13 years old!

I haven't marked the day in a couple of years, but yesterday was my 13th blogiversary. 

Go me!

It's interesting that this has kept on, even though at this point too many of my posts are the monthly wrap ups, and not nearly enough of them are session reports or new content. And I have ideas for new content stuff, and things from game that I want to share, but with a toddler in the house, finding the time has been hard. That's part of the reason this is a day late in fact. 

I don't foresee any big changes to things here at the Tower anytime in the near term. Likely you will be seeing more of the same, though I do want to keep posting some of the new characters I've been coming up with. 

 Anyway, happy blogiversary to me! Here's to another productive year!

Happy Star Trek Day

 

This is truly a golden age for Star Trek. We have so many new shows to enjoy, great loving diverse casts who are all thrilled to be a part of it, and creators who clearly get what Star Trek is about. 

Today, starting at 3pm eastern, 12 pacific, you can watch the day's events at https://www.startrek.com/day

August ‘22 in Review

One of my goals for the month was to play a game of Stargrave. Sadly that didn't happen. However I got a lot closer to it than I have in a long while. I got as far as finding the rulebook, getting some terrain ready, and picking out some minis. I even got the primed terrain on the table to see if I had what I needed for a game. I do. And then I went and bought some craft paints to paint the terrain (as I'm not going to use my expensive Reaper paints for a table's worth of terrain).


Gaming
As I wrote above, no Stargrave, but there has been some Stonehell and Rappan Athuk gaming! I really need to catch up on session reports, but finding time is just hard to do. Life with a toddler means that there's only an hour or two a day that's available for my various interests, and a lot of evenings there just isn't the energy for creative activities. 

Miniatures
A decently productive month. My kobold horde continues to grow as I make my way through the many many kobolds I've gotten the last several Bones Kickstarters. I also painted another dragon, though this one was rather non-standard, a plant dragon. Honestly if it wasn't labeled "plant dragon" I'd probably just call it a plant monster.

How do I manage to get as much painting done when I just said a bit ago there isn't time/energy for creative activities? I take half my lunch break and paint. Not every day, but even 3 times a week can add up.

Media
Star Trek Voyager (season 2)
What We Do In The Shadows (season 1 & 2)
Lower Decks
She Hulk

Still Just a Geek


Goals
Play Stargrave!

Leveled NPCs availability week to week

In my weekly Stonehell/Rappan Athuk game, there are a number of leveled NPCs that regularly join in on our adventures... but not always. Given that each of these NPCs is an independent character, and not a paid hireling, I wanted there to be situations where they wouldn't be available, for whatever reason. To keep it simple, I decided a simple morale check would work, with anything 5 or under would mean that NPC wouldn't be available this week.

Thinking about it more, I wanted to add a little something to the check.

Charisma modifiers were a good place to start, especially as my character Nick has a penalty. It just made sense.

But then I thought about other things that would impact whether someone would want to brave the dangerous dungeons with these particular murderhobos. This is what I've come up with.

Make a morale check. A modified 5 or under means the NPC is unavailable to adventure. Under a 2 means it is very unlikely they will ever rejoin the party, and may organize a rival group)
-1 Reduced to 0hp last adventure
-1 Someone died
-1 Unsuccessful delve (no magic items recovered, not enough treasure to cover expenses
+1 Successful adventure (a magic item was recovered, profit was earned, quest complete)
+1 Leveled Up (NPC gained enough XP to level up)
+3 Very successful adventure (NPC got a magic item)
+/- Charisma Mod of group leader (not necessarily the highest level or most charismatic)
+X Bribe (varies by what's offered)

Juliana The Herbalist

She's cute, bubbly, smart, but critical (of others) to a fault, and can be vicious when things go against her. One of 9 siblings, she spent much of her time away from the family farm, exploring the woods near her village. There she met a hedge witch. Initially the witch wanted nothing to do with the girl, trying to avoid the villager's attention. Juliana was persistent, and eventually the witch began to teach her. First by sending her to collect various herbs, plants, and other things that could be found in the woods. Later she began to teach her magic. Not the fancy flashy magic of the wizards in their towers, but earthy magic.

One day the witch and Juliana were both in foul moods, and getting on each other's nerves. They fought, yelled, screamed, and in the end Juliana stormed from the woods, and told her family about the 'evil witch in the woods who tried to charm her' and then the story spread. The witch was hounded out of her cabin, fleeing in the night before the mob came and burned it down... but not before Juliana had snuck in and taken a few useful trinkets.

Now Juliana lives on her own at the edge of the village making herbal cures and strong flavorful brews. A pair of hedgehogs are her only companions. Whispers in the village are beginning to spread that maybe Juliana didn't resist the witch at all, and she's putting something in her brews... and those hedgehogs? Probably demons.

Curdom the Unstopable

Curdom the Unstoppable
Maimed as a teenager by a werewolf, this young cleric doesn't let his limp slow his hunt for the best that ravaged the monastery of the silvery moon he grew up in. As a youngster he was more interested in the ritual of the temple rather than the hard work it took to maintain it, but after he was nursed back to health, he threw himself into training to fight the monsters that hunt the world. Never the best in skill or technique, Curdom will pick himself up and keep fighting by sheer force of will.

In addition to the usual fighting equipment, he always carries a couple vials of silver infused holy water that act like acid on lycantropes, and prefers payment in silver.

His one goal in life is to eradicate the scourge of lycanthropy, be it through healing magics or the silvery head of his mace.

June '22 in Review

COVID Sucks! Even more than poison ivy, though it was close. It was a “mild” case that mostly resolved after a little more than a week (faster than the poison ivy) but still miserable. The only positive thing about it was being able to binge watch some TV. Actually that was about the only thing I was able to do, period. I spent most of the time in bed asleep.

Not how I wanted to be spending my PTO. I had PLANS, and now I need to update those plans.

Gaming
Only got a couple of session of D&D in this month, but Nick and company continue to deal with the frog cultists, and helping them clear out their haunted cloister. Unfortunately it was (is?) haunted by invisible stalkers, one of which chucked my character off the cloister wall.

Miniatures
In spite of yet another month of ill health, I still managed to get a bit done. The one I'm happiest with is the Viceroy Scrutator. I've never been great at white, but I think I pulled it off.

Media - Like I said, lots of time watching TV...
Brooklyn 99 (season 7 and half of 8)
Star Trek Voyager (season 2)
Star Trek Strange New Worlds
Ms. Marvel
The Umbrella Academy Season 3
The Expanse Season 2, 3, and half of 4
The Princess
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4

Goals
I now have an actual table that I can game on. My goal is to pull out some terrain (even unpainted) and play one of the solo scenarios for Stargrave. I also want to finish off the froghemoth. It's nearly done, and I just need to wrap it up.