Two months without posting... shame on me!

The truth is that I've been DMing a lot trying to finish before the end of the year the module Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (3.5e), but I won't be able to do it. I've also been working on the Spanish version of Labyrinth Lord Rev. Ed. but the advance has been sluggish at best. It's a titanic task for one person only, so any help is welcome. No wonder the recently released Italian version was done by seven people.

I was expecting to begin the new year with a new campaign under a new system. It'll most certainly be Labyrinth Lord but I have some doubts about the spell system. What happens in the actual system is that the party spends almost all their most powerful spells in one encounter, so after that the group calls it a day. I'm afraid the same will happen with any other system based on Vancian magic. Any thoughts?

Those are my plans for the future, but first I'll gather my players and ask them what kind of game they want to play. I know some of them may want to try 4e (be my guest, go find another DM) while others may give a rules-light system a try. We'll see.

Spanish version of Labyrinth Lord

Long time no post. The news are that with the go ahead given by Dan Proctor I've started the huge project of translating the Labyrinth Lord Core Rules into Spanish. Although I've always used D&D books and modules in English, I thought it would be a good idea to make LL available to Spanish speaking fans. I know there's a lot of work ahead (almost 90k words!) but the cause is worth the effort.

Labyrinth Lord Revised Edition

I've got from RPGNow my PDF version of the latest edition of Labyrinth Lord by Goblinoid Games. This new effort by Dan Proctor has more artwork, which I fancy a lot, and corrects some minor details from the previous version. I hope to have it printed and binded soon. I also find really handy Lord Kilgore's idea of printing booklets with pages 1-60 for the players. If we continue to play every weekend, I hope to end our current campaign (3.5e) before the end of the year. And I say "hope" because we spent last session (9 PM to 3 AM with 1 hour break for dinner) in just one combat. Man, this is so wrong. I guess we're not playing a roleplaying game anymore but a tactical wargame. In combat every decision taken by the players is the result of a maximizing algorithm, and that's what makes the pacing so slow. I have nothing against wargames (hey, RPGs evolved from them and their creators were wargamers first) but it's not what I want to play. At least for now.

Greyhawk Construction Company

In past campaigns we used to carry a log of each session, usually designating one of the players to take notes during the game and then write a summary. The task fell on a different player each session. In that way, if any of the players missed a session, everyone had the chance to read what had happened before the next one. At first everything was all right, with the players handing their summary on time so I can upload it to the website. But then, when people begun to fell behind schedule and to pile up unfinished summaries, I took the task. With time I also stopped writing them. Yes, I guess we are all lazy. That's why there are no session logs of our current campaign (3.5e) in this blog.

But what's the title of this entry has to do with this? Well, I want to post something from yesterday session. The party, composed by a two fighters, a cleric, a fighter/sorcerer, a beguiler and a rogue, is lost in the dungeons under the Tower of Magic, found a natural tunnel that led to the Tower of War. Following that tunnel, and after a series of rooms, stairs, secret doors, long winding corridors and even a drawbridge, they came to a room with an inscription hewn in dwarven runes on the wall opposite to the entrance:

ATENTION!
YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER
THE DERRO MINES.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE
SAFETY REGULATIONS.
G.C.C.

On either side of the inscription two arcades provide exit from the room. Behind the wall a series of pegs hold several orange metal helmets. Each helmet has attached a small lantern with a flickering flame that radiates magic. Above the pegs another inscription also hewn in dwarven runes reads:

ATENTION!
YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER
THE FOUNDRY.
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR
HELMET HERE.
G.C.C.

I've been wanting to introduce the Greyhawk Construction Co. in the game for a while now and yesterday, without previous preparation, I did it just inspired by the maps I was using. This was just a little preview for the characters and keep them wondering what G.C.C. stands for since none of them are from the Free City. There'll certainly be more of it in the future.

Followers

Well this blog got its first follower! It's like when you find the first comment on one of your posts and say "Hey, someone out there actually reads this!?". Thanks to Aslan, a fellow gamer from the End of the Earth and the World of Aeran, whereever those places are. ;-)