Leonardo Messina

A new "Wave" campaign begins...

[...] set in a hybrid of the Ultima setting during the Age of Darkness (the period of time when Ultima 1 through 3 CRPGs were set.) [...]

So, new campaign, new character right? Wrong...

[...] to start the game, you do not need to chargen, just yet. If you have an idea of what kind of character you want to play, that's OK, but for now, all I need is a description of what your character would look like in the "real" world, not a fantasy world. I know you are giving me the "WTH" look, but I am asking for your indulgence. Imagine what an alter ego of yours might look like that you wish to take to Sosaria... but you are not there yet. Rather, you are in a world much like our own, much in the same year. And please do give him/her a "real world" name. :) [...]

With that said, here's my (not yet) character:

Name: Leonardo Messina 

Age: 20 

Description: Of Italian descent, he's 6'1" tall, slim and lanky, has short wavy black hair and dark grey eyes. 

Studies: He's studying a B.S. (business) and also works in the family business (Liberty Locksmiths). 

Hobbies: He likes running. He was in the high school team of cross country and now also enjoys parkour. 

The others (not yet) characters are:

• Eric Dawson (Alan) is 6'2", Caucasian, 180 lbs, blond hair, blue eyes. He's 21 years old and is finishing up his final year of his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics at the local university. 

• Freddy Mancini (Joseph) is 5'6", with dark skin, greasy black hair pulled back into a pony tail, devious brown eyes, a wicked smile, pot belly from to much pasta. He's 32 years old and wears a cheap suit. 

• Trevor Kraft (Reese) is a mathematics professor at a small local community college. Athletic, he has obviously spent time in the gym. He helps coach his school's track team, being a runner himself. He has the lanky build that most runners do, tall and thin. His Irish heritage is quite apparent in his appearance. He (unfortunately) has the green eyes and ginger hair associated with his ancestral homeland. 

Dungeon! back in October

Wizards of the Coast is bringing back in October this classic board game:

A classic board game of dungeon exploration returns!

Dungeon! is a fast-paced game where you and your friends can decide which way to go in the hunt for bigger and better treasure.

Will you stick to level 1 and clear out the Goblins and Kobolds? Or will you delve deep into level 6 and set your sights on the Purple Worm or the Red Dragon? Along the way, you’ll have to face off against such iconic monsters as the Black Pudding, the Drow, and even the Owlbear!

Featuring simple, straightforward rules that are easy to learn, Dungeon! is perfect for a fantasy game night, or a warm-up before your next epic game of D&D!

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.

One Page Dungeon: The Oracle of Pagebrin

Almost on the brink of the deadline (April 30th) and with the invaluable help of my wife (thanks a lot for the great input and edition!) I managed to finally complete my submission for the 2012 edition of the One Page Dungeon Contest. With more than 70 entries so far, I imagine the task for the judges will be a tough one. 

Legends tell about a magical place in a mountain range near the coast that houses the all-powerful Oracle of Pagebrin. Many adventurers have set forth with promises of untold riches and assurances that the oracle does not serve the darkness. Wary adventurers however reflect upon the implied fact that the oracle does not serve the light either...

The Oracle of Pagebrin.

One Page Dungeon Contest 2012

The 1PDC 2012 in on! Submision deadline is April 30.

I submitted to the 2009 and 2010 editions, and hope to find time this year.

Check the official site: http://campaignwiki.org/wiki/DungeonMaps/One_Page_Dungeon_Contest 

Also in Google+: https://plus.google.com/117300415578119692506/posts 

The New Death and others

I must confess I was a bit surprised when I was asked by the author to review this book. 

"The New Death and others" by James Hutchings is an interesting mix of dark fantasy short stories and poems, which I found irreverent, amusing and sarcastic. Every piece has an original point of view, sometimes corny, but always cynical. I really enjoyed it.

I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Maure Castle game in Google+ Hangout

Last Saturday night, and after a year, we got back together to play some Dungeons & Dragons. Thanks to Google+ Hangout, five players from four different countries (Uruguay, Panama, Mexico and Ireland) gathered around a virtual table. I think we're participating in a revolution on how RPGs are being played.

We also took the opportunity to test the Tabletop Forge app ( http://tabletopforge.com/). Everyone liked the app and we successfully used the dice roller and combat tracker, but had some issues with the battle map and one of the players had some problems with his Internet connection (Telmex: you suck!).

The party continued the exploration of the Chamber of Antiquities (Dragon #124), one of the many levels under the ruins of Maure Castle.

Kentsui Inowe, Human (Mnk14)

Quinath Leafholder, Elf (Ftr4/Wiz8/Sps2)

Kamar, Human (Ftr6/EWM1/Ken7)

Kir'Orist Mithalvarin, Elf (Clr9/Lor6)

Jerry, Human (Rog14)

Last session, a year ago, Inowe almost got killed by a creature they identified as a hordling and the party decided to go to the Free City of Greyhawk. There the group contacted former member Orist (cleric of Boccob) and hired the services of Jerry, a skilled rogue. Denar, a cleric of Heironeous, stayed in the city (the player couldn't join the game). The group returned to the castle and picked up where they left. From there they explored a meeting room with an ornated large wooden table surrounded by a dozen of also ornate wooden chairs that bore an stylized M. An iron door led to another room with five statues of armor-clad warriors surrounding a low pedestal. Atop of the pedestal was a crystal box with a sparkling ring inside. Quinath send an unseen servant to retrieve the box, but when it picked it up the statues animated and destroyed the servant. Inowe threw one of the chairs at the box and knocked it from the pedestal, leaving it out of sight. She then tried to hook it with her kama but to no avail. Seen that Quinath cast invisibility on his homunculus and fly on himself. The homunculus flew close to the ceiling (10' high) until it was above the box. Meanwhile Quinath flew also close to the ceiling until he saw the box. The statues animated and two of them closed on Quinath. One of them jumped and managed to land a blow with his bastard sword. Quinath cast levitate on the box and flew from the room, but not before one of the guardians hit him again. The box levitated to the ceiling and the homunculus pushed it towards the door. The guardians followed Quinath but Orist cast stone shape and made a semi-circular 6' high wall on the door to prevent that.

Jerry the rogue examined the box for traps while Kamar stood in guard in case the guardians decided to follow. Quinath cast Grease on the wall in case the guardians managed to climb across. Orist recognized the ring as a Dragon Eye ring. while at it one guardian managed to climb the wall but fell due to the Grease and was hacked down by Kamar. The same fate met the second guardian. Quinath then flew back into the room and cast Cone of Cold on the remaining three guardians. Two reached the wall and one managed to hit Quinath who cast Wall of Fire on them and retreated. Those two guardians climbed the wall and jumped on Kamar who managed to kill one. Orist cast Harm on the other killing him. The remaining guardian returned to his post by the altar and back to stone.

And with that ended the Hangout. :)

Blog word count

http://timc.idv.tw/wordcloud/en/

Answering Brendan's 20 questions

You can look at Brendan's original post here.

1. Ability scores generation method? 
• 4d6 drop lower.
2. How are death and dying handled? 
• You're disabled at 0 hp, unconscious at 1- and dead at -10 hp.
3. What about raising the dead?
• If you can find a cleric powerful enough and can pay him, you're back!
4. How are replacement PCs handled? 
• Just roll another and you're back in.
5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else? 
• Individual.
6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work? 
• 1 always misses. 20 always hits and you can choose double damage or roll damage dice twice.
7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
• Yes.
8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
• Yes you certainly can.
9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
• It's your choice, you can run or you can try kill everything.
10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
• Yes.
11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
• Yes.
12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
• Resources closely tracked. Encumbrance more lightly.
13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
• You don't need to train to gain new level but you have to wait for down time.
14. What do I get experience for?
• Treasure, defeating monsters (killing, bypassing, negotiating), cool ideas.
15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
• Give me a description of what you're looking for and what you're doing, and I'll let you roll.
16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
• They are and the retainer's morale is the character's charisma score.
17. How do I identify magic items?
• Using them or by magic.
18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
• In 3.5 yes. In LL no, just potions.
19. Can I create magic items? When and how?
• Yes you can. At the appropriate level, in a proper lab.
20. What about splitting the party?
• Sure, be my guest. Mmmwhawhahaha!!

Read An RPG Book in Public Week

Happy GMs' Day!

A quick post just to wish a happy GMs' Day to all my fellow Game Masters! ;-)

Thank you Gary!

Era RPG

I'd like to share with you the ongoing work we're doing with my friend and fellow gamer Gerardo Tasistro on a new RPG called Era. It's not yet complete but feedback is more than welcome, so please feel free to comment. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRa0d97DqBEjS-TLu7EAHjeeVCaP7zbglv4vUicQuAs/edit

Spanish version of Labyrinth Lord - Take two

On September 2009 I embarked on the huge task of translating Labyrinth Lore Core Rules into Spanish (you can read about it here). The size of the task (almost 90k words), real life and lack of constancy on my part, took the project to a halt. If I had done a little every day maybe the project was complete by now.

Anyway, in the last days there has been a renewed interest (you can see the comments on the original post) on the project. So, if anyone like to jump in and help you're welcome!

And the Winners of the 2012 NYNG Challenge Are…

http://www.gnomestew.com/gnome-gnews/and-the-winners-of-the-2012-nyng-challenge-are

RPG wish list

The Dungeon Alphabet An A-to-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design by Michael Curtis

Loviatar issues #1 to #7 by Christian Walker

Old-School Gaming Box with Erol Otus Art! by John Adams

An urban RPG?

After reading this article on the WIRED magazine, my first thought was "Could this be the base for an RPG?". I'm no game designer, just a plain DM/player, so maybe I'm missing the point. Haven't even written a module, although I've submitted a couple of works for the "One Page Dungeon Contest" if that counts. :)

What are your thoughts?

The Legend Lives On!

Wizard of the Coast is going to reprint the 1st. Edition core books!

"In 1974, the world changed forever when Gary Gygax introduced the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The legacy of his innovative ideas and the extensive reach of his powerful influence can be seen in virtually every facet of gaming today.

To help honor his work and his memory, we created limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, andDungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks have been lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release. Available in limited quantities as a hobby channel exclusive in North America.

Your purchase of this monumental book helps support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize the "Father of Roleplaying Games" with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, WI."

Product Catalog

Gnome Stew's New Year, New Game Challenge: January 9-23

The guys at Gnome Stew have launched the First Annual New Year, New Game Contest:: A Challenge to GMs. Basically all you need is to write an entry of 200-400 words long addressing:

• What the game is about
• Why you’re excited about running it
• What system you want to use, and why
• What challenges running this game might involve

Check the New Year, New Game (NYNG) website for more details about how to participate.

Hollowpoint

My copy of Hollowpoint arrived safe and sound today! Nice size, well printed, excellent packaging and binding. I'm off to read it... ;)

Thanks Lulu and VSCA!

Happy New Year!

New Oerth Journal

Issue #26 is now available!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5851594/Downloads_Section/Oerth_Journal/OJ_26te.pdf

Enjoy!

Joe Black

This character was created for a Google+ Hangout game using the Hollowpoint set of rules (GM: John Johnson).

He's a 35 y.o. ex-military (sniper) member of the Monster Hunter International agency.

Traits:
1. Memento of your first monster encounter?
Werewolf tooth necklace.
2.  You don't have a lot of scruples, but you would "never do this".
Shoot women or children.
3. That one time in Utah you took a souvenir...
A bible. He collects bibles from motels.
4. This is a hard job, but you love it because "you get to do this".
Love to kill monsters more than people (but he'll do it if he has to).
5. You're a pro and you know you're a pro because you always "do this".
Always get the job done whatever it takes.

Skills:
Kill - 5
Dig - 4
Take - 3
Con - 2
Cool - 1
Terror - 0

Mission:
Primary Objective - Retrieve or destroy "The Nameless Book", an ancient arcane tome stolen from the Monster Hunter International's vaults.
Secondary Objective - Neutralize a former MHI agent known as "The Scorpion", who had gone rogue and supposedly took the tome.

Status:
Wounded on the shoulder (OUT).

My Life Without A Jetpack webcomic

Fellow gamer Magnus von Tesla's webcomic "My Life Without A Jetpack"
launched today.
http://nojetpack.thecomicstrip.org/
Good luck!

Musings from the Dungeon: Hollowpoint: Review & Actual Play report

Last Saturday I joined my first Google+ gaming Hangout. It was a game using the Hollowpoint system which I've read reviews about it but never tried before. It was something completely different from what I've played before. Simple and fast character creation allows the players to jump right into the action.

On the following link you can read about a more complete review about the system and the game report by John Johnson the GM: Musings from the Dungeon: Hollowpoint: Review & Actual Play report:

Restarted Flanaess mapping project

After a 8 year hiatus, Eric Anondson picked up where he left. He's back mapping the Flannaes with the Sheldomar Vally map. If you want to see his awesome maps you can check the Flanaess Geographical Society Facebook group or this galley at DeviantArt. In the past I used several of his maps for my Greyhawk campaigns and will look forward to see his future creations. With his and Anna B. Meyer's maps Greyhawk fans will have a great source for 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.

Gaming Hangouts on Google+

"The place to find roleplaying games to play via Google Hangouts. Be sure to add this page to your Circles and we'll circle you back. Also, let us know what games you'd like to play or run and we'll make sure there's a 'board' for it!"

You can contact RPG+ at: rpgpluspage (at) gmail (dot) com

Uber-Geek Game Table

Check it out!
http://ubergeekgametable.blogspot.com/

Greyhawk made top 5 on WoTC poll

Dragonlance revisited	13.4%
Ravenloft revisited	8.8%
Everything on this list!	7.9%
Planescape revisited	7.7%
Greyhawk revisited	7.3%

You can see the whole table at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dmxp/20110908

Vote for Greyhawk @ WoTC poll

If you want to see some Greyhawk content on the upcoming issues of Dungeon and Dragon magazines, drop by the WotC site and vote for "Greyhawk revisited" here. The poll is at the bottom of the page.

After several weekends of gaming drought...

...we're playing the "Last Sons of Odin" campaign (GURPS) tonight!

I haven't played since I ran my first convention game. Last weeks both GURPS and Millenium's End DMs couldn't organize a game. To make thing worse, ChicagoWiz's temporal loss of interest in gaming put the AD&D/OSRIC @ Google Wave campaign to a stop.

So, I turned to PC gmaes and started playing Fallout New Vegas. ;)

House Rules

These are my house rules for my LL/AEC game. You can download them here.

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.

The World’s Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz

Gabriel took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 40%!

You are a Gary Gygax Hero. You know much of Gary Gygax. You are probably the DM of your game group (but you might insist on being called 'referee').

Paladin Code: You completed this quiz without using Google.

She's the Labyrinth Lady...

Our Millenium's End game setting

We're playing Millennium's End in a future in which everything that could have gone wrong in our World went wrong, but not that wrong. Here's what our DM sent us.

"Some general information about the World's situation around July 2013:

USA

• Attack in 2011 by domestic terrorists against Obama (he survives but significantly reduces his public appearances, which is seen as a sign of fear and significantly damages the Democratic Party and moderate groups of Republicans who supported him).
• Attack against the Clintons on a visit to Africa. Hilary survives but Bill doesn't. She changes quite dramatically and some people talk of "a new Margaret Thatcher". It has multiple problems with the Obama administration for this but has such popular support that no one dares to remove her.
• Due to both international and local terrorism, and with the support of groups of Democrats who swing towards the Conservatives, the Senate approves the so-called "Patriot Act II" (which essentially revives the original Patriot Act and deepens it in many cases).
• With this move towards conservatism, the growing influence of the "Tea Party" and the vision of a "world war", the 2012 elections are won by Sarah Palin.
• Admiral Eric T. Olson (former commander of USSOCOM) is assigned as SECDEF.
• Admiral William H. McRaven (former commander of JSOC) is assigned as commander of USSOCOM.
• Surprisingly (or not so, as recent years events) Hilary leaves as Secretary of State.

South / Central America

• The "Drug War" continues to intensify in Mexico, Colombia and other countries (tens of thousands of deaths per year, increasing mechanization of the forces on both sides, less U.S. support outside its borders given the global situation).
• Colombia and Venezuela in war "virtual" (Chavez and Uribe remain in power, constant border skirmishes, the use of terrorist groups for "covert" attacks on the other side, special forces raids, numerous attacks on presidents and other military and government figures with varying degrees of success).
• In Cuba, Fidel Castro dies, his brother Raul deepes the reforms with greater openness to the USA but, with the whole world situation, almost no attention is paid to the country in the absence of significant natural resources.
• Indigenous groups in Brazil (possibly supported by foreign extremist environmental groups) get organized and threaten international interests. Because they compromise the investments that are maintaining the growth / stability, they are brutally repressed. Lula (who had managed to maintain power) is having a lot of pressure about this issue and his administration is quite complicated.

Middle East

• Iran's nuclear power plants, both public and secret are raided and destroyed with none being held liable. Despite the official denial, Iran accuses Israeli special forces to have perpetrated the attacks and declares that he will retaliate. Several Iranian missiles are fired at multiple targets in Israel (much of them are stopped by the new generations of Patriots, but some reach their target causing civilian and military casualties).
• Israel responds with air strikes that generate several skirmishes in the air (usually won by Israeli forces considering their superior training) and several bombing raids on Iranian military bases and infrastructure targets.
• What was climbing rapidly to a war is "stopped" by the UN Security Council (supported by the votes of Russia and the USA. They already have too many problems elsewhere to "tolerate" an open war between Israel and Iran which would get boh involved).
• Afghanistan is just as unstable today (U.S. forces remain there, changed a couple of governments but the Taliban / al-Qaida could not be completely eliminated).
• Iraq without the Americans is in constant instability (with suspected Iranian intervention in many cases) and on the brink of civil war.
• Syria / Hamas take advantage of the situation to intensify their attacks on Israel (short-range missiles and terrorist attacks).
• With the speech to defend its borders, Israel abandoned the negotiations with Palestinian groups, took back several concessions made and complete the invasion and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Far East

• A second incident in which a supposedly DPRK torpedo sunk a frigate of the ROK. People of ROK forces the government to take a signficative military action (to avoid completely losing popular support), which results in an aerial bombing operation that destroys several strategic targets in the north.
• The response of DPRK (declaring the 1951 truce broken) is a ground invasion across the DMZ that generates a "shooting war" between the two countries, with thousands of casualties in the first two days of the conflict. Given the real risk that the invasion of the north to be effective (because of the numbers), USA intervenes "in fulfilling its obligations and treaties."
• In one of the defining moments of the decade, Hilary Clinton at a conference for the international press threatens to use tactical nuclear devices against DRPK if the invasion does not stops immediately. Russia is not going to let that happen and the consequences of using any nuclear weapon by the U.S. would be answered "in the most severe form," leading both countries to the highest state of alert had been seen since the worst days of the Cold War.
• A day after taking the world on edge, in a joint press conference, military leaders and KOR DPRK declare a new armistice (assuming there were furious diplomatic efforts of USA and Russia during those days with both countries, but nothing comes out). While the war stops, the whole region is extremely unstable with Japan and China in a state of constant alert. None have been involved directly in the conflict (at least publicly).
• The other "flashpoints" in Asia are still there: the wild Myanmar dictatorship, rhetoric and skirmishes between India and Pakistan, etc., although everyone receives a lesser degree of international concern under most significant problems elsewhere.

Europe

• In line with USA (and in many cases the vision of NATO as a "deterrent" important in situations that are occurring), there is a significant return to conservatism in most European governments, ending sometimes decades of control of Social-Democrats.
• In line with such movements and taking advantage of the "international unrest" there is a resurgence of various terrorist groups and / or nationalist movements (IRA, ETA, Red Brigades, etc.).
• Ethnic and religiuos problems are the cause of occasionally atentandos and incidents.
• Russia has several ongoing conflicts in their borders (especially Georgia), and several Islamic terrorist groups inside and outside its borders.

Africa

• Essentially the same problems remain and in many cases they're worse because the UN is more concerned with the scenario in Asia.
• Somalia (and to some extent other countries) is back in the state of the 90s, with a government totally ineffective and "warlords" controlling large areas of the country. The killings and "ethnic cleansing" are distressingly common and receive little international interest.
• Piracy is getting worse in all the areas close to Africa. Many shipping routes have changed and when that's not possible it has forced shipping companies to travel with military or para-military convoys."On future posts more about Black Eagle LLC, our characters and missions."

On future posts more about Black Eage LLC, our characters and missions.

Harald Sorenson

Harald, son of Soren, is the blacksmith of Odense (which means Odin's sanctuary), a small village in the northern coast of the Isle of Fyn. He learned the basics of the craft at a young age helping his father. However, his father was not a common blacksmith; his specialty was not the making of tools, weapons or armor, but of chains and shackles. His father was a blacksmith in a slave ship. Long, hard months at sea were spent plundering the coasts of Northumbria and East Anglia, to return with loads of slaves to be sold in Frankia or Frisia. Several years went by working in this horrible but lucrative business. During daylight hours young Harald perfected his skills as a blacksmith and also tried, in his idle time aboard the ships, to grasp the art of navigation. But at nightfall, in his dreams, he was haunted by the gaze returned by the slaves when he held fast the incandescent rivet while his father's hammer sealed their fate.

Many times they were followed after a raid but always, thanks to the gods, they had the good fortune to escape. As always, the men upwinded the sails to the limit and the slaves were forced to row until their calloused hands bled. However, this time was different; the sails on the horizon became larger and larger. Had the English become more daring? Were their ships now as good as the Danish longships? At bowshot, the English launched several flaming arrows, some of which landed on the ship and on the sails, which caught fire. The English rammed the Danes from the starboard side trying to disable the rudder, breaking several oars along with the arms of many rowers in the process. What followed was the bloodiest affair Harald had lived so far, since he was too young to take part in the raids on land. Helmets and skulls crushed by axes, arms and legs mutilated by swords, torsos pierced by spears, fierce looking men crying like children trying in vain to contain their spilling entrails with their hands.

The Danes, recovering from the initial surprise, managed to repel the English attack and bring most of the combat to the enemy ship. In the Danish ship, which was rapidly being engulfed by the fire, the slaves struggled to escape from their chains. Harald, dagger in hand, and his father, who wielded a hammer, were trying to fend off the assault of two English warriors. Harald stabbed one of them in the calf unbalancing him and his father sunk his hammer on the head of the attacker. The other warrior lunged forward plunging his sword into Soren, mortally wounding him. Harald let out a cry and dropped his dagger to stop his father's fall. The warrior lifted the bloody sword to kill Harald but fell pierced by a spear. Harald raised his father's hammer and repeatedly smashed the head of the wounded warrior.

From the smoke emerged the figure of Sven Magnusson, the Danish captain, who commanded Harald to accompany him to the other ship. Seeing that Harald refused to leave his father, he said: "There is no greater honor for a warrior than to die in combat; this burning ship will take him to the gates of Valhalla." After capturing the English ship, the survivors watched their longship being consumed by flames as the piercing screams of the unfortunate got lost in the distance.

Many winters have passed since then and now Harald and his assistant Ulrik attend to the village forge. During all these years he has forged many things but none as special as "Nedrivning", a hammer made from a rock that fell from the sky in the nearby marshes, beaten with his father's hammer and hardened in the water of the first thaw. He still remembers that night when the village völva awakened him and, along with Ulrik, they went to gather the rock. At the völva's request both worked relentlessly several days at the forge under her watchful eye. He does not remember having slept or taken any food, only the satisfaction of the endeavor seemed to have kept them up. The völva drew with charcoal the runes to be carved on the weapon and whose meaning he never found out. "Nedrivning" remains hidden, "awaiting the right time", in the völva's words. He has tattoed on arms and chest the same runes the völva draw for "Nedrivning".

---

Age 29; Human; 1.80m; 120kg; Bald, fat, tattooed.

ST 12 [20]; DX 13 [60]; IQ 13 [60]; HT 10 [0].

Damage 1d-1/1d+2; BL 29 lbs.; HP 14 [4]; Will 13 [0]; Per 13 [0]; FP11 [3].

Basic Speed 5,75 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Block 9 (Shield (Shield));Dodge 8; Parry 9 (Axe/Mace).

Social BackgroundTL: 3 [0].CF: Norse (Native) [0].Languages: Norse (Native/None) [3].
Advantages - None
Disadvantages - Code of Honor (Pagan) -2 [-10]; Fat [-3]; Gluttony (12 or less) [-5];Vow (Minor) [-5].
Skills - Area Knowledge (Jutlandia)-13 (IQ+0) [1]; Armoury/TL3 (BodyArmor)-14 (IQ+1) [4]; Armoury/TL3 (Melee Weapons)-13 (IQ+0) [2];Axe/Mace-13 (DX+0) [2]; Broadsword-12 (DX-1) [1]; First Aid/TL3-13(IQ+0) [1]; Hiking-9 (HT-1) [1]; Merchant-13 (IQ+0) [2]; Navigation/TL3(Sea)-13 (IQ+0) [2]; Riding (Horse)-12 (DX-1) [1]; Seamanship/TL3-13(IQ+0) [1]; Shield (Shield)-13 (DX+0) [1]; Smith/TL3 (Copper)-12 (IQ-1)[1]; Smith/TL3 (Iron)-13 (IQ+0) [2]; Smith/TL3 (Lead and Tin)-12 (IQ-1)[1].

What the...!?

Since I started blogging the site has had an average of about 300 visits a month, but this month that count rocketeered to about 4800! Surely there must be something wrong, right? Have this happened to anyone else?

I've been barely posting lately (most of the attention goes now to my 3 month old son) but I wanted to take some time to welcome my latest followers: Grendelwulf and Rule of the Dice. Oh, and I haven't fogotten what I said on my last post about posting my GURPS and ME characters.

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...

The Oerth Journal is back...

...and looking for submissions! Check it here.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit...

At last!

Season of the Witch (2011)

Baby's asleep. Let's watch a movie.

We didn't care if it has a low rate on IMDB and the trailer looked promising enough so we gave it a chance. It is an entertaining movie with everything a D&D adventure has to have.

The party is composed by two knights (veterans from the Crusades), a warrior, a priest, a thief and an altar boy who wants to be a knight. Their quest is to take a girl, allegedly a witch, to a remote monastery in the mountains for trial. Fiendish wolves attack them in the misty woods on its way. The party kills a few but has to escape from the rest. Upon arriving to the monastery, they must fight the animated plague-dead monks to get a relic. After defeating the undeads the party fights a demon with sword, holy water and divine magic.

I won't spoil it by telling how it ends or who lives or dies. Gotta go, baby's crying!

The day I became a dad

Now finally at home and with some time to write, I proudly anounce that my son Ivan was born by C-section on March 23rd. Mom and baby are in good health, and we're all very happy (though a bit tired and sleepy :>).

I guess my DMing of the Blackmoor and Maure Castle games will be on pause for some time (not too long I hope), as well as my participation on the Millenium's End game. I'll try to keep up with the Google Wave game though. ;-)

Maure Castle session 4 & 5

By some alignement of the palnets we managed to play on two consecutives weekends. We played on Friday 4th which I found it was a nice way to remember E.G.G. on the third anniversary of his death. Moreover because Maure Castle was one of the places he used to visit as a player. We also played on Friday 11th.

I'm just updating the blog because I've been busy with work and with all the preparations for the baby due to come next week! :-)

In the fist session the group continued exploring the Chamber of Antiquities after the effects of a Symbol of Fear on Quinath the fighter/mage were gone. Behind two granite doors, that were magically opened by using a baton of grey granite, they discovered a room full of shelves with almost 100 pairs of varied footwear in type, shape and materials. Detect magic showed nothing. They were about to leave when Kamar the kensai wondered if that footwear allowed to pass through the M-styled symbols without suffering their effects. Everyone else mocked him and dismissed the idea, but he insisted and took a pair that best fit him.

After exploring several more rooms, they reached one with four curiass on their stands and a door. The door was locked so Kamar bashed it, but with the impulse he entered the other room. The walls, floor and ceiling of that room were chaotically painted and produced some unknown efect that he managed to resist. After leaving that room he told the others that maybe those armor were intended to be worn in order to enter the room safely. Again everyone dismissed the idea but this time they just took them and continued exploring.

While the rest were discussing about the amor and the room, Inowe the monk left to explore other rooms. She reached a door ajar and carefully opened it. What was once a storeroom was now just a pile of broken crates and boxes. From another door, also ajar, across the room a hordling attacked Inowe. It almost killed the monk if not for the quick reaction of the rest. The creature came from what once was a laboratory, now completely wrecked. The exploration continued from room to room until they found hidden in a wardrobe another baton, this one made of emerald. With that they left the castle.

But after leaving Kamar tried the found footwear with the magic Symbols only to found he was correct! At the end of the session I decided to award Kamar's player extra XPs for the idea. Denar and Quinath reached level 15.

The next session was a short one. It was more a farewell reunion for Kamar's player who is going abroad for some time but will still be playing via Skype. The game stared with the party navigating the dungeons on their way out. They came across a couple of fiendish morghs. One was turned by Denar the cleric and the other, after paralyzing Inowe, was killed by Kamar. After that they rached the surface safely and, while travelling across the hills to Quinath tower, they found a strange flying creature (a rast) that was mercilesly killed by Quinath with a lighning bolt. The session ended with the party reaching Quinath tower safely.

Until next session!

Sandbox game session 10

Today I realized that a gaming weekend is coming (Maure Castle game on Friday and Sandbox game on Saturday) and I haven't posted what happened on our last Blackmoor game.

In the week before departure from Broomsage, the unusual presence of a pair of Ice Elves in the village¡s tavern spurs Kratos the fighter to find out what they are doing so far from their land. The warrior's direct inquiries are not well received by one of the Elves and Kratos goes away discouraged. Tamryn the thief, however, understands Elvish and hear the dialogue between the Elves and discover they are seeking information. Vanon the cleric decides then a more diplomatic approach. The tactic is effective and results in knowing that the Elves are on the trail of a human sorcerer who came to their land. He came followed by a retinue of human and humanoid mercenaries, and left "not in good terms with us" in the words of the Elves. They followed his trail to this lands but lost it after a storm and decided to seek information in the nearest town. The description made by the Elves reminds Vanon of the wizard familiar to the group, so he tells them about their recent experience. He also consults with the rest of the group and agree to help them. He gives them a map of the area where the sorcerer's lair is. The Elves are very grateful and in return give him a bag of coins and their names along with the promise of help by their clan (Caldarii) if need arise.

After leaving Broomsage Abbey, and having obtained from the monastery a map of Blackmoor and information about a wand, the "heroes " embark on their journey westward in search of the place marked on a map that belonged to Scarlet's grandfather. The trip passes uneventfully through hills and swamps until the village of Glendour. There, Brom the ranger expresses his intention to return to Ramshorn as he has been away from his lands for too long. The group surprises him with a bounce in appreciation. Scarlet the illusionist takes this opportunity to send her hireling Phillipe back home. Disappointed, the young warrior leaves with a grateful Brom.

The journey of our "heroes" continues to the northwest between snowy hills to Darthkettle Keep. Along the way they come across a halfling that dressed in colorful clothes walking with a pair of draft mules. Tamryn buys from him half a pound of tobacco; the finest blend as the halfling said. Upon reaching Darthkettle they see that it's a tower in pretty bad shape on a hill surrounded by some smaller buildings in ruins. The town itself is a bit far from the hill and it's rather small. As Glendour, the town is inhabited mostly by local tribesmen and they learn thekeep is occupied by the "Greenhag Covenant. " The group asks for the location indicated on Scarlet's map and find that it's in a nearby forest to the West controlled by the Druids.

Until next session!

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.

Uncovered treasures

Here are a couple of treasures I recently discovered while emptying a cabinet, as part of the many changes going on in the apartment for the baby that arrives next month. I found 13 issues of Dragon magazine! They are issues 118, 123, 124, 125, 133, 137, 143, 152, 173, 187, 204 and 206 (x2). Many of them has no cover but all are in good conditions.

The other one is the Ultima Online Renaissance reference guide with the maps of Trammel and Felucca. I don't know where the boxed set and CD are, but at least this one remains.

Miniatures

The OOC wave from our Google Wave game has seen a lot of activity lately related to miniatures and painting (painting techniques, paints, brushes, storage, etc).

Added to that I recently found (among other treasures I'll comment later) a couple of boxes with painted/unpainted miniatures. Here's my humble stash of miniatures:

I hope all this will give me the momentum to go back to painting!

EDIT: Thanks to ChicagoWiz and Ken.

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!

New Year

After a few, but well deserved vacation days, I'm back to wish you all (a little late but no less meaningful) a very happy 2011! May the New Year bring you love, good health and many, many hours of gaming among friends.

Cheers!