Game log for 27 September 2015

Dramatis personae

Caleb, wizard (Chris)
Mayhem, short barbarian (Chris)
Kim, thief (John)
Yémos, cleric (Eric, who was absent; John handled)
Anêr, swashbuckler (Eric, who was absent; NPC, but Chris made most of the rolls)
Kúflaug, orc slave (NPC; Chris handled most of his rolls too)

Quid occurrit

They rested at camp for two days, until 32 Blôs. On the 32nd, they asked Likháfrikh, the dwarf engineer, about building the bridge athwart the chasm, and he wouldn't do it. "I can't waste the orcs," he said. "One of two things will happen. The first is that the hobgoblins kill all the orcs, so we lose the orcs. The other is that the orcs join the hobgoblins. They'll have a few fights about who leads whom, with the big, dumb hobgoblins trying to tame the not-as-dumb orcs, and maybe there will be a pissing match. I've seen them do it, too, they stand a few yards from a wall and see who can piss the highest. Anyways, with this one, we're down the orcs too, and now they're fighting against us. I don't blame you for wanting that bridge, and I'd risk it if there were ore down in that room, but I have a mine to dig up."

The gang also asked Likháfrikh and Péllē, the slaver, about the "tribe," and neither knew about it. Péllē said that orcs and goblins down south in Natālūna were in tribes, but by now they would have forgotten all tribal ties, and anyways, there were men in this tribe. Men in the same tribe as goblin-kin would be so odd as to be unbelievable.

So with that, they went back into the dungeon. Not much happened as they made their way back to the rubble under the chasm. From there, they crept along the north wall to the stairs, and saw the two hobgoblins who fled a few days ago: a skinny one and another one with perfect white teeth. (How a hobgoblin has that, I have no idea.) They moved towards the stairs, and Kúflaug saw that both hobgoblins had arrows ready, and warned the others. The bowmen let out an arrow at each of Kim and Anêr, and hit both, with Anêr taking the arrow straight to his ribcage. Yémos cast Shield on himself, and Caleb cast Fireball and step forward.

Anêr and Kúflaug moved nearer, while Kim shot the skinny hobgoblin, who fell off the edge of the ledge in his pain (the wound was 12 HP after DR and impaling multiplier, and he critically failed his HT roll after the major wound, so I thought it would be fun to have him fall off the ledge). Dr. Teeth the hobgoblin turned and ran, while the skinny one tried to get up, but Kim and Mayhem ended his life. Yémos cast Major Healing on Anêr, while Kim looted the hobgoblin's body, finding a whopping one copper farthing.

The heroes went up the stairs, and moved along the north wall again, Kim still at the fore until she stepped on the trap door and fell into the spiked pit. Luckily, she tumbled away, so she didn't take as much damage as she could have, and, after Caleb trying and failing to cast Levitate on Kim from above, Mayhem lowered a rope and Kim climbed up.

Once around the corner past the trap, they saw a marble statue of a young man. They went to check it out, and Caleb saw writing on the bottom of the statue in a strange tongue. He couldn't read it, but knew that others had seen these writings and put them in books, with notes that nobody could read them without magic (I likened them to Linear A in our world: we know it's a tongue, but nobody can read it). Kim found a spot in bas-relief on the west wall (psst, Jennell Jaquays: that's the west wall, not the east—there is no wall to the east!), a drawing of the man of whom someone had made the statue, that stuck out from the rest, and pushed it a bit, hearing something click. She told everyone to step aside and pushed it, moving to the left as she did so. This wasn't enough to keep away from the two spears that shot out from the mouths of the beasts on the bas-relief, though her armor stopped one. Still, she fell, and Yémos had to cast Minor Healing on her.

Now the door was open in the wall, and they saw a hallway behind it. They went down it to find the big demon statue that they had come through the floor in the room with the chasm. They could see that it had big amber gems for eyes, and its open mouth smelled of methane. As much as she wanted those gems, Kim held back, as did everyone else. The looked around, and could see the frescoes on the wall to the south. The frescoes were mostly of lizard men, and the lizard men were sacrificing men to a big, winged lizard man sitting on a throne. The gang chose to go back, not willing to let the statue do whatever to them.

Back outside, they looked to where the hobgoblin had fled: up another short flight of stairs to a raised base, with eight pillars along it. They could see nine hobgoblins among the pillars, doing a bad job of hiding themselves. The heroes went to the stairs, and Kúflaug and Mayhem went up the stairs first. Anêr held back to let Yémos cast Shield on him, while Kim aimed at Dr. Teeth, who popped out. Kim's shot missed, while Dr. Teeth missed Mayhem, and his arrow flew past and hit Caleb. Another bowman with long earlobes shot at Anêr, but the arrow missed him, as well as Kim and Yémos.

Yémos cast Shield on Anêr, and Caleb passed out as he tried to muster up the strength for a Blast Ball. Anêr, Kúflaug, and Mayhem all moved up the stairs, while Kim readied another arrow. Three more hobgoblins, one with a cleft lip (making him ugly even by hobgoblin standards) and two with stud earrings popped out from the pillars and took shots at Kúflaug, two hitting. Dr. Teeth and Mr. Earlobes dropped their bows and readied their halberds.

Yémos cast Major Healing on Caleb, who knelt and looked up for a spot where he could throw a Blast Ball. Anêr and Mayhem went up the stairs, while Kúflaug passed out. Kim took a shot at Dr. Teeth, but missed again. The two hobgoblins with stud earrings and the one with the cleft lip dropped their bows and readied their halberds, while Dr. Teeth moved to the top of the stairs. The one with the long earlobes took a swing at Anêr, now at the top, but Anêr parried.

Yémos moved over to Kúflaug, while Caleb cast a Blast Ball. Anêr stepped and stabbed Mr. Earlobes, and Mayhem put his axe into Dr. Teeth. Kim got her arrow ready. The hobgoblin with the long earlobes stepped back and tried to hit Anêr, but Anêr's rapier flicked away the halberd, which strained the hobgoblin's arm. Dr. Teeth missed Mayhem, while the other three moved nearer. Four more hobgoblins watched the fray, arrows nocked, but dared not shoot through their friends.

Yémos cast Major Healing on Kúflaug, and Caleb let loose a Blast Ball behind the hobgoblins. None fell, but their backs took a good singe. Anêr stepped and stabbed the hobgoblin with the long earlobes, who fell dead. Kúflaug knelt, and Kim aimed at Dr. Teeth. Mayhem stepped and swung at one of the hobgoblins with stud earrings, but he stepped back. Indeed, all the hobgoblins stepped back, and the ones holding back ran to a statue in the middle of the dais.

Yémos got out his bow, and Caleb stood up. Anêr and Mayhem rushed after the hobgoblins, but missed. The hobgoblins kept stepping back, while the four before the statue vanished. The gang's last strikes failed (though Caleb's second Blast Ball did singe a few hobgoblins), and the hobgoblins made it to before the statue, and vanished into thin air.

Res aliae

I gave out 4 character points. They didn't find any loot, but they did open a "bonus area." Everyone at home: that's room 53. Hey, I gave them a hint! They also found a teleport pad, though didn't use it.

I haven't heard from Eric, so I don't know if he's coming back. I do hope he's doing alright. If he won't come back, we'll have to do something for clerical help.

Game log for 13 September 2015

Dramatis personae

Anêr, a swashbuckler (John, running for Eric)
Yémos, a cleric (John, running for Eric)
Kim, a thief (John)
Mayhem, a barbarian (Chris)
Caleb, a wizard (Chris)

NPCs

Likháfrikh, a dwarf engineer
Kúflaug, an orc miner

Quid occurrit

Back to the fight.

Anêr took a stab at the face of the hobgoblin with a bulbous nose, but the hobgoblin parried. Then Kúflaug took a step and swung at the other hobgoblin with a halberd, with plates in his earlobes, but missed, as is his wont. Mayhem, still on the ground, grabbed the leg of the hobgoblin with plates in his earlobes, who tried to swat him away with his halberd, but could not. Likháfrikh stepped next to Anêr and swung his axe at the bulbous-nosed hobgoblin, who got out of the way.

The two hobgoblin bowmen nocked arrows, while the hobgoblin with a little man on his leg changed the grip on his halberd. The big-nosed hobgoblin stepped back and took a swing at Likháfrikh, who got out of the way.

Yémos stepped over and cast a Major Healing spell on Caleb, whose eyes fluttered open to hear Yémos whisper, "Whammy." Caleb rolled onto his butt and looked up the stairs, wondering which hobgoblin to zap with a spell. At the top of the stairs, Anêr again missed the big nose on the hobgoblin. However, Kúflaug at last hit the hobgoblin with the plates in his earlobes, and when he fell to the ground, Mayhem wrenched the hobgoblin's leg. Likháfrikh took a step toward the big-nosed hobgoblin, who couldn't parry the blow, and fell down.

The big-nosed hobgoblin sat up and looked, while the one with a Mayhem on his legs tried to stop being a hobgoblin with a Mayhem on his leg, but couldn't get him off. Yémos stepped back to Kim and cast a Minor Healing on her, but she still lay still. Caleb cast a Fireball, still looking up the stairs for a target. Anêr, however, took out the target at his feet with a stab, while Kúflaug did the same to the one at his feet. Mayhem grabbed his axe, and Likháfrikh rushed towards the scrawny hobgoblin bowman in the corner, and whacked him with his axe. The two hobgoblin bowmen saw how the score had changed, and pulled away. Mayhem came to his senses, and Yémos healed some of his wounds.

The gang chose to get out, with Kim still knocked out. They made it up the stairs, with Kúflaug bearing Kim over his shoulder. At the top of the stairs, they heard a man's voice down the hall call out, "Hey, who goes there?" There was a soft light a ways away.

Mayhem yelled back, "Who you?"

The man said, "We are with the tribe."

Anêr boldly said, "I am Anêr the swordsman!"

The man said back, "I do not know you in our tribe. We shall beat you!"

Anêr, however, had a plan that wasn't as dumb as his statement. As the hidden door to the room with the statue and the pillars was but around the corner, he hid Yémos's light, and everyone moved around the corner and opened the door. The light came nearer, and Anêr yelled, "Go down the stairs!" before shutting the door with everyone in the hall. The gang heard the footsteps go around the corner and down the stairs.

In the narrow hall leading to the big chamber, everyone rested 45 minutes until Yémos's strength came back. Once back, he healed Kim again, and she stood up. Caleb held back from the yen to look at the flaming statue again, and then, everyone went back to camp.

Back at camp, they told Péllē the slaver about the flaming statue, and she said, "Well, there's some odd stuff down there. Was it made of copper?" Caleb thought it was made of some kind of metal, while Likháfrikh shrugged. Everyone spent the rest of the day and the next doing light work and looking over the slaves.

Scio neminem ex uobis hoc legere posse, ergo aliquid scribo iocosum

I gave out 10 character points for the last four sessions together, as I hadn't given any for some time.

I'll fess up: I thought about going easy on them with the hobgoblins to keep away a total party kill, but I chose to keep the hobgoblins fighting. (My plan to wuss out was to have the bowmen withdraw to get help.) I'm glad I didn't go easy on them, and, lucky for them, the dice went their way this time, and they rolled well for the NPCs, too.  (The players pick most of what the NPCs do in a fight.) Then again, they had been making critical miss after critical miss the last time we played, and the hobgoblins no longer had the boon of surprise. (And the bowmen had to reload.)

Paying more heed to the lighting and the other little bits and bobs has made for a better dungeon crawl. The lighting played well with the tribesmen. Neither group was near enough to the other that it knew anything about the other because the edge of the lights didn't get near. Thus, the players chose the trick of ducking behind the hidden door (to 27A, for those playing at home) after the two groups parleyed for a few seconds.

One thing that keeps getting to me is I never can recall wrestling rules, and they came into play today. I should do a mock combat or three to make myself learn them better.

We broke off early. The buses held up Chris so we were late starting, and John was half-asleep the whole game so he couldn't go much longer.

A couple of NPCs

There is no game today, since I took my family to the Minnesota State Fair, where we fought Sweet Martha and her killer calories. I'm taking a page from the master of Dungeon Fantasy game blogging, Peter Dell'Orto, and posting a couple of NPCs who have been fighting alongside the PCs. A couple of things from their character sheets are lobbed off, since they have yet to affect play, or are a special number like Loyalty that nobody other than I should know.

Likháfrikh

Likháfrikh is a dwarf from Mōr-Nembe who has been an engineer at the Zúbrās Mines for four years. His snub nose peeks out over his big, bushy brown and auburn mustache, and he is strong and muscular. He is missing four teeth from the left side of his mouth. As an engineer, he’s unremarkable. He likes going into the mines himself and bossing the slaves, as the danger gives him a thrill. Likháfrikh likes to have others around and likes chatting with them, though, like most dwarves, he trusts neither elves nor goblin-kin. He knows the built-up spots of the mines well, but sends orcs or goblins into the unknown spots, and makes them bring back news. Better they die than he. He likes to be known to be good at his job, and talks up even his small deeds in the mines to anyone who may listen.

ST: 13	HP: 13	Speed: 6.00
DX: 12	Will: 10	Move: 5
IQ: 10	Per: 10	SM: 0
HT: 13	FP: 16	DR: 5/3*
Dodge: 8	Parry: 10U	Block: n/a

Great Axe (15): 2d+3 cutting. Reach 1, 2*. 
Punch (14): 1d crushing. Reach C.

Traits: Alcohol Tolerance; Chummy (12); Code of Honor (Dwarf's); Dwarven Gear; Greed (12); Lifting ST 2 (ST 15); Night Vision 5; Obsession (Mine safety) (12); Pickaxe Penchant 1; Resistant to Poisons (+3); Risk-Taking Behavior (Goes into the mines and works with the slaves); Stubbornness; Wealth (Comfortable).

Skills: Area Knowledge (Zúbrās Mines)-12; Brawling-14; Carousing-13; Climbing-12; Crossbow-13; Engineer (Mining)-12; Fast-Draw (Arrow)-12; Forced Entry-14; Intimidation-10; Lifting-13; Prospecting-14; Survival (Subterranean)-11; Traps-10; Two- Handed Axe/Mace-15.
Class: Mundane.
Notes: Reacts to others at +2. Armor not compatible with human armor. He speaks and reads Dwarfish and Mannish at Native, and speaks Goblin at Broken. Gear includes:

• Fine Mail Hauberk (covers Torso, Arms on 1-3 on 1d, Legs on 1-3 on 1d), $1,575, 26.25 lbs.

• Great Axe, $100, 8 lbs.

• Hardened Leather Gauntlets (covers Hands; gives Ham Fisted 2), $13, 1.5 lbs.

• Leather Boots (covers Feet; DR 2/1 against impaling), $80, 3 lbs.


• Light Layered Cloth Leggings (covers Legs on 4-6 on 1d (Shins); DR 2*), $150, 12 lbs.

• Light Layered Cloth Sleeves (covers Arms on 4-6 on 1d (Forearms); DR 2*), $75, 6 lbs.

Kúflaug

Kúflaug is an orc miner. He has a ring in his septum, with a paunchy body, a craggy face, straight dark brown hair over his ears, and an unkempt mustache. He is truly worshipful of Kásnotok (aka Rōripermónē, goddess of farming), and wants to set up a bigger garden for the orcs, and sow some fields. Kúflaug isn't the best miner, but he has been in the mining camp most of his life and so knows the layout well enough. He feels the need to be calm, and bullies others sometimes to get them to calm down too.

ST: 14	HP: 16	Speed: 6.25
DX: 10	Will: 9	Move: 4
IQ: 8	Per: 9	SM: 0
HT: 13	FP: 9	DR: 2/1*
Dodge: 8	Parry: 8	Block: n/a

Axe (11): 2d+2 cutting. Reach 1. 
Punch (10): 1d-1 crushing. Reach C.

Traits: Acute Hearing 2; Appearance (Ugly); Bully (12); Fit; Infravision; Lifting ST 2 (ST 16); Rapid Healing; Religious (Kastonok); Resistant to Metabolic Hazards (+3); Sense of Duty (Owner); Social Stigma (Savage); Social Stigma (Subjugated).

Skills: Area Knowledge (Zúbrās Mines)-10; Axe/Mace-11; Brawling-10; Climbing-9; Gardening-8; Intimidation-9; Lifting-13; Wrestling-10.
Notes: Right now, he is carrying a halberd (12 lbs.) and wearing medium leather armor (36 lbs.). He wears an iron slave collar (1 lbs.) and normal clothes. He speaks Goblin and Mannish at Native, but cannot read.

Class: Mundane.

Notes:

• I based Likháfrikh off the Dwarf template that appeared in Pyramid #3/50, Races as Professions, and lobbed off 1 from each of his attributes. I also ignored most of the optional picks. I didn't want him upstaging the PCs.
• I based Kúflaug off the Laborer template from GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen. Unlike Likháfrikh, I didn't worry that he would outshine the PCs since the template is only 62 points, and not focused on fighting.
• Kúflaug's armor is a generic armor that I made from taking the Torso armor in GURPS Low Tech: Instant Armor, and making the weight and cost threefold it so that it covered everything other than the face and neck. Unofficially, I leave gloves and boots at DR 2*, but mostly I don't fret about that since it seldom comes up.

Game log for 16 August 2015

Dramatis personae

Kim, a thief
Mayhem, a barbarian
Caleb, a wizard
Anêr, a swashbuckler
Yémos, a cleric
Kúflaug, a slave
Likháfrikh, an engineer (intrans actum in alterum)

Quid occurrit

Caleb lifted his head to let out an Acid Jet, but passed out from his wounds. Anêr started to stand with his rapier in hand, while a guard poked him with his sword. Another guard tried to smite Mayhem, but slipped and fell. Mayhem had reached his limit, and snapped. He planted his axe into the guard before him.

The two cultist clerics again tried to get Mayhem and Anêr to drop their weapons, and again Mayhem held onto his while Anêr dropped his. Yémos turned around, and started back towards the cleric cultists, while Anêr again grabbed his sword. The guard by Anêr struck him, and Anêr couldn't parry, taking a nastier hit. Mayhem rushed one of the clerics but missed, but Yémos stepped behind the cleric and smacked him with his staff, killing him.

The other cleric, now worried about Mayhem, tried to bid Mayhem to drop his axe, but Mayhem shrugged off his words. Anêr stood up, while the guard before him tried to hit him and missed. Mayhem, now on a tear, stepped towards the standing cleric, and smashed his axe into him, killing him. Anêr tried to stick his rapier into the mug of the guard before him, but the guard parried his blow, then dropped his sword and lifted his hands into the air.

Mayhem snapped back to reality, which was good for the guard throwing in the towel. However, another cowled guard slipped out of the hallway in the back of the room and lifted the lever to let out his trapped fellows.

The gang saw this and ran, grabbing Caleb and Kim and slipping past the secret door, near which Kúflaug was waiting. They shut the door, and Yémos cast Watchdog to keep them safe. Then, they rested for the next 20 hours, with Yémos healing Caleb, Kim, Anêr, and Mayhem. After that, the whole gang went back to the room with the columns and the chasm, and Caleb cast Levitate on everyone to get over the chasm.

Nothing bothered them until they made it to the stairs out of the bat shit room. The bats squawked, and as they started up the stairs, Kim stopped before she stepped into a big cube of nothing. They tried to hustle around the cube, but it could keep up with them. Thus Caleb, the last one, hung back and scorched the cube with a few Fireballs, which left it as a big puddle.

They came outside, and found a sunny morning after a rainstorm. They went to talk to an amazed Péllē, who was thrilled to hear that they met cowled men down in the dungeon. Kim told her they would bring her back one. After talking to Péllē, they talked to Likháfrikh, to see about building a bridge over the chasm. Likháfrikh said he didn't have any workers to spare without maybe getting some ore from the ruins. She also told him about the gelatinous cube, and Likháfrikh said, "That's why we send two kobolds. One can come back and tell us what happened to the other."

The next day, they went back down into the dungeon, and got Likháfrikh to come with them. They went to the side of the chasm, where Likháfrikh said it would be tough to make a bridge since the sides were so crumbly. Then he asked how deep the chasm was. Yémos cast Continual Light on a stone, then dropped it. Likháfrikh looked down at the little light at the bottom. "Yeah, I can see why you'd want a bridge," he said. "That's a big drop."

They also showed Likháfrikh the trapdoor in the floor of the alcove at the end of the room near the secret door, but he could tell them nothing that Caleb didn't already say. Mayhem wanted to light the gas, so he went between the columns to light a torch. No sooner did he get there and pull out his torch did jets of flame shoot up from the holes around the trapdoor, and slowly a big demon-head statue came out of the trapdoor, laughing, its eyes gleaming, and its mouth spewing flames. Mayhem lobbed his torch at the statue, but all it did was bounce off and go up in flames from the smokeless fire shooting out of the floor. And thus, the gang chose to run.

They got out the door and down the secret hall to the main hall, then went downstairs. They saw the rubble by which they saw the battle a few days before, and Yémos found his lit stone. They heard some hubbub to their left, and walked towards it.

They made it as far as a short flight of stairs when arrows greeted them. Anêr got out of the way of two of them, but Kim took both of them, and soon fell unconscious, bleeding. Anêr, Kúflaug, Mayhem, and Likháfrikh dashed up the stairs, while Yémos moved towards Kim's body lying on the ground. Anêr and Mayhem could see that four hobgoblins, hiding behind columns at the top of the stairs, had shot at them, and two were getting out their halberds. Anêr stabbed at one, but he missed, not able to see well. Mayhem tried to strike at another, but strained his shoulder. The two hobgoblins with halberds struck at Anêr and Mayhem, and dropped Mayhem prone. Yémos lobbed his lit pebble to the top of the stairs, while Caleb cast an Explosive Fireball. Mayhem lost his cool, and tried to punch the foot of the hobgoblin before him, but he parried. Likháfrikh, now at the top of the stairs, missed with a blow, while a hobgoblin hit Kúflaug, who somehow stayed standing. Another missed Anêr, while the other two shot at Caleb and Yémos, missing Yémos but dropping Caleb. Yémos healed Kim to get her out of immediate danger.

Pedicabo ego vos

Two important things. First of all, I went over the character sheets, and held everyone to their disadvantages a bit more. This mostly affected Mayhem, who lost some Reach from to his short arms, and Anêr, whose encumbrance knocked down his fencing skills a bit. Yeah, I feel like a shit, but they got points for that stuff. I should have been more diligent. Bad GM.

The other thing? When you drop a lit pebble down a chasm, anyone down there will know something is up, even a hobgoblin. Hell, an ogre would figure this out. Thus, when the hobgoblins saw the lit pebble fall, they were alert, and when they saw the gang come down the stairs, they nocked arrows.

So again we leave on a cliffhanger, but this time, the battle is going even worse for the heroes. Kim had lost 24 HP from those two arrows, and luckily she made her HT roll to stay alive. Mayhem going Berserk (another thing I've been enforcing more these last two sessions, but this one is much more fun in play) makes it harder for everyone to withdraw.

Game log for 2 August 2015

Dramatis personae:

Caleb, a wizard of the Order of the Sun (Chris)
Mayhem, a short barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (Chris)
Kim, a thief (John)
Yémos, a cleric of Dōsaútōr (John, covering for Eric)
Anêr, a swashbuckler (NPC/Chris, covering for Eric)
Kúflaug, an orc slave (NPC)

Plus scriptum de quoquo facto:

Still the 28th of Blôs.

The heroes went up stairs, then opened a set of double doors at the top. They heard a din down the passage to the right, and saw a dim light. Kim found a secret door right before them, and there’s a foul smell behind it.

Kind of like this, but no umlauts.

They went right, and saw two guards. The guards were wearing brown cowls over their head and upper chest, and bore spears. Yémos knew that the worshippers of Ažbrátōr, god of death, wear cowls over their heads. The guards waited for the gang to come to them, and shouted, “Get her ready!” The heroes struck, and the guards fought back with their spears.

They took down the guards after a few seconds. Kúflaug went down in the fighting, and Yémos couldn’t heal him with his prayers. Mayhem took a spear hit, but kept his cool, not going berserk, while he and Anêr made fast work of the guards.

After a few more seconds, two more guards burst through the door, and with them was a black bear. Mayhem got a good swing at the bear, and down it went. Anêr killed one guard, and another threw down his sword right after. Kim bound the guard, while Yémos bound Kúflaug’s wounds. Kúflaug, however, was still out.

They went inside the room, and saw four torches, two chests, a set of double doors on the other side, and a lever next to it. They went past the doors, and down the hall to a cave. There was a portcullis in the air at the opening of the cave, and the cave smelled of the bear. The gang guessed that the lever opens the portcullis. There was residue of an ooze on one of the walls, left within the last few days. They looked over the bodies of the guards, and took off their cowls and armor.

Kim asked the bound guard what is in the chests. The guard said back, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kim checked the chest, and didn’t find a trap. She opened it, and the chest gave her a jolt, sapping her strength. After she reared back in shock, a cloud came out of the chest. Everyone coughed but otherwise the cloud did nothing to them. The guard laughed and Kim snaped and stabbed him.

The gang rested. Yémos healed both Mayhem and Kúflaug, the latter waking up, groggy and hurt. Kim barred the door. After an hour, someone banged at the door, and yelled, “What the hell is going on in there?” Kim, Yémos, Anêr, and Caleb put on the brown cowls the looted from the dead guards. Mayhem and Kúflaug hid in the hallway to the cave, and Kim took the bar out of the door.

Four guards in brown cowls came barging into the room, and one guard asked, “What did you do with Átilos?” The heroes looked at each other, having no idea who Átilos is, and tried to look like they’re with the cult. This did not fool the guards, so Kim pointed to the chest that she had opened earlier. The guard walked up to the chest, then opened it and chuckled, “It only works for you heathens.” Caleb asked what is in the other chest, but the guards walk off. Kim barred the door again.

Kim opened the other chest with the arm of the dead guard. Once opened, Kim picked up the treasure inside with her sword, taking care not to touch the chest itself: a jeweled mace, a bag with gems, an iron box, and a platinum box. She didn’t have time to look them over when everyone heard the banging on the door again.

Then, Kim got an idea: she takes all the torches off the walls and douses all but one of them, which she puts in the bear cave. Everyone waited by the door, and eleven men in cowls burst into the room. They had no light, and saw the one down the hall. One of them bade six of the cowled men to check out the light while he went out to grab the torch in the hall. He walked in, and checked to the left of the door. Kim steps out from the right and swings her sword at one of the guards. 

A fight happened next, mostly in the dark. The foes’ leader dropped to the ground from Anêr’s stab, and passed out trying to cast a spell. His lackeys did better with their spell, one of them bidding Anêr to drop his sword twice. Both Kim and Caleb dropped from their blows, though Kim was still awake as Yémos reached the lever to drop the portcullis, hopefully with the guards on the other side.

And we broke, as John had to go.

Aliquid Latine scriptum quod vos legere nequitis sed quod vobis ego dicere possum esse de ludo: 

The picture shows the state of play. Kim (on the right) and Caleb (on the left, with the sword, which happens to be his power item) are both down, and Caleb has failed his HT roll to stay conscious. Kúflaug is the figure raising his knife in the air, and is moving down the hall. Yémos is at the other side of the room, and the little dice near my notepad are the guards who are hopefully trapped. (Chris moved to new lodgings for the next few months, and his minis are packed away.) The two d8s are the lackeys, who are clerics who keep casting Command on Anêr and Mayhem. The one whose face is too dark to see, #7, is the one who keeps winning his contest against Anêr. The d10s are both guards, and the d12 is the unconscious lead cultist; Anêr is kneeling before the cultist to get his sword. The red d6 with the 3 showing is Chris's, and the big polyhedral are mine. I like big dice.

Game log for 19 July 2015

This log is going to be short, in part because we did a whole lot of the same thing most of the game: fight skeletons. For anyone with the original Caverns of Thracia, it's room 27B. The one chance we had to liven up the fight, I blew. I held off the carrion crawler too long. Alright, it's a carrion crawler, so it's supposed to be stupid. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

With a bit more verbosity for purposes of tracking this later:

The gang went down the hall behind the secret door, then opened the door at the end. The door opened into a big room with a rift splitting it in two and pillars going down the middle. First, they checked out and alcove near where they went into the room, and found a circular spot in the floor, about 10 feet wide, that looks like it has edges like a trap door. Near it and the wall were many small holes. Caleb thought they smelled like some kind of gas or oil.

Kim led the group along the right side of the room, and almost fell when she stepped on the edge of the rift, which gave way. After some chatter, Kim climbed along the wall to get over the rift, which was about 8 feet wide. After getting over Anêr and their gear, they had Caleb jump over, with rope tied to him. He needed it, too.

(At this point, Chris, who plays Caleb, started talking about how it would be neat if he had a spell on his sheet that he'd overlooked which would help. I felt kind and grabbed his sheet, looked, and pointed at a spell. I really shouldn't have.)

Caleb was struck smart, all of the sudden, and cast Levitate on himself, then went back over and Levitated Yémos, Kúflaug, and Mayhem.

(Truth be told, not casting Levitate on everyone was an FP saver. Caleb was about to need the FP.)

The gang walked along the wall, passing by rows of skeletons on the floor. They were lying nice and tidy, not sprawled out. They were hoping to get to the way out, which they could dimly see, without bothering anything, but had no such luck. As soon as the heroes passed the one pillar near the right side of the room on the far side of the rift, two skeletons stood up and struck at the gang. While they took out the skeletons, a carrion crawler came up behind them. However, it wasn't much of a match, as everyone took a smack before it could get its nasty tentacles on anyone.

Then came scads of skeletons, a few more coming every few seconds. They kept fighting them, with Yémos's staff being deadlier than wont.

(After awhile, John, who plays Kim, started to lament all the skeletons. Luckily, that was near the end of the time we had, so I told them just to go to the way out, with an opposed DX roll to see if the skeletons got any last strikes. They lost the roll, but none of the skeleton's blows did anything.)

World data? Heck, it's the same day.

A funny thing was on the wall in the CONvergence gaming floor

All you GURPSketeers know this image, right?

Y'know, a satirical take on just how many frigging GURPS books there are.

Well, this weekend, I'm at CONvergence, a Minneapolis sci-if con, though I'm only into meeting old friends and playing elf games with funny dice. And on the 22nd floor, I can do the latter, though it's mostly Pathfinder. Anyways, they have a wall of honor, wherein are the pictures of the founders of the gaming hobby. On it are Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson (say, if you were living, I made it early to the con today, so I totally could have helped you sell those items, including that demi-human sex book), Richard Garfield (Magic: the Gathering, IIRC), and some Japanese fellow who apparently has something to do with Nintendo games. Anyways, Evil Stevie is on the wall, right after Dave but before Richard Garfield. There are pictures of their works of art under their faces, and … well, let me post the snapshot I took:

That's right. Right there, in the bottom right, is the satirical Photoshopped image of endless GURPS books, credited to being part of Steve Jackson's body of work. Next thing you know, Bert will be in an image with Jackson.

Arduin

A short note to both my readers: sadly, no Arduin PDFs are on RPGNow/DriveThruRPG any longer. I have no idea if this is a short-term deal, but I'm glad I have my PDF of Arduin Eternal, even if my players have yet to run into any of the monsters (and yes, I have Arduin monster lairs placed, including air sharks, of course).

Random NPC ages

Something I've written up this weekend is a way to randomly roll NPC ages, and genders tied to it. The method has two parts. The first is to see if the NPC is an grownup or a child. This is optional, since most NPCs will be grownups for obvious reasons, but I'm including it anyways for pedantic completeness.

Child or grownup? Roll 1d6:

NPC Ages

Roll (1d6)	Age
1	Baby; age is 1d6-2 (-1 is under 3 months); 1-11 are male on 1d20
2	Kid; age is 4+1d10; 1-10 are male on 1d20
3-6	Grownup; roll another 1d6 (see below)

Most of the time, again, we can skip this step and go on to the next one, which is how old a grownup NPC is.

Adult NPC Ages

Roll (1d6)	Age
1	Adolescent; age is 14+1d6; 1-9 are male on 1d20
2	Young adult; age is 20+1d8; 1-9 are male on 1d20
3	Thirtysomething; age is 28+1d8; 1-9 are male on 1d20
4	Middle age; age is 36+1d10; 1-9 are male on 1d20
5	Old; age is 46+1d10; 1-9 are male on 1d20
6	Ancient; age is 56+1d30 (you can make this exploding on a 30 to get legendary ages); 1-8 are male on 1d20. For GURPS purposes, 70 is the big number, and 1-in-10 are that or older; 1-7 are male on 1d20

Based on Lichfield, England, 1695. I did some tweaking to make things smoother, and to handle the odd spike of girls born right before this census. But I wanted something where I could roll a d6 and get a general idea of an NPC age, and this is it. I don't care much about the exact age until I've fleshed out the NPC a bit.

Game log for 24 May 2015

Dramatis personae

Mayhem, pint-sized human barbarian of the Dragon Claw Clan (Chris)
Caleb, human wizard of the Order of the Sun (Chris)
Kipóssibēl, aka Kim, human thief (John)

Comitans

Kúflaug, orc slave (NPC)
Yémos, human cleric of Dōsaútōr, goddess of wisdom and magic (Eric, absens)
Anêr, human swashbuckler (Eric, absens)

Quid occurrit

The gang went back to the camp with the hobgoblins they nabbed in the dungeon. Péllē the slaver said she didn't know how much more she could give the heroes for the hobgoblins. Anêr cleaned the bat shit off his armor, and everyone waited until the next morning to go back down in the mines.

The next morning had clear skies, which means it was a great time to go into a dank dungeon. This time, they kept away from the halls with the bat guano, and walked around the spear trap before checking out the room where, twice before, they had fought hobgoblins. None were in there now. Kim checked the door to this room, and found that it lacked a lock; she had hoped it might work as a base. The gang went down the hallway to the stairs, but right before the stairs, Kim saw that the wall on the left of the hall was smoother than wont. She started dusting away the door and pressing it when everyone heard footsteps on the stairs.

Kim, Yémos, and Caleb turned fast enough to see two lizard men walking around the corner. The lizard men hissed at the heroes, then charged at them, though not before Kim missed them with an arrow. Both slammed Mayhem, though both bounced off him. Behind them were four hobgoblins with longbows and halberds, who got ready.

Yémos cast Shield on Anêr, while Caleb stepped forward and cast Acid Jet scald someone once he was ready enough. Anêr snapped aware, and rushed forward to try to stab the big snout of one of the lizard men. Alas, his rapier didn't get through the scales. Kúflaug also snapped to the ready, and moved forward. Kim tried to pull out an arrow quickly, but she dropped it. Mayhem tried to chop down on one of the lizard men, but it parried him. However, the lizard man's club didn't go through to bop Mayhem, while Anêr's rapier blocked the shot of the lizard man who tried to strike him. Two hobgoblins stepped behind the lizard men, while the other two shot at Kim and Anêr. Anêr got out of the way, but an arrow hit Kim in her shoulder.

Yémos crept up, while Caleb's Acid Jet got a splash on the lizard man before him. Anêr stabbed the snout of the lizard man near him, and it dropped to the floor, howling as he ached. Kúflaug stepped forward and made a wild swing, but he missed, as he always does, while Kim got out her next arrow. Mayhem slammed his axe into the lizard man still standing, who only stood there afterwards. The lizard man on the floor smacked his club into Mayhem's leg, and the hobgoblin bowmen pulled out more arrows. The two with halberds struck at Mayhem and Anêr.

Yémos and Caleb stepped up, Caleb getting an Explosive Fireball ready. Anêr again stabbed the lizard man in the snout, but it still stayed up long enough for Kúflaug to put his axe into his body. The blow felled the lizard man, making Kúflaug the Rob Deer or Adam Dunn of Settēséttē. Neither Kim nor Mayhem could do anything to the hobgoblins with their shot and strike, and so the hobgoblins withdrew. Caleb, however, scorched a one with his Explosive Fireball, while Anêr ended the life of the lizard man on the ground. Caleb ran around the corner and threw a Blast Ball at the fleeing hobgoblins, dropping one, before everyone got back to the hidden door.

Res aliae

I rolled against Kúflaug's Axe/Mace skill as we were winding down, and it was a failure. As any Call of Cthulhu player knows, that was a good thing: it meant I bumped up his Axe/Mace skill.
Another short session. Eric wasn't there, so I helped John get his character sheet in order. John did come up with a good idea for a quirk that I wanted to share, since I had to make it at least a bit disadvantageous so it would be a quirk.

Kim is a stickler for having an orderly backpack. Now, this would normally be a perk, since having an orderly backpack would let her get things out of it faster. (I'm shaving off a second from any rolls for a long action.) However, any time she has bothered with her pack, like putting in loot, she takes more time, and I get to check for random encounters, at least down in the dungeon. In the wilderness, I should do something else like make her waste a half hour of the gang's time.

I did get through making sure Caleb and Kim had enough backstory to be in the game world. In short, John and Chris made sure we knew whence and when came Caleb (from Kerváron about 25 years ago) and Kim (from Mīstássun, I think something like 20 years ago), and a bit about how they gained their mad skillz in magic and thieving. Well, come to think of it, I'm not sure I asked John how Kim learned to steal, but I gather she's a street kid grown up or something. I think that's a good minimum: how old is he, where was he born (and where did he grow up, if that's elsewhere), and how did he learn to be a murder-hobo. If someone moved up or down the social ladder, that's a good thing to know as well.