Editions in Dungeons & Dragons, or Where Are We, Again?

I'm still working on getting some actual plays up and I have a few other longer posts in the works that are sitting in drafts, but I'm going to hit on some quick thoughts in the coming days, the first of which is some thoughts on edition and how it's defined.

Dungeons & Dragons was first published in 1974 as a box set with three booklets. These weren't the normal Player's Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide and Monster Manual that we're all used to, their organization was different, but I think the template was successful enough that it's stuck. If anyone is unfamiliar with this edition, let me tell you that it's a different creature altogether than the game you're used to. The layout is a little all over the place and the ties to wargaming are everywhere in the text. I'm veering off course already, but it really is a unique game and though supplements were printed for it, it stands alone as its own beast.

In 1977, two different versions of Dungeons & Dragons were published. Basic D&D, often called Holmes Basic since it was written by J. Eric Holmes, and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Basic released at the start of summer that year as a box set with dice and booklet or the standalone booklet, and featured rules that took characters to third level. As a further disconnect from the Advanced rules, Basic also featured race-as-class, so a player would just select Elf instead of Elf Fighter/Mage, which are the abilities the race featured. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons released later in the year and presented book releases with a format we've been familiar with since. AD&D also featured class/race combinations, multiclasses and most other trappings people associate with Dungeons & Dragons.

1981 saw a slight revision of the Basic Set featuring rewrites and edits by Tom Moldvay. This edit pushed Basic even further away from AD&D. This boxed set featured a red-bordered rulebook and module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands along with a set of dice. This revision was followed in short order by the release of the Expert Set, by Dave Cook and Steve Marsh. The Expert rules expanded character advancement from levels four to fourteen.

Two years later, in 1983, yet another revision of the Basic Set was released. Frank Mentzer's edit, also known as Red Box D&D, was followed in the next two years by four more boxed sets for the Expert (levels 4-14), Companion (levels 15-25), Master (levels 26-36), and Immortal (transcendence) rules. This release of the Basic rules were presented in a more tutorial form to welcome new players.

In 1989, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons got a 2nd Edition release, with updated rules and new character classes. This release was partially made to address the Satanic Panic that had impacted the game in previous years, removing 'evil' items like the Assassin class and Half-Orc race and changing the words demon and devil to tanar'ri and baatezu, respectively. The release schedule started over with the three core books and ballooned rapidly.

The Rules Cyclopedia released in 1991, collecting major rules from the previous Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master boxed sets. Aaron Alston and his team put together this tome as a reference guide for those with a higher proficiency with the game. In addition, the book included two new classes, a guide on conversion between D&D and AD&D and short overviews of both the Known World and Hollow World campaign settings (Mystara).

Also in 1991, a new Basic Set released that not only included a rule book, but a deck of Learning Cards that had rules of play on one side and an example of those rules on the back. The box also included a map, pawns, and dice. This box included rules that took characters to 5th level.

The final Basic Set release came out in 1994. The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game, as it was called, was edited by Doug Stewart. The set came boxed with PC miniatures, monster pawns, a DM's screen, a map, and dice.

2000 brought a new edition of the main game line, dubbed Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition. This was a major overhaul of the rules that affected all aspects of the game, and introduced what was called the d20 System that led to the formation of the Open Game License. Notable among changes made were the removal of race/class restrictions and level restrictions for characters.

Three years later, a new release of the three core books revised the 3rd Edition, addressing plenty of minor rules complaints and confusions submitted to WotC. This revision, called 3.5, touched on races, classes, skills, feats, and almost every other aspect of the game. Supplements previously released were addressed in errata documents, but no rereleases and the publishing schedule retained its fast pace.

In 2008, another major overhaul of the primary game took place. 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons introduced new core races and classes with a design that clearly pulled from video games with roles like tank and striker, enemy types like minion and elite, and powers with cooldowns and resets. Multiple waves of core books also made this edition notable. Mechanically, this edition deviated the most as each class had powers usable at different times and spells were rolled into this system, as well, making most classes feel similar in playstyle, but differentiating them with power sources and delivery. Every 10 levels (1-10, 11-20, 21-30) represents different themes of adventure; heroic adventurers are establishing their legends, paragon adventurers are affecting regions, and epic characters are world-shakers.

In 2010, a soft revision (though not called that) was released for 4th Edition, called the Essentials line. These books cleared up and revised some rulings while presenting the rules in an introductory fashion.

In the quickest turnaround for a full reworking of the main game line, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition was released in 2013. 5th Edition returned to many of the basic concepts of the d20 System familiar to players of the 3rd/3.5 Edition, though many rules come from all eras and editions of D&D. Defense values were boiled back down, a universal bonus was applied to skills, attack bonus, saves and other things characters are trained in. Advantage/disadvantage was introduced in a move to boil down granular situational bonuses that plagues previous editions.

Though this is presented as a timeline of release with a little bit of detail for each of the editions, my initial reason for this post is the argument in some groups that 3rd-5th Editions are not continuations of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Does that mean to imply that they're continuations of the Basic rules? There could be an argument for that, I suppose, as the Rules Cyclopedia states it's the second major revision of the BECMI rules, making it a 2nd Edition, of sorts.

Depending on source, there are 5, 14, 17, 18, 23, 28, etc., etc., etc. editions of Dungeons & Dragons. I've read all of those numbers in articles and blog posts, but I don't think I agree. I believe OD&D, the original 1974 release, is its own thing. I also believe BECMI is its own game and Rules Cyclopedia is included in that. Which leaves my absolutely reasonable (yet controversial) take that 3rd-5th Edition is the continuation of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The "Advanced" name could be dropped since the separate game was no longer in production or supported. This is also supported by the conversion document that showed how to convert your 2nd Edition character and other aspects of your campaign to the 3rd Edition of the game.

A Quick Thought on Domain Spells in 3.x/Pathfinder 1e

 I have a handful of posts I'm currently writing in draft, but I thought of this at work the other night and it's been in my head a fair amount.

The original thought came as this question: Was it the original intention of the designers of D&D 3rd Edition that DMs would assign domain spells, instead of players choosing them?

To which some might say, "No, idiot. You get domain abilities in addition to the spells." Which is fine, but I don't feel like they need be mutually exclusive concepts. Access to domains is granted by every deity to every Cleric that worships them. A Cleric character can choose two domains to represent the aspects of the deity they vibe with that grant slight abilities such as activated bonuses on saving throws against certain effects or weapon proficiencies, minor elemental attacks, or a feat, for example. Each domain has a list of thematic spells implied to be especially granted to the Cleric due to their special bond with their deity.

My proposal: Each Cleric chooses two domains to represent the parts of their deity's portfolio they most associate with, gaining the domain abilities for those, as normal. The DM assigns a domain spell of each spell level available to the Cleric from any domains the deity has access to when the character prays for their spells. Domain spell slots cannot be manipulated as currency for class features or other abilities and can never be left open for later memorization.

This means that a 5th level Cleric of Corellon Larethian prays for their spells and the DM assigns their 1st-3rd level domain spells, which could be from any of Chaos, Elf, Good, Magic, Pride, Protection, or War domains of the appropriate level. I know, it's more work on the DM, but not much, and could be a great tool for foreshadowing; "Why was my character granted Nystul's Undetectable Aura?" You could mix them up and assign them randomly, or in a rigid pattern of repeat, depending on the alignment of the character's god. That could make planning fun. "I'll be able to Dispel an additional time in three days, if we can wait to strike the wizard's tower then."

Anyway, a quick thought. I might implement it. Anyone out there have thoughts?

Forgotten Realms II: Legacies of the Past, Series 2.1

Friday night, I revived a campaign I haven't ran in ten years, with a group featuring only one of the players from that game a decade ago.

Some might ask why I'd do such a thing? Surely, the balance and chemistry would be thrown off? Does the player from the old group even remember his character or what was happening? Can the new group possibly capture some of that same dynamic that made the old campaign successful? Can you even remember where you were going with the campaign, and can you reignite that dynamic that made the old campaign successful?

The answers are easy enough: Paul really wants to see this out to its end, plus it sounds fun. Probably, but that can be recreated. Not really, but with lots of exposition and two weeks to study his character and classes, he's getting up to speed. I'm hoping the new group creates its own dynamic that will make this new part of the campaign successful. I keep meticulous notes, and had all my old work saved, so I know where I was going, but can I jump back in and get a solid dynamic going? Hell, I'm gonna give it my best!


And so we begin...
There's a fair amount of exposition and hammering out some details before we get started. This was made easier by only having half of the group present, so after we do some short prologues and catch everyone up to what happened in the old campaign, then I let the players choose when we would get into the game.

Some of the exposition follows, for those who want to play along at home...
Disclaimer: If you stumbled across this post and decided to read due to setting, and you are a Forgotten Realms purist, you might want to stop right now. My realms is set in 1395 DR, before any of the 4th or 5th Edition material was published, and absolutely wrecks canon in places. You have been warned!

·                     The intrepid heroes of the old campaign were whisked to the Monastery of the Omniscient Eye in the Sunrise Mountains. (A huge shared temple of all gods/goddesses of knowledge in any form, including those who normally wouldnt work together on principle of alignment. (Shar, Oghma, Milil, Savras, Gond, etc.)

·                     There, it is revealed that the Illumians are a dying race magically created thousands of years ago by a culture they do not recall to safeguard knowledge and put the knowledge they do have to use in making Abeir-Toril safer and to keep magic proliferate.

·                     At the Monastery, the PCs unlocked the truth behind their items(and statted them), decided who would continue on the quest, and equipped themselves to be appropriate for their level so that the challenges aren't increasingly harder than the PCs could muster against.
·                The 8 Great Evils were revealed as riddles and rhymes to be interpreted how the PCs found fit, though each is very much a specific person/entity, and all are truly evil.
·                     The PCs will set out on their quest to rid the world of the Evils, thus fulfilling their purpose as bearers of Thenadae's Legacy Items. 

After hitting the bullet points and going over a recap of the last session played with Paul, we went through a short prologue for each character, which is where the campaign picks up.

Jörmun's Prologue
After his battlelust getting the best of him during a job in his long stay in Waterdeep, Jörmun is forced to leave the city, becoming a wanderer again in his life, searching out battle, gold, and magic.

Some time later, during his travels, an agent of his employer in the City of Splendors, a man he for the first time realizes is an elf, despite multiple dealings, intercepts him and offers him a tip on a lucrative venture where there is promised to be much treasure and many chances to prove his might in battle.

This is all the Uthgardt needs to agree, and the man gives him an amulet that will guide the northerner in the right direction. Without hesitation, the warrior begins the long trek on foot toward adventure, arriving nine days later in Enialani Deshu.


Harlequin's Prologue
Harlequin has it easy. After touring with a troupe of entertainers, she has settled back in working for a noble family that pays her well. This day, however, when she enters the estate for her nightly performances, she is met with the man of the house, who takes her aside and explains that her father has need of her talents this day.

Art by Carla Arlecchino

It is explained by Harlequin's father that a veteran friend, and powerful Chessentan noble, named Telamon has asked for his aid in completing a quest that Telamon, himself, must give up for the time being. The old naval officer realizes that he is too old to take up this quest, but believes that his daughter has the life experience and potential to achieve great things and so decided to contact Harlequin and ask for her to do this thing for him, and to know he would never ask this of her if he didn't feel there was great need.

Harlequin accepts and her father bids her gather everything she feels she will need and meet him at their home, which she does and is introduced to a mystic whom asks if she is ready, then whisks her to Cormanthor via teleport as soon as she begins to answer. The mystic then bids her good luck and teleports away again just as quickly, leaving the young woman to guess where to go.

Shortly after entering the city, she makes contact with Telamon and his group before they depart, and he thanks her for taking up this quest in her father's stead. He then introduces her to Melody and makes preparations to leave.


Melody's Prologue

Art by Nekoart on Twitter

Telamon, Hapheth, Jack, Melody, Ajax, Logos, and Aeshoon (most of the original group) are traveling into Cormanthor to Enialani Deshu, the grand city that was rebuilt over fallen Myth Drannor. On the way in, they are met by elven sentinels clad in glassteel armor and weilding exotic blades and masterfully crafted bows. These elves bid them well on their travels, and sometimes accompany the party a short while before continuing their patrols.

Before reaching the gates, Telamon gets a Sending explaining that his city-state (Luthcheq) is in danger of civil unrest and possibly invasion if he does not return and exert control. He asks for Ajax and the rest of his followers to accompany him, except for Aeshoon, whom he asks to help recruit others to take up the quest, vowing that he will return if given the opportunity. Jack says that he will travel east with Telamon, but admits that his destination is the Great Dale, where he hopes to get the relationship with his daughter on track. Hapheth offers to help Telamon, also saying that he will return to the quest if the opportunity later presents itself. The majority of the band depart, leaving behind the lich Thenadae's prophesied items that will help the heroes defeat the Eight Great Evils after Telamon and others put out calls to various agents to send worthy persons to Cormanthor.


The Group Forms and Starts Out
Melody and Aeshoon wait, first greeting a Chessentan woman by the name of Harlequin who teleports in that afternoon and is greeted by Telamon before he departs, as she is the daughter of an old friend, then almost a tenday later being joined by a Uthgardt calling himself Jörmun.

After greetings, the two new recruits are given the basics of what the items that make up Thenadae's Legacy do. More abilities are introduced to the characters once they lay claim and a short attunement ritual is completed. Jörmun chooses Hapheth's cape and Harlequin takes Jack's boots, leaving Aeshoon's silvered tanto blade, Telamon's helm, and Darden's belt, though the latter item is still with it's original claimant.

Aeshoon explains that Darden had a lead on where they needed to go next to face one of the evils, but had only left a note, and had taken off on his own to arrive there first, saying he would wait at Enailai Deshu for a short time before moving on, and that if he had already gone, they should meet with the Tradesmaster of the Elven Court, and that he would be able to provide them more information.

The four go to meet the Tradesmaster, who in his graciousness does not turn them away when they enter his chambers armed and armored, despite the proper company in attendance. Tradesmaster Ivellios Vyshaan introduces the group to his wife, Siloqui, an air genasi named Ithagan, who is introduced as "Captain of Her Majesty's Spell Archers", an earth genasi named Fraught, who is introduced as the Vyshaan's head of security, and the High Mage of Cormanthor, Eraevan Teshurr, and his companion, Maresa.

The Tradesmaster goes on to explain that he had met with Darden two tendays ago, and that the dark elf indicated that he would be going to a location in the Dagger Hills, just on the edge of Daggerdale, to enter a chamber leading to the drow outpost of what used to be known as Szith Morcane and on to Maerimydra. Ivellios goes on to explain that he doesn't know what could be in those locations now, but that he was part of an adventuring band, that included Ithagan and Fraught, that cleansed that place of the drow menace more than twenty years ago, though as he understands it, some rogue bands of drow and fey'ri were destroyed in the area during the Reclamation Wars.

Ivellios then pulls out a map of the region and shows the group where Darden was to enter the Underdark, and bids them luck on their travel, offering fresh mounts for the journey, should they so choose. The group declines when Melody suggests she can get them there faster, and they decide to leave that afternoon, with Aeshoon staying behind to greet any others who may show up to take on the quest and guide them on their way.

Jörmun is reluctant to climb aboard at first when Melody shifts into the form of a giant bat, but reasons that flying is basically the only mode of travel he hasn't used before, and climbs onto the wildshaper. Harlequin is quick to mount the bat, finding it no more unusual that someone can turn into a bat than some of the arcane tricks she has already seen in her travels, and thus with a few spells cast for even more expedience in their trip, they take to the sky.

Five hours into their flight, however, several figures can be seen rising into the air in pursuit...


Cast of Characters
Harlequin Jacinta, Human Jester 13 - Angela
Jörmun Gand, Barbarian 11/Frenzied Berserker 2 - Taylor
Melody Proust, Half-Drow Druid 5/Mistress of Many Forms 8 of Shiallia - Paul
Aeshoon, Illumian Fighter 4/Cleric 9 of Oghma - Chris' cohort (retired)
Ajax, Human Fighter 12 - Ritchie (retired)
Darden (Zszfrynvyll Noqurden), Drow Ranger 7 of Silvanus/Fighter 2/Tempest 1 - Ritchie (retired)
Hapheth Hesaad, Greensnake Shinomen Naga Abjurer 9/Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 2 - Eric (retired)
Jack Grimes, Human Scout 7/Thief-Acrobat 4/Artificer 3 - Zack (retired)
Telamon, Karsite Human Human Paragon 3/Fighter 4/ Knight 5 - Chris (retired)



So, with one session under my belt on this campaign, I thought things went well. There were a lot of tangents, but it's not always easy to get into the thrust of a game when you're down half the group. I caught myself stalling a couple of times during the game, partially because I didn't want to get into combat, though I ended with a random encounter about to happen.

I'm not sure if this new group of players (new to this campaign) will take well to the Legacy Item rules. There seemed to be some dislike of the costs, but maybe it will grow on them once they can customize them to their own liking with further ritual unlocks.

All in all, I'm excited for the next session, and I've already done quite a bit of prep!

A New Campaign: Superheroes in Eberron

And so, with Angela unable to run a campaign now due to the time demand of her job, I presented The List (likely soon to be posted) to my players and they made their choice. Thus, we have picked up a game wherein the players use Dungeons & Dragons 3.x rules to, as closely as possible, create a gestalt character that resembles a hero from any superhero comic source.

In addition to the character build, I give a unique power to each character the rounds out and compliments the character chosen. All heroes, anti-heroes, villains, etc., are represented by gestalt characters and carry an additional "Extranormal" subtype. All characters not bearing the Extranormal subtype are granted the "Baseline" subtype, and may never have gestalt classes, barring extraordinary circumstances.

Character choice, as previously stated, can range the entire breadth of superhero comics, with a few exceptions. The founding members of the Justice League (Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Superman, and Wonderwoman) are disallowed to players, as are any character previously played in this or the original campaign (ruling out characters like Deadpool, Forge, Dr. Strange, Vision, Thor, and a few others). Also, any unique character that has previously died in campaign cannot be chosen. There are, of course, certain loopholes - there are hundreds of Green Lanterns, for instance, and only the Hal Jordan analog is disallowed, same for the Wally West Flash.

The campaign itself is the sequel to one ran by my friend Zack in the early to mid 2000s, wherein super-powered beings (by virtue of gestalt classes) had begun to manifest on the world of Eberron over the past few years. Suddenly, though, the greatest of these heroes had vanished, and Dr. Strange (played then by my friend, Chris G.) gathered a team he called The Defenders to get to the bottom of the disappearances. That was months (game time) ago, and those heroes are, perhaps, still on their quest, but another team has been assembled for similar reasons more recently.

The adventures of this new team will be presented in upcoming posts, as we've already had a few sessions, but for now, I'll introduce the team....

Cast of Characters
Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), Rogue 3|Totemist 3 - David
Jean Grey, Psion 4|Wilder 4  - Angela
Bennet du Paris (Exodus), Psion 4|Spellthief 4 -Taylor
Henry (Beast), Artificer 4|Anthropomorphic Ape 2/Monk 2 - Paul
Scarecrow [DC] - Jon (Tentative)
Ghost Rider - G2 (Tentative)
Shadowcat - Sam (Tentative)

As you can see, the team we started out with (the non-Tentatives) are very X-centric (ha!), and their story falls more into the vein of what I feel fits the X-Men vibe. It's interesting to note that only two characters don't fit the X-Men team theme, and I was excited when Jon said he wanted to play a DC character. Integrating the separate mythos of various comic book worlds with the world of Eberron and each other has been a challenge for me when trying to plot my story, and I'm eager to see how and why Jon puts the Scarecrow, a notorious adversary of The Bat, in the midst of a young group of heroes.

The Age of Worms, Session 28

Our exit from this place, triumphant, but still with more questions to be answered, seemed to be our fate, without a clear plan to follow, it looked as if we were going to have to confer with Allustan or Eligos on where to go or what to do next, but as we meant to take our leave from the place, we were attacked!

Out from nowhere, a small group of the dark elves and a mysterious other figure with slimy tentacles where a mouth should be attacked. The area was cloaked in darkness, and though we defeated the four drow, there was no sign of the betentacled fellow, but we did have a trail to follow. The boots of the drow were caked in phosphorescent fungus called Beggar's Gold, which we identified and used as the basis for our investigations under the city in the tunnels which led to the city's sewers.

Greyhawk's sewers, wretched and cold and smelly as they were, are hellishly HUGE. It took us what seemed like weeks, but was likely only days, to finally get back on the trail of our attacker and, we hoped, the bottom of the problems here in the Free City. We fumbled our way further, encountering a few more drow and then came upon a great set of double doors within an otherwise seemingly natural cave.

Cast of Characters
Able Nightengale, Gloaming Healer 7/+1 Negative Level - David
??, Goblin Psion (Telepath) 5/Thrallherd 2/+1 Negative Level -  Paul
??, Human Warblade 4 - Paul (thrall)
??, Human Druid 5/Planar Shepherd 2 -Taylor
Rill Meadowwhisper, Flind Druid (Shapeshifter variant) 7/+1 Negative Level - Me

And here ended our foray into The Age of Worms.

Angela, like me, has just gotten a new position at her job, and she feels she doesn't have the time or energy at this moment to run a game, and so with a little discussion, I decided to start a new campaign. More on that to come, but I'd like to thank Angela for a fun game!

Sealing the Dragon's Gate Parts 2 and 3 (of 3)

The past two months have been fairly busy, with me gaining a promotion, Angela completing her classes to become a reserve police officer, and other obligations and illnesses for various members of the group, but we have managed to eke out five sessions* of our various games during the 8 weeks since I last posted. Here's the conclusion of our 3-part Eberron game ran by Paul.

After leaving the dragon we encountered in the kobold city, we began our dangerous trek further into the mountain, in search of the Demon (alternately, Dragon) Gate, which we were to seal with the scroll afforded us by the Daughters of Sora Kell.

Our passage was blocked by throngs of tieflings and demons of all sorts in fierce combat with a small group of elder dragons of various color. The breach in the Gate had spilled forth much more than we had anticipated and so we threw our power into the fight against the fell host, seemingly doing very little to turn the tide of battle. Then, a few of us had the idea of pushing for the back of the cavern - over a mile deeper into hostile territory, harried all the way by fiends until the Gate was in sight.

Once there, I pulled the scroll and enacted the magic to bind the Gate, and simultaneously, the demon host broke, carrying the day for our band. We finished our business there and returned to the heart of Droaam victorious. There were more of these Gates to be sealed, and many, more dire challenges that awaited us, no doubt, but those are stories for another day...

Cast of Characters**
Saint Cleanse, Awakened Sainted Empowered Divine Living Fireball Monk 8/Paladin 2/Shibu Protector 1 - David
??, Medusa Fighter 10  - Angela
??, Dragonkin Dragonborn Dragon Adept 10 -Tami
??, Harssaf Rogue 10 -Taylor
Anak, Draconic Human-blooded Arkamoi Sorceror 2/Incantatrix 9 - Me

*there is a little bit of debate about this, as some of us remember the last part of Paul's game taking 2 sessions and the rest remembering it as a 2-parter in whole, with the last part just being insanely long. It was only discussed briefly, but ultimately doesn't matter.

**You might notice a level disparity between mine and David's characters and the others. That's because we all gained a level at the end of the last session, and I can't recall what anyone else took. Perhaps some insight will come in comments. Also, I'm not sure of anyone's name, so maybe I can be clued in to those.

My Reincarnation Table

A few weeks ago, The Digital Orc (go read his blog, it's good) asked me in a comment for the table I use (and have shared with my current group and others in the past) when a character has Reincarnate cast on them. It took me longer than anticipated, but I've finally gotten the chance to clean it up and here it is!

Now, don't let that make you think that it will look pretty. Far from it. I make sloppy notes for my games, with little regard for layout, and at best, this is just functional. The file is in Word .doc format, but I can post it in something else if people have any problems with it.

I don't think, given my usual blogging fare, that I should post a disclaimer saying that this list is taken entirely from 3.x sources. This is simply because that's what my group plays, and honestly, if you are playing any version of D&D, or retroclones thereof, it's my personal opinion that you do yourself a disservice by not mining other editions for content. I do it all the time with my personal games, but I digress.

Anyway, some might point out I didn't include races from X book, or updated to Pathfinder, or whatever. Yes, I know this. This chart was crafted specifically for two games I ran in the past, and I still like and use it. I'm sorry if your favorite race didn't make the list. There are, I think, 92 separate roll results on the primary chart alone. That's enough to last you a bit.

Some might also say that I maybe should have skewed more toward the base/classic races of D&D, but they do get a small bump on the chart, and I really just like options. I like gonzo stuff in my games, I like crunchy characters with options, and I also like roleplay situations built upon becoming something that perhaps noone in this part of the world has seen before.

I could certainly improve the thing, I'm sure, but my group and I get heaps of enjoyment out of it. You can improve it, if you would like. If you play older editions, I hope you at least look into some of the monsters, and maybe even do some conversions, if they don't exist in your rules. I would be incredibly interested in seeing stuff like that.

As always, please comment if you have any questions, suggestions, etc.. I look forward to it.

Sealing the Dragon's Gate, Part 1 (of 3?)

This week, we switched gears a little bit because Angela is training to multiclass into police officer by taking a class to become a reserve officer. Since she has little time for prep for our Age of Worms campaign, Paul stepped up with an interesting Eberron campaign. The story is as follows:

Each of our characters were approached separately by the honor guard of the Daughters of Sora Kell and escorted to The Great Crag to meet with an envoy of the coven. There, we were told of a prison created at the dawn of the worlds, when Eberron surrounded Khyber and trapped its hellish spawn with it, and how deep in the bowels of the Demon Wastes(I believe, I'll have to ask Paul for confirmation), a fissure was being created that could spill all manner of nasties onto the face of Eberron.

This, of course, would be bad for Eberron, and more importantly, bad for Droaam. The Daughters have a good thing going, and global disruption cannot be stood for. The divinations have shown what would happen if given time, and thus our newly formed  band were to make haste to seal the portal/fissure with the application of powerful magic, provided on a scroll.

Not knowing what we may face, an advance of gold was asked for and given and we were also granted use of an airship and an allotment of a week to arrive at our destination, which we did with a day to spare! (Technically untrue, as we were given 3 days for preparations, and it was a 3 day journey, but still made it under a week.)

Once we arrived, it didn't take long for us to come to an ancient bridge spanning a chasm atop a mountain, and leading to an entrance into the rock, itself. The bridge was of grand size, 30 or 40 feet across and nearly four times as long, flanked on either side by large statues of dragons of various looks, some of which had been destroyed or seemingly removed.  The plinths the ones to our right rested on were welcome, however, as they were our only shield against the powerful winds that whipped through the area, threatening to blow us off the bridge to our deaths.

The wind, it turns out, was just one of our worries, as the three whole statues still standing became animate and began to attack. Attacks were quickly dispensed and spells thrown, and though we almost lost our Harssaf, the encounter was finished rather quickly, with the five companions barely worse for the wear. Dusting off the debris from the statues' shattering, haste was made to the entrance into the mountain and we entered a partially constructed chamber with massive steps leading down. Just beyond the threshold, however, we found the fairly fresh naked corpse of a tiefling, with no apparent cause of death.

This prompted caution and almost triggered another violent conflict as a kobold came into view and greeted us in the language of dragons. Since we are envoys of Droaam, essentially, we met well with the creature and agreed to be escorted to his 'city', which was a hovel of lean-tos and shanties amid great ruins with dragon motifs everywhere. We were told that we would be presented to the leader of this village and then left in a building that barely accommodated our sizes until we would be met. We took the opportunity to rest and were led to another immense chamber, wherein rested what could only be assumed to be an ancient dragon.

Though we have seen much amongst the varied races of our own home nation, the sight of a child of the creators of the world was awe-inspiring. The great beast seemed to be blind, however, possibly from being inside this structure for eons, and some of its scales had sloughed off.

It spoke to us in a peaceful manner and seemed to take interest in our quest as something it agreed to, giving a promising start to this trek. However, one has to think... if a dragon of immense age can be counted among our allies in this venture, what horrors do we face in the task to come?  


Cast of Characters
Saint Cleanse, Awakened Sainted Empowered Divine Living Fireball Monk 7/Paladin 2/Shibu Protector 1 - David
??, Medusa Fighter 10  - Angela
??, Dragonkin Dragonborn Dragon Adept 10 -Tami
??, Harssaf Rogue 10 -Taylor
Anak, Draconic Human-blooded Arkamoi Sorceror 2/Incantatrix 8 - Me

Further thoughts:
This is rather neat. Most of our group really like Eberron and the history of the world, and this story fits well. I appreciate that Paul has made this an exploration mystery early on, because that's where the setting thrives.

Age of Worms, Session 27

When we left off, almost everyone had been brought back to the land of the living, and none the happier for it, since we were all in foreign bodies, though it did hold some humor and fascination in certain degrees.

Once we had taken a couple of days to get our legs in our new bodies and prepare further, we ventured in again to the accursed warehouse and its cavernous depths, below. Signs of life were nonexistant, and it appears as if the doppelgangers had all but abandoned the upper levels, possibly for fear of attracting much attention, since there was already some comings and goings to the place.

When we got below, we had a short time fending off the guardian octopus in the water-filled chamber that leads into the lower levels of the complex. Though we had thought that it might take our offering of fish and go, it also grabbed the holder of the bag and we had to fight to keep our companion with us. A decision that we somewhat regretted later, as you will see.

Retracing our steps, we found the rest of the complex to be as empty as the rest until we managed to make it back to a door within the mirror maze where most of us lost our lives. Imagine our surprise when we went in to find none other than Allustan on a throne in the chamber! Many a thought went through our minds, then. Had we been duped? Was this a test for entry into some secret society? Well, no. The Allustan we saw before us changed into a different form almost immediately, and engaged us in battle, casting spells and taking the psion's thrall (the very man we had just rescued from an octopus, I might add, and whom me and my fellow druid had empowered with spellcraft) under his command. The fight with the ensorcelled thrall was a tough one, as his multiple attacks and tough hide made him a formidable foe.

The wizard, himself, had cunningly placed traps in his lair, and tried to control our actions and movements with hindering spells, but we were able to engage him in hand-to-hand combat, at which point he turned into a hulking brute and pulled forth an axe, wielding it with efficiency! By this time, we had surmised that this being was a doppelganger, but his seeming change in aptitudes confused us and we were put on our back foot in an attempt to match skill with this warrior.

Though we cleverly maneuvered his controlled battlefield and worked quite well together, despite our new forms, in the end, it was our brute force, and not cleverness, that won out against the man...thing. We took stock of his belongings and the furnishings of his throne room, finding some infernal device that we wanted no part of, then ventured further into another chamber, this being his bedchamber, where we took stock of (mind you, 'taking stock of' in this sense is the same as 'added to our stock') valuables therein.

Then, we went into what we assumed was the last chamber in these lower levels, a room riddled with silvery spider's webs and multiple women in various states of dress, who claimed to be araneas and the prisoners of the creature we had just slain. We bargained their freedom, which could have been given at any moment, though we were cautious, for any information they could give us and they offered material reward then went about their way, leaving us to decide what to do with this complex now that we know its secrets.
 

Cast of Characters
Able Nightengale, Gloaming Healer 7/+1 Negative Level - David
??, Goblin Psion (Telepath) 5/Thrallherd 2/+1 Negative Level -  Paul
??, Human Warblade 4 - Paul (thrall)
??, Equiceph Rogue 5/Thief-Acrobat 2/+1 Negative Level -Tami
??, Human Druid 5/Planar Shepherd 2 -Taylor
Rill Meadowwhisper, Flind Druid (Shapeshifter variant) 7/+1 Negative Level - Me

Notes: I've not read this adventure path, so I'm unsure if this was it, but it left me thinking that we missed something along the way. The lack of replacements in the dungeon to harry us after a few days was odd, too, but a little suspenseful. I thought maybe we were walking into a large, overly prepared group when we fought the greater doppelganger (Angela told us what it was after the fact, because we all thought it was neat).

No spoilers, please. Just typing out loud here.

Also, I know I'm lousy with these character names. Maybe Angela can clue me in, and correct any class mistakes made if she catches this post. 

Age of Worms, Session 26

I'm not sure if we got started late or if we digressed quite a lot, or what, but we didn't get much accomplished in this session, though we all had quite a bit of fun and some good laughs at the end.

After fishing some of the party out of a deep pit trap that we discovered had an illusory bottom, we ventured further into the underground complex, following the doppelgangers that had slipped away from us in the previous encounter.

This led us into a room filled with maps and notes, which we hastily gathered some of and stuffed into our satchels to peruse later, deciding that we needed to move quickly and pursue instead of wasting too much time and giving our enemies time to prepare or set up an ambush.

We were too late, of course, and when we entered the next chamber - a vast maze of closing corridors all made of mirrors, they got the jump on us. Simply, the band was outmatched in the cramped quarters, and even the aid of summoned creatures was only barely able to swing victory just into the grasp of the party, of which only Taylor's Druid and Paul's Warblade Thrall were left alive, and they promptly retreated to the safety of the city proper with the dead bodies.

During the combat itself, Paul's Psion dropped and Taylor was able to get to him in time to cast Last Breath, bringing the man back as a Goblin, though out of commission for the rest of the fight. The rest of the party were Reincarnated and came back as various, somewhat shocking, figures.

The Reincarnation table used is one of my own creation and features almost 80 different races. Some of these races boost a character far beyond their present level, and may end up being more of a curse than a blessing when it comes to experience gain, despite the benefits gained from the new race.

Cast of Characters
Able Nightengale, Gloaming Healer 7/+1 Negative Level - David
??, Goblin Psion (Telepath) 5/Thrallherd 2/+1 Negative Level -  Paul
??, Human Warblade 4 - Paul (thrall)
??, Equiceph Rogue 5/Thief-Acrobat 2/+1 Negative Level -Tami
??, Human Druid 5/Planar Shepherd 2 -Taylor
Rill Meadowwhisper, Flind Druid (Shapeshifter variant) 7/+1 Negative Level - Me

Age of Worms, Session 25

We left off this game with our lone hero, Able, having made haste to Eligos' manor to escape the fate of his companions and collect himself before figuring out what to do next.

His search would not take long, however, as Allustan, anticipating the original party might have some trouble (I believe this is what we settled on as reason to insert new characters), decided to send another group ahead to Greyhawk to aid, but they found they were too late.

Able briefed them on what had transpired and where and promptly led them back to the bowels of the warehouse where his companions had lost their lives, seeking righteous retribution in the name of St. Cuthbert. There, the invisible foes that had proven so difficult before were mercilessly slaughtered and the band ventured further, fighting a giant octopus  until the beast fled before venturing deep into the stone chambers below to be confronted by a band of featureless men after half the party had fallen into a pit trap.

The fight took a while and hindered rescue attempts of the others, but eventually the heroes were victorious and were able to regroup, ready to venture and investigate further.


Able Nightengale, Human Healer 7 - David
??, Elf Psion (Telepath) 5/Thrallherd 2 -  Paul
??, ?? Rogue 5/Thief-Acrobat 2 -Tami
??, Human Druid 5/Planar Shepherd 2 -Taylor
Rill Meadowwhisper, Halfling Druid (Shapeshifter variant) 7 - Me

This session was longer that the write-up would suggest, of course, because each of our encounters had an interesting twist that we had to face, and which made combat just a little longer than it normally would be. The first, our invisible opponents, nearly wiped a party before, the underwater battle with the octopus was challenging when options are limited, and fighting an encounter with half the party cut off from the rest all served as reminders to be ready for anything in D&D.

Also, as
one can see, Taylor rejoined the group this session, and we're all happy for it. In this campaign, his reserve healing and support spellcasting has become a great boon to the party.

Age of Worms, Session 24

This session saw us with David out of town on a business trip, so I subbed in with his character since mine had died the session previous. The game resumed with the remains of the party still locked in combat with unseen air elemental assailants.

The fight went slowly and granted neither side advantage, with terrible die rolls dictating much of the action early on. Then, everything went quiet. This is kinda when things went south. Mullins threw up a web that let us use it to help navigate the room, and he and Able made it through to the others with next to no problems, intending to recover the bodies of their friends, and were subsequently attacked. Dairon joined them a few moments later and began helping in the combat effort, but Caine was still trapped on the other side, caught fast in webs.

In short order, Dairon fell to the airy assailants, mercilessly killed before Mullins also fell, with the air creatures using alchemists fire from his pack to catch the webs and slow the progress of those close to or in the webs. Able got Mullins back up and they at first checked a room beyond, but found no egress beyond, then began to stand their ground. Caine fell next, unable to reach the others because of one of the creatures blocking the path and slipping into the spike-filled water below, being shredded to death.

Mullins and Able pulled back into the room they had found and suddenly, the gnome turned on the healer! Able cast Sanctuary and made his way out of the building as swiftly as he could and toward Eligos' manor, on the wings of the Celestial Aspect spell, failing to notice that another Mullins had come into the room and begun to fight, as well. That Mullins fell in battle shortly after.

Though I had no clue, Paul and Angela revealed that the Mullins that had been with us had been a doppelganger and apparently was in league with some of the bad guys we were facing or about to face. Treachery! I know many players who might get angry at this duplicitous gameplay and betrayal by a fellow gamer when they work with the DM, but I love it, and I've used it more than a few times, with even helping me out with it before. The guy plays it so naturally.

Though a majority of the party died, David confirmed via text that he would be willing to continue after we all agreed that it should be his call on if he would pursue the mission further, and so our Healer will be putting together a new team to rid Oerth of the horrible menace of the green worms.

I have no clue as to if Tami will be rejoining us, since she didn't show up this last session (I assume because she didn't have a character), but Paul said she had been thinking about a Thief-Acrobat type. Paul, himself, has begun construction of a Psion/Thrallherd, and I raised the level of a Druid I was going to bring in when I decided to bring Sagt in, instead. I assume David will also be working on a new cohort, since Caine bit the dust.


Dairon val Eite, Human Bard 5 - Me (cohort) (deceased)
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 3/Mirror Master 1 - Paul (deceased)
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 7 - David
Caine Smithe, Human Marshal 5 - David (cohort) (deceased)

Age of Worms, Session 24

The party complied with the guardsmen's request that we visit their post and be questioned, but Cameron, already in sorts due to being accused of a crime he didn't commit, raised a fuss and was held until he calmed down and his status as a noble and reasonable certainty could be obtained that he was not, indeed, the attacker on Tarquin. The evidentiary lynchpin being a key, found by Tarquin, that none of the party had familiarity with that featured a crest depicting a giant octopus pulling a ship down.

New lodgings were made, a change of address was left with Eligos, and the group sprang into investigation, trying to discern who had it out for them and why. The best leads were found after throwing gold at people who frequent the Crooked House, in hopes that more booze money might loosen tongues. There, we found the name of Cameron's accuser as well as leads on the key, being told that it was the symbol of a trading coster no longer in service, which had several holdings in the River District, warehouses all bearing the same symbol, one of which still stood.

Hiring a guide off the street to lead us to this River District, and the warehouse of interest - a place called Sodden Hold, since that name was painted on the side.

Waiting a short while, looking for anyone exiting or entering, Mullins decided to ask around (which was aided by Cameron failing at intimidate) to see what we could find out about the place. We turned up no leads, and so decided to go in through the door, which had to be forced in. Therein, we found a normal storage room of a warehouse with various doors leading off to the sides. Moving to the first door, however, we found that some of the crates and barrels were mimics, which posed enough of a threat to keep us occupied for quite some time, and though some were caught and at least one party member had fallen unconscious, we fought through to a win against the beasts.

Once everyone was back to fighting shape, we pressed on, finding a dangerous pit trap in front of the first door we checked, and then moving on to search the other chambers, which held nothing of great interest. Katain pressed forward past the pit trap to inspect the chamber beyond, with the others slowly making their ways through by jumping or being pulled through with a rope. The pseudodragon had discovered chests under a flight of stairs which held a few valuables, as well as another door leading off which led to a hall with cells holding several prisoners with a set of double doors at the end.

Informing the prisoners that we would come for them once any danger had been assessed and taken care of, we moved forward through the double doors to find a chamber with the floor fallen out. Water filled with rusted old weaponry sat a little below support struts that once held the floor in place and now seemed to be the only way across the chamber. With a few false starts and an incident with Mullins falling into the pointy water, Cameron started to make his way across the beams by lying down and scooting. This was a poor decision, however, as soon he and the rest of the party were attacked by invisible air creatures that had no problems attacking us, but presented a very tough foe to fight.

Cameron made it to a stable piece of flooring with the healing aid of Able and Katain, but the aid proved futile and both he and Katain were struck down. Mullins disappeared from sight and Dairon saw that being out in the open was a death warrant and retreated into the hall with the cells. Able and Caine both retreated to the doorway to a more defensible fighting position and the four remaining men (well, three men and a gnome) were set to make a final stand when we left off.



Cast of Characters
Cameron val Dane, Human Knight 7 - Me (deceased)
Dairon val Eite, Human Bard 5 - Me (cohort)
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 3/Mirror Master 1 - Paul
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 7 - David
Caine Smithe, Human Marshal 5 - David (cohort)
Katain, Pseudodragon Warlock 2 - Tami  (deceased)

Age of Worms, Session 23

This session was fairly short mostly because we got started later than usual, and Steve was in and we chit-chatted more than played, but it was fun and set up some interesting hooks for coming sessions.

Since we were waiting on Eligos to get back to us, we pretty much just hung out near the Crooked House and did nothing while the mage took his sweet time to get to us. During the following couple of days, the men that Dairon had pledged to Cameron's cause came back and took their first pay from the knight (I have to pay them since I miscalculated my Leadership score and won't have followers until next level. Sadface.), and Able gathered his band from the local temple to St. Cuthbert. Those who had ordered items special made were able to retrieve them, as well.

This lounging about, however, was possibly not the best thing to have done, as someone attacked and nearly killed Tarquin, the owner of the Crooked House, then fled. When the group rushed down to the commotion in the taproom, a patron claimed to have seen Cameron rush upstairs after stabbing the man, which the party began to dispute, but the accuser attacked, inciting a small riot with the dozen or so patrons howling for blood at such a heinous crime, at which point we defended ourselves.

Being careful not to fully harm those gathered, the band began to subdue the patrons one by one, but were being dealt very real damage, indeed. Cameron went to confront his accuser, who tried to do him serious harm, and who Cameron tried to return the favor to, but the man slipped out the door, leaving the group to deal with riotous patrons, which were quelled before too long.

Able had managed to help some men get Tarquin into another room and heal him fully, then get his complete story of the attack. When the guards showed up a little while later, there was a bit of a debate about the treatment the tavern patrons were receiving and a dispute over who the real culprit was, but thankfully Tarquin just asked that we leave though the guards were not finished with us or the investigation.

We left off here, and like I said before, I think this sets things up nicely for something deeper. As a reminder, we need to send someone to check on Eligos, in case this is related to our visiting him.

Cast of Characters
Cameron val Dane, Human Knight 7 - Me
Dairon val Eite, Human Bard 5 - Me (cohort)
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 3/Mirror Master 1 - Paul
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 7 - David
Caine Smithe, Human Marshal 5 - David (cohort)
Al'lah, Synad Divine Mind 7 -Steve

Age of Worms, Session 22

Entrance to the Free City for our band went swimmingly well, with us gathering as many injured and sick as we could upon our wagon as a means of easing the ire of those we cut ahead of in the hours-long line to get into the city, then greasing the palms of a few gate guards to get expedited in without the hassle of searches and what have you.

The band first procured rooms, upon recommendation, from a place called The Crooked House, Cameron throwing 30 gold at the man to house them and their horses and sundry for a "few nights". Information gathering as they took a round of drinks and meal helped them to determine that their contact, Eligos - known to be a warrior mage(!) and great sage - lives in a nearby district, and so they set out for the man's house.

Eligos' manor was lined with well manicured gardens and hedges, and upon arriving, the party were met with an elven manservant named Pollard, who showed us in to a parlor and bade us wait for his master, who appeared quickly thereafter. The sage politely took in the information and materials presented to him and showed slight surprise at the contact being initiated by Allustan, claiming to not have been in contact with his old colleague for quite some time, but promising to look into things more deeply and get in touch with us within the week, suggesting perhaps we spend our time enjoying the Free City and mentioning a parade taking place that we might enjoy on this very day!

And so, there we went, as the streets were hard to navigate with all the hubbub, anyway, and the party were able to avert a disaster when we engaged an escaped chimera after Katain's attempts to negotiate with the thing to calm down failed. The battle was hectic but quick, and we came out smelling like roses (figuratively, of course...we have been on the road for days) when we not only subdued the beast for the arena company, but also had Able heal the wounds of the bystanders that had gotten injured in the fracas. Dairon quickly sprung to action, extolling the virtues of his master knight, and was able to recruit two men to Cameron's banner, promising glories untold in the days to come as Mullins heatedly debated the reward of our deeds and the cost of the chimera, which was rather prohibitive at roughly 21k gp.

At this point, the group split company. Mullins decided to return to Eligos to question him more on the quest, Katain returned to The Crooked House (since Tami wasn't there to play her character), Dairon went about his search for a church adept for holy aid and guidance for what he hoped was the start of rebuilding of an army for Cameron, and Cameron originally going to the inn, as well, but going to find bottles of drink when he realized Dairon had his booze. (As an aside here, I can't recall what David's characters were doing at this point, which makes me wonder if he had already left for the night - sorry if they hadn't!) After procuring a couple of bottles of fine vintage from a local wine shop, he began to make his way back when he heard the rantings and ravings of a seemingly mad prophet who turned out to be spouting what Cameron perceived to be glaring truths about the "Age of Worms"...

So he knocked him out cold with his maul.

Making the way back to the inn and tossing a few more coins the owner's way, he drug his "drunk" friend to his room, where he promptly gagged and tied him up to wait on his companions to get back. Katain, witnessing the ordeal, flew to Eligos' to warn Mullins of what had happened, and the rest of the characters came in from their various errands and explorations and gathered in the room over the proselyter to confer, with most of it being Cameron justifying to the others that the street preacher just knew too much.

When he awoke, the prosyleter was put to questioning and claimed to be the prophet of something called the Golden Eye, and that he was not part of any particular church or sect, but was granted visions and instinctively knew all that he did about the situation and circumstances, explaining that he cannot even grasp the full idea of what he says unless he speaks his rant in its entirety. At this, feeling that his prophecies could come in handy in the coming days, Dairon stepped in and gave him the "sales pitch" to join Cameron's growing band on their quest, to which he said he would think about it.

And there we left off. Things are about to heat up in the Free City, methinks.


Cast of Characters
Cameron val Dane, Human Knight 7 - Me
Dairon val Eite, Human Bard 5 - Me (cohort)
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 3/Mirror Master 1 - Paul
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 7 - David
Caine Smithe, Human Marshal 5 - David (cohort)
Katain, Pseudodragon Warlock 2 - Tami

A Hopeful Solution to New Character Levels

For quite some time, I have been mulling over how, exactly, I wanted to handle levels of new characters in my game, which I focused on in two posts here on the blog.  Funnily enough, through my readings, I discovered that over at Save or Die, Nathan was thinking about the same things pretty close to the same time, and dedicated two posts of his own to the topic.

Like Nathan, my instinct is to begin new characters at level 1, especially since the 3.x/Pathfinder experience system is self-correcting, and that new character would catch up eventually, allowing the player to organically develop their character in-game and give a basis for roleplay for the other players, instead of just slapping in a fully developed character who should have probably already been on the PC's radar, if they are on par with the group's abilities (which usually outstrip almost everyone in a region fairly quickly).

As he also pointed out, and of primary concern to me because I'm currently running an adventure path, however, is that it's simply not feasible to put a 1st level character in a story-driven campaign (one with scaled encounters, as I spoke about before). In those types of games, sadly, the power curve is a meat grinder for low-level characters.

Similar to Nathan's way of doing things, I usually start new characters at 1 level below the lowest level member in the party. This chart-based system, however, will allow players the opportunity to begin play in my games (or replace their fallen characters) with characters of up to the highest PC's level.

For this, I think there's no reason to fix something that isn't broke, so I will make very few changes to what is presented on Save or Die. Characters, of course, have first level as a given and then will roll for each additional possible level on the following chart, making additional rolls and completing level-specific tasks rolled as necessary until they can no longer progress.

The mechanics are as follows:

For each level, roll once on the following table.

Roll - Encounter Type
1-3 - Easy Combat (CR -1)
4-10 -  Medium Combat (Equal CR)
11-13 - Difficult Combat (CR +1)
14-15 - Easy Skill Challenge (DC 10+PC level)
16-18 - Medium Skill Challenge (DC 15+PC level)
19-20 - Difficult Skill Challenge (DC 20+PC level)

If combat is rolled, check current level and randomize an encounter from the particular CR/EL rolled. Check the following chart for the result of this combat. Treasure gained is determined randomly for the EL of the opponent.

Result - Reward
PC loses battle - Nothing
PC wins, but has lost over half hit points - 50% chance of level gain or treasure (player’s choice)
PC wins, but is wounded - Level gain, 50% chance of treasure
PC wins without being harmed - level gain and treasure 

Skill Challenges consist of a test of three skills, each determined randomly. The success or failure of any of these checks determines the possible rewards, as noted below.

Result - Reward
PC fails all three skill checks - Nothing
PC makes one skill check - 50% chance of level gain or treasure (player’s choice)
PC makes two skill checks - Level gain, 50% chance of treasure
PC makes all skill checks - Level gain and treasure

Please note that this could land any character made stuck at 1st or 2nd level, but it gives a fair chance at moderate advancement, and has the added bonus of treasures that a character made at the flat level might have, as these are in addition to the gold allowance at the character's starting level.

I realize that the treasure being in addition is not really the spirit of what is presented with this system, but I like the possible character it could present for some campaigns, like my Wilderlands, where having anything scavenged from dungeons makes you a veritable badass.

All in all, I find this to be a pretty good system, and I hope some of my players will chime in on their thoughts, as well.

King Ghidora, Grant Me The Ability To Smite My Enemies!

In my readings of game blogs both active and defunct, I ran across a really cool resource. Over on Toho Kingdom, they have a page specifically for integrating Godzilla and his many frienemies into your D&D campaign.

Each kaiju is fully detailed with stats, short ecology, and detail of their worshipers and the domains associated with them. The site also features various other monsters, new spells, and equipment specific to the Tohoverse.

Age of Worms, Session 17

Though we hadn't met the previous week for my game (due to a freak snowstorm), we convened on Wednesday to continue with Angela's Age of Worms campaign, with a special guest: Steve! He and his girlfriend were in from Oklahoma to do holiday visits, and he was able to make time to join us, which was nice, since he was a long-time friend and fellow gamer.

When we picked up, Steve brought in his Divine Mind (whose name I can't recall currently) who had been off having his own adventures and by happenstance had been in Diamond Lake and heard we were off on another trek, this time escorting Allustan to Blackwall Keep - a outpost on the edge of the Mistmarsh; one in a series built to help keep the threats of the swamp at bay.

Our travels there were only shortly delayed by the inconvenience of orc brigands who thought us pushovers. Within seconds, they found the folly of their actions and two of the original ten made it away with their lives. The rest were dealt with mercilessly, as is our way, and then we continued on, stopping to take refuge in a wayhouse overnight before making our way to the Keep.

Once we arrived, we found Blackwall under siege by a host of lizardfolk, and we sprung into action to aid the defenders. Convincing Allustan to toss a fireball into a small group of the brutes to create confusion, Sagt and the Divine Mind charged in and fell two foes immediately, with Rosebud and Mullins following that lead and pressing the attack, with Able invisibly staying in reserve to heal any of our party that may be injured and Allustan teleporting back to Diamond Lake to gain reinforcements.

The battle was pitched and lasted a couple of minutes, but our heroes made it finally to the keep and defeated the last of the attackers, but not before they had made their way in and began to slaughter the men defending the place. Not a single lizardman was left alive, but we only managed to save five of the brave defenders, who then proceeded to tell us that the princess was in another castle! Wait, no...wrong game...

A small group of Blackwall's standing troops, as well as their battle-caster, were feared to have been taken by the lizardfolk, as they hadn't returned from patrol, and the reptilians were fond of the taste of people, or at least Sagt assumed, since people are, indeed, tasty...as are lizardfolk, and demons, and chickens, and horses, and well, most things.

Mullins pledged our support to the rescue mission and gathered Able, Rosebud, and Sagt to venture into the swamp to save the brave souls of Blackwall! Our psionic companion decided to stay behind at the keep as we went forth (since Steve had to leave at this point) to help man the place until Allustan arrived with help, and the other four trekked off into the muck.

Not far into the swamp, a clutch of giant spiders, each as big as a pony, attacked from the trees above and we fought against both them and our environment, but finally prevailed. Here, we left off, each of us ready to take on the lizardfolk on their turf!

Cast of Characters
Sagt, Varag 5 (Racial levels) - Me
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 2 - Paul
Rosebud, Gnome Warmage 4 - Paul (we're allowed to have 2 characters)
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 5 - David
Al'lah, Synad Divine Mind 5 -Steve

The Age of Worms, Session 16

This week, as the party started to find someplace private to commence a post-combat cuddle, we were set upon by a hideous monster, about twice the size of Sagt (who stands at almost 8'!), bearing vicious snapping claws instead of hands and hideous sharp teeth, both of which it put to good use quickly.

Though its path further into the room was blocked by Filge's zombie owlbear (thankfully), there was still room for the party to maneuver around the beast, Sagt going to its side and Mullins skirting through a side door to go behind the thing.

In the early seconds of combat, the beast tore into Sagt and the zombie, nearly rending both of them apart before the arcanists (Filge and Rosebud) began using wands to pepper the thing with weak spells. Mullins got into position to attack and began to deal hefty wounds to the monster while Sagt and the zombie slowly chipped away at it and kept it distracted.

Able found home with his crossbow, then advanced to heal the Sagt, but was ensnared by the grasping columns, and had a hard time escaping during some of the fight. In the end, perseverance and a little luck kept those engaging the beast in melee on their feet, and we were able to take the thing down.

A little butchering and some noshing by Sagt, who offered everyone a bite of the monster, happened while the others checked all the wares in the library we had found earlier. Once everything worth taking was found, the group bedded down to an uneventful night, then made our way out of the tunnels, with the aid of our rope of climbing to make the final ascent, since the elevator shaft had seemingly been sabotaged.

Taken into custody by the guard until we were OK'd by Allustan, we then went our separate ways, Mullins paying debts, and all of us acquiring better equipment, and generally just enjoying being in a peaceful surrounding (except Able, who cannot gain better equipment). We all agreed to journey together further under the employ of Allustan as a sort of personal guard, as he makes his way to Blackwall Keep on the other side of the Mistmarsh.


Cast of Characters
Sagt, Varag 4 (Racial levels) - Me
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 2 - Paul
Rosebud, Gnome Warmage 4 - Paul (we're allowed to have 2 characters)
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 4 - David
Filge, Human Wizard (Necromancer) 5(?) - NPC


Thoughts: Sagt found a little bit of frustration and some avoidance from him by the locals since he's a goblinoid. This is the first time he's really encountered it, and has dealt with it mostly by staring at the person reacting or one of his tribemates. It was fun to play his reactions and general trying to fit in/not knowing he doesn't fit in. Luckily, the party is there to be his "handler" and make excuses when needed.

The Age of Worms, Sessions 8-9

After the party decided to hole up for some rest, a scratching and muffled call could be heard, which led them to finding a trap door with a small inset in the floor that contained several chained corpses, a live varag goblinoid, and various gear, possibly worn and carried by those within the small pit. They retrieved the varag from the pit and tried communication with him, but realized quickly that the only language he could speak was goblin, though he seemed bent on going with them, and brandished a wicked hooked bar as a weapon.

Accepting that it was tagging along, and pressing further in to try to put a stop to the seeding of the green worms, and the creation of undead, the group proceeded through the tunnels to a large chamber that held a large bejeweled statue, and more than a few tieflings, and a few others, some wearing the symbol of Hextor openly on their clothing! With these, there were four zombies and the group as a whole charged in to exterminate this den of evil.

A hard fight was fought, with Sagt and Xan falling to serious, but not fatal, wounds, and with timely healing and plenty of perseverance, was able to win the day, felling all but one of the enemies, which Bade gave chase to as quickly as possible. Sagt pushed the statue, which seemed weak on its base over so that he could pry free a large gem on the thing's head, enamored with the shiny thing (but quite honestly clueless to the fact that it's probably very valuable).

The rest of the party scrambled up the tilted statue to the second level where the escaped Cleric ran, followed by Bade, and all continued after their small companion in chase, navigating further passages and chambers. When we left off, this chase was still going.

Cast of Characters
Sagt, Varag 2 (Racial levels) - Me
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 1/Wizard 2 - Paul
Rosebud, Gnome Warmage 3 - Tina
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 2 - David
Bade, Halfling Fighter 3 - Taylor
Xan, Maenad Duskblade 3 - Andrew

Thoughts: This post covers two sessions more because only one fight happened through both of them than any other reason. The fight was complicated some by darkness and silence and Taylor chose not to have Bade exit the darkness on reasoning that he thought an enemy was still present. His presence in other skirmishes would have sped things by quite a bit, but all in all, I had fun, and my character lived through two sessions. With this new chase, hopefully we can get some momentum rolling again.