I had a great game tonight. Playing bx. We managed to get ourselves trapped in a room with an ogre banging on the door. It wasn't smart play but we managed to get by.
Im going to finish this ale, check out what's going on on gplus and then off to bed.
Oh no wait....
https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/xihql9/what_happened_to_the_collaborative_spirit_of_the/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
After having given the group a choice of different versions of dnd, they have unanimously decided on 5e. Which I expected.
I've been reading thru a few modules and coming up with some ideas. First up I'm going to pass on the sword coast. Although I'm likely going to port adventures, gods etc from it.
I've decided not to restrict races or classes other than phb only. Whilst I'd prefer not to have dragonborn I'll make do.
First up the world, I'm going to use Elsir vale.
https://campaignworlds.fandom.com/wiki/Elsir_Vale
Adventure wise I think I'll start with defense in phlan.
https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/170384
And then likely the starter set, phandelver.
I've also been reading queen of the dragon hoard, and the keep on shadowfell. As is usual one too many modules and ideas are running around my head.
I even thought of porting to geeyhawk.
I like Elsir vale and netnir vale as they are very sandboxy without a ton of Cannon written for them. I can basically send the players that link if they want some background.
I will likely have the Harper's and the cult of the dragon as factions in the game. Not the zhentatarim however. It's not that big of a place, and sticking all the forgotten realms factions in would likely get confusing.
Whilst running phlan, I am going to make a point of introducing gundren rockseeker as a patron of the players. This way they can get a bit of backstory before the starter set.
Got a few weeks to prepare!
As a good gm I'm already planning my next game. After a recent BBQ my cousins decided they want to try dnd. Here's the welcome email I sent.
Hey everyone
Introductions first. Redacted and redacted are my cousins. Redacted is my nephew. Redacted is redacteds friend.
So I hear you want to play d&d eh? Well we can definitely find a few dungeons with possible dragons!
I figured we can start with 1 game and see how it goes. Maybe get together once a month at our place as time goes on. (Sunday once a month after supper). Starting in October.
I have a few options for games and I'd like to let you guys decide.
Good starter game.
Whitebox dnd, pretty straightforward, easy to create characters and get started. Based on the original version of the game released in 1974. Fairly open ended with lots of room for interpretation. It's a good beer and pretzels game. Just 2 dice, d20 and d6
Bx dnd from 1983. My wheelhouse , best of both worlds. All the dice.
I'm not going to mention 2nd edition, wildly convuluted and crunchy. What I grew up on. Very fun.
5th edition dnd. Tactical, crunchy and it can be roleplay heavy. Lots to digest but lots of fun as well. Cool thing is you can get very in-depth in character creation. That said first few sessions would be character creation and getting started. Upside is you get very attached to character and immersed .more dice rolling.
With 5e I can provide pregenerated characters to get us up and going. However part of the game is creating characters and backstory.
***
I'm awaiting responses. If I run an old school game it would be Kotb, with in search of the unknown. Or horror on the hill which I recently acquired.
5e would be the phandelver starter set.
****
Last night after our bx game, Steve and I did our usual talk for an hour and drink beer. Mostly about dnd and old school games. During our conversation we discussed our gaming upbringing. I mentioned to Steve the first real rpg I played was advanced fighting fantasy. I think we both agreed that your first game and experience helped develop your style and likes. Much like being a musician, the first music I learned had a lasting impact (Nirvana).
Which has lead me to want to run aff again. I think irl I'd use the 2nd edition ruleset. However on roll20 I'd probably use a bastardized version of the original FF roleplay game. The one before aff, and not the game book. Somewhere I have a copy of it in text that I borrowed from a blog post.
More information here
https://fightingfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy_-_The_Introductory_Role-playing_Game
*All of the monsters and items are copyright (c) Wizards of the coast 1979. All rights reserved. This is a encounter table for use with Gamma World 1st Edition, published by TSR in 1979. You will require this book to use this table. I do not claim any rights over the below content.
During my brief yet fun Gamma world game, I created a few things for it. I will be posting them up over the next few days/posts. I used the starter adventure area in the back of the Gamma World rulebook as a jump off point. The first thing I did was re-create the hexmap (below). Then I created an encounter table.
Note: I actually spent a few minutes retyping the encounter table only to realize that I had already posted it on the blog! hahaha. Boy I'm getting old.
IT IS BETTER TO DIE THEN TO LIVE AS A CRIMINAL
ALL TECH NEEDS TO BE TURNED INTO THE THE AUTHORITY'S, ILLEGA TECH WILL BE CONFISCATED, AND THE OWNER WILL BE CONDEMNED.
STIPEND AND FOOD DELIVERED WEEKLY. NO EXCEPTIONS
NO SHIRT NO SHOES NO SERVICE
Passes into the city must be purchased at the gate from the guards, the price is hefty.
Dock Area
Most boats are wooden craft pontoon style, and there are some older metal fishing style ships. The dock is patrolled by security droids who keep a watchful eye on any trade.
There are 4 large warehouses manned by government employees that handle most of the trade.
General shops in the area include: Beasts of burden, wooden carts, general clothier, small boats & canoes, canned goods, travelling supplies.
The pub in the dock area is called the "Aluminum Kettle". A ramshackle building made of concrete and tin. There are 3 levels, beds are reasonably priced. The tavern section serves a "stew", bread and an alcoholic beverage called "Galou" which tastes bad but is green and frothy.
NPCs in bar:
Gregor: Part of an alliance that wants to shutdown Mother, is planning to go deep underground to find her power source and shut it off. Is looking for scouts to check out the sewer tunnels. Mutated Raccoon hybrid.
Nibbler: Up to no good, doesn't discuss much, eyes the door wariliy, is on a mission to scout pure humans. Wants to kill them. Leaves when able to.
Axis Strava: Eccentric wizard type, beard. Is in search of interesting rare objects. Desperately wants to find an intact library.
I have 2 small dungeons that I've started which I'll be posting up soon, with the details that I came up with. You are welcome to fill them out if you like.
Hey everyone, I just had an amazing BLT sandwich with home grown tomatoes.
Gaming wise, my gamma world game is done for now. However I learned a lot of things. I hadn't ran a game in awhile and it was a new system for me to run. So that was interesting and meaningful. One thing I tried was to not overprep. What I did realize was that I still need a few good encounters and a decent sketch of the world. It was a lot of fun.
I have a few decent ideas for gamma world which I'll post up here. Not sure if it's worth putting in a lot of effort for anything official.
More to come.
I'm still playing in Steve's bad assed bx game on Tuesdays nights. As the winter rolls around I'll hopefully I'll get a game going again with my cousins. In the meantime I'm happy to keep playing Gideon the neutral cleric.
On another note my good friend Vic passed away last year and I stumbled upon his blog, there's some good stuff here.
http://shelfrant.blogspot.com/?m=1
