BECMI D&D cover 3D sculpture at Lucca Games & Comics 2024

A wonderful 3D sculpture of Larry Elmore's famous art piece for the cover of the BECMI D&D edition appeared this November at Lucca Comics & Games 2024 (Italy) and it was painted live for the audience by artist Silvia Corso.

More pictures of this wonderful rendering can be found in the D&D BECMI Italia page on Facebook.

Campaign update

After the characters managed to disrupt a ritual in the (Hidden) Shrine of the Elder Elemental God from D4 City of Spiders, the power balance in Erelhei-Cinlu was severely altered. As House Eilservs and its allies were exposed as followers of the EEG, the other houses along with the Fane of Lolth, swiftly moved to punish the heretics.  

The characters were in part also responsible of the failure of the Eilservs' plans with the giants in the surface. After dealing with the problems in the Vault, Eclavdra would certainly seek vengeance, directly or through proxies, for all these setbacks.

Taking advantage of this schism, the dissidents of the Vault decided to push forward their plans. Through their leader, Nilonim, they came in contact with the party, helping them leaving the Vault. They managed to do this disguised as slaves in a drow merchant caravan. 

In return, the rebel leader asked them for their support in one of two important missions to the cause: 1) rescue Teregim, Nilonim's second in command and recently captured, from the dungeons of the Fane of Lolth before the priestesses have the chance to torture and question him, or 2) help Captain Eclan and his crew (Area B2/24 Encyclopaedia Subterranica) hijack the two galleys from the Fane's wharf cavern (Area 20 D3 Vault of the Drow). 

"Captain Eclan has been in contact with Nilonim and together they plan an uprising in Erelhei-Cinlu. In the chaos of the uprising, they hope to lead a mass escape of slaves and other disaffected inhabitants of the Vault by way of boats and barges on the Pitchy Flow."

Encyclopaedi Subterranica p.99

Virtual Greyhawk Con 5

 

Another Virtual Greyhawk Con has passed where I had the chance to play in a couple of games on Saturday and on Sunday attend "Ask the Experts" seminar.

The first game was Shield Land Patrol run by Anna B. Meyer who was testing an early build of her Hawk Tales FRPG ruleset.

"Join a Shield Lands Patrol to guard the Needfest (CY 599) celebrations. Guard the frontier of the liberated lands against Iuzian machinations." 

We managed to avoid some undead scouts and a murder of strange crows and ravens that could change into other awful things, ambush a stray broken wagon guarded by goblins and trolls, to finally infiltrate the Iuzian camp. There we found not only goblins, orcs, and mercenary men from the North, but also Iuzian clerics and their bone-claw guards led by Vedvenek, a flock of dretches and their skull-masked shepherd, and Glushnag the Mighty (hobgoblin Bar15) with his hobgoblin army. 

There was a brutal and bloody end to it. You can watch the stream of the game here on Anna's Twitch channel.

The second game was Zavod written by Carlos A. Lising for OSRIC. 

"A terrible theft has occurred at the famous Menagerie in the Free City! Daring bandits have managed to steal into the zoo of the fantastic and spirit away a mated pair of prized Rust Monsters. Will your group of heroes be able to locate the valuable monsters and return them safely?"

Since we were only two players, each of us was managing 4 characters, two rangers and two druids. We managed to avoid most of the dangers, even an enraged owlbear that we stopped with an Entangle spell and talked it down with a Speak With Animals and some rations, and got to the final scenario where we faced the responsible for the missing creatures and its fearsome bodyguards.  

One of my rangers fell in the final combat but was saved by the druids and the final boss was in the end subdued with a Charm Person or Mammal spell that allowed us to get to the rust monsters, take them back to the City of Greyhawk and get the reward. Fun time.

On Sunday the closing "Ask the Experts" seminar hosted by Jay "Lord Gosumba" Scott and Anna B. Meyer with legend Roger E. Moore, Denis "Maldin" Tetreault, Allan T. Grohe "Grodog", Joseph "GreyhawGrognard" Bloch, and Carlos A. Lising as guests. Greyhawk Achievement Awards were given to three very deserving persons: Roger Moore, Anna Meyer and Carlos Lising. Congratulations! It was a very emotive moment.

You can watch the stream of the seminar here on Lord Gosumba's Twitch channel.

Norebo's Gamble

I came up with this house rule for a player's character, half-orc fighter/cleric, to add some flavor to the class.

Clerics of Norebo can call their deity's favor once a day. All results are valid for the round the call is made.

Roll 2d8.

2. Gambler automatically hits his next attack or makes the next saving throw.

3. One enemy gets a -3 to his next attack or saving throw.

4. Gambler gets a +2 to his next attack or save.

5. One enemy gets a -1 to his next attack or saving throw.

6. Gambler does maximum damage on his next attack.

7. Nothing happens. Lose 50 gp/level.

8-10. Nothing happens. Lose 100 gp/level.

11. Nothing happens. Lose 50 gp/level.

12. One enemy does minimum damage on his next attack.

13. Gambler gets a +1 to his next attack or saving throw.

14. One enemy gets a -2 to his next attack or saving throw.

15. Gambler gets a +3 to his next attack or saving throw.

16. One enemy automatically misses his next attack or saving throw.

Order of the Gauntlet

Back in June 2023 I led my group into the Giants' trilogy (G1-2-3 modules), but it started in a somehow different way inspired by a short fiction story called Return to the Steading by Bart Carroll that appeared online on Dragon+ magazine.

Even though the story was set in the Forgotten Realms, it could perfectly be applied to the World of Greyhawk.

"Commander Steeplejack had led the original raid against the steading, gathering other heroes from the Order of the Gauntlet. While some in his party had continued on, advancing their fight against frost giants and fire giants farther north, Steeplejack stayed to claim the steading for his own stronghold."

Based loosely on that part of the story I came up with an alternate start to the trilogy:

"A party of adventurers from the Order of the Gauntlet have recently attacked the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief and, while the hill giants were fighting them, the orc and ogre slaves have turned on their bugbear and hill giant guardians. The adventurers inflicted huge casualties, slaying most of the giants and routing the rest (females and younglings, a couple of stone giants and a fire giant) but had to retreat due to heavy wounds and shortage of spells. Despite that, the raid was considered a success and their efforts were needed elsewhere. The ogres and orcs now control the place and, in a show of despise to the giants that had them enslaved, they have beheaded most of the corpses, setting their heads in pikes on the entrances to the steading."

Later on the story we can read:

"[...] recognized Gleep the Eyebiter, Cloyer the Magsman, and Roaky Swerked—all heroes from Steeplejack’s original party."

So, I ditched this Commander Steeplejack completely and had the Order founded by the original tournament characters that appeared in the G1 module.

• Gleep Wurp the Eyebiter (human, MU12)
• Cloyer Bulse the Magsman (human, T13)
• Roaky Swerked (human, C12)
• Frush O'Suggill (human, F14)
• Fonkin Hoddypeak (high elf, F5/MU8)
• Flerd Trantle (human, C9)
• Redmod Dumple (dwarf, F9)
• Faffle Dwe'o-mercraeft (human, MU9)
• Beek Gwenders of Croodle (half-elf, R9)

Then, I made them agents of the Kingdom of Keoland that operate mainly in the Earldom of Sterich and Duchy of Geoff, and to a lesser extent in the Gran March and the Yeomanry. There are chapters of the Order on each of the aforementioned realms to gather intelligence about the giants' activities and coordinate actions against them in the he Crystalmist, Jotens and Hellfurnaces.

Finally I created the Order's heraldry using CoaMaker.

The party came in contact with the first three members of the Order (Gleep, Cloyer and Roaky). Also had a new player character being a low rank member of it, that was held prisoner in the dungeons of the Hall of the Fire Giant King (G3) and rescued by the party.

Patreon

I financially support the following content creators on Patreon:

• Hobbs & Friends - RPG podcasts, zines, and other RPG related material
• Anna B. Meyer - Fantasy Cartography
• casl Entertainment - unique Role-Playing Game experiences
• Greyhawk Grognard - videos and articles about gaming, and quarterly adventures

I've also joined for free the following creators (any donations will go to upgrade these memberships):

• The Greyhawk Project - new and exciting material inspired and influenced by the first two great fantasy role-playing campaign settings.
• Oerth Odysseys - Mason Fantasy Cartography, D&D Campaign Adventures
• Gaxx Worx - Explore the World of Okkorim with Luke Gygax
• Kristian Richards - terrain, props, maps and miniatures for TTRPGs

Please consider supporting them too!

Familiar Link

I introduced this ability to the magic-user class as a house rule in my AD&D 1e game, in order to give more flavor to the bond between the magic-user and his familiar.

Familiar Link: The magic-user, if he concentrates as when casting a spell, has a 10%/level ability to establish a telepathic connection with the familiar. This percentage is modified by the distance to the familiar (-2% per mile) and the maximum distance to establish the connection is equal to the range of the Find Familiar spell (1 mile/level). The connection will last as long as the magic-user is focused on maintaining it. Through that connection he will be able to feel the same as the familiar feels, and also send simple commands, as long as they do not go against the familiar's survival instinct.

Colonial RPG project

I have an ongoing project, slowly advancing, of writing a RPG (in Spanish) set in colonial South America, more specifically the era of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (roughly what are now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia), in the context of the years of the revolutionary process of independence (c.1810). 

It is called "Cimarrones" in reference to the wild dogs descended from the original Alano Español dogs brought by early colonizers and later released or abandoned. They adapted to live in the wild highlands and grew in number attacking both livestock and people alike. The Cimarrón is nowadays bred as guarding or hunting dog.

The game incorporates magic, through the shamanism of indigenous ethnic groups, African spirits and the Catholic faith, as well as fantastical monsters based mainly on local folklore. We must take into account the vision of the colonial era, in which, when defining races in the Middle Ages, Europeans arbitrarily categorized humans into white, indian, black, and the cross between them into mestizo, mulatto, and zambo. Each of the races has modifiers to the attributes, as well as restrictions on the classes they can access. The available classes are Baqueano (scout), Chamán (shaman), Guerrero (warrior), Jesuita (cleric), Macumbero (witch doctor), Matrero (outlaw), Pai (priest) and Payador (bard).

The character's social class will determine how much money he or she has at the start of the adventure. They available social classes are: Aristocrat, Landowner, Bureaucrat, Free professional, Small merchant, Farmer, Artisan, Free man or Slave. It is worth clarifying that the life of an adventurer is not compatible with being a slave, unless the GM allows a character of this social class to be a slave of another character.

"El grito de Asencio" by Diógenes Hequet (1866-1902)

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

Spiral Con 3

In the link below you can find a full rundown of events.  They're all online and times are all EDT.

https://spiraltowerpress.blogspot.com/2024/06/spiralcon-3-online-saturday-july-27th.html?m=1

They'll also have a Valheim video game server set up from Fri night to Sun morning.

Unnakhon

Unnakhon is a young human magic-user sent to a prision island accused of the death of his master. After being dropped unceremoniously on a rocky beach and a couple of hours walking inland he arrived at the town of Oily Messy. The entrance to the Black Maw mega-dungeon (a Dungeon23 creation of Michael "ChgoWiz" Shorten) on a hill near the beach. It's the place where everyone goes inside to get rich enough to get out of the island or die trying...

Ther rest of the party are:

Elmon, the elven fighter
Fenric, cleric of Gulliver
J, the  coughing fighter
Guy Pasteur, cleric of La Matron
Scale, the elven mage

S 7, I 13, W 11, D 14, Co 14, Ch 7

 

Quildor

Quildor is an elf from the forests near the city of Pentastadion (Fomalhaut). He casts his spells not from a spellbook, but from styled vine tattoos on his skin. Once a spell is cast, the leaves of the vine wither. To restore spells he must rest with the tattoos in contact with the ground, regaining Nature's force. 

S 15, I 12, W 11, D 14, Co 15, Ch 15

Virtual Greyhawk Con 5

 

Save the dates and get your badge now at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2024

Gary Con XVI

A long postponed Gary Con XVI post.

After about 19 hours that included three flights (Montevideo - San Pablo, San Pablo - Atlanta and Atlanta - Milwaukee), we finally arrived at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and took an Uber to Lake Geneva. I was travelling with Javier, a long time friend and player in my Greyhawk campaigns.

Almost there!

Finally!

Wednesday 20th - Met with online friends Jason Hobbs & James Richards at the Fairfield. Then took the shuttle to the Grand Geneva for the Con registration. At the entrance I met with Erik Mona and shared an anecdote from GenCon 2014, 10 years ago! While at the registration queue met with Aron Clark (who we were staying with), Stu Clark, Jarret Crader, Jay "Lord Gosumba" Scott and Anna B. Meyer. Later at the bar met Diogo Nogueira from Brazil, also after 10 years. Then after dinner we had a Holmes & Clark game run by Aron Clark.

Erik Mona

Stu, Jason, Bill, James and Javier

Diogo Nogueira

Stu, Javier, me and Aron Clark

Thursday 21st - We had our first scheduled game "The Sample Dungeon" from Holmes Basic rulebook run by Thom Hall. Awesome game! At the exhibitor's hall met with Doug Kovacs, also after 10 years. Met with Carlos Mondragón an online fellow gamer and Greyhawk fan from Mexico. Meeting Larry Elmore & Jeff Easley again was a great pleasure and honor, and Darlene for the first time too. Bought signed prints from all of them. Then headed for a Greyhawk Seminar where I met Mike Bridges, who signed the Complete Castle Greyhawk comic book. Just before dinner had the chance to meet Luke Gygax and after dinner we had an Old School Essentials game run by Jason Hobbs.

The Sample Dungeon (DM Thom)

Diogo, Doug Kovacs and Javier

Carlos Mondragón

Larry Elmore

Jeff Easley

Darlene

Mike Bridges

Luke Gygax

Jason, ?, Aron and Javier

Friday 22nd - Woke up to Lake Geneva covered in snow! Headed for the Grand Geneva where I met Michael "ChgoWiz" Shorten & his wife Angie. Been playing in Michael's PBP games since maybe 2016 and more recently in his online game. Then had our second scheduled game "The Doom Beneath Welkwood - Part One" run by Timothy Jumper. Although it began a bit late, it was a great game. Met with Carlos A. S. Lising and had an enlightening conversation about Greyhawk. The miniature sets for the "Battle of the Moathouse" and the "Battle of the Temple of Elemental Evil" were simply mind-blowing. For dinner I had the pleasure of meeting Adam & Katie Muskiewicz and their lovely kids Stan & Wyn.

Snow!

Michael Shorten

The Doom Beneath Welkwood (DM Tim)

Carlos A. S. Lising

Moathouse

Temple of Elemental Evil

Saturday 23rd - We stayed in Lake Geneva and did the D&D Pilgrimage Tour. I guess we were the only people walking around town. Visited the Horticultural Hall, the Gygax Memorial, the Library, RJK's childhood home, Gary's childhood home, and the Birthplace of D&D house. There we had a Chainmail Miniatures game at Gary's basement. It was my first minis game ever! Then visited the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum and spent some time talking with the owner. 

D&D Pilgrimage Tour map

Gen Con I was here

Gary Gygax Memorial

Appendix N corner & Throne of Reading

RJK's home

 

Gary's home

Birthplace of D&D

Chainmail game

TSR's first HQ

At Gary's former office

Justin Lanasa

Sunday 24th - Last day of the Con had an early game with Carlos A. S. Lising where we playtested a scenario. Loved his DMing style. Then had another miniatures game, Chaos Wars, with Michael Shorten. Headed to the exhibitor's hall for some last minute purchases. Met with Allan "grodog" Grohe who was manning his Black Blade publishing booth. I have the pleasure of playing in his online Castle Greyhawk game. Also after 10 years, met again with Wayne Snyder at the DCC booth (no picture duh). 

casl game

Chaos Wars game

Allan Grohe

Monday 25th - Breakfast with Allan Grohe, Victor Raymond, Javier and Aron Clark, where we talked about the hobby, Greyhawk, Empire of the Petal Throne and more. Can't believe we forgot to get a picture. Then visited the Lake Geneva Museum to get the D&D 50th Anniversary t-shirt before heading to Milwaukee to catch the plane back home.

Lake Geneva Museum

Cheers to a life well played!

It was a dream come true. A once in a lifetime experience. So glad of personally meeting for the first time so many people I've known online for so long (Aron, Hobbs, Stu, James, Michael, Allan, Jarret), meeting some new ones (both Carlos, Mike, Jay, Anna, Victor), and to see others again after many years (Adam, Katie, Doug, Diogo). Had a great time!

Finally, thanks Javi for joining me in this adventure, Aron for letting us crash at that wonderful cottage, my wife Rous for her support, and my son Ivan for forgiving that I missed his 13th birthday.

Greyhawk - Random coin origin generator

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