Wandering DM's Livecast This Weekend!

So if you need someplace to put your eyeballs this weekend and you wanna see how the old schoolies do it then check out my amigos Delta & Paul's titanic live streamed game session.

To celebrate Paul's birthday (Happy Birthday, Paul!), some of the finest gamers on this planet will be congregating for the long 4th. of July weekend in his palatial gaming room to run thru Dyson Logos' deadly "Dyson's Delve", continuing the epic adventures they began one year ago.

You can check out the livestreams here and here all weekend:

Wandering DMs on YouTube.

Wandering DMs on Twitch.

Were I a less philosophical sort of fellow I would be BOILING with jealousy right now, for they are all there in Massachusetts and I am out here in my fortress of solitude in rural PA. But I wish them all the best, and safe journey and travel mercies for all the folks making the trip up from NY. Maybe circumstances will allow me to attend next year's festivities.

Listening in via the miracle of the interblab is the next best thing, and in the meantime while I vicariously enjoy their shenanigans I'll be working on some exciting projects that'll hopefully be seeing the starlight soon.

So stay tuned everybody!

Holiday Hengeyokai!

I got an awesome Christmas present from my brother & his family this past holiday season, and the box came today! Whoot!

Yep, he got me some gift card action from HeroForge, so I could get some minis made more or less to my personal specifications thru the modern miracle of 3D printing.

I ordered 3 minis in their standard plastic, and decided to fill out the character roster for a feudal Japan/yokai themed adventure I'm gonna be running at this year's Helgacon.

Since I'm adapting my material from the classic 1985 "Oriental Adventures" book, the big thing I kinda lacked was hengeyokai, which are shapeshifting animals who can assume humanoid form. So my three custom characters are an usagi bushi, a neko ninja, and a kame sohei.

I got the figures with a slot base, so that I could go with the standard 20 mm Citadel bases I use for player character minis.

All in all, I'm thrilled with how these came out!

The 3D renderings on HeroForge's creation screen don't do the figures justice. The detail is crisp and clean, the scale is perfect, and there were barely any rough spots that I filed off easily. They're gonna fit in with the other figures I've acquired for this game flawlessly.

Depicted here with a Perry Brothers samurai and a Reaper kitsune.

I'm really psyched to paint these up.

So my prognosis on HeroForge: They're a fair bit more expensive than yer average mini, but the detail and quality is great, and if you have something kinda specific or unusual in mind and are willing to spring for it and wait about two weeks, then it's a great option!

Kampai!

Scholars of the Old School

My awesome compadres Paul and Delta have sparked up a new project, wherein they discuss tabletop RPG's in the old school style.

These guys are two of the best GM's out there and I've been gaming with 'em for almost twenty years. They know what they're talking about, and if you check out their YouTube channel Wandering DM's, you will too!

Elemental journey!

Back in January I was showing off my Reaper Bones elementals, lamenting the lack of an Air Elemental to complete the set.

Well, my elemental lamenting is over. Behold!

  

 So now I got the whole set!

Miniature Madness has kicked in early on me this year, and now that the snow has started to fall here in Western PA, I've been hunched over my painting station working on a whole new genre of minis, who'll be making their debut in one of my games at next year's Helgacon.

Kampai!

Trick or Treat!

Now appearing in print, the Creepy Crawl!

Spiderwolf Approved!

Yes, now you too can own this handsome volume to terrify and tantalize your ghastly gaming group! Just in time for a little bit of Halloween havoc around your attic, basement, or crypt's gaming table. The spooky season is nearly upon us! Now is the time!

And while you're at it, check out my other literary offerings, always available in the sinister sidebar to your left.

The Creepy Crawl for One and All !

Announcing the latest in grisly game books from Bigfella Games!

As my regular revenant readers know, I've been spinning tales for the past several months about this spooky setting. Little did any-body suspect that all the while I've been working in my secret laboratory to stitch together this marvelous monstrosity for every-body to enjoy!

Halloween is only 54 days away, and if you and your group wanted to run something in an old school vein (both in terms of rules systems and/or horror theming), then consider folding this feature into your frightful festivities. Written for Labyrinth Lord, but easily adaptable to any rule set you prefer, this book features a sinister small scale sandbox setting containing 5 discreet adventure areas, three custom creepy classes, a mass of manglesome monsters, and more grave robbing than you can shake a shovel at. Bring some stakes, some wolfsbane, a mandrake root, and of course some candy!

Available for download as a .pdf here: The Creepy Crawl

Give it a week or so, a fortnight tops, and I'll be digging up a Print On Demand version too in the same bat location.

Happy haunting, you exquisite corpuses!

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 55

Attending: FULL HOUSE!
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus – Temporarily installed in donor monkey.
Tao – Lvl 5 Druid
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 5 Dampyr
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus – Temporarily installed in donor monkey.
Tysis – Lvl 5 Fighter
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable

Monsters Mashed:

Mongo Ritzy: Monkey rushed, silenced, and subdued.
500 EXP/7 players = 71 EXP apiece.

Abilities gained:
Ritzy has gained Lvl 3 spellcasting (2 1st lvl, 1 2nd lvl, starting spell: Charm Person)
Greed & Ritzy have both gained improved armor class and 4 arms.

Arongoth has continued taking Mandrake powder, and has gained rubbery, boneless arms that can extend out to 20’ and some sharp toothed buds that bite for 1d4 and may grow bigger over time.

He’s also learned the recipe for Krenshaw Powder, which requires a copious amount of Greenishghoul plant, sulfur crystals, powdered bone, and over a pint of the user’s own blood if they wish to wrest control of the undead abominations instead of just making them murderously free willed.

Commentary: 

Back to normal, hour long (give or take) sessions, in this one the party, now full strength due to being rejoined by Arongoth and Tarvinir, tracked down Ritzy's errant body and took it down with as little damage as they could manage. Arongoth used the old standard spell-killer Silence 15' Radius to keep the battling body from casting its Charm on them, and they wrestled it into submission. 

They took the inert hulk back to the operating room, where Doctor Von Himmel got back to work and hooked up the safeguards that would keep Mongo, the Terror of Belgravia, from ever taking Ritzy's body over again. (Probably. It didn't come up again in the campaign, alas. But believe me, it would have...) 

Arongoth explained his absence the prior megasession was due to both doing research, and downing a couple more doses of Mandrake Powder. The resulting mutations were striking, to say the least, and to this day I'm pleased with the progressive en-weirdening I got to pull off on this character. (Not the weirdest, though. Stay tuned for that in the future. Hee hee hee.) 

He also did some research in the Von Himmel family's extensive library of forbidden and obscure lore, discovering the recipe for the horrible green powder that had been used to such dreadful effect against his mini-hordes of shambling skeletons and zombies in the past. 

Consider adding Krenshaw Powder to your campaign, DM's, especially if you've got a cleric or mage who likes to abuse Animate Dead. Just a pinch will turn basic, automata style undead like zombies and skeletons against their users. (Or against everybody if the user hasn't mixed in the requisite pint of blood.) Whether more powerful concoctions of this formula exist that could turn created undead minions of vampires, ghouls, wights, and specters against their masters, and just what grisly ingredients that might entail, is an exercise best left up to a more sinister mind than mine...

Heh heh heh...

The Texts Have Been Unearthed!

At long last, Book 1 of the Thousand Year Sandglass is now available in Print on Demand softcover paperback format at DriveThruRPG.com.

You can get it here!

Consider adding this handsome volume to your collection. Lavishly illustrated, full of adventure and intrigue, you can take it anywhere, from the burning sands of the desert to the shady galleries of the soukh to your next session around the gaming table with some pita chips and hummus.

I would be most honored and grateful if you did. Sim sim salabim!

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Sessions 48 and 49

Creepy Crawl 48
Attending:
FULL HOUSE!
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 5 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable
Tysis – Lvl 5 Fighter
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus

Monsters Mashed:
7 Corpse Jellies – Magic Missiled, Arrowed, and Fireballed.
210 EXP/4 Players – 52 EXP for Vlad, Rael, Arongoth, Tarvinir

Creepy Crawl 49
Attending:
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 5 Dampyr/Lawn Ornament
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 6 Cleric/Vegetable
Tysis – Lvl 5 Fighter

Henching:
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus

Items Acquired by Greed, Tysis, and Ritzy: A bronze helmet that seems to generate air.

A clay tablet that bears the cryptic message: “Tell them: “Stone Men of Old, bring me the…” The end of the message is obscured because it’s broken off.

And speaking of not getting the message:

Events of note:
Arongoth, Rael, and a petrified Vlad are galloping more or less in the direction of Strangledorf, having encountered an owlbear and a medusa sent by Morgus on the road.

Tarvinir is lurking in the bushes above the basin of Lake Mogeura.
Greed, Ritzy, and Tysis have descended the stairs deeper beneath the sunken keep and are now faced with either pushing open the stone slab to the E or messing with the coffer and its 4 armed skeletal guardian.

Commentary:

I have never been so ticked off at a table full of players as I was at the fustercluck that ensued over these two sessions. 

Sometimes hints don't work, I guess. Or maybe I was just operating on assumptions and that made an ass out of my umptions. 

There's a rule of thumb, mostly kind of meta-functional, that old schooley types like to repeat, and I think that was one of the suppositions I was operating on: 

DO NOT SPLIT THE PARTY!

Your characters are weaker alone than they are as a team. The rules are generally not calibrated such that a lone person or a small group of 3 or less can take on a lot of the threats you'll encounter. You have to be very smart, or very lucky, to be able to solo it.

Also, you're sitting at a table full of people. It makes it harder on the single guy who has to serve you the world if you're splitting up the team like the frikkin' Mystery Patrol from Scooby Doo. It's bad form. It makes things confusing and slows down the game. Whatever segment of the group who's not in the spotlight of the DM's attention is sitting unoccupied and possibly bored as they wait their turn. 

Plus it breaks immersion (pun semi intended), because if you don't split up the physical, real world group around the table, then their characters are privy to stuff they just wouldn't have knowledge of without telepathy or some kinda remote TV feed.

It's a bad idea. Don't do it!

 So anyway, what happened is the party had this map leading to a treasure under the surface of Lake Moguera. So the party's offensive line, namely Tysis the fighter and the two Homanculi Greed and Ritzy get set up with Water Breathing spells from the magic Hook and the Mermaid Cutlass and wade in to check it out. 

The rest of the party decides to camp out on the lake shore and wait for them. Even though there are plenty of Water Breathing spells available. 

So already we're in "What are they thinking?" kinda territory. Okay, lets explore the dungeon. Half the group will wait here by the door while the rest of you go in. 

What frikkin' game are we playing here? 

I think part of it was an irrational stinginess I've occasionally seen from players about magic item use. I've seen players hold on to item charges and potions and scrolls and never use them even onto the point of being masticated by monsters because they don't want to "waste" them.

They're there to be used! The DM put them there as possible answers to the questions posed as they explore the various scenarios they find themselves in. If you sit on this stuff and never use it it's pretty much the same as if it had never been introduced into the game at all. 

If you stock up your pantry, you gotta eat the food eventually, or else you're just setting up an elaborate and expensive compost heap.

I think that was part of what was going on. We don't want to waste Water Breathing spells, even though we're here on the edge of a lake that holds an amount of treasure, even after we've left the coastal city and are halfway into a trek up into the frikkin' Alps. As in the mountains, where lots of water isn't. Oy gevalt.

The other factor was that some members of the party had chosen... counterproductive characterizations for their characters. Arongoth had committed to playing an amoral scumbag who didn't really care about his companions. (Always a charming pose to take when playing with a group who are ostensibly your friends.) Vlad had decided his character was a coward, strongly inclined to not going into dangerous situations. Thus he chose a characterization that made his character not inclined to do the main thing the characters are supposed to be doing. Kind of like playing Scrabble but deciding you hate spelling. 

So anyway, to nudge the group on the shore into maybe joining their companions down under the lake, I send some monsters at 'em, since the hard, fightery types were all below while the squishy spellcasters and thieves were up top. A bunch of corpse jellies, essentially oozes piloting skeletons around, came ashore and menaced our campers. 

BTW, the corpse jellies are the throbbing brainchild of Patrick Wetmore of Henchman Abuse, the mad genius behind the Anomalous Subsurface Environment, which is a fantastic gonzo megadungeon campaign and one of very few campaign worlds not originated in my own brainpan that I would jump at running if I had the chance. 

So anyway, rather than taking the hint that it was a bad idea for the delicate subset of the party to separate from their meatshields, the shore side group decided to mount up and make a run for Strangeldorf, which I clearly informed them was still a couple days away. All while the rest of the team was exploring a dangerous dungeon under a lake. 

Which is about as split as a party can get. 

Even worse, the player playing Tarvinir the mage kinda grokked my displeasure at their proposal to scatter the party all over the map and decided to stay, and so wound up as a solitary mage hiding in the shrubs from the shambling skellies in jelly that would occasionally patrol the shore. 

Nothing I threw up in their way could deter our errant party members (I use the term party member here very loosely.) They rode past a medusa from Morgus, who petrified Vlad in the saddle as they thundered past. They blasted past a frikkin' owlbear. Every thing I could think of to say "Stop! Turn back and regroup!" was being met with "We must keep running home!"  

*Sigh*...

Tune in next week as we scrape up the scattered pieces of the campaign and put it back on track... 

Kismet!

I have to give a shout out and a hearty thanks to my friend Paul for his most excellent review and promo of my newly released campaign world book The Thousand Year Sandglass.

As a way of showing my appreciation and also trading a plug for a plug, I'd like to direct your attention to an adventure he's been putting together over the past few weeks titled "The Vile Crypt of the Reawakened Sisterhood"

Here are the blog posts where he walks us through his creation process for this thrilling new adventure. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

Coincidentally, if one were to be stocking a sandbox game in the world of the Sandglass, one might find that this particular vile crypt slots in quite nicely as a challenging destination for your brave heroes to delve.

I would suggest putting it near the Mount of Tombs in the Howling Desert, or somewhere in the western reaches of the Grasslands, or in the foothills around the Jinni's Tooth. But that's just me...

As I was reading Paul's posts I was delighted that he was independently coming up with something so uncannily apropos to the project I was bringing in for a landing.

It could only be kismet!

The Creepy Crawl Chronicles - Session 28 & 29

Attendants:
Greed – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Rael – Lvl 6 Thief/Werewolf
Ritzy – Lvl 5 Homanculus
Arongoth of Hogendaus – Lvl 5 Cleric/Vegetable
Vlad Draculastein – Lvl 4 Dampyr
Tarvinir – Lvl 5 Magic User

Monsters Mashed:

2 Werewolves, 1 Subdued and chained to Gerald the Pony, and one wrapped up in spider webbing, stabbed and bludgeoned and shot.
               380 exp

Das Kreuzschlüsselwulf (aka the Spider Wolf) Stabbity stab stab stabbed to death.
               1260 exp

Loot Acquired:

               500 silver pieces in coffer marked with crest of Brundleheim, Tortoiseshell and gem inlaid walking stick (900 gp), 30 gp from false hump worn by dead grimling,

               Signet Ring of Grand Duchy of Lobo, silver with huge red carbuncle gem bearing wolf’s head crest. (700 gp)

               81 copper pieces, 31 silver pieces, 18 gold pieces, 3 gems (250, 75, 75),

Gold and gem inlaid spellbook with ruined pages (600 gp),

Wand made of row of crystal spheres wrapped in latticed brass.

2701 exp

Total: 4341 exp/6 players = 723 exp apiece

Additional items: Lifesize wood effigy of St. Hieronymus, Papers and letter from Archduke Eisenfaust of Kroenenberg bearing full title

Commentary: 

I consider this session an achievement in my career as a DM because of how hard I hooked the players into this particular adventure. Like a trout on a fly lure. Heh heh. 

So after the remaining courier had wolfed out, they subdued him with extreme prejudice and tied him up with some chain they must have found around the coaching inn. 

So naturally once that was accomplished the first thing they did was root through his bag and belongings. In the hapless courier's courier pouch, they found a letter and a bunch of paperwork: 

Long story short, this very official missive let them know that if they could get the signet ring, they'd gain ownership of Cardille Keep, the very structure they'd been shooting and looting over the past several weeks. (Obviously, it would be more complex than that, but basically he who holds the ring owns the thing, so to speak.) 

They figured out that the courier that had been dragged off by the mysterious cryptid Spider Wolf was probably the one who had the signet ring on him. So off into the dark pine woods they went to track down the monster and get that little bit of lucre so that they could achieve the great D&D dream of owning a castle from which to terrorize the surrounding countryside. 

For whatever reason, they decided to bring along the other courier, which they chained to the back of the very unhappy, near critically spooked Gerald. (Poor Gerald. Ponies weren't meant to have unnatural slavering predators chained to their backs. I've often noted that a lot of gamers just don't completely comprehend how animals work.)

Following the trail through the night, they found a webbed up thicket in the heart of the dismal pine woods as dawn broke feebly thru the dense trees. 

Vlad, ever the coward, suggested they just burn the woods down. This plan was vetoed because:

A: Contrary to the Web spell's side effects, spider webs aren't nature's oil soaked rags. Especially when woven in with a dank, misty forest. Even with a Fireball it was unlikely they'd get the woods to light.

B: They were looking for a signet ring, maybe an inch in diameter, tops. Try sifting through an acre of ash to find something that size, even provided it survives.

So into the woods they went. And shenanigans ensued. 

I'll also note at this session we gained another player, whose character, Tarvinir, was a scholarly looking magic user who showed up at the coaching inn as they were on their way to hunt for the spidah monstah. (In realistic terms he probably wouldn't have been quite so ready to tramp off into the wilderness with a bunch of freaks he'd just met to hunt down a giant spider whose bite transmitted accelerated lycanthropy, but you skip over some niceties to get a party rolling.) 

Since it's a holiday and I like posting this kind of material, here is the key to the terrifying werewolf and spider themed Lair of the Spider Wolf. 

The map I used was Dyson Logos' Zaelen's Hive turned 90' counter clockwise with the stairs down to the south, and the numbers starting at 1 in the first chamber and then ascending as kind of a reversed question mark, with 3 being the side chamber off of 2 and 10 being the isolated chamber below 9. Wherever stairs down are indicated, there will be a steep incline made slick with wet leaves and webbing, that requires a save vs. Paralysis to avoid sliding down uncontrollably.

(I'm using this cryptic blather rather than just posting the numbered map because I'm not sure if it's kosher to repost Dyson's work when it's not one of his free and clear Patreon funded samples. Just go patronize the man's work, it's hands down one of the best gaming resources out there.)

1: 20X20 Space. Mummified bodies of knight and warhorse suspended among webbing. Armor, sword, lance, and barding rusted and fragile. Saddlebags hold a locked coffer with 500 silver pieces bearing crest from Brundleheim.  Floor has layer of webbing, if stepped on will cause tree branches and armor of knight to rattle, alerting other denizens of the lair.

2:  A second 20X20 section conjoined to this one to the Northwest. There are two sloping exits leading down the opposite side of the hill the copse sits on top of, leading north and northeast. Bodies of various forest animals bundled in webbing and hanging from trees. Mummified remains of a dandy in fine hunting leathers, a human manservant, and a grimling lackey are also hanging here. Their gear is warped, rusted, and ruined, save for a  gem and tortoiseshell inlaid walking staff with three unscrewable compartments making up the upper part. One is empty, one contains a set of thief’s picks, and the third is a flask that holds Oil of Slipperiness. (900 gp) The grimling wears a false hump that contains 30 Gold Pieces.

3: Disassociated bones hang in a haze of webbing in this chamber, which is 20X20. Area works like a WEB spell if entered, with the addition of 1d4 damage from sharp bones sticking entrapped victims. The hall leading to this area is steep and treacherous. Roll a save vs. petrify or slide down. (Lots of shenanigans happened here. Ever try leading a pony, who's already terrified of the werebeast strapped to its back, into a giant spider's lair on a slippery inclined plane? Poor Gerald. Don't worry, he lives.)

4: A 20X20 chamber with an opening to the northeast. A gnawed wooden effigy of St. Hieronymus (The patron saint of monster hunters.) lies against one of the thorn bushes woven with webs. Close examination reveals his mouth is slightly open, wide enough for a coin to pass through. It jingles slightly if moved. Contains 600 Silver Pieces and 300 Gold pieces in hidden compartment in chest. Breaking it open will bring on a curse -1 per 50 gp claimed to hit lycanthropes and undead.

5: A 30X30 chamber lined with webs Lair of Spider Wolf. The creature is here wrapping up the other courier. (Signet ring in pouch on belt (700 gp)) Courier turning into werewolf.  Assorted pouches, packs, and satchels from prior victims scattered around clearing, tangled in webbing and thorn branches. Contains total of 81 Coppper Pieces, 31 Silver, 18 Gold.

I half rotted backpack bearing the crest of the Occluded College (an eye with a hand covering the pupil) contains a small pouch with 3 Gems(250, 75, 75) an old spellbook with a gilded, bejeweled cover whose pages have rotted and are illegible (600 gp), and a wand constructed of a series of crystal spheres bound in a latticed tube of brass (Wand of Illusionn (9 charges)) (The Occluded College was an organization of sages and mages. It proved to be a really good plot hook for the newly arrived Tarvinir.)

6: This smaller 15X15 chamber is cocooned with web, which forms  a natural funnel to the treetops overhead. A constant, eddying whirl of leaves and debris is constantly spinning in here, rattling the trees, which can be heard from 5. Another slide trap waits in the corridor leading from the northwest dumping into 9 (save vs. petrify)

7: The spider wolf’s larder, a 30X30 chamber with a sloping entrance from 5. (Same as 3) Large, wolf like bundles line the wall, feebly writhing and whining or growling. There are 4 here : HD: 4 HP: 11, 14, 25, 21. AC: 5, Dmg: 2d4, Save F4, Morale 4

When the party enters, the strongest of them will tear free of their prisons and attack, although they will be last on init. If possible they’ll release the others and try to escape if unimpeded.

8: The bones of five werewolves, some full wolf, some human (but recognizable via pointed teeth) some mid transition are shoved aside in this 15X15 cubbyhole. One of the spider wolf’s earlier shed carapaces is draped over them, which will look like another monster in the dim light.

9: A giant, smooth boulder made of Moonstone sits in the center of this 30X30 chamber. It weighs a ton and cannot be moved. It glows faintly, and any lycanthropes will instantly transform if they fail a save vs. spell, and they will be savagely violent.

10: A large egg sac hangs from the boughs of a large oak that makes up part of this chamber It takes 28 hp to destroy. A wolf skull lies on the floor beneath it.  (Better destroy that sac, if you don't want this area to be renamed Kreuzschlüsselwulfsylvania.)

Enjoy!

Helgacon XI - High Points from the Triangle

Well, it's been a couple weeks since I got back, so I probably ought to stop procrastinating about posting or this will be yet another undocumented Helgacon.

Among the cavalcade of wonderful gamers and friends who are part of the Helgaverse, there is a trio that I, in my infinite capacity for being a huge nerd, refer to as the Iron Triangle.

(I googled the term to make sure I wasn't making some kind of bad association, like calling us the swastika pals or something, and since all I found was deep politics wonk references to buddy buddy relationships between govt. agencies and special interest groups, I figured it's okay. Still nerdy, but okay.)

I am one of them, and the other two are my longtime gaming pals Paul and Delta. The artist, the magician, and the scholar. We have all been gaming together for almost twenty years. We're 3 of the original Helga's Heroes game group (and one of us was actually "Helga". No, I shan't elaborate on that.) We're 3/4ths. of the infamous MacGoohen Brothers from GenCon 2005. We have all attended every single Helgacon since its inception in 2008. We're all deep in the OSR, and run most of what you'd call old school or retro games at our annual gathering on the Cape. Both those guys influence my gaming immensely, and I hope they get the odd idea from me as well from time to time.

So this year all of the games I was in as a player were run by my fellow triangulars. I was immensely disappointed that Paul's scheduling algorithm didn't put either of them in any of the games I ran, but c'est la vie. (And that's absolutely not to say that I wasn't thrilled with the top notch players I got!) I'll get 'em at my table sooner or later. We've been gaming together for a long time and will continue to do so as long as we're able.

Anyway, Delta ran the Temple and Sewer sections of the classic tournament module "Slave Pits of the Undercity", and Paul ran "The Citadel of the Severed Hand" which was a 1 Page Dungeon Contest winner from 2013, to which he added the element of his newly minted Insanity Cards. All three sessions were a ton of fun and examples of DMs at the top of their game, so to speak. These guys are good.

Here are some of the high points:

The hall with the disguised assassins in the Temple wasn't a high point, but you sure got us Delta. You got us good. If only we'd listened to a certain party member (and I'm not being coy that it was me. I was one of the ones who shouted him down.) when he questioned the whole set up. Tournament play brings out a certain quarrelsome dynamic at the table sometimes. Ah well.

Using a Reincarnation scroll to bring back a dead party member in the Temple and having them come back as an angry hydra. That certainly put a spanner in the Slave Lords' works, I'd bet. It was worth the tournament points lost for permanently losing that character.

Vaulting the barricade of bad guys in the Temple and capturing their flame thrower wagon, even after taking a couple shots to the face from it. And then the subsequent rampage as we trundled it around setting stuff on fire. Alas, we ran out of napalm just as we got into it with the big bosses in the room full of snakes and assassins.

The increasingly wacky in character introductions at the start of the Citadel game. "I'm Frngrngrn Pantherclaw, and I'm obviously, unquestionably a human."

Assaulting the Citadel's gatehouse with a Phantasmal Force generated fog for cover. It wasn't a great plan, but it fell apart in our favor in the end.

Turtle the slow dwarf and his minder/cousin("My aunt said I had to bring him along.") taking down the Queen of the Citadel was pretty awesome. I wish I could recall the details more clearly. This is what happens when you procrastinate on your blog.

Pulling a Christopher Lee ("A man doesn't sound like that when you stab them in the back") on a couple of orc guards at the top of some stairs in the Sewer and then fireballing the rest of them from behind, then mopping up their ogre commanders was immensely satisfying. Delta is as even handed a DM as they come, but getting him to shake his fist at the players and lament his plans being foiled is one of the exquisite joys of gaming with the man.

The long, running effort to rescue the elf fighter/magic user from being swept away in the Sewer. Once again this wasn't necessarily a high point, but illustrative of the principle I've observed that running water features of any sort are like frikkin' Kryptonite to adventuring parties. Things tend to go epically pear shaped, I've found, when you take a bunch of heavily armored looters and drop 'em in the drink. Whole sessions, and whole parties, can be consumed by old man river. (Or stream, or drainpipe, or sewer, etc. etc. etc.)

Battling the bilious beetle beings running the eponymous Slave Pits at the end of the Sewer game was pretty exciting. It was a hard game overall, but I think in both cases we scored pretty high. I'll post the numbers here if somebody can email 'em to me.

I'm sure there are a lot of other moments I'm forgetting because too much time has passed. (Too much time passes in general between chances to game together.) Suffice to say, if you're at either of these fellows' table, you're in for a great game.

Thanks, Delta and Paul. I got a critical success when I rolled on the friend chart!

Madness In The Mail!

Hey hey, lookee what I got!

Yes, it's my pal Paul's crazy cards for any sort of role playing game that saps your sanity, a system-neutral snap on supplement to help your players act out going all oofty-mcgoofty when confronted with things the fragile human mind was not meant to know.

You can get a copy of your own right here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/crowdsale/insanity-cards

Do... do you see it too?

Insanity Cards

I would be remiss (one might even say, crazy) if I forgot to mention my friend and longtime dungeon pal Paul is running a crowd sale at The Game Crafter for his innovative Insanity Cards.

The more folks who buy in, the cheaper it'll be for all of us who've bought a copy. So check it out, and try to ignore the hamsters talking to you from under the floorboards. They're cheapskates, and wouldn't know a good gaming product if they had it crammed in their grubby little cheek pouches.