9/30/13
Monday Moodsetter 30: Millennium Mills
These are the types of images I had in mind for the second level of the Montporte Dungeon. What RPG thought comes to your mind as you look at these pics taken of Millennium Mills?
9/29/13
The (Non)Gaming Table at Casa de Battle Axe
This weekend featured some tasty vegan rations at our table. Friday night's menu included a spicy tofu zucchini hash, served with a bottle of 2012 Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Riesling. Off dry whites are a good match for lighter foods with a bit of heat, although I could have easily gone with a beer on this one.
On Saturday, I cooked up curried noodles with tofu, green beans, and red bell pepper. I opted for an inexpensive Italian red, 2010 Maculun Brentino, a Merlot/Cab blend that was surprisingly excellent match for the dish.
Our merger at work is closing on Tuesday, so I felt the need to pamper and fortify myself over the weekend. Healing up for the adventure ahead.
On Saturday, I cooked up curried noodles with tofu, green beans, and red bell pepper. I opted for an inexpensive Italian red, 2010 Maculun Brentino, a Merlot/Cab blend that was surprisingly excellent match for the dish.
Our merger at work is closing on Tuesday, so I felt the need to pamper and fortify myself over the weekend. Healing up for the adventure ahead.
Roll20 and Google+ Hangout
With the Montporte Dungeon Campaign, I have been using Roll20 and we are getting more acclimated to it. It works particularly well in conjunction with Google Hangout. It is not as pretty as FG and it doesn't have all the functionality of FG. However, for our d20 game (Blood & Treasure), it is simple to use, reliable, and facilitates play.
9/28/13
Good Stuff on the Download
Having seen +Chris Bard's (The Clash of Spear on Shield) recent post about Delving Deeper, I had to download it as well. Delving Deeper: The Adventurer's Handbook, Delving Deeper: The Referee's Guide, and Delving Deeper: The Monster & Treasure Reference are free for the downloading. It is hard to go wrong there.
9/27/13
Good Stuff in the Mail
Another Amazon box arrived at work, bringing a delightful mix of history books and gaming goodness (plus a book for my wife, I should add...I am not all about me, just mostly about me).
The first gaming item is the Pathfinder GameMastery Critical Hit Deck. 52 cards of devastating fun. We had a chance to try them out during our Monday night Montporte Dungeon session when Duncan scored a critical hit while throwing a dagger (a natural 20 plus a second roll scored as a hit). Because we were playing in Google Hangout, I had to draw the card, but there was still a payout. His dagger did double damage to the intended target plus hit and damaged a second target. This turned the tide of the battle in a hurry. Realistic? Maybe not. Fun for our group? Definitely yes.
But the real fun starts when someone rolls a critical miss (a natural 1 plus a second roll that misses). It hasn't happened since we started using the card decks, but it will. I am a big fan of critical misses. Whether we are playing GURPS, Swords & Wizardry, or now Blood & Treasure, critical misses always create more tension and excitement than critical hits. So, to facilitate the fun, I also picked up the Pathfinder GameMastery Critical Fumble Deck. 52 cards of mishaps and mayhem. I can't wait to inflict them on my players use them in our game.
9/26/13
Montporte Dungeon Campaign Session 16 Notes
The Cast
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 3 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, 3 Lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Dante Rathburn (Human, 3 Lvl Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, 3 Lvl Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 2 Lvl Marksman): NPC
Ansarkhan ("Mushroom Man", 2 Lvl Fighter): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Innerkhan ("Mini-Mushroom Man"): NPC
5 cave goats
The Session
The previous session, Session 15, was a session-long brawl, leaving the brave adventurers alive, but exhausted and drained of resources. At the end of the battle, they found a secret door that led them to Allindrhil's lair. Allindrihl is a mushroom farming elf last encountered in Session 10. The party was still turned around and lost after being teleported (Session 13), so they didn't know their exact location, but Innerkhan let them know that they were in the elf's lair and were safe. The party ended Session 15 in a safe space (Room 1 at the top of Map A above) and took the opportunity to rest.
Allindrihl met the party at the beginning of Session 16, welcomed them, and gave them a tour of his mushroom farm. His farm featured lots of mushroom men farming mushrooms and some mushroom golem guards. He then took them to his abode at the south end of the farm (Room 2 at the bottom of Map A) and offered them food and a place to rest up and heal. Allindrihl helped the party straighten out their maps, which were a mess after teleporting. Not only did they not know their location, their directions were off by 90 degrees after the teleport incident (Session 13).
The party explained what had happened to them and showed Allindrihl some of the documents and information they had collected. Allindrihl looked it over carefully and then shared some information of his own.
The party learned that Alleena, the Breeder Novice who vanished in a flash during combat (Session 13), is actually Daria, the leader of the Rebellion. When Alleena first became an Initiate (the step before becoming a Novice), Allindrihl began meeting her in secret locations and taught her some magic. In turn, she secretly renounced being a Breeder and renamed herself Daria. She remained within the Breeder community and began to gather information that could later be used against the Breeders. Allindrihl had not seen her in quite some time so he was pleased to learn that she was still alive.
Allindrihl expressed concern over the expansion of the Breeders. They had lived on Level 4 for a very long time but had expanded up to Level 2 and were now colonizing Level 1. Elias the One, their leader, was ambitious and may have discovered some powerful magic that was fueling their expansion.
Allindrihl had prepared a map of Level 1 for Daria so that she could avoid the Breeders while leading the rebellion. However, he had not been able to get the map to Daria. Allindril showed the map to the adventurers and they offered to take the map to her. According to Allindrihl, the party would have to go back up to Level 1, go east, drop back down to Level 2 and look for Daria in the easternmost part of Level 2. It was a dangerous area, but this had the benefit of keeping the Breeders away.
As Allindrihl shared his map, he indicated to Luven that there was a dwarven burial area that he purposefully had left off the map. It was north of the mines and probably had a lot of treasure. During their previous visit with Allindrihl, Luven had been persistent in his questions about treasure location and Allindrihl had finally relented this time around. Allindrihl also told the party that hobgoblins, the traders of the dungeon, were using the garden area on Level 1 as their entrance point into the local dungeon. They had been carrying on a brisk trade with the Breeders but Allindrihl did not know where they were traveling once they passed beyond the gardens.
After spending a few days to rest and recuperate with Allindrihl and his many mushroom men, the party departed via the spiral staircase back to the first level of the dungeon. They traversed Level 1 from west to east, encountering one Novice with three armored "super gaunts." The party was thrown off when the armored super guants tried to capture them rather than kill them. It looked like a tough encounter but the adventurers were in top form and mowed down their opponents in just a few rounds. The party did find a document on the Novice, where they learned that they were wanted men. Wanted alive, not dead.
The party continued to move east into unexplored territory, finding a statue in Area 3 (Map B above). They moved south from the statue and saw a lone human figure in a robe in Area 4. This human figure gave them a friendly greeting and welcomed them to the monastery. As he talked, the party noticed that his body was transparent. He was some sort of spirit or ghost.
The ghost introduced himself as Cassius, the caretaker of the Elemental Monastery. Luven wanted to know where the monastery kept its treasure. A lively conversation ensued and Cassius explained that the monastery's treasure was its collective knowledge and wisdom. Adzeer wanted to know if there was a staircase nearby and Cassius led the party to the spiral staircase in Area 7 (Map B above). Along the way, the adventurers asked a lot of questions about the monastery and its (former) inhabitants. Cassius couldn't remember when he had last seen any of the monks but he figured that they were somewhere in a meeting or in worship.
While all this was transpiring, Duncan wandered away, as his wont. He found five crystalline statues in Room 5 and was able to surmise that they were made by gnomes. Each figure was about 3 feet tall. Luven, following Duncan's lead, also wandered away from the party into Room 6, where he found four more crystalline statues. They stirred and attacked him. Luven was wounded but was able to make his escape. Duncan went into the room and the statues remained still. At this point, Duncan guessed that they were golems.
This is where the session ended.
The Dungeon So Far
Adzeer Mattiu, Hunter of the First Circle (Half Orc, 3 Lvl Hunter): Tim (Gothridge Manor)
Duncan Kern (Gnome, 3 Lvl Wizard/Thief): Dan
Dante Rathburn (Human, 3 Lvl Warlock): Chris (The Clash of Spear on Shield)
Luven Lightfinger (Human, 3 Lvl Thief): Rob (Bat in the Attic)
Larramore “Little Larry” (Kobold, 2 Lvl Marksman): NPC
Ansarkhan ("Mushroom Man", 2 Lvl Fighter): NPC
Diana (Human, Torch Bearer, Goat Driver): NPC
Innerkhan ("Mini-Mushroom Man"): NPC
5 cave goats
 |
| Map A (1 Square = 5 Feet) |
The previous session, Session 15, was a session-long brawl, leaving the brave adventurers alive, but exhausted and drained of resources. At the end of the battle, they found a secret door that led them to Allindrhil's lair. Allindrihl is a mushroom farming elf last encountered in Session 10. The party was still turned around and lost after being teleported (Session 13), so they didn't know their exact location, but Innerkhan let them know that they were in the elf's lair and were safe. The party ended Session 15 in a safe space (Room 1 at the top of Map A above) and took the opportunity to rest.
Allindrihl met the party at the beginning of Session 16, welcomed them, and gave them a tour of his mushroom farm. His farm featured lots of mushroom men farming mushrooms and some mushroom golem guards. He then took them to his abode at the south end of the farm (Room 2 at the bottom of Map A) and offered them food and a place to rest up and heal. Allindrihl helped the party straighten out their maps, which were a mess after teleporting. Not only did they not know their location, their directions were off by 90 degrees after the teleport incident (Session 13).
The party explained what had happened to them and showed Allindrihl some of the documents and information they had collected. Allindrihl looked it over carefully and then shared some information of his own.
The party learned that Alleena, the Breeder Novice who vanished in a flash during combat (Session 13), is actually Daria, the leader of the Rebellion. When Alleena first became an Initiate (the step before becoming a Novice), Allindrihl began meeting her in secret locations and taught her some magic. In turn, she secretly renounced being a Breeder and renamed herself Daria. She remained within the Breeder community and began to gather information that could later be used against the Breeders. Allindrihl had not seen her in quite some time so he was pleased to learn that she was still alive.
Allindrihl expressed concern over the expansion of the Breeders. They had lived on Level 4 for a very long time but had expanded up to Level 2 and were now colonizing Level 1. Elias the One, their leader, was ambitious and may have discovered some powerful magic that was fueling their expansion.
Allindrihl had prepared a map of Level 1 for Daria so that she could avoid the Breeders while leading the rebellion. However, he had not been able to get the map to Daria. Allindril showed the map to the adventurers and they offered to take the map to her. According to Allindrihl, the party would have to go back up to Level 1, go east, drop back down to Level 2 and look for Daria in the easternmost part of Level 2. It was a dangerous area, but this had the benefit of keeping the Breeders away.
 |
| Allindrihl's Map of Level 1 |
After spending a few days to rest and recuperate with Allindrihl and his many mushroom men, the party departed via the spiral staircase back to the first level of the dungeon. They traversed Level 1 from west to east, encountering one Novice with three armored "super gaunts." The party was thrown off when the armored super guants tried to capture them rather than kill them. It looked like a tough encounter but the adventurers were in top form and mowed down their opponents in just a few rounds. The party did find a document on the Novice, where they learned that they were wanted men. Wanted alive, not dead.
 |
| Map B (1 Square = 5 Feet) |
The ghost introduced himself as Cassius, the caretaker of the Elemental Monastery. Luven wanted to know where the monastery kept its treasure. A lively conversation ensued and Cassius explained that the monastery's treasure was its collective knowledge and wisdom. Adzeer wanted to know if there was a staircase nearby and Cassius led the party to the spiral staircase in Area 7 (Map B above). Along the way, the adventurers asked a lot of questions about the monastery and its (former) inhabitants. Cassius couldn't remember when he had last seen any of the monks but he figured that they were somewhere in a meeting or in worship.
While all this was transpiring, Duncan wandered away, as his wont. He found five crystalline statues in Room 5 and was able to surmise that they were made by gnomes. Each figure was about 3 feet tall. Luven, following Duncan's lead, also wandered away from the party into Room 6, where he found four more crystalline statues. They stirred and attacked him. Luven was wounded but was able to make his escape. Duncan went into the room and the statues remained still. At this point, Duncan guessed that they were golems.
This is where the session ended.
The Dungeon So Far
 |
| Level 1 (1 Square = 5 Feet) |
 |
| Level 2 (1 Square = 5 Feet) |
9/23/13
Monday Moodsetter 29
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| By Kerem Beyit |
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