My second "convention"

Well, we don't really have conventions down here, but as I once said here, I like how it sounds. :)

I had prepared a Labyrinth Lord adventure and was really excited about DMing again for people that are not my regular players. But things not always go as you plan.

I should have been there earlier, because upon arriving there were already five tables, four of them (D&D 3.5e, Transformers, Marvel Heroes and Dresden Files) were full with 5 or 6 players each, and one with only two players. Since it looked there weren't any more people coming, I decided to join this last table.

The setting was Tron: Uprising using tweaked Mutants & Masterminds rules. Being familiar with the setting only through the movies Tron and Tron Legacy (TIL there were also comics and series), I must say I enjoyed it very much. It was an infiltration mission: hack someones's identity disc, get into a spaceship, retrieve some information from it and sabotage some tanks it was carrying as a cover-up. We finished early because we chickened out and skipped the fight with the boss. Why fight if we already have the information we came for?

I proposed then a short LL game, but two guys wanted to try The Day After Ragnarok so, never having played it, I tagged along. A group of 4 mercenaries, working for MI6, sail to an island, in Japanese occupied SE Asia, to retrieve the blueprints of some WMD from an abandoned base. The side of the island we arrived was littered with shipwrecks so I suggested to circle it. "Since I've been running this adventure no one ever suggested that!", laughed the DM. Upon turning the eastern cape we saw a Japanese destroyer anchored and quickly turned back, anchored between the shipwrecks and went ashore. We found a crazy old Nazi scientist which we interrogated and learned where the base was. He tried to drug us with some food, then escaped, he was then shot, captured and killed. We found the abandoned base deep in the jungle: barracks, labs and office buildings, an airfield and a huge hangar laid there deserted. We approached the hangar and were met with gunfire from the inside. Retreated to the tree line chased by Japanese troops and a German mechwarrior. We managed to escape back to the boat and away from the island.

The bad: I couldn't DM and get my LL Society points.

The good: I had the chance to play two games I haven't played before.

Seasons Greetings

Thanks +Wayne Snyder, fellow adventurer from Thursday's hangout DCC game!

The Hairy Wizard Formerly Known As Ian The Minstrel

Yes, I couldn't come up with a suitable name, so that's it. He's the survivor of my DCC funnel for the "Return to the Crypt of the Lizard King" adventure, which you can read about here and here on +Edgar Johnson blog. 

He's a chaotic cultist devoted to the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad, which you can read about here, on +Adam Muszkiewicz blog, who is now DMing the "Slaves of the Silicon God" adventure. 

He wears a purple robe embroidered with golden tentacles, wears the Helm of the Lizard King and is very hairy, thanks to the mercurial effect of 1'' of all body hair growth every time he casts Sleep. Lately he's been experimenting the effects of powdered space tentacle. Will he get a ticket for CUI (casting under influence)?

We're in the city of Ur-Hadad, after exploring a ruined temple in the jungle, that was inhabited by some curiously intelligent ape-men. Let's see what the Metal Gods and +Edgar Johnson has prepared in the near future, when we explore the  "Mysterious Temple of the Serpent God"...

Thanks to +Bear Philippe for the picture.

STR 5, AGI 14, STA 10, PER 10, INT 18, LCK 7

EDIT: He became Formerly Ian after all the corruption he suffered through different adventures: hairy, eyes of different color, legs of different length, wobbly legs, sores and more.

EDIT2: He became Formerly Formerly Ian after magically healing all corruption and reverting to his original form.

EDIT3: He appeared on the back of the second issue of the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad zine drawn by +Wayne Snyder. It was also in a tshirt and stickers.

Shakespeare Insult Kit Roller

"Thou !"

EDIT: Download the html here!"

Shakespeare Insult Kit

Will certainly use this with my DCC wizard. :)

To create a Shakespearean insult roll 3d50 and combine one word from each of the three columns below, prefaced with "Thou":

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
1	artless	base-court	apple-john
2	bawdy	bat-fowling	baggage
3	beslubbering	beef-witted	barnacle
4	bootless	beetle-headed	bladder
5	churlish	boil-brained	boar-pig
6	cockered	clapper-clawed	bugbear
7	clouted	clay-brained	bum-bailey
8	craven	common-kissing	canker-blossom
9	currish	crook-pated	clack-dish
10	dankish	dismal-dreaming	clotpole
11	dissembling	dizzy-eyed	coxcomb
12	droning	doghearted	codpiece
13	errant	dread-bolted	death-token
14	fawning	earth-vexing	dewberry
15	fobbing	elf-skinned	flap-dragon
16	froward	fat-kidneyed	flax-wench
17	frothy	fen-sucked	flirt-gill
18	clocking	flap-mouthed	foot-licker
19	goatish	fly-bitten	fustilarian
20	gorbellied	folly-fallen	giglet
21	impertinent	fool-born	gudgeon
22	infectious	full-gorged	haggard
23	jarring	guts-griping	harpy
24	loggerheaded	half-faced	hedge-pig
25	lumpish	hasty-witted	horn-beast
26	mammering	hedge-born	hugger-mugger
27	mangled	hell-hated	joithead
28	mewling	idle-headed	lewdster
29	paunchy	ill-breeding	lout
30	pribbling	ill-nurtured	maggot-pie
31	puking	knotty-pated	malt-worm
32	puny	milk-livered	mammet
33	quailing	motley-minded	measie
34	rank	onion-eyed	minnow
35	reeky	plume-plucked	miscreant
36	roguish	pottle-deep	moldwarp
37	ruttish	pox-marked	mumble-news
38	saucy	reeling-ripe	nut-hook
39	spleeny	rough-hewn	pigeon-egg
40	spongy	rude-growing	pignut
41	surly	rump-fed	puttock
42	tottering	shard-borne	pumpion
43	unmuzzled	sheep-biting	ratsbane
44	vain	spur-galled	scut
45	venomed	swag-bellied	skainsmate
46	villainous	tardy-gaited	strumpet
47	warped	tickle-brained	varlot
48	wayward	toad-spotted	vassal
49	weedy	unchin-snouted	whey-face
50	yeasty	weather-bitten	wagtail

From http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mayxidtQo51rcikrto1_1280.jpg

Thanks Joey Lindsey on G+ for digging this up.

EDIT: Download it here!

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad - Session 3

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad is a campaign played every Thursday on G+ Hangouts by Edgar Johnson and Adam Muszkiewicz using Dungeon Crawl Classics. We played our third sessions and finished exploring the Crypt of the Lizard King.

From my four original 0-level characters, a corn farmer, a dwarven miner, an urchin and a minstrel, only the minstrel survived and advanced to be a 1st level wizard.. The urchin died on the first session killed fighting against some bandits, the corn farmer died on the second session killed by a trap, and the dwarven miner died on the last session.

Helm of The Lizard King

Type: Helmet; AL C; Powers: (see below).

• If someone puts on this helm, it will bond closely and permanently to the person's head. The helm may be removed by magical means, but no mundane means short of decapitation will do so. 

• Wearer gains a 3 point bonus to for any task involving influence, leadership, or persuasion. 

• Grants the wearer the ability to find his or her way while afloat on water, and to detect currents and hazards like rocks, reefs, whirlpools or storms. 

• Unless the wearer is of chaotic alignment, he or she will lose 1 hit point per day unless the helm is removed. 

He was killed after trying the Helm of the Lizard King on since he was of lawful alignment and had only 1 hp left. Death by treasure! That was a first one. :)

And that's how my chaotic minstrel now become wizard inherited all the belongings of the dead 0-level characters, including the Helm, he's now wearing.

Session 3 - http://revdoctoredj.blogspot.com/2012/11/session-3-recap-metal-gods-of-ur-hadad.html

Castle Amber - FLAILSNAILS

A long due session recap. On October 20th I played in the gran finale of Castle Amber game by Shawn Sanford. 

The party:

Sol Irthosian, Fighter level 6

Kellan, Illusionist level 8

Zingaro, Cleric level 3

Grogar Nox, Fighter level 1

Sir the Fist, Cleric/Fighter/Magic User levels 5/5/5

Grimpaw, Cleric level 3

Malice, Assassin level 5

After killing the blue dragon and a wyvern last session, the group continued exploring the tomb in search of Stephen Amber. Gimli kicked a door open only to find a 14' tall stone giant not happy at all to be interrupted in such a way. Kellan used his Wand of Wonders and to our fortune the giant was slowed. Everyone closed to attack it and rapidly it fell under the blows of the groups. 

He had a chest that Gimli opened with a crowbar and inside we found 5000 gp, a magical sword, an ivory scroll case and two vials. Sir the Fist rushed to read the content of the scroll case, but alas it was cursed and he turned into fly inside an amber stone. Luckily one of the clerics had a Remove Curse memorized and he was back to normal. Grogar went for the long sword and felt something when he held it. It was a sentient sword! It was a +1/+2 vs. spell users sword, but also could detect traps and invisibility at will. Meanwhile Grimpaw couldn't decide which vial taste first, and so he checked the vials for marks or tags, the he smelled them, checked their colors and consistencies, but still was undecided. Sir helped him by grabbing one and drink it. One was a Potion of Clairaudience and the other a Potion of Invisibility.

Then we found a manticore in another room and Kellan used again his Wand of Wonders, this time engulfing the whole room in darkness. Then Sir the Fist threw a Fireball into the darkened room. One of the clerics dispelled the darkness with a Light spell and everyone threw missiles at the manticore that retaliated with its dangerous spikes. After killing it we found its treasure, about 3000 gp, all melted. We cut it into nuggets and distributed it among us.

There were two doors in that room. One led to a room with fiery walls and an ember-covered floor, that we decided not to explore. The other has a small beach beyond the door and was full of water. Sir the Fist and Sol (or Grogar?) flew in the carpet and spotted a huge Great White. Someone suggested to start chumming the waters with the manticore and so we did. That lured the shark close enough to fire missiles at it while shooting at it with guns from above. We also chummed the water more with manticore poisonous spikes inside the entrails. The shark ate them and died.

Across the room another door led to a room occupied by a 5-headed hydra! Several intents to attack it from the carpet went wrong. Kellan suggested to go invisible. He cast Greater Invisibilty on Gimli and Sir flew it to the hydra. While Gimli battled single-handed the hydra, Sir flew Grimpaw, then Sol, and the Sir himself descended. The hydra was soon dead.

From there a single door led to the tomb of Stephen Amber. A tapestry hung behind the coffin and Sol prompted us to burn it. We did so and a robed man with a golden crown appeared. We had saved the king!
Everything vanished in a mist and we were all back to the castle, where the king tanked us all and produced from his robes valued gifts for everyone.

Gimli got a ring worth 10000 gp and Malice the Elf Assassin with his gift was able to pay his debt to the dwarf. 

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad - Sessions 1 & 2

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad is a campaign played every Thursday on G+ Hangouts by Edgar Johnson and Adam Muszkiewicz using Dungeon Crawl Classics. We played two sessions and so far it's been a blast!

This is my first time playing DCC and beginning with four 0-level characters is really fun, since the variety lets you do things that couldn't be done with only one character. It's a simple game system and the game fast-paced. I begun with a corn farmer, a dwarven miner, an urchin and a minstrel. The urchin died on the first session and the corn farmer on the second.

Session 1: http://revdoctoredj.blogspot.com/2012/10/metal-gods-of-ur-hadad-session-1.html

Session 2: http://revdoctoredj.blogspot.com/2012/11/metal-gods-of-ur-hadadcrypt-of-lizard.html

Era RPG Game Intro @ DriveThruRPG

In April 2012 my friend Gerardo Tasistro created UY RPG Publications, and now is launching a preview of its first creation, the Era RPG:

Click to download

"This booklet will introduce you to the basic mechanics and game play for Era in the Imperium setting.  Imperium is set in the world of Raakad.  A mixture of Greek and Roman cultures, crisscrossed by nomadic tribes, mystical forest creatures, elves, dwarves and foul orcs."

Now available for downloading at DriveThruRPG!

Hidden Temple of the Five - FLAILSNALS

Last week along with +Gerardo Tasistro, we took up +James Aulds offer to enter the "Hidden Temple of the Five" for a quick one shot. James wanted to test it before showing it to his group.

A mudslide on the side of a hill known as "The Pit Hill" which revealed a flight of steps going down into the depths. Morgan the Barbarian, Antii the Specialist and his follower Lutka the Fighter explored the place. I came with this map but seriuoslyI doubt it is accurate:

This was James' feedback after the session (my comments between brackets):

"general dunegeneering common sense, spiking doors, probing with poles (100xp)

using brazier boats and not becoming giant catfish food (100xp) [It was a cool idea I guess, and we were lucky in our rolls too.]

[Regarding the brazier boats Gerardo said later on a post: "I did not take my armor off while crossing an underground river on a bronze disk for a boat. I mean, my character was an INT 7 barbarian so OK, maybe I was playing character, but to be honest it didn't spring in my mind to warn the other player."]

defeating sake para elemental (375xp) [It rose from mouldy rice and water!]

gemstones (8) in 4 pairs (total 315 gp) [We found this in the garbage after killing the sake elemental.]

• red pair (80gp)
• green pair (70gp)
• yellow pair (120gp)
• small blue pair (45 gp)

trying to talk to/taunt a ghoul (10xp) [It emerged from one of five leather covered pits and after trying that, we fled. Luckly because there were five of them!]

fleeing bettles (25xp) [They were under the sand guarding six stone statues, and appeared when Antii went to try to put the gems back into the statues' eyes. He tried several times and when he failed. James said: "You know, they might not be magical gems..." :)]

burning the mold room (150xp)

totals 430xp for each player and 215 xp for the henchmen

yall were not really in much danger at anytime with your levels since i did it for a 1st level group but thank you for popping it open

the towns folk are raising a group to try to kill the five armed ghoul now, they will most likely meet the goblins that are being sent in after yall tomorrow night, and a catfish and some irritated beetles"

We had a great time and would definitely like to play with the guys again.

Familiar bags

This magic item is based on this article by Erik Tenkar. Art by Teo Tayobobayo.

The Familiar Bags, are a set of three tiny leather saddlebags with bronze buckles, the size of a small pouch, that can be strapped to the back of the spell caster's familiar. Each bag can hold 2 cubic feet or 10 pounds of material. In that way the caster can can store spell components, vials, potions or even coins and gems. 

A set of Familiar Bags weights 3 pounds and costs 1250 gold pieces.