tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82512302649219561872024-03-05T08:48:32.023-05:00The Grumpy Old Trollmigellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-23416349399431817382023-12-20T13:55:00.001-05:002023-12-20T13:55:49.002-05:00My Druid Adventure On Sale<a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297631/Oakfell-Vale" target="_blank">Oakfell Vale</a>, my adventure about mysterious druids in a secluded valley, is on sale now for 20% off - only $7.99. It is 64 pages, and is intended for use with any old-school D&D-like rpg. It includes complete information about NPCs, monsters, and locations, so that it can be run to its fullest.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297631/Oakfell-Vale" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297631/Oakfell-Vale" border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="592" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOoY8_chnlQXixAbx4Es6Ua3s7LdFLzv-iKuglXStzysjg3MZLbutPQZLosja5Pd6_aI30FqptE27dyZseOrCCFGjHNunsp8w7qBCQwUEy1TL7n-cSlnfioBvYgF0ewNh8p04i-m47cQqKnO-0YiqPvuCZGl-wCYeclC2ou6EjykBzq2EhZOKrVA6Z/w265-h400/oakfell%2020%20percent%20huth.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>It was inspired by the stories and reports I saw on 1970s television about practicing 'druids' in various places in the UK, including their annual rites at Stonehenge. The decade of the 70s was fascinated with the unusual and the occult, and these modern day 'druids' were of particular interest. I remember film and pictures of them chanting in processions in the night, conducting their 'secret rites' by torchlight. What was never said during these reports was that what history actually knows about real druids is virtually nothing. This did not stop the enthusiasts of the 19th and 20th centuries from taking it very seriously.</div><div><br /></div><div>The book is <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297631/Oakfell-Vale" target="_blank">on sale now</a> for the holidays, to help my family with the problems I discussed in <a href="https://migellito.blogspot.com/2023/11/has-been-while-since-i-posted-here-and.html" target="_blank">my previous post</a>. Even sharing this would be of great help to us.</div><div><br /><br /></div>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-54613833800258477972023-11-30T14:19:00.001-05:002023-12-20T12:45:10.252-05:00We Need a Little Help<p> It has been a while since I posted here, and I now firmly intend to correct that. I have many things tell about the AD&D 2e game that I ran from 89 to 97. It took place on an imagined southern-hemisphere continent of Middle Earth. But until then, I have something serious that I have to share.</p><p>For those of you who might not know, we are Michael and Marta Moscrip. Marta is a special education para pro, working to help children with special needs in our school district succeed in school. I am a writer, focusing mostly on game materials and short stories.</p><p>My mom lived happily with us for over a year and a half. Her passing at the end of July threw us into turmoil and devastated our finances due to her lack of life insurance.</p><p>Several months ago I applied for disability due to my fibromyalgia. They contacted me recently, and the application is progressing well, but will take a little longer. However we are now two months behind on our rent and our landlord will wait no longer. We hope to be stable again within the next couple of months, but until then we are reaching out to you to help us.</p><p>It is not easy asking for help like this, but we have no choice. I pray that it will not change your opinion of who we are. We have loved living in our house. It has been our home. It is where our children grew up. We deeply appreciate any help that you can give. It means everything to us. We love you all.</p><p><a href="https://ko-fi.com/michaelmoscrip">https://ko-fi.com/michaelmoscrip</a></p><p>You can enter any amount by clicking on the box.</p>
<iframe height="712" id="kofiframe" src="https://ko-fi.com/michaelmoscrip/?hidefeed=true&widget=true&embed=true&preview=true" style="background: #f9f9f9; border: none; padding: 4px; width: 100%;" title="michaelmoscrip"></iframe>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-68274268709648856802021-07-14T15:02:00.002-04:002021-07-14T18:32:33.566-04:00Oakfell Vale Out Now<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">My long-awaited adventure for old-school D&D and NGR is available now at DriveThru RPG. <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297631/Oakfell-Vale" target="_blank">Here is the link!</a></span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0w_vOBqxQ84fnIWwziYLrrAXDc4G2nqMDM0PKB-nSOzRe4zof0dYcRkM2jXB5Px-rEcr7Q8H2kx6d61UYmdT5cG68ImmpYcxMaA_W0wWDdOWDZxdFLCSGhvRSlSDVUUJGIhMkoCcVKg/s750/Opera+Snapshot_2021-07-14_141251_www.drivethrurpg.com.png" style="clear: right; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="502" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0w_vOBqxQ84fnIWwziYLrrAXDc4G2nqMDM0PKB-nSOzRe4zof0dYcRkM2jXB5Px-rEcr7Q8H2kx6d61UYmdT5cG68ImmpYcxMaA_W0wWDdOWDZxdFLCSGhvRSlSDVUUJGIhMkoCcVKg/s400/Opera+Snapshot_2021-07-14_141251_www.drivethrurpg.com.png" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/297631/Oakfell-Vale" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Available Here</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> Oakfell Vale is a secluded, heavily forested little valley watched over by a temple of druids. Except they don't really watch over it anymore. They have become complacent over the years, and loathe to interfere in the natural life of the vale. Unfortunately, there has been something growing in the vale, a terrible corruption, which is anything but natural. It is up to the players, if they choose to do so, to fire up the druids and do something to stem the tide of corruption before it's too late.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Many thanks to <a href="https://www.patreon.com/zzarchov" target="_blank">Zzarchov Kowalski</a> for publishing this, and to <a href="http://elderskull.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Chris Huth</a> and <a href="http://kelvingreen.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Kelvin Green</a> for the art. Also, a big thank you to <a href="https://dysonlogos.blog" target="_blank">Dyson Logos</a> for the great work he did with my maps!</span></div>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-45524294043746114722021-05-04T14:18:00.000-04:002021-05-04T14:18:32.142-04:00<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6ZoIm5NwObRtsS36-SIKYU8J2yl2KN202QsntIBKa8XXaXwHW6t56uI1H4-kz1MdZ3KMrJgiTAPcf2jObYqSeQrthpGm7b1nFmnAHtm3S8MHAL5stTXBvSd4YcHYhrbtLot8VKaYlQ/s890/andrew-domachowski-andrew-doma-bbb-final2-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="563" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6ZoIm5NwObRtsS36-SIKYU8J2yl2KN202QsntIBKa8XXaXwHW6t56uI1H4-kz1MdZ3KMrJgiTAPcf2jObYqSeQrthpGm7b1nFmnAHtm3S8MHAL5stTXBvSd4YcHYhrbtLot8VKaYlQ/w248-h393/andrew-domachowski-andrew-doma-bbb-final2-2.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/andrewdoma/" target="_blank">Andrew Domachowski</a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: georgia;"> <span style="font-size: medium;">I am currently putting the finishing touches on a cyberpunk novella. The protagonist was inspired by the painting to the right. In discussing the character in the story, my wife suggested I think about why it was important for her to be a black Hispanic woman. There is nothing in the plot of the novella which absolutely requires her to be black, or Hispanic, or even a woman, but I think it is this very fact that makes it important that she is.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A few years ago, on Martin Luther King Day, I wrote a short piece about an episode of the original series of Star Trek, <i>The Ultimate Computer, </i>episode 24 of season 2, from 1968. I think it goes a little way toward explaining what I mean by that, and I've reprinted it below.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi76FK0XE1xtusTzDlvPRUeZsbAE_Z_Yf4PQ5nZWg0gONa47MLiBE6eylC_xPy7l69JZEyExQE5zFtihYKiXoPY4hM34coIv0m1_3ydsnhnPBtRpFIJ9TWDHZpdvm9wQk28K1i2M9dgVQ/s740/daystrom+m5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="740" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi76FK0XE1xtusTzDlvPRUeZsbAE_Z_Yf4PQ5nZWg0gONa47MLiBE6eylC_xPy7l69JZEyExQE5zFtihYKiXoPY4hM34coIv0m1_3ydsnhnPBtRpFIJ9TWDHZpdvm9wQk28K1i2M9dgVQ/s320/daystrom+m5.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />I watched this episode again today. I watched it specifically because it was today. Mainly, this story is about limiting the extent of computer automation, and how taking risks to achieve things is a vital part of humanity. But beyond that, this episode has something perhaps less obvious to say.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">At no point, during the entire episode, is any mention or reference made to the fact that Doctor Daystrom is a black man. He is the most brilliant computer scientist of his time, an unparalleled genius. He is also deeply troubled by his own legacy. He is eventually driven past his breaking point by the events of the story. But all these things are the triumphs and failures, the accolades and problems, of a scientific genius, not of 'a black man'. This character could have been played by any actor. He was played, wonderfully and passionately, by William Marshal. But the colour of his skin made no difference, in any way. He was a scientist. He was a person.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jjIj-2ww53o" width="320" youtube-src-id="jjIj-2ww53o"></iframe></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">I give great credit to my parents, and to the other family surrounding me in my childhood, that I saw nothing out of the ordinary about this fact. To me, all people looked different. All individuals were unique, and yet all people were the same. We are all people. Differences in culture, language, appearance; all these were fascinating things to be learned about and appreciated. Only later, as I learned about history, and saw in the news the strange and unreasonable ways in which some people regarded such things as skin colour, did I realise how powerful the subtext of this episode was.</span><br /></p>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-66543492704540344122019-11-30T16:41:00.002-05:002020-01-19T02:13:25.226-05:00Dark Crystal TV Show<i>Edit: I have changed my mind drastically about this show. I plan on writing a follow-up sometime soon, but after watching the rest of episode 1, I watched the remainder of the series in 1 day. I found it to be excellent.</i><br />
<br />
I tried watching the Dark Crystal tv series. I made it about 25% through the 1st ep. and shut it off. I was surprised to then see huge amounts of critical praise for it .<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTIGMogSf_lG7YKZ834mhImCGsoYfRovzLRHCBqT_2VkqmmS-16lb-UN9CsWm1Q2W7W_i8fvcEd-jMqkTiovDG4Z3h34lcNPO39arjELc3oDWT3RwlXAWPSQZL10yyDLaHTVHrPNPgQ/s1600/lolwut-1567018012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTIGMogSf_lG7YKZ834mhImCGsoYfRovzLRHCBqT_2VkqmmS-16lb-UN9CsWm1Q2W7W_i8fvcEd-jMqkTiovDG4Z3h34lcNPO39arjELc3oDWT3RwlXAWPSQZL10yyDLaHTVHrPNPgQ/s320/lolwut-1567018012.jpg" width="320" /></a>- The whole background of the world is changed. I suppose it's possible that some kind of 'reveal' would have the tv show background turn out to be some kind of ruse by the skeksis, but I doubt it. The revised history of who the skeksis are is not nearly as interesting, and is just dumb, right off the top. "They're from space!" takes a high concept and turns it into a cheap low-ball.<br />
<br />
- The population of the gelflings is segregated into a cheesy 'X number of cities, each with it's own bluntly simplistic character' system, like a video game or a 2000s YA novel. Another hack device.<br />
<br />
- One of the last scenes I watched was a fly-through shot of some kind of library or scriptorium. A great deal of screen time was lavished on this space that felt like the set decorators got started on it, but didn't have time to finish. Comparing it with similar classic Henson spaces, it feels positively empty. There was also no point to the very long fly-through, except showing off the created space. This felt very unlike classic Henson and the Dark Crystal, where the awesome environments were there in support of what was going on, rather than being the point in themselves.<br />
<br />
- The very last scene I watched was this same sort of thing again. Scene of characters talking about leaving one location and why they were going to a different location. Extended shot of them leaving, showing off creature movement, but nothing else going on. Same, from another angle. Same, from another angle. Same, from another angle. I get you worked really hard on these things, but that does not mean you give them screen time compared to how much time you spent making them. You give them screen time appropriate to the story and what you're getting across. A fail.migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-17042034262302891952019-06-17T22:22:00.001-04:002019-06-17T22:22:51.064-04:00Gellarde Barrow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLE6JMUCKYZwZe0FesltYf54OejBhRelNVKGtz41hMmuvcG2_RA80L9nONEuEBF5Na4AWhMc5jt96qczWZYV1Xqjq-Q1FnAdlTxVdUqgdKMl3CdFA-oA9wYsx3WDr8Sm4A4JG5zI-ZDg/s1600/gbcover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="602" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLE6JMUCKYZwZe0FesltYf54OejBhRelNVKGtz41hMmuvcG2_RA80L9nONEuEBF5Na4AWhMc5jt96qczWZYV1Xqjq-Q1FnAdlTxVdUqgdKMl3CdFA-oA9wYsx3WDr8Sm4A4JG5zI-ZDg/s400/gbcover.png" width="301" /></a></div>
The legends of the mountain-folk are calling. My first small dungeon adventure is up now on Drive Thru RPG. The monsters are statted up for NGR, but they are easily statted for any old school dnd-style game just by interpreting the descriptions. It's pay-what-you-want, so please give it a read! If you like it, you can always go back and buy a copy as well.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Find it here: <a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/280259/Gellarde-Barrow" target="_blank">Gellarde Barrow at DriveThruRPG</a></span><br />
<br />migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-78422626263429540012019-04-24T08:32:00.000-04:002019-04-24T08:32:34.054-04:00What Playing 5th Edition D&D Feels Like To Me<br />
[I specify "to me", because I am not you, so I don't know how it feels to you. It clearly feels pretty good to quite a few people. If it feels great to you, that's awesome. I'm not attacking you, or trying to change your mind.]<br />
<br />
[Also, below, "5e" is <b><i>not </i></b>in any way a DM. It is the rules system, nothing else. "Me" is myself as a player <b><i>or </i></b>DM, either one.]<br />
<br />
I need to go through a door into a room where I need to solve a problem. There is a box outside the door with 68 specialised tools all jumbled together. I can take one into the room with me. I rummage through the box and pick a screwdriver, thinking "this seems versatile".<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgqauS1AQ-hXXLEfYs9tiI2s4IlC4JpSEB-U1L6v7MhVEPiD0bdqUGhj8tibkPNQpZACTlIoELrWa1Bqv4Zzyw0m9kyelawQLrKyr0_z_h4JhOaEQpaFDrzmglhfpxdjELJZ-Kfvx7Pg/s1600/tumblr_nsfr2iRa8t1u6nxzco1_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="400" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgqauS1AQ-hXXLEfYs9tiI2s4IlC4JpSEB-U1L6v7MhVEPiD0bdqUGhj8tibkPNQpZACTlIoELrWa1Bqv4Zzyw0m9kyelawQLrKyr0_z_h4JhOaEQpaFDrzmglhfpxdjELJZ-Kfvx7Pg/s200/tumblr_nsfr2iRa8t1u6nxzco1_400.jpg" width="200" /></a>5e: "That's not 'versatile'. That tool is for driving quarter inch flathead screws, little mister, and that's all!"<br />
<br />
Me: "Uh.. ok?"<br />
<br />
I go in the room, and there are two boards partially nailed together. I need to either finish nailing them together, or separate them. I flip the screwdriver around and start hammering the nail with the handle.<br />
<br />
5e: "Whoa down there, tiger! As stated earlier, that's a screwdriver, not a hammer. You need to turn that back around and hold it by the handle."<br />
<br />
I turn the screwdriver back around, and start using it to pry the two boards apart.<br />
<br />
5e: "Hey now! No can do, MacGuyver. That screwdriver is for driving screws. I mean, it's right there in the name, see? You had plenty of opportunity on the other side of the door to pick a hammer or a crowbar, but you chose the screwdriver."<br />
<br />
I try to put the screwdriver through my head. It does not work, because my head is not a screw.<br />
<br />
Me: "Screw you, 5e."migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-70152627522218006632018-10-26T03:41:00.000-04:002019-02-25T13:57:47.640-05:00Why They Put Trails Through ForestsSo, with Win10 they send me pictures every few days. Some of them are pretty great.<br />
<br />
This one is a perfect example of somewhere your DnD character does NOT want to take their horse. Not just riding, but you don't want to try to walk it through there either. All those holes and shadows that look like holes will all look like holes to your horse, and even if your horse is trained so they won't freak out in a forest (they freak out in forests because, basically, they have one eye on each side of their head) they might baulk at going anywhere near them. The other possibility (the worse one) is that they try to jump over them onto what they think is solid ground, but almost certainly isn't, at which point they will almost assuredly break either their ankle or their leg.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnstu9LOwxxfLjcP8YUwrtxMb5QIC69iSNYkklOmIbLFhb1ssx9sBTo1iQIbrkj4Oydp7iwkdT44Va8ALvmyg94_PY26h6gO0P0KSR0eU-Tyz2-1gfFEn1RlgOCHa-m9JIelo-up1_A/s1600/spotlight181026+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnstu9LOwxxfLjcP8YUwrtxMb5QIC69iSNYkklOmIbLFhb1ssx9sBTo1iQIbrkj4Oydp7iwkdT44Va8ALvmyg94_PY26h6gO0P0KSR0eU-Tyz2-1gfFEn1RlgOCHa-m9JIelo-up1_A/s400/spotlight181026+%25283%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"That doesn't look so bad" - someone who doesn't ride horses</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If your character is looking at this, and they have a horse, they'll have to either find a way around or take their horse back and leave it somewhere. Unless neither the player <i>nor </i>the character have <i><b>any </b></i>experience with horses (this is pretty basic), in which case they can try to make their horse (not them) roll a wisdom save (determination) to go through it, and then a dexterity save to not break at least one leg (based on how badly they failed the save). The horse is going to have to keep making that dex save. How often depends on the ground, but potentially as often as every 5 minutes.migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-15585342207823102412018-10-18T01:07:00.000-04:002018-10-18T01:07:08.083-04:00In The Mouth of Madness<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the passage Sam Neill reads as the walls of the world tear open, and he watches Elder Horrors rush toward reality. I mostly put this here so I won't lose it.</span><br /><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeRusAXEmzRTwzyfK8K6POJs1COHETEoS4KGFeIiMebp8vaRcjsJgxBwSRd9RNM7Pne2OABtLiIKHCeF0PMYto7VDRGA79KcjuIi5kkXVKPy_cbtLguuhOSOWU0s2XigxPSC16frzGA/s1600/itmomtrent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1600" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeRusAXEmzRTwzyfK8K6POJs1COHETEoS4KGFeIiMebp8vaRcjsJgxBwSRd9RNM7Pne2OABtLiIKHCeF0PMYto7VDRGA79KcjuIi5kkXVKPy_cbtLguuhOSOWU0s2XigxPSC16frzGA/s400/itmomtrent.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In The Mouth of Madness<br /><span style="font-size: large;">“Trent stood at the edge of the rip; stared into the illimitable gulf of the unknown, the Stygian world yawning blackly beyond. Trent's eyes refused to close. He did not shriek, but the hideous unholy abominations shrieked for him, as in the same second he saw them spill and tumble upward out of an enormous carrion black pit choked with the gleaming white bones of countless unhallowed centuries. He began to back away from the rip as the army of unspeakable figures, twilit by the glow from the bottomless pit, came pouring at him toward our world.”</span></span><div>
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migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-27371858915686658152018-10-10T20:51:00.002-04:002019-02-25T13:59:17.589-05:00Corken for the Holidays!From Norchester down past Biggleswade, and throughout most of East Anglia, the wild corken is a favourite addition for every family’s Holiday table. It’s easiest to find them near rivers and lakes, and the best hunting is from early September to mid October.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cobaltplasma.deviantart.com</td></tr>
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<b>Corken</b>: 1-2 HD, AC as leather, grab with tentacles for 1d4 crushing damage. If grabbed, automatically stab with legs next round for 1d4 damage. Tentacles only do damage on the round they hit, as they first tighten their grip and latch on. Small targets are immobilised by these grasping tentacles, but human-sized victims are basically unhindered. However, they will only be able to attack the Corken with small weapons, since it is STUCK RIGHT TO THEIR FREEXIN BODY!<br />
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Corken have no eyes or ears, instead using their extremely powerful and minutely discerning sense of smell. They smell with the suckered surface of their large tentacles, so if the tentacles are removed somehow, they will wander around aimlessly for a while, then give up on life and just sit down.<br />
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The traditional old-fashioned preparation of the Holiday Corken is on the left. On the right is the more recent style, where the tentacles have been removed and prepared separately, usually as a fried treat as well as an ingredient in other dishes. A few people in larger cities, such as Cooperton or Frippert, now put tentacle in the stuffing, but this is frowned on by all but the middle and upper classes.<br />
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Also, upon doing an image search to see who had done that top pic that had been sitting in my drive forever, I discovered somebody else had made a different (though obviously similar) creature for 5e. Here is their blog/campaign diary: skaldforge.wordpress.com. And here I thought I was the only one this odd. Well, not really.</div>
migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-86076262047656579962017-01-14T12:38:00.000-05:002018-09-12T15:05:42.727-04:00Stupid Monk TricksIf you have monks in your DnD game, here is a Stupid Monk Rule! The idea is that it’s a self-contained add-on ability that balances itself internally, so there should be no need to restrict it by level, etc.<br />
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<b>Combat Balance, or Karma Strain, or Chi Balance, or whatever funky monk name you want to call it.</b><br />
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When the monk does damage in a fight, they can arbitrarily add bonus points to their damage. But! They must achieve b a l a n c e. During the fight they have to apply an equal amount of MINUS POINTS to their damage. If they don’t, then a turn later they will take that many D6s in damage to themselves, as their muscles pop and snap from the strain. If someone casts something like Lesser Restoration on the monk before the turn is up, this will quiet their muscles and they won’t take the damage, but the monk will still have Failed to Achieve Balance (covered later). Something like a Cure Wounds spell won’t help at all, though it will have its normal effect on the damage after the monk’s muscles have snapped.<br />
Let’s Have an Example!<br />
Jovaell the Monk is in a fight again! She hits Bandit Leader for 3 points of damage, and is deeply unfulfilled. She is a professional, so she knows this hit is wimply, and decides to DRIVE HER IRON WILL INTO HIS BODY! She adds.. Hmm.. 7 points! Yes, she feels that’s prudent, and adds 7, doing 10 all together. Bandit Leader falls to the ground, the victim, ultimately, of his own poor life choices.<br />
But now Jovaell must achieve BALANCE!<br />
She strikes Lackey X, and hits, doing 4 points of damage. She subtracts 3 from that, doing a total of 1 point. She MUST do at least one point of damage with the hit, or she can achieve no balance with it. 7-3=4. She still has 4 points of her earlier bonus damage she needs to make up for before she has achieved balance.<br />
To her dismay, Lackey X drops in front of her, the victim of Nabonidas the Assassin. He seems pleased with himself.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jovaell the Monk, in case you forgot</td></tr>
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She looks around quickly, and sees one last opponent still stands. She hits Lackey Q and rolls 9 points of damage! She wants to take 4 from the 9 she did, and kick the poor sod for 5 points. Sadly, he had taken an arrow to the knee earlier, and only has 2 hit points left. She drops him, and applies those 2 points to her … Chi Strain? Muscle Balance? Whatever you want to call it. Regardless, she now has 2 points left, and the fight is over. If she still has those 2 points a turn later, she will take 2d6 damage to herself, probably with her muscles writhing under her skin in disturbing anime fashion (that’s up to you). 1d6 damage for each point, see?<br />
She now has a few options. Her friend Cormac the druid is senile, and has nothing like a restoration spell prepared. She sees a nearby goat. She has never liked goats. Not since the Goat Incident. She hits the goat and rolls an exciting 6 points of damage! Unfortunately for everyone concerned, it was an Old Goat, and had but one hit point to give up. To achieve any balance, the goat would have to take at least 1hp in damage anyway, so she still has 2 points of Chi Strain (or whatever) to unload, even though the goat shatters like a chair in a bar fight from that 6.<br />
She will hit Nabonidas. She will make it up to him later, and he probably deserves it anyway. Assassin, amiright?<br />
She cracks him a good one for 5 points, subtracts the 2 that was building up dangerously, hurting him for a total of 3pts, and has ZEROED OUT HER YANG WITH HER YIN! YAY!<br />
BUT!<br />
She Failed To Achieve Balance <i>during </i>the fight. She has avoided physical damage, but her Inner Calm (or something) pays the price. She gets no combat xp from that fight. Or maybe just half. Up to your DM.migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-68396966957650212542015-09-09T13:40:00.001-04:002015-09-09T13:40:17.458-04:00Sigh.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My KotOR Characters. Of Course.</td></tr>
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I'm experiencing some pretty serious DnD burnout.<br /><br />I love spending time with my friends, and I love the fantastic worlds that I get to visit. A majority of my problem, I think, is the long-running basic assumption that DnD characters are largely greedy self-serving bastards. Having this as a core premise has always been a downer for me. Even though it can be amusing from time to time, the constant exposure to this paradigm has, I think, really worn me down.<br /><br />I remember trying to play Dark Side in KotOR for a while, and it didn't last long at all. I laughed a couple times, but got bored with it quickly. It made the game dreary and unfun for me.<br /><br />I tried to play Renegade Shepard in Mass Effect 2. Again, a few laughs. When the crew had concerns about spacing Grunt if he went crazy, and Shepard just shrugged and grinned after making a point about having extra crewmembers, I thought it was hilarious. But I stopped playing that save and went back to my paragon version soon after. I didn't like Bad Shep, and didn't care what happened to him. Playing him felt like a tedious chore.<br /><br />I tried playing a Skyrim character who broke laws, went to jail, killed innocuous bystanders, etc. Same result. Lame. Quit playing that one before level 15. When my son was playing and decided to get turned into a vampire and eat people at Vampire Castle, I tried to keep watching, but lost all interest.<br />
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<br />I know all these examples are from video games, and involve me trying to <em>play</em> 'the bad guy' rather than being enmired in their midst, but I guess my point is it's just not in me. It's not fun for me. Rather than getting any emotional relief from parodying or lampooning assholes by <em>being</em> an asshole, I get my relief by <em>smashing</em> the assholes. I'm kind of afraid that this means I'm simple or naive, but I can’t deny that it all adds up to me beginning to experience my chosen hobby as another source of depression rather than a refuge from it.<br />
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migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-3026437039344867682014-11-19T16:32:00.000-05:002019-02-23T09:40:31.312-05:00Anglian Religion and World View - Airtha, Fairwhus<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Few in mainstream Anglian society dispute Odin and Frigga and their family, or the kinship of the Æsir and the Vanir. They take for granted that these individuals exist as (divine and different) flesh and blood, and that they live in a place called Asgard. To assume much more than that in public company is often seen as becoming a bit too familiar. Even referring to whether Asgard lies in some other nigh-inaccessible place, or is located in an as-yet undiscovered region of the same world on which Anglia rests can be a matter of deep contention. The reasons for this are somewhat complex.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The official position of the Imperial Church is that when Theodoric the Elder first stepped through the Imperceived Door to this world, he had left Midgard and set foot on Ælfheim. This was self-evident to Theodoric, since he almost immediately met the elves. He declared to all those of his kin travelling with him that they had arrived in Ælfheim, and indicated this with a sweeping gesture. This sweeping gesture, the Church maintains, marked the entire world on which he now stood. Even these early people were comfortable with the concept of what we would now call a “planet,” or “fairwhus” to them, though it’s unclear whether they brought this understanding with them or gained it from the elves.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fairly early on in the history of what would become Theodoric’s kingdom, and then empire, in this new realm, his people encountered coastlines and seas, as one eventually does after walking far enough. As travelling and exploration was the current wont of these fourth century Germanic expatriates, they ventured forth to nearby islands and other coastlines. Now they had a quandary. Did Ælfheim stop at the cold shingle beach they had left? Standing on an island or some further shore, were they still standing on Ælfheim, or were they standing somewhere new? If it was somewhere new, where was it?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Map of Yggdrasil - Tina Solstrand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">solaroid.deviantart.com</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those who said “yes, this is somewhere new” took their cue from Theodoric and selected from the other worlds of their cosmology: Vanaheim, Niflheim, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Svartalfheim. They “knew” they hadn’t found Asgard or Hel, and also hadn’t gone back to Midgard. “Svartalfheim” is yet to be applied to a land here. A few felt that names like Útgarðar and Niðavellir must refer to unique places, rather than being other names for places like Jotunheim and Svartalfheim, since after a while it became clear there were more lands than a mere five names would cover.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><br />Admittedly, there was some advantage to this. Theodoric had specifically claimed all of “Ælfheim” as his.<br /><br /><br />As more diverse members of what the Romans had called “The Germanic Tribes” continued to find their way to this other place, some even rejected the notion that they had ever left Midgard at all.<br /><br /><br />And with that, we have the current spectrum covering most opinion. At one extreme, “it’s all just more Europe” and at the other extreme, “every new landmass here is a different one of the nine worlds.” Some are even certain that one could sail to Asgard or Hel; they just haven’t been found yet. The most common view throughout the Empire, and in Anglia as well, is that:<br /> </span><br />
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<li>This is indeed not Midgard. </li>
<li>Neither Asgard nor Hel reside upon this sphere. </li>
<li>The six more earthly homelands of legend (Ælfheim, Vanaheim, Niflheim, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Svartalfheim) are in fact merely different continents on this world.</li>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The third point is deep heresy in the eyes of the Church, and can land one in deep trouble back in the Old Empire if bandied about publicly. Interestingly, although still technically heresy, the Church in Anglia tends to overlook this. Anglia, of course, happens to rest on a continent explorers named Jotunheim.</span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-4285337123732921832014-11-10T18:13:00.001-05:002014-11-10T18:13:33.199-05:00NPC Parties<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One of the most dreaded results on the random encounter table is the NPC party. Not for the players, but for me when I’m GM’ing. I am suddenly responsible for randomly rolling five or more characters right in the middle of a game. The best solution I’ve found, for wilderness encounter tables, is to pre-generate several NPC parties, and then randomly determine which one is met.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nabonidas of Akhdar</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not every dungeon has an NPC party but some should, unless the GM has determined that the players are pretty much the only adventurers in the area. For dungeon encounters, it makes more sense for me to pregenerate one or possibly two parties of NPCs for that specific dungeon. Then they can appear by name on random encounter tables for dungeon levels appropriate to their abilities, or more rarely on other levels where they’re either passing through or in over their heads. You can also roll a check (1 in 20 works well) to have them be in a room the players are about to enter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Below is a party of NPCs that I used in a slightly different way. I placed them in one of the rooms of the Temple Catacombs under the ruined temple at the corner of Castle Nicodemus. But then I put one member of their party on the random encounter chart for the Catacombs. That way they might run into him first (chasing a polymorphed but defeated green slaad), giving the players the opportunity to interact with him, trace his steps back to the rest of the NPC party, or some combination of the two (or ignore him altogether, of course). The players also might run into the main body of the NPC party first, thus hearing about their recent defeat of a green slaad who bolted and ran rather than giving over the soul gem embedded in its forehead. The players could then choose to interact with the NPC party, help them track down their “ranger” who chased off after the slaad, try to avoid them, attack them for their loot, or anything else the players might think of. (You might recognise the ranger, the green slaad polymorphed into a raven, and his party of companions. If you do, please let me know in the comments or on G+. The basic idea for them, though not their party composition, is lifted from some old pre-WOTC TSR product, but I can’t remember which one.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first question I addressed about them was “why are they there?” I decided they were a professional treasure hunting company hired to find a specific item. In addition to providing some variety from the usual simple lust for loot, this choice also snuck in some incidental information about the campaign world. Anglia and other nearby kingdoms and locales are rich enough in ruins to support a professional company of delvers. The ruins are known to hold highly valuable or powerful items, widely enough that multiple patrons would seek to hire delvers. The ruins are known to be dangerous; dangerous enough to warrant hiring professionals instead of delving on one’s own.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another factor I consider when putting a party of NPCs into a dungeon is time. Just how long are they going to be in there? There’s obviously a limit (unless the dungeon is big enough to get lost in), but until the players have some clue they are down there, there probably isn’t any reason to start their clock ticking. For this party, the clock started when the players found their tracks heading down into the Temple Catacombs entrance. After that, they would be leaving the dungeon after a maximum of 1d10+14 days. (If I was stopping time between game sessions, I probably would have made that quite a bit less.) I had them camp in the temple ruins just above, but if the Catacombs had been larger I would probably have had them hole up in an empty room down below. Being professionals, they were fastidious campers who left no glaring evidence. Each day a game session occurred, they had a chance to notice the players, modified by how close the players got to the ruined temple, or how loud and obvious the players’ characters became.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The last question I wanted to answer before they encountered players was “how will they act toward another group of adventurers?” Even though I knew I wanted to come up with one or two basic character traits for each member, I wanted an overall party MO as well. Although their alignments differ individually, on the whole they will work toward good ends, beneficent to most of society and the innocent, and will do their best to limit the amount of chaos caused (or Chaos unleashed) in getting there. Being professionals working on a contract, they will do their best not to reveal their current employer, or what they’ve been hired to retrieve. If they can “foil some evil” without risking their contract, they’ll do it.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jovaell the Monk</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now it was time for the individuals. The foundation here is that they are not player-characters. Just as I don’t allow players to choose “wyvern” or “bugbear” or “king” for their class, other things players can’t choose are open to NPCs. In essence they are all “monsters,” just like the Druids found in the monster section of the original 3 little brown books of OD&D. Thus, for players “ranger” is just a varied combination of background skill (e.g. the Secondary Skills table, page 12 of the 1e DMG) and flavour, potentially applied to several different character classes. However, for the NPC in this party “ranger” is what type of “monster” he is. He possesses and uses special abilities in the same way any other “monster” does. Since I had chosen an “off-standard” class to base this NPC on, I decided it would be amusing to do that for the other members of the NPC party as well. Thus: assassin, druid, monk, illusionist. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The next big consideration for the individuals is what their hit dice should be. Again since I knew they were professionals, I decided they would have researched the item they’re after and its location as much as possible. Therefore, they’d be unlikely to be in over their heads in the Temple Catacombs. Other monsters down there included wights, wraiths, several areas where glyphs are set up to summon red slaad, a medusa, and at least one summoned green slaad. 6 to 8 hit dice (9 for the leader) sounded about right, while still making it difficult enough for them to progress so that they wouldn’t end up clearing the dungeon instead of the players. This would also determine things like their available spells and other special abilities.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Darius Ravenwood, Ranger, 8hd. Jovial and boastful, which interferes with keeping contracts confidential.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nabonidas, Assassin, 7hd. Soft-spoken, pleased with himself. The “common peoples’” antics amuse him.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Tasha, Elf Illusionist, 9hd. The Company Leader. Friendly, but all-business underneath.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jovaell, Monk, 6hd. Quiet and introspective. Hard to tell if she’s observing or meditating.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cormac O’ Connacht, Druid, 7hd. Old and sort of senile. Prone to confusion and revealing secrets.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ll give more details about some of these NPCs later on, as at least one has another function in Anglia. Tasha is one of several possible mentor choices for 1st level magic-users.</span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-39429730971582494602014-11-07T17:14:00.001-05:002014-11-07T17:14:46.830-05:00News from Castle Nicodemus<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the year and a half (!) since we last looked in on events in the area around Castle Nicodemus (a pre-empted siege attempt by a company of five score orcs), a mere 3 months have passed in Anglia. All agree the chronological flux between Anglia and Europe has become increasingly more erratic. From Migellito’s point of view, his caravan has returned to “the fields he does not know” every 2 weeks, consistently, over what he and other caravan stalwarts claim to be more than a year and a half. However, to those who have become regular residents of Renard’s Folly and The Blue Rabbit it is sometimes only a day or two between visits from the caravan, and sometimes as much as a month, with none involved being able to puzzle out any sort of pattern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Winter is solidly entrenched in the Anglish countryside, with leafless woods, clear cold skies, and snow-blanketed fields only occasionally punctuated by patches of brown grass. The first sabbat appropriate for placating Dagon down in the fens of Blackmarch to “benevolently” allow conversion to Tsathoggua has long passed, but another approaches in early February, only a couple months away.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The traditional Anglish corken roast</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Visits from the nearby subterranean refugee village of Underbridge have slackened considerably, recently. This is not to the liking of most of the mercenaries, since the occasional home-cooked enticemen.. er.. meal had become a welcome counterpoint to “more supplies from Europe.” During what was usually harvest-time for the locals (fouled this year by the orc occupation) most of the men even warmed quickly to the oddity of “roast corken,” an animal which brings to mind equally the qualities of both large pheasants and large marine crabs. Some scouting reports in the direction of Bridgewater (the above-ground village from which the refugees fled, built almost directly over Underbridge) say the orcish military occupation forces may have dwindled to the lower end of their usual range of 30 to 300.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Castle News, Cadogan Dee, mercenary footman, languishes in one of the Renard’s Folly jail cells, suspected of the murders of other mercenaries Niels Noorlander, Helmut the Saxon, and Harbrecht of Utrecht. Found cowering in the cold shelter of a rubble pile near the Castle edifice dubbed “The Great Laboratory,” Dee still claims “I don’t remember anything!” The Dutch contingent is particularly doubtful of his innocence, owing in no small part to the blood on Dee’s lips when found holding Harbrecht’s severed hand.</span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-1782285383635235252014-08-18T18:56:00.000-04:002020-05-04T16:41:43.648-04:00My Known World - Western Half<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here's a map of the Western half of the known area of my "Ruins of the Morvalian Empire" game world.</div>
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Prepared in the Tavern at Castle Nicodemus by Willyd "Patchy" Nilsson, to the best of his recollection. He affirms that Niflheim is very cold, Alfheim is farther away than it looks, the Helic Ocean is full of bad deadly things, Regnenwald is what the Akhdarans call a "jungle," and that is just wax right there.</div>
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The country stretching from Freeport in the South to Norchester in the North, and from Blackmarch in the West to Æden's Bight on the East is the Kingdom of Anglia. Æden's Bight, by the way, is the name of the waters around Inverland.</div>
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Anglia was the part of Jotunheim settled by the Anglish around two centuries ago, after they fled the highly oppressive Saxon rule of Westsaxia. Of course, the King of Anglia owes allegiance to The Grand Theodic Empire, but at two months just to reach the shore of Alfheim and a further 2 to 3 weeks to reach the seat of the Empire, the real effect is largely formality.</div>
migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-51795992156598171612014-08-17T14:14:00.002-04:002014-08-17T14:15:10.730-04:00How Bugbears are Born<div style="text-align: justify;">
Let's join the life cycle of the bugbear with our little friend, the goblin. Goblin children, about the age where human children might be called toddlers, are notorious for getting into places and situations away from their parents. They are also notorious for being horrifically violent, cruel (as in physically cruel) and deceptive, but that's not important right now.</div>
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In some areas near where goblins dwell, the little goblins sometimes find themselves (either by misadventure or design) in proximity to a certain breed of enormous semi-translucent spiders.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sort of, but 8 feet long and way more gross.</td></tr>
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The little goblins are bitten, envenomed, and swallowed whole by these spiders, which have big sacs, one sac per spider, inside their abdomen. The little goblins languish comatose in the spider’s translucent abdomen as they slowly transmogrify into full-size bugbears. As they grow, they gradually take over the spider’s body, slowly killing it as their limbs squeeze out into the four rear legs of the spider, expanding the girth of the legs and forcing them to moult aggressively.</div>
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In the final stage of the process the spider takes on a centaur-like existence, with the bugbear occupied abdomen (with their head in part of the thorax) acting as the horizontal motive portion, and the rest of the spider vertically upright, it’s non-bugbear-filled front legs flailing in pain as it continues to search for sustenance to feed the growing bugbear within. Finally, the fully grown bugbear bursts from the still-living spider, killing it. The bugbear will, over time, produce spider eggs about the size of green grapes. These eggs generate in glands analogous to a dog or skunk’s scent glands. You can probably guess where these nasty, slimy, translucent eggs can then be found, and what the hatchlings' diet consists of.</div>
migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-38199056293136883702014-08-14T15:02:00.000-04:002014-08-14T15:02:13.266-04:00Character for Marvel '78<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After reading the latest post on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLqmhMDEWsI" target="_blank">Rogues and Reavers about Marvel '78</a>, I got all excited about coming up with an original character concept. The tone is late-century Eastern urban decay, so my head stirred up Welcome Back Kotter, Fritz the Cat, Barney Miller and Wolfen. This is what came out.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrRhqBBbFXtrRrCVHQkf6FRkM9BKmjHDFhxjclnBGqeKzcwLvpnDE77XM3L44eLFsw6wS3z_I4KVmoFOEHv6YlOWPNfV4T-yXYTQA7qtzTQpH9JS-MO9VL9Hl7_7cL7AXIZ6Ijhwc3wg/s1600/Header05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrRhqBBbFXtrRrCVHQkf6FRkM9BKmjHDFhxjclnBGqeKzcwLvpnDE77XM3L44eLFsw6wS3z_I4KVmoFOEHv6YlOWPNfV4T-yXYTQA7qtzTQpH9JS-MO9VL9Hl7_7cL7AXIZ6Ijhwc3wg/s1600/Header05.jpg" height="107" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the day, Fritz Epstein is a mild mannered pharmacist's assistant at a small drugstore in Brooklyn. When the doors are locked and the chores are done, he looks over his shoulder and makes sure the place is empty. He ranges up and down the shelves behind the counter in back, popping a pill cocktail that brings about his transformation into...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The Cat!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">He's cool. He's smooth. He's covered with fur. The sunglasses he dons aren't </span><i style="text-align: justify;">just </i><span style="text-align: justify;">for the ladies. His cat-vision eyes need shade from the dirty lights of a hot New York City night. He doesn't just fight the criminals </span><span style="text-align: justify;">who take advantage of the people, like the Junkyard Dog. No, he also fights The Man. He's not just one color, baby - he's full-on calico!</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYUaKbRgknyytCTRTOXk05qn4Fgpc69FCmBATN0IZUN6kdreBALAHfbM-EpqrRAfP7mrB9KzxDCXqILvv9JrNgW5Z0AS5i-9ZGX2J7QxsalhdQ28eSBx9hSlpkhrpezy7G1yjPir8sg/s1600/NineLivesFritz_6516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYUaKbRgknyytCTRTOXk05qn4Fgpc69FCmBATN0IZUN6kdreBALAHfbM-EpqrRAfP7mrB9KzxDCXqILvv9JrNgW5Z0AS5i-9ZGX2J7QxsalhdQ28eSBx9hSlpkhrpezy7G1yjPir8sg/s1600/NineLivesFritz_6516.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-75286130952777771242014-08-13T18:26:00.001-04:002014-08-13T18:26:46.048-04:00Niflheim and The Spike<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you go far enough south, you hit the ship-breaking ice, and in beyond it is Niflheim. Now, if you find the right spot, you can find what they call The Spire or The Spike. It's like a great mix of a tower and a mountain peak, but it's taller, hundreds of feet, than any tower made by manskind. But it's no more than a chain across, not like any natural mountain you've ever seen either. The Spike sits right at or just past the edge of the ice, and then a great long spit of rock knifes off South for leagues and leagues til it hits Niflheim proper. Some call that spit of land The Spear.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fgRMc4SVQ3MXn_YmYJCRrUuadQjVM00N5t4PdOaChuYBoqF_kNrP2UJ7EkxJM2YllhyphenhyphenmD9C8I4X-SwgsA8-ubTL1WYYdh87GFoJdbKvttKxLERVxuvFeFXU65Xl87FmLDBUJzK621g/s1600/wreck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fgRMc4SVQ3MXn_YmYJCRrUuadQjVM00N5t4PdOaChuYBoqF_kNrP2UJ7EkxJM2YllhyphenhyphenmD9C8I4X-SwgsA8-ubTL1WYYdh87GFoJdbKvttKxLERVxuvFeFXU65Xl87FmLDBUJzK621g/s1600/wreck.jpg" height="320" width="317" /></a></div>
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That's the only way to get into that cold land down there. Whoever controls The Spike controls Niflheim. Unless you've got the gold to build an icesailing ship, but I've never seen one of them. I've heard tell that long ago the elves used to build them, but what the elves had to do in Niflheim no one knows.</div>
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[Willyd Nilsson, A.I. 811]</div>
migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-54855168049098063022014-04-17T17:10:00.000-04:002014-04-21T11:27:24.679-04:00Chance and Timing of Wilderness Encounters<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is basically the system I used to use for rolling wilderness encounters back in the day, but I've updated it a bit. It assumes the DM is going to check the chance of an encounter based on the passage of time, not based on distance traveled. That's how it is in the dungeon, and that's how I've always preferred to do it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Columns</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Instead of using arbitrary units like hours or days, this system divides time into more natural sections based on sunrise, sunset, and the typical activity cycle of creatures outdoors. If your world has 2 suns or 60 hour days or other vastly different time schemes, just alter the column titles as appropriate, or add or remove whatever columns you need to make it work.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rows</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As far as the rows are concerned, you just need to have one for each encounter table (the thing that lists the actual monsters) that you've made.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Aww jeeeez, this looks so complicated!" Bah, whinger! The idea is to make it as quick as possible while playing; to give the DM a rich answer to the question "does anything happen?" using as little dice rolling as possible. Then the DM rolls on their list of monsters/events/etc. for that area.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Result </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">= No. of encounters for that period. Less than zero = zero.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-c07371de-7157-d726-5cb1-6e41b4e779b6" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; width: 624px;"><colgroup><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col><col width="*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dawn</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Morning</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Afternoon</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Twilight</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Evening</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Night</span></span></div>
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<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Plains</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-9</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-9</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
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<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Forest</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-9</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-8</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-9</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-8</span></span></div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Desert</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-11</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">-</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-11</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-10</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-9</span></span></div>
</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Etc.</span></span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 7px 7px 7px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2d6-9 gives the following percentages:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">0: 83.3%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1: 8.33%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2: 5.56%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3: 2.78%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This means the overall chance of at least some kind of encounter is 16.67%, or the same as 1 in 6 on a d6. For 2d6-10, this chance is the same as rolling a 1 on a d12. For 2d6-11, this chance is 1 in 36.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
</span><br />
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When during the listed period does a rolled encounter occur?</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> There are 2 main options:</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 - The DM rolls a single d6, with higher results indicating progressively further into the time period. If more than one encounter has the same result, they happen at roughly the same time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 - The DM decides how many hours are in each time period, then rolls randomly for hours and minutes. If the DM has a detailed calendar, the number of hours in each period may depend on the season.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The same 2d6 roll can be used to determine non-encounter events at the same time. If the roll on the above encounter table results in doubles, the DM would then roll on an event table. This allows for the chance of monster encounters to be different than the chance for events. For any area or situation, the DM can decide the chance of an event based on the desired probability below:</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">double 1: 2.8%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">double 1 or 2: 5.6%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">double 1 through 3: 8.3% or 1 in 12</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">double 1 through 4: 11% or 1 in 9</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">double 1 through 5: 13.8%</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">double 1 through 6: 16.7% or 1 in 6</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As an example, if 2d6-9 is used for encounter chance, and an event is rolled on any double result, the overall chance of </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">something </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">happening is 1 in 3. Half would be encounters and half would be events. If instead 2d6-11 is used for encounter chance, and events are rolled on a result of either double ones or double twos, the overall chance of </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">something </span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">happening is 1 in 12, with events being twice as likely as encounters.</span></span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-40541350628325012812013-06-02T14:11:00.000-04:002014-04-21T11:28:58.159-04:00Pre Ancient Morvalian Religion<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Morvalians, who once held an empire spanning the breadth of the continent now known to the Anglians as Jotunheimr, knew two collections of deities. These were the New Gods and the Elder Gods. The Elder Gods held the religious attention of the Morvalians from the earliest pre-imperial memory until around 15 centuries before the fall of the empire, during the Wars of the Wizards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4bi-7KWFZKCP6cQ5neCJS1uMBpQxpLtTLiDqUs4J-S6SHEUBEQ6n_V74zLY6lPHkOCSf3sADsSVt77W7ALW8v4p9SoofdsdB2n6AaegbHGsN6MsXKcauEY6MlmRauf7aAGo97MchD8w/s1600/Edda_9_Werelden.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4bi-7KWFZKCP6cQ5neCJS1uMBpQxpLtTLiDqUs4J-S6SHEUBEQ6n_V74zLY6lPHkOCSf3sADsSVt77W7ALW8v4p9SoofdsdB2n6AaegbHGsN6MsXKcauEY6MlmRauf7aAGo97MchD8w/s320/Edda_9_Werelden.png" height="320" width="260" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Elder Gods were three in number, and each possessed of three identities.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sheobattas Dechatanu Nikkorattya</b>, the devouring mouth that births the universe :: she of the body</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xPlhaEGucRfqD2bK04r5rq9Qg9AxuruhB7fVV92CD8m0TEbgcFzRhlwLDX6Ah_OlqI0GCPXuA-v1anVLzXxcckmkT_OPup_qhyO1WRY_mMFzPEHt38nmVkONYOQ9HZFSr7x2Q-oyOw/s1600/finlay6078670411_b068995b88_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xPlhaEGucRfqD2bK04r5rq9Qg9AxuruhB7fVV92CD8m0TEbgcFzRhlwLDX6Ah_OlqI0GCPXuA-v1anVLzXxcckmkT_OPup_qhyO1WRY_mMFzPEHt38nmVkONYOQ9HZFSr7x2Q-oyOw/s320/finlay6078670411_b068995b88_o.jpg" height="320" width="249" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Ghasturu Asotra Rostothra</b>, the blooming fire that burns the world :: he of the chi</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGBT30ibHAgPf80SJRsiJre6e8GPdYdilVZ4-v1UuRxvzH9Xr8GIi7FopZKz3IOpVwryrPI4gzzjCQqgkRC5KQ-vI_yvFWM4Rz1AjpcMubpOCgk_dNvTgnwaqGle1-9Wzg-3VCC26-A/s1600/fireflower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGBT30ibHAgPf80SJRsiJre6e8GPdYdilVZ4-v1UuRxvzH9Xr8GIi7FopZKz3IOpVwryrPI4gzzjCQqgkRC5KQ-vI_yvFWM4Rz1AjpcMubpOCgk_dNvTgnwaqGle1-9Wzg-3VCC26-A/s320/fireflower.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-33e8d670-05f5-9571-9e33-5ddb5daa579a"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Yogutra Sotatt Dzeu</b>, the gate of days :: it of the mind</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczoVrZg65bX658A41uh8j7DSFUJ_YFfPPJ-mhsFDDRcBPW-LtKl7m_X12nvGKc6pFVDoshqZJUyNOUwr9wFKUvisZlsAi3g9tvoyKizyZnpJ8tq6SjbumbjYmrTAUspeWYT6cIlgzGQ/s1600/Mandala_of_Vajradhatu.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczoVrZg65bX658A41uh8j7DSFUJ_YFfPPJ-mhsFDDRcBPW-LtKl7m_X12nvGKc6pFVDoshqZJUyNOUwr9wFKUvisZlsAi3g9tvoyKizyZnpJ8tq6SjbumbjYmrTAUspeWYT6cIlgzGQ/s320/Mandala_of_Vajradhatu.JPG" height="320" width="258" /></a></div>
<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-90281207666109315712013-05-05T15:21:00.002-04:002013-05-05T15:21:55.778-04:00<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are a few drawings I did back in the early 90s. The intent back then was to use them as visual aids during DnD games, and a couple of them actually fulfilled that purpose.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKI2ml1BXqHk5ln8bk4wZs1IATj7c-tS8zWgVn-ikFLJCM6EZtjPlLkwQTutCX1Nq131OX5s7HCiZuF_yFUJXMVq39jFY9aGHyTs42_MpXA3ET4TXD6tJq6DHN-TMfxe-z51kP1tfv8Q/s1600/deadthorn+woman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKI2ml1BXqHk5ln8bk4wZs1IATj7c-tS8zWgVn-ikFLJCM6EZtjPlLkwQTutCX1Nq131OX5s7HCiZuF_yFUJXMVq39jFY9aGHyTs42_MpXA3ET4TXD6tJq6DHN-TMfxe-z51kP1tfv8Q/s320/deadthorn+woman.jpg" width="124" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can't remember who or what this was supposed to be, and my players never met it in the game. I don't think it was supposed to be undead, but rather some kind of semi-divinity or Elder God Avatar.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiNWVXpidRHv0kDjosv3L6YxasW_t76Ff0TmlVcHZHgoDcd-zvxU9OS8WxQtM72Mxm8rrwDVYky4xqrFuo02FEgKf9vNtZk-N6TFv8wCL00IjiPoPLYckdKOMjTnRenBPVumLvykwknw/s1600/pieceofmind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiNWVXpidRHv0kDjosv3L6YxasW_t76Ff0TmlVcHZHgoDcd-zvxU9OS8WxQtM72Mxm8rrwDVYky4xqrFuo02FEgKf9vNtZk-N6TFv8wCL00IjiPoPLYckdKOMjTnRenBPVumLvykwknw/s320/pieceofmind.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yep, Eddie from Piece of Mind. I was re-purposing him as some sort of wight, if I remember correctly. I only had the cassette tape at the time, so I was looking at a pretty small source.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mGpqCAqY0UAUNWy6hw7Dk00PV6q1KpjH2LELa_Fnu417DZ82FoY3xEm7b6S7DwShDhY4eBYDKHvF4M1YqGdCgFa3hKkTUv3Jbj7m4aU4REdS-CZo5ROI1NmKXmvS79erMp14YKJCQw/s1600/bastface+dark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-mGpqCAqY0UAUNWy6hw7Dk00PV6q1KpjH2LELa_Fnu417DZ82FoY3xEm7b6S7DwShDhY4eBYDKHvF4M1YqGdCgFa3hKkTUv3Jbj7m4aU4REdS-CZo5ROI1NmKXmvS79erMp14YKJCQw/s320/bastface+dark.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was supposed to be an avatar of Bast for a Marvel Superheroes game. She helped the party defeat an avatar of Azathoth in the undersea city of the Eldar who sank the Titanic. heh</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEige0HJRkAePnxBFmYo-0uHenJxQqcr3l3XhxGEZtK5zOnbBJ5d05KbSlINA-QULq-OGrsEnGwTkO0-fYuHa5qjJbT8qYqjGleIRsAyQoFrN6AD9RahRiCFWG9o9PrpDRa8izqfYyckLg/s1600/desertwoman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEige0HJRkAePnxBFmYo-0uHenJxQqcr3l3XhxGEZtK5zOnbBJ5d05KbSlINA-QULq-OGrsEnGwTkO0-fYuHa5qjJbT8qYqjGleIRsAyQoFrN6AD9RahRiCFWG9o9PrpDRa8izqfYyckLg/s320/desertwoman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An adventurer transplanted to a desert. Despite my best efforts to the contrary, it somehow ended up looking a little Jim Holloway.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-89847547795755584972012-09-13T23:05:00.002-04:002014-04-21T11:31:05.688-04:00Ironwolf Play Report 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9mmJl8QrlwyXmT10joh9ZZozULS224Vh6ATnfucCQxQXrLnnT5FlhJTg9awWrWhNx2cqPFADT4vsqCOMD8adDkvtfs9igOzQw7kbZ94dvdA142YsuD1DKg3quu42L03iDwhXTds4_g/s1600/Dark+Castle+Woodcut+115380.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga9mmJl8QrlwyXmT10joh9ZZozULS224Vh6ATnfucCQxQXrLnnT5FlhJTg9awWrWhNx2cqPFADT4vsqCOMD8adDkvtfs9igOzQw7kbZ94dvdA142YsuD1DKg3quu42L03iDwhXTds4_g/s320/Dark+Castle+Woodcut+115380.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>This is page one of one of my play-by-forum games. Since it's a pbp, it should be pretty self-explanatory without much need for any other setup. If you are interested at all, let me know and I will post more from it.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">It is well after dark when you finally arrive at your destination. Looking up the black hillside, you can make out the shadows of ancient broken towers. They are barely visible against the heavy clouds and behind the black, hulking skeletons of dying trees. Seeing a tiny breath of orange glowing weakly between some of the branches, you begin making your way up toward the dark towers.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">As you hike upward through the trees, you think back on some of the strange tales which brought you here. Long shunned by the nearby townsfolk, years ago a series of vast treasure hoards were discovered in the twisting mazes beneath the castle proper, along with hungry beasts and deadly traps. Legends were made in that time; names the like of Erac’s Cousin, Melf, Tenser, Otiluke, and Lord Robilar will live on for centuries. Eventually, though, the dungeons lost their luster as the treasures became smaller and harder to win, the traps were dismantled, and the monsters slain; eventually only the desperate or foolhardy dared enter the dungeons beneath the castle. Recently, however, reports have surfaced of renewed stockpiles of wealth in the dank passages and chambers beneath the ground.<br /><br />Near the top you make your way across crumbling black stones, wet from the recent rain and covered in deep green moss. Leaving the densest of the cracking branches behind, you head through the fallen tower ruins in hopes of finding the warmth you spied from below. Instead, you find a dark rectangular chasm plummeting down into the black foundations of the ruined tower.<br /><br />Another shock of lightning reveals the broken black stones of the descending steps, glistening with rain and moss, and disappearing into absolute blackness some twenty steps below. It also reveals, much more closely than you might have expected, a handful of other people looking down the dark stairwell.<br /><br />Their clothing wet from the rain, and some showing the glint of metal armor, a red-haired dwarf, a hobbit, a woman, and two men, one looking rather large, stand at the top of this descending stairwell. What would each of you like to do and/or say?</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[IC] Finnigan thoughtfully studies the other four figures surrounding the stairway, his hands casually resting on the pommel of his battle axe, and slowly nods his head. Through squinted eyes, and with a low, smooth voice, he says, </span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"Ay, it looks like I not be the only one set to explore the depths of these here castle ruins this fine wet evening."</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[OCC] Squinted eyes? Maybe Fin's near-sighted! Or maybe it's just the rain...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[IC] Mantid stares down into the blackness gripping his mace tightly in his hands and is mumbling to himself as if he was praying. If you listen closely it almost sounds like, "Stop what comes."</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Upon hearing the dwarf speak Mantid turns to look at him and says, "We must stop what is coming... I know not what, only that I was sent here to stop it." With blank zealot-like stare Mantid gives the dwarf a nod of acknowledgment.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[OOC]</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Mantid will wait until the others have their say before deciding where to go next. Meanwhile he will stand guard and watch for any sign of danger.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">The woman is well dressed in expensive blue velvet robes, her long curly blonde hair sensibly up in a bun, although a few wayward tangles escape here and there. </span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"Stop what is coming, hmm? Personally I just want to see what is down there!"</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">She turns and give the others a dazzling smile.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"Callista Featherstonehaugh. Pronounced Fanshaw, if you please. Working to understand the workings of the arcane. SO delightful to meet you all".</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">She pauses, with an attitude of polite expectation.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[IC]</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Hearing a conversation up ahead, drak marches out of the shadowy trees, his armored feet crunching on dry leaves and twigs, stopping to let those assembled on the hill see him. None of his body can be seen, hidden in a bland suit of platemail. A large slab of plain metal is strapped to his left arm, while a blacksmiths hammer is clutched in his gloved right hand. His helmet is a cylinder on his head, with two inverted triangles for eye-slits. His armor and weapons are covered in some unknown substance, appearing black in the weak moonlight. A bleached, human skull hangs off his belt by a thick chain.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">He scans the crowd of people, his gaze lingering on the mumbling human. Double checking the grip on his hammer, he waits for one of them to make the first move.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">[IC]</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[IC] Mantid glances at the plate mailed clad figure with great suspicion. He doesn't appear to like the looks of him either. A faint echo of a thought flits through his head,"untrustworthy".</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Not wanting to draw attention to himself, he smiles towards the woman who calls herself Callista something-or-other. She seems like a nice person... not like that menacing looking fellow in armor.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[OOC] Mantid uses what little charm and intelligence he has to form a bond with those who seem "goodly" to him. He is highly suspicious of the plate mailed fellow though.</span><br />
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<span style="color: white;">[IC] </span><br />
<span style="color: white;">"Well met, Callista and to ye, as well, Mr... fine young cleric who never gave his name and appears to have conversations in his head."</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"Me name is Finnigan. "</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Fin turns towards the lady...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"I've no love for the arcane, young lady, but it seems we share the desire to see 'what is down there,' as that is why I'm here, as well."</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">... and then turns towards the cleric.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"Stop what comes, eh? Well... if 'what comes' is flesh and blood, and can feel the bite of my axe, and 'comes' with an equal share of treasure... I might be tempted to help ye. Of course... a name would be nice. What shall we call ye, kind sir?"</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">With a casual glance at the newcomer, Fin sees one who looks like he's looking for trouble. In a disarming tone, he says...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"And you, black knight? You be here to go into the ruins? ... or protect them?"</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[OOC]</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">You fight with the strength of many men, Sir Knight.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">I am Arthur, King of the Britons.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">I seek the bravest and finest knights in the land...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Right, sorry, I won't go on...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">More on topic, Fin thinks doing something for the cleric (possibly an entire brotherhood?) might not be a bad way to raise his "renown" in the area.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">You all notice that all 5 of you are wearing backpacks, and are outfitted with rope and empty sacks, and that 3 of you, quite conspicuously, have looooong wooden poles. Most conspicuous is the hobbit, whose pole is nearly 4 times his own height, and seems to be presenting at least a slight difficulty in balancing. If it wasn't for the pole, he would melt quite well into the background, as he is yet to say anything.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Drak puts away his hammer, hanging it in a loop on his belt, and faces the dwarf.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"I am here to search the area, and I am no knight."</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[IC]</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Finnigan suddenly notices the tip of a pole waving in the air. Following it down with his eyes, he sees it is held by a man even shorter than him! He gives him a quick once-over and cautiously squints his eyes again as he notices the halfling carries nothing more stout than a knife for close combat...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"What about you, little halfling? What brings you to this gaping hole with a 10' pole?"</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[IC]A sudden flash of memory resurfaces in Mantid's head as he peers more closely at the dark man in armor. Upon hearing the dwarf introduce himself to the nice lady, and addressed him with demanding eyes. The fleeting memory vanishes, and Mantid replies, </span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"My apologies, sir dwarf, um Finna-in? My name is Mantid, Mantid Notallbright they call me back at St. Culthbert's monastery."And with that he smiles broadly at Finnigan and Callista, which quickly turns into a frown as he eyes the armored brooding looking fellow once more. Mantid has a feeling he knows what he came here to stop...</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">[OOC]</span><br />
<span style="color: white;">Mantid will remain where he is standing (mace and shield in hand) and will be carefully watching Drak.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"My apologies, good sir, I meant nothing by it. It was the helmet that threw me off, to be sure. And by what name shall we be calling thee?"</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Callista starts a little at the sight of this rather.... intimidating looking personage in the helmet. </span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"oh my!" she murmurs, and watches the scene. She notices the smiles and politely returns them.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Walking quickly (for a halfling) up to the staircase, mostly ignoring the gathering, I peer down into the deep darkness for a few moments. Seeming to find satisfaction in the ancient passageway, I turn back to the dwarf and say him,</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"I work alone."</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">And with that, I start down the stairs.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">30 seconds later, I come back out of the crypt, slightly sheepishly.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">"Anyone got a light?"</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">Walking up to the group, drak feels around in a sack until he pulls out a small bag, then throws it at the halfling.</span><br />
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: white;">A whistle of air shoots out of the darkness below, and a flash of metal flies toward one of you!</span>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-9569529550491327772012-08-03T18:00:00.000-04:002012-08-03T18:00:14.012-04:00Information.. Information!!<div style="text-align: justify;">
As a continuation of <a href="http://migellito.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-riddle-game.html" target="_blank">this post</a>, another of my regular players, Zach, posed a few more questions about my continuing Original Dungeons & Dragons campaign, Castle Nicodemus:</div>
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<b><div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>1) Can any of the various beings (goblins, elves, ogre, bugbears, bullywug) that we have encountered and that now live in Renard's Folly recall any folklore or oral history of the Morvalians, where they came from or where they went? Were they conquerors? Were great wars fought to evict them?</b></div>
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It is widely believed that they destroyed themselves in a great internecine war, The War of the Wizards. Only elves pretend to have any solid knowledge of them, passed down through generations in the region. They maintain that their elven ancestors were even more reclusive and insular in the dim past of the ancient Morvalian lands, thus limiting their contact. However, elven tradition holds that the Morvalian Empire existed for many centuries, and attained great heights of arcane knowledge, perhaps too great. Much of current wizardry, when not attributed to themselves, is deemed an innovation of the Morvalians. The Empire is said to have stretched “beyond common geography,” and for a time may have been a positive civilising force. Though destroyed in the War of the Wizards, it is told the best parts and ideals of the Empire lived on for a time in the realm of the legendary Pomegranate Queen.</div>
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<b>2) What kinds of constellations are visible above Castle Nicodemus on the rare clear nights? Anything familiar to our European mercenaries, or entirely unrelated?</b></div>
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Though the clouds have been stubbornly persistent, on the few clear nights you have been witness to a sky completely unfamiliar to those not native to Anglia.</div>
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<b>3) Are the occasional magicians, alchemists and other miracle workers we find in your medieval Europe actually native to it, or immigrants from other, more magical realms? If so, are they aware they've come form somewhere else, or did they simply slip into mundane Europe without realizing? Have there been actual dragons in mundane Europe at any point? Actual vampires?</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Stories of dragons and vampires, or more commonly strigoi, persist. Many believe they are factual, and take a myriad of precautions, but you have yet to see any direct evidence for yourselves. The unique individuals you’ve met, apart from The Magnificent Brian, are apparently native to Europe and Asia. Brian, who claims his real name is ‘Bran,’ confused by a limner with a travelling circus, has made it plain that he hails not from Europe. He hasn’t elucidated any further on the subject.</div>
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<b>4) The badass Gypsy who goes adventuring with us sometimes--does he work for Migellito or the gypsy fortuneteller lady? In my skulking around the caravan, have I had the chance to observe their interactions at all? They seem pretty interested in the stuff we're pulling out of the ruins.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He seems to work for Migellito, but spends the majority of his time near the fortuneteller’s wagon. He and the fortuneteller confer often, but a feeling of romance is never present in their dealings. He appeared shortly after <a href="http://migellito.blogspot.com/2012/01/rumours.html">this exchange between Migellito and the fortuneteller</a>.</div>
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<b>5) What do the torch-bearers and mercenaries from the caravan that we've been over-paying spend their money on (besides funerals)? How do they feel about us bringing in cheaper mercenaries, and settling in the Folly?</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Most seem to have blown their windfall on hard drink and fast women. A few sport fine clothes, now mostly road-worn, and some have excellent boots and the finest tack and harness. Ignatius, for one, apparently sent all of his to his family.</div>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8251230264921956187.post-49154561005573443712012-08-03T16:18:00.000-04:002012-08-03T16:33:34.149-04:00News and Happenings in The Environs of Nicodemus Castle<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkP-KlNWC3fEhCsyAHcOvXDrkQNRvpSpITOkURkoj-vP5lUK2lmJEEyDYkTdjfDnW0RnlHgFbFmZ5v-LeF1BAs6r5sMAya7Mx4kEjNBAKt2vYNosv8C9KF_u6USgMA8EWQ_zPFYLuAZQ/s1600/Danby+The+Opening+of+the+Sixth+Seal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkP-KlNWC3fEhCsyAHcOvXDrkQNRvpSpITOkURkoj-vP5lUK2lmJEEyDYkTdjfDnW0RnlHgFbFmZ5v-LeF1BAs6r5sMAya7Mx4kEjNBAKt2vYNosv8C9KF_u6USgMA8EWQ_zPFYLuAZQ/s320/Danby+The+Opening+of+the+Sixth+Seal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Late at night, word is sent down below to the denizens of the foundry that something of interest is happening above, and that someone should come take a look. Those climbing up to the surface are treated to a view of an only partly occluded sky above the lookout post atop the crumbling gatehouse. The cold blue stars are decidedly not arranged in the constellations with which anyone is familiar.</div>
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Being directed to peer Eastward, the head of a lengthy infantry column is seen marching South on the distant road, this side of the River Wythern. The tail of the column is somewhere to the North, shrouded in dust and darkness. The deep monotone of a rhythmic marching chant floats across the air a quarter mile to reach the roof of the gatehouse.</div>
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Suddenly, a pinpoint of firelight streaks toward the column from the other side of the river. A great blossom of orange fire opens in the middle of the road, engulfing nearly a dozen ranks. Several moments later the muted ‘whump’ of the explosion reaches your ears, closely followed by the distant gutteral shouts of rallying troops. Half a hundred are left charred and blackened in the roadway.</div>
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The scrambling infantry wastes little time. They break off in sections and begin crossing the river in answer to the sonorous boom of commands which reach your ears a moment later. The water teems white in the starlight as scores enter it from the near bank. The midst of the river begins to glow with a dim green light, as though the waters are lit from beneath, and then a blinding flash of lightning slams down into the river among the struggling troops. Thunder cracks and rumbles over the ruins. The surface of the water has taken on a sluggish quality, and you realise it is choked with bodies.</div>migellitohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17106614212764056058noreply@blogger.com1