Favorite Dungeon Type/Location
If you've been reading this little exercise, then you know of my fondness for traps. So apply that to the most trap filled environment you can think of. This equals (at least in my mind) to a desert pyramid adventure.
Imagine an entire complex with multiple pyramids, a sphinx, numerous open air temples. Let your imagination run wild. I have... Here, let me tell you about it....
Let's start with something I came up with a very long time ago. A 4 pyramid complex with a Sphinx in the center. There would be underground tunnel complexes between the pyramids and the sphinx. Multiple tombs would line the tunnels. Multiple opportunities for mummies, sandstone golems, carnivorous rampaging scarab beetles. Aaaaand don't forget TRAPS!
Have I mentioned how much I like traps? OK ok, I'll lay off the trap sermon. Just be sure to pull out every movie, book and graphic novel trap you've ever seen.
I don't know much else I can tell you. If you're reading this then you might know by now, I'm not a big one for long rambling posts. (unless it's a an opportunity to use as many commas and parentheses as possible) So ,I'll leave you with these meager words and wish you....
Happy Gaming!!!
Friday, February 12, 2016
Thursday, February 11, 2016
30 Day D&D Challenge. Day 11
Favorite Adventure You ran.
OH HELL YEAH! Tomb of Horrors. By far the most fun I've ever had running a game. No one took it seriously. I read it, and even I, a heinously murderous DM thought it was too brutal. Keep in mind, I really like traps. Really REALLY, like traps.
I have spoken earlier about my fondness for traps. I have proclaimed myself Grimtooth's Heir.
After the first run of ToH you just can't take it seriously anymore. After the 3rd or 4th run through, things will turn comedic. You actually start doing things to ensure the character you're playing meets the most gruesome end possible. The Sphere of Annihilation is still a source of entertainment every time I run it.
This module is so iconic , it was used in the book Ready Player One. (btw if you haven't read it YOU MUST!)
I think the big G got sick of his players walking over his monsters, so he decided to pull out all the safety protocols and DM restraint and just kill characters. I can respect that. I can even back that decision, having been there many times. Probably one of the many reasons I don't run games anymore....
I can't do it justice. In trying to critique it, I would ruin your experience. Let's leave it at any of the S Series modules are fairly mean. The often make no sense, but they don't really have to either. It is a "fantasy" role playing game after all. ~my inner control freak still bristles~ Just play them if you get the chance. And don't take them too seriously. It's just a game.
Happy Gaming!
OH HELL YEAH! Tomb of Horrors. By far the most fun I've ever had running a game. No one took it seriously. I read it, and even I, a heinously murderous DM thought it was too brutal. Keep in mind, I really like traps. Really REALLY, like traps.
I have spoken earlier about my fondness for traps. I have proclaimed myself Grimtooth's Heir.
After the first run of ToH you just can't take it seriously anymore. After the 3rd or 4th run through, things will turn comedic. You actually start doing things to ensure the character you're playing meets the most gruesome end possible. The Sphere of Annihilation is still a source of entertainment every time I run it.
This module is so iconic , it was used in the book Ready Player One. (btw if you haven't read it YOU MUST!)
I think the big G got sick of his players walking over his monsters, so he decided to pull out all the safety protocols and DM restraint and just kill characters. I can respect that. I can even back that decision, having been there many times. Probably one of the many reasons I don't run games anymore....
I can't do it justice. In trying to critique it, I would ruin your experience. Let's leave it at any of the S Series modules are fairly mean. The often make no sense, but they don't really have to either. It is a "fantasy" role playing game after all. ~my inner control freak still bristles~ Just play them if you get the chance. And don't take them too seriously. It's just a game.
Happy Gaming!
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
30 Day D&D challenge. Day 9
Favorite PC You'd like to play.
I don't have one PC I'd like to play. It's more along the lines of a party concept I want to try. Please allow me to elaborate...
Every single D&D game, no matter the edition, is house ruled. whether by simply omitting rules that slow down the game and pull you out of immersion. Or by adding rules to cover a situation not covered. (Refer back to previous posts when asking about how I feel about rules not rulings) In my first edition days, we left out lots of the rules to speed up game play. Of course 1st edition had lots of rules no one actually used.
-This is where my sick fascination with reading government documents comes into play-
I want to make one character from each class in the Players Handbook and Unearthed Arcana. Strictly by the rules, using the ability score minimums determined by each class. Once I have them all made, I'll start with an introductory module and run a randomly selected party of these characters through it. Rules as Written. *Insert sarcasm here* Yes this will mean a level of record keeping worthy of only accountants, but I don't think I have played a 1st edition game with every rule in effect.
If anyone has actually done this, please let me know if you're still sane and competent to make decisions on your own. This seems like a daunting project even for me, King of the Controls Freaks. Scoff if you like. But someone was bound to do it one day, just to keep the memory alive.
I had planned to use randomly generated party members and run as many of the originals modules as I could before being committed to a mental health facility. I will do my best to keep the Bard candidate alive to see what ling of Bard he will end up being.
So this post is a bit short. But I really don't have a singular PC I want to play. I've taken a more philosophical bent in my thinking towards the rules of AD&D. Please don't ask me to explain it, I can't. Maybe it's just my advancing age making me senile.
My apologies for the bait and switch on topics, but seriously, I don't think about playing anymore. Just writing about the game.
Happy Gaming!
I don't have one PC I'd like to play. It's more along the lines of a party concept I want to try. Please allow me to elaborate...
Every single D&D game, no matter the edition, is house ruled. whether by simply omitting rules that slow down the game and pull you out of immersion. Or by adding rules to cover a situation not covered. (Refer back to previous posts when asking about how I feel about rules not rulings) In my first edition days, we left out lots of the rules to speed up game play. Of course 1st edition had lots of rules no one actually used.
-This is where my sick fascination with reading government documents comes into play-
I want to make one character from each class in the Players Handbook and Unearthed Arcana. Strictly by the rules, using the ability score minimums determined by each class. Once I have them all made, I'll start with an introductory module and run a randomly selected party of these characters through it. Rules as Written. *Insert sarcasm here* Yes this will mean a level of record keeping worthy of only accountants, but I don't think I have played a 1st edition game with every rule in effect.
If anyone has actually done this, please let me know if you're still sane and competent to make decisions on your own. This seems like a daunting project even for me, King of the Controls Freaks. Scoff if you like. But someone was bound to do it one day, just to keep the memory alive.
I had planned to use randomly generated party members and run as many of the originals modules as I could before being committed to a mental health facility. I will do my best to keep the Bard candidate alive to see what ling of Bard he will end up being.
So this post is a bit short. But I really don't have a singular PC I want to play. I've taken a more philosophical bent in my thinking towards the rules of AD&D. Please don't ask me to explain it, I can't. Maybe it's just my advancing age making me senile.
My apologies for the bait and switch on topics, but seriously, I don't think about playing anymore. Just writing about the game.
Happy Gaming!
Monday, February 8, 2016
30 day D&D challenge. Day 8
Favorite PC of your own.
Of all the characters I have played over the years, my favorite has to be a half elven bard. Ferix Shadoewood. When I played Ferix, it was a 1st edition game. As if there was any doubt.
He started as a fighter in the King's guard. It gave us chance to use large scale battle rules and we gained levels fast. Not to mention we were playing with the costs for training also in force. Those give a different style of game. I can't really explain the difference, you will have to experience it.
I stayed as a fighter all the way to 8th level, then started in as a Thief. I had an in with the local thieves' guild because of a scouting mission I had done for the royal guards. All I needed was a reason. Found the reason buried in his world. The King sent me on a mission to root out spies in the kingdom. In order to do this, I was be trained as a thief. My characters' personal reason was to try and locate the assassin that killed the Prince 2 years earlier. The Prince was a personal friend of Ferix, and I did not take kindly to someone killing him.
I only took Thief as far as 6th level due to series of bad decisions on my part. These plopped me down smack dab in the middle a war between Gnomes and Troglodytes. That's when I started in training as a Druid.
After we completed White Plume Mountain, I could officially say I was Bard. I had made it. I was there, 16 hard fought levels but I had made it.... Our group broke up shortly after that and didn't get much chance to play him after that.
I finally decided he had gone back to thieves guild to become a Guild master.
I don't know why he is my favorite character but I keep coming back to the memories I made while playing him. Those were truly good times. Anyway, there you have it.
Happy Gaming!
Of all the characters I have played over the years, my favorite has to be a half elven bard. Ferix Shadoewood. When I played Ferix, it was a 1st edition game. As if there was any doubt.
He started as a fighter in the King's guard. It gave us chance to use large scale battle rules and we gained levels fast. Not to mention we were playing with the costs for training also in force. Those give a different style of game. I can't really explain the difference, you will have to experience it.
I stayed as a fighter all the way to 8th level, then started in as a Thief. I had an in with the local thieves' guild because of a scouting mission I had done for the royal guards. All I needed was a reason. Found the reason buried in his world. The King sent me on a mission to root out spies in the kingdom. In order to do this, I was be trained as a thief. My characters' personal reason was to try and locate the assassin that killed the Prince 2 years earlier. The Prince was a personal friend of Ferix, and I did not take kindly to someone killing him.
I only took Thief as far as 6th level due to series of bad decisions on my part. These plopped me down smack dab in the middle a war between Gnomes and Troglodytes. That's when I started in training as a Druid.
After we completed White Plume Mountain, I could officially say I was Bard. I had made it. I was there, 16 hard fought levels but I had made it.... Our group broke up shortly after that and didn't get much chance to play him after that.
I finally decided he had gone back to thieves guild to become a Guild master.
I don't know why he is my favorite character but I keep coming back to the memories I made while playing him. Those were truly good times. Anyway, there you have it.
Happy Gaming!
Sunday, February 7, 2016
30 day D&D challenge. Day 7
Favorite Edition
If you've been reading, then you will know my favorite edition is 1st Edition AD&D. This is where I tell you why it's my favorite.
Go read the preface and introduction from the 1st Ed. Dungeon Masters Guide. The game belonged to the Dungeon Masters back then. There wasn't a rule to cover every situation, not like there is now. Players didn't argue rules with the DM back then. There wasn't an emphasis on treating the game like an improve exercise. We weren't actors, we didn't try to create interesting scenes. We told stories. We performed heroic deeds. We created communal legends, we created fantastic memories. We weren't pushed in the direction of catering to the players. If you wrote an adventure or campaign, and the players didn't like it then someone else in the group wrote something up and the group tried that. We didn't try and give everyone the "spotlight". We played as a group and we succeeded or failed as a group.
When the game was sold to WotC, someone there decided that they had enough of not being able to control every miniscule decision and started introducing rules to cover every eventuality. They introduced character skills so that the players didn't have to actually think, they could just roll some dice. I am in a minority in my opinions about the game as it today. I don't really care. As I'm dangerously close to devolving into a rant, I'll be changing course.
By playing and refereeing in 1st edition, we exercised our imaginations more than players and GM's do now. The culture of the gaming community has expanded and consequently evolved. While not a bad thing, it's not an entirely good thing either. The kids today are way too invested in instant gratification. They don't think things through anymore. They want to be able to walk into a game store, sit down, roll some dice and proclaim themselves heroes. They want it all to happen in one afternoon. They don't believe in the long build up. Review some of the old adventure modules. They were meant to be strung together to create a campaign. They were meant to advance the characters and players in skill and confidence over time. Not all at once.
Now for a word on magic. Gone are the days of magic fountains that could grant you permanent ability increases or reduce your character to a blithering idiot. Gone are the days when a character would find a magic sword and they would hold onto it because magic was a rare and wonderful thing. The creation of magic items was something you didn't undertake until you were of very high level. The games we ran didn't have magic shops. You asked the shop keepers if they had any special merchandise. Not all them did. The flavor of the game was different back then. Not better, just different.
Yes, you may consider my outlook on the game as antiquated or dinosaur-esque. But that is what I consider fun. We as the Dungeon Masters were encouraged to create our own content. We were driven to create worlds of adventure and heroic deeds. Legends and fantastic stories. D&D was more like a game Calvinball back then. There wasn't the sense of entitlement among the players back then. We didn't play with the expectation of our characters living through it and becoming heroes, we worked for it. Our victories were earned by our skill as players. I won't devolve into a rant at this time. I'll save that for the poor schmuck that corners me in a game store. I will also try and refrain from screaming "GET OFF MY LAWN! at the kids in the game store. Though this may be overreaching on my part. I'm an old grognard. I came to D&D from wargaming. This has influenced me for the entire span of my gaming career. I don't expect anyone to truly understand my views, but it's not required either. Go play the game however you want. As long as you're having fun, how can that be a bad thing?
Go have a blast.
Happy Gaming!
If you've been reading, then you will know my favorite edition is 1st Edition AD&D. This is where I tell you why it's my favorite.
Go read the preface and introduction from the 1st Ed. Dungeon Masters Guide. The game belonged to the Dungeon Masters back then. There wasn't a rule to cover every situation, not like there is now. Players didn't argue rules with the DM back then. There wasn't an emphasis on treating the game like an improve exercise. We weren't actors, we didn't try to create interesting scenes. We told stories. We performed heroic deeds. We created communal legends, we created fantastic memories. We weren't pushed in the direction of catering to the players. If you wrote an adventure or campaign, and the players didn't like it then someone else in the group wrote something up and the group tried that. We didn't try and give everyone the "spotlight". We played as a group and we succeeded or failed as a group.
When the game was sold to WotC, someone there decided that they had enough of not being able to control every miniscule decision and started introducing rules to cover every eventuality. They introduced character skills so that the players didn't have to actually think, they could just roll some dice. I am in a minority in my opinions about the game as it today. I don't really care. As I'm dangerously close to devolving into a rant, I'll be changing course.
By playing and refereeing in 1st edition, we exercised our imaginations more than players and GM's do now. The culture of the gaming community has expanded and consequently evolved. While not a bad thing, it's not an entirely good thing either. The kids today are way too invested in instant gratification. They don't think things through anymore. They want to be able to walk into a game store, sit down, roll some dice and proclaim themselves heroes. They want it all to happen in one afternoon. They don't believe in the long build up. Review some of the old adventure modules. They were meant to be strung together to create a campaign. They were meant to advance the characters and players in skill and confidence over time. Not all at once.
Now for a word on magic. Gone are the days of magic fountains that could grant you permanent ability increases or reduce your character to a blithering idiot. Gone are the days when a character would find a magic sword and they would hold onto it because magic was a rare and wonderful thing. The creation of magic items was something you didn't undertake until you were of very high level. The games we ran didn't have magic shops. You asked the shop keepers if they had any special merchandise. Not all them did. The flavor of the game was different back then. Not better, just different.
Yes, you may consider my outlook on the game as antiquated or dinosaur-esque. But that is what I consider fun. We as the Dungeon Masters were encouraged to create our own content. We were driven to create worlds of adventure and heroic deeds. Legends and fantastic stories. D&D was more like a game Calvinball back then. There wasn't the sense of entitlement among the players back then. We didn't play with the expectation of our characters living through it and becoming heroes, we worked for it. Our victories were earned by our skill as players. I won't devolve into a rant at this time. I'll save that for the poor schmuck that corners me in a game store. I will also try and refrain from screaming "GET OFF MY LAWN! at the kids in the game store. Though this may be overreaching on my part. I'm an old grognard. I came to D&D from wargaming. This has influenced me for the entire span of my gaming career. I don't expect anyone to truly understand my views, but it's not required either. Go play the game however you want. As long as you're having fun, how can that be a bad thing?
Go have a blast.
Happy Gaming!
Saturday, February 6, 2016
30 day D&D challenge. Day 6
Favorite Deity
Vecna The Whispered One. Anyone who has talked to me for any length of time about D&D, would know this. No one knows why. Allow me to tell you why now.
I had a Ranger that found the Hand and the Eye. He had lost part of an arm 2 adventures earlier, and had a custom gauntlet made that sported a short sword, so he could still wield dual weapons. After acquiring the Hand and the Eye. My plans for him changed. I was going to make him into a walking Cuisinart. Now that I had not just one but TWO artifacts. Here's the part where I start leaning towards magic using classes. Keep in mind, I had not read the entry in DMG for either of the artifacts. I only knew they were very powerful. My Ranger went to the nearest high powered M-U and paid an exorbitant amount of money for a Wish spell. That was a quest unto itself.
What I wrote for the Wish spell will stand as my finest work for all time. It was a 9 pages long, one continuous sentence. I thought I had figured for every contingency. If you read the Wish spell from 1st edition, "Regardless of what is wished for, the exact terminology of the Wish spell is likely to be carried through" This was permission to the DMs to completely screw with the player. Sean, my DM at the time did compliment me on my thoroughness. But he also thought of something I hadn't. Yes my Ranger would be able to keep the Hand and the Eye, he would not turn irrevocably Neutral Evil, however the Eye would take over when uncovered, and the Hand would have it's own personality. The Hand would eventually subdue the Eye, but the DM could make create any consequence of releasing the Eye. I was a victim of Artifact Power Madness., I didn't care about the consequences, I just wanted POWER! Only after I had committed to casting the spell and carving out my own eye, did Sean let me read the entries for the Hand and the Eye in the DMG.
Now, there will be those of you, who upon reading this will carry a certain degree of disbelief about the events I've just relayed. If you want to know how we got away with it... THIS IS 1ST EDITION AD&D! That's how we did it. This was collaborative story telling. We could do things like this because we didn't have to answer to game companies or other gamers. There was no internet, hence no internet trolls. We were six friends that enjoyed telling stories and creating legends.
Rest assured I did not continue to play that character. I retired him and he became part of my personal array of Mary Sue NPCs. I don't use him in games anymore, I just keep him around for the fond memories.
That is why Vecna will always be my favorite Deity. He fired my imagination and inspired me to great deeds. He also infected me with an obsession. I collected everything I could find on the Maimed Lord. I still have a notebook full of the stories I have written about Vecna. Maybe one day I'll let everyone read them.
There you have it folks. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode. In the meantime...
Happy Gaming!
Vecna The Whispered One. Anyone who has talked to me for any length of time about D&D, would know this. No one knows why. Allow me to tell you why now.
I had a Ranger that found the Hand and the Eye. He had lost part of an arm 2 adventures earlier, and had a custom gauntlet made that sported a short sword, so he could still wield dual weapons. After acquiring the Hand and the Eye. My plans for him changed. I was going to make him into a walking Cuisinart. Now that I had not just one but TWO artifacts. Here's the part where I start leaning towards magic using classes. Keep in mind, I had not read the entry in DMG for either of the artifacts. I only knew they were very powerful. My Ranger went to the nearest high powered M-U and paid an exorbitant amount of money for a Wish spell. That was a quest unto itself.
What I wrote for the Wish spell will stand as my finest work for all time. It was a 9 pages long, one continuous sentence. I thought I had figured for every contingency. If you read the Wish spell from 1st edition, "Regardless of what is wished for, the exact terminology of the Wish spell is likely to be carried through" This was permission to the DMs to completely screw with the player. Sean, my DM at the time did compliment me on my thoroughness. But he also thought of something I hadn't. Yes my Ranger would be able to keep the Hand and the Eye, he would not turn irrevocably Neutral Evil, however the Eye would take over when uncovered, and the Hand would have it's own personality. The Hand would eventually subdue the Eye, but the DM could make create any consequence of releasing the Eye. I was a victim of Artifact Power Madness., I didn't care about the consequences, I just wanted POWER! Only after I had committed to casting the spell and carving out my own eye, did Sean let me read the entries for the Hand and the Eye in the DMG.
Now, there will be those of you, who upon reading this will carry a certain degree of disbelief about the events I've just relayed. If you want to know how we got away with it... THIS IS 1ST EDITION AD&D! That's how we did it. This was collaborative story telling. We could do things like this because we didn't have to answer to game companies or other gamers. There was no internet, hence no internet trolls. We were six friends that enjoyed telling stories and creating legends.
Rest assured I did not continue to play that character. I retired him and he became part of my personal array of Mary Sue NPCs. I don't use him in games anymore, I just keep him around for the fond memories.
That is why Vecna will always be my favorite Deity. He fired my imagination and inspired me to great deeds. He also infected me with an obsession. I collected everything I could find on the Maimed Lord. I still have a notebook full of the stories I have written about Vecna. Maybe one day I'll let everyone read them.
There you have it folks. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode. In the meantime...
Happy Gaming!
Friday, February 5, 2016
30 day D&D challenge. Day 5
Favorite Die or Dice
Feared by players. Coveted by rival DMs. This little murderer could almost roll a 20 on command. In front of players!
Notice the rounded edges, denoting it's age. This die was the final epitaph for scores of PCs. Ask any of my players, past or recent. They will cringe at the mention of this beauty.
It's has had as many let downs as it has had successes though. It let my Warlock die from Rachel's character's attack. Somewhere the is the dead body of Warlock floating across the landscape, invisible, loaded with magic items for someone enterprising enough to find it so that they can pillage it.
Epic letdown: My halfling rogue Lucky. You remember him, right? Blew his pick pocket roll, and got busted by a Chaotic Evil Wizard, who in turn didn't kill him. Yet instead told him to obtain certain property from an unwilling donors. I went in, found the item, managed a few little extras for myself. All that and my little orange gem performed admirably. I will be the first one to admit that the reason that it failed me when picking the wizard's pocket is because I was showing off. That's what we call "Instant Karma" round these parts.
Rest assured The Orange D20 of Doom has an entire collection of like colored friends. Though none are as lethal. This one has been my companion at the table for longer than I can remember. I tend to get sentimental about this particular piece of plastic. But I'm a dice hoarder as well, and a minis hoarder, and a book hoarder for that matter.
Maybe one day I'll build it a little glass case and set it on the mantle to fondly remember old times.
Happy Gaming!
BEHOLD! THE ORANGE D20 OF DOOM!
Notice the rounded edges, denoting it's age. This die was the final epitaph for scores of PCs. Ask any of my players, past or recent. They will cringe at the mention of this beauty.
It's has had as many let downs as it has had successes though. It let my Warlock die from Rachel's character's attack. Somewhere the is the dead body of Warlock floating across the landscape, invisible, loaded with magic items for someone enterprising enough to find it so that they can pillage it.
Epic letdown: My halfling rogue Lucky. You remember him, right? Blew his pick pocket roll, and got busted by a Chaotic Evil Wizard, who in turn didn't kill him. Yet instead told him to obtain certain property from an unwilling donors. I went in, found the item, managed a few little extras for myself. All that and my little orange gem performed admirably. I will be the first one to admit that the reason that it failed me when picking the wizard's pocket is because I was showing off. That's what we call "Instant Karma" round these parts.
Rest assured The Orange D20 of Doom has an entire collection of like colored friends. Though none are as lethal. This one has been my companion at the table for longer than I can remember. I tend to get sentimental about this particular piece of plastic. But I'm a dice hoarder as well, and a minis hoarder, and a book hoarder for that matter.
Maybe one day I'll build it a little glass case and set it on the mantle to fondly remember old times.
Happy Gaming!
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