Wednesday, August 31, 2016

All the alpha nerds are talking 'bout this





Right now, +Douglas Cole has the most poop about this, getting an interview with +Phil Reed. We've known about the project for a few days, but this is bigger than we've had in our wet dreams.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Sharp-Billed Stork

We played yesterday, but I don't have the log ready yet. (I'm feeling lazy. I have an outline in Evernote, however.) Meanwhile, I was fleshing out a dungeon I had rolled, and came to "stork-like minions." (I think it came from the Tome of Adventure Design. I don't see it on the table from Zak S. that I first used.) Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it was best to use axebeaks, since I had them already converted, and they were about as tough as Dire Storks. Nor were they as bizarre, but I figured I could come up with making them Terrible Storks. And, of course, I violated a couple of the rules +Peter V. Dell'Orto and +Douglas Cole wrote in Pyramid #3/76, since it was more fun that way. I had the idea for a game for these guys, which is more fun to tell and might be helpful to the players as something to exploit … after the storks beheaded their henchmen, of course. They have to be playing the game first.

I had half a mind to give them some kind of bomb, delivered like storks deliver babies. (Or so my parents told me.) I couldn't think of a good way to do it without making it way too silly. They could deliver sever heads or something.


Sharp-Billed Stork


ST: 11
HP: 11
Speed: 7.00
DX: 16
Will: 10
Move: 6
IQ: 3
Per: 12
Weight: 30 lbs.
HT: 12
FP: 12
SM: 0
Dodge: 10
Parry: N/A
DR: 3

Bill (18): 4d+4(5) cutting. Reach C. Can target the Neck at only -2.
Claws (18): 1d-2 crushing. Reach C, 1.

Traits: Acute Hearing 4; Amphibious (Water Move 7); Bad Temper (12); Bloodlust (9); Compulsive Behavior (Capita uolantia game) (9); Enhanced Move 1 (Air; Air Move 28); Flight (Cannot Hover; Winged; Air Move 14); Gregarious; Odious Racial Habit (Man-killer); Quadruped; Peripheral Vision; Proud; Run-and-Hit (Brawling); Slayer Training (Bill/Neck); Striking ST 4 (Bill only); Wild Animal.
Skills: Aerobatics-18; Brawling-18; Games (Capita uolantia)-5.
Class: Terrible Animal.
Combat Effectiveness Rating: 86 (OR 76 and PR 10).
Notes: Sharp-billed storks play what sages call their capita uolantia game, which involves cutting the heads off of humanoids, bearing them in their mouths, and dropping them into a hole of some kind. The rules vary from flock to flock, and the storks enforce them by cutting off the heads of storks who break whatever the rules may be. They're not smart enough to negotiate, nor truly understand the rules of their game, which is a byproduct of the magic that made them.


Sunday, August 14, 2016

14 August 2016 game log

Dramatis personae


Caleb, wizard
Mayhem, barbarian
Ash, squire
Kim, thief
Kôštē, cleric

Quid occurrit


On 13 Smôs, they took the walk back to Mīstássun. Caleb wanted to know who was smearing his good name, and wanted to know if One-Off, er, Praidīvós, knew who.

Besides, it was on the way to Kerváron.

Midway through that walk on that hot (110°F) day, a yapping voice from the west of the road yelled out, "Pay up!"

Caleb said back, "Do you work for the government?"

The kobold yapped back, "Pay up all!"

Caleb asked, "Is that a joke?"

The kobold looked at the nine other kobolds and bade them, "Sic 'em, boys!"

And so it began. The kobolds started towards the heroes, with four nocking arrows. Likewise, Kim nocked an arrow and Caleb fired up a Blast Ball. Kôštē, of course, grabbed the horses.

The kobold bowmen let out the first volley, but all that happened was an arrow stuck in Mayhem's armor and another stuck in Ash's shield. Kim didn't get much more, but Caleb did singe some kobolds with his Blast Ball.

And then they get near each other and started fighting hand-to-hand. Both the leader and a big kobold (well, big for a kobold, y'know?) hit Mayhem with sword blows. The leader's swipe did nothing, but the big kobold's blow hurt Mayhem. And when Mayhem gets hurt, Mayhem gets angry. You wouldn't like Mayhem when he's angry.

The fight became mostly two sides ticking away at each other. Mayhem had the two biggest kobolds on him, which only made him madder. Ash after a second felled one of the little guys, and three of the bowmen and the big kobold broke ranks and turned to run. The other kobolds in the fore didn't see this, and they kept missing Kim and Caleb, with Kim breaking one's sword with her parry. Caleb's first Acid Jet didn't hit, but Ash, now  turned to bash the leader with his shield, still fighting Mayhem. It looked like the heroes had the kobolds on the run, with only a few nicks and scratches.

Then all their nicks and scratches healed. The kobolds' too. Their midi-chlorian readings must have been high or something. The little guy who fell woke up, and the big kobold felt better, and turned back to fight, and told the bowmen to do so too.

Their leader gave Mayhem a good slash, but Mayhem's anger was the only thing the Force couldn't calm. Caleb took a cut, and Ash went back to stabbing the kobold he had felled. Caleb tried to shoot an Acid Jet at the kobold who sliced him, but missed him another time. The big kobolds nicked Mayhem, who kept missing. The bowmen got off shots again, but little happened from them, other than Kim slipping and falling as an arrow grazed her.

Mayhem, however, at last landed a blow, smashing the kobold leader back a few feet and spurting his blood all over. The leader chose to live instead of win, and bade the retreat. Caleb got one last Fireball on a fleeing kobold, but the kobolds bravely ran away.

They trudged back to Mīstássun, and got into town as the rain started. Caleb, wanting to know who was after him and thinking Praidīvós might know or even be behind it, went to the Scarlet Harlot.

At the Scarlet Harlot, Caleb found not Praidīvós but Kôštē the wizard, who had become Praidīvós's apprentice. She told him to fuck off, and that he wasn't welcome. There were a few other four-letter words that she lobbed at Caleb, and she made sure to tell him that she was the better wizard. After Caleb told her he had been out learning how to become better by fighting kobolds and she had been fooling around with glass tubes in Mīstássun, Kôštē got mad and said that the two had to duel outside in the rain.

They went outside, and Caleb's friends peered out the window as the two threw small spells at each other at twenty paces. They kept missing each other in the rain, until Kôštē yelled at Caleb that they should split lest the Town Watch nab them. She ran off, while Caleb walked back into the bar, where seven Watchmen nabbed Caleb and took him to the town lockup.

That night, Caleb took a drubbing from the drunks in the lockup, until he cast Darkness and scurried out of sight, and bothered each one with a well-timed Apportation to their nether spots.

Caleb saw the judge the next morning, after he had doomed a drunk to a lashing. His friends were there, other than Kim, who had too many bad times in the lockup. The judge listened to Caleb for a few seconds, then fined him 150 silver pennies and asked him where the other duelist might be. Caleb had no trouble telling the judge that Kôštē the wizard might be at the home of Praidīvós. While Caleb talked with his friends about finding the money to pay his fine, the Watchmen brought in Kôštē, whom an upset Praidīvós followed.

The judge told Kôštē that she had to pay 300 silver pennies. Praidīvós, bothered since he knew that he was going to have to pay for his apprentice, said that Caleb and his friends owed him money. The judge leaned over, and listened as he heard how Caleb and friends had not brought payment from a shipment of bread and flour to Dībités Rock. Caleb said that the goons at the keep had beaten them up and taken the breadstuffs, and that the payment was the blood of a demon. The judge bade all of them out of his courtroom, but Ash stayed to watch the next case: a flasher the judge doomed to the Watchmen hitting "his unit until it hurts more!"

As they left and the Watchmen were lashing and beating the hapless drunks, Caleb asked Praidīvós if he had seen the doppelganger. "Thankfully, no!" was his answer. Caleb said that Praidīvós could do whatever harm he wanted to his doppelganger should he see him, something that gladdened the older wizard.

They then went to see Nabbrášus, to see if she had work for them. She said that she had the same answer as when Caleb had come alone: she always needed guards at the mines. They nodded, then left after saying they might go for that work once the weather started getting cold. Then they left to go to Kerváron to see what they could do against the bandits.


Res aliae


I'm starting to welcome Weirdness Magnet. I make a few rolls, and I have at least 20% of the events of the session.

I couldn't find any guidelines for fines, so I went with Cost of Living for a month.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

31 July 2016 game log

Dramatis Personae:


Kim, thief
Ash, squire
Caleb, wizard
Mayhem, barbarian

cum


Yémos, cleric
Anêr, swashbuckler
Kôstē, cleric
Villûdē, guide


Quid occurrit:


Alright, mostly, we screwed around and leveled up. But back in character …

Back at the peat farm, after Ash found out there were no more arrows, they showed off their ibathene scale and told a wild tale of how they drove it away. The next morning, they all bought passage on a river barge, which took them home.

On the way, Villûdē told Mayhem and Ash that after the ibathene, she was ready for a new job. Mayhem said she could become a bard and tell tales about living through the a meeting with the ibathene.

Once in Mīstássun, they brought the boots of Saint Hubbins to the Church of Saundīvós, where the clergy were overjoyed to see their new relic. And so the next day, 7 Smôs, there was a holiday, mostly with eating a speeches, and the heroes got to stand up and get some claps.

However, the night of the 6th, Ash made sure to bathe at the Wet Hat bathhouse, and the others sold the fancy mail hauberk and two small chains. For this haul, they got over 126 gold pieces, out of which they paid Villûdē.

Then they all went to the Pantry to spend the night. However, there, Arrūnús, the owner, was mad at Caleb for spending the night a few weeks before and not paying up. With some talking and 50 farthings, they convinced Arrūnús that Caleb was with them in the swamp.

The heroes set out to train, but Yémos and Anêr had enough of wayfaring for a time. So they met Kôstē, a cleric of Rōripermónē, the goddess of farming, who went to Rēlaístis with them so Caleb could learn new spells from Magós. After a day's walk, wherein Kôstē got everyone sick from picking bad berries, they made it to Rēlaístis.

There, the gang went to the Wishing Well, while Caleb went to Magós, who was mad at Caleb for blowing up her lab. After some chatting wherein Caleb tried to convince Magós that he was in the swamp, Magós cast Truthsayer on Caleb, and found that Caleb was telling the truth. She taught him a few spells for a 20 silver pennies, and agreed to teach T'ssst.

After two days, they were ready to set out, but Caleb woke up with headaches, fevers, and red, itchy eyes. Kôstē took a look at him and said he had field fever, so the gang spent the day at the Wishing Well instead.

Ash and Kim went out to practice archery, but found the laws of the town forbade weapons to commoners within its walls. So they went out past the fields, and found a pyre with a burnt body on it. The two went back to town, and told the watch about the pyre. They led the watchmen to the body, which was so burnt that nobody could finger whose it was. It was wet from the rain of the night before, making this even tougher.

That night, the gang was passing time in the Wishing Well, when an older lady, who said her name was Sudîvē, asked the heroes to come to her garden and pull rocks for her for a farthing each. While not much money, they chose to do that, and Mayhem

The next day, they pulled the rocks, and Caleb's fever broke. Back at the Wishing Well, he heard that bandits had hit his hometown of Kerváron, so that became the gang's new heading.

Res aliae


I'll have to update my own versions of the character sheets with what they picked as their new skills and spells. I'm pretty sure Stroke of Lightning was the spell for which he went to Magós to learn, as it takes the Secret Spell perk.

Yémos and Anêr retired at my behest, to get the number of characters per player down. Eric hasn't been with us in a year, and if he comes back, they'll be ready for him, with loads of unspent points. They're a little worried about the lack of oomph, though Yémos was doing nothing other than healing. I built Kôstē mostly to heal, as best a cleric of agriculture can do on 125 points, though she has a few other quirks. Ash can always find a smart sword, if he's in the right spot. If I go by Book II, they should be 10% of all items …