Why the heck are there nooses everywhere??? (Monday Night Miserable Bastards)

I walked out of the grotto, carrying only my underwear.  My mail, shield and mace had completely melted away from the acid spewed by the demon.  I shook off my worries, and looked around.  Kojack the dwarf smiled at me as he brushed the dust off.   Funder and Rathgar must have headed back to hounds head ahead of us?  I didn't see them when we left.  Of course I was pretty beat up and tired.

As it was I barely made it back to town.

The dwarf was quite excited about some of our finds, most of the way back to hounds head he kept suggesting "we should really go to scorn and sell this stuff, I bet we can get some decent silver for it".

I was casually listening, my damn ear was still ringing from the battle.  Did he say Scorn? I guess I'll have to face the facts and at some point tell my cohorts about my past.  Not now though... I'll just carry on.

When we arrived back into Hounds Head, we met an adventuring party (who were decently equiped) they even had a wizard wearing a purple robe!

We briefly talked with them, and then headed over the mage/alchemist guy (I can't honestly remember his name, but he really dug arcane stuff, so it was our best bet).  Kojack managed to sell off a bunch of Viz (I think we made 600 Silver pieces).  I was stoked, as I need some armour in the worse way.  That dwarf he really likes to get a good deal, haggling is probably his 2nd favourite past time (bashing heads is the first).  He accounted for what we owed the other 2 members of the party. 

Speaking of, I still didn't notice them in town, they must have headed to the Inn or something?

Word around town was that a new smith might be moving in!  I guess we've been boosting the local economy a bit.  The thing is I really don't even know what the means, I actually overheard that from the dwarf.  If you asked me to spell economy, I doubt I'd be able to.   It's funny the things you pick up along the way.

We wandered over to the general merchant, and I found a really nice set of Scale mail and a shield.  I asked the trader if there was anyone in town with some artistic ability.  He pointed to his son (who was quite scared and sheepish).  "tag is quite good!". I talked it over with the lad and asked him to paint a white tankard on my shield with a blue outline (in honour of Fundars God - The Great Imbiber).   As far as pay was concerned, I was supposed to wait and see what it looked like, and then make a decision on how much I thought it was worth.  (spoiler alert, I paid the kid well the next day.  he did a bang up job).

The thirst at the back of my throat was starting to become very apparent, so we headed over to the "angry priest inn".   (who comes up with these names? I heard once about a place called the balding minotaur, and of course the extremely popular travellers inn). 

With a few coins in my pocket I decided to see if I could scope out a hireling torch bearer type.  I wound up with a wizard (or so he has led me to believe).  His name is ACTUNG, and he's a apprentice in the guild of arcane lore.  Seems like a stand up dude so far.  He drank the beer I gave him.

I honestly have no idea how we attract these wack adoodles, but we met this bloodletter guy named Traveria who was also going to scorn.  I guess safety in numbers right?

We promptly left town with this guy in tow.  I forgot to mention I recovered 2 regular maces from the grotto (well the dwarf did).  On the way along the trail we saw this huge dust cloud, bunch of super armoured knight types, a flag of "the spears of sarath" flying down the trail heading towards us.  I made like a cheque and bounced!  I ran into the forest, hoping they wouldn't notice me. 

Along the route we started discussing my past a little bit.  I left some things out, but I did mention that I had run ins with those guys and I was a bit worried that they may notice who I was.  The dwarf kindly suggested that he could "break yer nose!".  As well, I didn't realize it till now, but most of my face has pits from the acid burns. 

WACK! 

So my nose is broken now. 

Good news is, between the burns, the broken nose, and the tankard skin image, I should easily slip by these guys from now on.

We made camp for the night with another group of adventurers who were heading to hounds head.  In the morning we stumbled upon a dead body hanging from a noose, blood was still failing from the ground.   Nearby was a very eerie site.  A field surrounded with trees, all had noose tied to them, and all of the noose had been cut.....

Fuck that room. 

I made up my mind to see if I can find Gwen and touch base with her.  See what the crew has been up to.  Maybe get a little extra money on the side of need be.  Also I think I'll see if I can track down a decent brewmeister for our plans in Hounds Head. Hopefully we catch up with those other 2 characters in Scorn.

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The 2nd Edition campaign that I should have run 24 years ago

As you well know I'm not a huge fan of Forgotten Realms.  Well specifically I'm annoyed that I'm so far behind with the Canon and have no actual idea what the world is supposed to look like nowadays. 

That being said, I do have a copy of 2nd edition campaign setting, the Dalelands Campaign setting (which I really dig), a copy of menzoberranzan and the first adventure in the sword of the dales set.

The adventure that comes with the FR campaign setting "Beneath the Twisted Tower", is a good starting place.  If I remember correctly all manner of evil may or may not be below the twisted tower.  The players are introduced to Shadowdale and the NPCs there.  I believe they are offered some land to build a place.  As well the first adventure in the sword of the dales is similar with the land offered.  Both of which are for starting PCs.  The twisted tower adventure allows the PCs to recuperate a bit and then delve back in, whereas the sword of the dales is more of a railroad wandering in the wilderness adventure. 

The twisted tower includes some drow, which is good as it sets up further adventures with the Drow involved and may give the PCs a bit of hesitation when encountering them. 

It would be relatively easy to start with both premises and then see which bait the PCs take.  

1.  Sword Of The Dales 
2.  Beneath the twisted tower. 
3.  Terrible Trouble At Tragidore (which is a terrible adventure) but with some tweaking it could be placed somewhere in the dales close to Shadowdale.  Quite possibly on the route to the sword of the dales encounters. (More drow!) 
4.  Secret of spiderhaunt (which I'd have to purchase at some point)
5.  The return of randal morn.  (which I'd have to purchase at some point) 
6.  Menzoberranzan*

*After these adventures, the players should be at a high enough level to start the Menzoberranzan adventure.  (5-7 i think)...

Some info on the sword of the dales trilogy 
The Sword of the Dales, an icon of the Dalelands symbolizing the unity and strength of the people, has reappeared! Created by Shraevyn the weapons-mage hundreds of years ago, the lost Sword had become nothing more than a fantastic children's tale - until now. 

A group of warriors led by Randal Morn, rightful ruler of Daggerdale, rushed to the Sword's resting place to recover it, but dark forces awaited them, and Randal and his men fell to an ambush. Only one man escaped, yet he brought with him the hope that Randal Morn yet lives. Resolved to rescue his leader, that lone survivor turned to the great Elminster of Shadowdale for aid. 

But Elminster is gone, off plane-hopping while the fate of Daggerbale hangs in the balance. Hence, it is up to Lhaeo, scribe to the old mage, to find a group of heroes who have mettle enough to face down the menace which claimed Randal Morn and his hearty followers... 

This is the first of three adventures that grant player characters the opportunity to determine the fate of Daggerdale. The saga continues with "The Secret of Spiderhaunt" and concludes with "The Return of Randal Morn."

Part 2 - Secret of spiderhaunt 
Part 3 - The return of randal morn. 

The sword of the dales technically doesn't need to be played all the way thru, or even played for that matter.  However with the wealth of information I have on the Dales it would be preferable. 

The above adventures would probably keep me going for a few years at this rate! 

Obviously....

I'd like to keep playing thru Isle of dread for awhile.  As we only play every few weeks, this will take some time to get to.  I've been sitting on all of these books since I was 16.  I'm slowly starting to get a hankering to play some 2nd edition.  At some point then I would probably put them up for sale after I finish running those adventures. 

Anyways, a few thoughts on a campaign idea that's been rolling around my head for ooooooh about 24 years. 

Part of the reason this came to me is that I found that all of my players detest spiders.  So what better way to freak them out then to send them to the city of spiders! hahahah.  Oh and I have a copy of a random dragonlance adventure that I've never played (DLA2 Dragonlance Dragon Knight ).  I should really pop that one up on ebay, I doubt I'll ever run it. 

Why not convert it?

I could easily convert these adventures to whitebox or possibly 5e, however I never did get a chance to really push 2nd edition.  More often than not there was a lot of start and play a bit, then slack off, then start again etc.   I think it would be super interesting to put 2nd ed thru its paces (just the 3 core books, no splats, no skills & powers)

Mapping tutorials

Sometimes I go on a deep google dive and find some interesting stuff. That stuff then ends up sitting as open links, because I'd like to post about it, but forget to do it.

I'm still having trouble getting inkscape to load properly on my mac, however I'm fairly comfy with gimp and hand drawing stuff.

Without further ado, here's some good mapping tutorials and techniques.

https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2011-02-12_Map_Making_Using_Inkscape

https://www.wistedt.net/tutorials/tutorial-dungeon-map/

http://www.fantasticmaps.com/tag/gimp/

http://jsigvard.com/dnd/maptutorial.html

https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2759

Link to pdf tutorial https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=15185

https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Old_School_Hex_Map_Tutorial hex map extension for inkscape

Free map friday - Underworld

These maps by Shane Ward (3 Toadstools Publishing) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Inquiries about permissions beyond the scope of this license should be made by contacting Shane Ward

Thoughts from Skord as he lays his head upon a pillow

Unlike Funder, I do not have anyone to write this to.  Instead I let the memories of the day wash over me as I try to get some much needed rest.  The morning started off easy enough, we had just finished killing a bunch of ugly ghasts the night before.  We got up in the morning, and stretched out the aches and pains from the battle.  I was still in fairly bad shape, but it seems the consensus was to press on and check out this "canter's grotto".

In my fitless sleep I decided that my mace needed a name, the only thing I could come up with was "spear".  Which was mostly to confuse the locals.  And the fact that I probably need a spear.  More on that later.

After we had a bit of breakfast, we noticed that a trail near us was completely covered in spiderwebs (some even hanging from the trees above us).  After a bit of thinking and conversation, we pressed on thru the webs.  I should note that the stuff is quite sticky and I spent the next half hour trying to relive myself of it.

As we got closer to the grotto, we smelled overwhelming incense.

The grotto was located in a grassy gnoll.  Cautiously we crept up and looked around.  I suggested that we check for alternate entrances, as I had heard stories of trapped and fake doorways in the past.  Kojack went to take a look at the door, and found that it was trapped with large pots filled with greenish liquid.  None of us had the stomach to try it.

We pressed on into the grotto.  Funder thankfully scouted ahead checking on things.  The first few minutes into the dungeon he did not find any thing significant.  And then! He noticed a group of what I can only describe as Imps.  What have we got ourselves into?

The decision was made to attempt to capture one, and then we quickly escaped the dungeon.  Hoping to interrogate the little bastard, we made it outside.  However a few of the imps companions followed us.  A large fight ensued.  May I say thank god for my cohorts, especially the cleric who healed me. I should also note that he was suspiciously absent when we fought the ghasts?

Alas, I will figure that out at some point.

We murdered the imps, and I came to the conclusion that there parts maybe worth something to an alchemist or magic user.  The other thing we realized was that the Imps were the ones creating the webs, as they had webbing coming from their undersides.

We ventured back into the dungeon turning south, Kojack listened at the door and heard some argument happening, between what he believed was two people.

We decided to go ahead and bum rush the door, breaking in we caught the two in surprise.  One of which was a fairly overweight character named Huberto, which I believe I may have met before.

I jumped on a table in the room scattering papers (we found out afterwards that they were blueprints for an evil temple).  Swinging my mace named spear I attacked the guard wearing plate mail.  I missed, and swore at the great imbibber for not helping me out in my time of need.  My faith is failing me.

In the heat of the battle I remember that Huberto was from Scorn and he was a textile merchant.

The cleric was giving him quite a good smacking, and the others helped me out trying to take out hte guard.  There was some brief discussion about attempting to interrogate these two, but they sucummbed to their wounds prior to us making a decision.  That little halfling i have to give him credit, he dove under a table and held a torch up to the crotch of the guard.

All of a sudden we heard a large noise coming down the hall.  We quickly barred the door with the table.  Once again the halfling surprised me, he was able to lift a table that was probably his same weight?   The wonders of the great imbibber!

The table only held for so long, the door in splinters, the head of a demon stuck thru.  Terror.

By this point I was bleeding profusely, rathgar thankfully healed me again.  My mace did not seem to do much damage to it.  I made a mental note to silver it with my remaining monies.  Food will have to wait.

We fought the demon as best we could, at some point we managed to get out of the room and lead the demon into it.  The halfling tossed me his sling with some silver stones and I attempted to fire some at it. 

The party was attempting to escape, yet the cleric and the curious dwarf kept at the demon trying to take it down.  The courage of the dwarf knows no limits.  I believe he is courageous, although I question his intellect on occasion.

The halfing cried out to his God and held up a silver tankard, charging the demon he bonked it over the head multiple times and then swiftly ran away.  The demon died in a huge rush of greenish liquid.  Unfortunately I was standing in the door way when the wave of acidic crap flowed out of the body.

My shield, plate mail melted away, and worse yet, my mace named spear melted into a puddle of goo.

We made a hasty escape, the rest of the party banged up but alive.  At least they still have armour, I am hesitant even to walk back to town in underwear.

Unfortunately the two people we fought were also drowned in the acid, all of their armour and any clues were lost.

I may try and find some kind of menial job so that I can buy some new armour.  I haven't decided yet.  I know the party managed to find some silver pieces.....

It seems that I am stuck with this lot in life, I cannot go back to scorn as I'm a wanted man, I have no money for armour or weapons, I will have to wait to find a hireling to help me.

I did forget to mention, I said a prayer for Kaylim, the dwarves torch bearer.  He died a courageous death.

Alas, it is now time to sleep.


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Monday night miserable bastards - session 3

Obviously notes from the session, I will write a official thoughts of "skord" tomorrow.

Session 3 - June 17/2019

My mace is now named “Spear”
We woke up in the morning, and we found some spiderwebs to the south.
Came upon a grassy gnoll covered in spiderwebs, that smelled of incense
Came to the grotto, entranced was trapped.  Kojack figured it out.
Managed to grab 3 vials of weirdish green liquid at the entrance.
Managed to bag an imp demon thing in a put him in a bag.
We killed some Imps.  Clerics
25 Teeth & Claws From Imps (component for magic missile spell) can sell them.  
There was weird webbing in the asses of the Imps.
Met some dudes in a room, looks like we are starting a fight with them.  They were arguing with each other behind the door.
I need to rename my mace.  It’s a POS.
I was not able to hit anything, I believe that the great imbibber is testing me.
Large guy that we met was a dude named Huberto (from Scorn), he was a textile merchant.
I may have mildly annoyed a demon with my mace, this may be my last day.
Watched Kaylim (kojacks hireling) melted into goo.
I believe humberto died.
In the nick of time, matt called on his god, and got 8 extra hit points.  He wacked the demon with his tankard.
I almost died again, but was brought back to life by the cleric (i owe him so much now).
Matt finally killed the demon.
The demon died, explosion of Acid.
We need to head back to town
All of my equipment is fucked.

Random spellcasting mechanic idea plus weirdo ability check idea.

Somewhat silly idea for spellcasting.

• The player has no "actual spells from the book"
• They get as many spells as they are of level (10th level = 10 spells). 
• They describe the spell and its effects.
• If the spell does damage its 1d4 per level of caster  (2nd level wizard 2d4 damage)
• If the spell has a duration it is 1d4 per level in rounds of the caster (1st level is 1d4)
• If the spells cures it is 1d4 per level of caster. (3rd level 3d4)
• Any spells that cause damage or have an effect are subject to a saving throw.  (attack rolls are not needed). 

What I like about this idea, especially for new players, I can just say "alright what is it that you want to do?", and then have them describe the spell in detail.  This might also give way to new spells.  I think it might keep a player from randomly looking at their character sheet and wondering "do I have a spell that will help us here?". 

Anyways, just an idea that I might put into practice. 

Ability check idea! 

Alright rather than a DC check or a roll under, I kinda like the idea of a target number for any check.  The math is 17 - your level + modifier = target number.  So a 3rd level character needs to roll over 14 with modifiers to be successful.  Capped at 10 I think, so there's still a chance of failure.  So at level seven you would always have to roll 10 or higher to be successful. 

I actually wouldn't mind doing this same idea for saves and thieving skills.  If any PC other than a thief attempts something, the math might be 19 everytime.  19 - your level + modifier = target number.

Image courtesy of: https://www.oldbookillustrations.com/illustrations/wizard/