Old School Session 8 - The Balding Minotaur Inn.

We gathered together for a little session a few days ago.  The great thing about the session was it was pretty much 90% roleplaying.  However I've noticed that one of my players is a major math geek, you can almost see him crunching numbers in his head.  And more oft than not he knows exactly how much hit points are left of certain monsters.  (Note must use taller DM screen in future).  The players had just finished up the tomb of gardag the strange and made their way to the "balding minotaur inn" a small inn/tavern not to far from gardags tomb, on the road to Elerd's keep.  The small hobbit village of brymassen is a day's ride from Inn.  The plan was to find Hamona, the great great granddaughter of Zalish, who killed Gardgag in the first place.  She sent the PC's off to find his dagger.  (to which they were successful!).

Back at the Inn, they met a barmaid named "herbert", who procceeded to talk with the PC's about Harmona, and a few other things.  Cue major role playing when the DM sits in the lap of one of his players, and pretends to attempt to seduce him.  Oh funny.

After not getting much in the way of information out of herbert, other than the fact that Hamona doesn't live very far from the Inn, on a small farm.  They then proceeded to have a few drinks in the tavern.

A old man sitting by the fire summoned them over, and discussed with them some things that he had seen, including Hobgoblin patrols.

Finkidliator the thief, had seen a vision regarding the hobgoblins, and their crest as well.  To which he discussed with the old man, it appears the hobgoblins are one and the same.  As well our friendly dwarf bronsbane told of the vision he saw.

On other vistor was a halfling priest, who was on the road, he talked with the PC's about a girl in brymassen that had come down with a sickness.

The PC's slept the night in the Inn and made their way towards Hamona's farm.  The road turned from a actual road to a horse trail.  At some point one of the PC's noticed movement in the bushes, and made their way up slowly and carefully to see what he could see (it was the thief).  And for the first time, he was able to roll under on percentile dice.  He noticed some bandits and a woman with them.

Turns out Hamona's plan the entire time was to have the PC's go in and raid the tomb, then ambush them afterwards and steal their gold and treasures.  (I should reallly write that into the version of Gardag on drivethru, excellent plot twist).

A fight ensues, the PC's kill off all the bandits save Hamona, who they take captive.

The thief Fink, decides that he will try and get her to teach him more about being a thief, in return for her life.  As Fink has the ability to level up now.  Which was a super smart idea if you ask me.  I totally let that one go.

The players make it back to brymassen the next day, where they find that they have no way of selling off any merchandise.  The town does not have a blacksmith per se, other than a guy who shoes horses, who has no interest whatsoever in armour.  As well, the only actual trader in town has left! Arnoff's trading made his way to Elerd's keep on his own.  The PC's had been given a newsetter with the clue about escorting Arnof, but decided to go off and do other things.

Here we left off.  And the plan is as follows:
It's rotating DM time! 
As fink walks off to learn more about thieving with Hamona, the sunsets, and the moon rises.  In a few weeks, I will start a new session and extro fink, then switch places with the player that plays fink.  Who in turn will introduce my new Cleric/Thief.

I've fallen in love with this city already. Basq update

Slowly pouring thru the chapter on the city proper.  Here's a few little snippets.

 THERE ARE FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BASQ, BOY. First: the idiots who built it did so in the driest, hottest place in the world. Second: there is no law, no government, no gods, only the Guilds. Cross them and you're pretty much dead. - Renalfo Fresk 

NOTE:  I purposely left out the rest of things you need to know.  Because I'm an ass.  They are good however! 

The trade city of Basq has stood for decades as a bastion of the Merchant Guilds and Settled Lands in the unforgiving Saragubi Desert. Originally built as a small outpost and way station, the town grew steadily in the first years after the “Breaking of the South” as opportunists, merchants, adventurers settled into the area in the wake of the caravan trains that began to traverse the perilous lands.

A few rumours
An ancient god sleeps with in the caves of the pass. (false)

There is a hidden basement below the Inn of the Wailing Siren that holds all of Mina Acker's wealth and treasures. (true)

Reading thru the information regarding the city, to me it feels a bit like a bigger version of Mos Eisley, (well without all the star wars no sense anyways).  That and I'm getting waves of Port Blacksand as well.  It's a bustling place, controlled by Merchants guilds.  There seems to be sellswords on every corner, caravans needing guards.  Intrigue & suspicion and adventure await you.

I appreciate that +Johua De Santo has written the following "This is our Basq, these are guidelines, you can use what you want, make it your own, insert, delete things as needed".  Which IMHO is exactly what I would do as I went along.  As you know being the GM certain things work well, certain things you may need to modify.  There is enough information here to get you going, more than enough.  

I've heard thru the grape vine that there are a few more maps on the go for this project, I'm stoked. 

As a side note, my brain is a bit blarg today, basically cuz its friday and I'm on vacation at 5 pm.  So I'll apologize (as its the Canadian thing to do) that I did not include any extra "shane" tables for this post.  I will probably not be doing a whole helluva a lot of blogging whilst on vaycay, for the most part because I'll be far away from any kind of wifi signal.  

Links

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Somewhere in deep space

The other night I did not sleep.  We had gone out for a few drinks with friends and I was the DD, so I drank a pile of pepsi.  In turn the caffeine hit my brain and I basically stared at the ceiling most of the evening.  Awhile ago I got invited to a G+ community called B/X Campaign Challenge.

This Community is for the Friendly competition of Creating your own B/X Dungeons& Dragon Setting.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/111464674514029321817

The gist of which is to create a campaign setting for B/X, I of course have taken it one step further.  I've decided to add some specific rules to the campaign setting.  Based heavily off of Holmes D&D, with a few other rulesets thrown in for good measure.  Thus far I have the following:

DEX Based Initiative order.
Descending armour class
d6 based damage.

You can view my progress here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hlnlR7qn5XSHo4ekpTTzlQczg/view


The entire set of rules & setting is inspired by "A Trip to the moon" by Georges Méliès.  If that movie looks familiar its probably because you know who the Smashing Pumpkins are, and have seen the video for tonight tonight.   

I am really hoping to have this completed before I go on vacation, as I'll be away from technology for a few weeks.  Once its done I'll put it up for free.  And I am well aware that we really don't need another rule set, but it's also something I've been wanting to accomplish for awhile.  The only issue that I have is the OGL, creating adventures is fine but stepping into rules territory gives me the skivvies a bit. 

I'll post updates as go.  

Old School Session 7 Part Two - "Bad touch!"

Managed to remember to bring my notes this morning for the session.  While its probably a really dumb idea to drink & DM, I do that.  The funny thing is that this campaign is entirely made up off the top of my head.  So you know having a few beers isn't always the smartest idea for remembering things!  However I've been quite good with diligently writing down what happens during the sessions.  As a side note the next character I play in our 5e session, is probably going to be the typical quite thirsty dwarf warrior dude.

Alright onto the session!  As I stated the PC's pretty much finished up the tomb of gardag the strange.  I'm really happy with the way the adventure turned out!

Interesting note, the PC's of course went the complete opposite direction for most of the adventure and landed in the actual tomb basically at the end of the adventure.  I find that quite funny actually.  During the combat with Gardag, the thief Finkilidator Marcosiade the 5th (est) was first in the order, and decided to delay his turn and then shout "ACTION ROLL!"  I made him make a DEX check as he did a running tumble, stab the guy kinda thing.  The funniest bit of the whole encounter was the look on the players faces when they rolled a 19 and I said "nope your weapon does not hurt him!".  Bronsebane the dwarf acquired a pair of giant gauntlets and proceeded to beat the snot out of wraith with his bare hands!  I am going to have to figure out something BIG to send after him, as he is becoming the tank in the group.  Despite the fact that we have a former arena gladiator named "TINK!" who is all brawn and no brains.

Within the gardag's trinket room, the players found everything noted in the previous entry, and the a few interesting books. (of which I made up off the top of my head).

One of which is a detailed account of Finkilidator Marcosiade the POINT FIVE.  Finkilidator Marcosiade the 5th (est) looked at me astonished!  And now I'll have to write up some backstory for that.  As the "estimated" part has been quite hilarious.  The funny thing is its still probably going to be estimated by the time I'm finished  writing it.  (Side note, if and when I release this hex crawl, Fink and the rest of the characters are going to be pre gens in the back of the book, because they are all too funny not to leave out!)

The other books were the following:  A Botany Book, A Dissertation On Smells (hilarious!).

A little plot twist I threw in.  Within the room is a woman encased in wax.  I had the players make a wisdom check and they remember the story of the "Wrenwold Family" and the fact that they had one quite pretty daughter.  Turns out this was her.   The Wrenwold family is a group of wizards that ruled a village nearby (coincidentally that's going to be Brymassen ) years ago.  It's a lead up to the Zombraire Estate adventure as found in the adventure anthology at basicfantasy.org

Another relatively funny note was when Gardag got a hold of TINK! and started choking him, draining his constitution.   TINK yelled after his round "BAD TOUCH!!!! BAD TOUCH!"  Being not quite smart, but smart enough to let the other players know about it.  (I decided against level drain, opting for CON drain).

All in all hilarious as per usual.

Overview: The Saragubi Desert

Continuing on reading thru  Pyramid of the Lost King: Adventures in Basq.  I've just read thru the overview of the  Saragubi Desert.  Here are a few snippets from the text. 

The Saragubi is a large expanse of arid dessert far south of the Lands of the Usarm. Until recently this region had been cut off from the rest of Usarm due to the Sangab Rift that ran along the southern edges of the sundered land.  With the rise of the Merchant Guilds in Newrk and their great wealth, however, new lands are slowly being opened, The Saragubi Desert being one such land. 

The Trade City of Basq

Sitting on a small, rise in the otherwise flat desert, just a day north of the Narrows, lay the trade city of Basq.  The unofficial capitol of the Merchant Guild’s attempts to plunge into new lands and discover new trade routes, cultures to sell and trade with, and ruins to salvage.  

Pregen sample (not final format) I like it! 

I decided in my infinite wisdom write a little encounter table for the Saragubi Desert.

Roll 2d6 and consult the table 

2.  A large tent off in the distance.  Upon closer inspection, the tent is unoccupied, it was until recently however.  The ground outside the tent is littered with bodies.  Dead horses and camels lye rotting in the sun.  There is nothing of value left in tent. 

3.  The sand storms have uncovered a large stone head, it appears to be a relic of a long forgotten time.  It's weight is incredible.  

4.  An Assassin posing as a pilgrim is making his way towards the narrows, he is in search of someone specific, possibly a representative from the Merchants guild. 

5.  While asleep, the PC's hear the sounds of retching & howling.  Upon waking up they find themselves surrounded by Hellhounds. 

6.  Circling above the group are a few large griffons.  

7.  A dusty trapdoor in the ground, one of the party trips over.  When the door is opened, darkness and dust spew forth.  

8.  A rather strange site, a large chest half sunk into the sand.  Has it fallen off a caravan? What lies inside? 

9.  A huge dust storm crops up, making it almost impossible to see where the PC's are going.  An extreme chance of getting lost.  

10.  A rather disheveled looking maiden and lord travelling along the rode on the back of a camel.  They look thirsty.

11.  A small cave made from hardened sand.  From within a low growl emerges. 

12.  Bandits!  A large group of bandits posing as a merchant caravan are passing thru to the city of Basq.  Upon closer inspection the PC's may get into a fight, or become hired as protection.  

Links

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I’ve got something that you don’t have. And it’s going to boggle your mind!

WHAT SHANE! WHAT DO YOU HAVE????

I’ve got a friggin copy of Pyramid of the Lost King: Adventures in Basq!

Image courtesy of Basq - 2015 Danny Prescott for Genius Loci Games

This morning I got a message from Johua De Santo of Genius Loci Games, there was a download link.

I’m currently in my glory reading the manuscript.  And I have to say, just with a cursory look, this is going to be epic!  Well worth the wait.

While talking with Johua, I said to him “If you were sent thru time and space and found yourself in Basq, what song would be playing on your ipod?”.

His response “Genesis version of Land of Confusion”

Which got me to thinking, what would I be listening to?

The Mariachi Ghost " Susana" 

Here’s the thing!  If you want information on what’s going on with Basq, I’m the only source!  Yes 3 Toadstools has been named the “Exclusive Blog” for all updates regarding this project! 

Description:

Pyramid of the Lost King is the newest Lands of Usarm adventure from Genius Loci Games. Pyramid takes place in the deserts far to the south of the Ruined City of Uostin where the merchant guilds of Neark are trying to open trade with the elvish forest kings of the Last Land. However, between the Lands of Usarm and the Last Lands stands the Saragubi Desert, A wild and unexplored place that offers adventurers a chance at fortune, fame, and of course certain death.  

Pyramid of the Lost King is a decentralized sandbox adventure centering around an area of the Desert known as the Narrows. The Narrows is a section of desert that is divided into a northern and southern half by a massive slab of sandstone over 200 miles wide and 300 feet in height. The only way (aside from walking around) past this slab of rock is through the narrow canyon the area gets its name form. The Narrows and the desert around it have become a hot bed of activity as the merchant guilds have come to rely on it for their caravans to the Last Lands. However, the desert around the Narrows is still unexplored and dangers, both ancient and new, encroach.

So after reading that, what song would be playing on your device if you found yourself in basq?

Whilst doing some google fu, I stumbled upon this episode of Gamepunting, in which they discuss the Pyramid Of The Lost King.  http://csicon.fm/gp54/

Links

Kickstarter 

Genius Loci Games RPG Now 

Old School Session 7 - Part One "The Prisoners Letter"

The PC's pretty well finished up the "Tomb Of Gardag The Strange" last week. During the adventure they stumbled into Gardag's trinket room. (room #20).  Within the room is the following..

1)  A complete Tyrannosaurus Rex Skeleton.

2)  An exceptionally beautiful woman encased in wax.

3)  A large 7’ Silver Sickle +1.

4)  10 large tapestries hand on the wall (10 x 100GP’s).

5)  A bookshelf with 10 heads in jars.

6)  A suit of cursed black plate mail – 1

7)  A Neanderthal encased in wax.

8) A chest containing 300 SP’s, 400 GP’s.  

Among other things, the PC's found this letter in the room.  (I had originally planned a different encounter for this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time).   The letter points to the "Isle of dread/Monkey Isle".  I plan to do a mash up of both adventures.  The kicker, the PC's are going to have to figure out how to get on board a ship to get there.  It's going to be very expensive, and of course most captains are going to be hesitant to even travel to the feared island.

Here's the letter.  Any guesses as to who the author is? 

I’ve been trying to get this damn merchant captain to understand, but he just doesn’t.  This is the last time I write this story, if you are reading this I hope that you believe me.  You see I was a pirate first mate.  We had been trailing this merchant ship, easy pickings!  All of a sudden the winds started blowing, a huge storm cropped up.  The sea’s spewed forth, knocking us backwards and forwards.  We barely made it thru the night.  We found the island, but just barely. Searching the shores with a lantern we stumbled upon a small village.  It was near the southern shore, nice humans that took care of us for a few days.  The captain decided that we would try a bit of pillaging while we were here.  We were met with some maniacs all covered in paint!  The temple we looted was ancient!  I’d never seen stone work like that.  We saw another high mountain and what looked like a Volcano smoking in the distance, we decided it was best not to go to shore.  We saw strange lizard’s that we had never seen before along the shore.  Huge gargantuan creatures!  We also saw a dragon, or what looked liked a dragon.  The captain decided that it was best to leave the island alone and we soon left.  I want to go back, I know there is more to explore.  I found a coin with a human face and a sheaf of wheat on it.  I talked to a wisened man in a tavern about it, he’d never seen anything like it.  Possibly a elder civilization.  

A.C.D.  

The 2nd day of the melting.

Once I go thru my notes from the session, I will post "part 2" of this session, detailing all the random stupidity that happened. I am strongly considering filming us at some point.