Rust

Last Tuesday (July 3rd) night we continued playtesting +Greg Chistopher's RUST RPG.

A tiny UAV appeared near the antenna, so Alex and I decided to follow it. It went south across Highway 40 and into some hills. It reached a small valley where it met a robot and it perched to its shoulder, then walked away until they came to what looked like a storage door on the side of a hill. The door opened and the robot entered. As the door came down we ran for it, but Alex fell behind. I entered just as the door closed behind me. Pitch black. Just the sound of the robot walking ahead. I lit a flashlight pointing down.

"What's that light?", says a voice in the dark.

I turned it down and moved to the side following the door. Footsteps approach. The sound of a lever being pulled and the door starts to open. On the outside Alex moves closer to the side of the door pistol ready. Two ghouls (like in Fallout), one with a shotgun and one with a pistol, point their weapons at me.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?", the ghoul with the shotgun asks.

"Nothing, just exploring. I followed the robot", I answer holding my hands up.

"He looks suspicious, let's take it to Ames. Got any gun?", say the other ghoul.

I slowly got my pistol out and throw it outside. BLAM! BLAM BLAM! The ghoul with the shotgun gets shot in the head and drops dead. BLAM! BLAM BLAM! The other ghoul goes down heavily wounded. I pull out my combat knife and put it on his throat.

"Drop your weapon or you are dead!", I say to the wounded ghoul.

The sound of a lever being pulled and the door starts to shut. BLAM! A shot hits near me as I roll outside. The door shuts down.

We've pissed the ghouls. Next time we'll send the guy with the fireman's axe.

Castle Zagyg - Sesisons 5&6 recap

Session #5 (June 22nd)

The party:

Kellan (human illusionist)
Kip (human fighter, Kellan's follower)
Carma (elven fighter/thief?)
Grimclaw (human cleric, Carma's follower)
Celmar(?) (human magic user)
Deerbeer (Celmar's war dog)
Gimli of Geoff (dwarf fighter)

Before continuing exploring the caves below Castle Zagyg, Gimli has to get a new armor, so he ordered a chain mail suit from the pirate city of Freeport. After it arrived, the party went to the see the elven traders to see what other magic items they had. Kellan and Carma bought Gimli a shield (+1) and a ring of protection (+1). Now with the dwarf properly set, the party with a group of goblins went tot clear a bat cave under one of the towers. Before the cleansing we scrapped a couple of buckets of a strange phosphorescent lichen from the walls. A net was set on the entrance to trap any fleeing bats and fire grenades thrown into the cavern ceiling. We didn't want all the guano on the floor to catch fire and explode.

Maybe it was the smoke, the smell of burnt bats or the commotion that attracted an ogre to investigate. As the goblins fled, Carma, Kip and Gimli charged at the ogre while Kellan, Grimclaw and Celmar casted spells at it. The ogre seemed to resist every spell and landed a vicious hit on Kip! Finally we managed to hit the ogre enough to make him flee, only to face an owl bear. While he two beasts fought each other we and our goblin minions threw arrows, spears, javelins and bolts at them. The owl bear killed the ogre and we killed the owl bear.

We then went off to find the ogre's lair. It was one of the many caves in the ravine surrounding the castle. This one was blocked by a heavy portcullis and led to a dungeon that connected to the orc compound we've previously explored. It's good to tie lose ends.

And at the end of the session Gimli reached level 3!

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Session #6 (June 29th)

The party:

Kellan (human illusionist)
Kip (human fighter, Kellan's follower)
Corkin (human bard)
Gimli of Geoff (dwarf fighter)

Continuing with task of clearing the caves, the party went to get rid of some snakes that were holed up in a nearby cave with a pond. As soon as we entered the cave snakes came out of the walls into the pond and begun swimming towards us. We retreated and poured the content of some alchemical grenades in the water, and set in on fire. The smoke made the snakes come out of the cave but the goblins hacked them down. We took the bodies of the snakes to the goblin shaman who managed to extract 3 doses of venom from them.

We told the goblin shaman about the grey ooze that lurked behind a secret door in his shrine. He didn't know about it, so we invited him to come along with us since we were going to kill it. Last time fire and cold didn't harmed it, so this time we took salt and goblin moonshine. Upon arrival to the place we threw that at it, but it didn't worked. It was then when Corkin took out his wand (some kind of laser gun actually, from another FLAILSNAILS game) and shot at the thing making a hole in it! He shot it again an the ooze melted away.

(At this point Corkin left)

We continued exploring the passage and it ended in a cavern with a pool of water. There were some strange mushrooms and an unconscious rat beside them. We threw the rat into the water and some snails crawled out of the water. A goblin delicatessen since they feasted on them. A sinkhole could be seen at the bottom of it about 40' down. A corridor with some stairs going up was opposite to us across the pool. We sent some goblins across and up the stairs. Soon we heard horrible cries of pain and we hurried to the spot. A couple of goblins we covered in a green slime that was eating them alive. Kellan used his wand of cold on one and Gimli threw a couple of fire grenades to the other, killing both goblins and slime. Up the stairs we found the corpses of some gnolls and following the corridor we came outside to the ravine.

Then we came back to the pool and Kellan casted invisibility to Gimli. Gimli stripped of his armor and dived for the sinkhole. A short underwater tunnel led to another cave with an iron door. He carefully opened it and some stairs going down led to an archway with runes. He closed the door and went back to inform. Soon all the party was in this new cavern. After donning his armor Gimli went exploring ahead and as soon as he reached the archway all the party was teleported to an unknown place!

The party was in a corridor in front of a door. We opened the door and we found... an armory! We took everything we could, the goblins armed themselves to their teeth and we wet exploring. At some point we killed some spiders, found a golden ring, some gnomish whiskey and half a dozen potions. Then Kellan drank a potion of treasure finding and we begun following his directions. We explored for a log time until we found 4 dwarves and 6 gnomes in a chapel to the dwarven god of gold, gems, greed, avarice, cunning and treachery. Gimli was so excited to see his kin that forgot he was invisible and ran to hug the leader. This surprised the dwarves and gnomes who drew their weapons. The spell broke and Gimli apologized for his behavior. The dwarves offered food and drink and asked for news from outside since they lived there and guarded the passage to other parts of the castle. After that Gimli made an offering to the god and on his way back noticed a secret door. It was the door that led to the treasure they were looking for! At that point the atmosphere was thick with distrust so we left.

Only to came the following day with almost two dozen goblins and attacked the dwarves and gnomes. We opened with a volley of fire grenades and javelins before charging into melee. A huge fight followed with several dead goblins, as well as all the gnomes, and all the dwarves except two. Kellan wanted to kill them but Gimli opposed, so we looted the treasure and the bodies, tied up he prisoners and left.

Gimli got a plate mail (+1), a shield (+2) and a war hammer (+2), and also loads of gold and XPs that took him right to level 5!

Rust

Last Tuesday we enjoyed play testing on G+ Hangouts, +Greg Christopher's new post-apocalyptic RPG game called Rust. Character creation was easy (abilities, survival & technical skills, equipment) and we got playing right away. I liked the skill mechanics and combat tactics.

The game was sandbox style: a town on a highway-river crossing, a small map of the surroundings and some rumors. What else do you need? Thanks +Gerardo Tasistro, +Alex Mayo, +Jason Hobbs and +Ray Case for a great time and Greg for putting this game up!

Until next Tuesday.

P.S: And we also used +Tabletop Forge!

Castle Zagyg - Session 3 & 4 recap

Session #3 (May 26th)

Explored a ladder in the gatehouse that went down. after a series of corridors we found four cells, one with an old goblin and another with a half-orc. We hacked at the doors to liberate them and the noise attracted the orc guards. We tried to ambush them but they retreated and came with reinforcements. Sir Digby summoned a Dimetrodon which he couldn't control. Luckily, it went after one group of orcs and we went after the other.

We could hear the sounds of the dino wreaked havoc among the orcs. Meanwhile, somewhere on the orcish compound we reached a dead end with a locked door. Behind it we could hear some grunts. The barbarian kicked the door and two wild boars ruched forward while an orc shaman casted from inside the room. The battle ended with the boars and shaman dead, but also with Sir Digby's bear mount and half-orc new retainer down. Exploring the room we found a secret room with an altar and an idol. The jeweled cup on the altar was to much for Gimli who tried to grab it, only to suffer the effects of a fear spell and leave in panic, running  as fast as his short legs allowed. The party looted the place and went to find the dwarf, which they found at the bottom of a pit with only minor bruises.

We continued exploring the dungeons and found a maze of rooms, all with four doors each. We kept to our left until we heard muffled screams from other rooms of the maze. We hurried until we entered a bigger room. The orc's screams became louder as well as the Dimetrodon's roar, so we spiked the door. The orcs died horribly and blood poured under the door.

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Session #4 (June 8th)

I was going to write about last session but David Brawley on his blog did it pretty well:

"After introductions were made, the group decided to allow Nick to join them on their next run to pacify the local area. The whole place was honeycombed with caves, in addition to the dungeon proper.

Before heading out, the gnome decided to test some wall of death invention that he intended to bring into the dungeons with him. It exploded, taking out a couple of his goblin assistants. About the same time a group of soldiers and adventurers demanded that the adventurers turn over control of the castle to them. This request was denied - with catapult fire and a summoned wingless wyrm that had a strange spined fin on its back. The soldiers turned tail and ran, but the adventuring party split and headed around toward the back of the castle. The adventurers then suited up, picked about two dozen goblins, and gave chase to the adventurers that headed north around the castle, hiding in the woods off to that side.

The enemy adventurers took refuge in one of the already cleared out caves. Knowing of a secret back entrance, the adventurers sneaked through to the secret door, sending Nick back out with the goblins to create a pincer action. It worked exactly as planned. There was a suit of plate mail that Nick wanted to lay claim to, but the spoils went to Korath.

Departing the caves, the party then took off after the other half of the enemy party. According to the goblin lookouts, they also took refuge in one of the caves. This time however, it wasn’t one that was previously explored. The party sent in the goblins first, charging and screaming... followed immediately by the sound of about two dozen bodies hitting the floor, followed by a voice calling out in welcome.

After some negotiation the party discovered that the elves and their bodyguards are dimension hopping observers of this dungeon. Weird, but ok. They apparently trade in some of the magical items from the dungeon, which Nick’s companions took advantage of. The enemy adventurers that the party was chasing had used one of the gates into the dungeon that was within the lair of the elves. The party opted to finish clearing out the caves around the castle, rather than chase the adventurers around the dungeon.

The first cave contained a kobold lair, which the goblins sacked with relish, especially when the armory was discovered with the far superior equipment to what the goblins carried. Eventually the kobold King Wigglerock was found and his iron crown taken forcibly. There was a discussion about setting up a puppet king, but given the goblins were already under the parties command and the enmity between the goblins and kobolds it was decided that the kobold lair would be cleared. With the judicious use of flaming oil, they were quickly wiped out. In the throne room a secret door was discovered, leading to a large dirty cave, which quickly turned out to be owned by an ogre who swatted goblins like they were bugs. The ogre, in spite of his size and strength, fell to the parties combined power very quickly.

Among the other finds was a goblin prisoner from a splinter tribe. Seeing this as an opportunity to reunite the goblin tribes (and thus increase their own power) the party decided to return to the castle and show the rescued goblin how good his cousins had it. The next morning the party headed out to the caves of the splinter tribe.

Sir. Digby Chicken Caesar and the rescued goblin headed into the cave to begin negotiations. After the wild night the rescued goblin had, it didn’t take long. Clearing all the goblins out of the caves and into the castle took most of the day, but once done the party wasted no time doing a very thorough search. While the goblins had cleared out just about everything (not including their place of worship and shaman’s cave which were left alone) they apparently never discovered 2 secret doors. One opened to reveal a set of stairs guarded by a lumpy slime that seemed to ignore both fire and ice. The party resealed that door. The other door revealed a secret treasury which included much gold and several wondrous items, including an ion stone, a javelin of lightning, and a magical short sword!

Calling it a day, the party returned to the castle to divide the spoils."

Gimli lost his platemail to the grey ooze but won the ioun stone of AC +1!

Castle Zagyg - Sessions 1 & 2 recap

Session #1 (May 11th)

On our way from the pirate town of Freeport to the castle we had an encounter with about half a dozen guards from it. They all bore an insignia consisting of a "C" over two crossed swords (or was the other way around?). Anyway, Arma seemed to have a cursed sword that makes him attack anyone hostile, so into battle we went. The result: all guards killed. We looted some armor and weapons (mostly for the henchmen), coins, a horn (carried by the patrol leader) and all the insignia.

The party continued its route to the castle and before reaching it, we discussed several ways to approach the gatehouse. We agreed that the ones with the badges will pose as a returning patrol and the others would be new recruits. Luckily the barbican gaes opened and there was no need to blow the horn, since nobody remembered how many times were needed.

Once inside the gates shut behind us and a voice asked for 10 g.p. per each one to cross. After paying the toll we crossed the bridge and entered a huge open courtyard with several buildings. The most noticeable was a church-like construction with its main door flanked by two statues. Graham threw a stone at one window breaking the glass. The statues animated and closed on him, breathing fire and wielding tridents. Graham took cover behind his henchmen who died like the good meatshields they were. Graham then retreated and so did the statues.

We later checked a half-ruined house to the North and were attacked by 3 goblins. They threw their spears at us and then surrendered. They were jailors and didn't give us much information. We opened two rooms next to the jail and found ale and weapons. We got the jailors drunk and locked them in their cage.

Then we explored south and found a series of abandoned stalls until we reached one that housed a goblin merchant (pickled rats!). We went back to get the remaining beer and sold it to the merchant. Then explored a ruined tower thick with cobwebs. After burning the cobwebs a couple of spiders dropped on us. Gimli was bit by one and botched his saving throw! Luckily, Arma carried a potion of sweetwater and Gimli was saved. We found a magic ruby in the possessions of a dead body wrapped in a cocoon. After clearing the tower we commisioned a goblin carpenter to repair the door and floors. To pay him we had to buy the beer back from the merchant.

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Session #2 (May 18th)

I was going to write about last session but Joe theLawyer on his blog did it pretty well:

"The players assaulted the goblins in the gatehouse. They cleared them out in under 10 minutes of game time, in a record-breaking bloody slaughterfest. Then they did something that surprised me---after killing the "king", the one remaining surrendering goblin was appointed to "king" over all the rest of the goblins, by the players at swordpoint, with the players as his advisers.

After a couple of failed intelligence checks, it was made clear to the new king what the role of "advisers" was in relation to the king, after he was shown the bloody corpse of the old king. 

The new king made a grand proclamation of his new status to the remaining goblins, all words being under two syllables, and after promising the goblins booze and most of the former king's prostitutes, he was celebrated as the new king. The small group of humans at the outer gates were scared off, and somehow now the players control, through their goblin king, a chunk of the castle upper works."
 

Since we're going to "[...] make this into a regular campaign for the core group, while allowing any other FLAILSNAILS guys to join in if they want.[...]" there were a couple of changes in the party. With the XPs of this session Arma, the cursed elven fighter/thief, and Graham, the human monkish fighter/magic-user, both reached level 5, so they both left and were replaced by Karma (a level 4 elven fighter/thief) and Digby (a level 4 goblin magic-user). Gimli is now a level 2 fighter and has a morning star +1 that belonged to the goblin king.

Looking forward to the next session! ;)