pact Boon
Languages and Proficiencies
Saving Throws - Wisdom and Charisma
Languages - Abyssal, Common, Elvish
Skill Proficiencies - Acrobatics (+5), Arcane (+4), Deception (+6), Investigation (+4), Performance (+6), Persuasion (+6)
Tool Proficiencies - Disguise kit, flute
Gear:
Spear, 3 daggers, leather armor, arcane focus, scholar's pack, flute, entertainer's outfit, belt pouch containing 15 good pieces, an old divination card bearing her likeness, a silver teardrop earring (favor of a past admirer).
Image: Xevlanna's very presence draws attention, from her eye-catching apparel to her long tresses of curling raven-black hair decorated with colorful glass beads to her languid yet graceful movements to her smoke-grey eyes. Not much taller than most elves, her features retain a sense of elvish delicateness, and her lips are most often settled in a mirthful smile.
Summary:Xevlanna is pretty much the ideological opposite of Aramir in many ways. Where he's a devout servant of the light and a champion of good, Xev is more self-centered and draws her power from a devil's bargain. She's also a talented manipulator of people, sweet-talking and deceiving as the situation warrants or her whim decides. She's also very much a blaster-caster and would do well to stay out of range of melee-focused opponents, though she's got a couple tricks to make enemies that do close with her regret it. Her Pact Boon certainly broadens her spell repertoire, giving her a few more options both in and out of combat.
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
October 28, 2017
April 5, 2017
GamerNationCon 4 - Acheivement "A New Hope" Unlocked
Well, so much for plans of making regular updates...
It's been a couple days since I got back home from attending the fourth GamerNationCon down in Dallas, Texas, or as I prefer to think of it, the The True Best Four Days of Actual Gaming. I'd posted on Facebook my initial thoughts back on Monday, but now that I've had a bit of time to recoup and consider, I thought I'd post more of why I intend to never miss this fun little con if I have any say in the matter.
Firstly, a big thinks to Phil "Darth GM" and his brother Andrew for being willing to split the cost of a rental car to help ensure that my buddy Eric and I would have a ride not only to and from the con site, but also a ride back to the airport come Monday morning rather than have to pay for a cab. I can't fault Phil for "going Rogue" and taking a Nissan Rogue as his vehicle for a con that had a strong (or just stronger than usual) Star Wars theme.
The Wednesday before the convention is fun in and of itself. Not only did I get some really good barbecue at an old-style BBQ pit joint, but got to catch up with friends that I'd not seen since last year, on top of getting to chat a bit with Guest of Honor Katrina Ostrander (aka Kat). After dinner, spent some time in the hotel lobby chatting with Jim, Isaac, and Will about ideas for some new character types for Feng Shui 2, namely a Trick Shooter archetype that's less John Wu two-gun flash and more precision shooting with a sidearm; I'm looking forward to seeing the final product once they get it finalized. Seems they also really liked the ideas I put forth for a "Drunken Boxer" move set for the Martial Artist, as I believe Jim is actually playing that character in a campaign that Isaac is running.
Okay, so one RPG setting that I very much like but rarely get a chance to play in is that of Legend of the Five Rings, formerly published by AEG but now under the stewardship of FFG. A couple GenCons ago, I was pleased to find that Kat was herself a huge fan of the game and setting (on top of being a major anime fan), and she seemed quite intrigued at my suggestion of checking out at least the first of the live-action Rurouni Kenshin movies (it's really good, and ties the disparate plots of the first several manga volumes together in an enjoyable and surprisingly coherent manner, on top of the casting for most of the characters being spot-on, especially Kenshin). Sadly, I didn't have an opportunity to register for either of the two L5R events she was running at the con, but fortune favored this mortal man and I was able to hop into her Thursday session. I mush admit, I loved her method of allowing the players to create characters as part of the introduction to the game, where in I made a Kakita Bushi as part of a group of six that included a two shugenja (Kuni and Soshi), a courtier (Crane), a monk (Dragon), and a second bushi (Unicorn). The adventure itself was more of an investigative affair, though there were a couple of scenes set up specifically for the bushi characters; I guess that Kat asking if anybody was making a duelist and her relief that I was doing so should have been a clue. I'll say no more, as I might try running this myself and I don't want to spoil anything for my friends that read this who themselves may wind up being players.
A bit more on Kat's method of quick-building PCs, which she liberally borrowed from Apocalypse World (I may need to check that out). She did a similar thing for her Star Wars sessions, one of which my long-time friend Linda got to play in, and she liked the concept as well. I have to admit it's pretty inventive, and not only does it give the player a bit more investment in the character as it's one that they've made (even if the selections available are a bit limited by necessity) but it means the GM doesn't have to work as much to fill up a four hour time slot. I'd asked Kat if she could e-mail a copy of the different character folios that she put together, one so that I could see all the different options, but also so that I could make use of them for running L5R games myself, as it'd save time that I'd have to spend creating pre-gens.
Also on Thursday I got to do a "slot zero" pick-up of my 7th Sea Second Edition adventure "An Idol Venture," which is an expansion/update of my initial 7th Sea mini-adventure "An Idol Pursuit." Apparently it wasn't quite expanded enough, as the players completed the adventure in a little over three hours. I suppose I could bolster up the combat sequences, as the PCs were generally able to crush them in a single round. The players generally had fun, though sadly I think Isaac was a bit brain-fried from having stayed up to stupid o'clock in the morning the night before, as he had a hard time wrapping his head around how 7th Sea 2e handles approaches and combat sequences, which to be fair may have also been a bit my fault as well. Still, the players had fun, even if one of them did seem determined to keep the spotlight securely on him at all times instead of letting other players have their turn to be awesome. One of my players was Kat Ostrander, and was glad that she enjoyed the adventure, even if a few things from how I did things in the adventure through her (at least according to a Facebook post of hers).
Friday got off to a bit of a quieter start. I made the walk with my long-time friend Linda over to Madness Games and Comics, which to be frank is less of a gaming store and more of a gaming mall, given the sheer size of the place and the volume of products for sale. I wound picking up a pack of 10-sided dice so that I'd have a set for my own use while being able to share a set at the table for further 7th Sea sessions. I was hoping to find a red-and-white set (colors of the Hare Clan from L5R), but settled on a gold and white set instead, as well as grabbing a couple of new shirts for myself and an Animal-themed shirt that said "Party Animal" for Linda's daughter Ari. Then it was a walk back so that I could run my Star Wars adventure "Taris City Rumble." I had tried to run a version of it at last year's GNC, but to no avail, so this year I preregistered it and wound up with a full table. I'd made a number of changes from the initial version, including totally revamping the PCs, and I think it worked out for the best. The table had fun, with an older gentleman really getting into character as the exiled Tapani noble, though I did wind up largely improvising the final leg of the module due to the players taking a rather unexpected approach to things, but it wound up being a fast-paced and suitably frantic scene with one of the PCs getting dropped and the half of the group who weren't spec'd out for combat taking on the NPC that was the major combat threat. They did a pretty good job of holding said threat at bay until the Jedi character was able to leap in and blind the adversary with a rake of their lightsaber through the eyes with a critical injury that pretty much took it out of the fight. The denouement at the end had the PCs sweating a bit, given the nature of who they had to interact with at the adventure's conclusion, which was fun. Again, the players had fun, so I'd call that winning. Still, it wound up running over, but I'm not sure if there's anything I could really trim from it without putting the party on rails, something I prefer to avoid doing if at all possible.
After that, I played in a Star Wars pick-up game run by Linda, her "Little Girl Lost" adventure which was based off an adventure she ran for the Skype group we're both part of. Sadly, I think she overestimated the capability of the pre-gens she offered, most of whom were pretty much starting PCs in terms of XP and gear, as the challenges were a whole lot tougher than they really should of been, with Hard difficulty checks being handed out like candy, especially in the early going. She did say that she spent some time talking with Keith Kappel, prolific freelance writer for FFG about things she did wrong and things that could be improved. Given how much she doubts her ability to GM games, I give her a mountain of credit for being willing and able to GM for a group that was almost entirely comprised of strangers.
And to cap off the Friday night, I played in another pick-up game, this one being a D&D 5e adventure run by Brev Tanner. I'm pretty good at improve as a GM, but I usually prefer to have some sort of outline written up ahead of time, but I was impressed at Brev for pretty much running the entire adventure by the seat of his pants. He did use a quintet of pre-gens, with my playing a High Elf Monk (personally there's a few things I'd have done differently with the character, but I tend to feel that way about most pre-gens, and I'm sure there are folks that feel the same with the pre-gens I make; nature of the beast I suppose). The adventure was a lot of fun, even if there were some things that were just plain wrong occurring, but kudos again to Brev for the different voices employed for various NPCs we encountered and interacted with. I probably stayed up way too late, but it was worth it.
Saturday started with not enough sleep, but I managed to get in a brief session of Red Dragon Inn. Normally I'm not much for board games, but I had some time to kill and the Whitson family were looking for another player to join them and Kat, and it was indeed fun. Sadly, we had to cut the game short so that we could all attend Kat Ostrander's panel. It was cool to get more of an insight into how she does her game prep, writes adventures, and the contrast of players who favor crunch-heavy RPGs as compared to those who prefer rules-lighter narrative-heavy RPGs and the contrast of what each camp sees as "winning" the game. Personally, I'm of the camp that "winning" in an RPG means that every player in the game had fun, and it would seem the majority of the Gamer Nation is of a similar mind set.
After the panel, I got into yet another pick-up game, this time a Dresden Files RPG set in Las Vegas run by long-time d20 Radio alumni Tim Rayburn, formerly of the Radio Free Hommlet (who?) D&D 4e podcast. Tim ran our group through character creation for a group that apart from myself and his wife Kate had never even seen Fate before. It was a really fun adventure, and I had to chuckle at Tim remarking that the party (three of whom were investigators of some sort or another) were about to Greyhawk one particular scene. I kind of feel like I took more of a lead than maybe I should have, but the other players didn't seem to mind, and it did help keep things moving, even if my PC did inadvertently stumble into a situation he really shouldn't have; it wasn't bad per se, just embarrassing. Of course, this being set in the Dresdenverse and involving the Fae, the whole adventure revolved around a situation that could have been far more easily resolved by a couple of NPCs simply talking to each other instead of invoking an overly-complicated chain of events, which lead to my ending the session with the frustrated exclamation of "Fucking Faeries!" to the group's mutual laughter.
Saturday night's gaming wrapped up with my running a second 7th Sea 2e adventure, this one called "Once Upon a Harvest Moon." The adventure was initially run as a one-shot for my Skype group for when our regularly scheduled game had to be put on hold due to a couple players not being available, and was itself based upon the adventure module "Lady of the Apples" for the Shadow of the Demon Lord RPG. Set in Eisen, the adventure was generally dark and creepy, and thus slated for an evening time slot. Overall, I think this session went a lot better than my Thursday session, with the chap that played the priest probably being the most memorable of the characters. The one hiccup was that during the final scene, one of the players was paying more attention to her phone (trying to order food), which certainly aggravated me but I simply dealt with it. I am seriously considering instituting a "no phones unless you're using it as a dice roller" policy at any further games I run. I'm going to give the adventure write-up one more look-through, and then will probably post it here to the blog.
While I didn't get to play in any of Phil's sessions of his much-acclaimed Fallout module (based off FFG's Star Wars system), I did get to listen in on the tail end of his Saturday night pick-up, of which most of the players were varying degrees of inebriated, as was the GM, and I'm certain that made things lively. While waiting for Phil to sober up enough to be in good enough shape to drive, I did get to converse a bit with a few different folks at the con, so it wasn't like I was hanging around bored. Still, I wonder if I should have taken Linda up on the offer of a lift back to the con so that I wouldn't have another night of minimal sleep. I did still manage to adhere to the 4-2-1 rule (4 hours' sleep, 2 full meals, 1 shower), so it's all good.
Finally we rolled into Sunday. Apart from a last minute session of Artemis, I really didn't do all that much gaming, due to being a little out of it as well as wanting to put a few different RPG adventure ideas for next year's GamerNationCon onto paper. I did stop over to where Kat was running her final L5R session, and for some reason to do a fairly decent impression of Samurai Jack's Aku, bellowing "Foolish samurai!" One of the players rolled with it, and I'm not sure if Kat was more amused or annoyed; I'm going to lean towards the later as she wasn't feeling quite so hot after drinking as much as she had during Phil's Fallout module and Aku's voice doesn't exactly lend itself towards subtlety.
After the con ended was the auction, and the only item that I wanted (a pretty cool dice tower in the theme of a Death Star laser turret) went to somebody else, so I walked away with nothing. Ah well, but at least Linda got herself a copy of the Endless Vigil sourcebook.
The con itself pretty much wrapped up with what I've taken to calling the "dead dog dinner," largely as we're all dead-tired, yet doggedly trying to keep the fun going as we have one final group dinner. There was a bit of a hiccup, as the Italian place that Dave originally chose turned out to have been recently closed for business, causing a relocation to a different Italian place. I joked to Dave that what had happened is that when he made his Foresee power check, he'd rolled straight dark side, with Dave laughingly adding that he also rolled a Despair. If you're not familiar with those terms, they're to do with FFG Star Wars. Still, it was a good dinner, and I got to spend a good chunk of time with the Whitsons before we parted ways.
Monday was the flight back, and apart from getting to the airport quite early (necessary due to Dallas morning traffic) the trip back was without incident. No delays, no missed connecting flights, no misplaced luggage. As I joked with Phil on Facebook, it was probably an April Fool's Joke by the forces that be in order to lull us into a false sense of security about future flights.
So yes, GamerNationCon IV was a rousing success, and I'm already looking forward to next year, to GamerNationCon V: The Order of the Gamers. Got at least four adventure ideas that have a magic/mystical theme to them, with systems picked out for three of them (SWFFG, 7th Sea 2e, and Dresden Files Accelerated), which is probably where I should stop as I want to be sure that I've got enough time to play games; some folks might enjoy spending the entire con GM'ing, but I enjoy being a player as well.
It's been a couple days since I got back home from attending the fourth GamerNationCon down in Dallas, Texas, or as I prefer to think of it, the The True Best Four Days of Actual Gaming. I'd posted on Facebook my initial thoughts back on Monday, but now that I've had a bit of time to recoup and consider, I thought I'd post more of why I intend to never miss this fun little con if I have any say in the matter.
Firstly, a big thinks to Phil "Darth GM" and his brother Andrew for being willing to split the cost of a rental car to help ensure that my buddy Eric and I would have a ride not only to and from the con site, but also a ride back to the airport come Monday morning rather than have to pay for a cab. I can't fault Phil for "going Rogue" and taking a Nissan Rogue as his vehicle for a con that had a strong (or just stronger than usual) Star Wars theme.
The Wednesday before the convention is fun in and of itself. Not only did I get some really good barbecue at an old-style BBQ pit joint, but got to catch up with friends that I'd not seen since last year, on top of getting to chat a bit with Guest of Honor Katrina Ostrander (aka Kat). After dinner, spent some time in the hotel lobby chatting with Jim, Isaac, and Will about ideas for some new character types for Feng Shui 2, namely a Trick Shooter archetype that's less John Wu two-gun flash and more precision shooting with a sidearm; I'm looking forward to seeing the final product once they get it finalized. Seems they also really liked the ideas I put forth for a "Drunken Boxer" move set for the Martial Artist, as I believe Jim is actually playing that character in a campaign that Isaac is running.
Okay, so one RPG setting that I very much like but rarely get a chance to play in is that of Legend of the Five Rings, formerly published by AEG but now under the stewardship of FFG. A couple GenCons ago, I was pleased to find that Kat was herself a huge fan of the game and setting (on top of being a major anime fan), and she seemed quite intrigued at my suggestion of checking out at least the first of the live-action Rurouni Kenshin movies (it's really good, and ties the disparate plots of the first several manga volumes together in an enjoyable and surprisingly coherent manner, on top of the casting for most of the characters being spot-on, especially Kenshin). Sadly, I didn't have an opportunity to register for either of the two L5R events she was running at the con, but fortune favored this mortal man and I was able to hop into her Thursday session. I mush admit, I loved her method of allowing the players to create characters as part of the introduction to the game, where in I made a Kakita Bushi as part of a group of six that included a two shugenja (Kuni and Soshi), a courtier (Crane), a monk (Dragon), and a second bushi (Unicorn). The adventure itself was more of an investigative affair, though there were a couple of scenes set up specifically for the bushi characters; I guess that Kat asking if anybody was making a duelist and her relief that I was doing so should have been a clue. I'll say no more, as I might try running this myself and I don't want to spoil anything for my friends that read this who themselves may wind up being players.
A bit more on Kat's method of quick-building PCs, which she liberally borrowed from Apocalypse World (I may need to check that out). She did a similar thing for her Star Wars sessions, one of which my long-time friend Linda got to play in, and she liked the concept as well. I have to admit it's pretty inventive, and not only does it give the player a bit more investment in the character as it's one that they've made (even if the selections available are a bit limited by necessity) but it means the GM doesn't have to work as much to fill up a four hour time slot. I'd asked Kat if she could e-mail a copy of the different character folios that she put together, one so that I could see all the different options, but also so that I could make use of them for running L5R games myself, as it'd save time that I'd have to spend creating pre-gens.
Also on Thursday I got to do a "slot zero" pick-up of my 7th Sea Second Edition adventure "An Idol Venture," which is an expansion/update of my initial 7th Sea mini-adventure "An Idol Pursuit." Apparently it wasn't quite expanded enough, as the players completed the adventure in a little over three hours. I suppose I could bolster up the combat sequences, as the PCs were generally able to crush them in a single round. The players generally had fun, though sadly I think Isaac was a bit brain-fried from having stayed up to stupid o'clock in the morning the night before, as he had a hard time wrapping his head around how 7th Sea 2e handles approaches and combat sequences, which to be fair may have also been a bit my fault as well. Still, the players had fun, even if one of them did seem determined to keep the spotlight securely on him at all times instead of letting other players have their turn to be awesome. One of my players was Kat Ostrander, and was glad that she enjoyed the adventure, even if a few things from how I did things in the adventure through her (at least according to a Facebook post of hers).
Friday got off to a bit of a quieter start. I made the walk with my long-time friend Linda over to Madness Games and Comics, which to be frank is less of a gaming store and more of a gaming mall, given the sheer size of the place and the volume of products for sale. I wound picking up a pack of 10-sided dice so that I'd have a set for my own use while being able to share a set at the table for further 7th Sea sessions. I was hoping to find a red-and-white set (colors of the Hare Clan from L5R), but settled on a gold and white set instead, as well as grabbing a couple of new shirts for myself and an Animal-themed shirt that said "Party Animal" for Linda's daughter Ari. Then it was a walk back so that I could run my Star Wars adventure "Taris City Rumble." I had tried to run a version of it at last year's GNC, but to no avail, so this year I preregistered it and wound up with a full table. I'd made a number of changes from the initial version, including totally revamping the PCs, and I think it worked out for the best. The table had fun, with an older gentleman really getting into character as the exiled Tapani noble, though I did wind up largely improvising the final leg of the module due to the players taking a rather unexpected approach to things, but it wound up being a fast-paced and suitably frantic scene with one of the PCs getting dropped and the half of the group who weren't spec'd out for combat taking on the NPC that was the major combat threat. They did a pretty good job of holding said threat at bay until the Jedi character was able to leap in and blind the adversary with a rake of their lightsaber through the eyes with a critical injury that pretty much took it out of the fight. The denouement at the end had the PCs sweating a bit, given the nature of who they had to interact with at the adventure's conclusion, which was fun. Again, the players had fun, so I'd call that winning. Still, it wound up running over, but I'm not sure if there's anything I could really trim from it without putting the party on rails, something I prefer to avoid doing if at all possible.
After that, I played in a Star Wars pick-up game run by Linda, her "Little Girl Lost" adventure which was based off an adventure she ran for the Skype group we're both part of. Sadly, I think she overestimated the capability of the pre-gens she offered, most of whom were pretty much starting PCs in terms of XP and gear, as the challenges were a whole lot tougher than they really should of been, with Hard difficulty checks being handed out like candy, especially in the early going. She did say that she spent some time talking with Keith Kappel, prolific freelance writer for FFG about things she did wrong and things that could be improved. Given how much she doubts her ability to GM games, I give her a mountain of credit for being willing and able to GM for a group that was almost entirely comprised of strangers.
And to cap off the Friday night, I played in another pick-up game, this one being a D&D 5e adventure run by Brev Tanner. I'm pretty good at improve as a GM, but I usually prefer to have some sort of outline written up ahead of time, but I was impressed at Brev for pretty much running the entire adventure by the seat of his pants. He did use a quintet of pre-gens, with my playing a High Elf Monk (personally there's a few things I'd have done differently with the character, but I tend to feel that way about most pre-gens, and I'm sure there are folks that feel the same with the pre-gens I make; nature of the beast I suppose). The adventure was a lot of fun, even if there were some things that were just plain wrong occurring, but kudos again to Brev for the different voices employed for various NPCs we encountered and interacted with. I probably stayed up way too late, but it was worth it.
Saturday started with not enough sleep, but I managed to get in a brief session of Red Dragon Inn. Normally I'm not much for board games, but I had some time to kill and the Whitson family were looking for another player to join them and Kat, and it was indeed fun. Sadly, we had to cut the game short so that we could all attend Kat Ostrander's panel. It was cool to get more of an insight into how she does her game prep, writes adventures, and the contrast of players who favor crunch-heavy RPGs as compared to those who prefer rules-lighter narrative-heavy RPGs and the contrast of what each camp sees as "winning" the game. Personally, I'm of the camp that "winning" in an RPG means that every player in the game had fun, and it would seem the majority of the Gamer Nation is of a similar mind set.
After the panel, I got into yet another pick-up game, this time a Dresden Files RPG set in Las Vegas run by long-time d20 Radio alumni Tim Rayburn, formerly of the Radio Free Hommlet (who?) D&D 4e podcast. Tim ran our group through character creation for a group that apart from myself and his wife Kate had never even seen Fate before. It was a really fun adventure, and I had to chuckle at Tim remarking that the party (three of whom were investigators of some sort or another) were about to Greyhawk one particular scene. I kind of feel like I took more of a lead than maybe I should have, but the other players didn't seem to mind, and it did help keep things moving, even if my PC did inadvertently stumble into a situation he really shouldn't have; it wasn't bad per se, just embarrassing. Of course, this being set in the Dresdenverse and involving the Fae, the whole adventure revolved around a situation that could have been far more easily resolved by a couple of NPCs simply talking to each other instead of invoking an overly-complicated chain of events, which lead to my ending the session with the frustrated exclamation of "Fucking Faeries!" to the group's mutual laughter.
Saturday night's gaming wrapped up with my running a second 7th Sea 2e adventure, this one called "Once Upon a Harvest Moon." The adventure was initially run as a one-shot for my Skype group for when our regularly scheduled game had to be put on hold due to a couple players not being available, and was itself based upon the adventure module "Lady of the Apples" for the Shadow of the Demon Lord RPG. Set in Eisen, the adventure was generally dark and creepy, and thus slated for an evening time slot. Overall, I think this session went a lot better than my Thursday session, with the chap that played the priest probably being the most memorable of the characters. The one hiccup was that during the final scene, one of the players was paying more attention to her phone (trying to order food), which certainly aggravated me but I simply dealt with it. I am seriously considering instituting a "no phones unless you're using it as a dice roller" policy at any further games I run. I'm going to give the adventure write-up one more look-through, and then will probably post it here to the blog.
While I didn't get to play in any of Phil's sessions of his much-acclaimed Fallout module (based off FFG's Star Wars system), I did get to listen in on the tail end of his Saturday night pick-up, of which most of the players were varying degrees of inebriated, as was the GM, and I'm certain that made things lively. While waiting for Phil to sober up enough to be in good enough shape to drive, I did get to converse a bit with a few different folks at the con, so it wasn't like I was hanging around bored. Still, I wonder if I should have taken Linda up on the offer of a lift back to the con so that I wouldn't have another night of minimal sleep. I did still manage to adhere to the 4-2-1 rule (4 hours' sleep, 2 full meals, 1 shower), so it's all good.
Finally we rolled into Sunday. Apart from a last minute session of Artemis, I really didn't do all that much gaming, due to being a little out of it as well as wanting to put a few different RPG adventure ideas for next year's GamerNationCon onto paper. I did stop over to where Kat was running her final L5R session, and for some reason to do a fairly decent impression of Samurai Jack's Aku, bellowing "Foolish samurai!" One of the players rolled with it, and I'm not sure if Kat was more amused or annoyed; I'm going to lean towards the later as she wasn't feeling quite so hot after drinking as much as she had during Phil's Fallout module and Aku's voice doesn't exactly lend itself towards subtlety.
After the con ended was the auction, and the only item that I wanted (a pretty cool dice tower in the theme of a Death Star laser turret) went to somebody else, so I walked away with nothing. Ah well, but at least Linda got herself a copy of the Endless Vigil sourcebook.
The con itself pretty much wrapped up with what I've taken to calling the "dead dog dinner," largely as we're all dead-tired, yet doggedly trying to keep the fun going as we have one final group dinner. There was a bit of a hiccup, as the Italian place that Dave originally chose turned out to have been recently closed for business, causing a relocation to a different Italian place. I joked to Dave that what had happened is that when he made his Foresee power check, he'd rolled straight dark side, with Dave laughingly adding that he also rolled a Despair. If you're not familiar with those terms, they're to do with FFG Star Wars. Still, it was a good dinner, and I got to spend a good chunk of time with the Whitsons before we parted ways.
Monday was the flight back, and apart from getting to the airport quite early (necessary due to Dallas morning traffic) the trip back was without incident. No delays, no missed connecting flights, no misplaced luggage. As I joked with Phil on Facebook, it was probably an April Fool's Joke by the forces that be in order to lull us into a false sense of security about future flights.
So yes, GamerNationCon IV was a rousing success, and I'm already looking forward to next year, to GamerNationCon V: The Order of the Gamers. Got at least four adventure ideas that have a magic/mystical theme to them, with systems picked out for three of them (SWFFG, 7th Sea 2e, and Dresden Files Accelerated), which is probably where I should stop as I want to be sure that I've got enough time to play games; some folks might enjoy spending the entire con GM'ing, but I enjoy being a player as well.
March 31, 2013
Fourthcore... Lite?!
As hopefully you were all aware, being gamers and all, yesterday was TableTop Day, an attempt at a geek holiday spurred on by Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton. Given that it was trending as a hashtag on Twitter for 17+ hours, I'd say the gamers of the world did good.
Initially, I didn't have any gaming plans for TableTop Day, other than swinging by the FLGS and see what was going on for gaming there whilst hoping for the best, despite Saturday's seeming to be more CCG day than anything else of late, or at least the past few Saturdays that I swung by.
Instead, I wound up playing a marathon session of D&D 4e with my Wednesday gaming group, as none of them had Easter plans that required extensive travel or extensive prep for incoming relatives. In my previous post, I noted my surprise at having fun playing a 4e game after having become rather indifferent to D&D in general, particularly as D&D isn't my go-to choice for fantasy RPGs these days. And the GM had an Easter surprise in store for us poor sods.
Well, come early Saturday afternoon and we've gathered around the table. The party composition had changed a bit, with this being our current line-up:
Keru, a Human Stone Fist Monk with Wilder theme (me, and yes he's got a Hadoken attack now)
Mari, a Half-Elf Sentinel Druid with Elemental Priest theme (the only unchanged character from the first session)
Alyastrianna, a Eladrin Mage Wizard with Veiled Guardian theme (newish, debuted last Wednesday's session)
Rikard, Mul (Half-Dwarf) Tempest Fighter with Gladiator theme (new)
... and a fifth player who ended up being a no-show.
The campaign takes place on Athas, about the time frame that the 4e Campaign Setting book establishes. To start, only the druid, mage, and monk knew each other prior to this session, but the GM got us together quickly enough, mostly by having us get hired by a local explorer to serve as aides and bodyguards as he checked out a recently uncovered ruin in the Road of Kings region. Naturally we agreed, either being curious to check things out ourselves (mage and monk) or not having anything more pressing to do (druid), while the fighter had already been commissioned as a bodyguard prior to the rest of us showing up.
Before we started play, the GM asked each of us to select a magic item, 4th level or lower, that we'd be interested in procuring. We figured that he was tailoring the adventure rewards to our heroes, so we spent some time going through the long list of D&D magic items, and made our selections.
We had a short skirmish with a band of elf raiders, more to let everyone get a feel for their characters, both the new ones and the vets as the GM bumped us up to third level, which meant new encounter powers. The eladrian's player was kind of upset that she didn't have a lot of charm or illusion options that did damage, but she still excelled at her role of battlefield control, with enough mind-screw going on that you'd think she was a psion. This was my first time seeing a Tempest Fighter in play, and I must say I was impressed at how much damage he could pump up on a turn-to-turn basis. Even though he was just using a pair of hand-axes, having the Axe Expertise feat ensured he rarely had lousy damage rolls. And his ability to mark multiple foes each round meant that he drew a lot of attention and helped keep my monk from getting attacked that often. Monk did what the monk's supposed to do, and booted a lot of head, and quite often using my Flurry of Blows to polish off non-minion opponents that were just on the cusp of being taken down.
Baddies dispatched, we made it to the ruins, which turned out to be a temple from the previous age (we think, nobody was quite certain on that point) that was devoted to a quartet of rather vicious and nasty gods, at least according to the murals we found outside the temple itself. Rather than the usual combat grind of most 4e sessions, this one turned out to incorporate a number of skill challenges, given our characters a chance to find out more about what we were getting into.
I won't go into great detail about the adventure, only to say that throughout most of it, I couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that I'd seen this before. I was pretty sure that I'd never played it, only seen it somewhere. And then we got to the one encounter, facing a three-headed dracolisk that made the whole thing click into place... the GM was putting us through the Crucible of the Gods module. To quote my favorite wizard private eye... hell's bells.
For those of you not in the know (such as I was until recently), Fourthcore is a style of playing, using D&D 4e and putting the players (referred to as dungeoneers) through adventures that are on par with Tomb of Horrors in regards to potential lethality. Crucible of the Gods was written for use with 1st level PCs, and from everything I'd heard was literally a meat grinder, with TPKs happening before parties even reached the first proper room of the temple, and there a slew of effects that boil down to "you get hit, you're dead." Needless to say, Fourthcore adventures weren't written with the intent of being dropped into your running campaign. These are meant to be bloody one-shots and not to be taken too seriously. I haven't read the module, though I plan to do so in the near future, but I can only suspect the GM toned things down quite a bit as the combat encounters weren't one-sided, and we had plenty of clues to help with solving some of the various puzzles. Being 3rd level and with character themes that granted an extra encounter power probably helped a whole lot, as we had plenty of options for increased damage in each battle. Apparently one of the fights, against some kind of large statue dual-wielding flaming skeletal flails was supposed to be incredibly tough, but the monk and fighter nearly demolished it in a single round, with a critical hit on my Open the Gates of Battle (aka Open the Can of Whup-ass) with a mighty ki focus (extra d10 damage on critical hits) being the main culprit,taking it from healthy to bloodied, with the druid getting in a bit of tag-team beatdown between her and her pet desert wolf before the fighter executed the thing, all before it had the chance to even take it's first action. Apparently Fourthcore modules were written with the idea that you'd be using Essentials and not the other PHB classes or supplements.
The GM did make up for this a bit by including a few extra combat encounters, including one with a seemingly never-ending tide of minions (goblin-looking thingys, not that most of our characters would know what a goblin looks like since they're a long-extinct race on Athas) that kept attacking in waves until the mage managed to decipher an ancient locking mechanism to seal them away and allow us to proceed further into the temple.
The final battle was tough enough, and I figure the actual Fourthcore version probably wipes out most parties that have been fortunate enough to make it that far. We did succeed in claiming all four skulls, thanks in part to the Eladrin mage (who isn't a native of Athas, but rather the Feywild) enforcing caution on the rest of the party, even going so far as to slap the Mul's hand when he started to reach out to claim one of the crystal skulls we needed to "win" the temple's challenge. That turned out to help a bunch, as we got to access the secret room with a talisman that gave us a huge edge in the final battle... once we figured out what exactly it was for (we thought it was a protective item, which nearly cost the mage her life as she got much too close to the final boss than was healthy for a squishy wizard).
So while this wasn't a proper Fourthcore adventure (the heroes all lived), it was still fun, and I'm guessing the GM added a lot to make the players use their brains, and not just by way of skill challenges, but also allowing skill checks to pick up vital clues. The only fatality was the explorer that hired us, the son of a lesser noble from the City of Balic (oops), though it really was down more to his own ignorance than any wrong-doing on our part... not that I expect his parents to buy that. Now I as a player don't know if the whole "fail our challenge and the world will end" bit would have actually happened, but our characters took it serious enough.
If you're interested in running a meat-grinder on par with John Goff's Night Train (Deadlands Classic) or Tomb of Horrors itself, you can download the Fourthcore adventures here:
http://svdpress.com/fourthcore/
Now bear in mind these are meant to be run as timed delves, and the odds are stacked heavily against the players unless they really bring their A-game, but it could make an interesting change of pace.
There's also Fourthcore Deathmatch, which instead of being a delve is simply a free-for-all slaughterfest pitting two groups of PCs against each other. It's quite an amusing concept, and might make for a fun diversion from your usual campaign. I figure Strikers would have the edge due to their focus on sheer damage output, but I could see Defenders not doing too bad given the hit points and damage output a well-made build can offer. You can read more about it here:
http://www.fourthcoreteamdeathmatch.com/
It'd be the kind of thing that'd work pretty good for a Skype/Roll20 game. Just upload the map of your choice, choose some character tokens, and let the carnage commence.
Initially, I didn't have any gaming plans for TableTop Day, other than swinging by the FLGS and see what was going on for gaming there whilst hoping for the best, despite Saturday's seeming to be more CCG day than anything else of late, or at least the past few Saturdays that I swung by.
Instead, I wound up playing a marathon session of D&D 4e with my Wednesday gaming group, as none of them had Easter plans that required extensive travel or extensive prep for incoming relatives. In my previous post, I noted my surprise at having fun playing a 4e game after having become rather indifferent to D&D in general, particularly as D&D isn't my go-to choice for fantasy RPGs these days. And the GM had an Easter surprise in store for us poor sods.
Well, come early Saturday afternoon and we've gathered around the table. The party composition had changed a bit, with this being our current line-up:
Keru, a Human Stone Fist Monk with Wilder theme (me, and yes he's got a Hadoken attack now)
Mari, a Half-Elf Sentinel Druid with Elemental Priest theme (the only unchanged character from the first session)
Alyastrianna, a Eladrin Mage Wizard with Veiled Guardian theme (newish, debuted last Wednesday's session)
Rikard, Mul (Half-Dwarf) Tempest Fighter with Gladiator theme (new)
... and a fifth player who ended up being a no-show.
The campaign takes place on Athas, about the time frame that the 4e Campaign Setting book establishes. To start, only the druid, mage, and monk knew each other prior to this session, but the GM got us together quickly enough, mostly by having us get hired by a local explorer to serve as aides and bodyguards as he checked out a recently uncovered ruin in the Road of Kings region. Naturally we agreed, either being curious to check things out ourselves (mage and monk) or not having anything more pressing to do (druid), while the fighter had already been commissioned as a bodyguard prior to the rest of us showing up.
Before we started play, the GM asked each of us to select a magic item, 4th level or lower, that we'd be interested in procuring. We figured that he was tailoring the adventure rewards to our heroes, so we spent some time going through the long list of D&D magic items, and made our selections.
We had a short skirmish with a band of elf raiders, more to let everyone get a feel for their characters, both the new ones and the vets as the GM bumped us up to third level, which meant new encounter powers. The eladrian's player was kind of upset that she didn't have a lot of charm or illusion options that did damage, but she still excelled at her role of battlefield control, with enough mind-screw going on that you'd think she was a psion. This was my first time seeing a Tempest Fighter in play, and I must say I was impressed at how much damage he could pump up on a turn-to-turn basis. Even though he was just using a pair of hand-axes, having the Axe Expertise feat ensured he rarely had lousy damage rolls. And his ability to mark multiple foes each round meant that he drew a lot of attention and helped keep my monk from getting attacked that often. Monk did what the monk's supposed to do, and booted a lot of head, and quite often using my Flurry of Blows to polish off non-minion opponents that were just on the cusp of being taken down.
Baddies dispatched, we made it to the ruins, which turned out to be a temple from the previous age (we think, nobody was quite certain on that point) that was devoted to a quartet of rather vicious and nasty gods, at least according to the murals we found outside the temple itself. Rather than the usual combat grind of most 4e sessions, this one turned out to incorporate a number of skill challenges, given our characters a chance to find out more about what we were getting into.
I won't go into great detail about the adventure, only to say that throughout most of it, I couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that I'd seen this before. I was pretty sure that I'd never played it, only seen it somewhere. And then we got to the one encounter, facing a three-headed dracolisk that made the whole thing click into place... the GM was putting us through the Crucible of the Gods module. To quote my favorite wizard private eye... hell's bells.
For those of you not in the know (such as I was until recently), Fourthcore is a style of playing, using D&D 4e and putting the players (referred to as dungeoneers) through adventures that are on par with Tomb of Horrors in regards to potential lethality. Crucible of the Gods was written for use with 1st level PCs, and from everything I'd heard was literally a meat grinder, with TPKs happening before parties even reached the first proper room of the temple, and there a slew of effects that boil down to "you get hit, you're dead." Needless to say, Fourthcore adventures weren't written with the intent of being dropped into your running campaign. These are meant to be bloody one-shots and not to be taken too seriously. I haven't read the module, though I plan to do so in the near future, but I can only suspect the GM toned things down quite a bit as the combat encounters weren't one-sided, and we had plenty of clues to help with solving some of the various puzzles. Being 3rd level and with character themes that granted an extra encounter power probably helped a whole lot, as we had plenty of options for increased damage in each battle. Apparently one of the fights, against some kind of large statue dual-wielding flaming skeletal flails was supposed to be incredibly tough, but the monk and fighter nearly demolished it in a single round, with a critical hit on my Open the Gates of Battle (aka Open the Can of Whup-ass) with a mighty ki focus (extra d10 damage on critical hits) being the main culprit,taking it from healthy to bloodied, with the druid getting in a bit of tag-team beatdown between her and her pet desert wolf before the fighter executed the thing, all before it had the chance to even take it's first action. Apparently Fourthcore modules were written with the idea that you'd be using Essentials and not the other PHB classes or supplements.
The GM did make up for this a bit by including a few extra combat encounters, including one with a seemingly never-ending tide of minions (goblin-looking thingys, not that most of our characters would know what a goblin looks like since they're a long-extinct race on Athas) that kept attacking in waves until the mage managed to decipher an ancient locking mechanism to seal them away and allow us to proceed further into the temple.
The final battle was tough enough, and I figure the actual Fourthcore version probably wipes out most parties that have been fortunate enough to make it that far. We did succeed in claiming all four skulls, thanks in part to the Eladrin mage (who isn't a native of Athas, but rather the Feywild) enforcing caution on the rest of the party, even going so far as to slap the Mul's hand when he started to reach out to claim one of the crystal skulls we needed to "win" the temple's challenge. That turned out to help a bunch, as we got to access the secret room with a talisman that gave us a huge edge in the final battle... once we figured out what exactly it was for (we thought it was a protective item, which nearly cost the mage her life as she got much too close to the final boss than was healthy for a squishy wizard).
So while this wasn't a proper Fourthcore adventure (the heroes all lived), it was still fun, and I'm guessing the GM added a lot to make the players use their brains, and not just by way of skill challenges, but also allowing skill checks to pick up vital clues. The only fatality was the explorer that hired us, the son of a lesser noble from the City of Balic (oops), though it really was down more to his own ignorance than any wrong-doing on our part... not that I expect his parents to buy that. Now I as a player don't know if the whole "fail our challenge and the world will end" bit would have actually happened, but our characters took it serious enough.
If you're interested in running a meat-grinder on par with John Goff's Night Train (Deadlands Classic) or Tomb of Horrors itself, you can download the Fourthcore adventures here:
http://svdpress.com/fourthcore/
Now bear in mind these are meant to be run as timed delves, and the odds are stacked heavily against the players unless they really bring their A-game, but it could make an interesting change of pace.
There's also Fourthcore Deathmatch, which instead of being a delve is simply a free-for-all slaughterfest pitting two groups of PCs against each other. It's quite an amusing concept, and might make for a fun diversion from your usual campaign. I figure Strikers would have the edge due to their focus on sheer damage output, but I could see Defenders not doing too bad given the hit points and damage output a well-made build can offer. You can read more about it here:
http://www.fourthcoreteamdeathmatch.com/
It'd be the kind of thing that'd work pretty good for a Skype/Roll20 game. Just upload the map of your choice, choose some character tokens, and let the carnage commence.
March 16, 2013
Boot to the Head! or Why I'm playing 4e D&D again
I think I mentioned in a prior post that my Wednesday group was looking at playing Dragon Age, now that the general interest in Marvel Heroic RPG had subsided.
Well, that turned out not to be the case, and instead the majority of the group decided to head back over to d20 Land and break out the D&D books. Thankfully, the vote wasn't for 3rd edition or Pathfinder, as I generally abhor the 3.X versions of d20; the closest I'll come to tolerating that system is Mongoose Publishing's Babylon 5 2nd edition RPG (still needs a couple tweaks though, such as implementing Pathfinder's skill system, which is about the only thing from Pathfinder I actually like). So, after figuring I'd never be playing 4e again after my Saturday group pretty much decided they were sick to death of d20 games (which resulted in my Saga Edition AltU game coming to an abrupt end), I found myself having to face playing D&D yet again, a game system and setting that has become less and less relevant to my gaming interests as time wore on. The last time I played was a D&DNext playtest that left me pretty cold.
Now the main reason I didn't bail was because if I had, I could probably forget ever gaming with these folks in the future, as I'd quickly be forgotten as a potential gamer or even GM for the group. But also, because the DM wanted to run a Dark Sun campaign. Now I never really got into Dark Sun during its hey-day under AD&D2e, but a post-apoc fantasy setting did sound interesting.
But the question was: what do I play? From talking with the GM and the other players, half of them were going with Essentials Characters (Half-Elf Sentinel-Druid with Elemental Priest theme and Elf Hunter-Ranger with Wastland Nomad theme) while the other half were going pre-Essentials (Human Sorcerer-King Pact Warlock w/ Templar theme and Dragonborn Wild Battlemind w/ Gladiator theme). To keep with 4e's notion of roles, we've got a Leader (druid), Controller (ranger), a ranged Striker (warlock), and a Defender (battlemind), so the bases are covered. Well, when in doubt, go for the damage. To be honest, I'm of the playstyle that best fits a Striker, so the question was what Striker-class to play? And it was very easily answered, in the form of the PHB3's Monk class. I only got a few chances to play a 4e Monk before, and they were all fun, so I simply rebuilt the Human Monk I'd played before to fit with the GM's character build rules.
We used the standard 22 points to buy ability scores and built our PCs as usual for 1st level, having the option of either selecting a theme or getting a free 2nd level Skill Power. So while everyone else went with selecting a theme, I opted to go the bonus ability route, mostly as none of the themes really fit the character notion I had in mind, that of a young traveling warrior-monk that had embarked on a journey to test his skills and inner character, I opted for the Skill Power, which aside from not having to take the Skill Power feat I otherwise had to qualify for. Easy choice for me, Agile Recovery, permitting my character to stand up from prone as a minor action (something very useful for a high-mobility Striker). Once that was done, we leveled up our heroes to 2nd level, and here was where things got a little different.
First, we only got one magic item, and additional money equal to one-quarter the value of a 1st level magic item. For those that don't know, the DMG suggests when building characters above 1st level, they get three magic items (one of a level no higher than their current level, one of level no higher than their current level, and one of a level at least one level less than their current level) and gold equal to the value of a magic item that's one level less than their current. We could still pick up to a 3rd level magic item, but it was the only magic item we'd be getting, and we only got 90 extra gold (compared to the 360 that a regular character built at 2nd level would get). Being a Monk (who really didn't need a lot of extra money), that was no problem for me, but a few players were a bit upset at this, as they had to choose between a magic weapon, magic armor, a neck slot item, or something with a cool ability. Me, I checked with the GM and he allowed me to take Moradin's Blessing of Iron as my one magic item, which may not be super-powerful but is quite handy since it cuts down on my Monk being pushed and grants me a free attack if I get pulled close to the enemy in question, as well as some emergency DR if needed. Kind of fitting for a Stone Fist Monk I think.
The second change, which helped offset the lack of magic items, was that we're using the Inherent Bonuses option from DMG2, giving us boosts to attack, damage, and defenses based on our level, something useful as the GM plans to keep magic items rather rare in his game, since one of the themes of Dark Sun is the heroes having to survive on their own wits. To borrow a phrase often applied to Star Wars Saga Edition, this is a game where your character is not about your gear, but rather what your character can do. Personally, one of the things I've always disliked about D&D was the over-reliance on magic items, so this was right up my alley.
So next was backstory, which was kind of easy as I was using a pre-existing character. I'll admit to borrowing liberally from the backstory of Mortal Kombat's Liu Kang as well as a couple elements from Legend of the Five Rings. And so, Keru, young Brother of the Order of the Nine Thunders was ready to set forth and boot some head.
And this past Wednesday, we played our inaugeral session, with the PCs having been taken as prisoners of a bandit chief with the intent to sell us into slavery. Needless to say, it didn't go well, and by the end of the fight, we were free, the bandits had been decimated, and the bandit chief had quite a few footprints embedded in his head. Oddly, Keru does not actually wear boots, though that didn't stop me from saying "Boot to the Head!" when using his Flurry of Blows power. Both Agile Recovery and Blessing of Iron paid off, the latter as the the bandit's lieutenants had a power that let them push an enemy 2 squares away, while the bandit chief had an attack power that let him knock a foe prone. Even managed to TKO the bandit chief's main enforcer in one action courtesy of a critical hit using Open the Gates of Battle combined with an mighty ki focus, nearly wiping out all of the enforcer's HP in one blow, and then polished him off with Flurry of Blows ("Boot to the head!") Seriously, it got to the point the other players would declare "and a boot to the head!" as soon as I resolved my main attack each turn. Granted, my Flurry of Blows doesn't do that much damage as I opted to split my points between Strength and Wisdom, but a few extra points of free damage is nothing to sneer at, and it could prove useful with popping minions should the opportunity present itself. I also have to say that the Fallen Needle power from Psionic Power is damn useful against major threats, since it's high damage and inflicts a penalty to hit if they try to go after you, thus making a Striker not too reliant upon a Defender's mark ability to keep said major foe from squishing them, to say nothing of the free shift to get away should a particularly burly foe decide to get in close.
While most of the session was combat, there was some good character interaction, as the half-elf druid was not happy about the arcane-magic using warlock's presence, given how arcane magic has a nasty tendency to ruin the environment in this setting. In her defense, the warlock at least used what's called the preserver method rather than defiling. Keru seemed the odd man out (literally, as I once again am playing the token human in a group), but he's curious to see what paths lie ahead as he travels with this most unlikely of group of companions. And honestly, so am I.
Well, that turned out not to be the case, and instead the majority of the group decided to head back over to d20 Land and break out the D&D books. Thankfully, the vote wasn't for 3rd edition or Pathfinder, as I generally abhor the 3.X versions of d20; the closest I'll come to tolerating that system is Mongoose Publishing's Babylon 5 2nd edition RPG (still needs a couple tweaks though, such as implementing Pathfinder's skill system, which is about the only thing from Pathfinder I actually like). So, after figuring I'd never be playing 4e again after my Saturday group pretty much decided they were sick to death of d20 games (which resulted in my Saga Edition AltU game coming to an abrupt end), I found myself having to face playing D&D yet again, a game system and setting that has become less and less relevant to my gaming interests as time wore on. The last time I played was a D&DNext playtest that left me pretty cold.
Now the main reason I didn't bail was because if I had, I could probably forget ever gaming with these folks in the future, as I'd quickly be forgotten as a potential gamer or even GM for the group. But also, because the DM wanted to run a Dark Sun campaign. Now I never really got into Dark Sun during its hey-day under AD&D2e, but a post-apoc fantasy setting did sound interesting.
But the question was: what do I play? From talking with the GM and the other players, half of them were going with Essentials Characters (Half-Elf Sentinel-Druid with Elemental Priest theme and Elf Hunter-Ranger with Wastland Nomad theme) while the other half were going pre-Essentials (Human Sorcerer-King Pact Warlock w/ Templar theme and Dragonborn Wild Battlemind w/ Gladiator theme). To keep with 4e's notion of roles, we've got a Leader (druid), Controller (ranger), a ranged Striker (warlock), and a Defender (battlemind), so the bases are covered. Well, when in doubt, go for the damage. To be honest, I'm of the playstyle that best fits a Striker, so the question was what Striker-class to play? And it was very easily answered, in the form of the PHB3's Monk class. I only got a few chances to play a 4e Monk before, and they were all fun, so I simply rebuilt the Human Monk I'd played before to fit with the GM's character build rules.
We used the standard 22 points to buy ability scores and built our PCs as usual for 1st level, having the option of either selecting a theme or getting a free 2nd level Skill Power. So while everyone else went with selecting a theme, I opted to go the bonus ability route, mostly as none of the themes really fit the character notion I had in mind, that of a young traveling warrior-monk that had embarked on a journey to test his skills and inner character, I opted for the Skill Power, which aside from not having to take the Skill Power feat I otherwise had to qualify for. Easy choice for me, Agile Recovery, permitting my character to stand up from prone as a minor action (something very useful for a high-mobility Striker). Once that was done, we leveled up our heroes to 2nd level, and here was where things got a little different.
First, we only got one magic item, and additional money equal to one-quarter the value of a 1st level magic item. For those that don't know, the DMG suggests when building characters above 1st level, they get three magic items (one of a level no higher than their current level, one of level no higher than their current level, and one of a level at least one level less than their current level) and gold equal to the value of a magic item that's one level less than their current. We could still pick up to a 3rd level magic item, but it was the only magic item we'd be getting, and we only got 90 extra gold (compared to the 360 that a regular character built at 2nd level would get). Being a Monk (who really didn't need a lot of extra money), that was no problem for me, but a few players were a bit upset at this, as they had to choose between a magic weapon, magic armor, a neck slot item, or something with a cool ability. Me, I checked with the GM and he allowed me to take Moradin's Blessing of Iron as my one magic item, which may not be super-powerful but is quite handy since it cuts down on my Monk being pushed and grants me a free attack if I get pulled close to the enemy in question, as well as some emergency DR if needed. Kind of fitting for a Stone Fist Monk I think.
The second change, which helped offset the lack of magic items, was that we're using the Inherent Bonuses option from DMG2, giving us boosts to attack, damage, and defenses based on our level, something useful as the GM plans to keep magic items rather rare in his game, since one of the themes of Dark Sun is the heroes having to survive on their own wits. To borrow a phrase often applied to Star Wars Saga Edition, this is a game where your character is not about your gear, but rather what your character can do. Personally, one of the things I've always disliked about D&D was the over-reliance on magic items, so this was right up my alley.
So next was backstory, which was kind of easy as I was using a pre-existing character. I'll admit to borrowing liberally from the backstory of Mortal Kombat's Liu Kang as well as a couple elements from Legend of the Five Rings. And so, Keru, young Brother of the Order of the Nine Thunders was ready to set forth and boot some head.
And this past Wednesday, we played our inaugeral session, with the PCs having been taken as prisoners of a bandit chief with the intent to sell us into slavery. Needless to say, it didn't go well, and by the end of the fight, we were free, the bandits had been decimated, and the bandit chief had quite a few footprints embedded in his head. Oddly, Keru does not actually wear boots, though that didn't stop me from saying "Boot to the Head!" when using his Flurry of Blows power. Both Agile Recovery and Blessing of Iron paid off, the latter as the the bandit's lieutenants had a power that let them push an enemy 2 squares away, while the bandit chief had an attack power that let him knock a foe prone. Even managed to TKO the bandit chief's main enforcer in one action courtesy of a critical hit using Open the Gates of Battle combined with an mighty ki focus, nearly wiping out all of the enforcer's HP in one blow, and then polished him off with Flurry of Blows ("Boot to the head!") Seriously, it got to the point the other players would declare "and a boot to the head!" as soon as I resolved my main attack each turn. Granted, my Flurry of Blows doesn't do that much damage as I opted to split my points between Strength and Wisdom, but a few extra points of free damage is nothing to sneer at, and it could prove useful with popping minions should the opportunity present itself. I also have to say that the Fallen Needle power from Psionic Power is damn useful against major threats, since it's high damage and inflicts a penalty to hit if they try to go after you, thus making a Striker not too reliant upon a Defender's mark ability to keep said major foe from squishing them, to say nothing of the free shift to get away should a particularly burly foe decide to get in close.
While most of the session was combat, there was some good character interaction, as the half-elf druid was not happy about the arcane-magic using warlock's presence, given how arcane magic has a nasty tendency to ruin the environment in this setting. In her defense, the warlock at least used what's called the preserver method rather than defiling. Keru seemed the odd man out (literally, as I once again am playing the token human in a group), but he's curious to see what paths lie ahead as he travels with this most unlikely of group of companions. And honestly, so am I.
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