Morfans

Another DCC character for the legendary Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad game. He was a dwarven chest maker that served as a men-at-arms for Ian the Minstrel, later known as Formerly Ian. 

Morfans el Feo

Hobbs & Friends of the OSR zines

This week, after a long wait,  I finally received from Goodman Games the three Hobbs & Friends of the OSR zines by fellow gamer and friend Jason Hobbs.

#1 Excavation of the Tomb of Lorninane - a mini-dungeon location centered around an excavation site.

#2 Bettlebee Ridge - a starting town surrounding the Ridge with buildings, detailing their content and the various people living there.

#3 Halfmen of Hirsute Hollow - DCC adventure to be played between Sailors of the StarlessSea and Well of Souls.

In the first two you can takea glimpse at Jason's homebrew game world called the Emergent Empires.

All of them have cool art by Craig Brasco and Hawk.

You can get them from DriveThruRPG too.

Nimue

This one is a long overdue post about one of my favorites characters so far, one with I've had countless hours of fun and met some wonderful people.

Nimue, a cleric of Cthulhu, was created for a DDC RPG campaign run by Edgar Johnson that would start with The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom.

The rest of the party were:

Banvha the 1st level Halfling
Aram the 1st level Cleric
Vane the 2nd level Warrior
Klaus the 1st level Thief
Grumble the 1st level Dwarf
Jerkal (Gerbil) the 2nd level Wizard

Also, Nimue had a 1st level Warforged named Sybian, an old "murder machine" that we found in an abandoned basement and was given  to her to use in her super creepy rituals.

Here's a little background on it by Adam Muszkiewicz;

"The first thing we found (which happened off-camera and we retconned in as an explanation of where Gabriel's new PC came from) was a man-sized automaton of some sort that we managed to get working somehow and who then joined up with the Purple Tentacle team. Thus, the legend of Sybian the Whoreforged was born. Is he a pleasure-bot of some lost species of super-hedonists? Or perhaps the personal orgasmatron of a dowager-queen from a repressed society of sexual prudes? For now, the only thing that is certain is that Sybian has a "pole-arm" and knows how to use it. Oh, and he has a lantern built into his noggin, so we periodically have to make sure he's all oiled up."

Later, we playtested an adventure that would become DCC #87 Against the Atomic Overlord by Edgar Johnson. I got really excited when Doug Kovacs asked about Nimue to be on the cover. 

DK: I need to sell Nimue to Joseph Goodman.
Me: Tell him she's like a Red Sonja but with dark hair.

DK: Done.

Here'e the video of  What's New at Goodman Games Gary Con 2015 where the module was presented and Doug talks a bit about the characters on the cover, around the 39:00 mark.

 

There are a couple of blog posts about Nimue: Dealing with Dissaproval and The Ritual.

Time to dust off this blog

I've been neglecting this blog for way too long. Almost a year and a half without posting! I guess it's because most of my online activity is now on G+.  

Let's recap what gaming-ralated events had happened since last post:

• +Drink Spin Run - An RPG Talk Show Podcast awesome t-shirt finally arrived. (Mar. 2017)
• Received +Diogo Nogueira 'Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells' RPG after the first one got lost in the way. (Feb. 2017)
• Got my Sons of Gygax t-shirt. (Feb. 2017)
• Received +Doug Kovacs Sketchbook. (Nov. 2016)
• Received a WayneCon t-shirt and swag from +Wayne Snyder. (Sep. 2016)
• Revamped my 1-on-1 PBeM-style Greyhawk 5e campaign on Rizzoma.com. It is set in the Phostwood forest after the occupation of Tenh by the Stonefist barbarians and the forces of Iuz. My only player leads a band of warriors that make guerrilla warfare against the invaders.(Aug. 2016-present)
• Received an AS&SH boxed set I bought from +Michael Curtis. (Aug. 2016)
• Received my copy of 'Null Singularity' by +Steven Bean. (Jan. 2016)
• Also received +Richard LeBlanc CC1 - Creature Compendium that I won on the OSR Christmas Giveaway. (Jan. 2016)
• Received Taylor Frank's zine 'Dungeon Lord: The Wayne Con' issue. (Dec. 2015)
• Received some 'It's Wizard Time!' stickers from +Wayne Snyder. (Nov. 2015)
• Ran D&D for my nephews! (Nov. 2015)
• +James MacGeorge send me a copy and a t-shirt of 'Black Sun Death Crawl'. (Late 2015)

Also I've been playing a lot of games on Mondays/Thursdays on Google+ hangouts. Mainly it's been DCC, but also Traveler, Delta Green, Maze Rats and Black Hack. On 'Wednesdays of OSR' I've ran another Greyhawk 5e campaign, this one set in the Yeomanry/Sea Princes area, play-tested +Craig Brasco's Above Snakes RPG and also played Torchbearer and Runequest 6.

I'll try to post more frequntly from now on.

Another site update

I guess I should write more often or change the name of the blog to "My RPG updates". Well, what happened since last April?

Wednesday nights games (OSR):

- Continued a D&D 5e campaign, run by me, set in Greyhawk (Yeomanry-Hool Marshes-Hold of the Sea Princes area). The group finally exited the tomb unharmed and loaded with all the valuables they have found. A bullywug horde led by a toad-riding Wastrian acolyte was waiting for them. After defeating them, the group decides to find the attacker's base before going back to the town. The trail went North deeper into the swamp, until it reached a series of mounds in the mist. One of them is covered with semi-buried sarcophagi and crowned with a statue of four cobras with jewelled eyes. The thief climbed one of them to pry out the precious stones. Immediately one of the sarcophagi opened revealing an undead yuan-ti that attacked them with magic and sword. With the thief paralyzed, and the fighter badly wounded, it was only the monk's abilities that saved them from a certain doom. After that they went back to town.

- Then switched to a Warhammer (1e) game run by +Craig Brasco set in Urlund, his homebrew setting similar to Westeros in regard to Major Houses and regions of land. Our characters, a noble (Jason), an entertainer (Adam), a pit fighter (Phil) and a woodsman are investigating a series of attacks to a village by Chaos creatures.

- Also rolled a character for a Metamorphosis Alpha game that +Adam Muszkiewicz hopefully will be running after Craig's game. A mutant humanoid with 11 arms, among other mutations. 

Thursday nights games (DCC with the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad):

- Played some DDC Lankhmar run by +Doug Kovacs. "Jumped off building. Stood in 2nd floor window. Watched thieves and murder. That's what I recall from Lankhmar game." - DK

- After that some more DCC in "The Hunt for Red Varza" run by +Edgar Johnson. Ritual murders, house burnings and critical groin hits. Let's see where this goes.

Friday nights games (D&D): 

- Started a 5e game, also set in Greyhawk (Great Kingdom-Alhissa-Solnor Compact area), for a couple of friends from our old F2F group and my wife. Even though we live in the same city, we all have children so it's hard to play F2F anymore. A fighter, a wizard and a thief arrive with a caravan to the Free City of Ountsy during the Forefathers Festival. During the festival assassins attack the crowd, the Duke is murdered and the killer transforms into a hideous monster, that is killed by the characters, The three factions struggling for power in the city, will try to get the group to work for them.

Last update I forgot to mention that +Michael S rebooted his Dark Ages - Southern Seas campaign (AD&D/OSRIC/house rules) after about 4 years. The previous campaign was played on the now defunct Google Wave platform and, since the backups of the old waves were lost, we rolled new characters and started again using Rizzoma. 

Received from +Wayne Snyder his "It's wizard time!" t-shirt, and from +Edgar Johnson copies of  "Against the Atomic Lord", "DCC #82: Bride of the Black Manse" and copies of the original "Blood for the Serpent King" maps, all autographed by the Dr. Rev. himself. Thanks amigos!

The DCC Megazine (The Gongfarmer's Almanac 2015) was published and my article Healing Spllburn was included on Volume I: Men and Magic. You can download the five volumes here. 

Until next update! :)

Site Update

What happened since our last post back in September? Here goes a well deserved update.

Wednesday nights games (OSR):

- Resumed a D&D 5e campaign, run by me, set in Greyhawk (Yeomanry-Hool Marshes-Hold of the Sea Princes area) that we started before GenCon. A mysterious figure is seeking asylum in the Yeomanry from the Hold of the Sea Princes. The party has to meet her at the border and escort her to the city. Meanwhile the Scarlet Brotherhood will try to thwart their plans.

- Then switched to White Sands, an ongoing ACKS game run by +Jason Hobbs, in which we  explore the Badlands of Shaidar legend in the Eye of Opjamar.

- After that we started Griffin Mountain an awesome Runequest campaign run by +Adam Muszkiewicz. A group of initiates passes the tribe's rite to adulthood and become hunters. As the seasons go by their nomad tribe travels Balazar, breaks old alliances and forges new ones, everything amidst an internal struggle for power.

- Now we have returned to the D&D 5e campaign mentioned above. The party is helping to recover a magical mask from a reptilian civilization buried in an ancient tomb deep in the marshes. So far they've bested the swamp's perils and found a ziggurat full of traps!

Thursday nights games (DCC with the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad) :

- Finished a short arc run by +Doug Kovacs that started right after GenCon in which, after exploring the "The Tomb Of Ulla Gandur", what was left of Sybian the Whoreforged humanity got transferred, by the goddess of Nature, into a human body affixed to a suit of full plate armor adorned with an intricate filigree of vines.

- "Un-death & Taxes" run by +Edgar Johnson. An escort mission in which the group must protect the Imperial tax assessor as he makes his rounds of various far-flung hamlets and villages.

- "Into the Lair of the Feculent Swine" run by +Adam Muszkiewicz. Employed by Master Guang-Yuan Jo to retrieve the feathers of the slumbering feculent swine, Jerkal the Blazin', Scorpion Boy and Nimue of Cthulhu from the Divine Order of the Purple Tentacle, along with some fresh faces, have set off for the mountains that separate the Satrapy of Kuth from the Duchy of Karel

Received gorgeous +Drink Spin Run - An RPG Talk Show Podcast and +Wayne Snyder's "Secret of the Serpent Moon" t-shirts. Also received an awesome poster of Metamorphosis Alpha Warden deck cross-section by +Doug Kovacs, and issue #3 of  the +Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad zine. Can't complain about our postal service so far.

Contributed with an article about Healing Spelburn to the DCC Mega Zine.

EDIT: Also received in the mail "The Art of Dragon Magazine"!

EDIT2: And started to play Conspiracy X in a F2F group every 2 weeks.

New DCC monster: The Suarez

The Suarez (Type I Demon)

Init +2

Atk bite +5 melee (1d4+3) or kick stone +3 missile fire (1d4) 

AC 13

HD 2d8

MV 30’ or run 50’

Act 1d20

SP Drain blood, fast healing, half-damage from slam attacks, demon traits

SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +0

AL C

The Suarez is humanoid vampiric demon that roams its native southern grasslands, but can be found elsewhere in the world. Often sought by wealthy tycoons to form their elite guard provided they can paid enough gold. They can change colours between sky blue and white using their chameleon-like ability. 

Though not very bright, they are witty, resourceful and tricky in combat, which they fight to death. While extremely dexterous, resilient to slam damage and quickly recover from wounds, their prime time last a few years. 

Roll 1d7 to know the type encountered (1-2 juvenile, 3-6 adult, 7 senior) and modify their traits accordingly.

EDIT: Every time the bite attack is used the demon makes a Luck check (DC 10). If missed roll for corruption, but if a natural 1 is rolled in the Luck check, the demon is banished to its native Plane of existence.

On magic items

I totally dig this idea +Edgar Johnson came up with in his post The Shadow that Magic Casts.

Basically what (I think) he's saying is that wizards carry with them mundane items that, with time and after successive spells being cast, become magically imbued with the wizard's essence. Then, the can wizard use them as decoys so that the Ones Who Dwell Between couldn't get to him. But you better go and read the whole article yourself.

I can see everyone with wizards in their campaigns start building up these unique magical items. So, how would this work in your DCC game? The way I see it, the player will need to keep track of what items are being getting affected. Every time the wizard casts a spell, make a roll on his equipment list to randomly determine the affected item. 

• If the casting was a success, make a mark on the rolled item.
• If the casting was a critical success make 1d3 marks.
• If the casting was a failure and the item has been previously affected, erase a mark.
• If the casting was a failure and the item hasn't been previously affected, leave it alone.
• If the casting was a critical failure and the item has been previously affected, erase all the item's marks.
• If the casting was a critical failure and the item hasn't been previously affected, the item is then rendered useless for further enchanting. 

Maybe in case of a critical failure the wizard could spellburn to prevent the outcome. 

The DM would need to set how many marks are needed for the item to reach the status of magical. For example, to be  powerful enough as to be detected by the Detect Magic spell.

And now, a couple of questions: What situations attract the attention of the Ones Who Dwell Between? How this is affected by the number number of magic items the party has?

Another playtest

A while ago, I had the honor to be part of the playtest of the Blood for the Serpent King by +Edgar Johnson, which appeared as an add-on of DCC's Bride of the Black Manse by +Harley Stroh. 

Last night we ended playtesting another of Edgar's adventures (code name: Planet X). It started back in late January and we did about 10 sessions, in which almost all the guys from the Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad campaign (+Adam Muszkiewicz, +Wayne Snyder, +James MacGeorge, +Phil Spitzer, +Doug Kovacs  and +Jason Hobbs) were present at one time or another (we miss you +Bear Wojtek).

We hope the adventure sees the light in the near future. Stay tuned!

Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad Zine Issue #1 Now Available!

Congratulation to my fellows +Adam Muszkiewicz, +Edgar Johnson and +Wayne Snyder for making this real. I hope this is the first of many more.

Get Issue #1 in print now! 

Also remember that, as Adam said in his blog, "half of the proceeds from the sale of the pdf [soon available from the usual sites] will go to support StandUp For Kids, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to fight teenage homelessness".

Well done guys!

DCC with Doug Kovacs

On Thursday 12th I showed up, after some missed sessions, to our Metal Gods of Ur-Hadad game. To my surprise, the session was to be directed by +Doug Kovacs!

After some technical problems on my side, I finally joined the hangout and enjoyed an awesome and crazy session. Thanks Doug! As always, I took notes for future reference when I write the session recap.

Only now I had time to write it, and I was almost done with the session recap, when I remembered something. There was really no session ending, since Doug was something like "...well guys, this is all I've got now...", and stuff like that, and then everyone thanked him heartily and then we all left.

So there I was, looking at what I've just written, about to hit the "Publish" button, when I realized, "Shit, were we play testing something and I'm about fuck things up? I need to ask someone!"

Luck check made, I found +Edgar Johnson online, who was getting ready to go to his daughter's band concert. He kindly gave me a minute and, when asked, confirmed my fears. The orginal post got deleted right away and I wrote this one instead.

Thanks to the Metal Gods!

RPGpundit's DCC game

What you're about to read happens in the only world that survived the End of the Universe, which was rescued by the only existing God, now gone mad.

The elves are hipsters that live locked in their domed metal cities. They have technology, which they know how to use it, but don't know how to fix or create it anymore. Outside of the elven cities, a zombie Apocalypse almost wiped the human race. Dwarves are said to have been expelled from their mountain strongholds by the Green Races (goblins, orcs and such). Haven't seen any halflings yet, and the swamp giants are nothing but straw-gnawing rednecks that barter with our community.

Three of not-so-hipster elves from the Rose Dome, who called themselves adventurers, came to our hamlet looking for some ruins. They said were looking for a musical cube that roamed the swamp and killed some giants with lightning. Who can believe such a nonsense? Anyway, Theck the sludge cludger (I rather call him manure technician) took these elves to my shack, while I was reading the runes to "The Other" Kenneth, an elven barista also from the Rose Dome who wanted to be an adventurer but was stranded in our miserable community. 

So there there were Bill and his brother Ted, with "Proper" Kenneth and his hawlcon (some kind of breed between hawk and falcon) to whom I, Moloch the fortune teller, cast my runes and read their future. I just told them a lot of piffle and they gladly gave me a couple of purple opals. Since Theck and I knew about the place, we offered to guide them there. "The Other" Kenneth also jumped in at the chance of being part of a real adventure.

It was night when we arrived at the complex. Three badly damaged metal buildings partially sunk in the swamp. A faded sign in the perimeter fence read "Camp Hee Haw". We checked the largest building, which used to be some kind of cantina, and found a crystal box (a red button appears when opened), duct tape and a roll of silver material (folding tent). We also found a hatch in the floor that was opened after some effort and drained all the water in the room. Something was written in the floor around the hatch and Theck started to clean the area, when we heard a distant cacophony.

Bill cast Sequester on the area, while Ted Summoned some chickens and "Proper" Kenneth hid outside. Soon a huge semi-transparent cube with colored lights and disco music (E.L.O. and other stuff) appeared. Bill cast a Cantrip of some lights in the form of a dancing human which seemed to confuse the cube. Meanwhile Ted sent his chickens to lure the cube into an area thick with swamp gas. The cube took the bait and followed the chickens. Ted fired his laser gun and ignited the gas, which exploded and obliterated the cube.

By now Theck have cleared the mud around the hatch and the sign read: "Camp Hee Haw - Shelter Toxic Waste". We tied one of the surviving chickens to the end of a rope and lowered into the darkness. Something tugged at the rope and we pulled hard, bringing a half eaten chicken and some kind of horrible mutated elf. Theck hit it with the flat of his shovel and "The Other" Kenneth lunged forward with a short sword he'd borrowed from Bill. The creature, injured, let the chicken go and jumped down the hatch.

---

Will continue the session recap in another post. 

Thanks to +Kasimir Urbanski for inviting me to the game. I enjoyed it a lot!

Impulse buying

My RPG wish list has gone down one item, because I've just bought The Dungeon Alphabet (Expanded Third Printing) from Goodman Games. I'm going to have to wait 2 or 3 weeks until it reaches Uruguay, but it's worth the waiting. It was cheaper to have send it directly via USPS, than first to a P.O. box in Miami and then here by a courier.

I guess it was because of the adrenaline still kicking after an awesome DCC session (we're through Jewels of the Carnifex), in which my level 2 wizard, Formerly Ian, spellburned his Strength and Stamina down to 1, and his Agility down to 2. It was a near death situation where he burned 5 points to cast a Sleep, then 10 more points for another Sleep (both with meager results), and finally 1 point to cast Invoke Patron, asking the Metal Gods to smite the enemy leader (some kind of undead demi-god). Like all the corruption he already has was not enough: no hair whatsoever (it grows back naturally and 1 inch with each Sleep spell cast), yellow eyes, shriveled and folded back ears, cloven hooves instead of feet, his Patron God mark in his forehead (Judas Priest cross), and a self-inflicted carving on his right cheek (Derek Riggs logo).

This last spell had him metal spikes grown all over his body and gave each member of the party a +5 bonus on their next action. We didn't die so far, so we might have a chance to make it alive after all.

Let's see if I make another purchase after the next session!

Dealing with disapproval

After the Divine Order of the Purple Tentacle defeated a tentacled monstrosity, summoned by the Bloody Successors on their onslaught to the neighborhood, Nimue knew what she had to do. During the battle, she called upon the favor of the Elder One and failed. Now she will have to appease them. So, before leaving, she ordered her urchin followers to cut a couple of tentacles.

Kormaki, cleric of the Metal God of Thunder and fellow member of the Order, had the Captain of the Gate somewhat healed. The poor bastard lost his sanity when the creature attacked, and spend the battle crouching and whimpering on the doorsteps of a nearby house. She decided he'd make a good offering and sent an urchin on some errands.

That night, dressed in her best silks, and followed by a couple of her urchins who carried between them a coffer of black wood and inlaid with silver, she went to find the Captain. She found him at "The Rare Cauldron" tavern drinking with other officers of House Wazi. While she crossed the main room, the urchins went upstairs, left the coffer in a previously rented room and waited in the corridor. 

Everyone stopped drinking, eating, laughing and speaking as she graciously approached the Captain's table. She leaned over to him, whispered something in his ear and turned away. Such was the power of her mellow voice, that he stood and followed her, without finishing his drink, saluting his comrades or donning his rogatywka.

Once upstairs in the gloomy room, and after a couple of honeyed words, the Captain found himself laying naked on the bed, and before he could ask anything, a gentle touch from Nimue left him paralyzed. What promised to be an exciting night, was soon to become a nightmare. With her back to him, she let her silks fall to the floor as she opened the lid of the ebony coffer and begun muttering a litany. 

When she straddled naked over him, he saw, to his horror, that her arms have been transformed into tentacles which she sensually wriggled all over him. Sheer waves of pleasure swept over him, as she contorted and repeatedly called, in a strange language, for He who awaits asleep in the depths...

ya Nimue mnahn' Cthulhunyth stell'bsna ee ngfhayak hlirgh orr'e

Candlelight flickered and extinguished as an unfelt gust passed over it. The Captain silently screamed in terror, as he felt his soul sucked into a void of utter darkness by hundreds of hungry tiny tendrils, taking away the deceitful moment of elation. Tears of joy ran down Nimue's cheeks as she realized that her offering has been accepted.

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.

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.

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.

Seasons Greetings

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