#RPGaDay2023 #RPGaDay Days 29-31

 

29) Most memorable ENCOUNTER

Back when 3.0 first came out I had a couple campaigns going, and in one there was an evil wizard who wanted to take out the party. It charmed a hydra, slipped a ring of regeneration on its toe, and sent it after the party as they were down for the night. They killed it, moved camp (who wants to sleep next to the corpse of a hydra?) and bedded down. The hydra regenerated, and the wizard sent it at them again. They killed it again, burned the body, took the ring, and moved camp again. The wizard raised the hydra as a zombie and sent it at them a third time, just before dawn. They managed to kill it... just. And revive the party members who dropped in the fight.

That was so much fun...


30) OBSCURE RPG you've played

I played a home brew Highlander RPG based on the Vampire system. I think that's the best I've got.


31) FAVOURITE RPG of all time

 

Rules Cyclopedia D&D. Pretty sure it's a case of first love, but it makes me happy still, and decades later, I don't see that changing anytime soon.

#RPGaDay2023 #RPGaDay Days 22-28

22) Best SECONDHAND RPG purchase

I have to pick finding a first printing DCC core book for $25.

While a nice deal, maybe not the coolest, I hear you thinking... Except the first printing has a list of OSR blogs to check out, and they included mine!


23) COOLEST looking RPG product / book

Nobilis was beautiful. A coffee table art book.
Planescape with DiTerilizzi art was otherworldly.
Mork Borg is metal!

But for absolute coolness, I have to go with Alternity. It's got a very late 90s, Lexx, Farscape, proto-Matrix type vibe that just both grabs me and also really shows off my age.


24) COMPLEX / SIMPLE RPG you play

Well, currently only playing my Rules Cyclopedia(ish) game, so it's kinda both, depending on what rules we actually use.

The simplest game I've ever played was probably Fate? The most complex was...D&D3.5 with way too many extra books.


25) UNPLAYED RPG you own

3 different Star Trek systems.
Last Unicorn Games
Decipher
Modiphus

I haven't even read the newest one yet.


26) Favourite CHARACTER SHEET

My own 3x5 note card character sheets!

27) Game you'd like a new EDITION of...

I'd love to see an update of Tales from the Floating Vagabond.

28) SCARIEST game you've played

I can't think of a scary game that I've played. I've played games with scary monsters, I've played games as scary monsters, but I've never myself felt scared.

Stonehell: Clearing the Troll Halls, pt 2

Session 207 was played on 10/2

Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh) & Fido
Morgana, Magic User 8 (Rob)
Blotto, Goblin (Lanse)
Karl, Dwarf 8 (Julia)
Gimble, Mage(Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf (NPC)


Returning to the main hallway, Blotto walks up to the fancy fountain and pees in it.

At the next door, Borumar tries to pick the lock, and fails. Blotto then makes an attempt, and fails. Karl tries to bash the door down, and fails. Morgana casts Knock on the door, and it opens. The 4 mountain troll elite guards were however ready for them after all the noise. At least they thought they were ready. A pair of crits from Aroon and Morgana, plus the usual amount of violence from the rest of the party ended the troll’s lives faster than it took the party to open the door.

Poking around further, they find some more slaves, and send them to join the fellows. Then, while attempting to open another door, the party is hit by a fireball. The troll king, and his hag mother have come upon the party armed and ready. Blotto uses his rod to hook the hag’s head out of the basket she carries it in, and reels it in. Gimble returns the fireball, though it’s a disappointing one, but Morgana makes up for it. Karl and Borumar tag team the hag, while the 3 amigos pile into the troll king (his housecarls all fallen, burned to a crisp).

As the hag and king fall, the party pauses to tend their wounds, and loot the bodies, when a massive 3 headed troll rounds the corner, ⅔ heads foaming at the mouth. Morgana drops an ice storm on the mutant troll. Blotto tries to trip it, but his line gets tangled. Borumar crits with his bow, and then Morgana hits it again with another ice storm just before it makes it into melee range.

Gains: various coinage and gold treasures, Beard Bane (king’s magic ax)
Kills: Mountain trolls, ountain troll hag, mountain troll king
Losses:

#RPGaDay2023 #RPGaDay Days 15-21

15) Favourite Con MODULE / ONE-SHOT

I've talked about it before, but the one Nobilis game I got to play. Great characters, great scenario, and the GM just nailed it.

Aside from that, since I don't want to repeat myself, FT0 Prince Charming, Reanimator for DCC by Daniel J. Bishop. I love a good 0-level funnel, and especially love one that mixes in fairy tales, and even a dragon to fight! 


16) Game you WISH you owned

I wish I hadn't sold off my copy of Nobilis. Beyond that, I have more games and game books than I get to use already. There are a couple of 4e books I'm missing, 2e Planescape could be cool to have... But no big white whales for me. 


17) FUNNIEST game you've played

There have been so many laughs over the years it's hard to pick one. Having the party thief run off into the dark of Stonehell alone because of a fear spell, get lost, bump into some Berzerkers who strip him, and put him on an elevator down, and then get electrocuted by some cybernetic monkeys was up there.

18) Favourite game SYSTEM

CLassic D&D. Kinda obvious. It isn't the perfect system, and doesn't do everything, but it's a system that really lets me tinker under the hood without really breaking it. I appreciate that a lot. 


19) Favourite PUBLISHED adventure

Stonehell! Or maybe that's a campaign setting? For 3e, the Sunless Citadel was great. DCC, the Chained Coffin... although that's again more like a campaign.  


20) Will still play in TWENTY years time

Seems highly likely.


21) Favourite LICENSED RPG

D6 Star Wars. Hands down. Solid system, so much stuff written for it, and it's all so characterful. I mean it's so good they've mined it for both the novels and the new shows and movies. 

#6MMRPC Mid August Check In

July wrapped up ok, and August started off with knocking out some Walls of Thorns and Stone for the Reaper Challenge League followed immediately by diving in to ReaperCon prep. I was planning on bringing 3 minis to enter into the contest. 

Fungal Queen for painters

Kornovik the Outcast for Open

Mining Mech for Ordnance. 

And then I got an idea as I was digging out minis to enter into the merchants categories... a diorama. And then I realized that the mini for it wasn't actually from the manufacturer I thought it was, so... 

Needless to say, I'm scrambling to get things wrapped up by the 29th.

Stonehell: Clearing the Troll Halls, pt1

Session 206 was played on 9/18

Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh) & Fido
Morgana, Magic User 8 (Rob)
Blotto, Goblin (Lanse)
Gimble, Magic User (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf (NPC)


While Morgana and Boris worked to banish Morax, the rest of the party spent some time carousing around town and training, mostly unsuccessfully.

Once Morgana wrapped up with the demon, and sobered the rest of her party up enough, they headed back to Stonehell, pausing in the swamp long enough to dispatch 3 ogres who tried to sneak up on the party from under the causeway.

Going through the front door, they are immediately set upon by a trio of giant frogs. They were also quickly dispatched, and their legs butchered for lunch. They then make their way down to level 5 without further incident.

4 hill giants were guarding the main door of the hall. Morgana hit them with a fireball, which didn’t quite kill any of them, but then the rest of the party charged in and hacked apart the badly burned guards. In their pouches were 5,000gp worth of freshly minted gold bars.

 Passing through the main door, they find a sleeping troll maiden resting just within. Apparently the doors provided good sound insulation, and Borumar quickly dispatched her before she could raise an alarm. Now inside the troll hall, they begin to explore the areas that showed up on their magic map. First they find a smithy with 2 trolls and a bunch of gnome slaves working away. They quickly overwhelm the trolls, and unchain the gnomes. The gnomes tell them about what’s been going on, and a little of the layout of the hall. The party sends the gnomes to the front door to wait for them, and promises to free the rest of the gnomes.

Gains: 5,000gp in gold bars, 100 gp gold earrings
Kills: hill giants x4, mountain trolls x3
Losses:

#RPGaDay2023 #RPGaDay Days 8-14

Part 2 of the RPG A Day 2023 prompt!

8) Favourite CHARACTER

9) Favourite DICE

My custom painted Stonehell Dice! 

10) Favourite tie-in FICTION

Keith R.A. DeCandido' s Articles of Federation. A very West Wing style look at Star Trek. 

11) WEIRDEST game you've played

Tales from the Floating Vagabond. 

12) Old game you STILL play

Classic D&D, Rules Cyclopedia version. 

13) Most memorable character DEMISE

Killing off half the party with some swamp gas... including the dwarf. Then doing it again cause they couldn't read the map! 

"There's a note on the map for that door... can anyone read that?"

Then they opened the swamp gas door… Faerendril dies. Joho, Daton, and the barbarian cough themselves bloody, but survive.

14) Favourite CONVENTION purchase

For an RPG purchase? Maybe custom dice... Or the big stack of D&D Birthright setting stuff I got out of a discount bin.

For non-RPG related items, these com badges.  

Stonehell: The End of The Infernal Lesser Prince Morax the Profane

Session 205 was played on 9/11

Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh) & Fido
Morgana, Magic User 8 (Rob)
Blotto, Goblin (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf (NPC)
Gimble, Fighter (NPC)

The nursery was suitably creepy, and Blotto wanted to poke around in the toy chest. The rest of the party watched nervously as he did so, but thankfully none of the toys came to life.

They chatted with a demonic voice through the door that warned them not to break the skull, and then went silent. There was an empty hall on the other side of the door.

In the attic they fight half a dozen demonic raccoons. One is turned, Blotto uses his fishing rod to hook and entangle one, while the rest of the party simply beats on the demons until they stop moving.

In a recent addition to the attic, a relatively newly walled off section contains another shrine. Unlike the one on the ground floor, this one is predictably demonic. Within the shrine is a crystal skull that glows with a faint red light. The red mist demon bargains with the party to not destroy the skull. He promises to depart and not bother them at all, as long as they leave the skull intact. Morgana makes no promises, but takes the skull.

Leaving the manor, they head straight for Boris’ newly built temple fortress. Blotto stops along the way at a promising fishing hole.

While safely within the fortress, after a donation to help facilitate the warding necessary for demonic artifacts like the skull and the book, Morgana gets to studying with Boris’ help. With some lucky rolls, Morgana realizes that both the book and the skull are traps, and that to use them to attempt to control the demon Morax is to invite death and damnation. However she is able to devise a means to banish the demon back to hell, and with another donation, this time of the magical cross acquired from the Frog God’s cloister, She and Boris complete the ritual to send the demon back to hell. She then destroys the book.

Gains: Demon Crystal Skull
Kills: Raccoon Demons, Morax
Losses: A Monograph on the Infernal Lesser Prince Morax the Profane

#RPGaDay2023 #RPGaDay Days 1-7

 I started doing the #RPGaDay questions this month, because I clearly don't have enough going on, and adding yet another daily activity is no problem. However I'm not going to spam daily blog posts with it. Instead you're going to get weekly posts about it.

1) FIRST RPG played (this year)
I started the year playing Classic D&D, delving into Rappan Athuk! 

2) First RPG GAMEMASTER 

I was my first DM, playing in the tutorial adventure from the 1990 intro box. The first person other than me was my friend Mike who ran me through the intro adventure in the box after I ran him through it. 

3) First RPG BOUGHT (this year)

The first RPG I bought this year was the Star Trek core book. THe first RPG accessory I bought was an issue of Delver, a zine for OSE. 

4) Most RECENT game bought
Same answer. I haven't been spending a lot on games this year. As it is, I haven't even gotten around to reading the Star Trek book yet. 

5) OLDEST game you've played

White Box D&D at a con. 

6) Favourite game you NEVER get to play

D6 Star Wars. I got to play it a bunch in High School, and then later played the d20 version, but never got back to the d6 version, and I have a shelf full of stuff for it...

7) SMARTEST RPG you've played

This is a weird question. I think the RPG that really stretched my brain was Nobilis. Not so much mechanically, but from a concept standpoint. Plus it was such a beautiful book. I'm still sad that I sold it off. 

July ‘23 In Review

Bloody hell, it’s been hot… but another busy month in the books. Work is finally returning to reasonable levels, I managed to kill all the poison ivy without getting any on me in the process, and everyone remains healthy and generally happy.

Things with the in-laws have been as good as they can be, and we even took advantage of their being here to go to the movies! Only my second movie since COVID!


Gaming
My #Dungeon23 has been progressing nicely, which is a welcome surprise as I was rapidly reaching a point where I wasn’t sure how I wanted to connect some parts, but somewhere in the middle of the month it all came together in my head, and I’m feeling much more confident about the next couple months. Of course I'm almost a week behind on it, but I'll catch up.

My Stonehell game is back, and the players are poking around Tanna T’liev, making connections, enemies, and stirring up trouble. Fun times!

Miniatures
A decent month I guess? I finally finished off the 3 tengu that I started a while back. I’m not sure that I’m particularly thrilled with anything I painted this month. It’s all fine, but only fine. I really need to buckle down and finish off the minis I want to bring to Reapercon next month.

Media
Silo
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 2
What We Do In The Shadows
Good Omens Season 2
Barbie


Goals for June
Continue #Dungeon23
Keep up with the session reports
Play the next scenario for Stargrave
Survive the in-laws visit