Tonight we honored the DCC spirit

Tonight we had the most brutal DCC session since we started playing the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign. After almost having not one, but two, TPKs in the same combat, four of the six characters walked out alive. Absalom the Elf, Aram the Cleric, Morfans the Dwarf and Formerly Ian the Wizard emerged from the Undercity of Ur-Hadad with the bodies of Jerkal the Wizard and Claive the Fighter, after fighting the Toothmen shaman and his guards.

Things started rolling downhill when Jerkal misfired a sleep spell, sending all his allies but Formerly Ian asleep. The standing wizard managed to wake up Claive and send several Toothmen, including their shaman, asleep, only to be brought down by the guard leader. Claive charged the brute, waking everyone up with a mighty deed. Aram healed Formerly Ian, who in his turn also misfired a sleep spell, sending all his allies asleep but Morfans. The dwarf managed to woke everyone up with the same mighty deed while charging the guard leader. The toothman attacked Formerly Ian bringing him down, again. 

By now the shaman was awake and cast a huge fireball on the party. Only Aram and Morfans saved. Now Aram, after healing Absalom, had the difficult task to chose, between Jerkal, Claive and Formerly Ian, which one will he save next. Meanwhile Morfans charged madly at the shaman almost killing him. Formerly Ian saw the light, while Jerkal and Claive met their maker. The survivors, fueled by the death of their companions, renewed their attacks on the toothmen, killing the shaman and the guard leader. The last two toothmen in their last stand managed to bring Formerly Ian down for the third time, after being hacked to pieces.

By killing the shaman toothman the group saved Vayne from the collar-bomb.

Claive, we'll always remember your attack sprees with the Spear of the Lizard King. Jerkal, we'll always remember your Flaming Glands. You'll both be missed.

The ritual

One by one the seven men arrived to the house. They were received by an grim looking warforged that gave them a key. They were ordered to get into a side room, remove every possessions from themselves, which could be locked into one of the seven chests available, and to return wearing only a black hooded robe. Not one of them dared to contradict Sybian, the pole-armed automaton.

Each was led through a set of double doors into a bigger room. A bed covered in black silk sheets stood enclosed by a circle of also black candles, all lit, but their light was not enough to reveal the whole room. Ten feet from the candles were seven mahogany and leather seats forming a circle. A stool with a silver goblet containing an unknown beverage stood next to each seat.

One by one, in silence, they took their places. All kept their hoods up. No one spoke. No one dared to to look around or taste what was in the goblets. When the seven men were seated, they heard the doors being closed... and locked. The air, sweetened by the candle's smoke, filled with expectation.

"Welcome...", said from the surrounding darkness the same mellow voice that asked them to come today. Nimue, clad in a translucent silky gown that left nothing to imagination, entered the circle of light and lay graciously on the bed. "Please drink...", she said with a vague gesture and they, with their eyes fixed on her, obeyed. She knelt and started to hum while contorting her almost perfect body. The light of the candles flickered as her gown fell, her humming and sinuous movements gaining tempo.

Then everything went dark.

Chairs screeched and fell. Stools tumbled. Goblets clattered through the floor. Cries, gasps, pleas, screams could be heard as the purple tentacle beer made effect and the ritual reached its climax. All the hidden fears, obscure desires and lowest urges crept from the deepest and darkest corners of the seven souls. The humming went on as the unnameables rose from murky blackness to claim the offerings.

Each time one of the seven were taken, a wave of absolute pleasure invaded Nimue's body raising the pitch of her humming. Surge after surge of delight and joy rippled through her body until all yelling, bawls and bellows subsided, and she lay gasping, sweaty and exhausted on the bed.

Then everything went silent.

Won a minor magic item

How? I won The Preakness 138 contest set up by +Erik Jensen! Had to name the first two horses across the line, winner/closest gets a minor magic item based on those horses' names. The contenders were: Orb, Goldencents, Titletown Five, Departing, Mylute, Oxbow, Will Take Charge, Govenor Charlie and Itsmyluckyday. I chose Oxbow because of the owners' colors (black and yellow) were the same of my favourite local soccer team, and Itsmyluckyday because I just felt lucky.

Being Gimli my main FLAILSNAILS character:

"Gimli stumbles across what seems to be a length of ribbon snagged on a tree; although wary for a trap of some sort, he plucks the adornment from the branch, and instinctively knows its magical worth.

The Oxbow Lucky-Day is a 16" length of supple, tanned ox-hide, just over an inch wide, decoratively forked at each end. When worn in the hair and tied in a bow, the Oxbow Lucky-Day provides its charm - the wearer's first saving throw each day is at +1. Should the wearer ever mistreat a bovine while wearing or carrying the magic strip of leather, the Oxbow Lucky-Day will dissolve into dust. (For the record, stabbing a minotaur would technically count as 'mistreating a bovine' for these purposes)."

Gimli will tie his bushy red beard with the new-found charm, just above where he tucks it into his belt.

Thanks Erik!

Dungeons of Dread Illustration Bookltes Online as Free Downloads!

"Welcome to Dungeons of Dread, the archival collection of adventure modules S1 through S4. All four of these scenarios are durable fan favorite's that have stood the test of time, albeit for very different reasons…."

Nicely done WotC!

What Kind of D&D Character Would You Be?

I Am A: True Neutral Human Wizard (5th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-11
Dexterity-12
Constitution-11
Intelligence-12
Wisdom-15
Charisma-12

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day Blogfest

Blog word count

http://timc.idv.tw/wordcloud/en/

Oskara Xiann

Oskara, a Twi'lek Bounty Hunter, is one of the pre-gen characters of the Star Wars Edge of the Empire RPG game.

"Oskara was always quick, clever and lucky enough to stay ahead of the press gangs... but her sister Makara was not. When Makara was nabbed by Aqualish thugs, Oskara had to act fast to keep her sister out of the mines. She offered her own unique services to the gang leader instead, claiming to be an experienced bounty hunter. Suprisingly, her first job for the gang went well and Oskara soon thrived under the tutelage of a veteran bounty hunter named Gyax. She was called on to perform more and more duties for the spice mining gang, and as long as she did well Makara was safe.

But then Oskara was "loaned out" to a Hutt gangster on Tatooine named Teemo. And things started to come undone. Teemo paid her quite well, but in the course of her bounty-hunting work for the Hutt she uncovered a plot against the Ryll-mining gang on Ryloth. The Hutt was going to seize their territory... and there would be no more guarantees of safety for Makara. Oskara decided to team up with Teemo's favorite gladiator, a Wookiee named Lowhhrick, and one of his best pilots, a human named Pash. Alongside her new companions Oskara has sent a warning to her compatriots on Rhylo and is now fleenig Teemo's revenge.

Oskara seems jaded and cynical at first, having seen much of the worst the galaxy has to offer at a young age. She is careful not to get too attached to anyone or anything. She is a professional bounty hunter and takes a serious approach to her work. focusing on results rather than any emotional considerations."

BRAWN 2 AGILITY 4 INTELLECT 2 CUNNING 2 WILLPOWER 2 PRESENCE 3

EDIT: I decided her to have Xiann as last name; a commonly given name meaning, "spider" in the Twi'leki language.

Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I always wanted to play the Star Wars D6 RPG but never got the chance, so when +Adam Muszkiewicz announced this game, I immediately jumped in. I didn't know what EotE was, so I walked into the hangout convinced I was going to play SW D6. Really. :)

Then when the mechanics were explained I thought/said, "Hey, this is much like _Hollowpoint_!" which I guess was the first thing I played via hangout ever. I liked it so much that I even bought the rules. 

Now back to SW. And then, when everyone got their characters ready, the intro was played. I was like "Geez, I'm gonna be in Star Wars movie!" 

From the available pre-gen characters I chose to play Oskara, a Twi'lek bounty hunter. The shooting-piloting-sneakiness combo was too good to miss. I got the chance to do a lot of shooting with a blaster carbine (killing gamorreans and storm troopers) and a laser canon from a YT-1300 (destroying TIE fighters). Also some sneaking guiding the group through the alleys of Mos Shuuta. Hope to do some piloting next time.

The rest of the group escaping from "Mouse Shita" like Bear said were:

+Bear Wojtek  - Pash, Human Smuggler

+Wayne Snyder - Lowhhrick, Wookie Hired Gun (Gladiator)

+Nathaniel Hull - 41-VEX, Droid Colonist (Medic)

+Larry Moore  - Mathus, Human Technician

Thanks to Adam and the rest of the guys, it was a great game. I'm looking forward the next session!

Attack of the Frawgs - Session #2

Last Monday we played the second and final session of the DCC module Attack of the Frawgs. 

The characters spent the night in the brewery at the shores of the Dead Goblin Lake. They had to restrain the intoxicated ones, including the brewer, to prevent them from running into the woods haunted by horrible hallucinations. The night passed without any incident, though nobody really had much rest. In the morning they questioned the brewer about what happened, but the poor man couldn't say much. For him it was only a bad night with worse dreams, product of having too many samples from his newest brew. He asked the party to keep this to themselves, since he had a reputation to keep, and shared what food and good beer he had.

Since +Bear Wojtek couldn't make it, we decided his funnel would return to the town of Sagewood, with the bodies of the dwarven rat-catcher and dead trapper. After they left, the rest gathered to decide the next step. The elven navigator climbed to the second floor of the brewery and, with his spyglass, checked the northern shore of the lake. Meanwhile the minstrel recalled a tale about a cave behind the waterfall, but the noble and the barrister argued it was not a tale. The barrister said that the previous owner of those lands, a quarrelsome one according to the noble, was sued by someone who had an accident there, for not having that area properly signposted about its dangers.

That settled the matter and the party decided to explore that area. They took the long route following the trappers' path around the lake. The short route, through dense wooded hills, was discarded when the elven forester spoke of dangerous creatures from the Black Corruption lands wandering the area. On their way, they came across three fiendish crabs feeding on the corpse of a trapped gicastor, but stayed away from them. Upon reaching the northern shore, thanks to the elven forester, they managed to avoid a couple of gicastor's traps. Now the party had 4 traps!

Then they found an inlet where the water stank, and dead fish and birds floated on the sludge, along with the corpse of some kind of humanoid. The radish farmer tried to use one of the traps, attached to a a length of chain, to fish the corpse from the viscous mire. He failed and the sludge splashed on him burning his skin. The  poor thing was already dead when he fell on the trap. It sprung and closed its mandibles on his corpse, spilling his guts in the water. Gruesome sight.

After that, the elven forester picked up a trail of large webbed footprints in the muddy shore. They led to the waterfall and the cave beyond. The elf tied a rope around his waist and started climbing the slippery rocks. His eyes were adjusting to the lack of light, when a croaking sound came from the cave and a big humanoid figured, wielding a seashell mace, towered over him. Meanwhile the parsnip farmer started to climb but slipped, couldn't keep his balance and fell, splitting his head on the rocks. The rest of the party make it to the top while a smaller frawg a makeshift spear joined the fight. This scrimmage ended with the big frawg fleeing into the cave badly wounded and the smaller one and the urchin dead.

+Adam Muszkiewicz summed what followed very well:

"I'm playing through +Stephen Newton's module Attack of the Frawgs and up until this moment, the weirdest thing was giant beavers. Then, all of the sudden, things got really strange, and very DCC!"

The party lit some torches and pushed into the cave where they we attacked by two hopping frawgs, while the wounded one stood by a female creature that was laying mucous covered eggs in the back of the cavern. When she saw the attackers, she bleated a deafening screech and started to lay the eggs into a stream. The party split with some fighting the hoppers and some closing on the spawning creature and her guard. Some even dived into the stream to prevent the eggs reach the lake. After a bloody fight all the foul creatures were defeated , but the dwarven miner, the noble and the rope maker died in the fight.

The survivors make it back to Sagewood without further incidents, where they were received as heroes and spent the night in the local tavern telling the curious about their recent adventure.

As treasure they found, "a leather satchel ornately decorated with the embroidery of a kraken raising from the sea. It was designed with loops to carefully carry  3 long thin objects about the size and shape of candles.", a pouch with an iron key (brewery), a periapt, another scales and several eggs. They sold the scales, the periapt and the eggs to a cleric and sage, and the traps to a dealer.

Every surviving characters got enough XP to make it to 1st level:

+Adam Muszkiewicz (Dwarven miner, Parsnip farmer, Elven Forrester, Minstrel)

+Justin Williams (Dwarven herder, Elven Navigator, Noble, Radish farmer)

+Tim Mulry (Elven Barrister, Urchin (f), Ostler, Rope maker)

Oh, and btw I've also got The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk to run!

Metal Gods of Ur-Haddad - Last Session

+Wayne Snyder summed up last night session pretty well:

"I was feeling pretty kick ass last night when I maxed out the rolls for Jerkal the Blazin's Flaming hands spell last night. Twice! Dude was a virtual walking flame thrower. Awesome. Only to be completely side lined later in the same turn when The Wizard Formerly Known As Ian cast Sleep and his mighty dice had him sleep every enemy in the room (5) who wasn't already asleep from his previous Sleep spells. The blood fueled sci-fi and sorcery birthing chamber of the hideous serpent men was looking like serpent man sorcerer sleep over party and we calmly walked through poking holes in the sleeping snake men like it was nothing. Ian is the sleep master. When it's good, it's so good, and when it's bad, he's in a magical coma for a week."

The Wizard Formerly Known As Ian cast 5 Sleep spells in a row, sending into a deep slumber between 2 and 4 serpent men each time. And grew five inches of hair too! That streak granted him the nickname of "The Sandman".

Having defeated the serpent men and destroyed their wicked breeding machine, the party, instead of leaving the place (Chuck and Jerkal were paralyzed, and Vayne badly wounded), decided to keep exploring for more treasure. That's when Wizard Formerly Known As Ian ran out of luck or lost the favour of the Metal Gods. He fumbled a Sleep spell and fell into a coma. With the serpent men closing in the group grabbed their out-of-action comrades and ran the hell out of the Mysterious Temple of the Serpent God. 

We sailed all the way back from Samsara to Ur-Haddad avoiding a huge storm. Upon arrival, we handed the Eyes of the Serpent to Amor Ba'Gish, the wizard who employed (and poisoned) us, along with the chest  full of platinum bars we were supposed to give Balas Forktongue (who we found dead, tortured and killed by the Serpent kin) as payment for the Eyes. After receiving the antidote and a succulent reward we headed to celebrate, with the promise of more jobs from the wizard.

25.000 visits!

What can I say? Just thanks for taking the time to drop by this humble corner of the web. :)

Brom

Brom the Ranger started as a 3rd level NPC in my LL/AEC sandbox campaign in Blackmoor (Greyhawk) now on hold. He was a guide for the party during the firsts sessions and then, when they grew more powerful, he returned to his homeland.

He must be in his late 20's or early 30's, but you can't exactly tell because of his weathered skin. He keeps his beard short and carries his long oily black hair in a plait. He wars a leather armor with studded shoulders and carries a longsword, a longbow and a hunting spear.

That was it until +Gabriel Harley set up a FLAILSNAILS LL/AEC game for 3rd level characters, set in his world called Evenoria. It was his first game via Google+ Hangouts and everything went really well. I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to the next session.

The rest of the adventuring party were:

• +Charles W played Orias the Toad, a Curmudgeon. 
• +Chris Hales played Nack the Monk 
• +Nathan Black played Henry the Fighter.

You can read the session recap here.

STR 16 DEX 18 CON 12 INT 12 WIS 12 CHA 11

Attack of the Frawgs - Session #1

Last year I won the DCC module Attack of the Frawgs on a contest by Tenkar's Tavern and I promised to DM it on a G+ hangout sometime. And that time came yesterday. Since some guys from the Metal Gods of Ur-Haddad game were on Spring Break, and didn't want to wait a whole week to play again, I jumped in and put this game up. It's been some time since I last ran a game and it was my first time running a DCC one, so I must confess I was a bit nervous.

"Your day began with typical banality and after twelve hours of hard labour you were settling in for a quiet dinner of stewed pork and ale at The Brave Trapper Inn. Many locals were enjoying each other's company as well as their meals [when] Torfist crashed through the door and everything changed. "We've been attacked!" Torfist cried as he staggered in bloody and disheveled."

And so an "angry mob with torches and pitchforks" went into the night to find what happened.

+Adam Muszkiewicz (Dwarven miner, Parsnip farmer, Elven Forrester, Minstrel)

+Bear Wojtek (Elven forrester (f), Dwarven rat-catcher (f), Beadle, Weaver (f))

+Justin Williams (Dwarven herder, Elven Navigator, Noble, Radish farmer)

 +Tim Mulry (Elven Barrister, Urchin (f), Stablehand, Rope maker)

The group was a balanced mix of experienced DCC players (Adam and Bear), and completely new ones to the rules (Justin and Tim).

After about 3 hours of gaming we did almost 2/3 of the adventure with only the dwarven rat-catcher killed by a gicastor (bear-sized beaver), the dwarven herder limping after stepping into a gicastor trap and the weaver tripping balls after drinking tainted water.

So far they killed a gicastor and two freshwater crab fiends. They found a coil 50' of of rope ("Loot by the foot!"), two gicastor traps (someone suggested to join them with a chain and make a crazy nunchaku), a pair of climbing boots, 6 clubs, 4 daggers, 2 hand axes and a sling. Also found the body of a dead trapper, the local brewer hallucinating in the brewery and a strange scale hidden there.

Thanks guys for joining the game and see you next Monday for the grand finale!

P.S. Thanks to +Stephen Newton for writing the adventure.

Read An RPG Book In Public Week

Gygax magazine

Gygax magazine will be available on January 26th at 2pm EST.

http://gygaxmagazine.com/

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.

No sympathy for the devil

Having drawn the Flames* from a Deck of Many Things at the Wampus Country campaign, Gimli went to the Stump-Witch to get some insight on the subject.

Stump-Witch: "I can see you've a devil's eye upon you, Gimli of Geoff. I can divine the devil's identity - although not a true name of power, of course - for a price. Will you exchange a favor for a favor, brave earth-kin?"

Gimli: "Sure, wise old lady. I swear on my clan's honor I'll fulfill your request if you provide me the identity of this devil and how can I defend myself from it."

Stump-Witch: "Listen closely, bearded one. The devil you have offended is quite implacable - you have had a hand in the destruction of his scaly lover, and, hearing of this, has placed a bounty upon your head. Many creatures of the various hells know your name and your scent, Gimli of Geoff. How best to defend yourself? I cannot say - perhaps you could seek out this devil and slay him, of course... but in the meantime, a show of force might dissuade those diabolic bounty-hunters, leaving you with but one devil's hatred. Surely that is a gain? Go with your elf-blooded companion [Sir the Fist of Uther] and sail upon dark and forgotten seas. There will you find the loose end of a string - the other end of which is held by he who would slay you. Hew close to kin to increase your chance of survival in the coming weeks, earth-blood."

"As my information was meager, so too my request. Gimli of Geoff, I charge you thus: find ye a good church or abbey, young and struggling, and aid it in some measurable way, even if it costs you personally. The path you tread in the coming nights is dark, and you must light torches along the way."

Gimli: "You've got a deal lady", and spits his hand and extends it to the witch.

The Stump-Witch has quite a grip - and a bit of a smirk.


Later in the HMS Apollyon, at a bar in Sterntown, Gimli came across a Sea Witch, with kelp for hair and a ragged shawl. He consulted her about the devil issue. The witch took a bag, shook it and dropped some fish bones on the table. After staring at the bones for a while she screamed "Seek the great Leviathan!", before running out of the place.

He looked forward to kill the bug-eyed Baatezu lord named Mhalchris, just to prove this devil that nobody messes with this dwarf, but the way the events unfolded prevented such encounter.

We'll see how this develops in the FLAILSNAILS universes...

* Flames (QC) Enmity between you and a devil.

Awesome FLAILSNAILS games (long post)

Pathfinder 

(Sept. 28th; GM: Reece Carter)

Kellan the illusionist, Garreth the fighter, Sir the cleric/fighter/magic-user and Verreck the wizard, we were exploring a cavern complex searching for Jolie Squarefoot's hydra. For some reason a barbarian king of the North wanted the lich's pet dead. For Gimli it all begun with him trapped up to shoulder level by ice at the bottom of a pit. Kellan used his magical kettle to pour hot water on and around the dwarf to melt the ice.

Once free Gimli climbed up a Rope of Climbing and the party continued exploring. The group came to a huge cavern full of dead bodies that came after us. Kellan used his Wand of Wonders, and almost all the cavern was engulfed with darkness. We quickly retreated and crossed the pit to make a stand. Various missiles and a rolling Flaming Sphere spell were enough to kill the undead. All of them bore in their tattered and burnt leather armors the symbol of the lich, a 7-point star.

Back in the big cavern the darkness was almost gone and we found an exit, and an altar with hydra heads. when the darkness disappeared, it revealed the rests of an hydra chained to a pillar in the middle of the cavern. I don't know if it animated when the altar was disturbed or when someone got too near. The thing is that it begun biting and shooting ice rays. Kellan used again his wand with various results, being the best a giant frog double force gust of wind that dropped a stalactite on the hydra, impaling it. Garreth, Sir and Gimli (who drank a Potion of Speed) closed to attack, while Verreck cast spells summoned a giant frog. Even if some heads grew back we managed to defeat the undead beast, and return to the barbarian king to claim our reward.

Wampus Country

(Oct. 5th; GM: Erik Jensen)

"During a break in the action between delves to Crumbledown, two of the usual suspects - the Rat-Bastards Ornibus and Abel - entertain several visitors to Wampus Country by means of a picturesque picnic on a hillside. Very quickly, Abel asks if the newcomers want to see what he has in his pocket - a deck of many things .

Elsjinn, egged on by Sir the Fist, draws a single card, the Comet , and she feels her potential short-term destiny shift. Not to be outdone, Sir the Fist draws two cards - the Gem followed by the Moon . Jewelry tumbles out of nothingness, which he quickly collects (save the bits stolen by Elsjinn and her chipmunk); further, Sir the Fist has a wish to make - and soon, before it expires.

[Gimli did indeed pull from the deck the Flames and earned the enmity of the devil. Gimli later talked to the Stump-Witch about that, but that's on another post.]

While chuckling over their good fortune regarding the deck , the picnickers are startled by a monstrous roar, and a forty-foot rooster lumbers over the horizon, headed for the sleepy frontier town of Thistlemarch (which the Rat-Bastards call home at the moment). Concerned that the giant chanticleer might destroy the town, the adventurers spring into action, attempting to steer the beast by frightening it, and warning the townsfolk.

In the end, Elsjinn uses her ability to speak with animals to convince the rooster to steer clear of the town and return to the picnic, where it is fed stalks of corn and some magically-enhanced grasshoppers. Yet that feast is insufficient, for the rooster has many wives who also require sustenance. Calling up on the powers of the Serpent God Sethet, Reverend Jones also speaks with animals and warns the rooster that Ornibus' brother-snakes may be en route. Panicked, the rooster runs back to its home farm - with the adventurers in hot pursuit.

Back at the farm - belonging to Ernie Pyewackett, the guy who trains goats - the view is dominated by a half-dozen thirty-foot hens. Our heroes witness I giant hungry hen swallow a horse in a single peck. Abel uses hypnosis to calm the hens while Ornibus commands the rooster to sleep; Gimli checks on the frightened farmer and assists him in gathering flammables for a potential terminal barbecue.

Meanwhile, Sir the Fist investigates the intact chicken-coop, and finds that the seed corn in the trough has been magically altered, perhaps by someone pouring a potion of some sort overtop of it. Obviously, in such a situation, the right thing for a cleric of the God of Magic to do is to eat the rest of the corn as quickly as possible in hopes of becoming a giant.

Growing to a good thirty-five foot height, the now-naked Sir the Fist suggests using the black lotus powder in his kit to put all the chickens to sleep; through the use of some euphoric mushrooms to gather the hens together, and a potion of flying so Gimli can bomb them from above, this is accomplished, and all the giant chickens are subdued.

There is, however, one problem. Thanks to his detect magic spell, Sir the Fist can see that there is still a transformative process going on inside the chickens - just as there is within himself. He uproots a tree and crushes the heads of the hens, lest they grow larger or wake; simultaneously, Elsjinn steps into the rooster's beak and drives a weapon into its brainpan. The flesh beneath the feathers is roiling and bubbling even though the rooster is dead, and in mere moments the rooster explodes in a poultrytechnic display which scatters raw chicken meat across the barnyard; thankfully, Elsjinn tumbles to safety.

The hens, of course, are due to blow, so the adventurers hide in and behind the barn, and soon six giant chickens explode in sequence like a string of Chinese firecrackers; it takes several minutes for all the chicken chunks to come to earth, but when the thunderous sound of wet slapping noises ends, our heroes are hale and hearty. Or are they? It quickly dawns on Sir the Fist that he will be the next to explode in due time...

The adventurers high-tail it to the Stump-Witch, who has previously assisted Ornibus with curse removal (see also: The Platypus Incident). Sir the Fist trades a book of necromancy from the HMS Apollyon to the Stump-Witch in exchange for the cure, and he shrinks back down to normal size without exploding. He then utters the wish he gained from the deck and summons to his side a flying carpet."

Gimli took 10 iron rations of "barbecue chicken pemmican" for free from Mr. Pyewackett, and also bought a guard-goats. They were on a 50% discount for those who saved his life, just 15 gp! They have stats as a guard dog. Read more about the guard goats here.

Castle Amber (X2)

(Oct. 6th; GM: Shawn Sanford )

Sol, Noggin Threeteeth, Gustav the Beligerant, Sir the Fist, Grimepaw, Kellan and Gimli had all but one artifact, a mirror, needed to find the tomb of the lost Amber. They needed to take out a magic user and his 100' tall flesh golem and the village magistrates would give it to the group. A magic powder must be sniffed by the golem in order to be defeated. Five doses of this were given to the group. With his flying carpet and  spyglass Sir the Fist quickly spotted the creature, and along with Noggin they flew to intercept it. The rest followed on horse at a safe distance.

In his first pass Sir the Fist managed to hit the golem square in the face, and it collapsed to the ground. From a basket that was hanging from the golem's back emerged the magic user who threw some Magic Missiles to the attackers. Meanwhile Sol and Gimli charged at the wizard, who promptly fell dead. Back in the village the last artifact was given to the group along with a 10.000 gp reward..

The ring touched the mirror and melted into it, the potion was poured on the blade of the sword which absorbed it, and finally the sword hit the mirror, and both artifacts exploded into pieces. An amber mist surrounded the party and when it dissipated, they were in front of a roughly square construction of amber wit no other entrances that a huge pair of doors inlaid with the crest of a phoenix and a crown.

Grimclaw cast Prayer, while Sol and Gimli pushed the doors inwards and in the middle of a very large room, and a blueish reptilian figure could be seen laying atop a pile of silver and gems. The first bolt of lightning  hit Gustav the Beligerant right in the chest almost killing him. Noggin tried to hide in the shadows. Gimli gave him a Potion of Extra Healing before closing into melee. Kellan cast Mirror Image on himself. Sol and Sir charged. The combined attacks of the group were no match to the wyrm, whose head was chopped by Gimli, honoring his nickname: "The Dragonslayer".

Continuing the exploration of the tomb the group found several rooms matching the Elements of Nature: a room with fiery walls and embers on the floor, a room with stone walls and mud on the floor and a vast room  with a trail of clouds. In this last one, Sir and Noggin flew in on the carpet to explore. The were soon attacked by a wyvern that managed to hit Noggin with its sting. The poor thief failed his save vs. poison and begun slowly to die, convulsing. Sir was also hit, but managed to resist the effects. He evaded more attacks and flew near the entrance where the rest threw missiles and spells at the flying creature killing it. After joining the group, Kellan gave Noggin to drink an Elixir of Life, stealing the thief from the grasp of Death.

HMS Apollyon 

(Oct. 7th.; Gustie LaRieu)

"The above brave flailsnails took a dubious commission from the Monastic ancient technology hoarding marines of the HMS Apollyon, to "deal" with a troublesome Batezu lord named Mhalchris. After trying to sneak into the back of the monster's domain to deliver a letter, and being singed by a set of exploding runes - the band decided to meet with the bug eyed devil and his court of bug eyed diabolical friends. Refusing the Devil's drinks the party discovered that a threatened "storming" of Sterntown was only an alternative to fulfilling the terms of a contract Mhalchris made with one of the passenger class families. The only way to meet the contract was to bring the last surviving member of the Haldivar family. The scion proved to be a small bug eyed child, rotting away guarded by an elderly servant and several large constructs that cracked with electricity. Despite the boy's good manners the band discover he was a terrible bloodthirsty twit and his caretaker open to bribery. They took the boy back to Mhalcris and were only somewhat surprised that the child was his own grandson and that the Devil wanted him out of family loyalty to protect the boy from the enemies that had wiped out the rest of his family."

Gimli got this Black Onyx Band, which is in act a Ring of Protection from Earth (20 Charges). The ring keeps Earth Elementals and such from attacking up. Expend one charge to drive an Earth Elemental off as if with a fear spell (they get a save). Spend charges of 1 per HD of elemental to dominate and control an Earth Elemental for 1 year (it also gets a save).

Nikola-T

Nikola-T is my character in the Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE-1) campaign run by David Williams via G+ hangout. 

Nikola is a scientist, a new class from the Henchmen Abuse blog that you can see here, that has chosen Wired Reflexes (+1 Dex) as his first Scientist Power and Enhancement. He lives in the city-state of Denethix, that is ruled by  Feretha (a somewhat indifferent, and quite reclusive, insane wizard tyrant). It's a relatively good place to live anyway.

He forms part of the occasional salvage parties that scour the land, trying to reclaim ancient artifacts and books. Also, of caravans that sometimes travel to the coast to gather salt, which is a scarce and expensive commodity.

He belongs to the Cult of Science, that believes Science as a literal god, one who performs miracles through formal physical processes. That is why he has his clothes dyed white, the color of the cult. As protection he wears a flak jacket also dyed white and carries a knife.

STR 12, DEX 13, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 9

READ AN RPG BOOK IN PUBLIC WEEK

Roll For Initiative / The Evil GM contest

Yes, it's another contest and the prize is none other than a copy of the AD&D 1e reprints done by WOTC!

Rules:
- First Edition Core Rules style only.
- A Halloween theme'd adventure.
- Minimum of 25 rooms with boxed text.
- Pictures optional.
- Full text of monsters.
- At least a hand drawn map, keyed with numbers.
- In word or PDF format

Due date:
Nov 1st, 2012 -- 11:59PM EST*

*Note: Contest subject to cancellation due to lack of entries. All entries become properity of RFI and WGP, LLC.

More details here.

EDIT: I think that for this contest, I will expand my Shrine of the Rodent God with a second level...