LotFP - Thelian Islands Campaign

On August 31th we gathered for our #6 LotFP game on G+ hangout.

Having one last day before the fleet that would raid Blood Island was prepared to sail, Antii decided to try his luck once again, this time in a fancy place. He spent plenty of silver on women, lodging, food and beer. He also told all his tales once again trying to impress the ladies. By the end of the night he not only managed to get laid, but the girl became his follower!

First, I named her Lutka which is the Finnish word for trollop (since that's what the NPC was), and then rolled pretty decent abilities (Cha 17, Con 14, Dex 11, Int 12, Str 7, Wis 12). I just couldn't resist placing the 17 on Charisma, and made her a redhead. So I guess now I have my own Flame Princess! ;)

The next day we started the 32-day sea trip to Blood Island. The first ten days passes uneventfully, until a giant squid crossed our path. A week later we encountered a merchant ship from our own clan, with whom we traded some goods and news. Three days later we got scared to death when a giant sea turtle rocked the ship! We were lucky it didn't continue to attack. Four days after that, we encountered more friendly creatures, half horse and half fish, that curiously stared at us. Hrok threw some apples at them, which they gladly ate. The next day hundreds of sea creatures, named locathah, mounted on giant eels passed us by, and then six days later, without encountering any other creatures, we arrived to the island.

It's a rocky island spotted here and there with thick forests. There's a village and a dock, everything in ruins and no one to be seen. Kelbar, who leads the expedition and came to find his father's body and sword, says the villagers fled because the constant attacks of sea zombies and clawed men. We anchored the ship and went ashore in two boats. One group would go to explore a nearby quarry and we would go to the village. The ship would wait for us til the next day and then go back.

The village has a keep in the center and four large buildings around it, a couple of barracks, a warehouse and a common area, all in bad shape. Everything was surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped earth rampart, that ended in a pair of also ruined towers.. We explored one of the barracks and found nothing, so we moved to the other barrack and discovered a trap door under all the debris. Chain mail suits, swords and shields were hidden down there. We went back to the first one and looked in the same place, finding another trapdoor and a couple of kegs of lantern in the room below. We found nothing of value in the common area or the warehouse, so we moved to the towers. While approaching one of them, three sea zombies emerged from the sea and attacked us. We killed them but in the fight Kelbar fell. All the noise attracted four more that were inside one of the towers, so we fired some missiles at them and ran to the keep, where we climbed a ruined wall. From above we managed to kill them before they engaged into melee. In the keep we found a serviceable catapult that was loaded into the magic boat and folded again.

Then, we decided to find the other group that went to the quarry. A river and a densely forested area had to be crossed before reaching the place. We used the magic boat as a bridge to cross the stream and ventured into the woods. In a clear area we came across a couple of sheep, which we found odd. And we were right to suspect, because they turned into worgs and attacked! After killing the foul creatures we found some ruins; a set of five 12' tall marble statues with inscriptions in an ancient script of our language. We didn't know yet but they were of the Old Gods. Inspecting one of them (a screaming warrior with a sword) we found it descended into the ground and into a subterranean complex. Each statue lowered into a different 60'x60'  room and there were two other round rooms, one full of rooms for Hrok's delight and the other with 6 paintings different scenes about a column totem, a battle, a demon spitting lightning at the totem, war against the hobgoblins, some ships at sea, the totem in the hands of the hobgoblins and the Old Gods ooking at the ships. We decided to spend the night underground and make it to the coast at first light.

The next day we rushed through the woods and were surprised by three troblins. Hrok summoned a giant ice toad and we managed to kill two while one fell asleep, and we put the creatures to the flame. Annar fell but Signy managed to heal him enough to find our way back to the coast and to the ship. The other didn't showed on time so we left. Although Hrok asked not to mention the complex we found, Antii couldn't keep his mouth shut and bragged about how he made it with Lutka on every room!

Our journey back was no less exciting. On the second day we came by a horde of more that 100 koalinth (marine hobgoblins) but nothing happened. A couple of days later some friendly sea lions crossed our path and Hrok killed one of them, which the sailor found a bad omen. Almost a week after that we saw a carnivorous whale. We decided to go after it and kill it, and so we did. We cut and salted some of it and tied the rest to the rail. Unfortunately, the next day a dragon turtle attacked us and we only managed to escape by cutting the whale carcass loose. After that, several days later, we saw sea gargoyles and sahuagines who kept their distance. When we were about to reach our destination, we found some tritons on sea horses who left after Hrok threw some apples at them.

Ambition and Avarice

Ambition & Avarice is Greg Christopher's latest creation and it's available for download at RPGNow.com (click on the image to get it free!). After reading it, I made a short list of the things I liked and didn't liked, along with a couple of questions/observations and posted it on G+. I added Greg's answers to this post.

Liked: layout, art, rest dice, race advantages, classes (mundane, magical, expertise, identify), dungeon throws, character points, min. STR required for some armors, armor penalty to sneak, you dared with grapple rules, detailed hazards and survival, spell names.

Didn't like: civilized vs. uncivilized races, the "ignores the armor class bonus of any non-metal armor" in some swords*, lack of random encounter distance.

Questions:

- Do you lose your attack when you're doing an aimed attack and your target dies?

GC: You would lose your attack with the aimed shot, yes.

- Did you considered using material components for spells?

GC: And I absolutely hate material spell components just because they are such a chore for the mage players. But that is personal preference, I can see the logic of having them.

*I would've liked it if blunt weapons also had similar traits (ie: maces & hammers against rigid metal armor).

GC: That is interesting to consider with the blunt weapons. I hadn't considered that before. Hrm.... 

Great job! :)

The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk

Wheee! I won The Ooze Pits of Jonas Gralk  from Purple Sorcerer Games (click on the image to get it from RPGnow) in Tenkar's Tavern "DCC RPG Corruption Contest" with this entry.

Thanks again to Erik for putting up another cool contest!

Once I have it and read it, I'm going to GM it in a Google+ Hangout. Yes, I know I said the same when I won Attack of the Frawgs, and still haven't GMed it. But I will, promise!

DCC RPG Contest

August DCC RPG Contest @ Tenkar's Tavern - Get Some Corruption and Maybe Win a Prize!

Roll 1d6 to know which of the senses is corrupted:

1-Sight: Your eyes double in size and the optic nerve grows like snail antennas.
2-Smell: You grow an elephant nose but can't breathe through it.
3-Hearing: You grow necomimi.
4-Touch: A hand grows from each of your finger tips.
5-Taste: You get Gene Simmons tongue.
6-All of the above.

LotFP - Thelian Islands Campaign

On August 24th we got together again on G+ for our #5 game. It was a game in which the dices didn't favored me, but I had a lot of fun anyway.

We got back to the village in  our new longboat, baptized "The Fanged Glacier". Everyone was shocked to see us in such a wonderful ship, and Signy said it was "a gift from the Polar Bear", which caused the envy of her, now, former mentor. 

Antii, with after some beers and trying to attract some followers, told what they've found, and how they've fought the ghouls, skeletons and rats, making him the main character of the tale. He also talked about the luminous fungi and the spinning statue. With a +4 bonus I had to roll under my Charisma score (11), but rolled an 18, so no followers for Antii. I guess he went over the top with his tale. Annar and Signy, on the contrary, managed to have attracted a follower each, a young boy and a girl respectively.

The next day everyone said goodbye to their loved ones before leaving the island. Antii's dad gave him his "lucky coin", a worn out gold coin like the ones the group had found the previous days. With a leather chord he tied it around his neck. Many of the survivors from the merchant ship, attacked by the hobgoblin raiders, joined the party as crew for the longboat. Supplies and goods for sale were loaded on the ship, and we set sail to Bear Island, 800 miles away to the SW.

The Fanged Glacier

The first ten day of the voyage were uneventful, until we sighted a merchant ship. We approached and exchanged some good and information before continuing. Four days later we were attacked by four giant eels. We managed to kill three of them (Antii missed every swing at the creatures) and drove away the remaining badly wounded, losing only two crewmen. Two of the dead eels were brought on board, cut into pieces and salted. Before reaching our destination we came across some tritons, who kept their distance, and also dolphins and a giant manta-ray.

After 30 days at sea Antii and Annar went to find a place with good booze and bad women, while Signy went to try speak with the authorities of the city, and Hrok sought someone to sell his mushrooms. Everyone also sold his share of the salted eels for 75 sp + 1d20 sp (I rolled a 19!). At the tavern, having plenty of beer, Antii bragged about he repelled the hobgoblin raid and the giant eels.

- "OK", said JoetheDM, "roll 1d20, only on a 19 or 20 you fail to get laid."

- "Oh no! I rolled a 20!", I said to my dismay.

(laughs)

- "Well, if you roll low you vomit on the girl, if you roll high you fall asleep fail to get a boner."

- "I rolled low..."

(more laughs)

Meanwhile, Signy was received by the shamans of the Bear Clan in the best part of the city, where she warned them of the hobgoblin plans to attack the trade routes, and Hrok, who had found that he needed to go to some caves to sell his mushrooms, drank all he could without being bothered. Signy introduced  her acolyte to the shamans and an initiation ritual was performed.

Signy (right) and her acolyte after the ritual.

The group has now several places to go: continue West to Cowl Island, explore Bear Island, joins a raid against the hobgoblins, or go to the contested Blood Island with its thick forests and a fabled pyramid. To Blood Island it'll be. Antii bought a suit of chain mail and a sword, just in case.