D66 Ships

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It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted due to work travel and a few days at the farm, setting things of fire (mostly on purpose).

Now that the party (particularly Slick) has a ship, let's have a list of ships that may be encountered in dock or on the high seas as your party adventures around their respective globe... 

So have some ships, their features, and a few suggested forms:

Download me here

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Many descriptions I used, as well as other ship forms and illustrations, may be found here.

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This post was brought to you with the support of Athena.

The party will be trying out their new ship during this week's session. Its new name TBA...

Campaign Journal: A Not-So Idyll Isle

Full house for the session:

• Jax - Barbarian
• Fulvus - Halfling
• Rondel - Elf
• Frederick - Thief
• Orzu - Gnome
• Slick - Thief 

We opened with Slick, Orzu, and Jax returning to port with their shipload of goods and evidence of servant-manikin trade to Chirath. 

In the meantime, Frederick, Fulvus, and Rondel were in the dwarven archives with Snorri Barrelbranch and a number of other archivists. They had located ledgers documenting dates and names associated with the original Barrier lens crafting, as well as the factions who had commissioned the work. 

As they pored over the volumes, Rondel's elf eyes caught movement among the shelves and folios. An individual, camouflaged against the background, momentarily visible as their camo adjusted to their shifting position. Rondel let off an arrow, followed by Fulvus, alerted to the commotion. The intruder expired, their hue-shifting skin fading with them. 

Everyone was looking over the body, when a cry let loose from Snorri and his assistants. The archivist clutched at a wound, yelling that the ledger was stolen. A second, similarly attributed intruder fled the archives, book in hand. Rondel got a shot off, but the interloper fled. The party followed the cries and commotion, finally reaching the docks just as the intruder dove into the water, being pursued by a hail of spears and arrows. 

Just as the pirate gallery rolled in. Look what we got! Who cares? We gotta go - the ledger's been stolen! Rondel cast locate object, sensing the book moving away to the west before fading out of range.

The PCs all hopped onto Xandra Ironhide's smaller galley, back-rowing out into the open. This boat only rowed and sailed. No fancy steam propulsion on this one. A sail was seen disappearing into a fog bank - That's our prey.

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D66 Wands

Back with more D66 mischief. This time - magic wands!

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Roll up a wand's power, what it is constructed of, and any fancy embellishments to give it that "special something."

The Wands Are Here

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And for more D66 goodness, feel free to peruse my "Baker's Dozen of D66 Lists."

Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 7: The Road to Scorn

Oop – new file on the the tablet. Let's see what it holds. And why does my tablet smell like rotted cabbage?

***

Time to leave Hounds Head. The guys are done with the forest for the time being. Don't blame them. The town is buttoning up for winter anyhow. I drop my loose silver with the kin, no reason to have it loading me down. Everyone loads their packs – goodbye for now.

It's Columbo, Dremont, Burns and Gunrey, and me.

South of town, we run into a dozen mercs. Yellow Falcon banner. Their captain, a halfing called Millicent Stout, says they are headed to Hounds to winter there and do some work for Ivanoff. Columbo offers to sell her the map to the northman barrow, might as well unload that bit of cursed parchment. He's not too keen with math, but we each finally get fifteen silver out of the deal. Millicent gives us some news of Scorn, where to watch our step and all that. Burns, the stabby kid, asks about their corps, and she gives him a coin to show the guard, maybe get him some honest training.

On the way past, a goblin cousin laboring under a towering pack tosses me a crystal hook. Might be useful he says. I tell him where to find the kin, and he thanks me and stomps off after the rest of the “Falcons.”

I noodle with it while we walk, do some oogabooga at it. Seems it can be stuck to a wall and hang there. Fancy coathook. For really heavy coats.

The road's quiet. That's good. We come upon a tree with some hanging dead. Looks likes they were stripped and gutted, nothing left but for the crows. This place it so welcoming.

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They Met at a Tavern 5: Raiding the Wine-seller with Shadowdark

Time for another Meetup one-shot at the brewery. I've been meaning to run Shadowdark, since I've been playing in Tim's Komor campaign, so here we go. Had a full table, with folks grabbing pre-gens or bringing their own cannon fodder/characters:

• Seana: Burl, dwarf fighter (bald)
• Brian: Theo, human priest (ridged cap)
• Selwyn: Roman: human thief (fur-lined hood)
• Claire: Poker: halfling thief (beret)
• Dakota: Borl: human wizard (gem-encrusted helmet)

As per usual, started off with some random headgear and a few quick RP questions. I also bumped everyone to 2nd level for a bit of resiliency. I had a few options for adventure, and we settled on a city adventure, since that held more opportunities for thievery.

So the party was lodging on the cheap in the dock district of Chirath... Brother Theo visited the local temple to his faith (nature-oriented, neutral, silver pinecone holy symbol) looking for some charity and/or a task. Father Anselmo greeted the acolyte, and reported that through conversations with colleagues of other temples, foul necromancy was afoot in the city. Unfortunately, the suspected necromancer was a well-regarded businessman. Perhaps a party of 'independent contractors' from out of town could rid the city of this troublesome necromancer. Payment in goodwill and whatever they could lift.

Time to go wine-tasting.

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The party paid a visit to "Saint Sephaton's Wine Garden." They were seated by greeter Gaz Hamati.  Looking at their meagre coin, they ordered the house red. The servers brought out glasses of wine and some bread and cheese. The PCs looked around at the other clientele, some of whom had bottles of better vintages brought to their tables. 

Proprietor Vito Mitras made his way around the tables, making sure everyone was satisfied. Time to sneak. The two thieves made their way to the 'facilities.' Poker did the halfling disappearing thing and created a distraction of knocking over some glasses. Roman crept upstairs, and Poker downstairs. Roman found Mitras' quarters and rooted through the desk until he found a coin purse and a secret compartment with a hidden ledger. Poker, in the meantime, made it downstairs into the wine seller. Although distracted by the cheese wheels and hanging prosciutto, an underlying scent of death indicated something amiss. After some poking about, she found the secret door to the catacombs. She made use of it to hide as an employee came down to collect some refreshments. Back up, and a bit of subterfuge by the two PCs to get back to the table. Let's pay the tab and see what we found.

Review: A Trio of Card Decks

Time to take a look at a few bits of Kickstarter loot that have been knocking around in my office:

First off, Crawl Cards: Overland, from BPB Games. I pledged at the $10 level for a POD discount coupon for the physical cards plus pdf. The supplement is a deck of 50 cards, each with six hexes. Hexes are color/graphic coded for terrain, along with features associates with one or more hexes (structures, settlements, monsters, unique terrain, etc.). Each card also has a brief description on the back for one or two unique features found within the six-hex area. The cards are designed for 5e, but are generally system agnostic in their descriptions.

Let's pull one. 

Card GO-07: "Blood Soaked Vale" The six hexes include three mountainous terrain, one swamp, on grassland, and two ruins/settlements (the hexes of interest).

Ooo. A mystery and the grumpy dead. Always a good start. Since the cards are meant to be used in sandbox style adventuring, the designers recommend drawing three cards and picking one that best fits as an adjacent region or continuation of a narration. 

(Draws three...)

The cards are titled "A Darker Path," "Radical Freedom," and "Rasekuhe." Cards 2 and 3 describe dwarven anarchists and a couple of farming and ranching communities, so the themes aren't particularly consistent with the original card. 

Campaign Journal: Piracy, ho!

Another small night, with work conflicts and other miscellany. 

• Slick - thief
• Orzu - gnome
• Jax - barbarian

Not a worry, let's mess around in Morn Kolduhr and get to know the Sea Dwarves. The Wolverine was undergoing repairs from its run-in with the Chaos ship, so everyone was sitting tight, anyhow.

First of all, they were excited to get to work experimenting with making ruby glass. Orzu, as a "cousin," was enlisted to pick the best rubies from the collection pilfered by the characters. Orzu has no idea what he's doing. That said, he had Jax hold up the selected gems while focusing a light spell through them using Slick's jewelers loupe. Somehow, he was able to discern gem quality via the various kaleidoscope patterns projected onto the walls. 

Well then, he had to oversee the glass casting process, as well. Orzu was dragged off, deeper into the mountain's heart to somewhere near its volcanic core, where the special forges were located. Sweltering in oversized protective gear, he observed the dwarves mixing the rubies with optical sand and melting it down into a 1/3 scale prototype disk. Satisfied with their experiments, the dwarves led the desiccated gnome back to the main city. The PCs inventoried where lenses, either broken or intact, were located to the best of their knowledge along the Barrier strongholds, and how to contact allies to possibly retrieve them for recasting. 

Durkan Dildran, tundra nomad and Slick's current hench, was getting a bit claustrophobic in the subterranean city, and a dwarf, Thorin Duskborn, offered to guide them to one of the city's several cliffside lookouts for a bit of fresh air and sky above their heads. While en route, the dwarf noted that Slick seemed to be of an 'acquisitional' nature, as he'd been poking around during his time in the city. Slick admitted as much, and the dwarf, amused told him not to worry, and that he and his brother had an ongoing challenge of making and picking locks. His brother, of course, being the exiled Urin Duskborn. Slick pulled out the lock gifted to him by Urin, and its craftmanship was immediately recognized by Thorin. In exchange, Thorin gave Slick a very nice set of lockpicks, to aid his middling skills...

The trio watched the sea and sky, and played with the lookout's telescopes. Soon enough, Thorin's ears perked up. "Ship! Sounds like a grain hauler. Bread and ale! Wanna come along?" Dumb question.

The three hurried to the docks and grabbed Jax and Orzu along the way.

Onto a large raiding galley and off!

The ship cruised towards its prey, sails full and rowers pulling. Slick noticed that his hat was flapping and jingling a bit more than one might expect from speeds capable for a galley. Thorin smiled. "C'mon down. You don't think we can row this fast with our stubby arms, do you?" And into the hold they went, to a compartment at the stern of the ship manned (dwarved) by several nervous dwarves in protective gear handling heavy riveted and welded metal spheres that rattled and spat steam. The spheres were placed and replaced in racks, adding whatever compressed forces to mechanisms driving the ship forward. 

Like this, but dwarves

A Baker's Dozen of D66 Tables

A collection of random D66 lists originally posted on my blog (plus an extra!) for use, abuse, or inspiration at your table. Contents include: shrine locations, weird goblins, intelligent swords, apocalypses, and more!

Drivethrurpg Link

Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 6, Death by Crowdsurfing

Looking a bit down, there Bloggah - rough day out?

***

Meh. We're still in our trees, it's dark, and the dead are on the march. Oh yeah, it's snowing now, too. Definitely not giving this part of the Komor Forest a good review.

And we still don't have a cleric-type. Dremont, you are on The List.

Anyway, best we can tell, the dead are marching east. Hopefully we can just stay quiet, and they won't notice us...

Damnit, there are a few with glowing red eyes. One pauses, scans around, and starts up Elinar's tree. It's got fierce, sharp skeletal claws, making quick work of that tree. I try to see if magic is driving it, but something goes haywire, and, well, Columbo is not magical.

I hear Elinar casting something, but something goes wrong for her, too, and suddenly she's hanging from a branch, cackling like an idiot. So much for the stealthy bit. 

That skeleton homes in on her, clawing her. The boys do their best, and I zap it, but that damn thing's tough. It gets ahold of Elinar, and she tumbles into the morass of marching undead. Damn.

The Mosh Pit of Death

D66 Apocalypses

It's the end of the world as we know it, but sometimes the end is a good beginning. If there is anything left to begin again from. 

Anyway, time for another D66 list of fun and frivolity. This time, various world-ending events, whether to prevent them, accelerate their oncoming, or just go along for the ride...

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D66 Apocalypses:
11: Sun explodes
12: Snowball world – Global ice age
13: Intelligence suck – Everything gets dumb
14: Cannibal corpse – Everything eats everything
15: Undead arise – Braaaiinnnsss
16: Slime everywhere – Why does the green slime stop with just one adventurer?
21: Alien farm – We'll make great pets...
22: Green hell – Greenhouse effect, plants engulf everything, kudzu reigns.
23: Eldritch awakening – Portals from beyond
24: Spiders!
25: Floods rise
26: Waters recede
31: Warring gods – Indifferent to the mortal collateral damage
32: Ennui – Sigh....
33: Sexplosion – Too busy getting busy.
34: Out of control goblin automatons – Tinkering gone wrong
35: Nuclear winter
36: Nuclear summer - Very brief, hot.
41: Giant asteroid
42: Giant volcano
43: Giant kaiju
44: Jumbo shrimp – Not sure, just went with the running theme...
45: Octopus revolution – I, for one, welcome our cephalopod overlords
46: Corvid uprising – You know they're up to something
51: Planetary alignment – Or misalignment
52: Misdealt Deck of Many Things
53: Portable Hole/Bag of Holding mishap
54: Arcane chain reaction
55: Rampaging moose – Moose are skairy
56: Nanorobotic grey goo
61: Robot uprising
62: Black hole
63: Atmospheric collapse
64: Time travel mishap – Who stepped on the butterfly?
65: Accelerated evolution
66: Hell unleashed

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Download the list here

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Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 5, Lost and Found

Damnit, where's my tablet? Oh, there it is, under the couch. And why does it smell like sulfur?

***

...this card game on this magic book is clearly rigged...

Oh hi. 

So we left the shrine after not being attacked by undead, bears, or anything else. The forest around the hills was pretty thick. We looked at the map we had. It's pretty vague, but we figured out where we should? be... After a lot of armwaving and pointing, we decided to go north, or what we though was north. 

It wasn't north.

Fine. We found a small cave to huddle in, the day lost. At least nothing was living in it. We had Columbo sleep by the entrance so he could block it up... He said he saw some flash of light that night, but I think he was just lighting his farts.

We got back at it the next day. Travel was uneventful. Thankfully. We saw some deer, but left them alone. They're scary.

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The ground was marshy, and we noticed some gray tendrils of fog in the trees. Best to avoid. The trees opened up and we found a grassy area with a bunch of half-buried stones. Elinar tried to read the scratchings on them, but no luck. Turns out Jer-Jom had some book-learning, too, but he skipped class that day. Columbo dug around, and found a line of stones, with their flat sides facing east. At least we have our directions figured out. It was getting late, so we retreated under the trees to camp in the drizzle. I was on watch when something moved around in the grass. 

Campaign Journal: To the Smoking Isles

Full house tonight:

Jax - Barbarian
Fulvus - Halfling
Rondel - Elf
Frederick - Thief
Orzu - Gnome
Slick - Thief 

Anyway, with Beladon the elf reportedly raging and on the hunt for those who cleaned out his vaults (and killed his mimic), it was time for a bit of a vacation of the marine kind the the Smoking Isles and the Sea Dwarves. 

A communique to Yornick, and a message back to be at the docks near the fishmonger's at midnight. The party made their silent way to the docks, to see a familiar fishing caravel, the Wolverine, and Captain Albergati. The captain welcomed them aboard, and the lightless boat sipped from the dock. The captain had ferried people and material to the sea dwarves before. It wasn't the most comfortable interaction, but he was up for it, recognizing a favor.

The journey was fortunately uneventful, but for some squalls and a few patrolling sharks. None of which were swept up in a tornado. As the boat neared shoals between a pair of great curved seamounts, Meiffo and Siti, a second ship approached and hailed the Wolverine. Fortunately, it was simply another merchantman, its captain warning of some hazardous winds and currents. Albergati shared his gratitude, and sailed on. The Wolverine dropped sails to maneuver the the shoals, and was nearly through when the watch called another ship on approach emerging from a fog bank. 

Another merchantman? Nope, the catapult stone holing the deck said otherwise. Time to cowboy up. Jax took the ship's scorpion and fired off a bolt, going wide. As the attacking ship neared, the various bowmen took shots, attempting to set sails on fire. Slick had some explosive paste from Hugo, and focused fire on the opposite's catapult, causing it some damage. The opposite ship's members began to fire at Jax and the two spellcasters, once they revealed themselves.  

Albergati and the opposite ship raced one another, sometimes pulling apart, sometimes closing. Occasionally, the party found a opposite combatant or spellcaster among them, whether by teleport, swimming, or flight. Damn mutants. Somewhere in this, Jax got webbed, putting the scorpion out of commission. Orzu handicapped the other ship with a convincing sharknado, and others caused enough fire damage to slow its pursuit.

The Stonewill Estate: Another Quick-and-Dirty Encounter

I feel like I've just been recounting and documenting my various campaign moments, and owe the world some creativity that's more than a grumpy goblin mage ranting...

So returning again to my campaign to provide a bit of content that someone may find useful for their sessions. Another Breaking and Entering, as happens in cities now and then. This one is the space developed for my "Repossessing the Possessed" session, where the party dealt with a horde of creepy dolls, but especially the one they were sent to retrieve.

I filled out the rooms with brief descriptions, and distributed the treasure that I had originally rolled up for the session. I added a few details to make the location more generic and flexible (hopefully) and fixed a couple of inconsistencies from play.

Additionally, I provided info for multiple avenues of access, whether street-level or subterranean.

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So find your way into Stonewill Estate here...

Hope you all are having an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. I was planning on running a Shadowdark one-shot, but had to cancel due to a sick dog. Family priorities.

Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 4, Poking the Bear

Saw some movement from my office. "Hello? Oh, it's you..."

A goblin wearing what looked like a tattered bathrobe stomped in. "Here's you magic tablet thing. Fukking Columbo..." He tossed it on the couch and stomped out. 

"Yo, what's up?"

"Read about it..." he grumbled over his shoulder, slammed the door, and disappeared into the night. Ok then. Let's see what we've got here.  

***

Hi. Been a week. We been hanging around Hound's Head, getting resupplied and rested. I got my fancy silver dagger, plus found that I could read that scroll Rig-Rot found out by his magic tree. Lets me see magic stuff. Could be handy.

Elinar kept trying to talk to the voices in her head, but they don't really seem to be answering. 

Columbo got his fancy ring from some dwarf god, but wants to get rid of it. I don't get that. Never satisfied, that guy. 

Jer-Jom and Elinar's orphans are itching to get out, and we got a map to a Northman barrow. Sounds good. Talked to Blake. He likes curiosities. Turns out the map is a copy of one of his. He points out a couple of landmarks, might save us some trouble. Or not. But Blake's eager to learn what we learn, so gives us a couple of healing potions. After all if we don't get back, he don't learn nothing.

Time to head out. We got a good wagon road to follow, so easy walking, and no killer deer, as far as we see. But someone had some bad luck in front of us. Find a couple of stinky bodies. Human and halfling. Looks like something killed them and rifled their pockets. I poke at them with my pole. Some flies rise up, but at least the dead don't. 

Dremond decides to poke at them more directly. My granduncle Moldgut always said to watch to things that eat dead things. Dremond didn't have an uncle, I guess, as he screamed like a little girl when a rot grub latched onto him. Roll eyes. Burn it off (and him too a little, oops). I take my pole to remove a necklace from one of the bodies. See? No rot grubs. It looks liks a holy symbol to Delaquain. Didn't help them.

artist's rendition

Saint Sephaton's Wine Garden (a quick-and-dirty encounter)

As I mentioned in the prior entry, Slick and Orzu took care of a little bit of necromantic housekeeping on behalf of the local temple. but not until after enjoying a bit of wine and cheese. 

The encounter was built on the fly, using a spare map in hand, as well as a necromancer's spell list and a few lightly modified undead. It's pretty bone-simple, but perhaps a useful side hook for a few adventurers trolling about in a city. So I'm sharing a lightly edited encounter for anyone's table. Enjoy.

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Download Saint Sephaton's Wine Garden

(Edit: added sewer access option for PCs who don't mind getting their feet dirty)

Campaign Journal: Odd Jobs

Well, it looks like everyone got into a bad batch of hydra meat. It's getting a bit ripe. Well, except for:

• Slick: thief
• Orzu: gnome

With their comrades laid low or otherwise indisposed, the two PCs were left twiddling their thumbs. Casting about town, there was news of an attack on a patrol by Opharel forces. Concerning, as the two duchies had been in detente for some time. 

The two decided to visit the Temple of Garond, as the party had a writ of support from Proctor Armin, thanking them for their support of the temple in Neuforde. Prior Jaume Magrans was happy to chat with them and offer the temple's support while they were in town. That said, he did have a task of a sensitive nature that a pair of idle adventurers might be interested in. Although the problem of the Chaos mutants was one many leaders' minds, other nefarious things were afoot. Namely, necromancy. One of the local merchants, wine-seller Zadok Meir, may have a side gig going...  Sounds good. We like to keep the dead dead. 

But first, they needed some muscle. Orzu has Torvald to absorb some damage, but Slick's hench Flick is back at Cobalt Lake, helping the naga Queen Adra's crew.

Let's talk to Akreos. He has spare bodies. Particularly, Dukan Dildran, a flamboyant warrior from the northern tundra. A business call to Akreos. What would it take to free him? We could use his skills. Akreos is a businessman, willing to entertain an offer. Or more importantly, entertain his audience. And, in contrast to some of the criminals that end up in the arena, Dildran is a free man captured by the duchy's patrols. Ok, we can fake his death, I'll make some anonymous side bets to offset the loss. But you need to get his agreement. He's a proud one. Down to the gladiator pits, and cells of incarcerated combatants. Some negotiation and gaining of trust, and the northern nomad agreed to freedom in exchange for some help putting down the dead.

For game purposes, "NPC Jax" agreed to fake a few blows with the flat of her blade at the appropriate time, while Orzu cast an illusion of a convincing mortal wound. Slick and Torvard would wait in the wings as stretcher bearers to whisk the "dead" combatant away. All set.

But first, the wine-seller for a bit of recon. And snacks. Slick and Orzu ordered a couple of glasses and a charcuterie board. After a bit, Slick excused himself to hit the head. A quick twist of his ring, and invisible Slick checked out the back areas of the establishment. Kitchen, check. Servers, check. Stairs down, check. Slick slid down the steps to confirm a wine cellar. But there was a subtle undercurrent of decay. Not the most attractive bouquet. Hmm... Recon done, he slipped back upstairs and visibility to exit the place.

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Dragonflight 2024, Part the Third: OSE and Wrestling with Kabrel's Tower

 Sunday morning found me at the head of the table once again. Let's get the roll call:

• Travis: Cedric - cleric, mohawk (Travis is a member of a group of us who play periodically at Around the Table Games)
• Ben: Gobble deGook - halfling, wide-brimmed hat (returning after yesterday's game)
• Daniel: Garvin LeBoul - fighter, helm, human image faceplate
• Pete: Fenzig - elf, short hood
• Van: Boffin - dwarf, bald, with topknot
• Zegan: Grim Greycastle - fighter, pointed helm

I remembered to write down the headgear today. 

Full table. My habit is to have five slots for game seats, but I always have a mental 'extra' seat available for waiting list folks, etc. Today, I had a no-show (last day of a 3-day con, fatigue happens), and Van and his son Zegan stopped by to see if I could spare a seat. Certainly.

Today, we're revisiting Kabrel's Tower, the objective of a pair of excursions early in the campaign. I had written up a synthesis of the two prior adventures for the purposes of the convention or other one-shots.

Of course the party is starting at Neuforde, with conversations with various NPCs in town - the mayor, , the priest, the halflings, and the elves. The group also got to see the snake map, as well as the spiel about Chaos mutants raiding the area. Off to find the nearest Node on the map...

Sometime into their journey, the party was set upon by a Chaos mutant raiding party - about six mooks and a leader on horseback. 

Here horsie...

Dragonflight 2024, Part the Second: OSE and Return to Ha’Tak Temple

Saturday afternoon, I hosted the first of two B/X-OSE games. 

First of all, I gotta figure what to run. My usual M.O. is to have a selection of adventures, and depending on the number and vibe of the group, I'll pick something. One thing I had this year that I didn't have prior years is a set of pre-run abandoned fortifications and other structures for the party to clear - the "Nodes" of my campaign. So a few of those maps ended up in my bag, as well.

Who showed up?

• John: "Ahairak" - dwarf (John is a repeat offender)
• Mike: "Ward" - Magic user 
• Wayne: "Lefty" - thief
• Sean: "Elbolas" - elf (Sean has also played in a con came with me before)
• Ben: "Brother Bartholomew" - cleric

We got everyone equipped from the "Random Headgear" table and set off. I forgot to write down the headgear, but I know that the mage ended up with an open-faced samurai helm. 

It just so happened that I had a copy of the campaign's "Snake Map" tucked into one of my rulebooks. Well, that's a sign.

We're going to clear a Node. And, yes, it's going to be the Ha'Tak Temple. Because I want to mess with a party using Cormac MacGiobhan!, bomb-throwing hermit.

Brief scenario intro - the map is provided as a rubbing taken from a standing stone, and the party being recruited by the local temple to investigate the suspected location near the "tail" as a location within a string of fortifications or watches. Oh, and twisted things have been raiding in the wilderness.

Off they go.

Twisted thing. Of course it's a Tumorous Spider. 

A crippled, lurching spider should be easy prey for a crack adventuring party, right? Not based on the number of whiffs that occurred. Thankfully, the spider sucked just as bad.

Dragonflight 2024, Part the First: Deathbringer Among the Barrows

Yes, I'm backed up on play reports. 

Ran three games this year at Dragonflight, held in Bellevue, Washington. The total attendance this year over three days was 1050 souls, a few of whom sat at my table.

The first of the three games was Professor DM's "Deathbringer," which I've run as a one-shot a few times. Who showed up?

• Mystic: "Morgue" - scoundrel
• Nick: "Grunk" - deathbringer
• Eric: "Larry" - plague doctor
• Christian: "K" - grimscribe
• Don: "Jerry" - plague doctor

As before, I ran Tim Shorts' "Requiem for Atticus Stumps" mini-adventure. I had booked a two-hour slot for this session, so used the scenario for its flexibility. I warmed up the players for play with a few questions (Who in the party owes you money, how did you get in trouble in the last town, why are you far from home, etc.).

The party, desperate from whatever "miseries" they had rolled up in chargen, took the bait.

Travel and negotiation with Harlow went smoothly, and the halfling took up spear and lantern to lead them to the selected barrows. The grimscribe cast dancing lights to provide some illumination in the forest and keep people from tripping over tree roots. Harlow avoided any encounters.

Barrow #1: The flowers surrounding the barrow remained unidentified (although Jerry did place several in his mask). Removing stones went without a mishap, someone noticing about halfway through the process the warning runes carved into them....

Harlow, as usual, lit the lantern with a flinch, refusing to explain or yield it to the party. He illuminated the barrow from the entrance. 

Morgue was suspicious of the metallic urn but urged Grunk to break it open anyhow (scoundrels...). So Grunk took the brunt of the gas trap. Morgue thanked him and recovered a silver dagger and some coin.  

Grunk and Jerry easily tossed the stone slab. Larry poked at the coffin, causing the spectre to rise. The fight was on. Morgue failed to get a good sneak attack in, but other characters made the best of it. The spectre was able to drain some strength from Morgue. K attempted to magic missile the thing, but rolled a crit failure. Doh! Thankfully the outcome dice were merciful, and the spell merely fizzled away.

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Finally, Larry bombed the thing with a potion, and it faded to darkness. A scroll and some jewelry were recovered, but no death coins. The PCs dusted themselves off and asked Harlow about other options.

Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Parts 2&3: Bugbears and Beat Downs

My tablet disappeared overnight. I thought I'd left it at the brewery, but found it under the couch. Funny. I don't remember writing this document. Hmm...

...

Taptaptap. Is this thing on?

Sorry, been out doing stuff. The dwarves I met earlier wanted to get an old mine cleared out so they could use it. Called it the Stone Toad Mine. Promised to pay us some coin, so they could call it Happy Fun Dungeon for all I cared. After all, the goblin camp needs some winter supplies.

So I met up with a few other layabouts in Hounds Head (Elinar, Dermont, and Columbo) to go out and do the deed. We'd gone and checked it out, but some sketchy stuff was going on. Columbo said he could lead us back to town, but kept getting us lost. I don't know about that guy.

Anyway, we eventually got back to Hounds Head and gathered some supplies. Columbo stepped into the woods to take a leak (that guy does it a lot. I think he should talk to a witch-doctor about that) and disappeared. Probably got lost again.

Left the three of us and a few mooks to check out this mine. Cass-Crow agreed to come along. She's a good shot and has my back. Elinar, a witch, has a couple of orphaned boys she found in the woods. I hear witches do that a lot. The boys tend to get a bit stabby. Can be helpful in certain situations...

Got back to the mine good. Found the trail this time. It was pretty obvious.

Damn. Bugbear guarding the mine. Must be why the dwarves were sketchy about it. Maybe we can get him out of the way. Elinar has one of her boys be bait, I mean, distraction, to get the bugbear close to us. It sorta works. We end up attacking him. My finger dart thing fizzles. Bugbear runs back to the mine, so we gotta chase.

Well, that's when things go bad. More bugbears. Of course. They got some goblin kin mining for them. The kin look pretty rough. I imagine the funny shapes that make someone your friend, but it doesn't work on bugbears. Things get bad. The boys are really bad with spears. They need practice. One gets knocked down, but his brother saves him. Dremont can't hit anything with his bow. Even Cass-Crow is missing. Not like her. My fire-hands trick smolders away too. Even I'm going to have to start stabbing! 

We're getting our butts kicked! 

Campaign Journal: Ocean's Five

I've got about six play reports to fire off. I've been negligent, on top of extra sessions. More incoming.

First, more Shenanigans in Chirath:

Jax - Barbarian
Fulvus - Halfling
Rondel - Elf
Frederick - Thief
Orzu - Gnome

(Slick was absent due to spoiled hydra)

First of all, the party was approached by members of the City Guard, in a friendly fashion, at least. They were invited to speak with Legate Mildiani, the city's military commander, as well as Velthur Lecne, a sage researching the Chaos mutations. The party (e.g. Jax and Fulvus/Wene) had drawn attention for their defeats of the Chaos creatures in the arena, as well as other rumors of the party's exploits in the wilderness.

The two officials questioned the party as to their explorations and findings with respect to the Chaos forces. The party recounted general information, and discussed their experiences in Acroria. Mildiani was aware of Acroria's position, partially from the city's intelligence personnel in the town. He was curious if their may be other internal contacts, and the party suggested that the two remaining expedition survivors may be amenable to contact.

The party further shared some information on the presence of the fortifications, although they withheld some information on the Barrier, and mentioned a few allies, such as the druids and community at Cobalt Lake. The Keepers of the Light were also discussed in their past role guarding the frontier.

Lecne was quite interested in the creation of the Chaos mutations, and his research and autopsies indicated that the beings had been changed by some combination of alchemical means and a form of magic he wasn't familiar with. Perhaps this knowledge could be used to create soldiers of their own (members of party shudder).

Satisfied, the two officials bid them adieu, and the party departed. 

D66 Intelligent Swords

Been a bit since my last post, plus it's time for another D66 list...

If magical swords are the bread and butter of enchanted items, then Intelligent ones are definitely the German chocolate cake. Or some bad metaphor like that.

Joethelawyer recently described giving one of his players an irascible intelligent magic sword, and of course, our own campaign has Jax being occasionally goaded by Faith Perpetual. 

Which reminded me it was time to make another list. So here's a list of swords, with names and personalities. They are, after all, NPCs in their own rights. Have fun with Troll-bane, a +3 broadsword that detects alignment and crusades against the undead....

source

D66 Intelligent Swords:

D66 Name
11 Scorn
12 Althazar the Sharp
13 Fellblade
14 Agananthus
15 Circe
16 Hellbion
21 Mr. Pokey
22 Giant-Killer
23 Excelsior
24 Viriaicus
25 Killmonkey
26 Aethelred's Thegn
31 Troll-bane
32 Big Prick
33 Skolmander
34 Jesry's Grip
35 Skewer
36 Dúngail
41 Fell Mangler
42 Battlemouse
43 Steelheart
44 Ironblood
45 Call-Me-An-Angel
46 King Ulaf's Knight
51 Malice and Venom
52 Ranger's Leaf
53 Hattusamuwa
54 Faith Perpetual
55 Odo's Hand
56 le Griffon Isolé
61 Hofnarggaganufus
62 Xelendria's Shield
63 Frank
64 Glamandoridian
65 Excitable Boy
66 The Artist's Edge

New Monster: Xegamian Servant-Manikin

Well, last session the PCs found that the Stonewills' household "help" was of the creepy doll variety. Particularly Frederick, who got gang-tackled by several of the automaton servants twice, taking significant bite and scratch damage each time. Not to mention everyone feeling a bit wigged out by the whole thing.

Source

Xegamian Servant-Manikin:
Crafted in the alchemical research-crèches tucked away in the outskirts of the city-state of Xegam, servant-manikins are desired by customers who prefer their help to be silent and unlikely to pick up rumors or pilfer the silverware. Not to mention requiring no wages and limited upkeep.

Although they were developed primarily for domestic duties, for a bit more coin, the manikins can be imbued with attributes to guard the master's household while they are away or asleep.

Although the exact components and mechanisms for crafting such automatons is a closely-held secret, disassembly of the manikins has revealed them to be composed of a variety of articulated wooden and metal limbs joined to a ceramic torso and topped with a crafted doll head. Many owners with particular tastes and a bit extra coin order custom-crafted heads that are whimsical or artistic. 

Breaching the torso releases a number of preserved organs and nervous system elements in a galvanic fluid. Rumors and espionage into the creation of the manikins indicates that the organs are mostly harvested from accident victims or the condemned, and preserved in such a way to "program" the doll for its future duties. While not admitted by there creators, there is a limited (5%) chance that the harvested organs may cause an individual doll to retain some memories or personality of its prior life.

Each manikin is "taught" its normal tasks by inscribing a "code-leaf," a strip of thick parchment, with a combination of sigils and punched holes, which are then inserted into a slot in the back of the head. Most owners keep a small library of code-leaves available to cover miscellaneous tasks or particular recipes for their servants to prepare.

Basic stats:

1HD, AC 6/13, Atk: 1d2, able to perform normal housekeeping or domestic tacks, understands verbal commands. Automaton/artificial being, immune to sleep and mind control spells.  

Modified servant-mankins come in four flavors:

1. Stabby: 2HD, Atk: 1d4x2, a stouter servant-manikin equipped with a pair of extendable dagger blades in its forearms for home defence.

2. Sleepy: 2HD, Atk: 1d4+poison (save or slowed, 1d4 turns), each manikin is equipped with a hollow blade containing four doses of poison.

3. Screamy: 1HD, Atk: nil, alarm call to alert household. Summons 1d4+1 random manikins in 1d3 rounds (up to household maximum). 

4. Swarmy: 1HD, Atk: 1d6+2 manikins will appear and drag down an opponent, causing 1d2 points per round per manikin. Escape via penalized contested STR roll (d20+bonuses-1 per manikin) 

Source

Edit:

Recent "inquiries" in the city-state of Xegam have indicated that the manikin fabricators have attempted to create stronger servant manikins, hoping to solve the material cost barrier of golem creation. However, such attempts have so far failed, with the mental/command instability of higher hit die manikins increasing markedly with each hit die greater than two. (Chance of past memories/general homicidal tendencies increases to 15% per hit die greater than 2).

Campaign Journal: Repossessing the Possessed

Smaller crew tonight:

• Frederick – thief
• Fulvus – halfling
• Jax – barbarian
• Rondel – elf

Orzu was apparently off on a vision quest for his cult, and Slick was laying low after news of a rash of hat thefts was circulating in Chirath.

The party was hanging at The Crossed Blades, eating another hangover breakfast. An elegant elf drifted in, wrinkled her nose, and approached the party. She introduced herself to Rondel as Kailu Winthala, an envoy from the Old Lands who had heard of his arrival in town. She dusted off a seat with her handkerchief and reluctantly accepted a glass of wine. She was interested in developments in the west with the evidence of Chaos forces on the move. Old Lands? Are you from the desert? No – not those rustics. They have their particular views of the world, and remain in the desert, beholden to them.  Rondel revealed that he had interacted with one, and had found him to be honorable.

In fact he had been guarding an old tower, part of an abandoned defensive network against Chaos. Kailu was interested, as she had hit roadblocks attempting to gain information from the local authorities and researchers. An old magical network was most interesting, especially due to the resources and knowledge that would have been required to construct it. She had no recollection of elven efforts to such a network, and admitted it must have been human mages, with an equivalent knowledge of the arcane. Fascinating. 

Rondel observed that the humans were adaptable and good at gathering resources, such as the suspected dwarven craftsmen to make the focus lenses at the various strongholds. Kailu reluctantly admitted as much. In the end, the two agreed to share what notes and resources that they had. Kailu departed and soon sent an assistant to collect Rondel's notes and rubbings (and Mareth's, RIP).

Sometime after this, Balto, Slick and Fred's local contact, dropped by to let them know that he had made contact with the Sewer Patrol, and Solange might have a job...

Off to the Hidden Hand, via the fishmonger back door, of course. Solange appeared, and offered the task of recovering an idol from a local manor house. In exchange for a favor or two, of course.

Campaign Journal: Recon and Arena

Hidey ho, neighbors!

The whole gang is here:

Frederick - thief
Slick - thief
Rondel - elf
Orzu - gnome
Fulvus - halfling
Jax - barbarian

Everyone was up bright and early. The crew had things to do. The halflings were sharpening weapons, polishing armor and doing whatever halfings do before death matches. The thieves were judging their odds versus whatever security Beladon the jeweler had at his shop. Time to get to work.

The crew checked in at the arena - the halflings were third on the bill, with a local gladiator vs a "wild man of the North" and a Dwarven wrestling exhibition match as teh opening acts.

Time to make some bets. Henry the cleric was entrusted with the halflings' coin to bet on them, of course. Rondel bet on them as well, aong with several conditional bets (first blood, etc.). Orzu bet on both the local gladiator and the halflings to win. Henry, on second thought, threw a few coin on the "northman" to win. The party attempted to ascertain as to the opponent(s), but could only determine that it was probably more Chaos mutant.

The thieves asked around at the Guild regarding Beladon's shop. They got some indeterminate rumors and an idea of the layout (shop, upstairs quarters, cellar vaults). Time to reconnoiter. Fred and Slick did the unimaginable and walked in the front door with the objective of buying something...

A couple of blobs with no necks looked them up and down and granted admittance. A third guard let them in through the inner foyer and followed them into a waiting area. He called for Beladon and a few minutes later, an elf appeared from behind a curtain and greeted them through a barred teller's window. What were they in the market for? Emeralds, please. The jeweler disappeared and Slick made small talk with the guard, Gerald. Does the boss pay well? Ok, but the missus just gave birth to our fifth. Things could be better... I hear ya.

Beladon came back with a lockbox of emeralds of various sizes. Sorry, the largest was sold recently for a gift for a lady. The thieves picked a large specimen to evaluate. Slick pulled out his new loupe and pretended to know what he was doing. Some negotiation and back and forth ("You wouldn't disparage my reputation!?") and the gem was purchased for a "reasonable" 400gp. Frederick asked after the local ruby market, but Beladon hadn't seen much, lately. Oh, and give Gerald a raise. I know, they're fecund, those humans. No offence. None taken.

Back out into the street. Hmm. Not much could be seen. Gang signs, and a street urchin was summoned. Do you know anything about the jeweler? No sir, but I can find a friend who might know. Do you have anything for me to buy lunch? Slick gave the young man enough to buy several months worth of lunches. Some time later, he returned. Go to the The Lazy Harper, he'll find you. 

Shadowdark Session 0: Meet Bloggah

I found this file on my tablet. Not sure where it came from, so giving the unknown author the benefit of the doubt and assuming it's genuine: 

***

Yo. I found this odd magical tablet where I poke at it and I can spell out words.

A magical miracle! Wait until I tell Rig-Rot! He'll think it's the rat's balls!

Oh, hello. I'm Bloggah. Goblin, if you care. I recently joined an encampment of my kin northeast of Hound's Head. There's Rig-Rot. I share a tent with him. Cass-Crow. She's pretty handy. Zern the Wist. He doesn't like anyone who's not a goblin, collects skulls. Ergo-En, Har-Hok, Wort-Wig, and the rest. We're just trying to make our way. Rig-Rot found an old collapsed fort. Some of the walls are still up. Good enough to block the wind from our tents and hovels, maybe help keep the wolves out. Or whatever wanders out of the deeper Komor forest. Plus winter's coming. We need to stock up and get some roofs up.

So I was coming back from woodcutting, when I head voices. Dwarves. I don't speak their tongue, but most of them harmless, keep to themselves since all that stuff that happened back in the Before Times. Just two, one dragging a handcart of tools. So I waved them down. 

Said their names were Ulfgar and Alric. Brothers looking for metal veins to mine to the northwest. They'd heard we were down here, so wanted to make our acquaintances on the way to Hound's Head. Sure, come on down. I'll let the crew know you're here. 

Got most of the gang to say hi (except Zern, of course). The dwarves want to be good guests, so pull out a cask of ale, pass out some cups to share. Cups have the Great Imbiber carved on them. Not our god, but most of Their followers seem happy folk. 

The dwarves want to introduce themselves, possible trade. They're waiting for their kin to come and make a settlement up north, see if the play turns out to be worth it. 

Asked them about what they'd found, if they had a place to overwinter yet. Nope- probably need to build some cabins. Only 'cave' they'd found was an old crypt. Don't know why they weren't interested in setting up camp in it. After all, its occupants wouldn't make any noise. Probably.

Dwarves headed to Hound's Head. Left us the remains of the cask and the cups. Right neighborly.

D66 Unusual Undead

Undead are the bread and butter (and bones and banes) of dungeon spaces. But they get a bit mundane after the umpteenth zombie slain or turned. So, have some random alternatives via the magic D66 table. Some have stated abilities, some are just goofy. And yes, the first d6 value roughly aligns with the hit die. 

The Vampire, by Philip Buren-Jones

D66 Unusual Undead

11: Skeleton, rubbery bones, half damage from anything
12: Skeleton, just the bottom half, keeps bumping into things
13: Skeleton, explodes on destruction, shrapnel damage, 1d6, 10’ radius
14: Skeleton, extra loud and clattery
15: Skeleton, comprised of mismatched parts
16: Skeleton, reassembles after 1d3 turns
21: Zombie, infectious, anyone killed rises as zombie in 1d2 turns
22: Zombie, choreographed dances
23: Zombie, 1d3 extra mouths
24: Zombie, filled with worms and rot grubs
25: Zombie, brains! Acquires memories and spells of victim
26: Zombie, gas-filled, 1in6 chance of releasing poison gas with each damaging blow
31: Ghoul, epicurean, picky
32: Ghoul, surrounded by a disorienting cloud of flies and biting insects (as swarm)
33: Ghoul, swap paralysis for poison (2d4 dmg, save for half)
34: Ghoul, spider-ghoul, spider-ghoul, does whatever a spider thinks is cool...
35: Ghoul, displacing, blurred
36: Ghoul, singing, poet, all drama and rotted capes
41: Wraith, trailing a cloak of darkness
42: Wraith, drains CON
43: Wraith, drains bank account
44: Wraith, fear effect (save or flee 1d4 rounds)
45: Wraith, cold, freezing effect (save or slowed, 1d4 rounds)
46: Wraith, giant, looming (2xHD, increase damage die by one)
51: Mummy, curse-obsessed, creative
52: Mummy, just beetles in wrapping
53: Mummy, just the wrapping
54: Mummy, bored, mostly just wants to give tomb tours
55: Mummy, disorienting effect, intruders lost in sepulchral mazes
56: Mummy, random wrappings: flags, dishtowels, toilet paper, caution tape
61: Vampire, just a bat in a cloak
62: Vampire, bursts into a cloud of canaries
63: Vampire, vegetarian, referred to as a “sapsucker” by their peers
64: Vampire, surrounded by bright lights and shiny things, lots of pink
65: Vampire, speech impediment, wears retainer
66: Vampire, commands vast network of feral cats

The dance of death: Death finds an author writing his life.
Color lithograph by Edward Hull

Download dem bones here

D66 Afterlife Experiences

Well, it happened. One too many blows from the foe, that unseen spear trap, a venomous bite. Your PC is is no more, has ceased to be, is expired and gone to meet his maker, etc.

So what did your PC experience while they waited for their companions to drag their stiffening body back to town and pool enough coin to have them raised?  

Sir Olaf and the Underworld, by Kay Nielsen

D66 Things Your PC Experienced While They Were Dead

D66  Shit, I'm Dead!
11     Tasted ambrosia. All food now tasted like ash.
12     Bickering angels.
13     All of their dead pets.
14     Disappointed ancestors.
15     Screaming. So much screaming.
16     The music of the spheres.
21     One moment of perfect beauty.
22     Naught but the Void.
23     Reboot of the simulation.
24     Looking up at six people around a table.
25     Dude pushing a big rock.
26     Ghosts bumming for change at the Styx.
31     Fiery horses chasing ghostly steers.
32     Dueling harps.
33     Viking party!
34     Line of souls waiting on the rebirth application process.
35     Haunting lessons.
36     Dead rockers jamming.
41     Endless gray plains.
42     Infinite roulette wheels constantly spinning,
43     Three chicks with a spinning wheel, tape measure, and scissors.
44     Anubis weighing hearts.
45     Dead-rights picketers and pamphleteers.
46     Various death gods playing lots for souls.
51     Massive tree boughs holding up the heavens.
52     How did those Mormon missionaries get in here?
53     At least there are no lawyers...
54     Great birds carrying souls toward the dawn.
55     Only 71 virgins.
56     A great serpent constricting the world.
61     Forgotten gods panhandling for worshipers.
62     Cerberus and the Black Dog playing tug-of-war with souls.
63     Poppies everywhere.
64     Great infinite cliffs into the clouds, speck of souls seen climbing.
65     Chaotic funhouse. Clowns everywhere.
66     Eternal bouncers and a red velvet rope.

Download These Afterlives

Playthings of Eternity, by Cardwell Higgins