2016-06-30
Curse of Strahd--D&D Encounters S22 S13
I had missed the last two weeks of D&D Encounters at Kingslayer Comics because of family stuff, so it was great to get back into the game this week!
Several of the regular players were not there, so I ran a small table through a mostly RP heavy session of the Bone Grinder, Encounter with Strahd, Vallaki return, Von Richter's Tower, & a trip back to Krezk to talk to the Abby of St Markovich.
A small table lead to some wonderful game play.
I had a new D20
The players had plenty of space & healthy snacks
The Saber Tooth Tiger is now a carrot with orange skittles pressed onto it.
There were also free D&D Stickers handed out to the two tables.
2016-06-17
Barrel Rolling, Bar Delivery, & Blood Tracks
Once a month on Thursdays, we are playing 5E at Andrew's house.
I am playing a Gnome obsessed with Logic, but it is not really going any where yet... We are still very much simply investigating a town with a blood cult, but I sense it will get better soon.
The set up is Amazing, Andrew has like the perfect room! I do not think I have ever had more space at a table--total gold!
Zendikar Episode 4
I run a game of Zendikar 5E D&D for 7 year olds
As you can imagine it is a bit off the rails at all times
The players are organized
And there is plenty of room at the table
The party is currently on a mission from the king to rescue his daughter from the Kobold Queen.
They killed a Hill Giant. Then the party tracked the hill giant back to its lair, which they explored & found full of Kobolds.
2016-06-14
Free RPG Day 2016 -- We B4 Goblins!
This year looks like another banner year for Free RPG Day!
I am likely going to run at Comic Quest again this year. And, once again, Paizo is releasing a Goblin themed adventure--We B4 Goblins.
This one has yet another amazing cover!
The adventure was written by Crystal Frasier--which is awesome, she has been doing a ton of great work lately & I am glad that her design will be seen outside of the Pathfinder Society stuff she seems to focus on.
The blurb has:
All goblins have to start somewhere!
As whelps of the Licktoad tribe just out of their swaddling cages, the goblins Chuffy, Mogmurch, Poog, and Reta must prove themselves by undergoing a series of challenges, from tying a string to a large spider and shouting insults with hot rocks in their mouths to facing off against a goblin bully and his dimwitted minions. As a final test of their mettle, they must make a dangerous (and smelly) trek to claim a toad from the nearby swamp and present it to the terrifying presence that lurks within the Cave of Darkfear, only after which can they truly call themselves goblins!
But as the goblins return to the Licktoad village, they come across a brightly colored, jingling human carrying a map to a small farm up the river where a family of halflings are celebrating a wedding—the perfect setup for a goblin raid! Will the heroes acquit themselves in the finest goblin fashion by wreaking havoc upon the nuptials? Or will they be bitten by ferocious dogs and smashed by frying pans?
We B4 Goblins is an adventure for four goblin characters just beginning their careers of mischief and mayhem, written for the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The adventure takes place in Brinestump Marsh and the surrounding areas of Varisia in the Pathfinder campaign setting, and serves as a prequel to We Be Goblins!, We Be Goblins Too!, and We Be Goblins Free!, Paizo's popular 2011, 2013, and 2015 Free RPG Day adventures!
Pathfinder Society: This module is sanctioned for play in the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.
Download the rules and Chronicle sheet (371kb zip/PDF)Download the Free RPG Day Boon (143kb zip/PDF)Pregenerated Characters: This module include four 1st-level goblin characters: Chuffy Lickwound, Mogumurch, Poog, and Reta Bigbad.
Download the pregenerated characters (666kb zip/PDF)Release: This special 16-page Pathfinder Module was created for Free RPG Day on June 18, 2016. The print edition will be available for sale and a free download will be available on paizo.com beginning July 1, 2016.
Note: Due to the special nature of this product, it is NOT part of the Pathfinder Modules Subscription.
I am glad we are playing low level again--generally makes the table move more rapidly.
The pregens look awesome!
2016-06-08
Curse of Strahd--D&D Encounters S22 S12
Cody & I drove to Kingslayer Comics for some Wednesday night D&D Encounters. I am DM'ing and Cody is playing Talon the Gnome Illusionist. Talon is from a Zendkar game that I am running and Cody uses that in his RP during the Encounters game which makes him sound hillarious has the rest of the party battles werewolves and he is off in the woods fighting Eldarazi--it is seriously gold!
Melissa & Jack were not there because it was the premier of Warcraft at the Spectrum--Jack took Alexander and they had a total blast!
The guacamole she sent was off the chart! I may start a guacamole recipe thread on pinterest or something it was so good!
The table is very cluttered with snacks, dice, camera's, mini's, etc
I ran without a screen last night which I think did save a ton of space.
And gave Cody more room to draw plans and climb over the board.
Our miniature collection is starting to straighten out.
I spent the first part of the night on character review and plot points--I am confused by the PC's and they are confused on their mission. I am not sure if the review helped at all or just served to further confuse them.
At the end of the day, the decided to return to the Hags at the Bonegrinder & kill them to take the orb which they think will help the Wizards of the Wine restore the vineyard to health. They always say that I told them to do this & I never ever do.
We did not have much rolling, but we did have some critical hits
Cody received this horrible fumble!
But quickly overcame it with this show of strength!
2016-06-04
Why Dungeons & Dragons is Good for You (In Real Life) | Ethan Gilsdorf | TEDxPiscataquaRiver
This is a very interesting talk.
There is nothing new here. The speaker is not that charismatic. The points that are made are not that strong. The frothy emotional appeal is not that endearing.
The reason I enjoy this is because it clearly demonstrates the challanges of the current hipster talk over of the RPG community. Ethan does not speak hipster--he is completely incapable of capturing why D&D is currently gaining popularity.
By focusing on historically important D&D Fandom Tropes he may actually be marganalizgin the current batch of fans, which I find very interesting & relate to a lot.
D&D has changed, but the majority of our commentators either have not noticed or assumed that the changes of popularity are based on more people suddenly realize that the grognards were correct. Which is not true. In fact, is likely the opposite of true.
Curse of Strahd (Tome 264)
This is a fantastic review of the latest D&D Adventure book.
Here is the Blurb:
In this episode of the The Tome Show, Jeff & Tracy are joined by Sam Dillon and David Gibson to discuss Wizards of the Coast's latest 5e D&D adventure, Curse of Strahd. Their discussion is followed by an interview with the product's lead designer, Chris Perkins.
The initial overview of the product & detailed breakdown of the content includes a ton of references to previous Ravenloft material which is awesome. The discussion of the encouraged play style is helpful if you are planning to run this.
Overall this is the kind of podcast that Jeff and gang do best.
The interview with Chris is awesome--Chris is an amazingly informative and interesting guess and he and Jeff speak almost the exact same language. The responses to specific criticism is completely amazing.
I strongly recommend this episode if you are planning to run this and/or if you need general Ravenloft tips or lore. Very much worth listening to.
DR. RAFFAEL BOCCAMAZZO ON D&D AND AUTISM D&D PODCASTS - 05/05/2016
This is another amazing episode of the official D&D Podcast. The blurb is short:
Clinical Psychologist Dr. Raffael Boccamazzo visits the office to talk about using Dungeons & Dragons to help autistic kids learn social skills.
But this does not tell half o the story--Raffael is an old school DM who brings a lot of fantastic trivia, out of context quotes, and general playfulness to the proceedings making this an above average episode.
The actual discussion around the work Dr Boccamazzo is doing is also extremely interesting--the value of play, the importance of parental involvement in children's activities, and the overall wisdom of the approach is all very instructive, informative, and instersting.
I have actually recommended this episode to a lot of people who are not actual D&D players--strongly recommend listening to this episode.
2016-06-01
Curse of Strahd--D&D Encounters S22 S10
Lisa started the night off right with a fantastic quesadilla for dinner!
I did not have too much time to prep for tonight's game, but we did make some progress cleaning out the evil druids from the Wizards of Wines winery & getting the party to the Abby in Krezek. There is still so much that needs to be done.
Several crits were rolled.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)