Caves of Chaos: Donkeys & Dragons

Session 2 was played on 6/12/24

Dramatis Personae:
Glyn the Dwarf
Berm the Fighter
Thorin Oakenshield the Dwarf
Io the Thief
Wannabe Gizzard the Wizard
Lighter the Fighter
Fraud the Dwarf
Trina the Elf
Tiptoe the Thief
Poppy the Barbarian

Sighting of a dragon in the nearby hills got everyone at the Keep talking. Several smaller caravans and lone wagons have gone missing nearby. The speculation is that it might be lairing at the old abandoned watchtower. Our bold adventurers decide not only to go face this dragon, but to bring along every able bodied individual in the tavern willing to go with them. For extra gold they managed to convince 4 caravan guards to take their day off and spend it dragon hunting! 2 specialists (thieves) and an elf also tag along. The party also bought a donkey and half a dozen chickens. I thought the donkey was to help them bring the dragon’s treasure back, but I was wrong.

Heading up into the wooded hills north of the Keep, the party kept a lookout for the dragon. They spotted the watchtower and approached carefully. Sending the sneaky ones ahead to scout, the rest keep watch on both the tower and the sky…

The thieves make it to the base of the ruined tower without attracting the notice of the dragon… Easy to do since it wasn’t home! One thief climbed a nearby tree to get a look at the top of the tower, and built on it was clearly a nest. The ruined tower was easy to climb, and the thieves scaled it and began to dig around in the nest. The rest of the party went to the base of the tower to collect whatever the thieves could toss down. A few of the hirelings kept the donkey and some chickens nearby, but away from the base of the tower.

As the thieves started tossing all the gold and gems they could find over the edge of the tower, the rest of the party scrambled to pick it up and bag it. They were working fast, and managed to find a decent haul before the dragons roar echoed across the hillside. The thieves ducked down, trying to keep out of sight. Under the trees, the hirelings with the animals started making a ruckus to get the dragon’s attention, and set the donkey to run. The dragon roared and chased after the animal, and as soon as it had passed the adventurers and their meatshields, they all took off running in the opposite direction away from where the donkey and dragon ran. As they ran, they could hear the scream of the donkey end abruptly.  

The party’s plan worked, and they’d made off with a good chunk of the wyvern’s (not a true dragon) treasure.

Gains: roughy 1500ep, 1500gp
Losses donkey and chickens
Kills:

---

There was a minor interruption during the game, as a bat managed to get into the building and several players worked together to make sure the doors and windows were opened to let the poor creature escape.

The Caves of Chaos! Session 1

Back in June at a work retreat I ran a couple of evening sessions of B/X D&D for my coworkers. At the end of July we picked back up again, and I’ve been running a near weekly session since. At the time I’m writing this, we’ve played through 11 sessions. All of my players are novices, never having played an RPG before,

My introduction to them was that this is an old school game where death is pretty common if you’re stupid or unlucky, that success is measured by gold far more than by bodies, and that there is a literal war being fought by civilization and the forces of law against the agents of chaos, and while this battle is largely fought by beings like angels and demons, the efforts of mortals can shift the balance. That I would be starting the game on one of the borders between law and chaos, a Keep on the Borderlands. How they choose to play, and where they go in the world is entirely up to them. There is no plot line for them to follow, there is no story that they’re expected to adhere to, that I would be presenting them with NPCs, places, quest choices and that the tales that would be told of their adventures would depend on what actions they take, and the success or failure of those actions.

The first night there were over a dozen players and observers. The second was about half. Since then it ranges from 2-5 players, which isn’t bad given that we’re playing from 4:30-6pm on Thursday afternoons. I’m thrilled to be able to share this with my coworkers, and now I’m going to share their tales with you!

Session 1 was played on 6/10/24

Dramatis Personae:
Glyn the Dwarf
Berm the Fighter
Thorin Oakenshield the Dwarf
Io the Thief
Wannabe Gizzard the Wizard
Lighter the Fighter
Fraud the Dwarf
Trina the Elf
Tiptoe the Thief
Poppy the Barbarian

The party arrives at the Keep on the Borderland, and their first challenge is to get into the keep. The guards keeping watch question the party, logging their names and professions. They warn the self described “thieves” that antisocial behavior will not be tolerated within the walls of the keep, and to keep their noses clean. Also, maybe announcing to the town guard that you’re a thief is maybe not the best intro.

After getting some directions, they make their way to the inn and secure accommodations for the night, and then head to the tavern for food, drink, and rumors. They talk with a guard captain, learn about the Caves of Chaos, that there’s a local dragon that has been causing problems lately that they think is lairing up in the hills in an old ruined watch tower, and that there are both lizardmen in the swamps and bandits all around (10gp/bandit killed, 15gp for any brought back alive).

After lunch they explore the keep more, and try to visit the jeweler, but he doesn’t want to talk to them till they have something to sell, or enough cash to buy something, and isn’t letting them into his store.

The next morning they head out to the canyon. In a copse of trees the party hears someone. Wannabe tosses a vial of burning oil into the trees, and with an amazing stroke of luck manages to hit someone hiding in the brush! His screams echo in the canyon as he burns to death. A second human runs screaming from his burning friend and the party deeper into the canyon. THe party puts out the burning body and the brush that was starting to catch, and check the body, recovering a crude copper medallion inscribed with a 7 pointed star.

Heading up to one of the cave entrances on the north side of the canyon, and looking in see a wall of heads looking back. Within they hear someone speaking, though no one knows the language. Getting ready to head into the cave and turn east to the voices, they’re charged by 4 guards. The party manages to kill 2/4 in the initial assault. More orcs arrive from the other direction surprising the dwarf who was supposed to be keeping watch. The dwarf took 2 hits and dropped. Wannabe sleeps the still standing orcs to the west, while Poppy is cut down before Tiptoe and Berm cut down the last of the standing orcs.

The party quickly checks the pockets of the fallen orcs, grabs their fallen, and runs for the keep.

Gains: orc pocket change, copper medallion
Losses Poppy, Fraud
Kills: 8 orcs, 1 cultist

Fuck Trump

It's been a week, and I'm still not over the stupidity of my fellow Americans. To be clear, I'm not surprised by the people who voted for him, but I'm disappointed by all those who didn't vote against him. 

The next 4 years are going to be long and painful and we'll be dealing with the fallout for decades. I intend to support the vulnerable populations that he and his evil followers will be attacking, and resist any and all attempts to normalize the horrors we're going to see.

But it isn't the end. Life is going to go on. The every day joys and frustrations. It's important to recognize that, and to take time to preserve the things that are important, if only so that you have the energy to face the oncoming shit show. For me, that's my gaming and painting, and so, just like in 2016, I intend to continue playing, continue painting, and posting about it here. 

 

 

 

But in case I wasn't clear, fuck trump, and fuck anyone who voted for him.

 

Stonehell: Getting the tip of your pole slimy

Session 269 was played on 10/13/24

Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Making sure Koltic is okay-ish, they check the next room, and find the gem floating in the middle of the room, along with 4 orbs containing a purple liquid. Blotto pokes at the gem with his 10’ pole, and it blips away. The decide to leave the purple orbs alone, and head back to the room with the pit and the grey oozes. Making sure there were no more oozes, they check the passage to the west. It opens to a pentagonal room completely covered in green algae, with an opening 20’ up on the far wall. Morgana casts Fly on Blotto, and he zooms around for a bit before going to check the 5’ square passage. He gets a shockingly underpowered lightning bolt to the face for his troubles. Blotto backs away back to the party, and after discussing what happened, Morgana makes the goblin invisible. Blotto flys back up, down the passage not encountering anyone. The passage opens into a large slime covered room that contains a bunch of barely holding together slime covered furniture. A cauldron gently bubbles away full of a thick off white fluid. Blotto uses his 10' pole to gently poke at the various things around the room, getting his pole slimy in the process, and then heads back. Near where the party waits for him, he writes out what he sees in the algae.

While Blotto uses his pole to write in the algae, Morgana feels a funny tingle all over. She casts Dispel Magic in the room with the algae, thinking that's where the effect is coming from. The only  notable effect is to dispel Blotto’s invisibility and fly. He bellyflops down to the floor. Morgana feels the tingle again, and realizes her previous spell didn’t reach the overhead passage. She uses her wand to launch a fireball. There’s a scream of pain, followed by yet another lightning bolt at the whole party. It’s weirdly under-powered (SO MANY DAMNED 1s!!). Now though Morgana can see her target. A man, wrapped in slime covered robes… is oddly translucent. He’s made of… or has become made of slime! Morgana returns fire with a full strength fireball, and the slime wizard explodes into chunks of burning mucus.

The party takes a breather, grabs some mops and brooms from the dwarves and on their way back encounter a slime troll. Seeing how outnumbered it is, and after being taunted by Morgana and Blotto who flicks a larynx at it and asks “friend of yours?” The troll picks up the wiggling larynx, pops it in its mouth and starts to chew it like bubblegum, and departs. The party cleans their way to the ladder up to the 5’ passage 20’ up. Once in the slime room, they take their time exploring and eventually find the iron box in the cauldron with the Mucus Mage’s treasure and spellbook.
Borumar says” Obviously I should take the spellbook”
Nick replies “I look forward to seeing you try”

The party returns to the Hermitage to rest and let Morgana check out the spellbook and potions.

Gains: Spellbook, 1200gp in coins, and 3 potions.
Kills: Mucus Mage
Losses:

Stonehell: Nobody wants an ooze to the face

Session 268 was played on 10/6/24

Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Several days spent enjoying the hospitality of the dwarves while injuries are recovered from, and the dwarves share that their Vyrillia patron is apparently VERY interested in seeing the party, and getting her hands on the crown they promised her. The dwarves are incredibly concerned about anyone getting their hands on the crown. Morgana assures them that the crown is safe and no one is getting their hands on it.

Returning to the sewers they decide to start from the south western side of things and fill in the blanks from that side. They find some magically floating stilts… unfortunately for most members of the party they only fit the dwarf and the goblin. Borumar piggy backs on the goblin. Morgana flys. The rest of the party has to wade through the muck.  Their first stop is a room with some smoothed over statues. Then around to large room that contains a giant uncut ruby floating 10’ off the floor. Sensing a trap, Morgana casts Dispel Magic on it, and the jewel pops out of sight. An extensive search of the room finds no traps or treasures.

Heading back down to some unchecked rooms, they find one with a pit trap in the middle. Blotto checks it out, sees some grey oozes on the ceiling and runs before they can drop on him. Morgana toasts the room with a fireball. The oozes are unimpressed. Missile fire takes care of the 2 that come crawling toward the party at the door. They missed the 3rd up on the ceiling still, and when Borumar goes to check the room, he looks up just as it drops down onto his face. The screams as the acid burns his face are blessedly muffled by the ooze itself. Morgana kills it with magic missiles. Koltic provides some healing for Borumar’s face.

Gains:
Kills: Grey oozes
Losses:

Stonehell: Gonna have to flush twice

Session 267 was played on 9/30/24

Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Many months since the party had last spent any time in Stonehell, they use the ring to teleport everyone down to level 6 and into the Sepulcher of Kion. Poking about in the dusty halls they’re almost immediately set upon by a pair of 4 armed iron statues. The old magics animating them were no match for the fresh might of the party.

Departing the Sepulcher they make their way to the Hermitage, and check in with the dwarves. They continue on into the northern side of the sewers, and fill in more of the map. Borumar scouts and finds a giant slime python in a room with a clogged drain. Between Borumar’s bow and Morgana’s magic missiles, the slime creature is blasted apart.

Continuing deeper into the sewers, they find the center of the waterworks, a lumpy statue with chutes coming out of it. It makes a gurgling sound while they’re in the room, and out of their line of sight discharges something wet out the back side of the room. Morgana decides to encase the entire thing in ice. It doesn’t take long for the fountain to begin to groan, rattle, and as the party runs, finally explode.

They look at the ruins they created, and then head back to the Hermitage for rest. On the way, Blotto and Borumar are jumped by a black pudding, but a quick fireball Morgana’s wand takes care of that, Borumar ends up falling into the sewer. Koltic spends extra time making sure he doesn't have any diseases. 

Gains: gems and a scarab
Kills: Black Pudding, Slime Python
Losses:

October ‘24 In Review

I started the month just getting over the first cold of the school year, and got the second cold a week and a half later. Sorry, scratch that, not a cold, bronchitis. 2 Weeks worth of coughing, mucus, shortness of breath. It SUCKED. It wasn’t COVID level suck, but it wasn’t good. In spite of that I managed to get the coffin done, as well as my kid’s costume. The spider isn’t going to happen this year, but I can work on it later.

I voted for Harris (and blue down the ballot) on the first day of early voting. I can’t wait for this electoral season to be over, but I’m also dreading it. Keeping my fingers crossed…


Gaming
I am, amazingly, completely caught up with my Stonehell/Rappan session reports, and have started writing the Caves of Chaos game reports! Given how long I was literally 6 months behind on these posts, I’m really thrilled to have gotten it all up to date.

In the Stonehell game the party is busy in the sewers. They’ve been bopping back and forth between the mucky sewers and the Hermitage to rest and recover from their various ooze related injuries.

The Caves of Chaos game the party is busy poking around the caves. They’ve forced the Goblins to join up with the hobgoblins, and have succeeded in wiping out the first cave full of hobgoblins they’ve encountered. Looking forward to seeing how that progresses.

Miniatures
The last several years I’ve averaged around 60 or so minis painted in a year. I’m definitely past that already this year, and that isn’t even counting the 18 trees I made. I also had set myself a goal to paint an equal number of non-Reaper minis as Reaper minis. I haven’t quite kept it even, but even still it’s been a lot of non-Reaper minis this year so far, with a couple months to go!

What I actually got done this month included finishing up the Boulderkin minis , a couple of witches , and a necromancer and zombie. The necromancer and zombie are going to be part of a simple diorama, but the base is only just started.

Media
Star Trek Prodigy season 2 rewatch
Star Trek Lower Decks
Agatha All Along (SO GOOD)
Hellraiser
The Fly (1986)
Fight Night

Goals for November
Keep up with the Stonehell session reports, and get at least 1 Caves of Chaos session report written per week.

Rappan/Stonehell: This session could have been an email

Session 266 was played on 9/22/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, Triton Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

This entire session was upkeep and paperwork.

Borumar studied with a bow master
Blotto trains other people in town in the art of using a fishing pole(arm) and also spends time with his rust monster, who he can now successfully ride.

Nick, Aroon, Jameth, and Lor’Koth are unable to find masters to train with.

Koltic hides away, brewing some potions of super healing. Half the batch comes out poorly.

Lor’Koth commissions Morgana to make him magical plate armor of fire resistance. It takes almost months. She also makes a bracelet of air breathing for Borumar who transforms into a triton thanks to the ring he foolishly put on. After both those are done she makes a set of toy knights for her patron’s kids, then she researches the spell Disintegrate.

Borumar throws a MASSIVE city wide party that turns into rioting and results in several fires around town. Because of Borumar’s position, and Morgana’s clout, no charges are filed against him.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: Wipeout!

Session 265 was played on 9/15/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

The second draggone lands, charges past the nest and the stuck Aroon toward the door that it can’t fit through. Blotto and Lor’Koth are high as a kite, Nick is hanging on with just a couple of hit points grappling a squirming crying dragonne cub, and Aroon is trapped in the nest. Borumar and Jameth use their ranged weapons to shoot at the dragonne in the doorway.

Then reality goes sideways…  and instantly snaps back. The dragonne lets out one last cry before turning and flying off. Borumar and Jameth help Aroon out of the nest, and watch the water below the balcony drain away.

Morgana and Koltic come running up saying they need to get on the boat and get going. Borumar points out the problem with that plan.

Morgana starts the teleport ritual. Aroon and Jameth go and retrieve Blotto and Lor’Koth.  In the distance, a wall of water rises up. Everyone looks to Morgana, and the wall, and back and forth as the ritual progresses. With mere moments to spare, the wall of water now clearly made up not just of water but the entire host of the Blue Lord within it, Morgana finishes the ritual, and the party teleports away.

Gains:
Kills: everyone within miles of the temple
Losses:

Rappan: Purple Shrooms and Dragonnes

Session 264 was played on 9/8/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

After Looting the lizardmen bodies of their gold, Morgana and Koltic start talking about how they can use the final vial of the Water of Life to seal the passage down to the alien ritual site.

Meanwhile, the party goes to check out the stinky passage. Growing near the entrance were some mushrooms. Blotto smushes one into a wiggling troll larynx, and it stops wiggling. Lor’Koth takes one of the mushrooms, sniffs it, and then pops it into his mouth. A moment later he sinks to the floor, and starts drooling purple spit. Blotto tells his companions about goblin “human-tales” relating to little girls and mushrooms, and how the lesson is to leave both alone.

Blotto bravely heads in with Jameth and Aroon close behind. They encounter the mushroomfolk within. While they have no language in common, but Blotto exchanges a troll larynx for a large lump of fungus. He then warns them that “a frankly terrifying wizard and acolyte are planning on blowing up the caves. You might want to leg it” The mushroomfolk raises its hand to its face, sticks the fingers into an orifice, and extends the fingers to Blotto. Blotto sticks his fingers up his nose, pulls out some snot and extends his hand. Blotto then takes the mushroom fingers into his own nose, and the mushroomfolk takes Blotto’s fingers and inserts them into its own orifice. Blotto feels weird tiny needle-like pricks in his flesh. Blotto, Aroon, and Jameth depart. Blotto starts to see dragons in the green fungus of the walls start to move in stop motion.

Leaving Blotto and Lor’Kth to enjoy their chemically altered state, Nick, Jameth, Aroon, and Borumar head back to the dragonne balcony. Currently empty, with a big nest off to one side, they check it out. Nick tosses a rock to the nest, and a dragonne head pops out, and roars at the party, deafening them. It leaps out and bites Nick, twice, and Nick drops. Aroon and Jameth hack into it, it mauls Aroon, and then Borumar blasts it with his bow, killing it. Borumar dumps a healing potion down Nicks throat, while Aroon and Jameth check out the nest. There’s a dragonne cub within. Jameth and Aroon crawl into the nest to grab it for Morgana, and then there’s a roar! Aroon gets his foot caught and can’t get out of the next. Jameth, Nick and Borumar run for the door with the cub. Aroon ducks down, hoping to avoid notice as the cub cries out in distress.  

Gains: dragonne cub
Kills: dragonne
Losses:

Rappan: Trappers, Keepers!

Session 263 was played on 9/1/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

After finishing off the swamp monster, a large pale frog head pokes out of the far end of the swamp, and blasts Nick, Jameth, and Aroon with its icy breath. Discretion being the better part of valor, and Lor’Koth having successfully removed all valuable material from the stairs, the party retreated.

Backing down the corridor to a small 5’wide passage, they follow that to a 20’ round chamber, seemingly empty. They toss a rock into the room, and hear a quiet “ow” but still don’t see anyone, nor do they see any evidence the rock bounced off of anything. Maybe a magic mouth spell? Blotto tosses a troll larynx. No effect. The floor is a little soft, and blotto pees on it. The floor shivers? Undulates? Nick pours some oil onto it, and it pulls away. Nick asks who here is good at carpet munching? Floor laying? Further bad jokes are made at the expense of the creature that is then killed from the safety of the doorway. Nick goes to check the corpse for treasure and gets the companion creature on the ceiling dropping down and enveloping him. Morgana transforms it into a newt, and carries it with her. Also collected are some platinum coins and a pair of blue diamond earrings.

With most of the party hurt, they head back to get some rest out of the alien area. In the oracle room a dozen lizardmen are entering from the other side. Morgana doesn’t give them a chance, and fireballs them.  Jameth and Aroon use their potions.

Gains: platinum coins and a pair of blue diamond earrings.
Kills: trappers, lizardmen
Losses:

Rappan: Alien Cultists Playground

Session 262 was played on 8/25/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

With the alien cultists dead, the party had a chance to look around the room. The most notable feature, aside from the 4 big bodies and the smoking cauldron, was a doorway glowing with orange light. Various things were tossed at it, including bits of the aliens (they bounced off) bits of the dead priests (they went through) bits of dead troll larynx (bounced) coins (bounced) goblin pee (splashed back). Deciding not to explore that, they head back to the wire covered doorway. Thankfully no metal spider had shown up to re-web it during the fight.

The party spends a bit of time looking at the weird obelisk. Lor’Koth doesn’t recognize the stone its made from, and tries to break off a piece. Eventually he does, but it crumbles to sand. No one can read the writing. Beyond the obelisk room, they come to another chamber with a weird blue grey crystal pyramid about 7’ tall. Electrical pulses can be seen in it. Morgana thinks at it hard, and the pulses clear, and reveal a view of dead alien cultists, priests of the blue lord, and a glowing orange door… Aroon tries and sees the deep dark void of space. Lor’Koth sees nothing, and can’t chip off a sample of the crystal.

Further along they come to a chamber with abstract metal forms (sculptures?) with plaques (?) and in the middle of the room on the floor a circular iris like hatch. Lor’Koth bangs it with a hammer. It rings nicely. They manage to pry it open, revealing a 20’ drop and a passage out to the east. Borumar checks it out. It quickly leads to a room with way too many holes in the walls and ceiling to be anything but a death trap. He comes back to the sculpture room, and the party tries one of the other passages out.

Following the long hallway, they round a turn and come to a long wide room with a raised path down the middle, and along the north and south sides are a swampy mess. The stairs down to it are covered in precious materials, and Lor’Koth gets to removing it. While he’s at it, Blotto goes fishing in the swamp and hooks a shambling mound. Lor’Koth ignores the fight, while the fighters take down the soggy monster.

Gains: precious material from steps
Kills: shambling mound
Losses:

Rappan: They're really not from around here

Session 261 was played on 8/11/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

The party descended the stairs down into the rancid pit. The rough stairs circle round and round, and open up at the bottom unto a weird worked stone(?) passage. In addition to the rancid smell, a gibberish noise can be heard, and just as the last of the party steps into the hall, the bell that the blue lord warned the party about sounds, and the gibberish gets louder and faster.

There’s no real choice on where to go, so the party follows the hall and the noise. The hall opens to a heptagonal chamber with a black obelisk in the center of it. 2 other exits head out of the room, one open, the other blocked by a weird metal wire lattice. The spidery writing on the obelisk is intriguing, but the chanting gibberish is more pressing, and of course its coming from the blocked passage. Thankfully the party quickly discovers that the wires can be yanked out of the wall with a little effort. They make a hole big enough to pass through.

The long passage opens up into a hexagonal chamber with a large pool of steaming bubbling green… goo? Surrounding the pool, waving their tentacles, are 4… things. Standing far too tall, and adhering to no known anatomy anyone in the party had ever seen. Koltic blessed the party and casts Striking on Borumar before Morgana opened things with a fireball. The flames only fully engulfed one of the aliens. Another was burned, but the other 2 the flames failed to touch. The magic bent around them! Combat was joined.  With well practiced skill, they focused on the most injured of the aliens first. Lor’Koth is the first to drop from the alien’s mighty swings. Not only did the tentacles hurt, but they yanked various senses from the party. The loss of the sense of smell/taste was actually a blessing given the rancid smell from the pool… Burumar’s enhanced striking is dispelled as he got into melee range.. After Lor’Koth, Nick, Morgana, Blotto, and then Borumar all fall. Koltic spends the entire battle running from body to body giving them the Water of Life and getting them back on their feet, and as he wasn’t a direct threat, the aliens to their detriment ignored him.

While the party defeated the aliens, it was a desperately close thing. Another round, or another alien, and it would have been a TPK.

Gains:
Kills: 4 alien things
Losses:

Rappan: The Blue Lord

Session 260 was played on 8/4/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Looting the vault, they find coins, jewels, some magic dust, boots, a ring of the triton, and 2 potions of polymorph self.

Returning to the main hall they head south and come to a large chamber containing a huge fountain of the Blue Lord, the walls decorated with moving scenes of ocean creatures. The far wall has an open rough passage emitting a green mist. The watery light grows brighter as the party enters.

“It seems I am too late, my temple is destroyed” a voice rings out. The water of the fountain forms into a 15’ tall avatar of the Blue Lord.
“How can we help?” Borumar asks.
“Avenge the desecration of this holy place.”
“Who do we have to kill?”
“Aliens. Invaders to our world that wish to release their alien god.”
“What else do we need to know?”
“A gong will sound when the time grows short. Stop the aliens from completing their ritual before the time runs out.

Blotto asks for specifics, but the Blue Lord has few. “My magic can’t touch them, they are so foreign to our reality.

Koltic asks for a boon. The Blue Lord offers The Water of Life. While within these walls a single gulp will restore you to the condition you were in upon entering the temple, but be warned, it can only be used once. A second dose will kill you.

With that the Blue Lord sinks back into the water, and the light of the room takes on a greenish tint to match the vapors rising up from the doorway. Doing their best to ignore the rancid smell, the party headed down the passage. A long straight walk eventually brought the party to a rough chamber with 2 exits. A collapsed stair heading up, and an open one with the stair circling down. The green mist was even thicker here, and the smell worse. Blotto pees down the open tunnel.. It was hard to be sure, but it might have improved the smell.

Gains: vials of the water of life, the treasure of the vault
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: Looting the Vault

Session 259 was played on 7/28/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Koltic spends some time with the poor broken man. He thinks he might be able to help him, but not here, and not now. With the amulet removed, and the Jinn gone, he’s not in imminent danger. They make sure he has some water and food, and leave him.

They check the rest of the VIP rooms, and find some minor treasure. Pressing on they find a big double door that opens out to a large marble platform over the main cavern with a dock down below.

They head back to the main hallway, and check out the next door off of it, finding the suite of the head priest. They search the room for treasure and more importantly, clues. Koltic finds a small secret door with a narrow passage to a vault door. Borumar checks out the passage, and fails to unlock the vault. He swaps places with Morgana who Knocks it open. Nick swaps with Morgana and opens the vault. He is immediately blinded, and placed in a silence field. With his hand still on the door, he slams it silently shut and carefully backs out.

Hours later, the spell effects wear off. Blotto and Borumar head down to the vault door. Upon opening it Borumar is magically Held. Blotto grabs him and starts to drag him back out of the way, but something stings him in the neck. Morgana Dispels Magic, revealing a Naga! Due to the confined space, Fireball isn’t a viable answer, but physical attacks work just fine. Koltic tries to use the Cobra Codex on the Naga, but the Naga makes its save. Some magic missiles, sword and spears, and blows from the goblin’s pole bring an end to the vault’s guardian.

Gains:
Kills: Naga
Losses:

Rappan: Be careful what you put down the drain

Session 258 was played on 6/23/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Exploring around the temple complex, they come to a fancily staged dining hall with a food prep area hidden behind a curtain. Blotto finds the garbage shoot, and pees down into it. There’s a weird screeching noise in response, and Blotto immediately grabs his fishing pole and drops a line down with a glowing coin attached.

Meanwhile Nick is looking at a weird smooth wall. He grabs a wooden plate and tosses it at the wall. It sticks, and starts to smoke, and then dissolves. They decide to just leave that alone, and stay far away from that wall...

Blotto looks down the shoot, and as the line descends, sees tentacles reaching up to the coin. Everyone circles around the hole, and Nick directs them all to start pouring oil down, followed by a torch. More oil is added as the tentacles, while clearly burning, aren’t stopping. A caterpillar-like monster, fully 10’ long, plus tentacles, totally charred and mostly lifeless is thrust up out of the hole, followed by 2 more much more alive creatures.   The waving tentacles miss Blotto, but 3 hit Nick, and he’s suddenly frozen in place. The amigos shoot the one holding Nick with their crossbows, while Koltic throws more oil. Blotto lays into the other, and the burned monsters are quickly put out of their misery.

Continuing the search of the room, they turn up a couple of books that are of interest to Morgana, and then, making sure nothing else is coming up the hole, move deeper into the complex.

Around a corner they come to a series of VIP bedrooms. The first contains a pair of bodies, suicides in the face of whatever horrors were happening in the temple. The next was split by the earthquakes. Deeper in they heard raving, screaming, crying, and another voice calling out “Please! Please help my master!”

Moving to investigate they see a man clearly being tortured, with a large flaming being next to him. “The amulet, remove the amulet from my master’s neck!” The party is skeptical, but unsure what they can do, especially without prep. Koltic casts Remove Curse on the poor man before Blotto steps in to take the amulet. The Jinn swats Blotto. Koltic casts Dispel Magic on the Jinn, which fails to send him home, but does prevent it from attacking the party. Morgana tries Hold Monster, which surprisingly works! She then uses the amulet to send the Jinn home.

Gains:
Kills: 3 carrion crawlers, 1 Jinn
Losses:

September ‘24 In Review

The kid started pre-k this month. Amazingly it took 2.5 weeks before he brought home the first cold. Then it was another week before I came down with it. I also finally started on my Halloween projects for the year. This year it’s an upcycled pallet wood coffin, and a PVC giant spider.  So far I’ve got the coffin lid and bottom made, and now need to make the walls. Currently there’s a pile of disassembled pallet wood piled in my garage that needs the nails pulled out of it before I can do that step, and a pile of about a dozen more pallets stacked outside the garage for future projects. The spider hasn’t even started, but I have gotten the parts for it. We’ll see if I can get it all done over the next 4 weeks.

Gaming
My work game continues. The party has been stomping around the swamp, and going back to the caves. They’ve discovered that the goblins have moved out of their caves, which kinda freaked them out. It’s great seeing new players seeing how their actions impact the world.

The Necessary Evil campaign has continued, and our…. Protagonists have infiltrated a secret lab to acquire a teleport device and also to humiliate the guy in charge. Predictably we all forgot about the main objective and focused on the fun of humiliating the worse guy... and the lair self destruct has been turned on! 

Our months-long adventure to the temple of the blue lord in our Stonehell/Rappan game has concluded with a massive tidal wave washing away a large chunk of the land around the temple, including the nearby village… and possibly the city 3 days walk away.  Now that we’re safely back home, the party is looking to head back into Stonehell, but not right away. The spellcasters needed to make some items, and the fighter types want to get in some training and carousing.  Ever have a session that could have been a couple of emails/chats?


Miniatures
I feel like I’ve been saying “It hasn’t been a super productive month” a lot in this section. By raw numbers it is true. On the other hand, when I look at the shelf of 2024 completed minis, it’s getting fuller and fuller. Plus I’m working on a bunch of minis that will be complete next month. I did go a little crazy, and decided it was time to add an LED to my first mini, and also sculpt a big old pile of skulls for a demon to stand on, and somehow got both of those finished. I think October and November will have some fun stuff coming though.

Media
Star Trek Prodigy season 2 rewatch
Star Trek DS9 Past Tense parts 1 + 2 (So depressing…)
Star Trek V (Better than I remembered)
Agatha All Along (SO GOOD)
Dungeon Crawler Carl

Goals for October
Finish the giant spider and coffin before Halloween
Try to get at least 2 session reports written per week.

Rappan Athuk: Sticky in the garden

Session 257 was played on 6/9/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

The mimic has Blotto tight, and he can’t bring his fishing pole(arm) to bear Nick charges in, critting on the beast. Aroon hits it hard with his blade, while Jameth falls right onto the best, getting himself stuck. Dropping his (now stuck) spear, Nick pulls out his ax and crits again! Aroon drops his sword, takes a step back and pulls out his crossbow, sinking a bolt, followed by Lor’Koth doing the same. Morgana sinks a dagger into it, and Borumar crits with his bow, ending the life of the mimic. They pull their companions and their weapons free. Blotto pees on the body of the mimic.

Checking around the garden, they’re attacked by carnations. Being just annoying flowers, and not binding mimics, they’re quickly cut down, and Morgana collects seeds to plant at her manor.

Returning to the fountain room, the party rests, staying out of reach of the weird. The next morning Koltic purifies the fountain, and they collect the 2 gems.

Going back over the island, and beyond the garden, they come to a passage that heads out to a cliffside balcony… with a dragonne and its babies. Everyone agrees that they can come back to that later. Continuing into the temple’s inner areas they pass a crack in the worked stone of the hallway that smells of moldy cheese. Blotto rolls a stone into the crack. Someone (something?) rolls it back out. The party agrees that again, not something that needs to be dealt with now.

Deeper in the corridor expands, and the walls are covered in frescoes of sea life. They head west into a side corridor, and find a dusty dormitory with a nice collection of reference books that Morgana snags, and a crystal decanter of endless water! The party pauses here before exploring more.

Gains: decanter of endless water
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan Athuk: Weird things in the water

 Session 256 was played on 6/2/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

After the ringing in their ears stopped from the exploding blast spores, the party continued deeper into the sea caves, finding another dry branch. Borumar scouted ahead, and found a small cave full of mushrooms… including shreikers. Rather than mess with them, the party moved on.

In a larger cave, where the torchlight couldn’t reach the end, they spied a bridge linking an island in the caves with a hole in the wall. On the island were some sea lions. The party chased them off. Landed on the island, and headed up the bridge, planning to return and check out the other bridge linking the island to the other side of the cave. A square chamber with a large ornate fountain at the far end was at the end of the bridge. The fountain depicted a massive sea serpent… with emerald eyes. No way this isn’t a trap, but Nick went to pry them out, disturbing the water weird in the fountain. Nick avoids getting grappled (and drowned) by it, and everyone gets out of its reach. Koltic says he can take care of it later.

Crossing back over the bridge to the island, and then over to the other bridge, the party finds a flower garden. Blotto goes sniffing around, picks a planter to pee on, and discovers the hard way that it was a mimic.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan Athuk: Into The Blue Lord's Temple

Session 255 was played on 5/26/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Gimble, wizard (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Back on the road, and heading to the temple of the blue lord. The first day out of town was quiet, THe party made camp. It was a dark and froggy night, but the frogs kept to themselves.

The second day was gray, dreary, and wet. The party arrived in an abandoned hamlet in the late afternoon. A note nailed to a door says “If you can make a go of it, it’s yours.” Only one spot was showing any signs of life, the inn. The party, unsettled by the other abandoned buildings, checks it out. The large inn was bright and warm and empty but for the old innkeeper. He welcomed the party, and with little prompting told his tale, how the hamlet was once a very prosperous spot thanks to the nearby temple, and all the pilgrims who came to see it. But not too long ago there was the earthquake, and after disease, and death, and strange fish beings coming up from the ocean. Now it’s just him and his ailing wife… everyone else has left. Koltic visited the wife, and sadly there wasn’t much he could do for her.

While the tale left the party with a chill, the warm food, strong drinks, and roaring fire helped put them at ease, at least for the night. Koltic tossed and turned, and woke in the predawn hours overcome with a feeling of dread.

The party has a quick breakfast, gears up, and heads out, following the innkeeper’s directions. There are plenty of boats to choose from, so the party splits up into 3 of the large row boats, and sets off along the cliff.

They come to a pair of sea caves, and begin to explore. They pause when the magic lights go out. Lighting some torches, Morgana lets loose with a fireball… that sputters out. Then something hits the boats from below! Fishmen! 8’ tall, with bubble helmets, they swarm the boats. The party quickly finds some semi-solid land to beach the boats on so that they can focus on fighting rather than drowning. It turns out that fighting on a sandbar isn’t all that much better than fighting on a boat, but at least the fishpeople were more interested in fighting the party than smashing the boats. The biggest one has a fancy opal necklace. And the cool tridents and 2 handed sword would make great trophies.

They return to the boats, and go deeper into the caves. In a side passage, they spy 3 floating orbs drifting toward the party. Nick thinks they’re blast spores, and not beholders, and tells everyone to shoot at them before they get too close. Thankfully, Nick was right.

Gains: opal necklace
Kills: 10 fishmen, 3 blast spores
Losses:

Review: Star Thugs

More and more I find myself much more interested in interesting settings than in new rules systems. I'm generally happy with the OSR and related rules systems. They do what I like, in ways I like, but that doesn't stop me from looking at other rules systems to steal ideas from.

I picked up Star Thugs at a used book store for cheap. Cover price is $17.95, and I'm pretty sure I paid $5. The PDF is currently $6.40  It's an interesting game, mechanically, drawing a lot of inspiration from collectable trading card games, with actions tapping your characters when they do their things. Each player runs their own ship, and its entire crew. The captain is the player's main character, but when it comes to actions, having a larger and more diverse crew means you can do more.Plus you can, though various means, have additional ships under your command. Because everyone is running their own ships and crew, this seems like it could get kind of cumbersome to RP everyone. In some ways this feels more like a board game, or a CCG than a traditional RPG.

Resolution mechanics are on the simple side, with a single 1d12 roll rolling equal to or above the target difficulty. If you have a skill in whatever it is you're trying, and you roll equal to or under that skill, you get to roll again and add both together to try to hit the target number.

The setting of Star Thugs is our own galaxy, and set today. There's a solid chunk of the book that describes the local sectors around Earth. Major planets/systems get write-ups of varying length. Like many sci-fi games, planets are generally looked at as homogeneous entities. It's hard to avoid when each one only gets a couple paragraphs. It also feels like a lot of these planets and systems were based on a 14 year old boy's ideas.

This just feels unnecessary. 

Overall I enjoyed reading this book, but it does have a couple of flaws that really bugged me the longer it went on. The book is almost entirely written with an in universe narrator. While I enjoy some of that, I much prefer it when those in universe bits are flavoring, rather than the meat of the book. I also kinda hate the layout. The font is a little on the small and cramped side, and the non-spaceship art is all uniformly bad (see above).

Where Star Thugs really shines though is their random tables for character background and random mission generation. These few pages alone might be worth the (highly discounted) cost of entry.

Rappan Athuk: Getting Ready to meet the blue lord

Session 254 was played on 5/19/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Gimble, wizard (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Feeling supremely refreshed, they spend more time poking about town, checking in with the local temple to learn more about what’s happened at the temple of the blue lord. The local pantheon consists of 9 gods (and a forgotten one), including the blue lord. Sadly the temple doesn’t have much more info than what Kelman already provided.

At the local provisioners, they are pleasantly surprised to find a selection of potions for sale, including a dozen healing potions, invisibility, growth, a potion and scroll of water breathing, and a scroll of resist elements. The party buys up the lot, as well as a new wagon, 2 horses, and some lanterns and torches (you never know when the magic will fail again)

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan Athuk: Spa Day!

Session 253 was played on 5/15/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Blotto takes the head of the roc, ropes and stakes it in the water to allow the sea life to clean the skull for him.

Breaking camp, and getting ready to activate the elephant, they spot a trade caravan heading their way, and going eastward, the direction they’re headed. They hitch a ride to the nearest town.

Once in town they take full advantage of being somewhere civilized, and have a spa day. They learn a bit about the town, the local area, the temple, and the big dragon they encountered. 

Nick decides he needs to upgrade the bathing facilities in his castle ASAP, up to and including having Morgana make him a magic tub.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Blood Demons

"Do you hear that grunting?" 

"Who's working out in a dungeon?"

 Looking through the doorway, the party sees a wide circular chamber that stretches down at least 60 feet, with a winding stairway wrapping around the wall. Down below, half a dozen buff red demons were busy flexing, stretching, doing one armed pushups, squats, box jumps and jump rope with a chain...  

"According to the map, we have to go down there." Allianora grumbles

"I hate gym demons" Rathgar moans. 

"Who doesn't." Feris says. "Ice storm?"

"Yeah, lets not get into their reach if we can avoid it." Nimble says, looking down at the bulging muscles

Blood Demons

Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 4* (M)
Move: 120' (40')
Attacks: 2 claws/ 1 gore or special
Damage: 2d4+1/2d4+1/1d6+1 or special
Number Appearing: 1d6 (1d6)
Save As: F8
Morale: 11
Treasure Type:
Intelligence: 7
Alignment: Chaotic
XP Value: 175

Monster Type: Demon, lesser (rare)

Blood demons are the gym bros of the demon world. While they love the chaos and destruction that they can cause, they also enjoy psychological intimidation that their impressive physical forms can instill, and will mock anyone and anything that is less physically developed than them. Because they're so energetic, unless properly restricted by the summoning spells, they will continue to cause mayhem and destruction until banished or destroyed. 

In combat, the demons will attempt to intimidate their opponents and flex and pose to show off their physique. Anyone viewing this must make a save vs spells or be in stunned for 1d3+1 rounds. While stunned they will suffer a -2 to all attacks, AC, and saves. This effect can only be done once per day per opponent. 

Like all lesser demons, they can be turned as undead (as mummies) and have the bonus demon strenth of +1 to damage (included above), and are immune to sleep and charm spells, and are immune to fire. 

Terrain: any

---

These demons are from the Reaper Miniatures Blood Demons set, and were painted with the following reaper paints: Red Liner, Asmodius Red, Seoni Scarlet, Sunrise Orange, Dragon Copper, Carbon Grey, and Skeleton Bone

The Big 15!

15 years.

It's longer than I spent in public school. It's longer than my marriage. It's as long as I had Lucy and Alice for each. Few things in my life are as constant. Maybe only my love of Star Trek and RPGs has lasted longer.

I've got lots more of everything that's come before, plus some new things coming down the line that should be ready in time for Halloween. To all you faithful readers, thanks for coming along on this journey. I'm not done yet!

Rappan Athuk: A Roc and a wet place

Session 252 was played on 5/5/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Gimble, wizard (Scott)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

At the water's edge, they pull out the boat box, and struggle to remember the activation word. Eventually they get it in the water, and while trying to remember, say “boat” and it becomes a boat. Amazingly/Depressingly Blotto is the only member of the party with any experience with sailing, and it falls to him to direct the rest of them in getting the boat moving in the right direction.

About 4 hours after hitting the water, a giant roc is seen approaching. Crossbows and fireballs are readied, and loosed as the bird closes in. The roc is a little put off by the assault, and misses its attack on the boat. More bolts, a lightning bolt, and Blotto’s new paralyzing fishing pole arm get tossed at the roc. The fishing line hits and the roc fails its save, and drops into the water, eventually drowning. Botto ropes the corpse and they drag it on their way.

3 hours later Blotto feels some tugging on the line. Sharks are feasting on the corpse of the roc. Blotto manages to paralyze one shark, sending it to the bottom of the ocean.

5 hours later they finally make it to the far shore, and drag the boat and the corpse of the roc into the shallows. The body of the roc has been gutted, but some shark teeth are recovered from the corpse. Morgana takes some feathers.

Setting up a late camp, they attract the attention of a pack of wolves. Not wanting to bother, they chuck roc meat at them until they go away.

Gains: roc corpse
Kills: roc
Losses:

Star Trek Day 2024

Happy Star Trek Day 2024! 

 

The last few years we've gotten some amazing panels and events for Star Trek Day (today). This year, sadly, all we're getting is this video and the Lower Decks season 5 trailer. 

It isn't nothing, but it doesn't feel like much, especially given how much is and will be ending this year. Discovery aired its final season. Prodigy got sold off to Netflix, and there's no word on any more seasons. Picard is over (last year). And this is the final season of Lower Decks. 

Yes, there's still a lot to look forward to. Strange New Worlds is doing a fine job carrying the Trek banner, and we've got the Section 31 film and Starfleet Academy coming up... but... I want more. I want more Prodigy and Lower Decks specifically. While everyone fawns over SNW, the animated stuff (and DISCO) were doing way more interesting things with Trek, and I want more of that. I'd also love more Short Treks. That's another avenue to explore the Trek-verse without needing to green-light a whole new series for every idea.

Whatever the future may hold, both for Trek specifically, and for the world at large, I remain hopeful. And what is the core message of Star Trek if not that? Have hope. We can do better, we can be better.

Live Long and Prosper.

Rappan Athuk: Are we the baddies?

Session 251 was played on 4/28/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

While the dragon had taken the donkeys, the slightly wobbly and a little broken cart remained. Borumar’s pack elephant statue was drafted into service, and tied to the cart. It looked ridiculous, but it worked, and Morgana didn’t have to walk.

The young bugbear’s name turned out to be Zur. She wasn’t super chatty.

After a bit on the road, they barely spotted someone following. Morgana cast invisibility on Nick and he and  Borumar snuck off into the brush to wait to see who was following. After a short wait, 7 bugbears came into sight. Nick and Borumar decided to deal with them together. Borumar started by backstabbing the biggest looking one, and getting in a really really good hit.

The leader took the hit, and snarled in pain, but didn’t drop. Borumar pulled his daggers out and stuck them back in. Nick appeared in the middle of the group, stabbing another with his spear, and then again, dropping his target. Borumar’s bugbear also dropped.

“You messed with Borumar, and you shouldn’t have done that” the half orc snarls at the remaining bugbears. They break and run, one yelling over their shoulder “he just wanted his daughter back!”

Borumar and Nick have a “are we the baddies” moment, and then settle on “The bugbears weren’t good people, we did the right thing”Borumar stashes the fancy blood stained leather armor from the leader and the pocket change in the bag of holding, and they catch up to the group.

Eventually they make camp and during Jameth & Borumar’s watch, Zur slips away. They both see it, and neither says anything.

The next day is without incident, and they make it to the water, camping once more, before tacking that challenge.

Gains: leather +2, 40gp
Kills: bugbear chieftain, and bugbear
Losses: moral/ethical high ground?

Rappan Athuk: Dragon Fire, Dragon Egg

Session 250 was played on 4/21/24


Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

“Who speaks for this ragtag bunch?” The dragon hisses.

The party looks back and forth between each other, and Borumar half raises his hand.

“Know this, there will be no settlers, no colonizers here!” She takes a deep breath and everyone runs. The heat of her breath, even as the party wasn’t the target of it, was overwhelming. “Begone, before I take more than this from your pathetic existence.” She says taking the donkeys and cart that were Morgana’s, and teleporting away.

The ruins were no more, and it would be an age before anything again ever grows upon the now glassy hilltop. The party takes a few minutes to change pants, and let the hilltop cool a bit. Checking around to see if there’s anything left to find, they discover a small cave mouth on the far side of the hill. Down some rough stairs they find what looks like an old burial site. Behind a closed door a voice calls out in goblin “it’s locked and trapped, stay out!” Blotto chats with the voice a bit. Eventually they agree to open the door, revealing a lone young bugbear female guarding a pair of chests.

The one with the gold is a welcome find, the warm chest with a silvery dragon egg was a highly unexpected discovery! Morgana was thrilled, and called it before anyone else could express an interest in it.

The young bugbear grudgingly agrees to follow the party. Deeper in the mound, behind another door are more chests, but these contain wooden, iron, and bronze coins, and a couple sets of plate armor with matching swords and shields, and a total of 4 rings.

Collecting their loot, and their… prisoner? They leave the still warm hill and head for the river. The kobolds have fled, apparently following their new dragon god. We couldn’t really blame them.

Gains: 5333gp, 4 rings, 2 suits of armor
Kills:
Losses: 18 kobolds, cart and donkeys

August ‘24 In Review

Some months you just look back on and it feels like there isn’t anything worth writing about. Played some games, painted a few minis, spent time with the family… It was an uneventful month. I'm also feeling a little bummed that I'm not at Reapercon this year. 

Oh, I did get my covid booster, and you should get yours!

Gaming

Sadly I had to cancel 2 work D&D sessions in a row this month. The first because I had been up all night the night before with a sick dog… I’m pretty sure it was the ant trap I found chewed up. She’s better now, but it was a rough night. There were also a couple of other rough nights when we discovered she really doesn’t like thunderstorms. This past secession they attacked the lizardmen mound, and thanks to some lucky rolls, and judicious use of oil and sleep spells, managed to take out the main warriors of the tribe, collected a chunky gold necklace, and flee to safety. The first character has made level !

The Rappan game is going well. We faced some eldritch horrors and survived… just. Had the fight ended up going a little longer, or had there been even one more of them, it would have been a TPK.

Miniatures

You know when things just get too cluttered to make progress? I hit that point and needed to clean off my desk. And then more than a week went by before I put a brush to a mini. And then 2 minis I finished up, I put some clear coat on them, and it fogged up! I ended up having to repaint them. I also painted up a Stargrave psycher, and her cool base. Unfortunately the base and the mini don’t really go great together. It wasn’t the best month, mini-wise.



I’ve got a couple other stargrave minis I’m working on, and an oldhammer sorceress… Not sure what else will hit the table this month. Still need to finish off the big demon's base. I should probably do that this month. 


Media

Star Trek Prodigy season 2 rewatch
The Umbrella Academy season 4 - WHAT THE FUCK?!?


Goals for September
Build a 6’ tall monster spider for Halloween
Play scenario 3 for Hope Eternal
Try to get at least 2 session reports written per week.

Rappan Athuk: There's always a bigger fish...

 Session 249 was played on 4/14/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

With Borumar invisible, and a bunch of kobolds available, and a Horn of Valhalla… the bugbears were overrun with no casualties on the party’s side. A small stash of treasure was collected.

One of the bugbears had been paralyzed in the fight. Tying him up, he was defiant, spitting and cursing at the party. Then things got quiet….

Too quiet…

Magically quiet!

The bugbear hunting party had returned with their cleric. He cast sticks to snakes, but Koltic, outside the magical silence, used his Book of Yg to counter the spell. Nick, Borumar, and the 3 amigos charged in, while the kobolds provided support. 2 Kobolds fell from bugbear attacks, but they were the only losses.

Feeling celebratory, the party again began to think about setting this up as a kobold kolony. Unfortunately a MASSIVE red dragon popped into existence next to the ruins. The displaced air that washed over the party reeked of sulfur and rotting meat. The kobolds dropped to their faces.

“Who speaks for this ragtag bunch” the dragon hissed.

Gains: 154gp, 99sp
Kills: Bugbears
Losses: 2 kobolds

Rappan Athuk: Arriving at the ruins

 Session 248 was played on 3/31/24

Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Morgana, wizard (Rob)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

After enjoying a spider rodeo, the party gathers up 20 young kobolds itching to make their mark on the world and are willing to be the vanguard of the kobold kolony in the ruins. With a pair of mules and a big cart, they hit the road.

Taking the ferry back to the keep, Blotto makes use of his new paralyzing fishing polearm to get what he can in the river. He accidentally hits a kobold, sending him into the relatively shallow waters. He’s rescued and recovers, but keeps his distance.

At the keep they meet up with a caravan heading in the same direction and join up. Blotto takes the lead on the negotiations and they go surprisingly well. Morgana purchases another cart and horses for herself to ride in.

The trip south is largely free of incident. Minor encounters with some giant wasps, a rumored vampire’s tomb, but little of note till they reach the path to the ruined fort. The caravan is unwilling to hang out while the party does its thing, so they move on.

Morgana casts invisibility on herself and Borumar, and they head up the path to investigate, and find “ruins” might be an overstatement. No wall is higher than hip height, and most barely make it to the knee. Nevertheless, a troop of bugbears has made it their camp. Half a dozen large tents are set up within the walls, and as best as they can count, a little over a dozen bugbears seem to be within.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan Athuk: Travel Prep

 Session 247 was played on 3/17/24

Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)

Nick uses the tapestry to call in Morgana for consultation about Kelman’s proposal/request. The two of them talk it over, and then get into the weeds discussing magic theories. Then they head to her lab and start working on… magic stuff.

Meanwhile Nick and Borumar begin to make preparations for a long overland trip, and to check in with Drusilla about some ruins that they’ll pass on the way. While unable to meet with the druidess, they receive word from one of her wolves that she has no problem with them trying to take it over, and installing a kobold kolony there.

The 3 amigos spend their time training the kobolds, and blotto fishes. Koltic sets up a still in the kobold caves and gets to work brewing and distilling some mighty fine drinks. Getter than the mushroom swill they call a drink.

Morgana and Kelman come back from their time in the lab with some shiny new armor and weapons for those in the party who were without. Kelman also offers a magic boat in a box to ease their trip to the water temple.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: Quest Options & Castle Upkeep

 Session 246 was played on 3/11/24

Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)

After Nick and the rest of the party clean up, Nick finds the visitor, and has a sit down with him. He calls himself Kelman, says he’s heading north on an important journey, but heard about Nick and company, and thought they’d like to know about a temple of the Blue God to the south that was struck by an earthquake and since then it’s gates have been closed and weird sounds have been heard. Additionally local children and livestock have been born with deformities, and people nearby have been getting sick.

It sounds like a promising quest. Nick decides to chat it over with the rest of the group before agreeing to the trip. Kelman does warn Nick that there’s a potential dragon encounter that they might have on the way, but that he has a flag that will allow them safe passage. Nick grills Kelman about the dragon, an adult that lives on an island off the coast, and collects tribute. After dealing with the temple, it might be worth doing some dragon hunting…

After meeting with Kelman it’s time to survey his castle and check in with the residents. The demonic birds are doing well, and their numbers are up to about 10. Getting their attention takes a little work, so Nick suggests a specific gong outside the tower, and the matriarch agrees.

Checking out the kobold construction, he visits the nursery, and looks at the spider silk production, but declines the opportunity to participate in the giant spider riding rodeo planned for the evening.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Rappan: Back to the Keep

Session 245 was played on 3/10/24

Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)

While Morgana spends her time researching the ring, now activated, the rest of the crew head back through the tapestry to the inn at the keep. They take the tapestry down, fold it up and pack it away to take it to Nick’s castle. While in the village, they ask around for news and rumors, and find out that someone has been looking for Nick, recently, but they left for his castle a few days prior.

They take the barge to Zelcor’s Ferry, passing a group of ogres butchering something on the riverside. They were well away from the barge, and no one was interested in getting closer.

Arriving in Zelcor’s Ferry they disembark and head right for the tavern, bumping into 4 kobolds from the keep. They give Nick a quick update on what’s up.

Nick hires another boat to take the party, and the kobolds back to the keep. It’s an uneventful journey and they arrive at the keep safely. The gentleman looking for Nick is already in residence, but Nick needs a quick change before meeting with him.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses:

Stonehell: What a drain

 Session 244 was played on 3/4/24

Morgana, Magic User (Rob)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)

Still poking around the soap bubble, the party comes to realize that some of their magic is no longer working. The light coins Morgana keeps in a pouch have all gone dark.

Playing with the bubble, eventually they attempt to enter it. Slowly at first, just a finger, then a hand, arm, eventually their head to see if they can breathe inside it. They can. They also discover that they can stand inside the bubble. Morgana tries to use the ring, to no effect. She goes back to the room with the sparks, and attempts to ritual her way home, but fails…

They return to the hermitage, and then to the manor to rest, train, and resupply all the various magical items that were sucked dry.

Gains:
Kills:
Losses: magic light coins, a bunch of potions, a scroll

Stonehell: Sparks and Bubbles

Session 243 was played on 2/25/24

Morgana, Magic User (Rob)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)

The party returned to the main hall to check the side passages near the entrance. Heading east, they enter a large chamber with glowing pillars, and faint lavender sparks that flash briefly all around the room. A pair of the floating eyes approach the party from behind, but Morgana ice storms them. Borumar cautiously checks out the room and the lavender sparks, but they don’t seem to do anything. The rest of the party cautiously checks out the room, then heads to the door to the south.

Opening the door they find an octagonal room with 4 pillars surrounding a 10’ diameter… soap bubble. Everyone hangs back with the lavender sparks while Borumar checks it out. He doesn’t find any traps, can’t wrap a rope around it. Shooting an arrow through it doesn’t do anything.

Morgana even tries to mentally move the bubble, but it has no effect.

Gains:
Kills:  floating eyes
Losses:

July ‘24 In Review

At the very end of the month, we added a new member of the family. Welcome Tasha! She’s about 3 years old, and while not a puppy, she’s full of energy and seems to be settling in nicely. 

We’ve also been dog sitting a friend's dog all month, so it’s been a nice chance to get back into the swing of having a dog. It is something of an adjustment having to deal with a dog that can reach the counter top… She’s only semi-trained, so there’s work to do on everyone’s part.

Gaming
We paused the Stonehell/Rappan game for most of the month as Rob was out of town, and gamewise it didn’t make sense to continue, so instead I ran Another Bug Hunt for Mothership horror RPG. It’s the first time running anything but D&D in forever, and it was nice. It’s a fun, relatively rules lite system. Not sure I managed to bring the horror, but my players had fun.

My work D&D game is getting going. Always hard to get people together in the summer with vacations and all, but I’ve had 2 solid sessions, mostly in the keep, and am looking forward to them visiting the caves again next session.

Miniatures
A frustrating month. I spent too much time trying to paint some Fristgrave forest bandit minis (aka Robin Hood types) and having the worst time of it. The white primer I used trying to zenithal highlight it ended up being super dusty, and nothing would stick. Eventually (and this took far too long) I gave them and a bunch of other minis that I’d primed at the same time a bath in isopropyl alcohol and a good scrub with my craft toothbrush. Things went a lot easier after that. Then I switched gears and knocked out half a dozen Blood Demons from Reaper. 

I’ve got a wide selection of minis ready to go on my desk right now, and no idea what it is I’ll really focus on next.


Media
Resident Alien
Letterkenny
Star Wars Acolyte
Star Trek Prodigy season 2

Goals for August
Play scenario 3 for Hope Eternal
Try to get at least 2 session reports written per week.

Making Mirkwood Trees for your tabletop games

I decided a while back that what I desperately needed for my game board is enough trees to make a forest. This was a silly thought as I haven't played a tabletop game in months. Nevertheless I decided to embark on this project, and so watched a whole bunch of YouTube videos, and dug through my terrain making books, and settled on making them with aluminum foil. This decision was based in part on the fact that it was a material I had plenty of, was cheap, and easy to work with. 

Then I needed to figure out how many trees to make. I set up my playing space and pulled out my 2" bases. It took about 18 to convincingly fill a 3*3 play area. 

The final decision at this point was to decide how tall I wanted the trees. Using Sir Forscale, I settled on a 4 to 6 inch range to make the trees feel big enough, but not so large that they would totally dominate the board even if there were just a few. 

 

Please note there is nothing in this tutorial that can't be found elsewhere, but this has the advantage of not being a video!

It was time to start making the trees. I pulled out sheets of foil and started wrapping. 

 

I started with about a 14-16 inch long piece of foil, which I then folded...

  

 

And started wrapping. Why 14-16 inches? Because as I twist the foil, it gets smaller, so that by the time I'm done the tree fits in the 4-6 inch total height that I was looking for.

 

 

Then I'd take another sheet and wrap it around the first to bulk up the trunk, and start to make the branches (not pictured). I then used hot glue to stick it to a 2" base. Sometimes I'd stick the second sheet of foil in the folds of the main trunk before I did the wrapping. Honestly, there was a lot of experimentation in making these, which resulted in a lot of different tree shapes. 

The nice thing about working with foil like this, is that if a spot needed bulking out, or filled in, or whatever, it was easy enough to take an extra bit of foil and wrap, stuff, and glue it where it needed to go.

 

 

I then took a sheet of foil and made one long roll, and cut it into small pieces to serve as roots, and glued them to the trees and bases.  Some roots were small, but I made some really twisty and large. After that, I used the glue gun to put a layer of hot glue all over the trees, both to seal the foil and to make some texture. I missed some spots, and others ended up smoother than I'd have liked, but the variety makes for a more interesting, and even more realistic set of trees. 

 

 

Then it was time to paint. I mixed black craft paint with Mod Podge and gave every tree a thick coat. Then I went back and gave them a second coat, cause some spots didn't cover the first time. 

 

 

Then I realized I forgot to texture the bases. So I did that, using a mix of sand and gravel. Then painted the bases with the same mod podge and paint mix. If I am ever to add more trees to my forest, or make another one, I'll remember to add the ground cover before I prime them.

 

 

Then it was time to add some real color. I started with a heavy brush of craft smart (Michaels brand) chocolate brown, followed by a nutmeg brown, and then a dry brush of antique white.  

 

 

You'll note I didn't make any smaller branches. My initial plan was to add foliage to these trees, so I only needed the main branches to hold it. You'd never see the smaller ones. 

 

But once I was done, I started to think that they look good like this. And maybe they'd work better as dead spooky mirkwood style trees. While I was still deciding on the foliage, I used some green and purple paints to splotch on some color. and gave the trees another final dry brush of the antique white. The green and purple are only a little noticeable if you're really looking for it, but it adds some more visual depth to the trees that made the effort worth it.

 

You have to admit this looks pretty good. The bark texture is way overstated and looks delightfully diseased. This is not a healthy forest by any stretch of the imagination.

The trees are wonderfully flexible. I can dump the lot of the from the table to the floor and they're going to bounce. My toddler can manhandle them, and they survive just fine. The biggest danger is them popping off the bases, but you have to work really hard to make that happen. 

I do think I'll do 1 or 2 more "character" type trees. I'm especially thinking about one tree growing over a dungeon entrance, maybe a gulthias tree? And the other I'm thinking off is more of an evil grandmother willow type tree with a face. We'll see if and when I get around to ever making those.

Stonehell: Sepulture Raiders

 Session 242 was played on 2/18/24

Morgana, Magic User (Rob)
Borumar, ½ Orc Thief (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)
Nick, Fighter 7 (Me)

Heading back north from the stepped pyramid, they check out the side passage to the east. The same glowing blue light from nowhere illuminates the 8 floating oblong smooth sarcophagi. Not finding an easy way to open them, the party leaves them alone after doing a bit of pushing and pulling to see if they’d react. They didn’t.

Heading west they find another tomb with floating sarcophagi,  of them open, and a pair of pillars inscribed with weird symbols. Blotto goes to get a closer look and is attacked by a pair of 8’ tall, 4 armed mummies. Koltic is afraid of them, and keeps back. Morgana launches magic missiles, while Borumar jumps back and shoots one with his bow, killing it. Nick and Lor’Koth take out the other before it can do any damage.

Blotto returns to the pillar, and as best as he can tell, it’s some sort of math or maybe magic. Morgana isn’t too concerned about it at the moment, and they press on, coming to a 4 way intersection. Borumar uses his potion of treasure finding. Feeling the pull and checking their maps… they figure that it’s probably pointing to the Casino treasure vault.

Heading south from the intersection a large 4 armed iron statue that looks rather like the mummies they recently fought attacks, hitting Borumar hard. Borumar stabs it with his daggers, and they get stuck. Morgana blasts it with Magic Missiles, and it falls. Borumar pulls his daggers free.

The passage has a pair of side passages that quickly open up into smaller tombs with 4 sarcophagi each. Continuing to the south they come to a T intersection. To the east is a psychedelic room full of swirling colors and sounds. To the west is a room that looks like it’s sweltering due to the wavy air within, but is actually the same temp as the rest of the Sepulture.

Gains:
Kills:  Kion Mummies, Kion Iron Statue
Losses: