Back on the Wave

It's been almost two years since Chicagowiz canceled his Dark Ages campaign on Google Wave. Then came the announcement of the complete Google Wave shutdown and there were no sites that fully support this technology. Dark times indeed.

Now, thanks to the guys from Wave in a Box (WIAB) and Michael's will to see a game using his Ultima RPG material, the old band is back together for some old school gaming.

Google Wave will turn it off completely on April 30

"Google Wave—We announced that we'd stopped development on Google Wave over a year ago. But as of January 31, 2012, Wave will become read-only and you won't be able to create new ones. On April 30 we

will turn it off completely. You'll be able to continue exporting individual waves using the existing PDF export feature until the Google Wave service is turned off. If you'd like to continue using this technology, there are a number of open-source projects, including Apache Wave and Walkaround."

It's sad to see something good (at least for online gaming) go down. I have backed up all my 1-on-1 game waves and will closely follow the developement of Apache Wave and Walkaround. It was good while it lasted.

Today I ran my first "convention" game.

Well, it was not really a convention but I like the way it sound. It was more a gaming day ("VII Jornada De Rol De Invierno De Caballeros De Montevideo") that's organized in winter to gather non-perishable food and/or warm clothing to be donated. You can check about the event here and here (both links are in Spanish).

I wanted to run a short low-level adventure using Labyrinth Lord and after some search I bought "Ruins of Ramat" at DriveThruRPG.com. I thought that a short adventure for 4 to 6 1st level characters with pregen ones to speed things up, would be a good choice for the event. I talked about it with my fellow players of our Google Wave game, and I learned that Rob Conley (Bat in the Attic) uses it at conventions. I knew I was on the right path. Thanks guys for all the tips!

And since I'm a "Knight of Dangerous Quests" of the Labyrinth Lord Society, I'm posting a couple of pics (yes, I want those points!) that document the event.

Thanks to all the guys that joined the game (clockwise): Giancarlo, Pedro, Esteban, Rodrigo, Pablo and Leonel.

Update

I've never been a prolific blogger and now with my two-month son blogging came to a near halt. But at least I owe my followers an update.

My two Greyhawk campaigns are officially and indefinitely on hold. I'm currently playing AD&D/OSRIC on Google Wave (which it's possible because I follow it from work ;->) and Millenium's End once every two weeks. That reminds me that I never posted my ME character.

Now a friend that just returned from Japan (he was the DM of our Ars Magica game before leaving) wanted to set up a new campaign based on the scandinavian Eddas in which the Christianization was seen by the pagan völvas as the begining of the Ragnarök. It's going to be a dark fantasy-low magic campaign, and we're deciding which rules set to use. We're between GURPS 4e Lite or BRP Quick-Start Edition to keep it simple.

I'm going to play a blacksmith (I'll post that character too, promise!) and my wife a female warrior. Let's see if our little Ivan let us play...

Week and weekend

This week the Google Wave game (The Dark Ages - The Southern Seas campaign) was full of interesting events that moved the adventure forward. We managed to open the mage's tomb and carefully begun its exploration. The stairs led down to an hexagonal room with two exits and a raised balcony with a niche above it. One of the exits ended in a cave-in, while the other after a couple of stairs ended in a stone slab. The raised platforn led to a small room with some cauldrons and strange inscriptions on the walls. The niche above it to a bigger room with columns and two stone slab doors.

Thanks to Alan, who plays Landyn the half-elven fighter/magic-user, here's a map of the tomb so far:

All stone slabs beared the same strange gleaming inscriptions. We opened the northern door of the columns room. It was filled with an eerie darkness that obscured all light sources and prevented any sound to enter/leave the room. Tied with a rope to guide him Landyn explored the room and came out with a 4 ft. tall stone urn. He repeated the process three times more and each time he returned with an urn.

We the tried the door beyond the stairs an it led to the same room. This time he discovered a rectangular stonework which we think is a sarcophagus. He also discovered a slightly raised flagstone and after lifting it found a cache of coins! Our first treasure after a year of gaming on the Wave. An exciting moment. Along with Merrick, Landyn proceeded to fill all our spare sacks with the coins, only to be told by the DM (ChicagoWiz) that we thought we barely took a small portion of the treasure. We decided to leave with that (and the urns) and come back later.

Meanwhile Orbilar (me) was outside the tomb checking the mounts when a dozen of mounted Elves approached. They were on their way to Skalfier (our base of operations) for a Conclave and have lost their way. Their leader had a glowing set of chainmail armor (drool).

More next week!

A weekend of work and gaming awaits. Some painting on the future baby's room and a trip to the mall to buy "baby stuff". Now I'm off to play our one-every-two-weeks Millenium's End game and tomorrow night is time for my Labyrinth Lord sandbox game.

Sandbox game session 9

Finally we managed to get the group together to continue the game after the summer break. A couple of sessions ago the group was ambushed in the woods by a patrol of bandits. Only the leader (Lakus) survived but they let him go after stripping him from his possessions. As the group carried on with the adventure I wondered what happened to that NPC and what would be his course of actions. Then I thought about something ChicagoWiz said in our Google Wave game: "Let the dices tell the story." So I did just that. I started a new wave, added the DiceLink robot and let the dices tell me what was Lakus story. Here's a cut&paste of that wave, with some comments in italics.

-----------------

Me and Dicelink: Lakus goes to Broomsage or Stornawane? 50-50

He wondered where that party has come from. The two nearest towns were the town around Broomsage abbey and Stornawane. He has to choose one of them.

[1d100 d100(47)=47]

He heads for the abbey.

He has to travel, in winter, 3 days by foot. One day accross the forest and two days by a trail across the hills. I rolled 3 times a day fo random encounters.

Forest (1-2 in 1-d-6)

day 1:

[1d6 d6(4)=4]

[1d6 d6(3)=3]

[1d6 d6(1)=1][1d20 d20(1)=1] Bee, Giant Killer at [4d6 4d6(4,4,4,1)=13] 130 yds.

Surprise Lakus [1d6 d6(1)=1] Surprised!

Surprise Bee [1d6 d6(1)=1] Surprised! Reaction [2d6 2d6(1,2)=3] (Indifferent, uninterested) Bee wanders off.

Hills (1-2 in 1-d-6)

day2:

[1d6 d6(2)=2][1d20 d20(6)=6] Dragon, white at [4d6 4d6(4,2,1,4)=11] 110 yds.

Surprise Lakus [1d6 d6(3)=3]

Surprise Dragon [1d6 d6(3)=3] Reaction [2d6 2d6(4,1)=5] (Indifferent, uninterested) Dragon just flies by and continues.

[1d6 d6(4)=4]

[1d6 d6(4)=4]

day3:

[1d6 d6(1)=1][1d20 d20(17)=17] Ogre [4d6 4d6(3,3,6,3)=15] 150 yds.

Surprise Lakus [1d6 d6(4)=4]

Surprise Ogre [1d6 d6(6)=6] Reaction [2d6 2d6(1,2)=3] (Indifferent, uninterested) The Ogre recognizes Lakus as one of the bandits and carries on.

Since the reaction was indifferent and there was an Ogre in the area that sometimes worked for the bandits, I thought it could be that one.

[1d6 d6(6)=6]

[1d6 d6(6)=6]

Lakus arrives to Broomsage abbey.

-----------------------------

It was amazing to see how the dices led the NPC to the place where the party has to return (something unknown to Lakus). He waited in the town and survived by doing some petty thieving until he recognized the party when they got back. He then watched them and planned to take back the things they took away from him.

What he didn't knew (and here starts the session) is that Tamryn, the group thief, caught a glimpse of him in town and followed him to the cowshed he used to spen the nights. She waited, hidden, until it paid off and he went out in the middle of the night. He used dark alleys to get to the tavern where they were staying and got in using a fake common room token.

Tamryn looked for an opened window and climbed into the tavern second floor where were the guest rooms. The room she entered was occupied but she managed to silently gain access to the corridor. When she rounded a corner she came face to face with Lakus, surprising him, but she just said "Good night." and carried on. Upon reaching the bar downstairs she complained she couldn't sleep, asked for a mug of hot cider and went back up. She moved silently along the corridor and stopped to listen before rounding the corner. The agitated breath of a person close ahead was all she heard. She quickly moved around the corner but couldn't surprise him, so she threw the hot cider on his face. He cried in pain and blindly swung with a crowbar at her, but missed. The cry waked up Scarlet dog who started barking and clawing the room's door. Tamryn drew her scimitar and commanded Lakus to surrender. The barking woke upo several guests including Scarlet the illusionist, Kratos the fighter and Vanon the cleric.

As Lakus gave in, Tamryn took him to Scarlet's room along with Kratos, while Vanon after admonishing everyone else back to sleep did the same. Meanwhile the others interrogated Lakus, who told them he just wanted back a sword (+1, +2 vs. lycanthropes) and a scroll (ward agaist lycanthropes). When asked why they were so important he told that he needed them to take revenge on the werewolf that killed his family. He had joined the bandits because one of the leader was a mage that he thought could help him. In time he proved worthy and the mage gave him those items for his services. He was not proud of the things he has done but those were just the means to an end.

They told him that he lost the sword and scroll in a fight fair and square, and that if they came across this werewolf they will kill it for him (they asked its name and where it was). But, if they find him nosing around or following them again, he won't get lucky a third time and they would kill him. After that they tied him, lowered down the window and escorted him to the outskirts of town. Once there, they repeated the threat and set him free.

What will Lakus do next? I'll let it to the dices.

Until next session!

D&D in Google Wave 2

The AD&D 1e/OSRIC campaign on Google Wave I'm in is going really well and I'm having a lot of fun playing it. Everyone posts everyday and some several times a day. This is a key aspect of the game. This enthusiasm made give it a try as a DM so, as we're in a summer break in my 3.5e campaign, I set up a wave for a one-on-one side adventure with one of my players. We did PBP style and online gaming, using a wave for the action and another one for maps, references and character sheets. It's been a great experience so far, with both the player and DM enjoying the game.

Orbilar

Thanks to Chgowiz for setting up this wave with an AD&D 1e/OSRIC game. I lurked it with interest for some days and was lucky that a spot opened. Now I'm part of this experience of playing an RPG on Google Wave. The campaign is called "The Dark Ages" and you can find more information about it here. Here's the character I've created for this campaign:

Orbilar (his name is a homage to RJK's Lord Robilar) is a young human fighter from the highlands north of the port city of Skalfier. At the age of 15 he joined the retinue of a minor lord and learned the use of weapon and shield, mounted combat and close-combat formations. Now, 4 years later, with the Darkness advancing on the world of men, and the forces of his lord disbanded, he seeks in Skalfier an escape from an ominous future.

Str 14, Dex 9, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 12

D&D in Google Wave

I've been following for some time several Waves about playing D&D and other RPGs as well. There are some of them that even includes mapping and dice rolling gadgets. I find many of them very interesting and an alternative way to play when is not possible to gather around a table, and PBEM doesn't suits you. I'm looking forward to join a game on the Wave soon and also trying to get our Oriental Adventures campaign into it since some of the players couldn't always meet. Let's see how it develops. Oh, and if anyone is interested I've got spare invites for Google Wave!