Gaming Society.org

So i wake up in a temple of Chardune to the not so impressive sight of Tubby. It seams that I came down with a case a tha dead's. But due to the work of my friends I am now much better. I must say that I did join up with some wonderfull fellas.j so any way we got the book with the information we needed. and headed back down to the little village at the base of the mountain. and sure enough, guess who just rode in. yup, Its that fella agin. no arrows in 'em this time but I'm startin ta think he's an omen of some sort. but he's got some of them vigils wit him. and the lot of 'em escort us back to vesh. good woodsmen these guys. so just as we're gettin to tha capiol we all notice that somethins not right. its another one of those un-natural storms. and its rainin lightin on the capitol. the gates smashed and that damn HAG is flyin around agin. good thing she didn't notice me. well the vigils go help out tha defenders and we hed to tha generals house. theres only one guard on duty and he's not all that bright. but theres blood at tha door. so we let the guard know we're breakin in and we find dead guards inside. I follow the blood trail and find more dead guards. and then we follow the trail to the vault. where we find the captain general all dead. fortunatly the Amphora is still in its safe spot. but it seams that the killer is still here. Its Anna and darn it all is she aint got all the ju-ju goin like its going outa style. the long and short of it is after the first few exchanges I had me about a half dozen different toxins coursin through my veins. but that wasn't the worst of it. 'Cus thats how i came to be lyein face first on tha ground with my ass up on top a the chest in the corner in a most undignified manner.

I swear, I will never trust a fella wida arrow stuck in em ever again.

There will be no post this week as Wendel is curently dead.
(revised due to his new status as formerly dead)

Read more »

We entered the complex, dug around some and turned back midway through some false leads, and eventually found our way into the vault (after slaying lots of zombies). We got into a good old-fashioned knock-down drag-out, and it was going well until we rolled init. We watched the devil and the ratmen kick ass on each other a little bit, then cleaned up the scraps...but Wendel thought he was mortally wounded and made a desperate rush at the devil--who skewered him quite thorougly. After that, Keevas made a spectacular grapple and slew the devil.

The enemy spellcaster eventually ran out of spells and got gang-piled by the party, which was crude but satisfying.

There was loot to be had, but we're not done with the dungeon AND we have a dead party member to contend with.

Read more »

We reached the top of the plateau after a little climb; we met some mountain man in town named Grani who was some help. Once we got to the top, we found some tracks and trailed the ratmen a fair way; found a hidden temple to all the gods, and then encountered the rest of the whole group--they were chatting with Amarrabeth (those bastards!) We dawdled and they went inside, but we slew three of their guards and are ready to head inside.

Read more »

Some significant modifications from the Scarred Lands books, but I belive these work better in 3.5 and in my campaign.

Read more »

Well, ok, so i guess tha Herald of Hedrada wern't such a bad feller after all. An he even went so far as ta fix ma liddel ju-ju problem. Unfortuanatly he tol' us that we were headed in the wrong die-wrek-tion. but I rekin tha mighta been tha case awl-ready. so we head north now and it would seem tha the gids are willin ta help us once more. yep, thay went and made tha river flow backwards. weren't that a sight. so then we traveled north 'cus theres was this flyin cit-a-dell that crashed somewheres up in tha mountains. so we hed up that way an well, we don't quite make it. its wood seem tha one a tha other adventuring groups was supposed to check all the ships goin north. so we talk to em a bit an then hed on up ta the big lake we gotta cross. yep, and guess who's there. that fella wida arrow stuck in em. so he wants to he'p us git accross tha lake an awl an he takes ua back ta tha vigil headquarters and guess what. we git attacked. ahm starten-ta regret feelin bad about all the bad things i thought about him. well we win, still not sure how. and set off immeadiately fer tha far shore. the trip goes well untill 1/2 way accrass we run inta that storm hag agin. well, I up an put mah foot in-er-ass but not afore she wreacks tha ship. so I guess thats why I'm standing on the edge of a lake soaked to the bone and every possesion i own is soaked straight through.

I swear, I will never trust a fella wida arrow stuck in em ever again.

Well we made it. not only did we make it, but we were welcomed with open arms. I tell ya, it shore was nice ta have everything go right fer a change. we got payed, we got some trainin an we were even given rooms fer a few weeks. 'cours then they figerd out what this was all about an asked us to go and do a little research fer 'em. now I will admit that i was a little suspicious but as the head vigil wasn't sproutin any arrows i took it as a good sign. so we agreed and then found out they wanted us to go to Hedrada. Now there are a number of places that I would really like to go and see for myself. Thats kinda why I'm out here exploring the world. Hedrada, ain't any of 'em. And of course who should show up but that fella from the beginin. You know, the fella with the arrow stuck in em. ya well he done recovered and followed us so we got him drunk an all and i was starting to feel bad about all the bad things i said about 'im. oh well, so we head off fer this hedradda and wouldin-a-nowit, it don't go so well. we gets attacked at night, have scary dreams and then this bull headed sphynxs shows up and i go all loopy cusa-da nasty magics bein sent at us an awl. Well thats how i came to be lyein face first on tha ground infrona the Herald of Hedrada.

I swear, I will never trust a fella wida arrow stuck in em ever again.

so we made it outa the steps an all. we found this fort at the base of the bigest lake I ever-did-see. An-as this was are destination, we were a might pleased ta see it. the cap'n asked us a bunch of questions an awl but i did'n pay no mind. there were a coupla merchants in there and a guy with fireworks. I remember thinkin "what in tarnation is a fella doin cartin fireworks across the blood steps for?" well unfortuanatly it would seen the gods heard me thinkin again an done gived me an answer. I'll come ta that in a sec. so we hunker down for the night an I'm enjoying this an all an then on my watch. why is it something always seems to happen on my watch, any way these 2 blockheads went and bought some fireworks. and then went and lit 'em off and scared the whole camp into thinking the blood steps had done come down on em an everything. well the fools were caught and set about cleaning the jacks or some such unpleasentness and all was well till the mornin. yup, tha mornin. so with the dawn came the assault on the fort. an I tell you. lookin out over the wall it sure did seam as if the whole of the bloodsteps wa coming down on us. and then we found out that those firewok guys were actually those lizzerd guys and were after the us. ya. and it would seem that i was once again guy they al wanted to kick in the head. I guess thats why I'm currently face down on the ground with a lizzerd foot on ma face.

I swear, I will never trust a fella wida arrow stuck in em ever again.

October 24, 2004

We made it from the Keep at the south end of the Aquifer of Vesh to Lave. We got the amphora to the head Vigil here, Clemus Dern. We'll spend 5 weeks training and loitering in town, then (probably Clemus) will find us something else to do for him.

Next week, we're trick-or-treating.

Read more »

10/17/04

We are traveling north from where we went ashore to the southern shore of Denevís Aquifer. The first encounter we see is with a giant centipede thatís coming over a cliff. Kylael stops us; it hasnít seen us, but then we approach.

We line up for firing; Kylael runs ahead to get chomped on. End of the first round, a second one arrives.

At the start of the third round, Jhaerol (the horse) is bitten but makes its save. Keevas drops to the ground and starts attacking 1. The other centipede comes up the side of the cliff and attacks Keevas. We shoot it a couple more times, and the first one starts to retreat. Wynígar hits it one more time as itís going over the edge, and it drops.

Wendel crits the second one but it doesnít drop. Eventually Kylael crits it with a flame blade and puts it down. Wendel puts it out of its mercy.

Kylael uses her Heal skill to tend to the horse and Keevas, and she is able to help them avoid the effects of the poison. She knows she can handle centipede poison.

40í down along the cliff face is a cavern entrance; Wendel figures itís a centipede lair. Weíll check it down and if itís not a significant delay, no problem. Weíre on trackless plains. Inside we see it goes in about 50íÖthereís a pile of debris etc in the back where they slept. It will take about 20-60 minutes to look it over. Wynígar, Wendel, and Barril go in to look and search. Thereís some good stuffÖa masterwork scimitar (Asathi), MW long bow, and an aquamarine worth 400 gp. Barril checks; nothing magical.

We stop for lunch after while; Wendel finds a pool for the horses to drink from. We stop around 3 pm to avoid pushing the horses too far.

For the day we all get 240 xp.

Wendel finds us a place to camp for the night and we get +3 to spot checks while on watch. Then he takes 20 to go hide our tracks.

Sitting around the campsite for a few hours, we get some action around dusk (5:30). Goldenleaf spots a strange undulating cloud off in the distance; itís moving against the wind and itís coming over some hills about 300 yards to the east. Turns out sheís seen these beforeÖitís a swarm of bloodmoths. Theyíre swarming vermin that latch on and drink blood. It moves and attacks as a swarm. They are immune to crits, take half damage to area of affects, but they do constant damage and ignore armor. Flames and torches do additional damage, as well as melee attacks. We get AOOís when it moves onto us.

We wonít be able to hide well, and the horses donít stand a chance to hide. We may be able to avoid them by moving on horsebackÖ5 minutes per check. We run the risk of hurting our horses by tiring them out. It will be Wendelís survival check vs their spot; the first one to get three consecutive successes wins. He easily eludes the swarm in about 15 minutes. We get back to camp and heal up Keevas and some of the horses (Barril burns his mulligan).

Night falls. We get 40 xp for the swarm.

Watches: Barril needs to rest 8 hours and be ready by 6 am for praying (as does Goldenleaf). Barril and Goldenleaf will stay up for the early shift, then crash. Wynígar crashes early and then watches all night long. Wendel and Keevas split their sleep.

The night is pretty uneventful until Wendel and Wynígarís time. About half a mile off thereís a flash of light and a thudding sound off to the westóitís like an explosion or something. A bit afterwards, they smell smoke like somethingís burning. The moon is about 19% out, so itís pretty dark. They donít investigate it.

Morning breaks, we pray and memorize, and head out at 7:15 am. We should make it to the Aquifer today.

We discuss the matter of the explosion, and figure that whoeverís chasing us must not have known where we were; if they did, theyíd have attacked us.

We head out. We are traveling along a narrow ledge (100í drop on one side, 30í on the other side). Something smellsÖlike ambush! There is a big shift in some of the rubble, and centipedes come out! Some of us are obliviousÖ

Theyíre crawling up the side of the ledge...thereís a rockpile that theyíre coming up. Turns out to be four of them. Barril misses his shot. Wendel gets a crit on one, but they manage to surround Goldenleaf. The first one starts to retreat back to the rockpile ramp. Then Goldenleaf takes advantage of the situation and crits the one in front of her. Barril shoots 2. 4 retreats to the rock pile.

Goldenleaf is poisoned by one of the centipedes. After another hit, 3 slowly begins to crawl back towards the rockpile. Keevas hits 3 again and it falls down the ledge. 2 retreat. Wynígar chases it and shoots it once more, dropping it down the ledge.

Barril and Goldenleaf stay outside to tend to the horses. Wendel, Wynígar and Keevas head in by light of an Everburning torch. Wendel has his two daggers out.

Inside they find a hallway with five smaller centipedes and the two larger ones. Wendel hits one, which was flat-footed, and kills it (sneak attack). They mix it up with the seven ëpedes and emerge victorious. Wendel gets poisoned (-1 dex)

One of the centipedes crits KeevasÖfor two points. Wow.

Eventually they kill the rest of them. Amongst the chewed up remains is a zircon gem worth 30 gp, a MW hand axe, a suit of half-plate (of dwarven make, not MW but medium size), a MW longbow, and a flask of somethingómaybe acidóthere are burn marks on the seal.

We have a good little discussion about killing nature, etcógiant (meaning monstrous) centipedes are not ìnaturalî, but are abominations generated by the Titanís blood, etc. The kind of weird stuff we find in the Blood Steppes is fair game, or as Eric says, ìWeíre cleaning up the Blood Steppes one centipede at a time.î

At the same time, Barril cautions everyone about needlessly slaying animals, etc.

About 1 pm we stop for lunch. Continuing afterwards, we come within sight of the Aquifer around 2:30. Itís a clear lake surrounded by hills and enshrouded by fog. At one (south) end is a small wooden fortress. This is probably the outpost weíre looking for.

This lake is traveled by merchant ships going south and marks the end of the nasty east end of the Blood Steppes.

We see outer defenses made of earthen berms and some defensive walls. From 200í out, we are hailed. Barril rides up. A dude rides up wearing chain mail.

Welcome to the southern outpost of the Castle of Hellís Overlook.

Their vigilant left weeks ago to help with some raid in the SteppesÖthere are no Vigilants here.

He tells us that inside the walls, they respect the laws of Vesh. Keep our weapons in their scabbards outside the defense of the walls. This is a pretty basic keep filled with barracks, stables, tents, etc. There are about 50 in the garrison. There is a tent used for evening revelryówe may or may not be welcome to drink, but it will likely be expensive nonetheless. If we hear a horn blow, we should report to the walls immediately to help defend them. There is some traffic from Vesh. Leyla is their vigilant; she has been gone for two weeks. We could wait for her, or we could get passage across the aquifer to Vesh where there may be more vigilants.

In Elvish, we comment that Leyla may have been part of Iochadís party. None of the stuff we found in the Steppes is magical. They have equipment here but no ìstoreî.

There is really no money here to buy any of the equipment. We will be able to trade in a masterwork longbow for a normal crossbow, arrows, and bolts. The quartermaster is willing to make the tradeówe ask for one 20-pack of arrows and four 10-packs of bolts, plus the light xbow.

We feed and water the beasts and ourselves. It is 5 pm on June 11.

Ahllle be damned. so the we waited for the boat and got some stuff off'en em lizzerd things. mostly we just rested while the boatman got his men together. he charged us a bunddle to do something he said would be easy. Then things got a little queer. That freaky evil priest comes and visits Keevas, now THERES someone who needs to open up more, and hands him a scroll and tells him his god is all whiney to him about helping us. personaly, I don't really care much if someone wants to give us something . after i get the 'is it gonna eat me' questions outa the way an all, I'm just happy if someone wants to give me something. unless its a fella wida arrow stuck in em. i'm thikin he's probably gunna be eatin it.

so any way, we finaly get owda town and evry things goin awlrite when these damn birds start in after us. you never did see such a thing. they were cuttin peoples arms off an flyin away wit 'em. well I took a couple of 'em out but a couple 'a the sailors are down and out.

ya, and that wasn't even the worst. the next day this hag shows up and tries to kill us. this is getting to be an oftly dipressing theame. all 'a dees nasty things going outa thier way to kill us and all. well we were done for and I started to pray to Tanil and thats when things got a little queer. 'cus these devils showed uand beat the snot outa the Hag. no more storm. but now we can't go north anymore in the little boat so we had the capitan take us to shore. I guess thats why I'm standing on the edge of a river soaked to the bone and every possesion i own is soaked straight through.

I swear, I will never trust a fella wida arrow stuck in em ever again.

Hmmm. It seamed like a nice little town. And after the long walk here it sure was nice to just sit back and reap the REwords of of our last little outing. They even had themselves a little fesitval which sure was nice. Wyn'gar and I tried our hand in the AREchury contest. Did well 'till that string bean of a farmers daughter went and made us look downright AmaTUREist, if'n ya get ma drift. I will say that that sure was one helluva shot. She was easy on the eyes too.

And I'll be turnip plant ifin that guy didin just walk up ta me wida arrow sticken outa em. 'corse we shuda never listen to a fella wida arrow sticken outa em. but no, we had to be all nice an everything and go and heal em and rouse the general alarm cus bad stuff could be coming down on this nice little village. yup, that was dumb, trying to save everybodys lives en all. but we did it, and he lived, and he told us that he had the biggest hot potato I done ever seen. but hell, ifen he's what he says he is and he didin lie, well then that oath we done took'll be worth it I s'pose.

ya know, my first thought was 'we need to run now' but no. we done and gone and listened to to the fella wida arrow stuck in em again and waited for the boat so we kin make better time. I guess thats why I'm currently face down in an ally way with green stuff drooling outa ma mouth.

I swear, I will never trust a fella wida arrow stuck in em ever again.

It has been pointed out to me that people may not know that you will get reward points for posting on Danshouse. This got me thinking that perhaps I can clarify and expand the list, in case I forgot things:

Read more »

I spent a little time looking ahead at some 0,1,&2 level spells for the group. I liked these enough pre-adopt (with some modifications). These are not the only spells out there, or the only ones I will approve, so you can read and ask if you want. Putting these into a more common source, like Brian's help file, or DMGenie, will be worth reward points.

Read more »

After some questions from Eric, it occurs to me that people have been talking about the extra cash they are ending up with (because they can't buy anything bigger, like a mithril shirt).

Rather than allow stuff like the mithral shirt (which you probably will be able to buy fairly quickly once the game starts), I want to encourage lower-scale items that you may not be thinking about.

Consequently, I am requsting that you not have more than 750 in free gold peices (or do your best). Here are some items I think you should be seriously considering, and if you aren't you better have a good reason (better than some meta-gaming "we don't need a cure light potion, we're going to pool our money so one guy can have a cure moderate wand - that's our safety net...").

Read more »

Combat Medpac

This medpac is used when a character is wounded and can't take the time to rest. The combat medpac can heal 1d4 pts of wound damage as many times per day as needed. But, this takes a heavy on the body for every use of the medpac causes 2 pts of attribute damage randomly applied to str, dex, con, or int. When any attribute is reduced to zero the character falls into a coma and will die unless a treat injury roll dc 10 plus the total number of attribute points lost. All attribute points are recovered as per normal.

Combat medpacs can be made masterwork offering a +1,2,or3 bonus.

cost 250
wt. 1 kg

Lord Vader, Message for you sir.....

Read more »

Hereís what we get with b2btv:

ï No less than 13 blogs: Each game session gets its own blog, plus there is a Sunday blog for posts that do not fit under a specific campaign.
ï Hopping between blogs is one click away.
ï The Home page is an aggregate of all the blogs on the system. So you get a quick review of the both games on the front page, then you can drill down to a specific game.
ï Right now, each game blog has two categories: Announcements (mainly for DMís) and Game Logs (for the players)
ï Blog entries can span multiple categories AND BLOGS. So, for example, Joel can post house rules for his Star Wars games, and have them appear in each of the SW game blogs, but only enter them once.
ï Make posts private, so that only logged in members (the group) can see them.
ï RSS feeds for those that are reader inclined.
ï Antispam provisions to keep jerk-offs from posting crap comments. (big issue with MT)
ï A brand new, working comment system

Right now, I would say that the tweaking is about 95% complete and the remaining items are pretty things that Paul is adding. So, we pulled the trigger and made it the live site.

If you still need an account or have any problems, please post ëem to the dnd list and someone will fix it for ya.

Make sure Paul gets an Attaboy for his effort in gleaming the cube and haxzoring the code to make the site VERY workable for us.

Read more »

Quoth Matt: Every game system will break if you throw Dan at it hard enough.