Timewaster's Guide Archive
Games => Role-Playing Games => Topic started by: Slant on November 13, 2002, 12:01:24 AM
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Okay, let me ask the most basic of gaming questions: what games are people out there playing right now? Also, what are some of the BEST games you've ever played? Right now my group (there are 8 of us in total, but it is difficult for all of us to get together at the same time) has gone retro and we are playing the tried and true BASIC version of D&D, the same as we played when we were ten, and we are loving it. We are also playing D&D III, Supermegatopia, and Obsidian. I am right now reading through the Lord of the Ringd game and will be starting up a campaign after the holidays.
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Hoody Hoo! Basic D&D rocks! Nothing like having elves and dwarves as classes.
Currently I am playing in a Hackmaster campaign where our adventureing party, The Iron Trifecta +1, is currently clearing out the Mines of Chaos in B1: Little Keep on the Borderlands. Our GM is awesome and the players are really experienced. We tend to spend the majority of every session just role playing in the Keep and it is only in the last session that we got into some real dungeon hijinks. I'm having an absolute blast.
I also run a D&D 3E game that is kind of on hold (I think my profile has a link to the campaign site I put up). My group for that game has been together for over 6 years. We just finished up a year long campaign and have started this new one...which is not going very quickly.
In addition to that, I'm currently trying to modify AD&D 1E with some of the rules from Hackmaster and from 3E. Not a huge makeover, but a few rules to smooth out gameplay (spontaneous cures for clerics, HM initiative and skill system).
As for the best game I've ever played in...that's actually hard to pick as I don't play all that often. The best game I ever ran was a Deadlands (my favorite RPG) one-shot that literally gave people nightmares and everyone had fun...that's my high-water mark.
This post has made me think of what a huge rpg collection I have and how few of the games I've actually played.... It might be time to clean out the closet :-[
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I'm currently GMing an email campaign of Decipher's new Star Trek game. It's a lot of fun, though Mustard never participates. *hint, hint*
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Yep, I've been there Mr. P. I got into gaming at around 10 and by the time I was ready to move out on my own I had literally hundreds of games, books, supplements, etc. The vast majority were of the "Hey, that looks cool; I'll buy it and maybe run it some day" variety. When I moved in with my girlfriend, space was at a premium, so I ended up (shudders) THROWING OUT about 90% of my collection. But, dammit, I still have my very first set of dice, which includes a d20 that has been used for so long that it is now a perfect sphere.
The game must go on...
:o ::) :o ::)
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EUOL, Sprig, and I have just started a new 3E D&D game. I enjoyed our last one, and this one looks to be equally promising.
I've also made attempts to start a 3E Shadowrun game, but haven't been able to get through the book yet. Ah well....
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Actually I'm rather curious: what changes have they made in the new edition of Shadowrun? I've always loved the background, but I don't recall ever having actually played the game (although I'm sure I did at some point). I remember at one time there was an "unofficial" supplement that included hobbits into the game, but I doubt they were ever made official.
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I only ever played non-3E Shadowrun once, and it was over a decade ago. So I really can't compare them.
I can tell you one thing they didn't fix: party coordination. The "classes" in Shadowrun are really cool and imaginitive, but they don't make for very good group gameplay. When you're fighting, only the fighters really do anything. When you're hacking, only the deckers really do anything. And so on, and so on...
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Yes, but when you are fleeing an angry dragon, EVERYBODY gets to die equally.
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Shadowrun is one of the (seemingly) few major RPGs I don't own and have never really gotten into. Had a great concept though. Maybe someday I'll pick up the core book.
How's the system though. Earthdawn was a wonderful setting with one of the most complicated dice mechanics I've seen. Is Shadworun the same system (since they were set in the same universe, just many centuries apart)?
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The rules were quite different. The big thing that kept me from following Shadowrun was the complicated rules system. It required a lot of rolls, tended to be ambiguous, and was simply needlessly complex. This is one game that would truly benefit by being converted to d20. This is an incredible, imaginative game marred only by a clunky system.
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Ah, so it does suffer the same fate as Earthdawn.
I ran a one-shot Earthdawn-esque game using Wheel of Time d20 rules a while back. It went quite well...might have to think about following it up sometime.
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If Shadowrun 3E fixed anything, it was the ambiguity factor. In the new book they give great examples of when to make what kind of roles, and basic rules for when you have to make things up. However, much of the system is still needlessly complex--especially combat. A single attack can need a half-dozen roles by both combatants. Comparatively, you'd make a single d20 role and a damage role in D&D. Also, there are TONS of modifiers; way too many to remember, and probably too many tables to even fit on a DM screen.
There's a d20 conversion of Shadowrun on the net, but it didn't look very refined. Maybe the Shadowrun system could benefit from some simple trimming. Hopefully we'll get around to trying it sometime. (Although I'm much more excited to play a BESM game.)
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Do you mean a BESM version of Shadowrun? That might work, although it would lose a lot of the gritty feel. I think the game engine used in Obsidian would work well for Shadowrun, but it is a far safer bet that it will end up d20 if anything. I still can't believe that they came out with a d20 version of Traveller, one of the most unique and elegant game systems of all time (Perhaps the only game I have ever played where your character could actually die during character generation). I don't know if I should laugh or cry.
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because all of my friends are too non-geeky to play RPG's, im playing online only. im supposed to be part of a online DnD 3E game, set in the forgotten realms, but i keep on missing sessions (me bad). im also GMing a CoC D20 game with a mate (solo). its looking pretty cool, especially since my online gming style is best described as "wordy bastard", which is pretty appropriate for CoC. atmosphere is king.
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The Lord of the Rings RPG:
Buy it.
Read it.
Love it.
Run it.
It really is one of the coolest games I've seen in a long while (I was afraid it was just gonna be a big rip-off to squeeze more money out of Tolkien fans). I have read the entire rulesbook and have mapped out the groundwork for a campaign that will take place early in the Fourth Age. My players made characters this weekend and they are all revved up to play. I'm running my first session the Sunday following the release of the new movie. I strongly recommend the game to all serious gamers.
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Slant, could you give some more details on LOTR? I've read many a review about the game and it seems like everyone says the same things:
1) It nails the setting in both presentation and mechanics
2) The system structured very much like d20
3) Nice game, but what can I do?
The third point hits home with me. While a creative GM can always come up with some type of fun adventure, there's little justification for such without a lot of work and stretching of belief. I mean the Fellowship has already done most of the cool stuff...what's that leave the PCs to do? Most players don't like to take a back seat to the real heroes.
Still, you've seem to have found a good way around the problem by running in a different Age.
I'd like to hear your thoughts b/c I've debated picking this one up since it was released. I'm actually supposed to be playing in a game the day after The Two Towers is released so I guess I'll find out the pros and cons one way or another.
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Playing LOTR early in the Fourth Age is not really a solution to the problem of setting in the LOTR game because Tolkien's introduction to the Fourth Age doesn't sound like a very fun place for gaming. The elves have crossed the seas to leave men running the show, and dwarves have retreated into their mountain homes and cut themselves off from the outside world. Wizards have left Middle Earth as well. From what we see in the end of Return of the King with the departure from the Grey Havens and the scouring of the Shire, it also looks like magic has faded altogether and the Industrial Revolution is looming large on the horizon for Middle Earth. With elves, dwarves, and wizards effectively out of the picture, what do you have left in the setting that provides the spark for heroic adventure? At the end of the trilogy, Tolkien effectively kills everything that makes Middle Earth wonderful.
I'd be interested in hearing what fixes you've found for this problem of setting because it is the biggest weakness of the LOTR RPG in my opinion.
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you could have the dwarves returning to moria or some men going into the east
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Um...have Sauron win? Resurrect Beleriand? Go east of Mordor to where elves and men first awoke? The question is hard, and if you do some of the things I suggested, you almost may as well make up your own setting and just toss Middle Earth, but there's still potential out there.
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Therein lies the problem, Prometheus. The one reason to choose this fantasy RPG over the slew of others out there is to play in Middle Earth.
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dwarves in moria, it's the simple answer that GW used.
Dwarves at the lonely mountain during the war
Elves of Lothlorien assailing Dol Guldur(these all happened and were only vaguely hinted at)
Gandalf's adventures(like the thorin thing in Dol Guldur)
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I'm suprised that Slant liked the game as much as he did; as you may remember from my review of it, I was underwhelmed. The biggest problem, however, is the one you're already addressing--how do you fit an epic campaign into a tightly defined universe? Other than that, I have to admit that the game itself, especially the races and the Orders, are very evocative and sound like a lot of fun. Add to that the fanboy factor, and I'd love to play it some time (the week after the movie is released sounds pretty ideal, actually). But it all comes back to story. If someone can come up with a sensible way to run a story in Tolkien's world while still keeping it Tolkien's world, I'll be sold. Goodness knows Decipher didn't even try.
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Well, this is my reasoning for adventuring in the Fourth Age:
Remember, elves are immortal and dwarves live for hundreds of years, thus they do not have the sense of immediacy that humans do. The elves do leave middle earth, but it might take centuries for all of them to do so. An elf might decide to take "one last look around" middle earth before he leaves and it may take him two or three centuries: inconsequential to a being who will live forever. The same with the dwarves, to a point. Also, since dwarves are still around (just not as visible) there is no reason why a player can't play a dwarf who decides to leave his mountain home for some reason (revenge, remorse, broken heart, even clautrophobia. c'mon people, it's only a game). Magic is still around, only it has grown more subtle with time to the point where eventually only those who know what to look for will be able to see it.
And let us not forget that middle-earth is still only a relatively small portion of the entire world of Arda. The Easterlings have vast empires that span far into the deserts. The Haradin also control huge areas of land that you cannot see on most maps of middle-earth. It takes many decades of fighting between Gondor and their enemies before peace is finally declared, and an entire campaign can be set up around this rather sketchily detailed period of time.
And then there is the BIG picture to look at: Valinor and the Undying Lands. This land mass takes up an area far greater than middle-earth and in the Undying Lands magic is the rule rather than the exception. You can play an entire elf-based campaign here with high levels of magical power that focuses on rivalry between elvin houses that has gone on for tens of thousands of years. Not only that, but members of other races HAVE been allowed into the Undying Lands: they just can't go there solely on their own volition, even though Bilbo and Frodo (and presumeably others) get to go through invitation.
Remember, the Shadow can be subtle and even the holiest places may be tainted by a misrepresented evil. There may be no orcs in Valinor, but even the deadliest orc army pales to insignificance next to the threat of a millenia-old Noldor who is slowly but surely losing his grip on sanity as the centuries seem to slip by him unnoticed.
In short, I disagree that the Fourth Age is a poor setting for gaming. A creative games master with a good (but not slavish) grasp of Tolkien and a crew of enthusiastic players can make the magic come alive again if they are willing to blaze new trails unimagined (or at least unwritten) by the series' creator.
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i reccomend the atlas of middle earth, it has great maps of places throughout middle earth and the undying lands throughout the ages. Some useful setting stuff could be found there
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Another great read is "Creatures of Middle Earth," an oversized paperback that you can generally find on the bargain table of most Waldenbooks or Borders. It gives brief but very comprehensive information on all of the races, monsters, creatures, and peoples of Middle Earth. If you want to know about Haradin, for example, just turn to the entry and you will find pictures, history, customs, attitudes, and pretty much all else you would need to come up with NPC's for such a setting.
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do you mean characters from tolkien bt David Day?
if so the info's good but the map at the beggining is very, very wrong
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The group I am in has been playing the D20 Dragonlords of Melnibone most recently, and we just finished up a Star Wars D20 campaign that I was GMing. We have also done Palladium, but I think that is going to be on hold for a while.
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Woo-hoo!!! We played our first session of Lord of the Rings today, and it rocked!
The setup is ominous in it's simplicity. Years ago when the Witch King was still a mortal man and had raised the kingdom of Angmar as his bastion from which he warred against Arnor. He controlled orcs, hill men, the walking dead. In time Angmar fell and the Witch king became the Lord of the Nazgul.
What history was unaware of, though, was that the Witch King had a secret apprentice: a power-hungry man who gave himself over to the Witch-King in exchange for the secrets of sorcery. For decades the Witch King revealed his secrets to his apprentice, all the while blinded as to his follower's true nature. When the apprentice eventually rose up to usurp his master, the Witch King was faced with the chilling truth: his seemingly youthful follower was actually one of the unaccounted for Wizards of the Istari who had sought to learn and master the foul arts of Sorcery and Necromancy that were forbidden to his kind. The wizard was far too powerful for the Witch King to destroy, so he magically imprisoned him deep beneath Angmar. When Angmar fell, the wizard remained imprisoned beneath the earth for thousands of years.
Then, during the end of the War of the Ring, the Lord of the Nazgul was slain by Eowyn. With the Nazgul's spirit finally gone forever from Middle Earth, the wizard was no longer bound. He escaped from his confinement, wasted in body, but still powerful in mind, and slowly gathered the orcs and hill men that still resided in the area to him and began to rebuild Angmar anew. With the wizards and elves gone, and magic on the wane, the wizard plans to restore Angmar to it's former position of tyranny. As a side effect of his return, the pent-up powers of dark sorcery that had kept him alive all these centuries have been drifting across the countryside causing the dead to rise and instilling wrath and black hatred in the hearts of all that surround Angmar. Small towns and villages have come under the shadow and the people literally turn upon their friends and neighbors in fury, killing those who they had loved and leaving only mangled bodies and silent buildings.
Of course this is all happening in the North. The people of Rohan and Gondor have no idea what is happening as of yet. In the heart of Gondor, King Elessil has finally won his wars against those who had once served Sauron. After forty years of battle, Gondor and Rohan have a shaky peace with Rhun, Umbar, Harad, and the neighboring territories. The king has established outposts in many areas of Middle Earth, and there is one in northern Rhudaur that he has not recieved any reports from in over three months. He sends a scouting party (the group) to investigate and to bring tidings that the war is finally over. In an effort to establish peaceful ties amongst all the kingdoms, he asks each territory to chose an ambassador to take part in the mission. Leading the expedition will be a prince of Harad, glorious and deadly. Along with him will ride a horseman from Rohan who has never known a true home, an Easterling witch-woman, the son of an Umbar corsair who was hanged for acts of piracy against Gondor, a dwarf who had distinguished himself during the war against the East, and a sharp-eyed Gondor sentinal to act as the King's representative. A mysterious elf who has chosen to stay in Middle Earth for her own reasons asks to be taken along, saying she wished to stop at Lothlorien upon their return to see if any of her kin still dwell there.
On their way, they are ambushed from the river by Dunlending bandits angry over Rohan's new position as trusted allies of Gondor. The elf calms them with music and kind words, avoiding a potentially deadly conflict. When they make it to the outpost, they find the soldiers and merchants all dead, slain by orcish hands. From the keep they see an orc tribe coming towards their postion, alerted by their fires. They battle the orcs with arrows from inside the keep, not realizing until it is too late that the slain men have risen as walking dead. Caught between the undead in the keep and the orcs outside, the party seeks to take their chances with the orcs. The dwarf, Kosit the Fell-Handed, takes it upon himself to divert the walking dead from the rest of his companions and engages them himself. Once outside, the rest of the group battles the orcs and wins, though many are gravely injured. it is then that they notice that their dwarf companion never made it out of the keep. They make for Korj, a small town a day's ride East of the Old Forest, and berate themselves for acting like cowards. they vow to return to the keep and reclaim their companion's body for an honorable burial. After preparing magics and fiery arrows, they take the keep, only to discover that their friend has become a wight who seeks their heads for their perceived betrayal of him. They burn the dwarf, averting their gaze in shame as their one-time companion goes up in flames. They reclaim his armor and weapon, and head East towards Erebor, the home of the valiant warrior-dwarf Kosit the Fell-Handed, to return them to Kosit's family.
People, PLAY THIS GAME!!!
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wow, that is a well thought out setting
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An excellent plot-line. Keep us posted on how things are going.
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I have to admit, that sounds pretty cool. I especially like the way you were able to bring in peaceful versions of the "evil" men, since the movie made them look so cool and fun to play.
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Actually my Sunday night post was twice the length that you see it now, but when I tried to send it, the system told me that it was too long. Soooo, one large edit later, I was still able to convey most of what happened.
Suffice it to say, we all had a great time. Even the bloke who played the dwarf had fun. As soon as his dwarf got the big dirtnap he quickly made a new character: a hobbit called Milo whom the rest of the group ended up meeting when he was tending bar in Korj.
I'll keep you all posted on the progress of the campaign. We play every Sunday, so the next day I will just post a very short (which for me is like two paragraphs) synopsis of the session, highlighting the cool parts.
"Take only what you need; we travel light. Let's hunt some orc." -Aragorn, TFotR
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Last night was our second session, and it went as well as the first. bearing the arms and armor of their fallen dwarf companion, the company travels through Mirkwood where the elf Erinel is overwhelmed by the silence where once an entire clan of elves dwelt and begins to hallucinate, seeing the elves of old. Prince Tamar brings her back to reality by asking her about the elves of her homeland and as she talks and remembers, she becomes more grounded and comes back to reality. They are set upon by restless phantoms and Tark, the man of Gondor, recieves a premonition of his own death that leaves him nearly helpless. The phantoms are driven off when Erinel invokes the names of the great Elf lords of Mirkwood's past.
Finally making it to Erebor, they present their dead companion's regalia back to his family. the dwarves are incensed that their kinsman stood and fought bravely while his companions fled like dogs. They renounce their ties to Elessil's kingdom and retreat into their mountain, sealing the gates behind them for all time.
Heavy of heart, they travel across the Brown Lands towards Rohan. They notice that in all the villages they stop at there seems to be a malaise, as well as a strongly hostile distrust of all strange-folk. Prince Tamar confides that he feels as if dark times are returning and that the king needs to know what is going on as swiftly as possible. Auric of Rohan leads the company to his family's farmlands just North of Emyn. From there, he rides alone to Gondor, his horse's hooves given added flight by the magics of the witch-woman.
While at Auric's compound, the witch Ain-Ain recieves a prophetic dream about the Dead Soldiers of a past time, but the dream is vague. She says that the answers to her dream might be answered within the vaults of Isengard, where Saruman wrote down and collected the histories of all that he had seen in his milennia-long lifetime. She sets off to the ruins of Isengard despite Prince Tamar's admonishments. Kogali of Umbar, enamored of the mysterious Easterling beauty, goes with her. After a long argument Tark also agrees to go, his status as a Gondorian agent beeing needed to get them past the Ents. In the end, Prince Tamar is unable to resist the idea of reading the hostories of hos own people before they chose to throw in with Sauron and so agrees to go, although he still has misgivings. Milo, being no damn fool, stays behind at the Rohan compound.
Several days later, they come to Isengard and enter the catacombs of what was once Saruman's bastion. In the depths, they find countless tomes written in long dead languages. Erinel recongizes them as a very ancient form of Noldorian and says she may be able to translate, but it will take time. As they are lost in study, the entire chamber begins to shake and groan. An Olag-Hai, powerful and cunning far beyond it's brutish lesser cousins, had made the dark catacombs his lair following the defeat of Sauron. Ten feet tall, wrapped in armor and brandishing a great spiked mace of black iron, it advances towards them.
Back at Auric's keep, Milo awakens in the middle of the night with the odd feeling that his new friends are in mortal peril. He chalks it up to too much raiding of the larder and goes back to sleep.
That's where we left it for next week.
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Sounds like another fun session. I am curious how well the game functions with the different groups splitting off on their own adventures. It works for the books, but as far as playability of the game is it smooth, or do you find that a lot of people are left waiting for their opportunity to play?
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It works okay as long as scenes switch to different characters after a period of time. That is to say, the main group would get twenty minutes, then switch to another for a period of time, etc. The players who choose not to accompany the main group know full well that their character will not get as much play, but they play their characters AS their characters, not acting on player knowledge. This is how we have always played, and we are al pretty much willing to sacrifice a bit of our own glory in order to tell a credible story.
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Currently I have a very small group that I am storytelling for, so it hasn't been a problem for me for several years, but I know that when our group consisted of 12 to 16 members that was happening a lot and several people got pretty annoyed. I was just curious how some of you more experienced, and "mature," players deelt with it. ;)
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12-16 players? Yoikes. That's not an RPG, that's a football team.
:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o:o
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well i seem to remeber you takeing out a baseball bat and hitting us repeadly when we got out of hand. :P
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Well, Spriggan, sometimes that is the only way that I could get through to you guys. ;) jk But, I will admit, that was some of the best games we ever had. Everyone battling it out in one grand melee!! However, I will most likely NEVER do that again. What a task!! :P
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We played our third session Sunday night and the game is still romper stomper.
it kicked off with the fight with the Olag-Hai, and let me tell you, these creatures are TOUGH! it disabled the strongest member of the party (Tamar) and laid waste to the entire catacombs before Tark grabbed Saruman's staff (broken in half but still potent) and slammed the olag-hai, creating an arcane explosion and literally bringing the roof down. Tark miraculously walks out of the rubble. They set up a guard while Ain-Ain and Erinel peruse the texts. They find references to armies of the dead in the northern lands during the early part of the third age. Erinel recalls the story her mother told her about the Witch King of Angmar originally planning to raise an army of the dead to serve him, as they would be more pliable and less distractable than orcs.
Auric arrives in Gondor and learns from riders that his company has gone to Isengard at the behest of the witch woman. The king advises Auric to keep a close eye on the witch. Back at Auric's compound, Milo has organized the household staff and is teaching them how to cook "proper" meals and how to keep a clean home. He takes them to the fields and teaches them how to grow pipeweed and similar substances.
That night, a chill wind howls throughout the land. King Elessil shares with Auric his nightmare about an entity calling itself the Harbinger who told him that his line would end with him, his kingdom would fall, and all that he'd achieved would crumble into the dust. The king looks visibly frail and weakened.
The entire company meets back at Auric's compound. Milo is ticked that the others haven't noticed how efficient the staff has become in their absence. Ain-Ain unlocks the key to the secret of Angmar: the Witch King had an heir so powerful that Death itself trembled in his wake. The heir, unnamed in the texts, could only be defeated by one who has been touched by Death's Shadow.
The company decides to go to the northlands to the ruins of Angmar to judge for themselves how true these histories are and who in fact is behind the evil goings-on. Unknown to the rest of the company, Ain-Ain has taken from Isengard the White Codex, Saruman's book of secrets and sorcerous power. She uses a spell that will bind Kogali's life to her own. Kogali readily agrees to the spell, believing that it will make them soul-mates in the truest sense of the word.
Milo begins training several small birds. He jokingly tells Erinel that he can speak Bird. Kogali says he can speak bird as well, giving the Hobbit two middle fingers. har har.
It was a short session, mostly because I wanted to see the new episode of OZ, but things are starting to shape up nicely and the players are all growing solidly into their characters. Once they begin their trek Northwards, the game will take on a much more action-oriented bent.
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Session #4: the Mortal Kombat session.
Basically this was a huge combat session. The party ends up going to Moria to warn the dwarves that now reside there (under the rulership of Thane Durgin the Iron-hearted, a notedly merciless but effective warlord) about the possibility of Angmar's return. They are imprisoned as soon as they get there by the suspicious dwarves and find out that their party has already gotten a somewhat mixed reputation amongst dwarves (Tamar is known now amongst dwarvenkind as "the Black Prince").
Moria is under a constant attack by weird spider-goblins that have been pouring out of the deepest pits and mineshafts by the thousands, but the prideful Durgin had refused to ask for help from the humans. As the combat continues to swell, Tamar offers the services of his group against the spider-goblins. if they die, then the dwarves have lost nothing. Durgin lets them loose and the whole session becomes a slash-fest that felt really really GOOD to run. We tested out the rules for poison, falling, acid, biting, rending, etc. EVERY combat rule got a good workout. The party decided that fancy plans weren;t going to work this time, so they just waded into the goblins with weapons drawn. Tamar, still injured from the cave troll from last week's game, fights with his big scorpion-king scimitar and just keeps spinning and spinning because he knows that he will be killed if he gets hit just a single time. Kogali finally gets to be the hero rather than just the overbearing loudmouth and literally plugs up a hole where the goblins are emerging with seven dead goblins. Auric, Erinel, Ain-Ain and Kogali all fall, but none die outright (the game stresses the need to keep the heroes ALIVE). The spider-goblins are driven back into the pits and dwarven sappers pour molten lava down upon them, pretty much ending the threat.
After that, Thane Durgin is a LOT friendlier to the company and when he is warned about the possibility of Angmar's resurgence he is told that the dwarves of Moria will come, if needed, at the behest of not King Elessil, but of the Black Prince of Harad. I figured it was good that the company gain a potentially valuable ally after what happened at Erebor. They were all really chuffed over how it turned out, feeling like they had really accomplished something important. The bloke playing Tamar was really well pleased. He was like "The Black Prince, ally to the Great Dwarf Thane. YYYYYESSSSS!!!!!"
Anyhow, in case you haven't figured it out by now, I LOVE THIS GAME!!! Go buy it and play it!
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session5
Starts out in Moria where the dwarves are having a huge victory celebration. They yave a drinking contest that is won by, of all people, Erinel with her supernatural elf constitution. She sings songs of dwarven victories of ages past far into the night. Auric overhears Ain-Ain and Kogali talking about using the White Codex pilfered from Isengard to help oust whomever is now in Angmar and to take over thelselves, setting Angmar up as a bastion for the Outlaw Nations of Rhun, Harad and Umbar in the North to help gain political and military strength in the Gondor/Rohan allied areas. They do not know Auric has overheard them.
The next day they leave the dwarves and venture into Dunland where they find white-robed pilgrims accosted by Dunlanding warriors. The company attacks the warriors but are attacked from behind by the white-robed ones who are also Dunlandings. They capture the company and they take off their robes to reveal tunics decorated with the design of great fanged jaws painted in blood. they say it is the sign of the Red Maw, who they now fight under. The prisoners are taken to a crude fort where the local Dunlanding sorcerer chief comes to interrogate them. The sorcerer takes one look at Tark of Gondor and dies of a massive heart attack on the spot. In the ensueing confusion the company fights back the Dunlandings, now easily beaten without their leadership, and send the survivors scattered to the four winds. They capture one of the survivors who reveals that a lynx-eyed man had come from the North with orders that the company was to be captured and slain. The Dunlanding doesn't know the man's name or why he wanted them dead, merely that he was also in the service of the Red Maw.
The company continues to make their way through Dunland, avoiding all the forts. The land is barren, and has a strong charnal odor. At nightfall they make camp. As the sun goes down, they see nearly a hundred Dunlandings observing them from a mesa. The company puts up fires and Erinel keeps watch. Auric forgoes sleep to also stand watch. The Dunlandings come no closer. Erinel tells Auric she had never planned to die ragged and hungry and done in by savages. Auric promises her he will not let her die such a death. When the sun comes up the next morning, the Dunlandings are gone.
End of session.
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I love reading these; it makes the drudgery of work go by so much more easily.
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You're preaching to the choir, Fell. ;)
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I've always enjoyed "Story Hours" myself. If you enjoy reading ones like Slant's you can read a whole slew at ENWorld and KenzerCo.
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I'm glad that people are reading my campaign notes. For a while there I wondered if people were either not reading my posts or just using them as a cure for insomnia.
;D
Hope you all like.
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I have been enjoying them. Keep letting us know how things are going.
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they are quite interesting slant. im most interested in seeing how well you keep the balance between sticking to Tolkien's vision, and managing to have fun. the two do not necessarily follow i think.
If you guys like this sort of thing, try reading Beyond the savage frontier (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beyondthesavagefrontier/). its a internet game, set in the forgotten realms. to read the "story", check the messages section. the DM puts a email up listing the story as it has progressed. just start at the start :)
The character called "Jarnak" is mine, BTW. i turn up around about session 38-42 (the game is one its 49th session so far).
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Sixth Session:
The company is still in Dunland, heading for the Northern border into Eregion. They come across a ruin of a Dunlanding village where grim looking men and women are chopping up their dead and trying to rebuild their community. After observing them for an hour or so, the company decides the threat is minimal and approaches the ruin. The Dunlandings are not surprised to see them. The headman Sevrin tells them that their community was razed by nearly a hundred orcs led by a strange lynx-eyed warrior who claimed they were followers of the Red Maw, and who were specifically looking for a group of armed wanderers containing a black-skinned man, a hobbit, an elf woman and a foreign witch. The company uneasily prepares for battle, but Sevrin tells them that any enemy of orc-kind is a friend to him and his people and welcomes them.
The company helps the villagers rebuild as best they can, taking the time to rest and tend to their own injuries as well. They ask about the dismemberment of the dead and are told that it is to ensure that they do not rise again to attack their kinsmen. The Dunlendings seem pretty matter-of-fact about this, as it if has been happening for a while now. Kogali and Milo teach several of the men how to play various card games and use the opportunity to cheat them out of what little hard coin they still have. One of them eventually discovers the ruse and attempts the same tricks upon the corsair and hobbit. Kogali discovers he is being cheated and flies into a rather sanctimonious rage. Prince Tamar comes and pulls Kogali off the Dunlanding, throwing him to the ground. It looks like Kogali is about to draw steel, but Ain-Ain casts a spell that renders him intoxicated without drink. Sevrin suggests that perhaps they should leave before any further hostilities erupt. Tamar agrees, wishing to part with the Dunlandings as friends. Erinel gives a small elvish charm to a young Dunlending who had been clumsily trying to flirt with her. the group departs once more.
Hours later, the group makes camp. In the far distance they see smoke billowing from the direction they had left. Tark and Auric want to go back to the village, but Tamar stops them. Ain-Ain casts a spell to spy upon the village and grimly reports the sight of many orcs slaughtering the remaining villagers as the community is put to the torch. They all realize that they are the ones the orcs were searching for.
As they prepare to break camp before the orcs can trail them, the skies break and a violent storm erupts. They are pinned down in the darknes by the storm, they realize how alone and far from all civilization they actually are. Without warning, they are attacked by strange shrieking predators, vaguely human-like, but more akin to great bats, that swoop down upon them in the storm. They battle them at a disadvantage in the pelting rain. When Tamar goes down, Tark stands over him with swords drawn. The creatures hesitate, seemingly genuinely confused as to why Tark is confronting them. Tark advances and they fly off, disappearing into the darkness. The group just stands there, sopping wet, wondering "what the hell?"
We stopped the session somewhat short and got ready for the Superbowl.
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Seventh Session: Information Gathering
The others question Tark as to why the bat-things fled from him and he reports that he honestly doesn't know. Ain-Ain knows a spell that will reveal if the soldier is under any sort of magical effect and uses it at Prince Tamar's command. She sees something shrouding Tark that nearly makes her fall over, but keeps mum, instead saying that she saw nothing unusual.
They travel into the western part of what was once the great Elf kingdom of Eregion. Erinel feels pangs of grief as she sees this once great land that is now only inhospitable wilderness and wasteland. She tells the others that one day she will return here and remake Eregion as a home for the remaining elves all across Middle Earth. As they progress they are attacked by living dead wolves, gaunt and wicked and crawling with decay, who nearly kill Milo and Kogali. The beasts have to be literally hacked to tiny bits before they cease their attacks. Erinel finds healing herbs in the forests and Ain-Ain brews a poultice that heals the two wounded. The company decides to travel by the the Greenway Road to Bree. There they hope to get a good idea of what the situation is concerning the walking dead across the Eriador area, as well as being a place to finally get a decent sleep and food in their bellies after all these weeks scrounging and living like beasts. On the way they come across a mass grave by the side of the road. Milo reports with a heavy heart that the names on the crude markers are written in Hobbitish.
When they get to the main gates of Bree, the captain of the guard refuses them entrance. His men seem anxious and ill at ease. one of them barks out that they have been warned about the coming of the Black Prince and the trail of Death he has been leaving in his wake. Unable to talk their way through, they depart. Later that night, milo sneaks them in through a secret entrance known only to Hobbit-kind (meaning the larger humans have to crawl through on their hands and knees into the town).
Auric, Tark and Milo get a suite at the Prancing Pony for the night and Ain-Ain sneaks the rest of them in under a veil of magic. Auric and kogali mingle in the large common room at the Pony and try to find out the situation. They find out that people are dying throughout the North from an unnamed plague that is always preceeded by several weeks by a slow and gradual shifting of the nature of the people to argue and fight amongst themselves. Bree has, so far, remained untouched and is very wary of any strangers (particularly those of a sorcerous bent). Kogali, gambling with a drunken hillman, finds that a scant few days before their arrival a warrior with strange yellow eyes followed by a handful of white-robed pilgrams had come to Bree to warn them about the Black Prince of Harad, whom he has spoken of as the "Harbinger of Death."
While they are ferreting out info, Ain-Ain, exhausted from working so much magic in such a short time, goes to sleep. She wakes up shrieking in terror, babbling about "a great and immense Death, as black as midnight and as old as the mountains." She cannot be calmed and it is only with a few pints of hard ale that she is wearied enough to return to slumber.
Milo, having gone off on his own to hunt for information in the sleazier booze pits of Bree, returns to the party with information about a tracker named Jonaz who not only has traveled the length of Eriador, but also has been known to have some information on battleing the walking dead. Milo tells them that Jonaz spends his winters in Fornost, a well-fortified town surrounding a mighty fortress where the King rules from when he is in the Northern lands.
The company readies to go to Fornost, but Ain-Ain refuses to go, still terrified of what she had seen. She tells Tamar that she will take the risk of going by herself across Dunland and Rohan back to Gondor and reporting to the king (which is a good excuse, since Heather will be out of town for 3 weeks) what they have so far discovered.
End of session.
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The magical Decipher bird sent me another shipment today, and since you're such a big fan I thought I'd let you know what's new:
1. The Maps of Middle Earth. These are some pretty amazing maps, much larger and more detailed than the standard little Middle Earth map we're used to seeing, and the paper is heavy and paarchment-esque. The accompanying pamphlet, however, is more or less a reprint of the one that came in the adventure game. It's informative, but one more directly aligned with the maps themselves would have been a lot more useful--something where you could look up all the little sites on the maps and find a brief description. If you rely on the appendices to the novels, though, this shouldn't be a problem. In general, I give this box set a thumbs up.
2. The Two Towers Adventure Game. This looks like it's both better and worse than the FotR adventure game, which as you may remember I hated. It's a stupid, boring dungeon crawl (with or without a dungeon) that provides zero opportunities for actual role-playing; they even give the characters scripts to follow so they know what they're supposed to say. Way dumb.
3. LotR Narrator's Shield. Not as nice as the Star Trek Narrator's Shield (which also came today), but very useful; since the organization of the book itself made it hard to find the info you needed, this shield could come in very handy. It also comes with some glossy color character sheets, which I suppose would be useful for making copies, but look very difficult to write on, as well as a black and white rules "reminder," or something weird like that. I haven't really gone through it yet.
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Thanks Fell
I've actually seen all those products. The Two Towers game I will be skipping on, as the only real draw would be the expanded character sheets for Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. I'm very tempted to get the map box, but thirty bucks for a box of maps is a bit much. I have a friend who workks for a major bookstore chain and he can get it in the store and give me his discount which will bring it to about 18 bucks, whch is a distinct possibility.
The shield, though, me wants. Do you know if it includes an adventure? I'll probably be hitting ye olde gaming shoppe on Friday, so I will take a closer look at it and possibly pick it up.
Any word on when the Fellowship of the Ring handbook is coming out? It should have been out months ago.
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Yes, once I got home and gave it a better read, I realized that the game shield does include an adventure in the little B/W book. Since that's what was mainly missing from the base book (IMO), I'm glad to see them giving us some material to work with.
As for the maps, 18 bucks might be worth it but $30 is definitely too much. It's ridiculous that they even charge that much.
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Session 8: Revelations
On the way to Fornost, the company meets up with outriders wearing the King's crest who are hunting the walking dead.They don't know about Jonaz, but they accompany the characters back to Fornost for their own safety. When Auric tells them that the group has already had several successful battles against the walking dead, the captain of the outriders asks "walking dead trolls?" Auric shuts up.
Arriving in Fornost, they are given an audience with Eldor, the King's steward. Eldor tells them over dinner that he has sent several riders to Gondor with news of the plague and conflicts that have been washing over the Northlands, but he believes that none of them have survived the road to Gondor.
Throughout dinner, Tark feels more and more uneasy. For several days he has been unable to sleep or eat, and his mood has been growing steadily more melencholy since Isengard. After the meal, Auric tries to cheer him up but is unable. Kogali says he is going to go look for a few women and invites him to come along. Tark asks Kogali what about his paramour Ain-Ain. Kogali shrugs and says "don't ask, don't tell." Tark refuses his invitation.
Tamar and Kogali find themselves in Strangerside, two small but very crowded streets beyond the shadow of the fortress that serves as a haven for all of the vagabonds, travelers and shady individuals making their way through the region. At a tavern called The Hanged Man, ruffians begin taunting the pair, calling Kogali "pirate scum." Kogali gets up and decks the largest of his tormentors, laying him out cold. He berates Tamar for not having the courage to fight. Tamar gets up and goes over to the man Kogali knocked down and helps him up, giving him a handful of coins. The man is immensely grateful and tells Tamar that if he ever needs anything, to let him know. Tamar later tells Kogali that he noticed the man's filthy clothes and muddy skin and knew him to be a man struggling to survive and feed his family who had insulted them only out of frustration over his own lot. Kogali shrugs and Tamar pulls him close. He tells Kogali that appearances are decieving: he is no noble-born prince but a child born into abject poverty who was sold by his destitute parents to a Harad spymaster. The spymaster had groomed him to have the appearance of royalty and when news of Aragorn's desire to form a company of members of all the lands had reached them, they had the spymaster send Taran rather than risk one of their own noble-borns.
Tark attempts to buy a horse, but the horses all shy away from him in horror. He finally realizes what he has secretly known all along and what Ain-Ain saw when she enspelled him: ever since his fight with the olag-hai in Isengard, he has been one of the walking dead. He listens for the sound of his own heartbeat, but there is none. He ceases to draw air, and finds he no longer needs to. He retreats to the shadows of Strangerside to come to terms with his new existence.
Milo gathers up Tamar, Kogali and Auric at the Hanged Man, telling them that he has been successful in his hunt to find Jonaz. The hunter is at a shanty called The Red Throat and has heard of them. Milo tells them that Jonaz is eager to tell them what he knows if he finds them worthy enough. Unable to find Erinel (she is in Eldor's library) or Tark, they go to the Red Throat (a particularly seedy establishment bearing the sign of a slashed throat) and Milo ushers them into a back room. The room is dark and shadowy, the only light coming from a small candle on the table top where a huge man is hunched over eating. He looks up briefly and introduces himself as Jonaz, a huntsman who hunts the two-legged. Tamar senses something REALLY wrong. Forms emerge from the shadows, living and dead, all bearing the mark of the Red Maw. Jonaz looks up and throws his hood back. He is tall and strong, swarthy and scarred. his teeth have been filed to points and his eyes are yellow and bright, slitted like a cats. Kogali turns to cover the door they came in through, but Milo, standing behind him, had locked it. Milo has kis knives drawn and he slams them into Kogali, dropping the corsair. His treachery revealed, Milo steps back as Jonaz draws his wickedly curved blades. The lone candle is snuffed out as the remaining members of the company prepare for their most desperate battle yet
end of session
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You're evil.
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A lot happened in this session that I was really not expecting. For starters, Sean finally realized that his character had been transformed into a walking dead man from as far back as Isengard. I had been dropping very tiny hints during each session (which was about a month and a half in real time) but he didn't seem to be catching on. Once he started having aversive reactions from animals he caught on pretty quick. I was very surprised though that he was actually able to pinpoint when his death had occured. Oh, and while Tark may be having trouble coming to terms with his new status, Sean thinks it is cool as hell that he gets to play a dead man who can't be killed through normal means.
I was a bit more curious when Tamar's player revealed that he was actually a sham. I genuinely had not known that. Going back to the LoTR rulesbook it was pointed out to me that the noble "Class" doesn't have to be of literal noble blood, but merely that he is regarded as being of high rank by others, which fit the character. I had no problem with it.
The big question mark was Milo's betrayal. He had been a spy from the very first, working for the half-orc bounty hunter Jonaz to herd the company into a specific direction where Jonaz and his acolytes could easily ambush them. Ever since he was introduced, he'd been training birds. Every evening he'd send a bird off to Jonaz with information about where the company was and where they would be heading next. Milo's motive was (a) money and (b) the assurance that the Shire would not be touched by the rage plague and eventual Curse of Living Death. When they came across the mass hobbit grave it should have given Milo's player the very strong suspicion that Jonaz and his Dark Master had reneged on their dubious word and were spreading their evil to the Shire anyway. I was expecting for Milo to turn on Jonaz and spill the beans to his other party members. Silly, silly me. Now the question will be "What will happen if Milo isn't killed in the nexf session's fight?" It will end up causing more potential headaches than I can imagine. At the same time, I'm surely not going to allow a player character to die off simply because it will cause me trouble to let him live.
And then there is the matter of how Tark and Erinel are going to figure in to nex week's session when, in character, they have no idea of what is going on at the Red Throat (and by the way, I thought that the name of the place, "The Red Throat" would immediately bring them to the mind of "The Red Maw" and be a huge red flag. Guess not)....
All in all, I remain as constantly surprised as my players, and I like that.
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My wife and I went to Key West for the Valentine's Day weekend; no gaming this week.
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Session 9
Auric, Tamar and Kogali, with kogali already wounded by the traitorous attack from Milo, get down and dirty with Jonaz and the Red Maw acolytes. The fight is fast and furious. Unable to see in the dark, Auric and Tamar each bull their way to an opposite side of the room and just keep flailing away with their blades. This actually was pretty darn effective. Theu put out maybe six or seven acolytes before Jonaz just lifted up the oak table and threw it it Tamar, not only taking him out, but breaking a couple of acolytes in half in the process. Auric just kept stabbing away and was eventually dogpiled. Kogali spent the whole time trying to get his hands on Milo to pay him back and eventually managed to slightly wound him, but Milo stayed on the full defensive throughout the fight. Eventually all three were knocked out and captured. When the lights came back on, only Jonaz, Milo and two acolytes were left. Milo tells Jonaz that he will find the other two company members and bring them to him.
Erinel, still in Eldor's library, finds a text detailing the life of a great elf military leader named Kalouran who supposedly disappeared somewhere in Forlindan beyond the Blue Mountains with his entire army. Since the death of Haldir during the War of the Ring, Kalouran would be the sole remaining true elf warlord, if he still lives.
Milo finds Erinel and Tark and tells them that the Red Maw ambushed the rest of the group. Seeing Milo's wounded disheveled shape, they believe him. They follow Milo to where Jonaz has left the bloodied bodies of their friends tied up in a room. They go in to release them and Jonaz leaps down from the rafters like Batman as the remaining acolytes barge in through a door in the floor. Milo kidney punches Erinel with a brass urn and she falls over coughing up blood. The acolytes struggle to tie up Tark.
Jonaz wants to kill them all, but Milo convinces him that the group includes representatives of each of the most powerful nations and they would be valuable to the Harbinger as either sources of information or bargaining chips and so should be taken to Angmar. Jonaz accuses Milo of trying to keep his friends alive so they can ambush him and the acolytes and make their escape. He insists Milo prove his loyalty. Milo draws his blade and skewers Tark through the heart. The pain and shock make him drop. No heartbeat is found.
Under cover of darkness, Jonaz' caravan leaves the fortress town. The company is tied up securely. Milo taunts them, Kogali in particular, roughing him up quite a bit.
Back in Fornost, Tark comes to in a back alley, stripped of his Gondorian finery and weapons by thieves. He steals some tattered clothes and a decent blade and sets out on foot towards Angmar.
As the caravan makes it's way through the desolate no-man's land, forms come from out of the mist. Hooded men wearing the insignia of the Red Maw. Within hours the caravan has attracted several hundred silent followers that surround and accompany them towards Angmar.
If this were a series of books, this is where I would say "End of Book 1."
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Whoever's playing Milo seems like he's setting himself up for a fall. Is planning to redeem Milo somehow so that he can rejoin the group, or does he want to be a bad guy for the rest of the campaign?
Speaking of which, how are you dealing with the "good guy" machanic enforced in the rulebook; the one saying that any character who falls to the shadow is immediately lost and becomes an NPC. I've heard strong arguments that such a rule should be ignored, and equally strong ones that it should be heartily enforced.
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The fellow playing Milo is a very bright, very cerebral guy who really doesn't go for the usual "blood & thuggery" sort of characters. At this point I am still assuming that he is using Jonaz and is still one of the "good guys," albeit one with a rather extreme agenda. He had told me outside of the game that "this seemed to be the quickest and most direct way to get everybody to Angmar." Plus, with all the clues that I've thrown in about Tark's true nature, I'm sure that James picked up on it long before Tark's player did (as I've said, he's quite sharp, more so than me, anyway) and so knew in character that stabbing him would not put him out of the game.
As for the shadow rule in the game, well.... I really don't like to restrict a character's behavior in any way unless the character becomes disruptive to the entire game. When dealing with LotR you are dealing with a specific mindset where the heroes are truly heroic, even though they might seem somewhat scary (as was Strider when first encountered), belligerant (Gimli) or single-minded to the point of going against good common sense (Boromir). If a character in LotR ever did something unequivocally Eeeeeevil (such as killing small children or stealing from sacred graves or whatnot) I would have to really consider either relegating the character to NPC status or, more likely, have the player use his character as a nemesis against the party, which might lead to a very satisfying bad guy whom the characters would especially enjoy going up against.
We are all experienced gamers in this group, and very good friends. We don't take it personally when one PC kills another and there have never been any "grudge" characters in our games. If a character wants to go rogue and join the opposition, the other players still consider him part of the game, even if he is no longer part of the party. I hope I answered your question ok.
:) :) :) :) :) :) ::) :) :) :) :)
There's one in every crowd.
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Session 10
Jonaz' caravan moves North towards Cairn Dum with it's entourage of Red Maw acolytes. Milo shakes Kogali awake from a sound sleep to tell him that there is a storm coming and the prisoners might not survive i t. Erinel reminds her fellow captives about what happened the last time the sky looked black and the sands were swirling. A strange little figure rises from the ground in front of the caravan and the storm hits full force. The sky grows loud as swarms of those eerie bat-things that the company encountered a month ago during their last major storm swoop out of the sky and attack the caravan. Kogali discovers the pain in his leg is from his knife that has mysteriously found it's way back to be lodged indelicately inside his boot (Milo put it there while roughing him up the previous week). Milo cuts their bonds and in the chaos they find their weapons. The Red Maw acolytes are killed off in great numbers, both by the group and the bat-things. When the acolytes' numbers dwindle, the creatures begin to turn on the company. Tark shows up, clad in little more than rags, and attacks the bat-things. As before they are puzzled as to why he is attacking them and they fly off in confusion.
The odd figure that suddenly appeared is revealed to be a noegyth, or "Not-Dwarf," a stunted grotesque remnant of a dwarf splinter-race long lost to evil and believed to have died out. The creature, mortally wounded in the fray, reveals himself to be a sorcerer of great skill who had studied under a powerful spellcaster who had long ago turned to black magic. He says his old master was the one who now rules Angmar and is indeed the Witch King's apprentice. He tells them that Mordante wants to turn all of Middle Earth into a necropolis, but does not know why, only that he has long studied the arts of death. The last thing he tells them is that the remaining noegyths now serve Mordante and are scouring the Grey Mountains searching for the seven Dwarven Rings that were kept from Sauron's clutches by feeding them to dragons. Erinel attempts to give him a healing draught, but he refuses to take it, instead asking only to be allowed to die in the arms of such a fair and kind-hearted creature.
The company cannot find Jonaz' body, but they do find Milo who was crushed by a cart in the battle and now lies near death. Erinel DOES manage to heal HIM and once he is able to speak he explains his actions, saying that now that the Shire is no more he has no reason to live and doesn't care if the group kills him. Tark explains his condition to the others, who seem to take it pretty much in stride (typical gamers). Milo says he knew about Tark because when Tark was injured in Isengard and he ran to check on Tark he found no heartbeat, even though he rose from the rubble seconds later.
Ain-Ain continues her ride back to Gondor. She feels ill and has difficulty eating. As she camps one night she meets up with a grizzled old man who was once a Gondor soldier during the War of the Ring and claims to have saved Aragorn's life. He is ill with a serious cough. Ain-Ain looks after him. He tells her that he is discouraged with the petty wars that are still being fought and that the days of man warring against his neighbor will soon end one way or the other. "Maybe the dwarves have the right idea." He asks to accompany her back to Minas Tirith. That night Ain-Ain has the same nightmare she did before about an all-consuming shadow that leaves only death in it's wake. She awakens trembling and vomiting. They are attacked by cadaverous brigands who are maddened by the rage curse. Ain-Ain causes their weapons to shatter and blinds them, sending them fleeing into the darkness. The old soldier moans that he is too old to be useful as a warrior and tells Ain-Ain he would be useless to her. She insists that he is still competent and asks him to accompany her.
Back in the North, Erinel tells her friends that there is a ranger who oft visited Rivendell who lived in this area. She suggests they search him out to see if he has any advice or will help their cause. They go to his home but find it ransacked with the three-day dead bodies of the ranger's wife and child cut nearly in half on the floor.
End of session
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Ah, I see the beginnings of the Narrator Screen adventure. It's pretty good, though it would have to be included into a larger campaign like this to really make it work.
Why did Milo suddenly turn around and help the group? I thought he was waiting until they got to Angmar. And why did Jonaz' group get attacked by the undead--I thought he was in league with them?
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Yep, I decided to save myself a wee bit of work and stick in the scenario from the screen (since I actually paid for the bloody thing anyway). Milo had been working for the Shadow out of fear that the Shire would be subjected to the rage plague and thus die and be reborn as walking dead (scarier for hobbits even more than humans). He made a deal that if he were to bring the King's scouts to Jonaz, the Shire would remain untouched. Once it became evident (through word of mouth and through the hasty erection of the mass hobbit graves they discovered) that Jonaz' master had lied and never intended to keep his word, Milo forswore his allegience, but played along as if he were still a creature of the Shadow. He got Jonaz to take them towards Angmar rather than killing them all outright. He then slipped Hogali a weapon under the guise of just smacking him around.
The bat things (actually referred to as "vampires" by Tolkien, but more akin to the strange leathery things seen in the first Beastmaster film than the standard Hollywood version of a vampire) are servants and assassins of the Shadow, especially black sorcerers. They are carrying the plague throughout the land spiralling out from Cairn Dum under the orders of Mordante. However the noegyth, also a black sorcerer who had studied under Mordante, was able to summon them to serve him for a brief amount of time. The noegyth balked at the sheer overwhelming evil of his former master's desire and threw his lot in with the scouting party. He knew his life was forfiet anyway once Mordante found out what the bat-things had been used for, so he decided to die rather than have to face Mordant's rage.
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Session 11
The company leaves Margil's hut and finds themselves unde attack by black orcs and a hooded commander. Arrows fly around them and Auric is struck a minor blow. The orc pack disappears into the mist. The party gives chase, even though Auric feels it is goijg to play out as an ambush. They hunt them to a sepulcheral cave the hooded man is revealed to be none other than Margil, the legendary ranger hero trained by Aragorn himself in whose hut the dead woman and child were found. Apparantly in the grip of the rage plague, Margil leads the orcs in an attack against the company. Tark and Milo charge the cave, hoping to draw the fire of the bloodthirsty orcs. While their attention is drawn, Tamar stands in the shadows with his heavy laquered bow and takes dead aim at Margil, shooting him right through the heart with such impact that his internal organs are splattered against the wall of the cave. Margil, now seen as one of the walking dead, keeps on coming. While the others exchange shots with the orcs, Kogali breaks formation and makes a suicide charge against Margil, breaking the undead's bones so it cannot fight effectively and then severing it's head with his dwarven knife.
They take Margil's body to be buried along with hiw family. After the burial they search the hut and find a strange black mask made of heavy leather that is cut to fit snugly over the entire face and head. Erinel recoils from the mask's hollow gaze. Tamar decides it might be important and takes it along.
They continue through the moors. As night approaches they hear strange slurping sounds. Tark senses Very Bad Things. They make a cold camp around a stone alter they find. They are attacked by mewlips, cannibal creatures that emerge whole from puddles of water on the ground and who simply disappear if slain, only to rise again from a nearby puddle. Already weary from their fight with the orcs, they know they have to end this fast. Milo hits upon the idea of throwing torches into the puddles, which evaporates the water and causes the mewlips to disappear.
Ain-Ain and Willem, traveling on the Great Road, find a pack of wolves tormenting a northern man clad in bearskins. The man looks to be done for until Ain Ain casts a spell that causes them to face their worst fears. They begin shrieking like men and break away from the northman to chase Ain-Ain and Willem. They are pursued to the base of a cliff where they must turn and fight. As they battle, the northman joins the fray with his huge axe. The three of them level the wolves, who turn into human form when slain. The northman is mortally wounded in the battle. AIn-Ain is nearly at death's door from her sickness which has gotten progressively worse. Unsure if the strain of casting another spell will kill her or not, she casts a spell of healing on the northman before her vision goes dark and she succumbs to the pain. She awakes two days later, free of her illness. The northman introduces himself as Kjartan and thanks her for her aid. He says he will accompany them to Gondor to aid in any way he can. Ain-Ain has no qualms about letting the tall, blonde young warrior accompany them.
Back in the moors, the company finally makes it to the border of Angmar. Far in the distance thay can make out the indistinct outline of Cairn Dum. Kogali utters the immortal line "I've got a bad feeling about this."
End of session
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Are Willem and Kjartan PCs or NPCs?
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nice. although im damn confused as to where all these beasties came from : none of those were mentioned in hobbit/LoTR/silmarrion.
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All of the creatures mentioned in the game were in Tolkien's writings at one point or another, even if only in passing. I am using the "Characters From Tolkien" bestiary (David Day, 2001) as my guidebook.
Willem and Kjartan are NPC's right now, although Kjartan might be used as a player character for somebody if a group member ends up dying (a strong possibility). Willem, for reasons which should be clear in the imminent future, won't be able to make it as a player character.
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In Ain-Ain's storyline right now the NPCs outnumber the PCs--how is this working for you? What steps are you taking to avoid railroading Ain-Ain into doing what the NPCs want? It's a tricky situation, and if you could shed some light on it I bet a lot of the GMs around here would be interested (at the very least, I am).
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Quite simply I allow Heather (Ain-Ain) to be the proactive one. Her two companions are there to allow her to keep role-playing with characters who aren't trying to kill her, and thus to be allowed to continue to develop her character in new ways (such as her recently discovered altruistic streak concerning her new friend Willem). The two NPCs are personalities in their own right, but Ain-Ain is the thinker of the group as well as the most potent. Willem appears to be an arthritic old wreck of a soldier and Kjartan is basically a big dumb barbarian type (although in my games NPC personalities tend to grow and develop as much as PCs over time), so they are actually defined by how Ain-Ain (the PC) interacts with them. She comes up with the ideas. If she makes a decision that I feel one of the NPCs would not agree to ("Willem, throw yourself in the path of that dragon for me!") then the NPC will certainly refuse and might even leave the group, but it is still Ain-Ain's decisions that are having the most significant effect on the group dynamic.
Oh, and did I mention that heather has a thing for tall, blonde, ripped, dumb guys? ::)
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. I am using the "Characters From Tolkien" bestiary (David Day, 2001) as my guidebook.
Yeah i love this book it's really good, but the map at the start is way off. The Atlas of middle earth would be useful for an RPG aswell
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Alas, there was no Lord of the Rings today. We had a huge downpour all day today and only four of us were able to make it. Sooo, instead we played BARBARIAN! What, you may ask, is BARBARIAN! Well, BARBARIAN! is our beer & pretzels rpg where you play in the world of bad 80's sword & sorcery films. The game itself is simple, free flowing, and very true to the source materiel. Play is fast and frenetic: the game lasts no more than two hours, much like the standard S&S movie, and it is up to the players to help pace the action so that they accomplish what they need to in that time period.
Tonight the sultry yet innocent Princess Katriana had to save her beloved, the brawny warrior Talon, from the wicked Grand Sorcerer who had betrayed her entire kingdom. She was accompanied by the fiery barbarian woman who can telepathically link with all great cats and wear a rawhide bikini like no other, the annoying yet oddly charming thief with the dead eye for throwing knives, and the enigmatic man in black known simply as the Witch Hunter who has hunted the Grand Sorcerer through twenty-seven incarnations. Fighting their way across The Land, the warrior princess and her companions find the Three Icons of Rule needed to overpower the Grand Sorcerer, then they infiltrate the Grand Sorcerer's desert fortress where the princess (in homage to a whole slew of similar movies) finds herself in the sorcerer's harem of (ahem) muscular, pretty, well-oiled young men who try to tempt her from her True Love Talon, yet she nobly refuses. They battle legions of anonymous armored guards (who's armor doesn't offer any real protection), giant rubber snakes, and primative blue-screen special effects until they finally confront the sorcerer and stop his nefarious plans in the Nick of Time. Talon is freed and the proncess finally has her night of True Love, only to leave Talon the next day for the life of a wandering sell-sword. She sends the Annoying but Loyal thief to rule in her stead for no logical reason and rides off into the sunset with her sword at her side and her crimson hair flowing behind her. Such is the stuff of BARBARIAN!
LotR to return next week.
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Twelfth session
The company finally crosses into Angmar. A feeling of helplessness engulfs them as they pass the border. Only Tark is unaffected. They see shapes in the mist and chase after them, only to find out that they are the tortured souls of slain hobbits, their eyes gouged out and eternally running with blood. They beg the company to leave this foul land, lest they suffer a similar fate. The company tries to chase after them, but they are eaten up in the mist. Tamar plays around with the strange mask they found and puts it on. He is shaken down to his soul as he feels the icy fingers of Death close in on him. His companions combined pull the mask off him, telling him that they were certain he was dead when they found him laying there with the mask.
Creatures seemingly made of little more than bone and gristle with the mark of the Red Maw seared upon their skulls attack the company in a feeding frenzy. They fight back the creatures, who are hungry and thus frail from lack of blood and meat. The last one to be slain laughs maniacally and tells them that the Master of Caern Dum sometimes walks Angmar alone, looking to snuff out the Living that he hates so much.
Kogali snaps, saying that he has had it with this madness and that they are all throwing their lives away when they SHOULD be getting as far away from Angmar as possible. He turns to depart, but Auric holds him back. Kogali and Auric fight. Kogali knocks Auric senseless with the basket of his blade, sending teeth flying. He then disappears into the mist. He comes across the hobbit phantoms who just stare at him silently with their bloody, empty eye sockets. Kogali comes to his senses and realizes anew why they have all come to Angmar. He returns to the company and swears by his father's soul that he will remain true to the objective of their quest unto death, no matter how base and wicked he might seem on the surface.
As night falls, Angmar becomes pitch black. They are forced to light a lantern. No sooner do they create light when they are set upon by Black Orcs who ambush them with poison gas that renders them slow and afraid. Tark remains immune. He is thrown over a cliff where he (ahem) plays dead as the other group members are lost in a swirl of orcs. They are taken to an ancient building located in a swampy vally. The building is an old mausoleum where Erinel can sense the thousands of lost souls who spent their last terrified moments in this horrid place. Cowering in fear from the howls of anguish that only she can hear, she throws herself into a corner and screams as loud as she can to drown out the sepulchral wailing. Auric covers her with his cloak and speaks the names of the High Elves that he heard her speak many weeks ago to stave off accursed spirits into her ear. The voices fade and Erinel slumps into a normal sleep.
Ain-Ain and her companions are pursued by creatures of cobweb and shadow as they ride towards Gondor. They seem to be immune to magic. When they are at last close enough to battle the humans, the creatures seem to be effected only by Kjartan's mighty blows. Ain-Ain figures it out: the creatures may only be harmed by those that have no fear of them. Ain-Ain laughs in ther faces and blasts them with her power, making them unravel. The creatures fall back, but still pursue them. When they finally see Gondor on the horizon, the creatures veer off and disappear.
In Angmar, the company recieves a visitor to their cell: Jonaz, who tells them that the Harbinger now knows of them and is eager to meet the foreign visitors to his realm.
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My new gaming group has been under a spell of disruption. We only plan to meet twice a month, but even that seems difficult, as two weeks ago one of us was sent to go shoot at Iraqis (reluctantly so, both his characters he recently made were simple merchants disinterested in any sort of "action," an interesting view into the psyche of the military gamer). Then, our other military member had to work because of the war. But anyway, we have had one session, where we decided on two games (alternating sessions) and made characters. Hopefully we'll find another player and be able to meet more often. But anyway.
The idea of our group was that none of us have a lot of time, but REALLY want to game. Also, the only two of us who want to referee also want to play, so we figured if we only had to prepare an adventure once a month, it'd be all right. Hopefully this works out despite our first session being postponed. *shakes fist at Bush for interrupting his gaming session with his petty war*
Game #1: Fulminata
Fulminata is set in an alternat history Ancient Rome where gunpowder was discovered pretty early on. My character is a centurian, kinda slow witted, but not stupid, and of good lineage and legendary speed and dexterity. He's pretty darn handy with a spear, in other words, but don't expect him to beat you at chess, which is why he only gets 100 men despite his birth. He is accompanied by a spy who has been assigned to his unit and a body guard. We had a merchant attached to the unit drafted to produce/find our fulminata (the gunpowder), but again, the player got shipped to Iraq, hopefully he's safe and we'll get another player. We find out what their adventures are in 2 weeks.
Game #2: I'm running a game of 3rd Ed. D&D, using a campaign model I borrowed from EUOL, so people like 42 and Fell will recognize this one.
Every 1000 years there is a contest of the three main gods: Ryderin (the nature/chaos/forceful god), Irecus (Judicious but caring, cunning but good), and The Dark One (I renamed him). The first god to win two contests (fought, of course, by champions) gets permanent possession of the world. The Dark One was the victor of contest one, and thus dominates the next 1000 years, the end of which is approaching: this means the elves (followers of Ryderin, mostly) are nearly wiped out (except the drow, who follow the Dark One) and the gnomes are an enslaved and degraded race. There are no more halflings, and orcs, ogres, and demons are common enough in cities (guess who they serve). Most people don't believe in magic (aside from the drow and demons, who are given use of it by the Dark One), and many don't even believe in Ryderin or Irecus -- those who do practice in secret for other worship is punishable by death.
Enter our heroes (unnamed, as yet). A Drow who lost his position of honor due to court politics. He naturally wants revenge, but it hasn't hurt his faith any as this sort of thing is supposed to happen, just a result of normal intrigue. He has some magic at his command, but he's not going to tell the people he's recruiting to help him (all of which are below his station, as no one else can be compelled to do it).
The first guy he has to help him appears to be mostly ogre. About as sharp as a sack of wet mice, he pretty much does anything he's told. Big brute. Yeah, that's about it. (although we'll learn more about him later -- and yes, if you know about Zhom, he is very much modeled on him, the player rolled 4s for Intelligence and Wisdom, just like I had when I made Zhom, so I thought I'd give him the option, he took it).
Then there's the brute's buddy. The brains of the outfit, and on the make, he's a con artist dwarf. He managed to avoid any real work assignments mostly by hiding. He sees the value in keeping a big, strong brute around to defend him when things get hairy. He smells a chance for some coin, and helping the drow out certainly beats another night in the sewers. Though he's about to find out what the Drow really wants.
Again, we really hope we find another player, but action doesn't start for a month.
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I thought that I, too, would give a little update on the games I'm playing. I'm in more games now than I've ever been, but since each is biweekly I still manage to somehow have time for a life.
Hackmaster--We're still playing Little Keep on the Borderlands, though I think we're about to leave Hell's Throat for better climes. Recently, my old character, Grub the Half-Ogre Barbarian, was retired (by my choice) and for an exit I had him turned evil and he signed up with some local humanoid warlords using his inside info about the keep to barter with. He eventually ended up leading an attack on the Keep with a horde of local foes. The forces of the keep were able to repel them...barely, but not before Grub came into contact with his old group. Note: Grub is a fighting machine. When he was just about to slay Portia the Halfling Thief, his old travelling companion, she appealed to the good still in him and though some outstanding roleplaying was able to redeem him. Now we have some cleaning up to do around the area, but I imagine we'll depart son.
Demon: The Fallen: We were only just run through our preludes. The game is set in St. Louis and we started the game as mortals. By the end of the session we were full fledged demons though. Not much to report as this game is just beginning.
Vampire: Masquerade/Dark Ages: Again, we were only just run through our preludes. This is a 1000 year game, starting in 989 and lasting until present day. The game is currently set in Milan and our ST did an excellent job of weaving everyone's preludes together and bonding us so we'll keep in close touch over the centuries. There looks to be a lot of political intrigue in this one, which makes me happy :)
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Idea for LOTR campaign.
At the end (ok, close to the end) of the Silmarion, it says that Morgoth, Saurons boss, is locked out of middle earth by one of the silmarions that is placed on Belegariaths ship.
Imagine the following scenario.
The death, after a looong reign, of King Strider Aragorn Elessil results in a big release of emotion - grief specifically. Since the Silmarions were the center of so much Grief, they cannot take the strain and crack. Since two were lost (in the earth & the sea), the only one that matters is the one on the ship. So, Morgoth gets back to middle earth.
Back in the undying lands, the sudden disappearance of the sky silmarion, which appears as a star, causes much comment. Elves being elves, they decide to have a good yap about it, while the king of the gods ponders if this was part of the creators plan. A group of elves who were born after the end of the 2nd age and who have never been to middle earth proper decide to take matters into their own hands and return to middle earth. So now you have a group of elves back in middle earth who have never met humans before. The only elf that either the new Gondorian king or his people have met is Arwen, who is hardly a standard elf due to her choices(mortality etc). Lots of fun roleplaying potential there. And somewhere, out in the wilderness, you have Morgoth, who was a god who took down the greatest of the elf lords in single combat, busy going for the whole empire of evil thing.
Cue Epic storyline.
Comments anyone?
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Entropy, that signature makes me want to stab you in the spine repeatedly with a rusty ice pick.
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Session 13: Dead Man Stalking
Tark walks the desolate land of Angmar alone. For the most part, he is ignored by the unnatural creatures that surround him. He dispatches amny of the oblivious undead, as well as living (and very much resisting) hillmen and black orcs that make up the bulk of the Harbinger's forces. The company, imprisoned in the tower of the mausoleum, has a single philter of silver water left that will enable only one person to slide through the bars of their high tower window and make it safely to the ground below to escape and spread the word of what is happening. Tamar says that no matter what happens, as leader it is his responsibility to remain imprisoned with his fellows to face Mordante. They draw straws with the highest straw getting the chance to escape. Auric draws the longest straw, but before anybody can see it's full length he snaps it in half in his hand, allowing Erinel, who had the second longest, to go free instead. Erinel drinks the silvery water and slips from her shackles and through the iron-latticed window. Many hours later, the walking dead come to take the prisoners to Caern Dum. They are marched across the countryside where they see whole fields of men and hobbits impaled atop long poles, and immense pits filled with charred bodies.
Tark, having ambushed and killed about 70 of Mordante's followers (and gaining the nickname "Body Count" from the other players), is himself ambushed by foul things not quite orc nor reptile and shot full of arrows. Erinel comes across them and comes to Tark's aid. She tries to use her music magic to get them to cower from Tark, but one of them slashes at her throat. Tark punches one through the stomach and pulls out it's internal organs (hey, didn't I see this in Story of Ricky?). Erinel uses her elf knives to cut through the spine of the last one.
Ain-Ain and her crew make it to Gondor and are taken to the Queen's manse. They are told that Elessil is deathly ill and has aged much in the year that they have been away. They are given a chance to bathe and eat before they are taken to see him. Willem asks Ain-Ain about her obvius use of dark magics that he has seen from her, as well as the more nurturing and beneficial things that he has seen her do. He asks her if she desires to use her magic to help those who need it or for personal power. She answers "both."
They are taken to the king, who is now gaunt, haggard, and hollow-eyed, but still sharp of mind and powerful of will. As they enter, Elessil brightens considerably. saying that he never thought that he would have such powerful magic added to his cause ever again. Ain-Ain nods her head at the compliment, but he is fixated on old Willem, saying "It it good to have your counsel and power once again, friend Gandalf." Ain-Ain mentally kicks herself in the butt for not seeing this one coming a mile off.
The company, surrounded by creatures fell and foul, stands before the obsidian monolith of spires and parapets that is Caern Dum. They all stand grim-faced and resolute, determined to die with dignity if need be as they prepare to face an evil almost beyond comprehension.
End of session.
And Entropy, you don't know how close your idea is to what I am eventually going to be doing with my campaign.
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Rusty icepick is a little harsh, but...no it's not. Stab him! Or change that signature ASAP!
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Seems like a lot less happened this time. Did you have a short session?
I have to say Slant, I only barely got around to catching up on this story last week, but I think you've got a GREAT campaign going. You've obviously also got some really great players.
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Yes, the more in depth your campaign gets, Slant, the more I wish I was playing it.
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Jeez, you people are gonna make me blush. Thanxx :)
We generally play each session from 2 1/2-3 hours or so on Sunday afternoon. The reason that some of my transcripts are shorter than others is because I just type in the highlights. There is always a lot of BSing, gossip, and of course Red Dwarf and Monty Python jokes each session. This particular session was filled up a lot with Tark stalking beasties and all the other players really getting into it to see how far he could go without getting himself in over his head. Another big chunk was the role-playing in the prison tower. They actually did cut and draw straws like their characters did.
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Session 14: the chips hit the fan
The companions are taken to Caern Dum, escorted by Jonaz himself. He says that Mordante will pay him for his services with the flesh of his conquests. Beaten and naked, they are taken to the heart of Caern Dum and made to wait in a room that stinks of death. On the opposite side of the room they see a figure in bloody robes with it's back turned to them. Kogali challenges the figure, calling it a naughty name that cannot be printed here. Kogali stumbles back as he is hit by an invisible force like an ogre's fist.
In Gondor, Gandalf voices his concern over the king's health. The king swears that he feels the eyes of the Harbinger upon him. Ain-Ain suggests that Gandalf seek the presence of evil in the room and try to get a bead as to what it is. Gandalf finds the taint of Shadow and opens a portal to view where it is coming from. They see a dark room with an old, old man facing them. Behind the old man Ain-Ain sees four of her friends naked and battered. Galdalf moans.
In Angmar, as Mordante turns to face his captives, the four companions begin to feel a rush of power as all of their dark deeds come back to them. Tamar feels his joy in decieving so many into believing he is royalty. Kogali feels his own satisfaction in killing innocent sailors back when he was a pirate. Auric feels the dark pride from when he chose to turn on his family to scorn his brother. Milo feels nothing, having already come to terms with his own shadow side. As Mordante turns to meet the gaze of his captives, Gandalf's portal opens up and takes him by surprise. The tower fluctuates as Mordante's attention is shifted towards the major source of magic. The companions, taking their one chance, turn and flee down the stairs and Mordante's will struggles against that of Gandalf.
Erinel and Tark make it to Fornost. They inform the chancellor of the vast power in Angmar. The council wants to strike first against this new foe, but Erinel advises against it, saying instead that they should get ready for any possible attack. She asks about Kalouran and is told that the great elf warlord IS still alive and residing in Forlindar, but has sworn off warfare since the death of his wife nearly a thousand years ago.
As Tark and Erinel travel through the remains of the Shire, they see the vast devestation that has been inflicted. Most of the land is a mass grave. Many hobbits walk around aimlessly. Some living, some dead. Erinel remarks how the Shire was supposed to be under the protection og Gandalf and wonders how anything could be so powerful as to dispel Gandalf's magic.
In Gondor, Gandalf collapses as the portal snaps shut. He lays on the floor, seemingly dead. Ain-Ain goes to help him. The king utters that the figure he saw through the portal was the same one who was visiting him in his dreams.
Back in Angmar, Mordante turns his attention back to the companions, who are now almost out of the tower. he sends a blast of icy air after them. They make it out, but Mordante follows. Milo runs back into the tower to try to buy his companions a few more seconds. he throws himself on Mordante, who throws him with superhuman strength through the wall. His body lands some 200 feet away in the courtyard.
The three companions are racing through hordes of hill men, wresting away their weapons to fight as best they can. The ground trembles with Mordante's anger and tattered corpses raise from the ground. Thousands of them. The three hack and hack, taking down their enemies by the dozens, yet for all those that perish, more come to take their place.
In Gondor, Galdalf stirs weakly in Ain-Ain's arms. His eyes open and he tells her that the situation has just gotten far worse. The figure they saw, he tells her, was Glaven the Red, one of the lost Istari.
From all across Middle Earth, there comes a collective cry of "Oh Smeg" from the scattered companions.
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cool! one of the lost istari, that was a stroke of genius! But isn't Gandalf across the sea into the west.
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Hmmm. You mentioned in the original campaign mention that it was a IStari. I take it from the latest write up that you neglected to mention this to the Players? If so, i congratulate your sense of dramatic timing.
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Yeah, all this time I figured they knew. That doesn't make any sense for you to have told them, though, so...I'm glad you didn't.
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Well, the whole point is that NOBODY knew. When the campaign started, nobody even had any clue that somebody had reclaimed Angmar, let alone that it was a rogue Istari. If they thought things were bad before, they suddenly became ten times worse. And just wait until they find out what Glaven (AKA Mordante, AKA the Harbinger, AKA the Red Maw) is actually DOING to Middle Earth. Yes, there is a plan behind all of the walking dead other than an admiration of Sam Raimi, and I expect my players to figure it out within the next couple of sessions.
Oh, and remember when Ain-Ain was having those nightmares about "a vast darkness blacker than night" and refused to go with the others to Angmar? Well, that's gonna tie into the whole campaign in a HUGE way.
Insert evil laughter here.
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Session 15
Tamar, Auric and Kogali fight for their lives against unending hoardes of the dead at Caern Dum. Auric tells his friends that they are fighting for the fate of all of Middle Earth. Tamar just tells him grimly that right now they are fighting to save their own asses, nothing more. Milo awakens a mile or so away, being carried aloft on something as cold as ice. His senses clear and he sees he is being carried by the dead hobbits. They silently give him back the arms and equipment that had been taken from him and his companions. They give Milo a black leathern tunic that feels somehow magical. As he slips it on, it helps knit together some of his more grevious wounds. he is given two small knives as well, each one not much longer than his own hand. Mordante watches the battle from a distance. Auric invokes the names of the Great Elf lords to repel the dead, but it fails. Mordante sneers at him and tells him that those names no longer have power. Auric shouts out the name of Erinel, proclaiming her "purest and most fair of Elves, and future ruler of all Eregion."
In Westmarch, Erinel's flagging spirit is suddenly bolstered and she feels newfound strength and resolve. She and Tark come across a great forge with a massive bellows being operated by emaciated hobbits and humans chained to the workings and overseen by some strange feral creatures more human than orc. There are perhaps eight of them, and Erinel and Tark quietly come up with an attack that is certain to take them out quickly.
In Gondor, Ain-Ain is desperate to reopen the portal and help her friends. She tells Gandalf that she has something that will distract Mordante and hopefully allow them to gain some sort of edge, even if it is only a bargaining chip. She reveals to Gandalf the White Libram pilfered from Isengard many months ago. Gandalf visibly pales when he sees it, recognizing it as Saruman's book that contains the secrets of the Istaris power, particularly Saruman's own. Ain-Ain uses her own arcane power to aid the weakened Gandalf in opening a second portal. They see a fast field of the walking dead, all surrounding the three warriors. Ain-Ain shows Mordante the book and tells him to let her friends go or she shall destroy it. Mordante howls and appears right in front of the portal, thrusting an arm through it into Gondor and grabbing the libram from Ain-Ain. With Mordante now within reach and not paying immediate attention to them, Tamar runs up to the Istari and puts all of his strength into a blow that severs Mordante's arm. Mordante shrieks and disappears. When he vanishes, thousands of the dead sink back into the earth and those that don't begin to slow. Some of the weaker ones simply fall apart into small mounds of flesh, bone, and organs. Only a single figure moves towards them. Milo has arrived with their gear.
In Gondor, the severed arm drops to the ground as the portal snaps shut. The arm transforms into a huge serpent that goes straight for Gandalf. Kjartan, finally able to make himself useful, throws himself between the monster and Gandalf. He jumps upon the beast and shoves his blade through it's brain. Ain-Ain is totally spent bith macically and physically. She angrily waves away the guards and attendants who try to help her and retires to her room where she collapses into a deep tortured sleep.
In Westmarch, Tark and Erinel attack the beast men. It is only too late that they find that the true danger was lurking at the far end behind the forge. The earth trembles as a huge creature weighting many many tons comes at the call of the beast men. It is a mumikal, and it is easily the largest thing either has ever seen. It glares at them and starts to move forward. Tark and Erinel prepare for this rather one-sided battle. They see the creature slow, and the beast men start to edge away. Erinel and Tark look behind them and see that from out of the foliage there have silently come about five or six elves dressed in hunstman's clothing and holding bows with arrows nocked, ready to fire at the beast.
In Angmar, the four survivors finally have a few minutes to rest and bandage their wounds. As they finally begin to calm down a bit, the shadowy form of Mordante appears before them, his features twisted into a hateful sneer. "Did you grotesque little mortals really presume that I would not seek retribution?" He casts out his remaining hand and a gout of blood hits Tamar, eating through his flesh and down to his bones as he screams in unholy anguish. The Red Maw vanishes. Milo, Auric and Kogali rush to see to Tamar, but the Black Prince is too far gone, his body being little more than a skeleton with bits of flesh still clinging to it.
End of session 15
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Ugg I just wrote 3 RPG reviews in the past two days :'(. Fell's a real slave driver, well considering that I want him to get me some stuff. Have to suck up to the boss some how ;D
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Session 16
Gandalf instructs Ain-Ain about her using the White Libram. He says it may damn her forever. She refuses to give it up, claiming that no form of magic is inherantly good or evil but that it depends on the intention of the user. To safeguard her own possible abuse of powere, she makes a blood pact with Kjartan who will slay her if she ever succumbs to the Shadow. Kjartan agrees, promising that he will do all in his power to keep her from falling to the darkness.
Tark and Erinel battle the mumikal and the Feral Things with the unexpected aid of the wood elves. The elves make short work of the creatures while Tark confronts the massive mumikal head on and rips it's underbelly open with his sword. Guts and innards drown Tark as the entire beast falls upon him. The clearing is silent. Minutes later, the beast splits open as Tark cuts his way through to freedom. The elves just stand in shock and awe.
Auric, Milo and Kogali make it to the border of Angmar and hold a funeral for Tamar, burying him as far away from the wretched kingdom of the dead as they can. Milo passes around his most potent, umm... pipeweed as the three companions chant prayers and remember their fallen leader. They divide Tamar's equipment between them for eventual return to his family. Kogali swears that he will not rest until Mordante is destroyed. Milo remarks upon how Kogali has already sowrn so many bloody oaths of revenge in the past year that the outlaw will never be able to rest until he is dead and buried. Auric remembers Erinel mentioning the elf warlord Kalourin and knows that she is traveling to Forlindan to find him. Auric is concerned for Erinel's safety and wants to follow. Milo says they should go to Moria to alert their dwarf allies, especially the dwarf lord Durgin who swore friendship with the Black Prince. He is certain that Durgin will lend his army (the last true great dwarf army by now) to the cause. Auric says he will travel alone to find their missing companions, leaving Kogali and Milo to make it back to Moria.
In Gondor, there are verifie reports of war breaking out in Mordor between Easterling tribes and the Haradin for control over the now mostly unoccupied land now that the king is too ill to stop any conflict. Gandalf must remain in Gondor with Ellesar. Ain-Ain volunteers to act as Gondor's emissary, saying she will use her influence with the Easterlings to help stop the battles. Kjartan doesn't see what the problem is. He reasons that they should be allowed to keep fighting; the more of them that die, the less there will be to worry about later when the King regains his strength. Ellesar gives Kjartan the blade once owned by a Noldor officer at the battle against Sauron in the Second Age as a gift for keeping him from being slain by the serpent, but Kjartan refuses it. He tells the king that his greatest strength is that he is a simple man who does not want to become embroiled in such things as magic or elf history. He says he will use only the sword forged by his grandfather on a simple block of iron until he dies.
Erinel tells the elves that she seeks Kalouran. She recognizes the emblems on their armor as Kalouran's symbol and begs them to take her to him. They say that Kalouran has taken vows of silence and seculsion far from any of his kin deep in the Blue Mountains near the northern tip of Middle Earth. Erinel says she must find him, but the elves plead with her to respect his wishes to distance himself from the horrors of his past. Erinel is taken to the Grey Havens to recuperate, as she is far beyond the point of exhastion from blood loss and starvation, even for an elf.
Auric finds Tark and Erinel's trail and follows it to Fornost. He sees the fortress town has been shut up tightly. no guards are on the parapet. No noise comes from within; not a single voice of man or beast. It is as if every living creature in the town has disappeared into thin air.
End of session 16
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FVLMINATA Armed with Lightning
A Historical Fantasy RPG set in an alternate Roman Empire,... with guns.
Its a neat concept and system and a very informative book.
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Slant, are we to assume that Tamar's player has taken over Kjartan?
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ahh my weekly dose of Slant's game. This stuff is like crack.
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DINGDINGDING!!! Give Fell a cigar, folks! Yeah, he wanted to play a character in the Gondor arm of the game. He says he wanted to play Kjartan since he is a very different character than the more subversive types he usually plays and he had ideas for the character. Honestly, knowing him the way that I do, I think that once Aragorn and Gandalf became part of the game story he began salavating at the thought of interacting with them. At any rate, I told him that if he could come up with a back-story for Kjartan, he was free to play him. He did, and so he is. The possibility of Tamar returning (in one form or another) is not totally out of the picture, either.
I have to be honest: this game is draining to run. It was okay at first, but once the characters started going in all different directions, I found that I had to pay a lot more attention to what was going on and how the character actions and stories played out in Game Time. That is, if one group is traveling in one direction and it takes them two hours Real Time to go 20 miles, then I have to make sure another group isn't going in another direction 100 miles in the same amount of time. Some creative leeway is acceptable, but I find myself having to watch it so that things don't get too out of whack. This is especially important when characters in one location have an effect on characters in another loction (like Ain-Ain in Gondor opening a portal to tempt Mordante in Angmar with the White Libram in an attempt to distract him from her friends).
In the end, though, it has been worth it. I haven't ran a game as ambitious as this in years.
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Session 17
Ain-Ain is studying the White Libram and finds two pages sealed together with powerful magic. The only way to open them is to use Saruman's White Rending spell which is on the preceding page. She knows if she utters the words out loud she might be corrupted by dark power the same as Saruman, but she is tempted to see what is on those sealed pages. She seeks out Kjartan and tells him that if he thinks she is losing herself to the Shadow, he should not hesitate to strike her down. Kjartan tells her that from what he has seen she is a good person with a strong will and he has faith in her to resist the power of black sorcery.
Tark and Erinel arrive at the Grey Havens. There are less than 100 elves still there. Erinel is taught by an ancient elf how to prepare healing charms. She sings for them and does a duet with an elf who learned her music in Valinor at the feet of Maiar. Tark admits to Erniel that he is having great difficulty in remembering things about his living years and fears that in time he will become another mindless zombie. He can no longer remember most of his childhood or his military career. He remembers the name 'Atreya' but does not know where it comes from. Sadly, Erinel tells Tark that Atreya is his wife. Tark disappears into the woods to write out as much of his life as he can still remember and to write a final letter to his wife.
In Gondor, Kjartan asks the king to tell him about the war of the rings and his success at Helm's Deep. As the king recounts the tales, he grows visibly more lively and much of his health appears to come back. By the end of the evening he is displaying old sword moves and special attack formations to Kjartan.
Milo and Kogali travel through dire swamplands where Milo picks herbs to be made into poison for their blades. Kogali tells Milo that now that they are away from all "civilized" laws, the two of them can revert to being the sort of people they originally were: ruthless and wild, unlike the rest of their more law-abiding companions. They touch sword tips and agree "No mercy to our enemies."
Auric finds his way into Fornost and discovers everybody dead. Hundreds of corpses are strapped to the walls and corridors of Fornost, head down and gutted from crotch to throat. Auric comes across the sole living entity in Fornost; Jonaz the hunter, who is offering up the entire population to his dark master. Jonaz chases Auric through the mazeline streets of Fornost. Every time Auric thinks he has evaded him, Jonaz appears behind him. He rushes into the keep, but Jonaz keeps after him. Exhausted, Auric realizes that Jonaz is herding him towards the throne room. Auric collapses exhausted upon the throne as Jonaz pounces. Unfortunataly for Jonaz, the alter upon which he hoped to offer up the nomad was once the ruling seat of the high kings of Arnor. Jonaz is repulsed by the power of the throne for a moment, and in that moment Auric is able to drive a spear through his crazed foe. Safe at least, Auric makes it to the armory and equips himself in iron and steel, taking a great yew bow and silver tipped arrows along with an elf blade. He gathers as much food as he can reasonably take, and sets off once again to find Erinel and Tark.
Milo and Tark pass through the Trollshaws hoping to make it to Moria. While camping, they are accosted by five brigands with weapons drawn. They see how ragged and frightened their attackers are and how close they are to death. They do not have the stomach to kill the bandits and instead share their meager food with them. They spend the rest of the day teaching them to hunt for themselves.
Ain-Ain, Kjartan, and a small force cross the mountains of Shadow and enter Mordor. They come to the Easterling camps and meet with the Rhun war leader Tzefesh. She disrobes and shows him her tattoos that mark her as the disciple of a very powerful Rhun witch. Tzefesh treats her with utmost respect, having known her mistress for a long time. She tells him that the charred lands of Mordor are not worth fighting over, cosidering that there is nothing left but ash, stone, and mad orcs. She advises Tzefesh to give Mordor peacefully to the Harad in return for their agreement to fight at the side of Rhun against the Red Maw of Angmar who is the foe of all life. She tells him that if they do this, Rhun will become far more powerful once the Harbinger is destroyed. The war leader sends scouts to deliver a message to the Harad to meet upon the morning for treaty talks.
Alone in her tent, Ain-Ain reads the words of the White Rending and unseals the two pages. She gains a corruption point for casting a sorcery spell, and four more for what she reads.
End of session
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Lord of the Rings was cancelled this week, but will return next week at it's regular time. In the meantime, I was given an advance copy of the new Marvel Superhero game and am in the process of reading it with the intention of running it following Lord of the Rings. It's kinda cool.
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Session 18
Ain-Ain and Tzefesh meet with the Harad war chieftan. She tells him that they will give the Harad all of Mordor and all it contains without a fight if Harad allies itself with Rhun and Gondor to fight against Angmar. She uses subtle magic to enhance the appeal of her words. She mentions that everything that she says will be backed up by Prince Tamar, known throughout the Northern Lands as the Black Prince of Harad. The chieftan laughs at her, revealing that Tamar was no prince, but only an actor sent to appease the foolish folk of Gondor into believing that Harad would comply to their wishes without a second thought.
Milo and Kogali reach Rivendell. They stock up on waybread, food, water, weapons and warm clothing. They share a few jokes about elf women of loose virtue that visited Milo's tavern in Bree. For the first time in ages, the pair are clean, well fed, and rested.
Erinel goes alone into the Blue Mountains to find Kalouran. She searches for days and comes upon a cave of strange predators that resemble lions, but with chitinous growths and eagle-like talons. She is saved by arrows that fly from out of nowhere and dispatch the creatures without a sound. She finds herself facing a tall albino elf woman sheathed entirely in black armor and carrying a powerful bow. She does not give her name, but tells Erinel that she knows why she is here and that she must turn back. She says Kalouran will never raise a weapon in anger ever again. Erinel tells her that the need is great and explains about Mordante and the undead armies. The white elf scoffs, saying that the undead can have all of Middle Earth if they want it: the elves will simply return to Aman and leave the lesser races to their fate. Erinel shouts at her that Aman will not be safe. No mortal may pass into the Undying Lands, but the walking dead are not mortal and may indeed be able to pass the ruins of Numenor and set foot upon the shores of the Undying Lands in vast numbers that would put even the armies of Numenor to shame (And Laura got an extra Leveling Up for figuring out a big part of the puzzle before anybody else did). The white elf cannot ignore the truth in her words. She says she will take her to Kalouran.
Milo and Kogali are on their way to Moria and are freezing their butts off on a wind-swept mountain road. Kogali tries to urinate against the side of the mountain and it freezes solid in seconds leaving Kogali temporarily attatched to the mountain. Milo laughs himself stupid.
In the Grey Havens, Tark is working with elf mages to help keep his memories focused. The mage tells him that he needs a strong image of his past to anchor himself to. Auric is impatient and wants to go look for Erinel to make sure she has not come to an awful end. The ancient elf remarks that Erinel is many centuries his senior and wiser than he in survival, and that she does not nee him to be following around after her like a lovesick puppy. Auric grows silent and angry but speaks no more of the need to go looking for her.
In Mordor, Gandalf berates Ain-Ain for learning Saruman's spells, and his most dangerous secret. Ain-Ain accuses Galdalf, saying she suspects he knew what was in the book but was too afraid to reveal it. She tells Gandalf what she read: the sealed pages are a nautical star chart showing the way from Middle Earth through the Enchanted Isles and to the Undying Lands. The pages reveal that where the last of the isles meets the shoreline there is a mountain range known as the Pelori Mountains. Deep beneath the range is an area of bleak, tainted land known as Avathar, where all of the shadows of the world had sprung from, including all that is twisted and evil in both Aman and Middle Earth. Written in a spiral scrawl all along the outer margins of the two page chart is a spell of such terrible foulness that Ain-Ain had lost a part of her soul just from understanding the nature of the words: a spell that would summon forth the greatest of all evils back from the Void and into the deepest darkest shadows of the most evil land in creation. Morgoth would re-form from the land of Avathar itself and be free to once again conquer all of Middle Earth.
End of Book II
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:'(
I weep at not being a player in your game.
And hey! I hope your description skills are up to describing the armies of the undying lands.
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Entropy, just you wait......
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Session 19
Kogali and Milo reach Moria. They find the vast bloated form of the Lurker in the Water slayed upon the beach, hacked up by countless blades. A badly wounded but still sturdy dwarf meets them at the door and takes them to see Thain Durgin.
Ain-Ain speculates that Mordante may be headed Southwards in an effort to regain the White Libram. Gandalf urges her to give him the libram so that she can go to Gondor and warn the king. She refuses to relinquish it. Kjartan votes to simply destroy the thing and be done with it. Ain-Ain stops him, saying that despite the content the libram isn't an evil artifact, just a book. Gandalf warns her that evil comes not from the written word, but from what is done with it.
Erinel finally meets with Kalouran, a Noldorian who has existed in Middle Earth since before the First Age of Man. She sees the weight of countless centuries upon him. Upon hearing her news, he nods grimly and says he will gather the remains of his forces to stand against the Harbinger. His wife is livid with anger and forbids his involvement.
In the Grey Havens, Tark paints a small portrait of his wife as best he can from memory. He seals it inside an elf scroll case and places it on a cord beneath his armor. He composes a final letter to his family and an elf outrider takes it.
In Moria, Durgin tells Kogali and Milo that a great wolf some hundred feet long came up into Moria through the central shaft followed by thousands of beast goblins. Durgin himself slew the wolf, but many dwarves were killed. Following the attack, the shaft to the lower mines was sealed off once and for all. Durgin displays the head of the wolf in his throne room, still somehow alive and snarling, it's great jaws dripping with blood. Milo knows that this is a manifestation of Mordante as the Red Maw and urges Durgin to burn the head. Kogali sadly reports that the Black Prince is dead, slain by Mordante on the steps of Caern Dum. Thain Durgin tells them that in retaliation for slaying such a great Dwarven ally, Mordante and his ilk will fall beneath the last Dwarven army in Middle Earth.
Ain-Ain and Kjartan ride to Gondor with the news that the Easterlings and Harad will fight against Angmar. Gandalf sends a messenger falcon to his old friend Cirion in the Grey Havens informing him of what has transpired and that the Grey Havens should be on the alert.
The white elf stalks out of Kalouran's hall, visibly upset. Kalouran tells Erinel that during the war against the Enemy in the Second Age, he had been tempted by the power of the Dark One and had slain his kin whom he had been led to believe had betrayed him. For his act of treachery he had been cursed to die if ever he raised a weapon in anger again. Repenting his actions, Kalouran had come to the mountains a thousand years ago to meditate and gain control of his terrible rage. His wife and his forces had refused to be seperated from him and so had all joined him in his exile. Kalouran tells her that the fate of the world is far more important than the life of a single person, and so he will ready his army even if it means his own death.
Erinel goes to find the white elf, who is hacking her chambers to bits with a broadsword in grief and anger. Erinel begs her forgiveness; had she known of what would happen to her husband she would not have been so quick to ask his aid. The white elf vehemently replies that it no longer matters. Now that his mind has been set he will march to his own death.
End of session 19.
An entire session without a single combat. Wow :)
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We should get one of the writers on the site to novelise slants lotr's game.
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Session 20
Erinel returns to the Grey Havens with Lord Kalouran and 2000 Elf warriors. Cirion, the smith of Forlindon and once one of Kalouran's greatest warriors, tells them that he has heard from Gandalf. He fills them in on what was discovered in the White Libram and that Gandalf and the Human King request their aid in the looming war. The elves are tasked with preventing Mordante and his legions from sailing out of the Grey Havens.
Tark volunteers to go by boat to Aman and warn the elves of Valinor about the situation in Middle Earth. Cirion offers to go with him, but Tark refuses the help. Kalouran gives Tark his official seal, telling him that although he still commands respect amongst the elves of Valinor, there will be many who will react unfavorably to it due to the dark deeds of his past.
On the way to Gondor, Kjartan trains with Haradin and Easterling soldiers, swapping weapons techniques. Kjartan is easily the strongest and heartiest of the bunch. Ain-Ain takes the White Libram and places it against her bare stomach, winding many layers of gauze over it. When she clothes herself, the book is invisible to detection.
Milo and Kogali head off to Gondor with Durgin's dwarf emissaries, a "small host" of 1000 stout warriors given by the Thain to the king of humans as a gesture of his good faith and of his commitment to the war.
Out at sea, Tark finds peace for the first time in many months. He contemplates throwing himself into the waters so that his last thoughts may be peaceful ones, but decides against it. For the first time in two months he removes his helm and looks at his own face, and sees that it now resembles that of the walking corpse that he has become.
The Harad/Easterling troops stop for the night on the way to Gondor. Kjartan goes to Ain-Ain's tent and instructs her in the use of a sword in case she finds need of such a skill in the days to come. His teachings become more intimate and he seduces her. As she sleeps he steals the White Libram and takes it to Gandalf.
When Ain-Ain awakens, she is furious. She discovers that Gandalf has already ridden on ahead to Gondor with the book. Kjartan tells her that he did as she had instructed him and taken steps to keep her from being corrupted. He tells her if she feels his death will sate her to run him through. She draws the blade from his scabbard and swings, but at the last instant turns it so that he is struck by the flat of the blade. She coldly tells him that she has spared his life since he is so clumsy in the sheets that it is unlikely that he will ever produce an heir, thus his line will end with him.
End of session 20, all role playing for a second week in a row!
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I see you have some pretty solid roleplayers in the group.
Out of interest, how did they go about the seduction? It is not something that has come up in any rpg i have played.
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The seduction was played out well. Kjartan was showing her how to hold her weapon and his hands were on hers as she was holding it with her back pressed against his body. He started nuzzling her neck and when she didn't tell him to stop he moved his hands from the sword to her body. She reciprocated and pulled him down to the floor. We just kinda left the scene at that point rather than role-play all the sordid (sworded?) details.
And while I am posting, let me just mention that I picked up Fell Beasts & Wondrous Magic the other day and was rather irked that a 96 page book was 25 bucks. It is a very useful book, but that is still a lot of money for such a slim product. But hell, it IS Lord of the Rings.
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Session 21
Ain-Ain and Kjartan bring the foreigners to Gondor. Gandalf tells them that the folk of Rohan are facing undead legions. Aragorn goes to lead a troop into Rohan but Kjartan begs him not to, saying his life is far too important to risk on the battlefield. The king knights Kjartan for his bravery in defending Gandalf and himself from the Harbinger and his oath to keep Ain-Ain from falling to corruption. She grits her teeth at this, but keeps her mouth shut. The king Says that Kjartan will represent him in battle against the invaders of Rohan.
In the Grey Havens, bloated corpses rise from the waters and climb upon the shore. The death ship of Umbar sail into the harbor and rain volleys down upon the elves. As the others battle along the shore, Auric drops into the water and skulks aboard the ship. Deep in the hold he sets a fire that rages almost instantly. He catches on fire but jumps from the ship as both it and the undead are consumed in the flames. He makes it to the shore and grimly jokes how he should re-name himself "Rat" since this is now the second time that he has leapt from a ship going down in flames.
Kogali, Milo and the dwarves pass past Fangorn and see undead forces marching past. They hide and pursue.
Tark hits the Mystic Islands. His small boat is attacked by a kraken he is pulled overboard. With no need to breathe, he cannot drown. The kraken is confused and Tark proceeds to rip the creature's eyes out. Flailing blindly the creature squirts a jet of ink around him, but Tark hangs on and shoves his blade through it's gills. Torn and soaking, Tark slowly climbs back into his boat and doggedly continues his trip.
Cirion knows the undead will return in greater force. He says that all the elves must now leave to Valinor if they are to have any chance. Erinel tells him that she fears the Harbinger will use the elf ships to sail to the Undying Lands. She pleads with the elves to remain true to their noble roots and their ancient purpose to protect humanity at the behest of Eru. The elves, every single one, resolve to stay and fight. Cirion ensures that the Red Maw will never sail on their ships. He orders the ships of Forlindan burnt
Kjartan and Gandalf meet with Arakil, grandson of Eowyn, in the lowlands of Rohan. The folk of Rohan are no longer the robust horsemen of two years ago, but now touched by the Rage Plague they are gaunt and sickly. The air around them shimmers and Gandalf warns them that very powerful magic is in effect. The veil of illusion is dropped and a vast silent army of unliving men and orcs stand sillouhetted on the horizon. Standing at the forefront is an impossibly tall, gaunt figure clad in red robes that run with blood and missing his left arm. Gondorians, Rohirrim, Easterlings and Haradim alike grimly draw their blades.
The battle is horrible. Even when hacked to bits the undead continue to struggle and fight, spurred by the close proximity of the Red Maw. Ain-Ain is attacked by a dozen severed heads and hands. Pushed beyond her limit, she snaps and begins firing bolts of sorcery across the battlefield. She summons vast shadows to protect her. The more she uses black magic, the more that the Shadow claims her soul. Mordante calls to her from across the valley. She finds herself with a black dagger in her hand. She turns to Gandalf, fighting beside her, and moves to thrust it into his heart.
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My my my. I wonder what would happen if I showed these campaign notes to the right people?
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We skipped out on Lord of the Rings today since two of us couldn't make it due to family events. Instead we played some BARBARIAN! where the characters were pulp-era characters who find themselves whisked away to barbaric Mars in 1922 to fight the powerful Witch Queen and save the swashbuckling Martian civilization from ending up in slavery. It was a cool departure from how we regularly play BARBARIAN! with characters based on 80's movies stereotypes, yet still worked like a charm. We also did an Inquisitor scenario which I will put on the tabletop games board.
Anyhow, I have a question. After this current LotR campaign finishes up, what should I do next? Shoud I let them keep the characters they are now running (if most survive)? Should I play in another age? Or should I keep it in 4th Age? Here are a few ideas off the top of my head:
Allow them to keep the same characters and deal with the restoration of Middle Earth in the wake of the Red Maw, gaining more power and experience and becoming major players in the going-on of Middle Earth.
Play characters set in the First Age where the magic is almost limitless and where they might actually be able to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Sauron and Melchor (Perhaps having them all as part of Kalouran's troops during the wars of the First Age).
Having them all play elves in the Undying Lands where the adventures would be more subtle but of even greater scope than what we are doing now.
Do an adventure even deeper into the Fourth Age when the magic is almost entirely gone and nobody has seen an elf or dwarf for generations.
Which of these (if any) sounds the most viable? Does anybody have any other suggestions? Please let me know.
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I think the LOTR works best for epic struggles. Hence I see the continuing characters hard to think of as exciting. Unless yet another evil rears it's head. putting it later in the 4th age would have a similar effect. Too many sequential big evil epics going on to find believable
But, since your players are very good character role players, The elves sounds like your best bet. Or at least the most thought provoking. I'd love to see the stories for that one. The 1st age one sounds a little too Robert Jordan/D&D for me. I think subtle will go for your best story telling (so guess where MY interest is here: completely selfless. Don't want anything at all from it. Nope.)
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Play in the second age, with the first coming of Sauron.... and have the players play the ancestors of their current charactors (unless they are elves and then they can play themselves, which while tricky could be fun.) Or the Early third age while the Witch King is destroying the Ranger kingdoms of the north. This way you can still have epic, without really changing events or making the 4th Age seem well kind of redundent.
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Session 22
Ain-Ain plunges the black dagger deep into Gandalf's gut. Kjartan throws his broadsword from many yards away, but he is too late. Gandalf falls. As he does so, he drops the White Libram. Ain-Ain comes to her senses too late, but grabs the book back up as the undead forces charge.
Tark hits a rock outcropping and his small boat is demolished. He is thrown nearly a hundred feet towards the shoreline and blacks out as he hits the water. He is washed up upon the shores of Aman.
Kalouran's forces leave the Gray Havens. With them ride also Hobbitish troops from Forlindan. Kalouran rides in his full elaborate battle armor, as he did thousands of years before. His wife rides next to him, clad all in black and silent as the grave. Erinel tries to engage her in conversation, but the white elf remains silent and sullen. Auric rides up front, showing the elves the secret paths that he used to travel between Angmar and the Grey Havens. Kalouran comments that the paths that Auric used had been well hidden for over a thousand years and that thier discovery could have only come from one who was meant to be a true master ranger. The white elf speaks very briefly when she adds under her breath "or an Angmar spy."
In Rohan, the undead forces sweep across the valley. Mordante appears looming over Galdalf. Ain-Ain in desperation holds the White Libram up and shreds it before him, telling Mordante that he will never learn the path to Valinor or the secret of summoning his evil god back into the world. Mordante laughs at her, telling her that he already had the information because he was the one who created the White Libram. He reveals that he created it and arranged for it to appear in Saruman's tower centuries ago with the idea that the already slightly mad Istari would fall to Darkness and seek to raise Melchor. Unfortunately, Sauron got to Saruman first and made him his puppet. Ain-Ain stands stunned for a moment, then raises the black dagger and stabs Mordante, but it only shatters upon his flesh.
As the battle rages, a new sound is heard. Hundreds of dwarves firing thier crossbows of black iron take out a significant number of the unliving horde. The dwarves, along with Milo and Kogali, give the men of Rohan and Gondor the time they need to regroup and wipe out thier unwholesome foe. When the smoke clears, Mordante and Gandalf are gone.
On the beach of Aman, Tark rises to find himself surrounded by tall elves so powerful that they seem to glow with a vast inner fire. They tell him that he has been asleep for nearly a day. he says it is not possible since the dead don't sleep. An elf tells him that the undying Lands are anathema to the undead and pulls off Tark's helm. Tark feels his own features, gaunt from hunger and fatigue, but once again the flesh and blood of a mortal man.
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THEY DISAPPEAR!!!!!
ARGH! I'll kill you!!!!!
I thought we were at the dramatic conclusion and you went and did that to me.
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We probably have between 4-6 more sessions, Saint. Please don't kill me before I get the chance to finish it.
Oh, and (shameless plug) after this campaign wraps up, we will likely be doing a few weeks of a brand new RPG entitled HAVEN: CITY OF VIOLENCE, which was created and published by a bloke who lives down in my neck of the woods by the name of Louis Porter. I know him and his playtest team and I know how many years he has spent to finally bring his game into the big league, so now that it is finally in stores I feel like it is my duty to play the damn thing myself and see if it is worth his while to put out the dozen or so supplements that he has planned over the next few years. To summarize it in a single line, Haven is like Gotham City without Batman. After we play it for a couple of weeks, I might even be tempted to write a review for TWG.
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Brand new?
Seriously?
I've been seeing stuff on the web for that game for years now. Not rules and such, but chatter here and there. Has it just been in production a long time?
Can't wait for the campaign conclusion, Slant!
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Louis originally wrote it as a free net rpg about six or seven years ago. It showed up on a lot of pages that had links to free games. Eventually a game company approached him about fleshing out the system and world and getting it published. It was supposed to hit stores in April but was set back a couple of months.
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Session 23
Following the Battle of Rohan, Milo and Kogali reunite with their friends. Kjartan is sorely wounded from a spear through the gut, but refuses to rest. He welcomes Durgin's dwarves in the name of the king.
Kalouran's army of elves and hobbits makes camp for the evening at the Greyflood River. Erinel sings and tells old tales of Kalouran's accomplishments. The white elf does not appear to be happy with the attention Erinel is giving to her husband. She finds Auric taking target practice out in the woods and joins him. Her skill is incredible; easily the greatest archer of the Fourth Age. She confronts him with her suspicions of him being a spy of the Shadow. Auric sees the sun symbol of Eru on a silver chain around her neck and takes it in his hands, swearing that if he is a servant of the Darkness, may he be struck dead immediately. He tells her that his only motive is for all people to be able to live free of the taint of the Shadow.
Back in Rohan, Kogali goes to Ain-Ain's tent and attempts to rekindle her former interest in him, but he is rebuked. She tells him that all men are liars and fools. She examines the ruined pieces of the White Libram and finds the filagreed outer covering slips back to reveal a secret page underneath the book's spine. It is written in Black Speach and says that to summon the Dark One from beyond the veil of Death, one needs to shed the last life's blood of one of the Children of Ealde. She now knows why Mordante took Gandalf.
In the Undying Lands, Tark stands before the great Manwe, who commend's the human's courage. The hosts of Valinor are readied for war for the first time since the First War against Melchor milennia before.
The following morning at the Greyflood River, many hobbits and elves are found with their throats sliced open. An elf captain finds blood on Auric's sheath. When his sword is drawn, it is coated in blood.
In Rohan, the forces now led by Kjartan, Ain-Ain, Kogali and Milo attempt to figure out Mordant's next move. Milo reasons that Mordante will need ships to cross to the Undying Lands, but would be hard pressed to get past the elves of the Grey Havens, especially with Kalouran's elite troops all ready to die to prevent elvin ships from falling into their hands. Kogali tells them that there is only one other fleet in all of Middle Earth large enough and strong enouth to make the journey: the Black Fleet of Umbar.
In Kalouran's camp, many elves want to execute Auric. He proclaims his innocence, but is horsewhipped by angry elves. A Noldorian general draws Auric's head back to strike the fatal blow, but the white elf prevents him from doing so by shooting an arrow through the sword's blade and shattering it. She steps in front of Auric and says that any elf or hobbit who wishes to harm the tracker needs to first survive her arrows that have never missed their mark in all of two thousand years.
End of session 23
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Session 24
The United Army makes it's way to Umbar. Kogali mentions for the umpteenth time that his father was a legend in Umbar and that they will be able to get anything they need there because they will follow his ordersout of respect to his late father. Milo says that Kogali is just another hardened wharf rat with delusions of grandeur.
In Aman, Tark remembers the small picture he has sealed up in his scroll case beneath his armor. He takes it out and looks at it, finally remembering his wife, and remembering that she has been dead for the past four years. He is overwhelmed by grief and spends several days away from Manwe's abode, isolating himself in the vast woodlands of the Undying Lands.
At Kalouran's camp, the elves insist to Kalouran that Auric be slain. The white elf says she will not allow it. Kalouran sides with his wife (he's no fool) but suggests that Auric distance himself from the camp for a bit.
The army makes it to the black iron gates of Umbar. The Umbar marines make a vast wall of raised bows to keep out the Gondorians and their allies. One of them recongnizes Kogali as a kinsman and says that all Kogali need do is to say the word and that they will rain down swift death upon the lackies of Elessar. Kogali gives an evil grin as he considers it.
Auric scouts far ahead as Kalouran's forces are on the move once again. Erinel goes to keep him company, but he is in a sour mood and tells her she'd better leave before he adds another elf to his list of kills. She tells him she does not believe that he is guilty in the slightest and says that he is by far the most honorable and noble person she has ever met, even including other elves. Auric gives a very uncharacteristic smile and walks considerably taller.
Umbar marines usher Kjartan and his allies into the chambers of the Blue Council, whilst the rest of the army must remain beyond Umbar's bleak gates. The Blue Council, once made up of the wisest men of numenorian blood, is now little more than a collection of petty warlords. The war chiefs of Rhun and Harad attempt to impress upon them that the Red Maw is the enemy of all living things, and that they have allied their peoples with Elessar to stand against this threat. The council disagrees. They order their assassins to take Kjartan prisoner at arrowpoint, hoping to use Elessar's trusted envoy as a bargaining chip. Kjartan flips out and attacks in a berzerker rage, ignoring the arrows slicing into his flesh as takes down his attackers in a wash of blood and gore. The Umbar marines attack the representatives of Gondor as a huge battle ensues in the council room. From far beyond the gates of the kingdom there comes the sound of warfare as the men of Umbar battle with the army of Gondor and their allies.
Kalouran's army is attacked by countless orcish, mannish, and warg skeletons that erupt from the ground as they pass within bowshot of Helm's Deep. Kalouran reaches for his weapon in a fit of fury, but Auric remembers Kalouran's curse and tackles him, doing all he can to prevent the legendary elf warlord from drawing his blade in anger and sealing his own doom. An undead uruk-hai sees the conflict and swings his scimitar at Kalouran's unprotected back. Auric whirls the elf around, placing himself right in front of the zombie and taking the full impact of the hit. Mortally wounded, Auric sinks to the ground.
In Umbar, the fighting within the council room comes to an abrupt halt when all the participants realize that there are no further sounds of combat coming from beyond the gates of Umbar, only an ominous silence. The doors swing open and a Gondorian horseman enters with an Umbar archer close on his heels. They announce that there is an army on the horizon; an army as silent as the grave that extends for as far as the eye can see.
end of session
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No LotR today. Instead we played Haven: City of Violence on Friday. I have written up a very comprehensive review and submitted it to TWG, so hopefully you should all get a chance to read it within the next few days.
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Session 25: Loss
The battle is joined between the Shadow Army and the combined might of Men, Dwarves and Hobbits at Umbar. Umbar archers provide a hail of arrows that pin down the undead, allowing Kjartan's forces to charge the enemy. The undead merely walk through the arrow storm, oblivious to the damage. It is carnage as the great army comprised of Men from all nations falters and begins to fail against the remorseless might of the living dead.
Three hundred miles away, Auric, gravely wounded, is taken to a shady spot to rest as Kalouran's battle against the undead begins to wind down. Erinel is very upset; she can see that her friend is not long for this world. She tries to speak to him, but he slips in and out of consciousness as his lungs collapse and his heart begins to fail.
In Umbar, the battle rages on with no end in sight as row after row of the walking dead march against the human alliance. Ain-Ain tells Kjartan that this isn't a battle that Mordante cares about: it is only a ploy to whittle away as many of the living as possible to ensure that Mordante can achieve his goal.
In Aman, Tark finally makes peace with his past and buries the picture of his wife in a peaceful garden near Valinor. He goes to Manwe's mountain stronghold to look down upon the beaches and help stand guard against the coming threat. Manwe calls him "Tir Macar," which means "vigilant defender" in the Quenya tongue.
After what seems like days, the tide turns in Umbar. The undead cease to advance and merely stand in place as the armies of Gondor and Umbar cut them down like wheat, unsure of why they have become suddenly passive. The sky darkens and all eyes turn upwards. Great shapes appear in the sky, blocking the sun: giant eagles, the followers of Eru and allies of the Istari of old. Upon seeing them, the men below cheer. Ain-Ain shouts in horror that they must take another look. At her words, Kogali takes his spy scope and peers at the eagles. Their feathers are matted with blood, their bodies torn and mutilated, and their eyes the dull glassy gaze of the undead. Upon their backs are Mordante and his few trusted necromancers, all flying Westwards towards Aman.
Auric, drifting in and out of delerium, becomes aware of a blade across his throat. Shocked into alertness, he pushes upwards with all he has left and finds himself confronting the half-orc Jonaz, now Mordante's undead assassin. He draws his elf blade and skewers Jonaz through the heart, pinning him to a stone wall. Erinel comes, alerted by the sounds of combat. Auric points and tells her "here is who was murdering the elves like a dog in the night. Tell the Baroness that her faith in me was justified." He slumps to the ground as his final breath shudders through him. Erinel holds him close as he tries to tell her one final thing, but is forever silenced by the cold hand of Death.
In Umbar, the remaining humans and their kin make for the ships, hoping to catch Mordante before his lead becomes too much. The undead slowly kick back into gear, chasing them down the docks. They make it to the ships, but it is too evident that the undead will be upon them before they can cast off. Kogali turns to Ain-Ain and kisses her gently, asking her to remember him with fondness. Before anybody can stop him, he leaps off the ship and cuts the moorings. As the undead reach the docks he stands alone with both swords drawn and fights in a flashing show of steel and speed, cutting down dozens upon dozens of the living dead and allowing the ships to sail to freedom. Their last sight of Kogali is as he falls beneath wave after wave of undead soldiers, hacking and slaying even as he is rent limb from limb. Ain-Ain and Milo just watch in open-mouthed horror.
end of session
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Session 26
Kalouran's forces follow the trail of carnage to Umbar, which is now in the cold grip of the undead. Erinel, pushed to her breaking point by her friend's demise, insists that they raze Umbar to ensure that the undead threat is destroyed in middle-earth for good. Kalouran is taken aboack by her sudden bloodthirsty attitude, but agrees that there is no other course of action.
The fleet traveling to Aman finds itself unable to go any further than the ruins of Numenor. The wind simply dies and the waters turn still as stone. Most of those on bpard feel a strong chill and the need to go back. Milo, though, feels a powerful force pulling him towards Aman.
In Aman, the plague eagles are sighted. Manwe senses a powerful evil coming and shudders, telling Tark that for the first time in ten thousand years blood will be spilt in the Undying Lands.
On the Umbar ship, Milo is overcome by a fit of madness and he tries to leap over the railing of the ship. He needs to be restrained. Kjartan knocks him silly with a single punch. Ain-Ain reads the hobbit's soul and says that Milo is caught up in the threads of destiny and will die if he cannot complete what Fate has decreed for him.
The elves destroy the undead forces left in Umbar, sending walking corpses fleeing into the shadows of Umbar's undercities. On the docks, they find Kogali's mutilated body. Erinel finds herself beginning to slip into madness, but the white elf tells her that she will need to find her strength for one final battle. Erinel tells her that she never imagined she could feel such loss and devestation, but the white elf tells her that it is simply the way of war. The albino uses dark magics to speak to Kogali from beyond the veil of flesh. kogali's spirit relates what happened with the Army of Three against the forces of the Harbinger. She tells Kogali that he may go to his rest in the arms of Eru, safe in the knowledge that his actions have helped his friends survive and have given the Living the chance they will need against the Darkness. Erinel demands to know where she learned such evil magics. The white elf just tells her that she has done much in her life, both good and ill, and now simply tries to use whatever skills she has to the best advantage of all.
In Aman, Manwe's mages bring down the plague eagles. When they go to where the eagles fell, they see that is is glamour. Tark sees the true plague eagles decending upon the cliffs overlooking Avathar. He shoots an arrow high into the air, alerting the elves to the location of the enemy.
Upon the deck of the Umbar ship, black sails can be seen on the horizon. Kjartan spies the Black Fleet of Umbar, ten strong, coming towards the four vessels commanded by Kjartan's forces. It appears that the undead have caught up with them at last. Prepared to face their doom bravely, they pick up their blades and get ready for a last stand. As the Black Fleet draws close, they see upon the bow of the first ship a tall, sleek elf with the look of Ages upon him and the clothing of a bygone age. Next to him is their old friend Erinel, looking haggard but resolute. The men, dwarves, and hobbits give a great cheer as they realize that their elf allies have come at last!
End of session
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Session 27
Kjartan welcomes the elves and Kalouran swears his peoples allegience to Kjartan and his king. Kalouran invites the mortals to travel to Aman to stand beside their immortal allies in combat. Having been formally invited by a child of the First Age, the humans, dwarves, and hobbits are now free to sail past sunken Numenor. The mighty elf wizards cast magic to give the ships the speed of a shrieking wind.
On Aman, the house of Manwe is under ferocious attack. Tark, clad in an amalgam of elf armor and Gondorian mail, stands at the forefront of Manwe's warriors, hewing through the walking corpses with a look of grim determination.
On the ship, Milo has visions of the Undying Lands becoming a bastion of death.
On the field of battle, Tark finally comes face to face with Mordante, who is uncermoniously dragging a comatose Gandalf. The Red Maw uses his powers to attempt to create an overwhelming fear in Tark, but the man who had returned from beyond the veil of Death is unaffected by the necromancy. Shocked and nervous, Mordante disappears with his captive. The undead forces give Tark a wide berth.
The ships make it to Aman. No sooner do they glide to port than they are attacked by the grotesque plague eagles who drop out of the sky upon the fleet. Ships are destroyed and over 500 warriors disappear beneath the waves forever.
Kjartan and the former elf general Cirion fight back to back in a whirling circle of death and carnage, taking out three gigantic eagles and hundreds of undead. Ain-Ain commands a contingent of elf archers to lay down cover fire as she shatters the blades of their enemies, leaving the undead helpless as dwarf berzerkers tear them limb from limb.
Milo, unnoticed in the great battle, heads straight towards Avathar. Erinel sees him and follows. He tells her that while he was in Angmar, his life had been saved by hobbits who had been his own slain, undead family. He says that he must avenge his family and all the Shire by destroying the Harbinger, even though the attempt would certainly bring about his own death.
end of session
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Session 28: climax (get your minds out of the gutter)
Tark battles earth demons that erupt from the catacombs beneath Manwe's manse. Manwe destroys them in a furious shower of flames.
Milo and Erinel enter the cave containing the Pit of Avathar. Erinel cannot bring herself to enter, but Milo does. In the cave they see the vast pit that extends to the darkest corner of Hell. A stone disc some ten feet in diameter is suspended above the pit by Mordante's magic. Gandalf lays spreadeagled and naked on the stone. Mordante Stands at the lip of the pit as the black energies of Morgoth arise from the Pit of Avathar and begin to enter Gandalf's Istari body, thus allowing Morgoth, the Blackest Evil, to walk the land once more in Istari form. Kalouran enters the cave in full battle gear and charges Mordante. The evil Istari is caught off guard long enough for Milo to leap from the shadows upon the floating slab. Mordante defeats Kalouran with a wave of his hand and wrenches the helm from his head to reveal not Kalouran, but his albino wife in her husband's battle gear. Mordante glares at her in hatred, denouncing her as a traitor against Sauron and Morgoth. He snaps her neck with his hand and leaves her to crumble to the ground.
The remnants of Kjartan's army staves off undead elves, trees, and animals as Mordant'e power begins to infuse the Undying Lands itself. Kjartan, Ain-Ain, Cirion, and Erinel make it into the cave containing the pit. Mordante keeps them all at bay as Morgoth's power enters Gandalf. The Istari stirs and his eyes are the red and black of Morgoth. He sees Milo and grins evilly. Milo has one choice left to him: he stabs Gandalf/Morgoth through the heart as an unearthly shriek tornadoes out from the great pit. The black energies flow out of Gandalf's body and into Milo's, attempting to make the hobbit his new host. In his last second of conscious action, Milo falls backwards into the abyss, slicing his own throat as he falls. Morgoth cannot transfer to a new host in time and is sent back into the Void.
Tark and Manwe arrive the same moment. Manwe floods the pit with the holy light of Eru. AIn-Ain makes it look like there are a dozen Kjartans, allowing the General to get close enough to pin Mordant against the wall. As strong as he is, Kjartan cannot hold the Red Maw. Kalouran, finally freed of his bonds (his wife had knocked him out and tied him up to prevent him from going to his own doom) sees his wife dead at Mordante's feet and in a fit of pure rage rushes towards Mordante with sword drawn. As Kjartan holds him in place, Kalouran cleaves the sorcerer in two bloody halves before he is struck down by his own prophetic curse.
The cave collapses in upon itself as the stone slab containing Gandalf's corpse falls from the air into the pit. The whole chamber drops in temperature to the ice of the Void as all inside run for their lives and souls. Blackness takes the Undying Lands. The survivors, less than 300 out of the nearly 6,000 who traveled to Aman, awaken upon the pristine beaches below the Pelori Mountains. The ominous cave containing the Pit of Avathar has disappeared as if it had never been. The sky is bright and sunny and the birds sing in the morning breeze.
End of session.
Next session: Epilogue and wrap up
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FINAL SESSION
The characters stay in Aman for an unspecified period of time. Kjartan speaks with Legolas and Gimli, both of who fought against the undead, and gives them news concerning their old friend Aragorn's rule. Erinel plays chess with an ancient hobbit and narrowly beats him. The old hobbit rewards her with an autographed copy of There and Back Again as she realizes that it is Bilbo Baggins. In time they leave the Undying Lands, but they are forever changed. The mortals who fought in defense of Aman will find their lifespans significantly lengthened. The elves who return to Middle Earth, very few, find themselves with an aura of majesty that awes most mortals.
They eventually arrive back in Gondor to find that they have been away for nearly 40 years. Aragorn, beginning to weaken with age but still sharp-witted, is saddened to learn of the passing of his old friend Gandalf. For his huge part in organizing the forces of Gondor and acting as the king's representative, Kjartan is made High Envoy of the kingdom, to be treated as if her were an extension of King Elessar himself. Tark is invited to rule in the North as the lord of Fornost, but he declines. Tark takes his leave and disappears from history, at least for awhile.
Erinel and less than 200 elves, all that remain in Middle Earth, settle in Eregion. Erinel, tur to the pact she made with the spirits of the land, becomes the new caretaker of the once great elf wilderness. Cirion, now a soldier without a war, becomes her consort. The mysterious white elf, having survived near certain death by the merest thread, accompanies her kin to Eregion, but choses to live apart,, hiding herself in her sorrow in the dense wild lands. She is named "Engwath" by the other elves, which means "Pale Shadow." It refers both to her albino countenance and enigmatic demeanor as well as the fact that since the death of her husband she has become a mere reflection of the cunning and unstoppable individual that she once was.
Ain-Ain is given stewardship of Isengard to protect it from those who would seek to mine it's knowledge for evil purposes. In time her name is all but forgotten and she is simply known as the Witch of Isengard. She devotes her vastly extended lifespan to learning all of Saruman's secrets, in particular the whereabouts of the two remaining Istari.
The surviving dwarves return to Moria and seal the great gates behind them for all time.
the remaining hobbits settle in Forlindan where they become great sailorsand merchants. the hobbits of Forlindan become known in future generations as the Seawise. Many of the hobbits who once lived in the now wasted Shire settle in the area around Bree, which is fast becoming a major power in the Northlands.
As promised, Aragorn gives the land of Angmar to the Haradin and Rhunites where they build a great Caliphate created when a prince of Harad married an Easterling sultana.
Orc tribes come down from the Grey mountains, fleeing a powerful foe that they wil not speak of. They settle in the lands West of Angmar in Upper Arnor. For many yers there are skirmishes between the outlanders of Angmar, the folk of Fornost, and the orcs. the rangers appear for the first time in generations to patrol the borderlands and keep the orcs or the outlanders from becoming a threat to Elessar's kingdom. Aiding the rangers is a warrior who is known only as the Dead Man, a grim figure who died yet still walked and went on to fight the threat of the Harbinger across middle Earth and into the Undying Lands. He is treated with a superstitious dread by the orcs, who flee at the mere thought that he might be in the vicinity. The people of Fornost and Bree regard him with only slightly less awe and trepedation.
Umbar is now held by the undead and has become a dark and dangerous plae for the folk of gondor. The rangers watch Umbar as well, ready to fight if need be. umbar is ruled by a powerful entity known solely as Vlsotholis, who has made no moves against Gondor either foul or friendly. The creatures of Umbar seem content to rule themselves away from the rest of the kingdoms of Man for now.
And there are times where a lone wanderer has been sighted aross the land from anywhere from Bree, to Gondor, to Eregion, to the Northern Wastes: a small, dark hobbit who's eyes gleam with wisdom like the Istari of old....
Well, that's it. It's over. I feel so drained and a little sad. It's kinda like losing an old friend who you knew would leave one day. In the next few days I will be posting my final thought on how the campaign developed vs. how I thought things would go.
In the meantime, please give me feedback. What did you all think? Did it seem like we captured the spirit of Middle Earth? Was it too combat intensive? What did you think of the characters/NPC's/villains? What did you think of the way it all turned out? Let me know.
Peace.
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Hey, it sounds like it was fun. And with the way you used those names, it seems like things were sticking well together. Anyway someone could put the whole summaries and everything in a nice document file? That'd be great. Yeaaaah.
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I thought it was great. I'm very interested in the mechanics of play, specifically advancement. How fast did you advance the players, and how tough did they get by the end? What is your opinion of the advancement rules (I think they look good, but I've never actually played them so I bow to your superior experience)?
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there's fell, asking for another review :)
I really enjoyed reading it. It was your game summaries that convinced me to purchase a copy of LOTR RPG, which I think is quite smart. So I would say you role played and captured the spirit well.
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So here is my comments.
1) For me the whole point of playing LoTR as opposed to, say, D20 greyhawk is the epic atmosphere. Reading your summaries, i didnt get that feeling a lot. Maybe you were using the combat to bring that across, with the descriptions of locations, both of which have almost negligable impact in the summary format you used. And i could not say how one would bring that feeling across.
2) You did not use too much combat; after all, FoTR is almost a series of connected fights. And with such powerful characters it is to be expected. A question; how did you handle the huuuge armies? Did you just say what was dramatically appropriate, or did you have the characters have a overlarge effect on the battles? Or even play games of the tabletop game to determine the outcome? (You could have used warhammer undead models, with goblin stats).
3) Your posts make me want to go buy the game. But since i have no less than 3 RPG books to finish, and another 3 books to read after that, it aint gonna happen soon.
Good stuff overall. Give us a forum version!
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I have to disagree, Entropy, on most counts.
I think the story was epic, end of the world, fighting nearly unstoppable enemies, interacting with legendary characters... what wasn't epic?
ANd combat. FotR the MOVIE made it seem more like a string of battles, but the book doesn't even come CLOSE to that sort of genre.
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Slant, that campaign rocked!
I wish I could have played in it. It was a sweeping epic that felt very much like LOTR. So many people try to run Middle Earth and somehow miss the mark, but you seem to have nailed it on the head.
Great work.
But now that its ended we won't have anymore write ups to read :'(
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Wow, thanks for all the favorable comments. To try to answer some of your questions:
Entropy, the large scale battles were done in a combination of 3 ways: using a modified version of the old TSR (remember them) Battlesystem, conducting normal LotR skirmishes with small groups or characters and foes and then generalizing the effects to the larger battle, and using common sense as to who had the advantages such as terrain knowledge, fatigue (or lack of fatigue in the case of the undead), or which side was likely to pull off a sweeping mass attack before the other. I also used some Warhammer rules in the larger battles, just 'cause it was a system and concept that we were all familiar with.
Fell, the advancements started slowly with the players gaining one advancement every four sessions or so. once the mass carnage began and the characters were active in actually trying to save the world the play became more dramatic with more risk-taking, and the advancements came quicker; generally every 3 sessions or so. By the end, the characters were all around 12-14 advancements. They were highly skilled, but still far from legendary status. With their increased life spans, they should be able to build on the powerful foundation that they have at this point. It is rather hard to compare player characters to established characters in the books and films. To put things in perspective, Elrond had 150 advancements to Gandalf's mere 66 and Bilbo's almost laughable 10. I think the system worked well and allowed for more complex, multifaceted characters rather than the type that gain set skills and abilities per level.
And now for some of my own thoughts and comments:
The biggest problem I had was with the combat. in the first half of the campaign it wasn't any problem an we actually went for a period of weeks without ANY fighting. The last half though was combat intensive. While I understand that the vast bulk of Tolkein's works involve a series of wars against the Shadow dating back to when Morgoth stole the Silmarils, I have always tried to reward the players who find more indirect ways of dealing with conflict. By the time the major fighting started, all of the characters had already been pretty much fleshed out through role-play, but nearing the end I felt like I was running a game of Warcraft, or even Gauntlet.
Another big problem I had was how to involve major characters such as Aragorn and Gandalf without making them the focus of the game. I think I was able to pull it off, but I still was always a little bit leery whenever one of the "big guns" was directly involved in a scene. Strangely enough, though, i didn't feel that way with Manwe. Although he is, effectively, a demigod, I felt like I was able to play a bit more fast and loose when it came to the strange and mystical Undying Lands as opposed to the more concrete Middle Earth.
Also, following the initial few sessions I already had an idea in my head as to which characters were going to be the big heroes of the campaign. Tamar, with his incredible charisma and leadership skills was a natural. So was Auric, the cool, quiet, resourceful loner who seemed almost like a prototypical adventure hero. Both characters were real focal points in that all of the other characters seemed to respond to and play off them very well. It was harder to do with characters like Ain-Ain and Kogali who definitely did not play well with others. When Alan wanted to quit playing Tamar he said that he loved the character but hated not being able to wade into combat like others could. He ended up with Kjartan, a character who was similar in some ways when it came to leadership and determination, but who was still very much a Conan style character. Alan was quite happy with the switch. Auric's death was a shock for me. I could have wimped out and said that Auric survived, but he took almost 3 times the damage he could have and I allowed him to survive until he could clear his name. He died a very honorable death saving the elf lord. In fact, noe of the deaths were cheap deaths. They were all in character and all helped to advance the plot. The players who lost characters got to play incredibly powerful NPC's such as Kalouran and Cirion, where they got to just cut loose with magic and high levels of combat skill.
I have a few more comments, but let me think a day or so as to how I want to verbalize them.
Peace.
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Okay, so now that the campaign is over, the question is what to do when next we play LotR. I will never run another LotR campaign, simply because I don't think anything else could top what we spent the better part of a year doing. The big question is this: when we play next, do we keep our old characters or start new ones? I am thinking that we should all start over with newbies and let the other, older characters stay in the games as NPC's who have gained legendary status in Middle Earth much the same as Aragorn, Legolas, Bilbo and their ilk. Not only would it make all the characters the same level all over again, but it would give the players the warm, glowy feeling of knowing that their old characters are really "somebodies" in the campaign.
I'm hoping to pick up the Moria boxed set in the near future, so maybe I will start up a new campaign involving all the players as dwarves. Off the top of my head I see the dwarves of Moria having sealed themselves away from the outside world following the war against the Harbinger. One thousand years later, they break the seals and once again enter the lands of Middle Earth, only to find that it is now very..... different. How different? Well, there are no other races but humans. Also, magic is unkown and the humans have developed into a Reneissance society. So where do the dwarves fit in now? Well, we'll see.
Oh, and I have been reading some really cool games lately. If you've yet to pick up the Midnight rpg, I strongly suggest that you do so. It is a wicked cool game with a great setting and loads of new gaming concepts. I've also gotten the Warcraft rpg and it really shines in terms of background, conflict, racial differences, and primitive technology. Mayhaps I will try running one of those games in the near future.
Peace
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yeah, new characters, but I still think you could run it again.
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How about Morgoth vs modern day humanity? Orcs... with shotguns.
And then the Elves sail back...
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I was flipping trough the bargain box at ye olde game shoppe and picked up a handful of stuff for a buck each: Zero, Tank Girl, Maelstorm, Wizards, and the original Hong Kong Action Theatre. Enough gaming juice to keep me up and running until I want to run another LotR game, all for five bucks!!
I am going to put my group through a game of Zero tomorrow night. I decided on Zero because, well, it was the shortest to read and character creation literally takes about two minutes. For those of you who have never seen it before, Zero is a game that takes place in a vast underground society complex of technology run amok. The society is made up of thousands of cybernetically altered humans who are all psionically linked to the all-powerful creator of the complex, Zero, who keeps them all in a state of blissful obediance through the use of a psionic hive-mind state called The Unity. The player characters are all individuals who have somehow become disconnected from The Unity and Zero and thus see the Complex for what it really is: a vast network of dark caves and ominous architechture maintained by mind-controlled slaves. That's the whole premise of the game, folks. Everything else the GM has to come up with on his own. I have an idea that I am kicking around in my head and plan to spring on the players tomorrow. I'll let you all knowhow it goes. I just wanted to kow: Have any of you either ran/played Zero or have you heard anything at all about the game? Since I am essentially walking into it cold, i just wanted some feedback.
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It sounds like a serious version of Paranoia
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Is there a review of Paranoia on the site? Someone I know is bidding on some Paranoia stuff. I think some 2nd edition stuff and some 5th edition stuff. But ya, wheres the review for Paranoia??
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I'll add it to the list. It's an oop game, which is why it hasn't received attention before.
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See? I did add it to the list
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You're gonna review Usagi Yojimbo and Cheapass Games? Woohoo! I bought Usagi years ago when it first came out and enjoyed it immensely. The only negative was that they never supplemented it (except for that ridiculously small Monster book). I played a black rabbit monster hunter called Kuserai Diato who spoke softly but carried a (very) big no-dachi.
Well, we played Zero yesterday and the action was fast and furious. Five cyborgs awoke from the Unity mind in different areas of the Complex and were promptly hunted down by their peers. Little did they suspect that they were actually grafted with much more superior firepower and survival skills than their hunters. They all meet for the first time holed up in one of the Complex data centers and find info that they were all originally created to fight in a war with the Above Grounders that never came about. Their callsigns were Crypt, Morgue, Shroud, Wraith, and Mortis. They learned that they had had a superior called Omega who had been captured by Above Ground insurgents and taken away to a surface lab. The five decide to hunt down Omega to either rescue him or destroy him (since there was some evidence that Omega was a double-agent who had betrayed the Unity in a plan to destroy the Complex). They make it through rows of Unity soldiers, stealing flitter bikes in a race for the upper levels pursued by 600 of Zero's slayers. They finally reach the antechamber with Morgue and Wraith seriously damaged. They seal off the antechamber and open the vault door to the Surface World, only to find a vast, charred wasteland dominated by silent ruins and radioactive skies.....
And that is where I left it. If we ever play again, they will probably discover that their whole Dirty Dozen mission is a set-up.
Oh, and I have started kicking around some ideas for a new LotR game in my head. It is going to be an ambitious story, but not nearly as much as the last one. You can only save the world so many times before it becomes old hat.
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Yeah, actually, I am. It'll be the last of the non-TSR products I own that I've not reviewed. I don't think I'll ever do a review of Star Frontiers, and I dont' think that I'll do a review of D&D 1st or 2nd ed. But there you have it.
Between Jeffe and I we now have about 7 games from Cheapass. We've read and playtested one. I'm thinking we'll do individual reviews, but they'll be short ones, so maybe we'll turn them in 2 or 3 at a time, and they can all be posted on the same day. What do you think Fell?
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What program is that SE?
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I think that sounds like a great idea. And I also think it's just criminal that we live so far from Slant and can't join his RPG group.
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That's just the task list in Outlook XP. Previously I had chafed at using it. I liked the tiered hierarchacal presentation of Corel's Dayplanner better (it allowed for component subtasks), but the dang thing just ATE memory and was unstable as a buffalo balancing on one foot on a soccer ball atop a greased flag pole. My main resignation is eventually to get aroudn to writing my own task list software, and make it presentable in a variety of formats.
But in the mean time I decided that a categorical listing of main subjects would be acceptable. I'd really like to be able to make a list of subtasks: LIke: "read rulebook" "Playtest" and "write review" so I can check them off individually, but I haven't seen anything that does this for free, and since I already have Outlook...
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This Sunday it will be a double header. I will finish up my Zero scenario and Laura will run Tank Girl, which is an old Masterbook game that is kinda like Mad Max as written by Terry Pratchett and Sid Vicious. My character is Bull Duggery. He's a two-fisted, tough-as-iron-tacks stand-up comedian. The other two players will be Hanzo, the unemployed and alcoholic ninja, and Mags, the grizzled, gun-toting ripper (rippers being a mutated cross between humans and kangaroos.
As you can tell, it's gonna be a weird one. I am very thankful that for this one I get to be a player.
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We played Tank Girl this afternoon! Hoody hoo!! It was gobs of fun and I am so thankful that somebody else ran the game for a change. We started out at the edge of the world in a seedy bar that had once been a fallout shelter. We got mixed up in a plot to track down a fabulous (but as of yet unknown) pre-doomsday treasure where we were the only ones with a map to it's location (secretly planted on us by a rogue thief before he got shot to bits by his enemies). We got into this massive barfight trying to get out alive with the map, crunching and trampling our way through professional wrestlers, apocalypse punks, and muppet hitmen (yes, you read that last bit right). All the while, my guy Bull is making an endless string of really bad jokes and puns about the people he is pounding.
Well, we make it out into the badlands and start following the map. Along the way we get caught up in a mutant-hillbilly feud where Mags (our half-man, half-kangaroo) ends up getting caught in a compromising situation with the clan leader's hot daughter. Afther that, they tried to FORCE the girl onto the rival clan (who had been trying to steal her away for a shotgun wedding) rather than keep a girl who might end up with kanga-babies. Somewhere along the way a group of ninja assassins from Hanzo's old outfit show up to kill him for being a drunken disgrace to ninjadom. Bull and Mags whip their guns out, but Hanzo stops them, saying "it is a matter of honor that I fight them alone." He stares at his opposition: 11 or 12 ninja butt-kickers all armed to the teeth with swords and throwing stars. Hanzo gets really quiet for a long second, then looks over his shoulder to his mates and says "Screw it, shoot 'em."
Several preforated ninja later, we come to this hidden valley overrun by two warring biker gangs. One gang prefers Coke, the other Pepsi. They are killing each other off to prove the superiority of their chosen beverages. They'ved been doing this for some ten years now. They've got banners with their drinks logo on it; the whole deal. As their skirmish reaches a climax and they are about to pull out their tac nukes on each other, Bull screams out really really loud "I LIKE MELLO YELLO!!!!!!" All action in the valley literally freezes. In two heartbeats all the Cokians and Pepsites forget their war and join forces to do away with the accursed infidels who dare speak out proclaiming the superiority of the hell-drink Mello Yello. We are chased into the one structure still staning in the valley: an untouched and still intact convenience store. We finally figure out that the convenience store is actually the pre-doomsday treasure that the map was leading us to. Of course now we have a few hundred enraged bikers all trying to break down the plastic doors to get their hands on us. That's where we pretty much left it for the week. It was a LOT of fun. I don't even mind that we didn't have time for Zero.
Have I told you how much I enjoy being a player as opposed to game master?
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Slant you simply must post these as articles because they are just great reading.....
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We played Tank Girl again on Sunday: three outcasts vs. a whole army of bikers. We were holed up in the very last 7-11 on planet Earth. As we were all writing up our last will and testaments, this old guy in a service apron just pops up from behind the counter asking "May I help you" and just freaks the hell out of us. Mags lets loose with a spray of bullets that takes out the slushee machine before calming down. The old guy, an Australian aborigine, says he is the last employee and Keeper of the Sacred Stash. The bikers outside start firing burning arrows into the wall and it is only a matter of time before the store catches fire. Bull finds a display of spinach cans, pops one open, and guzzles it down. The Popeye music plays loudly as Bull roars for the doors to be flung open so he can engage the enemy. Mags opens the door as Bull charges. He takes a flaming arrow in the leg and starts hollering "CLOSE THE DOOR!!!" He slumps down by the magazine rack and pulls the arrow out. He sees behind the rack a long-dessicated skeleton of a little guy with huge forearms dressed in a sailor suit, peppered with a dozen arrows. Guess it didn't work so well for him either.
The bikers surround the 7-11 and begin to set up chain-guns and assault weaponry. Bull and Hanzo get up on the roof and begin picking a few bikers off using shotguns. When they run out of shells, they use stale Twinkies. Mags opens the mail slot and begins firing through that. There are just too many of them. Finally we come up with a plan. We search the refrigeration unit and discover that it holds only a single coke and pepsi bottle. We disconnect the unit and wheel it to the front door so they can all see. Then we turn our guns on the unit. "Let us out of here, or the last bottles of coke and pepsi on planet Earth get it!" They get all wide-eyed and tell us "don't go and do anything crazy now." We slowly open the front door and walk out, holding guns to the unit as we go, and all the bikers part like the Red Sea. When we get to the lip of the valley we turn and notice they are all getting ready to attack us if we don't return their precious soda. Mags kicks the unit down the ledge and it splinters onto the rocky ground, shattering the bottles and sending coka and pepsi everywhere. We hear the mournful wails of the bikers as they try in vain to sop up the remains of the liquid. "Oh, Pepsi, you were too good for this world!" Oh, Coke, we should have appreciated you more when you were still with us. Now it's too late, too laaaaate!"
The last scene of the story has our three heroes sitting in a bar in a dusty little bordertown, haggling over who gets the world's last Slim Jim. Mags was the one who took it from the store before we left, but Hanzo says it was his idea and Bull says he needs meat in order to stay sharp and keep his testosterone up. All three leap up from the table and draw their guns, pointing them at each other's heads like in A Better Tomorrow.
Well, it was a fun ride, and we were smart enough not to take it too seriously. Since we still had some time to kill, we started making up new Lord of the Rings characters! So far the ones we have for certain are a lore-master researching the secrets of the Shadow, a hobbit woman who can drink dwarves and orcs under the table, a woman of Rhun who was once a harem guard in the home of a wealthy man, and the last dwarf in Middle-Earth. Out of thr remaining three, one will likely also be a Hobbit, one a rogue of some sort, and one wants to be something "weird," but hasn't figured out what yet.
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We played out second game of ZERO on Sunday evening. The cyborgs spent a great deal of time hunting through the charred remains of buildings looking for some signs of life, but all was quiet. Then when they started traveling across the pavement they were set upon by the remains of a human strike force, tattered and shabby with ancient jeeps and motorcycles and big guns covered with rust. The humans are no match for the cyborgs. At one point Crypt gets run over by a jeep, then he just stands back up and fires a missile at the retreating jeep and blows it sky high. The cyborgs are eventually halted by sonic weapons that interfere with their mechanical components. The mutant leader tries to pull Shroud's cybernetic armor off, but of course he can't. He pulls so hard that it rips through Shroud's flesh and causes a chain reaction between the flesh and cybernetics. Shroud detonates in a fiery blast, killing the mutant and some 12 other humans. One of the humans tells them that they are devils from hell who have come from the underworld to destroy humanity again.
The mutants are taken to Purgatory, the fortified compound of the remaining humans that looks like a cross between Fort Apache, Castle Frankenstein, and Gulag 13. They find that the sole ruler of the humans is indeed Omega. They tell him that they have come to rescue him from humankind, but Omega tells them that he has no memory of them, despite the fact that they say he was once their commander against the humans. He tells them to join him in crushing Zero. Morgue tells Omega that he is severely damaged from his years of living with the humans. Omega lashes out and punches a hole right through Morgue's chest, destroying him. Omega tells the cyborgs toleave and tell Zero that her time is coming to an end. Humans fill the compound and tell Omega that they can't let the cyborgs leave and that now that they have newer models of cyborgs, Omega is obsolete. They attack all the cyborgs. Omega guns for the humans and the borgs equally.
The three remaining cyborgs use plasma emitters to burn a path through the humans and fly off. Omega shoots at them and wings Wraith. He falls and the other two swoop to save him from destruction. They make it to the ruins of an old carnival where they hide out in the freakshow exibit to plan their next move. They start to think that maybe Omega was released from Zero's mental hold the same as they were, and that maybe it was no accident (ie: Zero purposely released them and maneuvered them so that they would go to the wastelands in search of Omega).
Looks like there will be at least one more session of ZERO at some point down the line.
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Has anybody else gotten the Moria supplement? This thing is incredible! This is going to be the ultimate dungeon crawl.
Oh, and it looks like the last week of October will be the start of the new Lord of the Rings campaign.
I can hear Sauron shaking is his little spiked boots.
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Decipher hasn't sent mine yet...possibly because I'm dragging my feet on reviewing some of their other stuff. I'd better do that, if only for karmic reasons.
I have to admit it looks pretty cool, though.
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Well, there I was...
In the temperate forests that blanketed the rolling hills of the Lock Wood. Our squad was tasked with the infiltration and annihilation of an opposing camp, and to retrieve the highly prized Guide-on of Bravo Company. In the deepest darkness, just before the break of dawn, we moved into position west of their flank. Pulling out our only set of nightvision binoculars we scanned their perimeter looking for the weakest point in the line...
There! The guard who was manning the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon was dosing off. If we could stealthfully eliminate the troops in that fighting position and turn the weapon against their own soldiers we would gain a great tactical advantage, and could possibly eliminate the target without firing a single round of our own.
Snow Fox, our RECON volutneered for the close combat situation. His years of study in Brazilian Jujitsu offering him the advantage over most soldiers in any army. Silently he crept toward the position as we prepared smoke grenades, flash bangs and our M16s, just incase something went wrong. The minutes dragged on and we began to wonder if he had failed in his attempt when, suddenly, from the direction of the machinegun nest came a flash of blue light. It repeated four times more, and we knew that he was succesful. Following his lead we approached the position, realigned the SAW toward the interior of the camp, and began throwing the grenades. Instantly the shouts of confused soldiers raced across the camp. We opened fire with the SAW and heard the blasting of MILES Gear as we cut down the troops who had awakened to the sound of battle. The Fire Team, under the cover of the betraying SAW, crept toward the Guide-on, and created a perimeter around the Sergeants' tent, knowing that they were waiting for us to make our move. I low-crawled to the Guide-on remaining under the cover fire of my comrades, until I had recovered the objective. We then sprang into a full out tactical withdrawl, calling our troops to fall back to the safety of our perimeter.
Success!!!!! We had achieved the objective and confiscated the Guide-on. In addition we took two prisoners and a SAW!!
Aren't WAR GAMES FUN!!!!
Just wanted to let you all know that I am back From FT. Jackson, SC, and what I have been playing for the past few months. I look forward to catching up on all that I have missed.
Good to be home. ;D
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't MILES the laser system for combat training?
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But of course Fell!! We were running drills on various combat scenerios to keep up with those tactics should we be sent into a combat environment. Still, I thought it was a lot of fun playing a glorified version of laser tag.
;D
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Cool, that's what I thought. Just makin' sure.
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Ok. I need some advice from some gaming experts, and I thought this would be the best place to look.
So hears the deal. My friends and I are starting up a d20 campaign in a world of my own design. But I am running into a few concerns and I would like to bounce the ideas off of a few people so that I can get a fresh perspective on the situation before the campaign begins. Here goes...
Noldaerthroll is a fantasy based world that pulls elements from many different fantasy backgrounds. Some of the major events/uniqueness of the world are as follows:
(1) There was a Druid named Yreatius Asheai who, due to his loyalty to the Order, was granted the ability to see 4th Dimensionally. In essence he could view everything from the beginning until the end of time. He learned, through his glorified scrying, that the gods can only manifest their powers on a plane of existence if several things occur:
(a) They have enough faithful followers.
(b) They have an avatar.
(2) He misinturpretted his acquisition of this knowledge as a call from Nature to banish the gods from Nodaerthroll. In order to accomplish this he constructed a series of magic artifacts that, when combined and manipulated, erected a barrier that blocked the gods' connections to their avatar, and, in essence, prevented all the clerics on the world from receiving divine magic.
(3) He then led a crusade against all of the other religous orders, and, with the aid of all those loyal to the druidic faith, destroyed any who would not abandon the gods. During this crusade, the elves and gnomes were slaughtered as they would not abandon their faith. (Naturally there is a more indepth story to what happend, but we can get into that if necessary).
(4) In the end the druidic forces were victorious and the world was rid of the gods. In the time that has passed Yreatias has seen that he has nearly achieved godhood himself and turns his back on nature when he realizes that he violated the balance nature had established eons ago (welcome the first Blighter; see Masters of the Wild).
(5) Since the time that has passed the world has evolved and several new races have come about:
(a) the Fellinoin, a race of feline-like humanoids similar to the captain in Treasure Planet
(b) the Kaynian, a race of evolved Gnolls that are much more intelligent, though smaller in stature to their cousins
(c) the Velacirius, a race very similar in nature to the raptors in Jurasic Park, but averaging 5 feet in height and very high intellect
(d) the ogre race has evolved and is much more intellegent and led by a counsel of ogre magi
(6) Also, as is typical, every race had divided into its own domain. The exception to this is in the city of Five Points where a counsel of mages, known as The Conclave rules a grand magocracy from their College of Wizardry (ala Dragonlance). Five points is the major trade center of the world, and the best way to describe it is Coruscant (from Star Wars) with a fantasy flare.
(7) This is a magic rich environment, and while not completely loved, it is much more accepted than any other world I have yet encountered in fantasy game play. Sorcerers and clerics don't exist and Bards learn and prepare spells as wizards do.
So, what does everyone think? Please feel free to point out any flaws you might see and any recommendations you may have.
Oh I was also told that I should make note that this is pending copyright. One of my friends is trying to get me to write a book about the world. I don't know if it is worthy of that, but I just thought that I would mention it incase it changes anyones opinion. Also, would you please let me know if you think that this is a solid enough foundation to even continue with his, what I see as somewhat ludicrous idea.
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Why are sorcerers gone? Are there any paladins?
Also, what are the concerns you said you had?
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technically, once you've written it down, it's copyrighted, so it's not pending at all.
Ok, i've read it, what sort of feedback do you want?
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Oh, i have a thought. So has this druid guy just replaced the pantheon? So there's a new god?
If so, how is this different besides a different pool of player races?
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ok. Let me see if I can answer some of the questions.
First. As of right now there are no Paladins. They require a deific entity. One could argue that their could be a "druidic paladin" and that was one of the first problems I encountered. How would you alter their spell lists, and class features to fit into a world where the primary "deific entity" is a "neutral" force of nature? Would they be required to maintain a specific alignment? How would that impact their powers? and the list goes on and on. Any advice regarding how this class is impacted by the lack of gods would be nice, and how, if possible, they could be worked into the game mechanics.
Second. Sorcerers. I suppose I misspoke when I said that they do not exist. It would be realatively easy to incorporate them into the world. The main reason as to why I was heading in the direction of excluding them is that the College of Wizardry hunts down and subdues/kills any mage who does not eventually take the Trials (see Dragonlance). A group of sorcerers would not require the study of that which is necessitated by the wizards, and could come to rival them in power. Perhaps this would be an excellent story addition, but it would alter the focus of magic that I wished to pursue, that being that anyone could learn magic if they choose to study it. The only thing hindering them would be their mental attributes (aka int score). If you add in Sorcerers you run across the problem of those who need little to no Int. and who don't actually learn anything. It is more an innate ability.
Any thoughts on this?
Third. Yreatius has not achieved godhood, yet. And he has turned his back on the source of his mystical power (see the Blighter Pres. Class in Masters of the Wild). So, as far as I see it, there still are no gods except Nature (aka the power that grants Druids their divine gifts).
The big hitch is this. When someone dies, instead of their souls traveling to a "happy little afterlife," they are banished to a void and their souls eventually degrade into nothingness. Unless you are a follower of the Druidic Faith. This places druids in a role that I don't believe they have ever been placed in...that of the "all powerful religious sect" and, as Nature itself has both creative and destructive forces, so too does the Druidic Faith.
One of the major conflicts that I predict happening, though I am not sure as the group is still in the character generation process, is that the group, knowing what I do of them as players, are going to have a problem with their characters loosing their souls, and are going to, eventually, desire the acquisition of the artifacts used to manipulate the Barrier that blocks the gods access to the realm, and use that as a bargaining chip to gain immortality and/or deific status themselves. As of right now the three who have expressed an interest in the game have desired to play wizards, one as a fellinoin, one as a Velacirius, and one as a minotaur.
I don't know if this has sparked any thoughts on the wy the game mechanics will be adjusted by the total lack of deities, or if I am just worrying more than I should. In any event. Does this seem as though it will function as a storyline for the campaign? Do the limitations on classes make sense, and/or how should those limitations be altered and why? Is the plot to simplistic in it's nature to be a provocative storyline? If they all end up playing wizards will that be too restrictive in combat/mechanics/plot? Etc.
Those are some of the concerns that I have thought of, and I would just like a few people who haven't spent the last few months in the creation process to offer some insite into the general workings of the campaign/story.
Thanks for all of your help.
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Ok, here's what I think.
Sorcerers are hard to call. Is anyone bucking to be a sorcerer? if not, you don't even need to consider it, just leave it out. If so, you should consider letting them be it, and make that a major element of the game -- he could be a freak as far as ability goes, and so the Wizards want to hunt him down a la Planet of the Apes.
Sounds like the artifact is a great over all campaign plot device. Use it.
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Thanks SE...
No body is bucking to play a sorcerer, and I agreed with you as far as not worrying about that aspect because it wasn't of immediate concern. Do you see any problems with the whole "Deific System" for lack of a better term, and how Yreatius plays into the scenerio?
What about the whole paladin issue? any thoughts on that?
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I guess I want to understand better how/if non-druid clerics work. Is the druid the only "healer" of the campaign? I think that works fine. Mostly be consistent. If there are no paladins, there are no clerics, and vice versa.
On the other hand, it'd be intriguing to have a paladin (but no cleric) who gains some powers by force of will alone, trying to restore the worship of the other gods. They obviously wouldn't be the same, so you'd have to come up with a new class progression (or at least alter the existing one), but I think it'd be worth it.
also, how much is this Yreatius going to be involved with the players and events in the campaign world? Right now it sounds like he's leaving it more and more as he gets more powerful.
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Ok. Let me see if I can help with the Yreatius thing. He has pretty much turned his back on the Druidic Order at this point in his life because he feels slighted by Nature for causing him to almost become the very thing that he was trying to banish from Noldaerthroll. So, for the most part, he will take a back seat to the events of the world, as you have predicted, until such time as someone (most likely the players' characters) threaten to destroy/alter the barrier that prevents the gods from manifesting. Naturally he will send his underlings and allies (see lackeys) to dissuade our, what looks to be somewhat self-centered/"shadowy" heroes, and depending on his lackeys success, may become directly involved in preventing the PCs from acheiving their goal.
But what must also be considered is that the current leaders of the Druidic Order see Yreatius Asheai as a "fallen prophet" and have been trying to find and eliminate him for some time. However, they still desire the lack of deities that Yreatius has created through creating the barrier. I feel that this will offer an interesting conflict if the players, infact, attempt to gather the articats used to manipulate the barrier because the characters will possibly face an assault from both sides. Will this reunite Yreatius with the Order? Will the Order use the PCs to aid in destroying Yreatius? If the Order does manipulate the PC's how far should they manipulate them and what does that say about the heads of the order themselves? How soon should I allow the PC's to become aware of the manipulation if this is the scenerio that I take? Etc.
Any additional thoughts?
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I think there's a theme layer you can add here: that the gods are PART of the natural order and balance, adn that the world is suffering because of their exclusion. The druids are missing all this, and are blaming Yreatius or the PCs or whatever. Yreatius on the other hand may or may not have realized this. If he has, then there obviously has to be some reason why he hasn't used the artifact to bring the gods back. If he hasn't, then he has to be convinced.
I think most of those questions you asked though need to be answered based on what you know about your players and what all of you would enjoy. However, just for plot satisfaction, there isn't much reason for Yreatius to have parted from the order if he's just going to go back unless you coordinate it exceptionally well, building up by confronting them separately, and then when the PCs are strong enough to face either down, having them team up.
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Hey Nicadymus, glad you survived. Have you read the new D20 Dragonlance book? (http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=535) It deals with a lot of the questions you've got like there being no gods (during 2 different time periods) or Paldins. What they do is have a set of perstege classes (knights of Solomina) that make up the Paladin then take it farther. Or you can change the Ranger around a bit to make it a nature paladin.
If you do write up the setting (which I hope you do because I know how fun your stuff is) if you can't sell it to a publisher you can allwayse sell it in PDF form on www.rpgnow.com.
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Oh just had another idea for the Paladin. Normaly they're hybrid clerics, so why not makethem a hybrid druid. So what's the druids cool power? Shape Shifting. So why not make your Paladins into a Lycantrop type character? Not that they're actualy werewolfs but they can shapchance into a hybrid animal (ie half human half animal) based off their totem animal. You should make their hybrid form more powerful as their level goes up so that the human form dosen't become better.
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Ok. SE... The reason why Yreatius hasn't returned to the Druidic Order is because he is a Blighter, the antithesis of Druids in many respects. The best way to understand what this means is to look to the Masters of the Wild book for 3.0, if you don't have access to it I will try to sum up the problem. Yreatius hasn't brought the gods back because he no longer understands the balance of Nature. His views are warped because of the fact that Nature nearly made him a diety, the very thing that he was trying to eliminate, as Nature attempted to restore the balance. When he realized what was happening he exiled himself in attempt to prevent his assention to godhood, for without "followers" he can't achieve that status. One thing that has perplexed him, and has been a motivation for him to prevent the return of the gods, can be seen in his deforestation (blighter class feature). In order to have any of his Blighter Spell Powers Yreatius, himself, must travel to lush green lands and "deforest" them as per the class feature, but despite the destruction he creates, the plants always find a way to grow back...in time. And, given the fact that he has the Druid class feature of Timeless Body, he has been around long enough to see the lands recover. So he realizes that no matter what he does Nature will inevitably restore the balance, and allow the gods to be recovered. This realization has slighted him and driven him, at least a little, mad. He believes that if he doesn't stay vigilent in his zealot belief that this world must not have a diety in order to bring about the completeness of nature, he looses the final aspect of himself. And Nature will have been victorious. But if he can continue to disrupt the balance he still has a reason to exist and nature does not have complete control over his destiny, the very thing which a Blighter attempts to fight against despite their realization of the same.
I don't know if this makes any sense or not, but, then again, how do you make sense of the thoughts of someone who is insane? Any further thoughts on this?
Spriggan... I have only glanced at the Dragonlance campaign setting, unfortunately. But I am also trying to take only what I need in order to create the realm of Noldaerthroll. The thought of altering the Ranger class to create a Druidic/Nature paladin did cross my mind, but I was having trouble deciding how to alter the classes to make them work. If you could offer me some more input on the whole idea you had with the wild shape modification I would appreciate it...because that opens up the idea of how my new races came to be...eventually the druidic paladins psuedo-wild shape becomes permanent, and the new races (Fellinoin, Kaynian, and Velacirius) were formed when groups of these paladins left after the end of the wars that eliminated the clerics and paladins of the gods. Let me know if that idea will work, and what else you were thinking regarding the modifications to the paladin class. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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I don't think you necessarily need paladins in this world, but the way you've tied the wild shape idea into your background is pretty cool. I agree with Spriggan--a paladin is just a combat version of a cleric, so turn your paladins into combat versions of the druid. Arguably that's what the Barbarian already is, but the wild shape idea is cooler.
Based on 3.5, here's my recommendation. Keep the basic Paladin class, but toss out Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil, Lay on Hands, Turn Undead, and Remove Disease. Let them use the Druid spell list, and give them Wild Empathy, Woodland Stride, Trackless Step, and Wild Shape, all at the same levels the druid gets them at. Does that sound balanced?
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That actually sounds like a good idea Fell. I will look things over and see if it works. The one question that I still have is what about an alignment restriction? Will they have to be true neutral, or just maintain an element of neutrality as the Druid does?
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I'd be inclined to leave it more open. But that's partially because I dislike alignment anyway
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I just got the "Book of Exalted Deeds" in the mail, and there's a prestige class that's almost a perfect paladin/barbarian mix. That's the route we didn't take, of course, but it's still pretty interesting.
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Hey Fell which prestige class was it? I will borrow Exalted from a friend and look it over, but I still think that I like the wild shape idea, so I am not going to throw it out until I can make a comparison between the two.
And there is nothing stating that there has to be only one style of paladin, so maybe both exist? It would help in bringing some variety back to the divine spellcasting side of the house since we did nix both the cleric and the original paladin.
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We played The Lord of the Rings last night!!! This just might be just as kick-butt as our last LotR campaign even. Here's the rundown on chapter 1 (I haven't named the campaign yet):
Soros the Bleak, a scholar studying under the Witch of Isengard arrives in Bree. He bears a sealed letter that was given to him by the Witch to be delivered in Fornost, where he is travelling to. As night falls and he is looking for an inn, he is accosted by strange creatures: orcish, but ghastly pale with empty eye sockets. He is dragged into an alley and weapons are drawn. He fends them off for a few seconds, but is overwhelmed. Alerted by the noise, a fiery-haired pretty hobbit girl comes out of the inn brandishing a heavy tankard. She throws it at one of them, knocking him silly. The creatures clamber up the walls of the alley and are gone from sight within seconds. The girl is Cyan Cullin, a friend of Soros' who had been worried when he did not show up at the inn when expected. Soros, angered by the attack, tracks the creatures by the symbol painted on the hoods of their cloaks. He askes all around the city until late at night. Cyan goes with him to keep him from getting his throat slit.
In a horribly seedy dive called The Brazen Sword, he spies somebody wearing an identical cloak. The person is an emaciated begger, sunken eyed and gaunt faced, who is being set upon by a feral looking dwarf. The dwarf is having angry words with the begger, whom he calls "orc-scum," while the gaunt man is trying to calm him down and draw attention away from himself. Cyan intervenes and probably saves the life of the seedy begger, who is named Kouglar. THe dwarf refuses to give his name.
Kouglar tells Soros that he found the cloak outside of town and took it to keep warm. He tells Soros he will show him where he found it, for a price. The dwarf offers to go with them, saying he will be happy just to vent his rage on something. Kouglar leads them to an ancient, crumbling ruin outside of Bree that was once a lodge. He tells the others that sometimes he comes here to be alone and drink in peace. Soros discovers an area of floor recently moved away. They decend into labrynthine dungeons and discover a large room that was once a holding area for local criminals, but is now something darker. It is now piled high with bones. On a table they find documents written in what Soros recognizes immediately as Black Speech. The only rune that he can make out clearly is the sigil for Ellesar.
The blind orc-things return, scampering down the walls of the chamber like dozens of spiders. They blow out a black powder that makes the heroes choke and start to black out, even as they fight for their lives. Soros wraps his scarf across his nose and mouth, gaining a few good hits in against the creatures. Suddenly, a high pitched keening whistle pierces the chamber. The creatures shriek in pain, covering their ears. They flee up the walls as a new figure enters with a silver whistle. It is Kestral Brokksmere, known as "Kes," who is Cyan's adopted brother (his own parents dead by disease years ago). Kes, a rare hobbitish warrior who had fought many campaigns against orc-kin, says the creatures were "uruk ungol," and that they are considered a bane even to other orcs. He knows little else about them. Soros suggests that they travel to the nearby new Orc land West of Fornost to learn more about them. The dwarf howls in rage and blatently refuses. Soros says he is traveling to Fornost anyway and plans to stop by the Orc land at any rate, even if they do not come with him. Cyan says she will travel with him to keep him out of trouble. Kes agrees as well. Kouglar appreciates Soros being kind to him and Cyan keeping the dwarf from harming him, so he agrees to help in any way he can. The dwarf remains undecided.
End of chapter 1.
For those of you who keep track, the first campaign started in 4A: 39. This one begins in 4A: 88.
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Sounds megacool slant.
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Lord of the Rings, session 2
The group makes plans to travel to Fornost to deliver Soros' letter, and then to the Orc bastion of Grond for information on what the uruk ungol are doing in Bree. They bond over pints at the Prancing Pony. THe dwarf says he is called "Snaga," which is the orc word for "Slave." He says that he had been enslaved by orcs since he was an infant and forced to fight wild beasts and rogue trolls in their fighting pits. He eventually poisoned the orcs well and escaped captivity as an adult. Since then he has been living in the wild, hunting lone orcs. He eyes Kouglar darkly. Cyan gets into a drinking contest with a band of Harad merchants and procedes to drink them under the table. She tells the others that Harad do not drink in their own lands due to their holy beliefs.
Soros recalls his apprenticeship to the Witch of Isengard, fro his days as an orphan at the monastery to his calling to study the forces of Shadow with the Witch. He says that he is in training to see the signs of the Shadow and evil magics and how to fight against it. Kouglar smiles knowingly, saying that he finds it ironic that the Witch of Isengard is training a witch hunter.
The next morning they travel out of Bree through what was once Hobbit land. Kes reveals that both of his grandparents fought against the armies of the Red Maw two generations back and were slain, leaving both his parents orphaned. His own parents died of plague when he was very young, leaving him orphaned as well. Cyan hugs him and tells him that she will never lket him be alone.
They arrive in Fornost unmolested. The city is preparing for the Festival of the Wind, their yearly celebration of life and the harvest. The big news is that the Prince of the Realm, Elessar's heir, is in Fornost to sign an agreement that will bind Elessar's kingdom to the Easterlings, Harad, and Orcs as brothers and allies. The city of Fornost is filled with the dark and dusky desert tribes as well as the men of Arnor.
A messenger bearing the sigil of Gondor approaches the group soon after they arrive and register. He hands Soros an official looking scroll. Soros is very surprised. The guide takes them to the Silver Crescent Inn, one of the finest in the city. It is elaborate and elegant, and Soros is given a luxurious suite. His friends are also given rooms. Soros is told that he is invited to the Festivel of the Wind in three days time. His friends are also allowed, all at the behest of the Witch of Isengard. As they settle in, Kouglar becomes increasingly uncomfortable. He tells the others that he has been living in the gutters and shadows for as far back as he can remember and he feels very out of place amid such opulence. He takes his leave of his friends and disappears to Strangerside.
That evening, Kouglar wanders the seamy streets of Strangerside and comes across a young boy, obviously lost, calling for his parents. He feels an overwhelming desire to snatch the boy away and murder him. He fights against the crippling urges, running deep into the mazelike back allys of Strangerside.
End of session.
This was a good role-playing session where we got to find out some backstory from each of the characters.
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Nicadymus, sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. The class I was referring to is the "something or other of Gwynharwyf," I don't remember the first word. All of the classes in the book, though, are essentially cleric/paladin versions of other classes. I'll be reviewing that book sometime this week.
Slant, I finally got the Moria supplement from Decipher and all I can say is hot holy crap. That is a seriously nice box set. I remember you were talking about it before--do you have it or were you just lusting after it?
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Yes, I have it. It is cool. The world's largest dungeon crawl. I'm trying to find a way to incorporate into my newest campaign, but since all the dwarves of Moria basically sealed their gates for all time and are considered non-existent in Arda at this point (with a possible handful of exceptions), it is going to be hard.
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The class I was referring to is the "something or other of Gwynharwyf," I don't remember the first word.
That would be the Champion of Gwynharwyf. It is essentially the barbarian's version of the Holy Liberator from Defenders of the Faith (Holy Lib being the chaotic good version of paladin). Has Rage and Damage Reduction replace Turn Undead and Celestial Companion, otherwise almost identical abilities.
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Session 3
A courier comes to the inn with Gondorian finery for Soros to wear. He disdains the colorful elegant clothing, preferring his own simple and dark togs. He does take a long black coat with silver brocade, though. Snaga is offered clothing, but says that such soft gear is mrerely for weaklings to make them feel important.
Kes and Cyan travel to Strangerside to look for Kouglar and are surprised to meet their Uncle Einar, and aging hobbit who is the brother of Cyan's father and the one who unofficually adopted both her and Kes. Having a shady past, he tells them that he cannpt say why he is here in case there are ears within the walls. He shows them a number of tiny safe-houses he has in the area in case they should ever need them. They find Kouglar unconscious amidst a trash heap. He has blood on his hands, but they do not notice (or at least Kes and Cyan don't). When awake, he recognizes the old hobbit and asks what Slip'ry Einar is going so far from Bree. Einar dismisses it, saying his days of suspicious activity are long in his youth. Kes asks how Kouglar and Einar know each other, and is met with an uncomfortable silence.
Later in the day, Kouglar tells Soros that he feels he is under a dark enchantment and asks Soros to use any magic he might have to discern the nature of it. Soros cannot find any type of enchantment on him.
There is a terrible commotion in the street. A band of orcs and a unit of Harad mercenaries are battling in the streets. Blood is drawn as a Harad falls. The battle erupts. Citizens of the kingdom egg both sides on. Snaga grabs his axes and rushed to hack some orc, but Soros and Kouglar stop him from getting involved. Kes says they have to try to break up the fracas in case it brings a heavy shadow upon the ceremony in the morning. He and Cyan rush to try to calm the participants. Cyan is knocked over by a burly Harad. She gets back up, goes over and uppercuts the big warrior in the groin, discovering one area the desert warriors keep unarmored. The crowds part as a dozen Gondorian soldiers move towards the melee. At their head is a huge, battle-scarred man, standing head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd. He speaks sharply to both the orcs and the Harad in their own tongues. They stand down. Kouglar and Einar both hasten to make themselves scarce as men wearing the royal livery of Elessar begin to fill the street. Soros turns to Kouglar and points at the retreating figure of the giant, saying that he thinks that this is the person the Witch sent him to contact.
End of (quite short) session
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Session 4
There are grumblings in Fornost about the orcs and Harad in the city. A Rhunite procurer tries to stir up trouble saying that the Westrons are morally loose and should all learn the discipline of the lash. Many take offense at this, but the Rhunite has several large bodyguards. Kouglar quietly asks the procurer how HE would feel under the lash, postulating that he would cry like a little girl. The procurer turns scrlet and orders his top bodyguard, a slim, steely fellow covered in robes and a hood, to teach Kouglar a lesson. He steps forward. When Kouglar does nothing but stare back cooly, the bodyguard steps back.
The festival begins. It is a beautiful day. Farmers all offer up a part of their crops to help feed the city. The characters see the Prince, Eldarion, talking to the huge man from the night before. Kes asks Soros who he is. Soros says he is known as the Hound of Elessar and his name is Kjartan. Soros goes to speak with him just as Kjartan is finishing talking with a pallid, sepulchral looking man dressed in a suit of Gondorian armor not used for nearly a century back. Einar is using the festival as a way to talk to several highly influential landowners concerning a way to protect them from the rising threat of crime in Fornost. Soros meets with Kjartan and gives him the sealed scroll from the Witch of Isengard. Kjartan offers to teach Soros a thing or two about a blade. Soros asks if Kjartan is really as old as the stories say. Kjartan laughs and mutters something vague.
A Gondorian soldier rushes to Kjartan and tells him something. The Hound of Elessar cries out and departs swiftly. Soros rushes after him. They go to Eldarion's chambers and find the crown prince dead from a slit throat. The sigil of the Rhunic god of destruction is carved into his forhead. Kjartan explodes. The guards swear nobody came in or out of his rooms. Einar, entering quietly, notes the rain grate just over the fountain in the antechamber of the prince's suite. Even though the chambers are four stories up, it is the only way anybody could have entered.
Soros advises Kjartan to tell the crowds that the king is ill and the prince needed to attend his father and so left the festivel quickly. As the Gondorians try to calm the crowd, an anonymous voice rings out that the prince has been murdered by a Rhunite slaymaster. Hysteria.
Cyan spots a masked Rhunite skulking in the shadows. In seconds a dozen well armed warriors are chasing the figure through the city, including Snaga, Kes, and the Rhunite bodyguard. They chase the suspect beyond the city gates where he has been met by other cloaked Easterlings. The Rhunites fight with mighty bows and poisoned arrows. The Rhun bodyguard remarks that these are not actually Rhunites they are figting, as the tactics and weapons are all wrong. The false-Easterlings are slain after a pitched battle. They are unmasked and turn out to be those strange Uruk-Ungol.
In Fornost, Kouglar discovers a bloody dagger in his boot with no idea how it got there.
End of session. This one had a lot of stuff happening, unlike the last two.
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FYI
Slants first LOTR Gaming summary is 28 pages in Microsoft word.
My my my.
So thanks to him I bought LOTR RPG.
More thanks to him I have an Idea of how to weild it.
could be great fun.
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Glad you liked it, Doc :)
And just so you all know, my LotR campaign has not died off (as you may have thought since I have not posted any updates for nearly a month). My wife was ill, then the holidays came with all the madness that they entail, so I have not had a chance to get online much or game as often. We HAVE played two more sessions since last I posted and will be doing another within a week, which will bring the game up to it's 7th session. An update IS coming soon.
Also, I have been working, at the behest of a mate of mine, on a rpg that is intended to introduce young children (aged 6-10 or thereabouts) to the hobby. The game, a very simple superhero one, is at this stage just called HERO. I have run three sessions with 3-4 children playing at each session. They are having a lot of fun, but it appears that time is a major factor in the success of the game. Unlike with adults, I have found that a HERO session can't go for more than 90 minutes at the very, very most.
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I'd love to see that, Slant. But you'll need a new name. There's already a HERO system out there. Call it "Be a Hero" or "Super" or something
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It obviously isn't the Hero System. They call their games FANTASY HERO or STAR HERO or whatnot, as opposed to just HERO. I can't call it SUPER HERO because DC Comics owns the copyright to that phrase. Anyhow, HERO is just a working title for the time being. It will be a long time (if ever) before we have to worry about an official name. Right now we are doing it more for fun than anything else.
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actually, the big main book is "Hero, 5th Edition."
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Lord of the RIngs game, sessions 5-9
This is a bit of a hasty write up for the five sessions we did before I got hurt. I'll probably split the text up into a few posts since there seems to be a limit of how much you are allowed to type in, buuut, here goes:
(deep breath)
Kjartan tries to avoid alerting the city that the prince is dead. He asks for secret volunteers to go to the orc lands. The Easterling bodyguard removes the helmet to reveal a dark, beautiful woman named Kiri Ani. She joins the party. THey travel to the newly created orc city and are repelled by the orc warriors. The orcs are convinced by a female elf who is residing amongst their culture to allow the party to parley. She shares knowledge that the uruk ungol are not natural orcs, but were bred elsewhere. SHe says they were first encountered in Eregion. The orc leader says that since they allowed the party access to the information, they must do a service to the orcs. They are asked to transport several cargo wagons to a Rhunite caliph. It is not until they are already on the way with the wagons and an orcish contigent that they discover that the cargo consists of human slaves. Kiri ANi, the former bodyguard of a slaver, already figured it out. There is an argument with the orcs, but the orc guard captain reminds them of their oath. That night all sleep, but several orcs are found dead the next morning with their throats cut. Nobody admits to it.
Days pass and bandits arise from the desert to attack the caravan. THey attack the party as well as the orcs. Kalis, the orc captain, saves the lives of the badly wounded Soros and Snaga. Afterwards, the bandits are all slain and burned as the orcs rejoice. It is not long after this that the caravan is attacked by vengeful desert spirits. Kira Ani and Soros have magic that allows them to fight the spirits by rendering them flesh and blood, but there are far too many of them, and the party and the orcs are already sorely wounded. Einar tells Kalis that the only chance of survival is to release and arm the slaves. It is done, and the spirits are driven off, although many of the defenders are slain. THat night, Einar discovers a strange leathery egg not far from where the caravan camps. He shares the discovery with Kouglar (the other party sneak) and they decide to have it identified as soon as they can without telling anybody else.
That night, several humans die mysteriously. Again, the killer cannot be identified.
The caravan becomes lost in the desert for several weeks. Finally, they are discovered by outriders of the Rhunite Caliph, Arahaiz. They are none too happy to see the slaves freed and armed. Nontheless, Kalis demands to be taken to Arahaiz, having lived up to his end of the deal. As they travel, several orcs accuse Snaga of being the one to have killed the sleeping orcs some weeks past. Snaga denies it violently. Kouglar defends the dwarf.
They finally meet Arahaiz. Kalis comes on like a ton of bricks with his arrogance and demands. Kiri Ani, well versed in such things, smooths things over with the Caliph. The slaves make a deal with Arahaiz through Einar's negotiations. They will act as sort-of janissaries for the Caliph, swearing loyalty as a first-strike military unit in exchange for a position in Easterling society (ie: we will take the risks of certain death if we can have a good life before we have to do so). Arahaiz is interested in the idea, and accepts after discussing it with his wise men, Einar, and Soros.
That night, Arahaiz' eldest son is slain with a cut throat. Angrily he blames Kalis, causing the orc to rage. Both Kes and Cyan know that he could not have been the culprit as he was with them at the time. Snaga and Kes find themselves in the unlikely position of protecting the orc from the blades of the Caliph's soldiers. Kalis and his orcs disappear back into the desert. Arahaiz declares war on all orc-kind. Soros plans to go into the desert to find the orcs, but a soldier tells him that the Old Man of the Desert will slay the evil creatures.
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sessions 5-9, part II
They go into the desert, even though Cyan brings up that they SHOULD be headed to Eregian. In the desert they find signs of a great battle with dozens of dead orcs, but no humans. An orc survivor, seconds from oblivion, tells them that Kalis is headed back to the orc lands to declare a bloody vendetta against the weak and treacherous Rhunites. The dying orc mentions that there are vast orc clans still in the northlands beyond the mountains who will seek vengeance if Kalis asks them.
They are taken by force back to the Caliph. Arahaiz puts Kes and Snaga on trial for defending Kalis' life. Soros bursts in and uses his powers to give him an intimidating, godly aura. He berates the Caliph and his judges, allowing the party to escape unmolested. Following this, the group splits: Soros, Einar, and Cyan go to the humanlands. Kouglar, Kiri Ani, Kes, and Snaga to Eregion.
Soros, Einar, and Cyan are caught in a desert storm of arcane origin and seek refuge in a long forgotten tomb. Einar takes the opportunity to educate his colleages about the finer points of trap detection and removal. They navigate their way through a deadly maze and face the wraith of an ancient king who grants them the answer to a single question. Soros asks "why was the son of Elessar slain?" The answer is obvious: to provoke a war between humanity and orc-kind. He asks who wants to spark the war and why, but the wriath says he has used up his question and vanishes.
(there is more, but I am out of here for right now: will type the rest of our adventures to date later)
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sessions 5-9, part III
Kes and company arrive at the northern capitol, exhausted and dehydrated. They discover that Kjartan had left for Gondor over a month ago (time flies when you are lost in the desert). The word is out that the prince has been slain. The entire kingdom is in mourning and fearful of what the king will do. Kiri Ani goes to the governor and warns him about the orc armies in the northlands. Kouglar realises that if the orcs in the mountains and the orcs in the orc cities combine, they will surround and crush the northern capitol with ease.
Soros and the hobbitses (naaaassssssty hobbitses) travel through dark lands to Eregian, outwitting a troll and destroying a dark alter left over from the days of Melkor along the way. Eregion has grown dark and dangerous over time. Soros leads them unfailingly to the single elf bastion of Hallowglade, where they are greeted by the regent Cirion and the albino known as Pale Shadow. They learn from the elves that there are two elf communites left in Middle Earth: Hallowglade and Rivendell.
Pale Shadow recalls the uruk ungol from her days as a thief and assassin a thousand years past. She recounts how they were created by Sauron (boo, hiss) in the Second Age to act as assassins, but their cruelty made them unreliable and difficult to control. Pale Shadow herself served both sides of the war in hunting down and exterminating the majority of them. The few hundred that remained were locked forever beneath the earth by the elves of Eregion. She tells Soros that the uruk ungol worshipped the foul Ungoliant as their Dark Lady, forswearing Sauron, who had abandoned and sought to obliterate them.
Kes wonders if the uruk ungol are still beneath Eregion.
Snaga hefts his axe and suggests some underground orc-bashing. Kouglar looks at the pair of them and tells them that they are out of their minds. They stay at Hallowglade to rest and heal. Kes and Snaga are taught combat tricks by Cirion, once the general of Kalouran's vast armies. Pale Shadow teaches Kpuglar much about poisons and subterfuge ("scouting tricks" she calls them, although the name is a bot of a sugar coating). Kiri Ani has an interlude with a handsome young elf hunter that leaves her in a very agreeable mood indeed.
END OF BOOK I
Aaaand that's about where we left off; we will soon pick up again. Just wait until you see who is behind all this!
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my money's on Saruman
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Good call on Saruman, but with all the throwback to the old campaign...
Umbar is ruled by a powerful entity known solely as Vlsotholis
And there are times where a lone wanderer has been sighted aross the land from anywhere from Bree, to Gondor, to Eregion, to the Northern Wastes: a small, dark hobbit who's eyes gleam with wisdom like the Istari of old....
my guess is she/he/it is somewhere in there also.
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oh, even better call. Guess I need to go back and re-read old Slant-posts.
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Hey everybody. I was thinking of starting a Star Wars campaign back home and had the following plot line come to mind. It is set in the Old Republic in a distant sector of the Outer Rim called Dryyhihtahn's Terminus, a galaxky bordering a vast nebula. Please let me know what you think...
General Lysius is the leader of the Diyllfigan Expeditionary Forces. Under his command the Diyllfigan military has begun to invade backwater worlds and rape the conquered planets of their natural resources. Lysius is a brilliant strategist who employs blitzkrieg tactics to overrun his opponent's defenses. Given enough time and resources he could eventually conquer the entire sector.
Lysius is being advised motivated, and supplied by a shadowy figure known as Fnilryc.
Fnilryc (a.k.a. Feneric Kalt Tatom) is the leader of an anti-republic terrorist cell known as ARTiC. ARTiC's sole purpose is to prevent Dryyhihtahn's Terminus from joining the Republic. Fnilryc has recruited most of the members of ARTiC by convincing them that the Republic is a cancerous corpse, infected with corruption, which will soon consume itself in civil war. Fnilryc claims that Dryyhihtahn's Terminus would be better off remaining an independent sector, free from the bureaucratic mire that is the Republic. Many within the Terminus share Fnilryc's philosophy.
Currently Fnilryc is using General Lysius and the Diyllfigan Expeditionary Forces to disrupt diplomatic relations between the leaders of Dryyhihtahn’s Terminus and the Republic's ambassadors. In fact, it was Fnilryc's idea to allow General Lysius to be captured in hopes that a feud would develop over the venue where General Lysius should be tried for his crimes. Fnilryc's plan is working perfectly thus far.
Fnilryc's next tactical move is to attempt to aid in General Lysius's escape, or at the very least, have him assassinated. Fnilryc has recruited Widdoc Blyyt, the most infamous assassin in the Terminus, to accomplish this task. If Widdoc Blyyt is successful in the attempt, Fnilryc will use the publicity to mar the name of the Jedi Knights, who are to be guarding General Lysius, and, thereby, the Republic to further the recruiting effort, while simultaneously attempting to disintegrate the already tentative diplomatic negotiations.
Fnilryc and ARTiC are being secretly funded by a high-tech corporation known as Metacot Sensory, the Terminus's leader in starship sensor and droid component research and development. The Metacot Sensory has a hidden research and development facility where illegal research and development into starship cloaking devices, modified starship hull plating, advanced starship slave circuitry, and starship weapons enhancements and augmentation is being conducted. The products designed and constructed within this facility are sold on the black market for an extreme profit. It is the profits from these illegal sales that go towards funding ARTiC.
Metacot Sensory's CEO is Rene Scosy, a strikingly beautiful, charismatic, and filthy rich business woman. She is a pillar of commerce in the Terminus, and has been using her influence as the CEO of Metacot to push for the incorporation of Dryyhihtahn's Terminus into the Republic. Behind the scenes she is Rene-scosy Tatom, Feneric Kalt Tatom's identical twin sister, and the mastermind behind the criminal activities of Metacot Sensory's illegal research and development.
When Rene-scosy and Feneric learned that the leaders of Dryyhihtahn's Terminus were undergoing negotiations to incorporate the Terminus into the Galactic Republic, they felt that their way of life was threatened. Neither one wanted to loose the benefit of the grossly profitable, yet highly illegal, clandestine research and development operations of Metacot Sensory. They both realized that the incorporation of Dryyhihtahn's Terminus into the Galactic Republic would not only add the additional burden of hiding the illegal operations from the Republic's Business and Trade Regulations Department, but from the Jedi Knights and the Trade Federation as well. This cost to the company did not out way the benefit of the increased market for starship components, thus Rene-scosy requested that Feneric create a means to prevent Dryyhihtahn's Terminus from joining the Republic. Feneric created ARTiC, adopted the alias Fnilryc, and began supplying the Diyllfigan Expeditionary Forces.
Through his advanced network of contacts, Lord Sidious learned of Metacot Sensory's illegal research and development operations, and ARTiC's existence and financial backing. Only after contacting each directly did he learn who the leaders of those organizations were, and that they were both amazingly adept in the Force. Sidious stuck a deal with these beautiful and powerful women. Should Rene-scosy and Feneric divert the Republic Senate's eye from the festering hostility over the taxation of trade routes until a conflict arouses from the issue, Sidious would ensure that Dryyhihtahn's Terminus would not join the Republic. This was an offer that Rene-scosy and Feneric could not refuse, thus they redoubled their efforts, and the invasion of Rilladon began.
However, there was a loop-hole in Lord Sidious's bargain. He never said that Dryyhihtahn's Terminus would not join the Empire.
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Just as a side note...
We have started the fantasy campaign based in the world that you all offered some insight into helping create and the players ar loving what is going on. I am working on composing the notes so that they can be posted, but it may be a bit before they are ready.
Once again...thanks for your help with that campaign.
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glad to hear it. Say hi to the gang for me.
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LotR, Session 10
All members of the group reuinite in Hollowglade, with Soros, Einar and Cyan finally catching up some weeks later. It is agreed that a trek to the cavernes beneath Eregion is in order. Snaga is chomping at the bit, having been waiting several weeks (in game time) to kick orc butt. Pale Shadow informs them that the ruins of the great forges that created the Rings of Power stand above a vast stone that is the seal to the underworld realm where the uruk ungol were imprisoned. She warns them that they might not like what they find. An elf named Farondil is dispatched to Gondor to inform the King and Kjartan as to their progress. Soros detects a taint of Shadow in Farondil and draws Pale Shadow aside as the elf courier rides away. She tells him that Farondil is seeking repentence for the terrible crimes of his youth, but will not elaborate.
They travel to the ruins of the Eald Forges. Cyan discovers runes that tell how a band of humans were honor bound to stand guard over the entranceway to the Lands Below and, over the centuries, became the woses. They repeat the Words of Power spoken to them by Cirion and the ground parts. THey find themselves in vast catacombs with walls some 100 feet high. Countless thousands of uruk ungol are spiderwebbed to the walls from ground to ceiling in a form off suspended animation. From far off, a sound of metal striking metal in a rhythmic pattern is heard. Snaga suggests vehemently that they torch the cocoons containing the orcs, killing them all at once. Kiri points out that they would all die of smoke inhalation before they could make it back to the surface. Kouglar falls into a trance, hearing insidious voices in his head.
Suddenly, a shadow falls from nowhere. A vast spider, ancient beyond telling and missing a leg and two eyes drops upon the group. Einar is poisoned immediately (again). Kiri Ani draws the creatures attention, baiting it with her torch and hacking away at the mandibles with her great blade. The monster lashes out and bites her, driving it's mandibles through her stomach and injecting her with enough venom to kill a troll. Kes and Snaga seize their opportunity and dive beneath the creature, slicing at the soft underbelly and ending up bathing themselves in spider guts. He monster goes mad, shrieking and lashing in all directions, trying to escape. Kes drives his dwarven blade throught the spider's forhead, killing it. Soros attempts to heal Kiri ANi, but she appears to be too far gone, spewing up green mucus and blackeing blood. Einar takes very little to restore to his former self. As Soros tends to him, he whispers that he knows the suspicions that Soros has concerning Farondil. He confides that he knows that Farondil was once an elf renegade who was hunted to the ends of the world by Elrond and his peers for the unforgiveable act of hunting down and exterminating other elves for money.
The uruk ungol, all the while, have begun to awaken and are slowly creeping down to the ground, silent in the darkness. Cyan shouts for the others to look out as the spider orcs attack, furious at the party for killing a manifestation of their god. The sounds of smithing in the distance become audibly louder. Cyan takes Kiri's torch and follows Snaga's advice, setting fire to the walls as the uruk ungol climb down, setting many of them aflame. She knows that if the uruk ungol gain any sort of advantage, they will all be dead long before they have to worry about smoke inhalation.
In the pitched battle that follows, Kouglar hears a coarse, powerful voice in his head compelling him to kill the witch-hunter. He struggles to resist, slitting his own flesh in an attempt to break control, but he cannot. In the confusion of melee, he "accidentally" slams into Soros, sending his friend stumbling into the flames.
End of session
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session 11: look out below
Soros is pushed into the flames by Kouglar, who regains control at the last second and grabs Soros before he is lost forever to the fires, pulling him out. Soros has no idea who threw him in. The heavy smoke makes the entire catacombs unbearable. They all lose each other in the chaos. Cyan stumbles across the dessicated corpse of an elf, dead fof centuries, brandishing a strange short sword the kiles of which she has never seen: neither mannish, nor elvish, nor dwarvish. She takes it ad feels a thrumming warmth. Three uruk ungol find her, and she slices them to pieces with the blade, the weapon seemingly able to find their weak points as if it had a mind of it's own. Three strikes, three kills.
The sound of smithing heard in the background abruptly stops as something huge makes it's way into the smokey tunnels. The orcs scatter as a massive armored form looms through the smoke. It finds Kiri Ani, unconscious and left behind, and takes her.
The others press through the catacombs seperately, laying low. Cyan slays every orc-bred that she comes across. With each death she seems to seek even more foe to slaughter. Kes finds that he has learned much from his training with Cirion, hamstringing a huge mutant uruk ungol that is part orc, part spider. Kouglar keeps to the shadows and the creatures do not seem to be able to sense him. Snaga protects the badly injured Soros, eventually standing atop a small hill of ungol that have fallen to his twin axes. Einar, being Einar, is nowhere to be found in the thick of combat.
Kiri Ani awakens in a scene from hell: a highly domed room sweltering with the heat of a massive forge. The heads and carcasses of many creatures, including men, elves, and dwarves, cover the walls, all in various stages of decay. Cruel, demonic looking weapons are everywhere. She lays on an alter, her heartbeat slowed almost to a stop from the poison. Towering over her is a huge figure clad in full ancient battle armor covered with wicked spikes and blades. "What will you give me if I save your wretched life?" She tells him "Anything but my soul." He reaches out with a gauntleted hand, white hot from the forge. He touches her wound and she screams. Her cry rings out through the catacombs and the others all rush towards it. The trail leads them to a vast antechamber that is actually a huge pit with an ornate archway on the far side. A thin arching bridge, only 2 feet across, is the only way across the pit to the doorway. They advance slowly (no doubt remembering the famous scene in Moria in the Fellowship). Instead of a creature coming through the archway, the depths of the pit erupts and an immense, vast thing that is neither bird, nor insect, nor fish, yet somehow all three, smashes the bridge and sends the partt scrambling for handholds to avoid falling into it's maw. Kes cannot keep his hold and falls in, blades extended, ready to die fighting. Cyan leaps in after him. Soros and Kouglar make it through the archway, Snaga staying behind to throw the hobbits a rope if they break the surface. Kiri Ani staggers though the archway, weak and ill, but very much alive. Strange weapons are in her hands. Soros enters the room beyond the arches and finds an arsenal of weapons and a horrific display of mounted corpses.
Snaga hears the hobbits' cries of pain and fear from deep below. Bellowing a dwarf war cry, he leaps.
end of session
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Session 12: Smite Club
Snaga, in full armor and bristling with weapons, leaps into the chasm and lands atop the writing monstrosity with the impact of a cannonball. He and the hobbits swing wildly against their unseen foe as they become covered in blood and gore yet are unaware of what they are truly fighting in the blackness of the pit. After awhile, all is quiet and still. From far above, Soros creates a powerful light that illuminates the bottom of the chasm, revealing a vast, titanic thing of monsterous form that flies in the logic of what should be allowed to live. The dwarf and hobbits climb up a lowered rope, taking great pains not to look directly at the remains of the thing thet battled. From above, only Einar takes special care to get a good look at the thing, more fascinated than repulsed.
They limp to the forge chamber, licking their wounds. They know it is just a matter of time before the remaining uruk ungol come back. They find a strange blade on the anvil with words written in Elvish "from the blood of two races, the death of a nation." Kes and Einar want to load up on swag, but Soros warns them against taking anything from the accursed room. Einar shrugs and takes a blade anyway. Tapestries lining the walls depict scenes of torture and bloodshed. Kouglar reads the inscription "the favored of the Light shall be lost to Darkness" in Orcish. Cyan takes note that the blade she found is similar in style to many of the weapons that abound in this room.
Kouglar finds a secret door, deactivating a trap that would have caused a four ton slab to fall. In a room permeated with dread, they find a locked box of gold and obsidian. Kouglar is able to open it, but only by shedding his own blood upon the seal. WIthin is a dessicated human head of impossible age. Soros touches the gruesome trophy, trying to glean information as to who it might have been. He immediately turns dead white and jerks his hand back, trembling at what he had learned. The others see him back away in disbelief and ask him the head's identity. He tells them:
"Isildur!"
At the mention of the name, the head's eyes pop open and all of the players shriek like schoolgirls.
Cyan mentions that they had better be leaving ASAP. Soros says he must take the head to his mistress at Isengard, for her magic is far more potent than his own. They hear the muted shuffling of the uruk ungol approaching the chamber, crawing across the sides of the pit. They make a run for it, followed by hundreds of the creatures. Einar, small and old, falls behind and is set upon by the uruk ungol like a scooby snack. Kiri Ani leaps in their midst, a whirlwind of iron death, carving up the orcs and rescueing Einar. They make a mad dash for safety and escape to the surface mere seconds before the uruk ungol. Cirion and his archers are waiting and cut down the first wave of orcs, sending the rest howling in fury back to the catacombs. Safety at last!
The troop makes it to Hollowglade for some much needed rest and repair. Soros shows the elves the head of Isildur. Pale Shadow freaks and insists that it be removed from Hollowglade immediately, lest it's owner come to reclaim it. Confused, Soros asks her if she thinks that Isildur will come seeking his head. She replies "Not Isildur. Goroth." She tells the story of how the head of Isildur was taken from nobody-knows-where over 1000 years ago and stuck upon a pole, used as a personal banner for a creature called Goroth, a warlord in the service of Melkor who was the offspring of a wicked elf turned to the darkness.
As Cirion gathers volunteers to go back into the catacombs and wipe out the remaining orcs, a black eagle arrives with a message tied around it's leg. It informs them that Farondil has reached Elessar in Gondor, and that an orcish host marches from the icy mountains of the North.
end of session
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"like a scooby snack." Excellent Tolkien-esque language there.
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Notice that it took me four words to convey the meaning, whereas Professor Tolkien would have felt the need to expand upon it for 27 pages.
:) :) :) :)
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of course, prof. Tolkien's work would get adapted into a movie and read by millions of fans within 5 decades, while you get.... well, us.
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Eh, It's better then being made into a Disney movie.
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ok, that is very very true.
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Disney BPE(Before Pixar Exodus) or APE (Ante Pixar Exodus)?
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Disney from when Walt first drew mickey to now.
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Even that cool dragon in sleeping beauty?
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Hey, I kinda like the old Disney movies. Even though Walt Disney was a racist who hated children.
As per my players request, the casting call for our Lord of the Rings game. Just thought I'd share.
Soros: Stuart Townsend (Lestat from Queen of the Damned and Dorian Grey from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
Kiri Ani: Kelly Hu (Lady Deathstrike in X2 and Cassandra in Scorpion King)
Kouglar Vileblood: Ron Perlman (reigning god of prosthetics)
Uncle Einar: Sylvester McCoy (the 7th Doctor Who and star of too many tasteless films to mention)
Kestral Brooksmere: a buffed up Elijah Wood (gotta be a hobbit thing)
Cyan Cullin: Lauren Ambrose (Claire from Six Feet Under)
Snaga: Bill Goldberg (out-of-his-gourd wrestler, transformed through the miracle of dwarf-vision)
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session 13
In Hollowglade, Kiri Ani draws Soros aside and shows him the black, hand shaped mark on her stomach. Soros says he detects no malice in the mark. Pale Shadow returns, battered and bloodied, the sole surviver of the elves who went to clean out the uruk ungol lair and hunt down the creature they believe to be Goroth.
Cyan goes out hunting alone and bags a couple of wolves that were prowling outside of Hollowglade. She seems tougher to the others; leaner, meaner, more feral. Her hair has grown longer.
Soros sends a message via death's head moth to the Witch of Isengard, asking for her aid. The travel by horse out of Hollowglade the next morning, and ride into sudden swirling mists. The landscape seems different as they spy great towers of iron and gold, but they stay on the path. They pass great shining halls and cities of glittering scales. In the morning, the mists clear and they see Isengard, having traveled many hundreds of miles in a single night. As they approach, the ents speak to the group. Cyan replies in entish unknowingly, not aware she did so. They enter Orthanc and the Witch introduces them to a tall, gaunt man clad in the livery of a soldier of a battle unit some 150 years from the past. She introduces him as Tark of Gondor, known to the common folk of Middle Earth simply as the Dead Man. She says that the Dead Man will take them down the Paths of the Dead to speak to Isildur. She also tells them that Ellesar is talking of war against the orcs for the death of his son. The Harad, she tells them, have thrown in with their Rhunite allies against their own impending war against the orcs.
Kouglar reveals that he is a half orc. Everybody else just goes "well, DUH!" Tark the Dead Man takes Soros, Einar, and Kouglar down the mist-shrouded Paths of the Dead, where they glimpse the strange towers and ichthyoidal halls they saw in shadows the previous night during their sorcerous journey to Isengard. They learn that the shade of Isildur has been locked out of Time itself and is held by the magic of the First Ones in Umbar, Land of the Dead. They prepare to go back to the Living World, but the shades will not allow them to cross back. Spectral monsters come from the shadows to bar their path. Tark hacks through the creatures, utterly without fear or any other emotion. Soros casts his spells to frighten the creatures into thinking that Tark is even more powerful than he actually is. Soros' magic strengthens their ties to the Living World, and they are able to break free from the Path of the Dead.
Back in the mortal world, strange stirrings come from Einar's pack. The strange egg he and Kouglar found has hatched. Inside the backpack, a tiny dragon no larger than a hand peeks out at Einar, accepting the wicked old Hobbit as it's mother, much to Einar's complete astonishment.
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Session 14
Soros volunteers himself to go to Umbar to release shade of Isildur. Kouglar says he could go talk to the Northern orcs to try to keep them from war, but Einar points out that he is half human, which to an orc would mean that he needs to be at least half dead. Kes comes up with the obvious conclusion that since both Elessar and Arahaiz lost their sons, the person behind all of this could have some sort of twisted parent/son issus in his past that they might be able to manipulate.
Soros, Kiri Ani, Einar, and Kouglar prepare to go to Umbar. The Dead Man gives them a philter of Manwe's Light that will protect them from the undead. Kes and Cyan pour through the tomes of Isengard for some sort of reference to Goroth's familial background. The Dead Man bestows upon Soros the ability to take his party along the Paths of the Dead, bypassing normal time and space. He tells them that he will join them in Umbar following a small matter that he needs to take care of alone.
Snaga, bored, travels the wilderness around Isengard. As night falls he cuts wood for a fire, only to discover the tree is actually an angry ent who tosses him over 50 yards into the woods (and invents the sport of dwarf-tossing). Snaga, lost, is beset upon by wights. He stumbles across their underground crypt and discovers the objects binding them to the mortal plane, nearly being slain by a pit trap and then a spike trap before he does away with the objects and hews through the now-mortal wights. He returns to Isengrad, ticked off and in need of a hot bath.
Soros and company come upon the Gates of Umbar. The spectral minions manning (ghosting?) the gate deny them access. Einar pipes up that he has eternal access to the city because he was one of the Mad Barons of Umbar who ruled the city during the first years of Undeath. They are let in, as the others just stare at Einar quizically.
In Isengard, Kes finds more infrormation in an old book of Southron lore detailing that Goroth, known as the Hound of Mordor, was sired by an elf turncoat and that Goroth was cursed by Eru to be forever unable to walk the Land in the light of day, lest he suffer terrible torment.
Soros and his companions enter Umbar. Dead men silently go about their business. There is no sound. No joy. Taverns and inns stand deserted in sepulchral gloom. They find a small ghetto of the living and make contact with Zal, the disease-gutted headman. Zal informs them that if they seek a specific soul, they must stand before Valsotholis, the Ghost King. The baby dragon in Einar's pack eats all his cheese, upsetting the hobbit.
Snaga and Cyan hunt bears in the wilderness. Kes tells the Witch that he has noticed weird changes in Cyan. The Witch tells him that she has the Mark of the Beast upon her.
(next session write up in 2 days)
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session 15
Soros and his mates go to the Darkened Hall to face Valsotholis. A vampire woman attempts to seduce Soros along the way, and he begins to weaken, but Kiri holds aloft the Dead Man's philter and banishes her. they arrive and confront Valsotholis, a thing of shadow and cobwebs. Kiri attempts the philter trick again, but the undead thing shatters it through sheer force of will.
In Isengard, Cyan continues to hunt, clad only in simple leathern togs and bearing only her knife. Snaga is shocked by the methodical ruthlessness of her ability.
Valsotholis tells Soros and Kiri ANi that for the shade of Isildur, he wants something of equal value. He asks for the soul of Elessar, but Soros cannot agree to this. The wraith king gives them two days to come up with a suitable trade.
Einar and Kouglar, in the ghetto of the living, try to rally the men residing there to leave Umbar, but they are too afraid. later, Einar tells Kouglar that he has an idea to turn their fear into his advantage financially. Kouglar balks at the hobbit's mercenary ideas, but his will weakens when Einar reminds him that he is only a penniless vagabond whom nobody has ever shown kindness towards.
Cyan comes back from a night of hunting. She goes to see Kes, confiding in him that she is changing somehow and it scares her. He comforts his friend as she weeps and they become intimate in the night. During their consumation, she turns into something dark, powerful, and feral. She slashes at him, rending his flesh with powerful claws. Only Kes' incredible endurance keeps him alive as she bounds off into the night, more beast than hobbit. Kes drags himself to the Witch's chambers and berates the Mistress of Isengard, "you could have been a bit more specific about this "mark of the beast" business and just said "werewolf" from the start!" He goes out into the wilderness to look for Cyan. he finds her in the morning, naked, bloody, and in a daze.
Einar tells the mortal folk of Umbar that he has discovered that Valsotholis is breeding dragons for battle and shows them his "proof," the baby dragon locked up in a cage (quite sad, really). He tells them that within one generation, all the dragons will be grown and needing food. "Your children will be doomed!" He says he knows of a powerful witch who can help them, but that her services do not come cheap....
end of session
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At the moment, I happen to be playing the following:
Tuesday: GURPS WW2. We are playing a British (of course) commando unit. It's ok, but not that interesting as a campaign. Zombie castle followed by alien ships in a german aircraft hanger.
Next week that should wrap up and we will start playing Warcraft. Going to play a Horde group. I've got my level 7 Orc Wolf Rider already made and raring to go.
Thursday: We mainly play a high fantasy GURPS game, where the characters are the followers of the rightful king in exile, and we are currently sitting in the capital trying to size up the political situation. It's a homemade world, where magic comes from technological devices, so the regular peasants are using flintlock muskets while the Priests and Wizards are busy throwing grenades and firing Guass Needlers. The magic uses the magic rules, but it is actually from various high-tech level stuff. The characters are not allowed to have magic, since the prerequisites for being a priest/wizard are about double our entire character point total. Playing a traditional knight character, with emphasis on diplomatic style skills.
When somebody is absent we tend to start playing 7th Sea, where we are playing members of a religious secret order (the Popes personal spies, assassins and other 'odd job' men is one way to put it). We are in Friegsburg, charged with setting up a chapter house and maintaining it. Since we recently got informed of a 15,000 guilders debt to be paid within 35 days, we are undertaking various missions along the lines of bounty hunting brigands, investigating houses full of magical artifacts and possible ghosties, and assassinating triumphant generals on their parade. The last one is the one i aquired, you'll probably be unsurprised to learn. I'm playing the Avalonian archer with bard skills. And the largest wardrobe in the city.
Saturday:
Exalted. Not sure what is going to happen here, but it is probably linked to the first-age city we are helping to defend. Playing a Dawn cast Solar in that.
Wow, i sure do talk a lot.
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I was playing LotR for a awhile, but one of our players got a swing shift job and another one dropped out because his wife was giving him a lot of grief about it (this despite the act that we only play for two hours at a time, once a week). So essentially, our group has fallen apart, which is too bad because I just got Eberron and Id love to try it out.
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that bites... what did she object to, the game or the amount of time he was using?
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Eberron does look cool. My group was going to play it, but the problem was that everybody wanted to play a warforged.
Remind me to tell everybody how cool Lone Wolf is. Psychic combat kicks!!
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She essentially objected to the amount of time being spent on something she considered stupid, which I'm discovering is a pretty common attitude here in Logan. She didn't forbid him to come or anything, she just constantly told him how she kept hoping we'd cancel it, and blah blah blah, so he eventually just relented and called it quits. I think I might move to email, though--not quite as fun, but at least I'll get to keep playing.
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That's stupid. If she cared about him, shy didn't try to figure out why he wanted to play. I guess I shouldn't judge but I found out last week that one of my friends from UVSC is entering into a doomed marriage.
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I have to agree with 42 here. If she cared she would let him play. I have been married for 3 years and my wife has always been understanding of my need for some good old-fashioned role-playing. In exchange I understand that she will need to spend several late nights a week at the theatre doing her acting stuff. A little give and take should be expected in a marriage. No one should have to choose between marriage and a hobby. The significant other should be more understanding.
Guess I just got lucky in that area. (No pun intended)
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As it turns out, I think he was getting kind of bored with the game anyway. It was his first RPG, and I'm not entirely sure he liked it.
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still, If I were him Id get into trouble I'm sure. If she wouldn't stop nagging me about playing I wouldn't stop nagging her about something I found equally "stupid" like needlepoint or soap operas or something.
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3ed D&D, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. All is good.
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I'd like to welcome you to the forum, papersword, and I'd like to warn you that you're going to get some flak for being new--all of our newbies get it, and usually from the same people. Just stick it out and play nice, and you'll be an old regular in no time.
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No problem, thanks for the warning. ;D
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it may be too late to save you, but a couple tips that will stave off much flaming (based on your post history):
Fewer smilies. You have one post with at least 8 of them.
less resurrection: most of your posts are on topics that are more than a month old.
more content: several of your posts don't contribute to the conversation
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U R lucky papersword. They didn't offer this kind of advice when I first joined the forum.. They just trhew you to the wolves back then.
All in all its a great group, so hang in there.
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Ah, those were the good old days...
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Posted by: Nicadymus
Posted on: Today at 14:46:41
U R lucky papersword. They didn't offer this kind of advice when I first joined the forum.. They just trhew you to the wolves back then.
All in all its a great group, so hang in there.
Hey how did you get out of your cage.....
/me grabs a rolled up newspaper and swats Nicadymus back into a steel holding pen
That'll teach you to get uppity...
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<---- (cringes in terror) Not the NEWSPAPER!!!
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She essentially objected to the amount of time being spent on something she considered stupid, which I'm discovering is a pretty common attitude here in Logan. She didn't forbid him to come or anything, she just constantly told him how she kept hoping we'd cancel it, and blah blah blah, so he eventually just relented and called it quits. I think I might move to email, though--not quite as fun, but at least I'll get to keep playing.
Sounds like a good reason for a divorse as any other out there.
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The world of Noldaerthroll and its minions are presented here as the foundation for a campaign that is currently underway. I include this info to try and create a background for those who are interested in offering any suggestions regarding the campaign, its environment, characters, etc. Without further ado...
The Races of Noldaerthroll as told by Wreddlaeck (in no particular order)...
(Note: they will be spread over several posts as they are a bit long.)
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Centaur Empire
The Centaur reside in tribes, known as herds, within the Forest of Esdelynidii outside The Grove of the Wilting Rose. They are base an unorganized in many respects with no true form of government or economy. They are solitary creatures and enjoy the secluded woodland it provides. They are on reasonable terms with the wild elves that reside in the forest as each group has established its domain.
The one truly unique thing about the centaur is the rumor that they protect the last herd of unicorns that reside on Noldaerthroll. Should this be true it would be a unique relationship, hitherto unknown by any other race. What would have prompted the unicorns to trust in the centaurs is beyond me. Perhaps their equine nature has something to do with it? Unfortunately that is a question that neither the centaur nor the unicorns were willing to answer.
Dwarven Empire
The dwarves of Noldaerthroll have retreated into their subterranean stronghold beneath the Caltarrak Mountains near the southwestern portion of the continent of Nelsynuur. The only remaining thane after the Age of Extinction is Glendarvell, ruled by Thane Forganian Glendar, the great grandson of Thane Delgrain Glendar, known as Mordain’s Bane, for it was he who turned from the Forger of Dwarves to save the last of the conquered race.
From their mines the dwarves mine the only known deposits of mithral, adamantine, and dendrite crystals, though their progress is often slowed by gruesome encounters with goblins, and it is rumored with several tribes of Minotaur. The dwarves have never shown any proof of the existence of Minotaur other than the back of their hand in numerous bar fights when they venture from their stronghold to sell their wares at The Market in Five Points.
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Elven Empire
The elves lived in the forest known as Esldelynidii. Their fierce loyalty to their particular religious faction named them a prime target for Yreataius Ahseai, the Druidic Prophet, and the crusading Druidic Order. Their armies invaded the mystic forest and eventually found their way to the elven city of Elaathius. There, the elven armies battled for survival, but the power of the druidic crusaders was too great. In the slaughter of a battle that lasted for several cycles of the moon, the land became soaked with blood, and the rivers choked with bones. As the mystical trees of the forest dug their roots into the stained land and drank from the tainted waters, they absorbed the life blood of the tormented soles lost in the genocide. Ever since that fateful day when the last of the resisting elves fell, the trees have only grown leaves of the color of wilting roses in the groves around the ruins of Elaathius, hence the name, The Grove of the Weeping Roses.
But the magic of the elves would not end their. It is rumored that the tortured soles of the elves lost in the Age of Extinction rise from their mass graves in the dark hours to haunt all who enter the Grove. What is known is that few who have attempted to enter the Grove have returned, and those that have are touched by madness and shadow. It is said that the forest of Esldelynidii holds the highest concentration of Darkwood and Bronzewood groves, and that it is the only known area where Bondleaf and Moon-Ivy may be found. It is also rumored that this is the last refuge of the few unicorns that reside on Noldaerthroll, and that they are protected by several tribes of elusive and powerful Centaur. This does not even begin to address the wealth in treasure and knowledge, both archaic and arcane, which remains in the ruins of Elaathius.
The rest of the forest of Esldelynidii is populated by all sorts of vegetation and animals typical of temperate, mountainous forests. The remaining wild elves have taken refuge in their shadows, both to honor the memory of their ancestors and to hide from the corruption of the world.
Fellinoin Empire
The Fellinoin Prides, families of cat-like humanoids, reside in the Kelpathian Highlands just to the east of the Caltarrack Mountains’ southern-most spur. These gypsies have no true settlement or government, thus their culture should not be truly identified as an “empire” in the traditional sense. In fact the only reason why the term was even granted unto the race is that the Fellinoin occasionally call a Moot. When this occurs every Fellinoin that is able will travel to the Meldrain Plateau. It is there that the Fellinoin will discuss what is best for the race, any changes to their trading by laws, which no other culture has yet to determine, and marry off many of the young. The Fellinoin have not held a moot for over one hundred and fifty years.
Fellinoin are notorious for being con artists, pranksters, and tricksters. Their race is prized for their agility and natural charisma, and are commonly seen entertaining the thousands of travelers to Five Points with games of chance, acrobatics, gymnastics, and any of a number of “get rich quick schemes.” Fellinoin Bards are some of the most renowned as their unique vocal chords allow for melodic sounds unattainable by any other race.
The Fellinoin mate for life and have a litter of offspring ranging from three to six cubs every decade or so, and a mated pair will raise their young until about the age of thirty human years before abandoning them to their own devices. And such is the way of these gypsies, for that is the best way to describe them.
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Gnoll Empire
The primitive cousins of the Kaynians, the gnolls are relatively beastly in nature. Larger in stature than their more intelligent cousins, gnolls tend to think mostly with their stomachs. They are nocturnal hunters that worship the phases of the moons, a practice continued by their cousins, and have an extraordinarily high number of Druids and Rangers despite the savage nature of this hyena-looking humanoid race.
Usually they exist in packs and travel heavily wooded areas or subterranean cavern systems doing the best they can to overcome their appetites. Occasionally, however, and exceptionally strong leader is able to amass a large group of the packs due to his strength and ability to sedate the ravenous appetites. Such is the current situation of the gnolls.
Under the leadership of a gnoll known only as The Yellow Mage, the gnolls have joined in allegiance under the Ogre military and serve as shock troops in their forces. This tactic has proven excellent for both races as it has spared the lives of many of the ogres, satisfied the bloodlust and hunger of the gnolls, and aided the ogres in ensuring the population of goblins, with their exceptionally high birth rate, does not become too much for the ogre military to handle.
Currently the Gnoll Empire is congregated in a series of caverns beneath the Monstrous Mountains. The goblins have taken exception to this invasion of their domain and battles constantly rage between the two races. All in all, the gnolls have fared well despite being out numbered almost five to one.
Gnome Empire
Not much can be said of the Gnome Empire, for it no longer exists. During the Age of Extinction the Gnomes refused to abandon their god and were hunted to the last by the rampaging Druidic Crusaders. Their capital city, Gnymnuldraith, was under siege for 12 cycles of the Moons as the Gnomes used ever gadget and illusion they could to fend off the invading forces. In a desperate attempt to the Gnomes attempted a mass shadow illusion to conceal their lowest tunnels from the oncoming forces, but the casters misspoke some of the runes and tore a whole between the two dimensions. Hungry for life, all manner of sadistic creatures from the Shadow Realm clawed their way into Noldaerthroll. With the Druidic Forces at their front and the Shadow Army, as it has come to be called, at their back the Gnomes were slaughtered to the last.
The Druidic Forces repelled the Shadow Army and created a barrier similar to that surrounding all of Noldaerthroll to prevent the Shadow Army from returning through the portal, but many of the beings from that realm still haunt the hollows of Gnymnuldraith. Despite this terrible threat many still travel to that haunted land to find the treasures left behind by the gnomes. Their Elixirs are highly prized and worth thousands to the right individuals. Their knowledge of illusion and shadow magic was unsurpassed, and the tomes that must sit their waiting discovery are surely powerful indeed. And on the more mundane, it is well known that gnomes had a love of gems and were considered the finest gem-cutters in the world. That alone is enough to tempt the greedy of heart.
Goblin Empire
The Goblin Tribes have existed for countless years, not because of their strength, but because of their exceptionally high birthrate. Their kingdom is uncivilized and has only a lust for bloodshed and wealth. The only truly unique thing about them is their leader, simply known as the Goblin King.
He is a goblin of unusually high intelligence, and has managed to gain control of the empire through the use of a most rare staff, a Goblin Lord Staff. How he came across such a rare artifact, and learned how to use it, is beyond me, but it is impressive none the less. He has organized the goblins against the gnolls, who have recently taken up residence in some of what he claims as their domain. Naturally the goblins love of battle, their superior numbers, and inability to resist the Goblin Lord Staff, has caused them to ferociously battle the larger and stronger gnolls.
One advantage that the Goblins hold over the gnolls is their bond with the worgs. Every Goblin is taught how to ride these large, intelligent, wolf-like beasts, and how to speak their language. This give the goblins the advantage of speed as well as bloodthirsty mounts hungry for battle.
Only time will tell who the victor will be.
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Human Empire
Despite their diversity in both appearance and perspectives on life and civilization, the humans have banded together in a loose-knit empire for the sake of the survival of the race. They reside on the Fontenelle Plains, a plain that lies between the Eastern branch of the Caltarrak Mountains and the Monstrous Mountains, just to the north of the Gargantuan Forest. The humans have the most advanced water and air travel as they ship goods between their two main cities, River’s Head and Deltaton, and the port at Five Points. The humans are also known for their advances in fishing and agriculture, and their talent for magic, making them the highest percentage at the College of Wizardry. They are loose allies with the Fellinion and Velacirias, but they stand alone against the attacks of the orcs and goblins from the Monstrous Mountains.
Kaynian Empire
Kaynians are fox-headed humanoids with reddish-grey skin, a fury body, and mane ranging in color from brownish-grey to burnt-orange. These six foot tall beasts have pupil less green eyes that appear to glow in limited lighting. These nocturnal hunters are believed to have evolved from the Gnolls which are somewhat larger in stature, but much less equipped in a battle of wits.
Kaynian society is much more advanced than that of their Gnoll cousins as well. They have a militaristic hierarchy, but pride themselves on cunning rather than the brute strength that Gnolls favor. They are disciplined warriors and have also been known to posses a talent for wizardry. They have always been worshipers of the moon; a practice carried over from their cousins, and were thus seen as worshipers of nature by Yreataius Ahseai, and spared the wrath of the crusading Druidic Order during the Age of Extinction.
Since that time the Kaynians have been consolidating their holdings to the East of the Monstrous Mountains, and not much is heard from them except when the occasional merchant caravan reaches The Market in the city of Five Points. It is rumored that these caravans travel through a series of tunnels from their lands, under the Monstrous Mountains and the Bay of Bollograth. As of yet no one has been able to discover this trade route, but it is logical to conclude that it may exist; how else would they travel through the hostile territory without loosing their precious cargo of Chitin Armor and Weapons. It can only be assumed that Giant Vermin must thrive in the lands to the East of the Monstrous Mountains, but having never visited the Kaynian Empire, it is only an assumption. Needless to say, the Kaynians command a high price for their unique and rare artifacts.
Minotaur Empire
Nothing is known of this race except what is told by the dwarves when they reach Five Points. They say that they attack more ferociously than any creature ever seen, and that their lairs are giant labyrinths constructed in the deepest depths of the Caltarrak Mountains.
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Ogre Empire
The ogre empire is led by a powerful group of Ogre Magi that call themselves The Magistracy. They have organized the ogre nation into a civilized culture based in their capital city of Oograkrohn. In addition they have begun controlling the breeding practices, allowing only the smartest and strongest to breed, advanced their weapon and armor construction abilities, organized their military into a disciplined fighting force, and began mining the, apparently, jewel encrusted Monstrous Mountains. While some would refuse to believe that this is possible, the few ogre mages that come to the College of Wizardry illustrate that something has been increasing their potential in the study of the mystical arts.
It is rumored that The Magistracy has taken control of the Orc, Goblin, and Gnoll empires and are using them to amass a force that will be unstoppable when they begin their march against the Domains of the other races. Given the constant battling between the Gnolls and Goblins, and the fact that both races have a powerful leader who would be unwilling to so easily relinquish control of their empire, I doubt that there is any truth to these rumors. Still, it may be worth investigating at some point.
Orc Empire
Nothing can be found of the Orcs except when they attack and pillage a village. They have no known stronghold. They have no none leader or government. They simply appear, strike the unsuspecting target, and disappear as quickly as they came. It is rumored that they have a stronghold somewhere in the Fontenelle Plains, but it has never been located. Given their minimal threat to any other empire, they have received little attention.
Velaciras Empire
The Velaciras reside in the western branch of the Caltarrack Mountains entitled Sie Xsiscalsks in the tongue of the Velaciras, or loosely translated to “The Bleeding Peaks” in the Common Tongue. The Bleeding Peaks have earned their name because they are a series of volcanic mountains festering with constant eruptions, but they have become famous because they are the only known location on the continent of Nelsynuur where Blended Quartz can be found.
It is believed that the Velaciras are believed to have evolved from the dinosaurs that live in the temperate mountains of the eastern branch of the Caltarrack Mountains, known as The Wyvern Spine Crags, which separate the Badlands from the Gargantuan Forest and Fontenelle Planes, the Domain of Man. This theory springs from the fact that they are cold-blooded, lizard-like reptiles. It appears that they are descendents of the Deinonychus breed of dinosaur, given their general body shape, the design of their hands and feet, and their favored method of movement; that being walking on their powerful hind legs. It is also believed that the Deinonychus were some of the first dinosaurs to utilize cooperative living and hunting techniques. This would explain why their evolution would lead down a track of heightened intellect. It is a shame that only Yreataius Ahseai knows the truth of their ancestry.
What we do know is that they exist in familial tribes, known as a Clutch, and are ruled by the strong. Every twenty years a mated pair will lay a clutch of eggs. When the eggs hatch the younglings will fight to the death with only the strongest surviving to be nurtured by surprisingly caring and attentive parents. Upon reaching the age of maturity, age 60 by human years, the youngling is expected to go out into the world to learn as much as possible, becoming the strongest it can, before returning to the Clutch to take its rightful place in Velaciras society. Should the youngling parish in this “rite of passage” it will simply be said that the poor creature was not strong enough to survive, and nature has eliminated another unfit being. Luckily the Velaciras have exceptionally long life-spans, equaling roughly seven hundred fifty to one thousand human years. The Velaciras are the only known craftsmen of Blended Quartz armor and weapons, and also have a profitable business in the trade of Ivory which they harvest from the Ivory Forests surrounding the Thaylean Tarpits.
Two unique traits of the Velaciras is that they will accept any being into their Clutch that has proven its strength in a test of combat, or a “rite of passage” as chosen by the eldest of the Clutch, and that every member of the race is taught to wield the Scektoas, a unique knife with a blade extending from each end of the handle and curving in opposite directions.
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Now that you have an outline of the Races of the world, here is an overview of the House Rules we are using. They are included because they significantly alter the magic system for D&D 3.5 to allow us the freedom that the players desired in the campaign.
The following rules will be used during the course of game play for the Mages of Mithril Mist Manor Campaign on the world of Noldaerthroll.
Gestalt Characters: Unearthed Arcana 72. This variant in character generation augments the standard method of character generation by allowing a character to increase in 2 classes simultaneously. For every level of experience gained by a character, the character increases the characters statistics by taken the better of shared qualities (i.e.: hit dice, saves, base attack bonus, class defense bonus, etc.) and all of the unshared qualities of both classes (i.e.: bonus feats, class abilities, spells, etc.). A prestige class can not be combined as a gestalt class; only heroic classes. Therefore, should a player opt to take levels in a prestige class, the character does not increase in levels in the heroic/gestalt classes, unless the player opts to stop taking levels in the chosen prestige class. As a further limitation, once a player opts to take a prestige class, he can not take levels in any other prestige class until they have maximized their potential in their first chosen prestige class. Other limitations to this system are, should a player decide to take levels in a new heroic class, those levels can not be combined to with the previously existing set of gestalt classes, nor can a character have more than one set gestalt classes.
Defensive Roll: Dungeon Masters Guide 64. This rule replaces the standard “taking 10” on AC. From this point forward ALL attacks must have a defensive roll made for them. The reason for using this variant is to allow for greater reality by adding “unknown outside factors” that may influence a characters ability to defend. A character’s AC is calculated based upon the following equation:
D20 + Modifiers to AC
Instant Kill: Dungeon Masters Guide 64. This rule allows for the instant death of a character. Should 3 natural 20’s be rolled in succession on an attack roll the victim of the attack is instantly killed. The only option against this would be if the character also rolled 3 consecutive natural 20’s on the concurrent defensive rolls.
Spell Roll: Dungeon Masters Guide 96. This rule replaces the standard “taking 10” for setting the Spell save DC. From this point forward ALL spells that are cast, must have a spell roll made for them. The reason for using this variant is to allow for greater reality by adding “unknown outside factors” that may influence a characters ability to cast. A character’s DC is calculated based upon the following equation:
D20 + Modifiers to DC
Casting from a Spell Book: House Rule. This feature allows a wizard to sacrifice a prepared spell slot to cast an unprepared spell from a spell book. There are several downsides to this rule as well as the obvious advantages of greater versatility, and potential to cast any known spell, including spells of levels beyond what the wizard could normally cast.
(1) The wizard must sacrifice at least the same number of spell levels as the spell to be cast, AND the sacrificed spells CAN NOT have been cast since the time of preparation, AND the sacrificed spells are removed from the wizard’s list of prepared spells.
(2) The DC for the mandatory Concentration check is 3 higher than normal. If the concentration check is failed, the sacrificed spells are still removed from the wizard’s list of prepared spells, the new spell fails, and the new spell is not added to the wizard’s list of prepared spells. The formula for calculating the DC for the Concentration check is as follows:
18 + spell level + any situational modifiers
(3) The spell takes twice as long to cast, even after it is added to the wizard’s list of prepared spells.
(4) The caster must sacrifice twice the number of spell levels altered in Vitality Points. The only exception to this is specialized transmuters that take the transmutable memory alteration.
Recharge Magic: Unearthed Arcana 157. This system modifies the way in which magic is cast. It will function as the text in Unearthed Arcana dictates except for alterations other house rules listed within this document might have upon it. What follows is the table for general recharge times. See Unearthed Arcana for the specific recharge times (page 160 – 163).
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Class Defense Bonus: Unearthed Arcana 109. This rule modifies the way a characters AC is calculated by adding a value based upon the characters class level, reflecting one’s experience in combat. Use the following tables to determine what defense bonus to apply. (Note: when using the gestalt class system, add only the higher of the two bonuses available.)
Vitality Point System: UA 115. This rule modifies the way in which characters develop increase health potential and the way critical hits work. For a complete description see the text. What follows are the tables delineating the vitality points per class, and the changes to a weapons critical threat range based upon a higher than x2 multiplier.
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A location of Note:
Five Points
Five Points is the only unaligned City-State in on the continent of Nelsynuur. It is the most unique because it is lead by a counsel of wizards known as The Conclave. They have opened the stronghold as a College of Wizardry where all gifted in magic may come to study. Naturally, many merchants saw the wisdom in congregating around the stronghold for security and the profit of selling their wares to the wizards. As more and more people came to reside around the college, a center for trade and commerce was established. This area became known as The Market.
The Market is the closest thing to an economic hub on the continent. Members of every race and trade congregate here to peddle their wares and display their talents. At all hours of the day and night can you here their song, and when business gets slow, the taverns and inns pick up. Across the way many ships and submersibles dock in the harbor and just outside of town, countless dirigibles, ornithopters, and zeppelins wait to travel across the continent. But the Exotic Stables surpass even these. The water stables house the giant turtles, called Zaratan, and whales used by some of the more exotic races to transport large amounts of cargo around the coastline of the continent. The air stables house the giant eagles, known as Rocs, and the even more impressive Soarwhales, which can only be afforded by the wealthiest of clients. The Land stables house everything from giant rodents to giant boar, elephants to horses, rhinoceros to dinosaurs, and anything else that someone might be able to train as an exotic mount. Needless to say, the city of Five Points is unlike any other haven on the Noldaerthroll.
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Ok. Now that that is over with, let me know your thoughts. This is a world of my creation, and these notes are somewhat limited in scope. If you would like further info, you can reference previsous posts in this thread, or ask directly and I will try to respond as quickly as possible.
As a side note, I will begin posting the sessions shortly. As we only game once a month (a 12 to 18 hour block) I want to get several sessions under my belt before I start posting.
Thanks for all of your input.
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my eyes hurt after reading all that. Looks cool. I'm upset you're playing this without me. >:(
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Nic, you have reached a level of verbosity and pontification that even I can only dream of. I humbly take off my hat to the gentleman who's fingertips must be very tender indeed right now.
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Thanks Slant.
So what does everybody think of the overall world setting?
A Character Intorduction:
Niza, son of Paztar, of the Clutch of Giza (played by a guy named Mike) is an ta with olive green specks colored Velacirious. He is one of the "elite" among his race as he possess red eyes, a sign of strength in the arcane arts.
Kreydaimous, of the Pride of Keldathuu, (played by Jerry)is a seal-point lynx Fellinoin (imagine the coloring of a seal-point lynx Birman cat) which is an oddity in his race as they are usually only a solid color, which his family took to be a mystic sign.
Both are Juveniles to allow us time prior to taking levels ih the gestalt classes that they have yet to select to create an "in game back story" which illustrates how they learn about the world and what will motivate their choice in occupation. In any event, they have both been sent to the College of Wizardry, as par normal for the young of the "civilized races," to determine if they possess enough potential to be taught as wizards within the school.
The third member of the group will not be able to join us for the first couple of sessions so we will introduce his character in at that time.
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JERRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry couldn't help myself.
I like the spread of races, that there are the norms as well as lesser used ones and new ones. I think you've spent too much time on those loosers, come out to Utah and run this campaign for us! ;D