Ghoul Caves

They had moved silently into the house on the cliff, quietly slipping open a poorly secured window.  Once inside they smelled her out.  There was no guard, only a servant girl who was silenced forever.  Creeping up the stairs and past the rooms of the males they came to the door of the sleeping woman.  They tested the door, and found it unlocked.  It was painful to enter, with the gourd lamp burning away, and the silver holy symbol resting on her chest, over the blanket. 

Tossing a discarded shirt over the holy symbol one of them ripped it away while another wrapped its claw around her face, muffling her cry before the paralysis kicked in.  They wrapped her in the sheet, and bound her with the curtain pulls just in case, and carried her from the room.  Half way down the stairs they heard the manservant before he spoke out.

“Tara?  Is that you?” He whispered down the stairs toward the dark form before he realized what they were.  Then he screamed, and ran down the hall, away from the stairs.

Two of the five chased after him.  The others ran for the door.  Not caring for stealth, they smashed through the lock and ran along the cliff toward the old well.  They were halfway down when the 3 males came out the door after them. 

I’ve wanted to write something up for this picture for a while now, and I thought that it might link up nicely with the bone pipes I posted back on the 21^st.  So I wrote up the bone pipes with the plan to link it to this picture, and then I couldn’t figure out what to write about for this picture, aside from the story.  Is it an adventure hook?  Sort of.  A new monster?  No, same old ghouls.  No magic items, no nothing really.  But where are the ghouls taking their victim?  Now that I can answer!  

 

Maps not shown to any scale. 

Jack O’ Lantern

“Take this” Marketh offered “and may it light your way.”  In his hand he held a hollowed out turnip with a face carved into it, and the stump of a candle flickering inside it. 

Allianora humbly took the turnip and thanked the wild haired man.  After presenting him with a few silver coins, and the group continued on, deeper into the woods. 

A short bit later, once the gift giver was out of sight Nimble spoke up “Really, a turnip?”  he asked, exasperated. 

“You don’t turn down the offer when someone gives you the gift of light.” 

“For a handful of silver?!?” Nimble pointed out.

“What of it?”  She asked him.  “For a few silver Marketh can treat his family to a small feast this harvest, while we share in the beauty of this lantern.”   

3 days later the candle finally burned itself out after watching over the party for several nights of peaceful slumber in the deep dark woods.  Nimble grumbled about the lost silver anyway. 

A jack o’ lantern is a familiar item of hedge magic.  When properly enchanted, this item will reduce the likelihood of random wilderness encounters.  During the day roll a d12 instead of a d6, and at night roll a d20 instead of a d12.  The jack o’ lantern will continue to burn for 1d6 days.

Gourdghost

“I hate this time of year” Rathgar complained as yet another flaming gourd exploded on his shield.

“If we can figure out how to close the gate permanently, we won’t ever have to worry about these things again.” Feris reminded him. 

“Yeah, what are the chances of that?” Nimble asked “These things have been plaguing the area at the end of harvest time for as long as anyone can remember.  Even the elves!”

The mocking laughter of the grinning pumpkins echoed across the field as yet another salvo of the burning gourds rained down upon the adventurers.

Allianora swung her mace at one of the incoming missiles, sending it back to land in the middle of the group of the ghosts.  It exploded, scattering the ghosts from the now burning hay bale fort. 

“Nice swing!” Rathgar cheered.

 

Gourdghost

Armor Class: 4

Hit Dice: 3* (M)

Move: 120' (40')

Attacks: 2 claw or 1 missile

Damage: 1d6/ld6 or 2d4

No. Appearing 1d6 (0)

Save As: F3

Morale: 12

Treasure Type: Nil

Intelligence: 7

Alignment: Chaotic

XP Value: 40

Monster Type: Planar Monster, Enchanted (Uncommon).

Gourdghosts, aka Pumpkinspirits are an elemental spirit that gains access to the material plane at the end of harvest time, and remain until the first hard frost when they are again banished to wherever it is they originally come from. 

Standing a gaunt 7 feet tall, with shadowy stick like bodies, and a grinning pumpkin (or other appropriate local gourd) for a head, they are vicious though rarely deadly creatures.  They delight in torment, taking sadistic pleasure from their cruel tricks.  When forced into physical confrontation they will rake with their claws or throw burning gourds (10/20/40) which explode on impact.  Targets of the thrown gourds can save for half damage. 

Gourdghosts are never encountered during daylight hours or in dungeons. As they are not undead, they are immune to turning.  They are immunities to sleep, hold, and charm spells. 

Cauldron of Souls

“Witch!  Open your door!  Help us!”

Looking through the barred portal she spied two Children of the Gorgon supporting a third who was bloodied, bruised, and broken.

“Bring him in!  Quickly!”  The Witch waved the Children of the Gorgon into her home. 

“We found Atsu and some others.  He is near death… can you help him?”

The Witch began examining the barely breathing serpent-man.  “Who did this?”  She asked.

“Humans.” One hissed.  “Can you help?” 

“Perhaps.”  She turned to the fireplace, and the large black cauldron that was near boiling.  She tossed a few logs under it, and stoked the fire.  From the mantle she began to add various herbs to the cauldron.  “Tell me, does Sesska know you have come to me?”

“No.  I will pay the price for Atsu’s healing.  There was no time to consult.” 

“Very well, I will do what I can.  Put him into the cauldron.  Quickly now.”

Lifting their companion between them, they carried him across the room and lifted him gently into the cauldron. 

“Good, now sleep.”  The Children of the Gorgon turned to look at the Witch, their eyes widening as they saw her pointing a wand at them before they slumped to the ground.  Atsu, who had been held up by his companions slipped below the surface.  A minute later the Cauldron glowed green briefly before Atsu’s skeleton, now devoid of flesh stood up.  “Put that one in next” the Witch ordered. 

The Cauldron of Souls is a powerful, if unwieldy magical item.  In form it is a large black iron cauldron, with 3 clawed feet, and a highly decorated surface.  When a noxious mixture of magical reagents is brought to a boil and a dying body is immersed in it, the victim’s soul is released and absorbed into the cauldron.  From the boiling mixture the victim’s skeleton rises out under the command of the cauldron’s owner.  The skeleton’s bones are highly polished, and tinted a greenish yellow and it will have maximum hit points.

The Cauldron of Souls has a second power.  When a different combination of magical reagents is added to the first, and the owner immerses themselves into the Cauldron, it provides restorative magics.  For every soul absorbed into the cauldron, the following powers may be used:

Cure Disease

Cure Blindness

Cure Serious Wounds

Neutralize Poison

The use of 2 souls can provide the following powers:

Cureall

Restore

Don't forget to suggest something for November's Monthly Audience Participation!

15 Games

Who hasn't done this one at this point?

15 most meaningful games

1. HeroQuest - It got me started in fantasy gaming and miniature painting.

2. Rules Cyclopedia D&D - My first RPG

3. Civilizations II - Strategy computer gaming

4. Kings Quest III

5. AD&D 2E - I played this all through high school

6. Magic The Gathering

7. Nobilis - gaming without dice, and I'm a god?!?  Awesome!

8. Vampire LARP

9. Battlefleet Gothic - I can play with fleets of spaceships?  Cool!

10. Warhammer 40K - Blood for the Blood God!

11. Lord of the Rings SBG - such great minis and a fun skirmish rules set.

12. D&D 3.x - Brought me back to RPGs, liked it a lot until the splat book avalanche.

13. Galactic Civ - just like civilizations, but IN SPACE!

14. Alternity - first sci-fi RPG

15. Rules Cyclopedia D&D - Yup, this gets listed twice.  It's that important!

Looking for a chart

Ok everyone.  Somewhere out there there is a chart that you roll on to see how you know other member of the party.  I think they also made a silly hat chart.  But I can't find it!  Help me Oblogger One Kenobi!  You're my only hope!

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Also, give me a suggestions for my Monthly Audience Participation Post!

Monthly Audience Patricipation for November

50 followers, 90 Google subscribers (there is probably some overlap), and some of you must have something you'd like me to write about!  This is your chance!  That topic you want another opinion about, or the one you don't want to write about yourself. 

Leave a comment!  Let me know!

Issues: My First Issue (post 2 of 2)

My first issue was Dragon #193.  It was a great first issue, and I spent countless hours pouring over it.  I’m going to give a retro-review of the issue.

 

The Cover: Definitely the first thing that caught my eye.  A red wyrm in a large misty cavern sprinkled with gold and 3 nervous adventurers trying to scoop up as much gold as they can before the wyrm shows up.  A great picture by Raymond Van Tilburg, and one that I see today in a new light.  Not only is it a great picture, but it’s also very old school.  Those adventurers would rather get the gold and get out than face the wyrm!  But then wouldn’t you? 

Next we’ve got a 2 page ad for Dragon Mountain.  Actually it’s a 1 page ad for Dragon Mountain, and a 1 page ad for Walden Books selling Dragon Mountain and the Humanoids Handbook.

2 pages of table of contents, and a page of letters. The letters range from Great Issue! to  “I’m 13 and play D&D, and I’m not going to kill your cat” to “What languages is D&D translated into” and “a quick test to see if your DM is really unfair.”  There is also a funny little errata about cows.

Page 5 is a neat ad for Mage: The Awakening.  It wasn’t D&D, but I still thought it was cool. 

Page 6 is Roger Moore’s dinosaur editorial.  Page 7 is people congratulating Roger.  Page 8 is an ad for home delivery of Dragon.

Page 9 is a splash page on “Unlocking the Secrets of the Underdark with an illustration of 2 adventurers in the underdark.  The lady elf is picking a lock, and the wussy swordsman is swinging at a single bat that’s probably just pissed off because of their lantern.  The rat in the foreground is probably hoping they kill the bat so he can eat it. 

Page 10 is another full page illustration, the cover picture from the dungeoneers survival guide. 

Page 11 - 14 + 16 made me fall in love with Dragon magazine. The article is Advice for fledgling dungeon-crawlers by Steven E. Schend, and it covers everything from caves and dungeons, traps to monsters, and the importance of light and 10’ poles, and it’s told from the perspective of an old adventurer by the name of Essimuth.  It was a great article, and one I reread often. 

Page 15 and 17 are ads for Mayfair Games’ Underground RPG.  Serious dystopian RPG didn’t do much for me.  Still doesn’t really.   

Page 18 gives us an ad for the Amazing Engine RPG from TSR. 

Pages 19-22 gives us 3 interesting golems – Brain Golem, Hammer Golem, and a Spiderstone Golem.  The brain golem is created by the squid faced guys.  The hammer golem is used by dwarves to assist in their mining, and the spiderstone golem is unsurprisingly used by the drow.

Page 23 was another eye opener for me – an ad for Tales from the Floating Vagabond.  I’ve reproduced it below. 

You should really click and see the full size ad.  Eventually I got my hands on a copy of the game (though not this module) and it’s every bit as fun as this ad (and all the others I’d see) made it seem. 

RPG reviews take us from page 24-32 + 38.  I must admit I didn’t spend very much time here mostly because I was young and cash poor and D&D was my game. 

Pages 33 + 34 are ads for Gamma World (again, D&D was my game) and a TSR book: Naked came the Susquach.  Flip.

Convention listings covered pages 35-38 – none were anywhere near me, and I knew I’d never get my dad to take my to Philadelphia, NYC or Pittsburg, so…  flip.

Betrayal at Krondor the computer game was the ad on page 39.  I’d eventually get to play this, but I was many years away from having a computer in the house.

Dungeon Magazine ad on the next page with a cute elf girl and her furry footed Halfling companion.  Did you know Halflings have the fur on the bottom of their feet?  Anyway, this ad proclaims Dungeon magazine to be “Serious Fun”

The Known World Grimore expands upon the castle building info found in the Rules Cyclopedia.  This article was another that I often referenced during my RC days, and manages to pack a lot of info between pages 41-44.

Boring ad on page 45.

Black and white picture of some albino ape creatures attacking a pair of adventurers in a dark cave on page 46.

Fiction on pages 47-55.  In spite of enjoying reading D&D rule books, I wasn’t much of a reader when I had this.  I’m sure I read the story at one point, but it seems a forgettable story by Ralph A Bundy called Bainnor’s Last Ballad.

Next we come to the computer games.  Again, no computer.  Flip to page 65.

We now come to another article that I referenced more than once when playing RC D&D – The Druid Gets A Life.  From pages 65-69 we get an overview of the druids place in rural society and some new spells.  Not having any of the AD&D books, this was all new to me. 

Pages 71-73 contain an article about the D&D collectors cards.  I loved this article for one reason only.  The nearly naked green woman with leaves.  Some sort of fairy, I didn’t care.  She was hot. 

The Forum covered pages 75-78, along with an ad for DC Heroes.  Only 3 pages of forum letters… seems to little now, doesn’t it.  Quaint. 

A full color and evocative ad for Earthdawn filled page 79.  Again, D&D was my game, but an interesting picture none-the-less. 

Sage Advice takes us from page 85-88.  I didn’t play AD&D, so a lot of it didn’t make sense. 

88+89 are ads for Shadowrun.  Eh.

90-93 brings us The Role of Books – aka book reviews.  Flip.

Page 94 has THE WORST AD EVER.  I can’t even bring myself to describe it, just look for yourself.

  

Even at 13 years old I was embarrassed for the people who made this ad.  

The Dragons Bestiary covers pages 95-100 and discusses the Giant Nautilus, Abyss Ants, and Incarnates.   BORING to my younger self, and even now I’m not impressed.

The comics section Dragonmirth fills pages 102-104.  Good stuff.  I once threw in a sword with an electrical plug into a game once.  My players weren’t amused. 

Flipping past a bunch of ads to pages 112, and we arrive at the miniatures review article.  I would have loved to have more minis, but the figures from Hero Quest were all I’d have for a long time.

A few more ads and we come to the back cover, an ad for Dark Sun. 

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tl:dr version –3 great articles, some good art, lots of ads, and some filler.  I still think it’s a great issue because of the Advice for fledgling dungeon-crawlers article.  That alone would have made it worth picking up. 

Bone Pipes of the Ghoul Master

The sound of the sea echoed through the caves.  It was angry tonight under the full moon.Accompanying the sea was a dry sound, a tune that was full of longing without hope.  After a time the song ends and a voice slithers through the caves.

"Bring her to me." The voice ordered.  Before the speaker crouched five gaunt figures.  They slathered and licked their lip-less mouthes.  "Alive" he hissed before bringing the pipes back to his dry mouth.  The empty tune rasped forth, and the hungry eyes of the five burned briefly before they turned and launched themselves into the darkness toward the well.


"She will restore me" he said into the darkness.  "She will see what I have become and she will pity me.  She'll have to try to heal me, to restore me.  Then she will love me, and she will be mine.  The music will call to her too, and she will be mine."  Again the hollow tune  played into the darkness of the caves.  

Bone Pipes of the Ghoul Master

Crafted from the bones of a family killed by ghouls, etched with necromatic runes inked with the bile of a rotted corpse, and bound together with the flesh of a child these pipes are clearly enchanted with the foulest magics.  When played, these pipes allow the player to control up to 12HD worth of ghouls, ghasts, and other hungry undead.  Mindless undead are unaffected by the tune of the pipes.  The pipes must be played daily to retain control of the undead.

Playing the pipes causes the players charisma to drop by 1 point per week until it reaches 3 as they take on the visage of a rotting ghoul.  As long as they play the pipes daily they are immune to the touch of ghouls and the level drain of other undead creatures.  The user of the pipes will also find themselves constantly hungry, and preferring the taste of raw meat. 

Charisma may be regained with a potion of restoration that has been blessed by an immortal. 

Haunted Armor

The suit of armor stood in the corner, covered in dust and cobwebs, just like the rest of the room.  And yet…

The door was spiked shut, and camp was set.  The room was quiet as the group was wrapped up fast asleep in their bedrolls.  Feris found himself asleep one moment, and wide awake the next.  His eyes snapped open to see that weird suit of armor standing over him, the ax held high, ready to split him open.  Feris screamed, and rolled to the left to avoid the blow. 

At that, everyone was up with weapons at hand. 

Feris pulled himself free of the bedroll and readied a spell to blast the armored attacker… who lay still in the corner, just as dust covered as when they’d originally checked the room. 

“The armor.” Feris warned, cold sweat giving him a shiver.

His companions all turned to the corner and stared at the old armor.  Rathgar inched toward it, and tapped the helmet, knocking it to the ground.  It rolled, coming to a stop at Feris’ feet. 

Not all restless spirits are powerful enough to manifest in the physical realm.  Some spirits become tied to a place or item, and those who are in proximity to them can suffer at their ethereal hands. 

Any encounter with the Haunted Armor ruins a rest period.  During their dream assault they can cause actual damage to characters, even to the point of killing them.  Anyone who is attacked by the haunted armor in their dreams may make a saving throw vs Paralysis every round (during their turn) to attempt to wake up.  The haunted armor attacks as a 4^th level fighter.  If the haunted armor successfully hits its target they will take 1d6 points of damage.  For every point of damage they suffer, a bonus of +1 is added to the saving throw.  During the dream assault all character powers and abilities are completely ineffective against the Haunted Armor.  Haunted Armor never attacks clerics or paladins, or anyone with any form of protection from ESP, and will specifically target those suffering from curses or cursed items.

In order to destroy a Haunted Armor, the armor hosting it must be destroyed, and remove curse cast upon it.  If the armor is destroyed, but remove curse is not cast upon it, the armor will reform in 1d3 days.  The armor is never seen to move, but it can relocate itself to any location within 1 mile/day.  It will generally attempt to place itself where it will encounter targets. 

Araneae Macabre - aka Skull-spider

“Gah!” Feris cried out, as the sleeve of his jacket began to burn and smoke.  He quickly dropped his pack and pulled the now ruined jacket off.  His arm bore an angry purplish burn mark.

The party paused in the dark corridor, carefully scanning all around, looking for the source of the attack.  From a dark hole near the roof of the corridor a small skull grinned down at them, a bit of green ooze dangling from its chin. 

Allianora held up her holy symbol and ordered the abomination back.  The bone visage merely grinned back at her, the ooze falling from its chin and dribbling down the wall. 

Nimble hung back, letting Rathgar’s bulk shield him, but a soft tapping noise caused him to look over his shoulder.  Three more skulls on spider’s legs were behind him, two on the wall, and one on the floor.  A gob of green ooze shot out from the one on the floor towards Nimble’s face.  He ducked, and the ooze went past him harmlessly.  In return he tossed a dagger at the creature, lodging it firmly in the eye socket.  The creature went wild, legs flailing, spinning, crashing into the wall before it fell to its side, legs still twitching, oozing green ichor onto the floor.  

 

Araneae Macabre - aka Skull-spider

Armor Class: 4

Hit Dice: 4 (S)

Move: 180’ (60’)

Attacks: 1 acid spit (15’ range)

Damage: 1d8

No. Appearing: 0 (1d8)

Save As: F3

Morale: 11

Treasure Type: none

Intelligence: 0

Alignment: Neutral

XP Value: 75

Monster Type: Lowlife (Uncommon).

This soft bodied spider inhabits the skulls of animals, most often humanoids though other creatures have been noted, much as a hermit crab inhabits shells.  Unlike many other spiders, the skull-spider has no ability to weave or navigate a web, but instead uses its acid spit to dissolve its prey and create its nest.  They are immune to acid attacks themselves, though the skulls they inhabit are not.  Should they be successfully hit with an acid attack, their armor class drops to 7.  

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This beast is a Halloween decoration I picked up last year on clearance. 

Get Lost

Last year, around this time I had an idea, an activity for my (non-existent) gaming group.  I had it again this year just this past weekend, and I thought that I would share it with you today. 

You are going to take your gaming group on a fieldtrip to your local corn maze.  This time of year you can find them all around, and the cost to get in ranges from as little as $4 to no more than $10 per person.  Most of the time when you go to a corn maze, they give you a map.  You and your players are not allowed to have maps, nor are they allowed to look at the posted maps.  They are allowed to have a piece of paper and a pencil.  You can also allow them to bring a single bottle of water, and if you’re feeling really generous, a compass.  That’s it!  Now go on into the maze, and start mapping!  Even if your group all decides to work together, everyone is to make their own map as they go.  

When everyone manages to make it out of the maze, compare your maps to each other, and to the posted maps of the maze.  Whoever has the most accurate map gets a prize!  What prize?  I don’t know, it’s your group, you pick!  

 

An accurate map is useful in a corn maze, however due to their limited size and porous walls it isn’t exactly vital.  In the depths of the underdark, hundreds of feet below rock and dirt, with vile monsters and dangerous traps between you and your next glimpse of sky, where darkness and death lurk just beyond your torchlight, an accurate map can mean the difference between life and death.   

Eyewalker

Rathgar noticed it out of the corner of his eye, a small white orb, clinging to the back of the curtain.  Had the window not been open, and the wind blowing, he never would have seen it.  Rathgar locked eyes with Nimble across the table, and then briefly looked again at the window just as the wind blew.  Nimble spotted it, and put down the mystic card.   

“Looks like I win this gambit!” Nimble smiles, pulling the gold toward him.  As his hands moved across the table, he palmed the knife next to the block of cheese.  Nimble twisted slightly as if to put the gold in his pouch, and flicked the knife toward the orb.  It crunched, and small shards of white glass tinkled to the floor.  For a brief moment a whiff of brimstone floated across the table, and then was gone. 

“So I guess we’ll replay that hand then?” Rathgar asked.

“Why would we do that?” Nimble responded.

An eyewalker is a magical construct of cartoonish appearance, a white orb upon 8 legs that only barely resemble spider’s legs.  They move with a jerky fluidity, appear to have no joints, and can climb any normal surface and any web.  The eyewalker has the following relevant stats:

Armor Class: 8

Hit Dice: 1hp (S)

Move: 120 (40)

When attuned to a magic-user these eyewalkers will transmit all it sees and hears – constantly.  This causes the magic-user to be distracted, suffering a -2 penalty to all initiative rolls and saving throws vs charm effects.  To attune or de-attune from the eyewalker, the magic-user must be holding it in his hand.  Should the orb be destroyed while the wizard is attuned to it he will continue to suffer the penalties for an additional 24 hours. 

They are powered by an entrapped imp, whose imprisonment can only be ended by the shattering of the orb.  An imp so released will do all it can to harass it’s former master before returning to the nether-regions it was spawned from.

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This item, in case you were curious, sits with its partner on my dining room table.  It's a salt shaker!

Broken Men

The wind howled as the party made its way up the hill.  Night had fallen, but their destination, a stone manor house, was just at the top of the hill.  They could see it through the bare trees, a warm light glowing though some of the windows. 

Feris saw it first, a spot of darkness that seemed to contain more than the other shadows.  “Guys….” He said quietly.

Everyone paused and looked where he pointed.  The light of their lamp was turned upon the spot, and two eyes flashed briefly before the figure bounded out of the light. 

“Was that a man?” Allianora asked.

“Not anymore.” Rathgar’s brow furrowed.  “We should get to the manor before it comes back with friends.”

 

Broken Men

Armor Class: 6

Hit Dice: 2+2* (M)

Move: 90' (30')

Attacks: 1 weapon

Damage: by weapon +1

No. Appearing: 3d4+4 (1-2 or 3d12+12)

Save As: F3

Morale: 10

Treasure Type:

Intelligence: 7

Alignment: Chaotic

XP Value: 35

Monster Type: Humanoid

Broken men were once human, but were warped into something twisted.  This can come about because of exposure to a powerful undead spirit, a manifestation of chaos, intentional experimentation of those who seek to know too much, or a wide variety of other horrifying events.  Due to their twisted nature they receive a +2 to their saving throws against sleep, charm, and hold spells, and any attempt to read their minds will cause the loss of 2d6 points of wisdom, recoverable at a rate of 1 point per week of total rest.   

They are sly killers, and will track their prey, unless an easier kill crosses their path.  They are also highly territorial, and often keep their area littered with grisly totems

Issues (post 1 of 2)

I finally finished catching up on all of your blog posts from the last week.  You all write a lot, you know that?  Don’t get me wrong, I love that there is such a wealth of creativity in our community, but try going away for a week, and see how it all builds up.  There are many things that I read that I want to comment on, but we’ll see how many of them I get to. 

So, Issues.  The biggest issue I’m dealing with right now is time, and my lack of it that I can devote to my blog, and to gaming in general.  My 4e game is stalled, as all 3 group members are in college (including me), and we haven’t been able to find some time that works for all of our schedules.  I started a solo PbP game, but the player who started it got busy and it fizzled out.

(Anyone else interested in a PbP old school Megadungeon game?)

So how am I addressing this issue?  Well, there isn’t too much I can do about the various things I have to do.  I’m not going to quit my job, school, or the various other responsibilities that I’ve taken on.  Sorry, but gaming is actually low on the totem pole.  But with the time I do have, I’ve been playing some Neverwinter Nights, working on a bunch of Halloween props (which help fuel the inspirational fires), taking some vacation time (to recharge the batteries), reading some classics, and posting here. 

It’s been a bit since I pulled out my Megadungeon, but I’ve got some more ideas that I want to add to it, and there’s a bunch of finishing work I need to do on the second level.  I keep needing to remind myself that it doesn’t all have to “make sense” that it is kind of a “funhouse dungeon”, and should become more “funhouse” as it gets deeper.  I have many years of 2nd and 3rd edition baggage that I’m still sometimes burdened with. 

So what is it that keeps me from going out and finding a steady group?  I could, there are certainly gamers in the area.  The issue is that I want to game with peers.  People who are in a similar life stage to mine; gamers who realize that I can’t game until 2am, that don’t want to spend the whole time drinking, that aren’t going to go home for summer break.

You know, adults. 

Are there adult gamers in the area?  Probably.  How to find them?  That I’m not sure, not without spending some time (ha!) and energy trying to find them. I have neither in abundance right now.

Anyway, I’m serious about a PbP game.  Any takers? 

Next post will have some actual game content, I promise!

Not a ghost!

I'm not dead, or even undead, but I am (and have been) on vacation.  I have had both limited access to the internet, and even more limited time, which is why I haven't posted lately.  Don't worry, I've been recharging my inspirational batteries, and I'll be coming back from vacation rearing to go! 

I can't wait to see what you all have been up to while I've been away.  See you soon!

Happy (late) Anniversary to me!!

Apparently I've been blogging here for a year (plus) now!  Go me! 

I received not a single suggestion for the Monthly Audience Participation, in spite of my 49 followers and 80-odd subscribers through google reader.  I guess it'll be a random topic this month!  I'm planning on doing Halloween focus posts this month, so prepare for spooky, creepy, and even silly posts that all relate to the ultimate day of October. 

Ok, so rolling on Rusty's charts... on a d6 I rolled a... 6!  Chart #3.

Rolling a d10 I got a 2!  Roll once on sub-charts 2 and 4. 

Sub-chart 2, rolled a d12 and got a 4.  "Two"

Sub-chart 4, rolled a 52 "Issues"

So expect a post about Two Issues!

Happy October everyone!