HelgaCon IV: Into the Forgotten Realms

Well, we're getting along to about a month and a half since this whole awesome mini-con went down, so I should get off of my procrastination station and wrap this sucker up.

The final game in the weekend's procession of delights was another tournament style D&D game run by the inestimable Paul who until recently was also my weekly DM in the Labyrinth Lord game (more on that in another post, although it's nothing beyond a shift in proximity that made me unable to participate in those).

Paul and Delta both covered this event in pretty good detail here and here. So I'll pretty much just go with the highlights, as I dimly remember them.

I played a wizard, of the more utilitarian type with spells more suited to dungeoneering rather than slam bang combat. He was fun to play, but the real role playing kudos go to Delta and our thief/scout, who won the MVP for the session and the prize, a vintage Dragon Magazine (#95) which contained the adventure Paul ran. (I was glad someone else won it, 'cos I've already got that issue.)

I remember one particularly "metal" encounter, with the party wizard plinking magic missiles at a giant bat while the thief crouched on a floating square in the middle of a giant underground chasm. I was seriously envisioning every cheezy Meatloaf album cover or Endless Quest book cover in the middle of that one, and it was AWESOME! Shooting what were essentially lazers (with a Z) at a giant evil bat in a huge cave is what it's all about.

I had a player panic when we encountered the lich, and I immediately remembered the Dragon module and at least some of the facts around the situation. The classic Jim Holloway illustration sprang instantly to mind. (One of the unfortunate side effects of being a visual guy. Visual images are like tabs in my internal database.) I had to slip Paul a note to ask how I should proceed, 'cos I had what was possibly unfair player knowledge. (Heck, I even tried to drag one of Paul's brothers in to take my place.) He ruled I should just keep my yap shut and play in passive mode for the rest of the encounter, which came out okay. Still, I'd never had that happen before. I own the "Against the Giants" modules, and have been purposely avoiding reading them 'cos I want to be unbiased when Delta runs 'em. Otherwise, most of the gaming I've done is from home made scenarios, or at least from module lifts that A: I haven't read or B: are cut loose and stirred into the mix of a broader campaign without much fanfare. I think that's one of the reasons I prefer homebrew to packaged any day of the week.

But all in all, it was a good wrapup, where we all enjoyed one final game on a sunny Sunday, before we packed up our stuff, put the tables back in place, and headed in our separate directions until next year.

Viva HelgaCon!