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.

---

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.

---

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! ;)

FLAISNAILS on G+

On Friday 11th I played my first FLAILSNAILS (Free Location And Inclusion Laws Supporting New And Interesting Leisure Situations) game on G+. The game was run by JoeTheLawyer and along with Chris K., Steven G., Darcy W., Chris H., we explored Castle Zagyg!

I brought in my first character ever: Gimli of Geoff, a dwarven fighter from 1e AD&D. It was level 5 by the time he died in the Temple of the Elemental Evil. I had it toned it down to 1st level since it was my first FLAISNAILS game. The rest of the party were:

• Arma, Elven fighter/thief
• Kellan, Human illusionist
• Graham, Human monkish fighter/mage (whatever that is, LOL)
• Flak, Human fighter

I really enjoyed it a lot. Thanks guys!

EDIT: Last Friday we played again and I had a blast! Recaps of both sessions will follow soon.

20 years of Wolfenstein 3D

Today it's been 20 years since this game, a pioneer of the FPS genre, came into our lives. Thanks Id Software for countless of hours of fun!

UPDATE: Play it for free in your browser!

Huge map of NW Middle Earth

You can see this beautiful and highly detailed map of Northwestern Middle Earth here. Be warned, it's realy huge (8000x5389 pixels)!

Gygax heraldry

After posting about Barrowmaze II last Saturday, out of curiosity I went to check the first part of the megadungeon. I ended on artist Stefan Poag's blog where I found a piece of D&D art including the heraldry of the House of Gygax. From the cover of the original Barrowmaze:

I instantly remembered seeing it on the cover of the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, but where else?

After searching the web I came across a couple of very interesting posts on the subject by Jeff Rients: The Real Ring of Gaxx? and Gygax arms sighting. Do you know any other place you may find Gygax coat of arms?

Table Top

I've been following the Table Top show, hosted by Wil Wheaton, on YouTube's Geek&Sundry channel since it appeared last April. So far they've played Small World, Settlers of Catan, Zombie Dice, Get Bit! and Tsuro.

Wish I have a FLGS where I can get those and other board games. I  know I could buy them online, but I fear they wouldn't make it through customs. For now I'll just keep enjoying the show...

I need more megadungeons!

Barrowmaze II is the second part of a two-part exploration-style megadungeon project for Labyrinth Lord and other classic fantasy role-playing games.

Barrowmaze I had a very good reception in the the OSR community, so we can't expect any lees for part II.

May the 4th be with you...

Secret documents in a secret room

These news appeared on yesterday's afternoon paper:

Pure luck allowed a construction worker to accidentally find at least 20 boxes containing official Army documents, hidden in a niche (10 ft. deep and 5 ft. wide) down an unused elevator shaft of the Museum of Indigenous and Pre-Columbian Art. The documents that date from the last dictatorship (1973-1985) seem to be only Army personnel records.

As a consequence of these findings it is likely that other areas of the Museum, such as the basement, which is  closed and its doors boarded up, will be searched. Several versions roused saying that the 1973 coup was decided there or that it was used as a prison. Also that a bunker and several secret passages were built under the Museum.

The old building that dates from 1888, was conceived as a medical facility for thermal hydrotherapy but never worked as such. It included a large swimming pool on the ground floor and had a tunnel connecting the Bay of Montevideo from where sea water was extracted for heating. 

That would made some interesting game inspiration. What do you think?

Elder Scrolls goes MMO

Zenimax Media has announced The Elder Scrolls Online to go online in 2013. Read more about it here.

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!