Proper world building?

There are a lot of awesome and different DnD ideas for campaigns that people have. I have seen that a lot of these ideas, for better or worse, flop. I spend a lot of time wondering why. There's a lot of reasons we can say it didn't work out: enthusiasm, lack of planning, lack of synergy, non-compatibility. All these are big reasons, but just the tip of the iceberg for the number of reasons people will list. What I am going to tackle as the subject of this post is non-compatibility, and the lack of planning. Both of these are DM-orientated issues, and have to deal with the subject title: proper world building. And really, all it boils down to is just the scope of the module, or campaign, and making sure you're taking the proper things into account. There, you can stop reading, and move on. For those who like reading someone's vomitations from their brain, by all means, continue. So, first, non-compatibility I think is bullshit. Okay, so it's not *complete* bullshit. Along with why a lot of campaigns fail, I also spend too much time thinking of how to incorperate other ideas into a workable DnD form. Case in point, the game called Trine. I think I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but for a quick run-down, it is a side-scroller action-puzzle game. You have the basic fighter-type knight, a thief who utilizes a grappling hook and bow-and-arrow, and a wizard. The wizard is the most notable character, because he's a shitty wizard. No, seriously, that's his backstory. He can't cast fireball for the life of him, but what he can do is temporarily create objects, and a bit of telekinesis. So you have a collection of these themed levels with this set of characters that have to overcome a variety of increasing difficult and intricate puzzles - even if the puzzle essentially involves just getting across a gap to move on further in the map. Can you do this is DnD? Damn right you can. But it's not easy, and it will take some understanding, and perhaps some tweaking. DnD isn't a 2D sidescroller, so whatever you create will not be a complete, true translation. With that said, let's talk about lack of planning. While I am also talking about the horrible instance we've all had where the DM (or you, if that be the case) shows up and is like, "Uh. Yeah. Totally forgot to plan for this, so this is all off the cuff," I am also talking about more. What I am talking about is why I dropped world building in the title. DnD is a bitch to plan for, there is so much to know that it can be truly overwhelming. If you're the DM, for all practical purposes, you have to be more knowledgable than at least three other people combined. Or do you? Arguments aside, I am going to share what I think, in my own little opinion, would help DMs out a lot when it comes to trying to run their own game with their own bits of flavor. First off, figure out the scope of this idea. How would it be defined? High fantasy? Gritty and realistic? From there, figure out how the mechanics would work; is it going to be low level PCs, or high level PCs? What are you going to do about magic? Okay, so these are pretty broad questions. They might help. How about the nitty-gritties? Seriously. Grab your Player's Handbook, look at all the classes, and all the races, and brainstorm of how they'd fit in. How would your average person/race react to certain combinations? When you're finished with that, start on the skills. There are some skills that are woefully overlooked. Think of ways for every skill to be usable and applicable. Don't force the the option, but make it available and be ready to roll with it. When you think you have a good idea of all this, then there comes the real bastard behind it all: spells. This is one reason I have "moved on" to The Black Company system. Despite the intricate spell casting system, the spells themselves, and what you can do with them, is fairly intuitive. DnD, with it's old-school Vancian style spells, is a real pain, without much rhyme to reason in some areas. Pathfinder did a good job of cleaning it up, in terms of balance, but there is still some spells that really mess with mechanics early on. Quick examples? Invisibility, Water Breathing, and Fly are all spells that casters can obtain by 5th level that are either exceedingly annoying to deal with, or make certain challenges completely moot. For the players, that's great, because their investment paid off. For the DM, it can represent an amount of creative energy wasted. I've seen a fair number of DMs now who've lost their gusto after having their scenario "thwarted" in merely five minutes. I'm not saying memorize every spell, but if you have a wizard in the party, be acutely aware of their potential. Try not to be surprised when, upon reaching 3rd level, they cast Detect Thoughts. Sound like a lot of work? Maybe. But better to put in an extra 15 minutes before starting a campaign that could last over a year, than to have everyone's creative energy wasted after just a couple sessions. On a more serious note, if it does sound like too much work, maybe you shouldn't be DMing?

Den of Thieves!

I originally had this post typed up, with all my ramblings and thought-processes, on the history of the creation of this module... But when I submitted it, all was lost when the site asked me to log in again.

So, I'll keep to the basics.

Den of Thieves is a concept game designed for players to be immersed into a different type of game. One that requires critical thinking and being crafty, as opposed to your more traditional brute force methods.

The premise is heavy-handed, like the previous campaign module discussed, and perhaps even more so when it comes to character creation: I am forcing the players to be either a Thief, or a Jack-of-all-Trades. (Both classes are from the Black Company Campaign Setting.)

This might seem quite limiting, but with the Black Company Backgrounds, a lot of variety can still be present. With either taking the Dabbler feat, or Mage's Apprentice Background, one can still cast spells, and at least two of the backgrounds allows for Knowledge skills (something always useful). Several help with combat.

The limiting factor is a bit of the point, actually. Let us see the wits of a party and its members when confronted with a variety of problems. A band of Thieves, once they reach a certain level, may be able to handedly whittle down a group of your average brawlers, but a good fighter is still something to be wary of - moreso a Barbarian/Berzerker (something that can not be flanked or sneak-attacked).

It's more than just the combat, though. Let us see how they handle having to steal a relic from a renown collector, or kidnap (or rescue) someone, or just talk themselves out a situation.

Could your more traditional party do this? Sure. DnD is all about seeing how people interact with one-another with their characters, but this is a concentrated effort. Hopefully, it works.

Expedition!

When I ran this concept across several friends, I generally received positive reviews. One even made the comment, "Sounds awesome - like a land-based Star Trek."

After playing a campaign of my brother's, I have been trying to flesh out another way of rolling characters that is a bit more balanced. With the dice-pool system, while it could be fun, some people were doing things that were just stupid. (I blame the players who are bad more than I blame the system.) I've always liked natural ability scores - that is, rolling the ability scores in order, and keeping the respective number. With this campaign, I'm leaving that optional. The core rules for character creation, though, are as follows:

3d6 for each stat.
"Mulligan" is an overall total ability score modifier of +2 or lower, with the highest ability score being at least an 15.

Overall, these changes should have the affect that a PC will at least be good at something. With an average roll of 9, and higher minimum requirements, there will be a high turnover rate to help ensure this, while making for quite the variety in a single player, as well as a party.

Borrowing from my Brother's campaign, PCs will not start with a class level. Instead, they will begin with the following:

A Background from the Black Company Campaign Setting.
4 + (Con Modifier) Hitpoints
+0 BAB
4 + (Int Modifier) skill points. (This is including those provided by a background.
+0 on all Base Saves.
No proficiencies.
1 feat (not including the feat provided by a background.) - this is subject to change.
Starting Funds... still deciding.

Basic information, of course, should be provided, but the most important thing about the production of a character for this campaign is the answer to this question: "Why would your character be going on such an Expedition?"

The premise of the campaign really does mandate that the PCs really think about this question. I was really troubled about having such a heavy-handed premise. I don't think things should be forced upon a character, but with all the ideas and experiences that can play out in such a campaign, I think it is worth it. So if the PC is ready for such a campaign, or doesn't want to play with such a style... well, really, they shouldn't be playing this campaign. Terrible thing to say, but this is a fairly involved module. (I would have no objection, though, if someone came up with a PC who, for instance, came up with a criminal character who really had no interest in the expedition, but was forced as a form of sentencing. Even if his goal is to try to eventually try to escape, that would be interesting, and could be worked into the campaign.)

Moving on from character creation, and onto how the campaign shall operate. The basic idea is that the party, somehow or another, is apart of a expedition sent out to explore a new land that was recently discovered. Important elements include:

1) Charting a variety of terrains (and peoples).

2) Diplomacy.

3) Survival and combat.

How this plays out, I have decided, is that the party will have a baggage train of twenty NPCs. For each NPC, I will roll percentile dice (D%), and, using the table from the Black Company book, decide what background each NPC will have and into what role they shall serve. I've spent a lot of time trying to come up with some general backstories for each background, but that is far too extensive to post here. (Be creative! Come up with your own!) I plan on being able to use this module multiple times, so each play-through can be different in the aspect of the accompanying NPCs alone. If you really want to, you can also roll up the ability scores for each, but that may be a lot of work for some to handle; I see nothing wrong with making things up as you go.

This leaves the last thing to discuss: how to deal with death. In most campaigns, when a PC dies, it's not too hard to come up with an explanation of why or how a new one joined the party. For added difficulty, and so that players play smart, I have decided that PCs who have died only have the option of choosing one of the NPCs to be their next character. Harsh? Could be, depending on the DM. I have seen people pull this off though, and a lot of fun has been had. As long as it doesn't cause frustration, I think things will be good. (It also promotes the PCs taking care of the baggage train!)

I am not sure what else to explain about here. The overarching idea is a campaign module that isn't only about kicking doors and faces in. The "skill-monkey" classes, such as the Jack-of-all-Trades and the Academician will have their proper place and amount of use - the same for the Scout. All the classes, really, will shine a bit brighter, as a good Fighter is always welcome.

I'm not sure what else to explain. The expedition should be about the PCs exploring a new area that no one knows anything about; the decisions they make will be important, and what they find out and know will be as well. Languages, especially. As a DM, you don't have to be an expert, just creative. Give them that sense of wonder.

Postpone!

Well, it has come to pass that I have taken up a second job.

Hours are unsure, but it looks like it make take the place of the usual gaming day.

Until schedules are set, and normalized, my game is put on hold.

I think I might shy away from attempting to do a complete detail-to-detail recap of sessions. Sometimes, given the complexity of a situation, things get very muddled, and it can be difficult to decipher and properly describe at a later time. It is not the burden that bothers me, but rather not doing the proper actions (and the feel of the campaign) proper justice when trying to record them.

So, this session in a nutshell:

The party ultimately discovered that the sandstorm had some long term effects on the area. A lot of crops were wiped out and buried, and the Sems felt a good bit of loss as well. With that, another major group of people were introduced: The Lams (pronounced Lahms). The Lams are a type of hill folk, or highlanders, that live in the foothills and rough territory of this Nome. The party has not figured out much else about them, just that they speak a different language, and can be generally war-like. All this said, the session ended with the party attempting to track down a group of Lams, and coming across an encampment.

It should also be noted that they encountered animated skeletons, seemingly made by some of the Lams.

Further exploration of the barter system was had - some minor tasks had to be run in order to try to obtain some better equipment. Also, for the first time, a character was introduced to the concept of true mobile wealth, and obtained a small ingot of copper.

On the subject of Iso and Sem languages...

It occurred to me that, before starting the campaign, I had babbled on about The Periphery setting meta-game history, but not too much about the current setting itself.

I had mentioned that the current campaign was early bronze age, which, while the truth, was also a bit of a lie. In truth, the general level of technology would probably be called chalcolithic - copper and stone - with only certain areas having the privilege of bronze. Splitting hairs? Maybe. But it is just easier to say early bronze age, than to have to explain out, in full, what everything entails.

What does it entail? As my players are finding out: a world of suck. Subsistence living with incipient institutions at best. Hardly anything is centralized, easy to do, or easy to figure out. They're reaping the benefits of having some hunters in the party though - it provides a duel sense of security and mobility. They can not only feed themselves nearly anywhere, but by obtaining and excess of food, they are obtaining a source of wealth.

One thing I find very interesting, is that since a standardized system of currency and trade has been taken away, the players are beginning to devise their own means of keeping track of their own "wealth." They're also developing their own feel for the relative costs of how bartering works.

Moving on, one thing I had learned from Game 2.0 is that trying to have an all-encompassing and vast game world is hard. I am still up to the challenge, but I noticed that, in the attempt to have all these different cultures meshed together and be different, and have those differences really impact the players... Well, the more varieties their were, the less the impact. With players traveling far and wide, to and fro, things could seem cookie cutter-like with initial impressions. I was never really happy with this, and wanted to give the players a more in-depth experience. (Hopefully, I am not sacrificing game play to do this...)

The final product of all this is that, probably, the majority of this campaign will take place on just this single nome (the in-game name for a planetoid). There are, of course, other opportunities to travel elsewhere, but options are limited with the technology and thought of the time. On this nome, there are two predominate cultures: Iso, and Sem.

In short, Sems are the majority of the semi-nomadic people that wander around the nome to fixed points, trading and otherwise eking out an existence. They are a patriarchal society with a strong warrior tradition. Opposite of the Sems are the Isos, who can be called the city-dwellers, which is a bit of a lie. (Not every Iso lives in a city; Isos, collectively, are just the ones that do live in cities.) The Isos have a more developed (rather, one should say complex) society, with specialization and the beginnings of the concepts of individualism. They depend more on proper laws, than actual tradition. These two societies more or less co-mingle and co-exist on a neutral basis. ("You have things to trade? Excellent!") They get along with each other about as well as they get along with themselves, and with that said, endemic warfare is pretty commonplace amongst everyone.

I was about to talk about languages, but I will post an addendum later.

At least it was not forty years...

This last session had its highs and lows in the extreme. At one point, three hours were spent in an attempt to reunite the party. At another, two party members were almost rendered gone from existence in one horrible faux pas.

The session began with the party continuing to track the errant Kobolds. Things were going well, until a severe sandstorm hit. Just prior to the sandstorm, the party had split - and also because of the sandstorm, the party of further split up. It took a couple days, and several scattered kobold (and wolf) encounters to finally tie them back together. One together again, the decision was made to abandon tracking the Kobolds, and to perhaps find out a bit more about where the Halfling came from.

They took a short cut back to the initial town, where they bartered and resupplied, and then traveled to the Logan's "landing zone." Because of the sandstorm, no evidence could be found. The decision was then made to make an attempt to find any nearby Sem caravan - Brandon had somewhat of an idea where one might be.

While traveling towards the last known location of one such caravan, the party came upon the edge of a forest that was ominous. Brandon (and Kami) made it known that this forest was guarded by an agent of the gods - Humbaba. Nothing more was really known, except that most people stay away from the forest, and certainly no one messes with any of the trees.

Logan, the tribal pygmy, being completely ignorant about such things, inadvertently summoned Humbaba. (After the sandstorm, the party leveled up to second level. Brandon managed to pick up a snippet of Logan's language, and did try to warn Logan about such dangers. However, there is a world of difference between "do not mess with the trees" and "do not ever touch the trees.") The initial impression of Humbaba is mixed; he is a large hairy man with a large axe, but apparently a man in every regard. However, his speed was unnaturally fast, and his strength, fabled to be infinite, appeared to be literally so. Logan tried running, and was quickly overtaken. Prostrating himself before Humbaba, he was seized and dragged off to Humbaba's altar. Here, Logan was subjected to direct contact with divine elements.

The party, with exception of Kami, made the decision to attempt to rescue Logan. They successfully tracked Humbaba through the forest to his lair. There, they saw Logan on the altar, with a thin beam of light from the heavens piercing his head. He was barely responsive. Humbaba would not allow approach, apparently being able to be in several places at once. Ricco, especially persistent, finally attempting tumbling past Humbaba (affectionately called, at this point, Captain Woodstock). The tumble attempt, while close, was ultimately unsuccessful, and Humbaba showed no mercy. With the death of Ricco's character, the party decided to wait. After a time, Logan was released with a greater understanding as to how not to mess with the trees. Humbaba then tossed the party back to their camp, to be rescued from the river by Kami.

From there, the party caught up with the Sem caravan, and did some minor bartering. They did not find out too much news, but did do some bragging about having met Humbaba face to face.

The session ended there, with the party having decided that the next thing to do was to travel to the biggest city.

Back to the Periphery...

The second campaign I am am running is labeled as "Game 2.0A" on my harddrive; a continuation of some horrible personal little joke I am playing with myself. THE GAME, is the name of my first truly big undertaking as a DM. Being a history major, and most of the way through obtaining my Bachelor's degree at the time, I stuck with what was familiar, and had tried to make an actual historical campaign. To make things easier on everyone else, the PCs produced their characters as if it were a standard 3.5 Greyhawk campaign, and then were unwittingly thrust, via a portal in Sigil, to the actual gaming setting. When transcribing the notes and happenings of the campaign, I did not know what to call or name it, so, simply THE GAME. It has remained ever since.

Game 2.0 was created shortly afterwards. It had its beginnings as a concept game not meant to last beyond a few sessions. Trying to get the campaign started, though, proved very difficult and it never took off. The idea remained, albeit on the backburner, and, over time, grew to be perhaps my largest project as a DM over time. Game 3.0 (otherwise known as the Undying campaign) was run and refined several times over the course of that history. I think was after the third time of running Game 3.0 that Game 2.0 finally came into fruition. As for the actual beginning concepts, I have always been fascinated by the idea of planescaping - using portals to travel from one dimensional plane to another, and experiencing odd or strange things. The other prime concept, unashamedly, comes from an older game I liked to play called Enclave. In short, it is a third-person hack-and-slash game that follows the story line of one of the two sides playable (good and evil) through a story line. The basic story line that I will share is that, long ago, when evil had risen and was on the verge of taking over the world, a great and powerful wizard used his great and powerful magics to make a wide chasm around the last remaining bastion of good (the "enclave") in the center the the lands conquered by the evil.

In Game 2.0, now unofficially called The Periphery, took final form as a world ravaged by a cataclysm caused by magic - presumably from meddling with powerful magics. The actual history is uncertain, as no one knows what truly happened. It was "many generations" ago. This cataclysm caused a portion of the world to be shattered off - and that, over time, broke down into many pieces which now orbit the world. The world itself, called simply The Mainland, was reformed, with no one knowing if there were any inhabitants left. The orbiting pieces, or planetoids, somehow managed to retain (and sustain) life. These planetoids are referred to as The Periphery which has evolved as a collection of differing cultures. Game 2.0 ended in a fashion that only T.S. Elliot could predict: not with a bang, but a whimper. Most of the party ended up dying during a daring assault on a forward watch post held by some Goblinoids. After barely managing to complete their quest (on the second try), the campaign was ended. Too little time was left to attempt anything substantial, and the adventuring group had taken such a toll that it was doomed to eek out an existence attempting jobs for whomever would provide them. They had high aspirations, though, as there was the popular rumor going around that dragons were invading.

Game 2.0A starts an indeterminate amount of time later, after a true dark age. The basic concept revolves around the PC party gaming in time of near primitivism - the early bronze age. Stone and copper are still popular materials to use for items. Coinage is tossed in favor of actual bartering.

More to add later; I have to take a day-trip someplace.

Closure.

Cultists! Everywhere!

I could probably stop this entry at that, and still have that be an completely accurate recap of the vents that occurred.

The previous session ended with Tyler, Jesse, Logan at Madam Curry's store front, trying to retrieve a body, but then seeing the streets flooded with cultists. Brandon (who could not make it to the session tonight, regrettably) and Kami where elsewhere in town, running their own errands.

In usual fashion with this campaign, because of the split group, I had an interesting time making sure the time lines added up and everyone got an adequate amount of table time. I give major kudos to my players for displaying an exceptional amount of patience with dealing with this. (I am still wondering if it is because of the nature of the campaign, or because most of the party were of Thief/Rogue types?)

The first group dealt with was with the three players, and their impending surrounding. Logan topped out in initiative, and with his turn lobbed a Molotov cocktail into the nearest crowd. He missed his mark, but still set plenty aflame. This got everyone's attention, and the hordes surged forward. Jesse and Logan decided to hold their ground for a bit. Tyler fled. He did not plan on leaving everyone behind, however, as he stole a vehicle on the street and then proceeded to use it to run over as many cultists as he could. His death count was impressive, but when Logan and Jesse's characters began to get swamped by many bodies, Tyler was quick to follow as he was pulled from the vehicle and eventually subdued as well.

At this point, at the mercy of a random roll, Ricco's character is introduced. A female Tomb Robber Thief, of West African descent, Ricco came across the scene when Tyler's character was initially starting to get swarmed. Doing what sensible people would do, he ran for help and had someone call for the police. By the time he had finished his task and returned to the scene, the cultists had crammed the PCs into the car and drove off themselves, whatever ones remaining scattering to the wind. Ricco attempted to follow, but failed simply due to the faster speed of the car. When he returned to the scene a second time, he encountered a lone police officer inspecting the scene. After a brief exchange, the officer offers (and insists) to take Ricco to the police station for official questioning. As they drive off, Ricco is drugged.

At this point, it became Kami's turn. After returning to the safe house, and not finding anyone there, Kami checked in at the hospital, and finally went home for a decent night's sleep. The next day, she went to Madam Curry's, and saw what is left of the scene of the crime - blood stains. Madam Curry's shop was closed. It was at this point that Kami noticed that the streets were remarkably devoid of people in this part of the city, and, despite this, she went to the local shops for witnesses. She managed to find out that a massive brawl occurred, and several individuals were seemingly kidnapped. She then comes across a curious, out-of-place shop. Tentative to enter when greeted by a voice that beckons her in, she tried to slowly creep inside the gloomy shop, then found herself sucked into a brightly light shop with puzzle boxed and trinkets lining the shelves. The shopkeep was a gray-haired individual with bad teeth with long hair and bread, as well as a bad East Asian accent. Through an exchange, the old man gives Kami the location of her friend, at the cost of a permanent loss of a hit point. The old man also says that she should just forget them, and leave.

She then spent the rest of the day going to several police stations, asking if any of the current prisoners needed any medical attention. While seen as an odd offer, some accepted, while others said the did not currently have any. Lastly, she returns to the hospital.

Back to Jesse, Tyler, Logan, and Ricco, they wake up in a jail cell, with two guards walking patrol and several "normal" looking people walking to and fro. After some internal discussion, the PCs decided that waiting around was just a bad idea - it would be better to try to break free. Jesse spots that the "normal" people were actually moving too and fro from what appeared to be a reinforced grate leading into the ground. He also overheard them say, "The path is clear," and relayed the information to the rest of the party. After the "normal" people left, Jesse tried to create a distraction, which is successful in taking attention off from the rest of the party, but both guards come over to tell him to knock it off. Caution to the winds, the party charged out from the jail cell and assaulted the two guards. The guards did not go down without a fight, however, and Ricco is knocked down to 0 hitpoints (but awake, just staggered.) After knocking out the guards, the PCs went to the grate and struggled mightily to open it. It took a while, and reinforcements managed to make it to them, but the PCs valiantly stood their ground to valiantly make their escape. Ricco took damage from the jump, as is knocked unconscious. Despite not knowing the character too well, the PC party decided to leave no man (or woman) behind and dragged her body along as they made their escape.

The underground section they found themselves in was part of the sewer system. There was a chain of lights leading a path before them. They followed it for a little bit, and then decided that following that path would be folly - it was probably the way the cultists were going to take them in the first place. So then they took the first turn they could, and tried to find a manhole cover to escape from. It did not take long, and they exited outside the police station in an alley way. In the vicinity were some straggler cultists, which they tried to over take, but not before the cultists managed to call out for support.

The chaos that ensued can be summed up into this: Logan used his rope to climb the nearby building to escape. When he reached the top, he attempted to help his teammates below, but ultimately just managed to snag and rescue Ricco's unconscious body. Tyler and Jesse held their ground for quite a long time, but as more and more reinforcements showed up they had to retreat. Bad fortune struck during their flight, and both ended up surrounded. By that time, Logan was also almost surrounded as well, but he successfully managed to make a roof-top getaway.

After having found safety, Logan sneaks back to the hospital, where Kami and Him made the decision to skip town.

The streets are eerily empty, save for some isolated groups of people, most which are cultists. Despite some recognition, what remained of the party managed to leave town without incident.

Thus ended the campaign.

Non-discourse.

It has felt like an insanely long week, but looking back at it now, I am not sure where all the time has went or why I have not posted this sooner.

Oh well, it is all good.

The session opened with the party resting and recovering at the hospital. While they were doing that, Ricco's new character was introduced. Perhaps unaptly named with Sherlock Holmes, he had the past of being captured and tortured by a mage. Through various means, he managed to escape. Finding another mage to train him in that esoteric knowledge, Ricco's character, at the beginning of the game, was beginning the process of following up leads to get revenge. Obviously, one such follow up lead to the PC party at the hospital, where, after some dialogue, the party decides that, though they can not trust him, that he could be useful to have in their employ.

After the dialogue, a telegram is received from Captain Crunch (the police officer whom Jesse helped with interrogating the "witch woman") that Jesse should come immediately, with all of his friends. Naturally, the party embarks off to the old ruined house located in the suburbs - the actual house of this police officer. Here, they were informed by the Captain that action must be taken against the cultists that he has been investigating. He had stopped going to work for the last several days, out of suspicion that he was being followed and closely watched after the transpired events.

Captain Crunch's plan was to simply storm the Cult's headquarters, a isolated house near a swamp. There was some arguments as to how to go about doing this, or whether or not they should wait and scout things out - Ricco's character hinted at having supernatural abilities to see and experience without the burden of flesh. A compromise was made, but then the Captain brought to everyone's attention the need for additional cars. Needless to say, Tyler, Jesse, Logan, *and* Ricco all went out and stole a car. Ricco's encounter was innovative - simply calling a cab. However, knocking out the cab driver proved troublesome, and after a lot of mucking about, the party discretely disposed of his corpse.

Once everyone was ready, Captain Crunch doled out some weapons, two revolvers and a shotgun, and they headed out.

When they reached the house, they allowed Ricco to enter his trance-like state. While Ricco begins scouting around the cabin, the rest of the party is approached by what seems to be an individual. Failing to bluff their way out of the situation, a firefight commences. In the spirit world, Ricco notices the house begins to glow from the inside, slowly getting brighter by the moment. He finds he can not approach the house within a certain limit. The house gets near blindingly bright, before a form explodes from the middle. Ricco's character, awed by its power, submits himself - and his soul is promptly eaten.

His body then transforms into a zombie, which begins to attack Captain Crunch while he is attempting to drive away. After the initial firefight, attention was attracted from the house, and people began running all over the place - though not necessarily at the party. When the house began to glow, and something horrible burst forth from it, massive sanity damage was sustained - and discretion was decided to be the better part of valor.

After returning to Captain Crunch's home, the party rested. Some were clearly affected by the previous night's encounter - notably Captain Crunch, who seemed catatonic. Kami and Brandon then left for the hospital, in an attempt to do basic bloodtests for Captain Crunch, while the rest of the party decided to goto Madam Curry's shop to ask questions.

At Madam Curry's, little was discovered, other than that "they had failed" and that they should try to run as far they can. Someone then noticed that a cultist was looking in through the front shop's glass - Jesse, far beyond driven at this point, immediately threw a dagger into the cultist's chest.

The session ended when the party, attempting to quickly seize and hide the body, saw the streets filled with more cultists.

Non-Euclidean

Dear sweet lord of mercy, I do not even know where to begin.

Non-Euclidean has, unofficially, been decided to be the term for this whole campaign, as there have been so much nonsense in so many ways that it is almost hard to keep track.

I suppose we begin with Andrew* having to leave us, and Kami taking his place. She rolled up a Weapon Master with a background of being a Physician. This brings up one of the weak points of such a campaign - how to accuracy translate such an interesting choice in creating a character. After some back-and-forth discussion, it was decided on that her basic backstory was as follows: her father was well off, and provided her with a good education. Ultimately, this ended with her succeeding as a nurse practitioner. For her major hobby as a privileged person, her character preferred something a bit more visceral - fencing. Thus, the party gained not only a potential melee fighter, but finally good means of healing.

With healing mentioned, I do not think I have yet mentioned some of what makes The Black Company setting so gritty and brutal. Healing in the mode of the standard 3.5 DnD way is not accessible until a Wizard reaches 4th level, and even then it is not the same. When healed by the healing spell, the lethal damage is converted from lethal to non-lethal damage. It is also fairly costly on the caster himself, as Wizards will take nonlethal damage as he casts spells. The Physician background allows people, in a limited way, to use the heal skill to also convert lethal damage to nonlethal. While it helps, the main benefit comes from giving people long term care. Treating people for 8 hours of rest grants them three times the standard heal rate, while a full 24 hours grants six times. (This includes ability score damage!) While the usual sword-swinger DnDer might find this hindering and tedious, I like it since it allows for other gameplay mechanics to shine through - like crafting. Finding time to craft in a DnD game can be difficult, and this this system it is more readily available. Another benefit is that it makes players consider the consequences of their actions more, before doing something potentially disastrous.

So, uh, anyway. Going back. The events can be summed up into the party starting around the house, where they are split up as some go with the police (after questioning) to the hospital and some go off on their own. This is actually pretty much the theme of this last session: the party breaking up into pairs, or even individually, to go off and do their own thing. This was not a bad thing by any means, as often times significant strides in the plot were made. It was just maddening because, when everything was said and done, we had to made sure the timeline added up.

After the first time of visiting the hospital (which became a strange sort of base of operations) Kami was introduced to the party. Everyone was questioned further by the police, and a doctor. They discover that the police are on a special investigation after being shown an idol. The police reveal no more information, other than that they trust the party to use discretion.

What happened next is confusing. Tyler managed to find his way back to the party after having split off from them at the beginning of the session. Brandon and Jesse left the hospital early, to find an underground club for some drinks. While there, Jesse spotted the woman who led him into being kidnapped - he secretly took vengeance, throwing a dagger into her chest without being scene. Brandon, with a great amount of wit, managed to escape with her dying body and dispose of it. (Do not ask. It just happened. The dice roll that way sometimes.) Ricco was still guano-pyschosis in the hospital. Andrew stole pharmaceuticals from the hospital.

The next big step was when the party followed leads - Logan used his Knowledge (Local) paired with Gather Information to route out who a good source on such things would be. This led the party to Madam Curry's Voodoo shop. Where, during a bit of haggling and interrogation, the woman that Jesse and Brandon had thought they had previously disposed shows up. Not everyone participated in the following fight, as she bumped into Ricco when he was (almost successfully) getting away from the party. That said, only Ricco and Brandon participated for the most part. Ricco ended up fainting from a failed sanity check (the woman cast a spell!) and Brandon succumbed, after putting up a valiant fight, to the power of her magic. While she continued to approach the store, distracted from conjuring up another spell, Tyler whipped a dagger into her throat after peering out the door.

Chaos reigned supreme in the following events. All nearby bystanders ran and screamed to and fro. Madam Curry ejected the party from her store. The Police began to arrive on scene, and some of the party ran (namely Logan) but not before some of the paranoid characters chained the woman up, packed in a garbage can, and secured the lid. Some of the party then runs, others are taken in for questioning, and some are taken to the hospital.

Ricco and Andrew are questioned. Ricco, seriously affected by madness, is checked into a sanitarium. Andrew is beaten during questioning, and then turned/blackmailed into a lackey of a police captain.

Kami and Brandon are returned to the hospital.

Tyler, Jesse, and Logan try to hide. Logan takes off outright, and Tyler remains in hiding. Jesse, however, is caught by another set of police that show up on the scene as he tries to make off with the garbage can with the dead woman in it. While being arrested, the can begins to move and shake. An officer inspects the can, and when he opens it, he gets a blast of fire in the face, at which point both officers riddle the can with holes. The unhurt officer (who was named "Captain Crunch") looks in the can and exclaims, "It's her! We have to bring her somewhere for questioning," and uncuffs Jesse. From there, they goto a seemingly abandoned house on the outskirts of town, where they meet up with Madam Curry, and then secure the dead woman's body to a chair. At Madam Curry's direction, they cut off the woman's hands, and pluck out her eyes. Later, the dead woman revives, and Madam Curry questions her in a strange tongue. When done, they cut off her head, and burn her body.

The session ended with everyone making it back to the hospital. Thank god.

Inclusion

If memory serves correctly, it has been over a year since the last post on here. Even then, the last campaign mentioned was a repeat, which, in retrospect, was a bad idea to follow through on. Thankfully, this campaign is new, but with seeing them side by side now, it is apparent that on some levels there is not much difference.

Similar to the previous campaign, this campaign takes place in the 1920s. Instead of the players' characters being inter-planar adventurers that bumble their way into the "real world," they are instead immersed directly into the setting. For better or worse, they will be victims to their own vicarious choices. (No mercy!)

For this campaign I am using, what now is, my standby: The Black Company Campaign Setting. While others seemed to have progressed from Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 onto other platforms, such as Pathfinder, or other homebrews, I have latched onto this gem. I love it, and I wish that more people within our collection of local gamers would give it an actual try. Sadly, it seems like I am the only person willing to run a game utilizing this system. I used to wonder why, and I have discovered two big reasons: Flavor, and complexity. Let us face it, when we game, we are there for fun and escapism. High fantasy is great for that, and other systems (I will use Pathfinder for comparison) provide that in spades. In addition, Pathfinder has simplified rules and spells - it is something much more friendly to the new and old gamer. The Black Company Campaign Setting, on the other hand, hovers around the opposite end of the spectrum. It is made for those people who like low fantasy, with some gobs of gritty realism. The 3.5 Edition of Dungeons and Dragons is already rather cumbersome with it rules, so having some additional cogs to add to all that clockwork is a burden for the casual gamer - not to mention a beginner. (A third reason can be named, but it is tied in with the complexity: the overhaul of the magic casting system. While once you the system down, you can quickly and proficiently cast spells, learning the system takes a degree of dedication that a lot of people just do not want to commit when it comes to having fun. I can not say I blame them much, but those who do put in the effort seem to rather enjoy the innovation and freedom that new magic system provides.) The saving grace, by far, for the Black Company system is its modularity - you can mix and match aspects and rulings to fit other settings as you see fit.

In the past year, I have seen a lot of different games run and ideas get thrown around. I even had the honor of playing in a few. One involved the D20 Modern Campaign Setting and hunting monsters from the Monster Manual for a company as a living. There also has been numerous zombie campaigns (well, "campaigns") trying to recreate some movie or game (Left4Dead). Lastly, that I can recall at the moment, there has been short campaigns run in history settings in the early modern era of Western culture. Some of these also used the D20 Modern system, while the rest used Pathfinder with some minor modifications. I have picked up a fear of using firearms in my games; I feel they are not properly represented, as well as they usually ruin the game in some form or another. Usually, everyone wants to get their hands on one, which ends up making things boring for all players involved. If that does not cause the eventual downfall of a game, another thing that happens is a player or two goes gets disgruntled because of past experiences with firearms have left a bitter taste in their mouth. (If you are there for fun, why would you put up with something you think will ruin it?) Babbling aside, I decided to conquer this fear, and try to find something that works - using the Black Company system, of course.

I wanted something relatively modern, and so I set out for a wide scale research scope. I had to delve pretty deeply into a lot of different areas, and pool together the knowledge I had gained from handloading my own ammunition and hunting, as well as historical studies. To prevent this post from turning into a novel, I ultimately settled on the nebulous time frame of the "late 1920s." Why? There were a lot of interesting aspects to this time frame that easily stood out and were very identifiable with aspects of the Black Company system. It was also an era where modern still commingled with the old - one would not have to go out of their way to fit in something like a tribesmen, hunter, or a hermit. Paired with that is technology - cell phones and GPS are tricky elements to deal with, so the 1920s has the old familiar DnD ways of doing things (Ham Radios aside). From a legal standpoint, there are a lot of interesting gameplay elements as well. The 1920s is the decade where people sought to improve society from the "old model" which caused the horror of The Great War, and so laws were passed to ensure general betterment. This is where women's suffrage, prohibition, and personal firearms laws come from. (As for firearms, metallurgy was truly being mastered, as well as other technical mechanics. Revolvers were still in their height, with semi-automatic technology being mastered, but not quite yet perfected.) In terms of magic, the late 19th and early 20th century was a prime time for the occult - the prime age for esoteric circles such as The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn with Aleister Crowley. Lastly, from what I can remember, it was in 1929 that global market began to crash, and the world all but knew it.

It should also be noted that, with this campaign, I am using the rules for full brutality: hits on the surprise round go straight to the Constitution (Con) score, and grievous injury threshold is equal to just the PCs Con score (instead of Con plus Hit Dice). Infection rules are another inclusion, as well as the Sanity system. I almost feel sorry for my players just in terms of everything they have to keep track of and remember.

Speaking of players, I have a total of seven for this campaign. More than what most any Dungeon Master (DM) would care for. (Why do I keep saying DM even when it might be a misnomer?) Several of them are relatively new, but, at this point in my gaming experience, I am starting to see that as a boon rather than obstacle. Yes, it is unfortunate that they are subjected to all of these rules and expected to keep up with the more experienced players, but I am finding that the fresh perspective can help out a lot when trying to solve a situation. Perhaps it is because I am trying to run campaigns that are more than just dice rolling and kicking down the door. Perhaps the system just simply has a weakness against out-of-the-box thinking. Either way, here is a list of my players with their characters' background and class.

Jessie - Prostitute Thief (Yes!)

Logan - Thug Thief

Andrew* - Engineer Scout

Ricco - Criminal Fighter

Tyler - Criminal Thief

Andrew - Con Artist Noble

Brandon - Soldier Zealot

I will make a following post about their background write ups, for the sake of being concise.

The first session opened up with going around the table, one by one, introducing characters, and playing through the PCs' arrival at New Orleans and their encounters shortly afterwards. Most everyone attended Mardi Gras with the slanted intentions - stealing and other underground activities. Oddly enough, Ricco perhaps had the most pure intentions; he arrived in New Orleans simply by happenstance while doing a cross-country hike. Brandon and Andrew* buddied up in being war veterans, and were doing light "watch-my-purse" guard duty for a dilettante who was enjoying the festivities. (Well, Brandon was. Andrew* gathered as much beads as possible.) Some heard of odd happenings going on, mostly involving creepy people who act weird; standing outside people's windows, and sorting through trash. There was not much to follow up on, and being caught up in the ebb and flow of things, most of the party ended up captured. The closest to escape was Tyler, who, over the course of several days, managed to escape traps, encounters, and even the police while visiting every corner of the city. One such avoidance involved hiding the in sewers. At the end of an epic stretch of evasion, Tyler's freedom ended in the outskirts of the city, in a hotel over the swamp. After successfully defending himself against two assailants in the dead of night, the hotel owner, a furious "ragin' Cajun" swamp queen, pummeled him with a lamp when she awake and came to the scene.

After introductions, the party woke up in a dark room, in individual cast iron cages with tin buckets provide for (and with) waste. Others were in the room with them. The situation looked grim. Some tried digging and discovered that the wood of the room was undergoing a state of petrification. Probably the high light event was when a man, described as tall, dark, and handsome, walked into the room to direct some masked lackeys to take away two of the unfortunate prisoners. Logan gave the man some lip, and for that he was rewarded with a "scan" - grubs which were tossed on him that quickly burrowed into his person and caused him to pass out. Later, when the man returned, he harvested the grubs and ate them. Both events caused those had witnessed these to roll a sanity check. Other unfortunate events occurred, such as Jessie's character going through a memory wipe for supposedly learning bit of information that he was not supposed to. Finally, after Logan created lock picks from his tin can, he managed to pick the lock to his cage, and then subdue both the guards left in the room.

After releasing everyone else from their cages, the party then began to work on their first true encounter: a small non-Euclidean maze. Though the complex they were in seemed to be made purely of straight hallways and turns made of right angles, they would find themselves returned back to the the starting hallway if they made a "wrong" turn. Several members tripped over angles which behaved not according to perception. After a lot of time, frustration, and madness caused by failed sanity checks, small groups managed to find their way out - appearing in random places around a small cabin besieged by police.

A shoot-out occurred between the police and the NPC occupants of the household. The Police won. That is where the session ended.

Disclosure

(comments of how the session went.)

The session opened up with the party discovering the remains of Alexander Sebastian VonLichtenstein the Third in his bedroom. Crase Hanes was quick to discover tracks and tentatively find where they lead off to - predictably, to the remaining catacombs.

The entrance into the catacombs is dark, ancient stone hallway that descends into the earth. They didn't have to travel very fair into the hallways before the floor underneath them collapsed into a cavern filled with bones. Here, they battled the Large Howler which had slain their friend, and a handful of skeletons which had risen.

They find an extra which leads to a expansive hallway, and from there they follow the noise of a lullaby to a room with a raised vault. In this room there is a table with the family Matriarch, the source of the lullaby. Crase Hanes, taking no chances, launched two arrows into the animated corpse, which promptly keels over. At this point, two skeletons explode from the walls and attack the party. From the rear, Lizbeth appears, enraged that harm had come to her mother's body.

William "Badass" lives up to his name, wielding the artifact-weapon, and stands toe-to-toe with Lizbeth. Her new form as a Wight is something lithe and bestial; visible talons and fangs are an added part to her humanesque figure, so filled with hate and malice. Crase Hanes aids throughout the fight with a hail of arrows. The fight becomes something of a hideous battle of attrition, and Lizbeth manages to drop (but not kill) William the first time. Father Pavel, somewhere suck in the middle as the party fights undead on two sides and constantly healing, drags William to safety so he can be resuscitated without worry. Finishing off the second skeleton, Sadamamuel calls out to Lizbeth while casting Fly on himself and hovering over the shallow ledge with duel staircases that lead into the raised-vaulted room. Lizbeth, with her bestial strength, handily leaps over the party and gives Sadamamuel a horrible slash with one of her claws. At this point, Sadamamuel manages to limit her mobility by casting Web on her. William is resuscitated, and immediately leaps in after her, going toe-to-toe with her again. Lizbeth's fury is so much at this point, that it begins to manifest itself in a white aura around her, as she seems to move and strike quicker. William is dropped again, but still manages to survive. The rest of the party continue to aid - Cid, in desperation, even throws a crowbar at her. Finally, her fury is quelled when they light the webbing, and her, on fire.

William "Badass" bleeds out while being rescued, again, by Father Pavel.

Combat seemingly over, the party inspects the body of Lizbeth, and finds it regenerating. Hacking by conventional weapons do not seem to do anything substantial. The idea is had to use the scythe, and they behead her - this does the trick. Lizbeth's body then undulates and contracts, with visible power radiating forth and manifesting into another Scroll of Power.

From there, the party returns to the estate, arriving in the morning. They are bumped into a Gardener who is scared out of his wits, exclaiming "Something was watching me!" He runs away, and out of sight, when then two very load noises are heard, accompanied by shouts in a strange language. The party rushes around to see what the issue is, and come face to face with two strange-looking men. Brief, but brutal combat ensues, and the party takes one of the men prisoner. He has a strange note, written in a strange language. With the aid of a spell, the party can read the note, which says, "'Help' has arrived. Eliminate them." The note was signed, presumably, by Ambrose; Jeremiah's brother.

The party interrogates their prisoner, and do not find out much. Although, from Jeremiah and Patrick, they find out the prisoner was a Trsanti - a barbaric people who live for nothing else than to destroy and pillage. They bury him, alive, underneath the grave of William "Badass."

Taking a few days to rest and recover, the Party's next step will be to go into town and acquire a shipment for Jeremiah. From there, they have the options of inspection the several-times-before-mentioned Standing Stones, trying to figure out the situation with the Ghost that was initially encountered, or to look further into the matter of these Pirates.

Into the Void

This week was a tad bit of a hassle. We had a good number of players coming and going, with some new additions.

Nathan "Biodragon" Niznik took on the role of John; a Sorcerer who can blast things into oblivion at his beck and call, but can just as easy sit back and watch his friends make asses of themselves.

Jesse Monroe joined the group as John, a cutthroat Thief with experience in smuggling.

In the game, briefly, was John Petkus as ... Yo Mama... A barbarian. Nothing else needs to be said.

Adam, as Father Pavel, joined us again half-way through the session, and brought with him a certain degree of much-needed gravity.

JT and Garrett ("Sadamamuel" and "Toledo Hanes" respectively) did not attend the session, due to previous obligations.

The session started off with the party discussing things more in depth with Patrick. Crase Hanes decided to be the recipient of the new scroll. This ritual would take several hours, so the rest of the party decided to look into finding some of Jeremiah's father's (Joseph's) studies. They check the master bedroom first, and discover a small journal. This journal was one of the last Joseph kept over the last years of his life, and in it he made mention of a prank Jeremiah told him about. Apparently, when Jeremiah was 12, he took his siblings out to the isle of the Standing Stones and read from one of his father's books on the Occult. What was meant as a prank turned into a horribly frightening ordeal for all the children, as waters churned and boiled, and the skies blotted out the stars. Since then, Joseph idle curiosity in the occult turned into an obsession, as he sought to find out what Jeremiah had done. In the bedroom, unsent mail is discovered from the mother of the family to her own parents, stating her growing discontent with the marriage - Joseph was turning into too much of a squint and bookworm, failing to pay her even the least bit attention.

William Badass also experiences an eery vision. When entering the bedroom, he hears the cries and screams of a baby as the sheets on the bed become covered with gore and ichor.

When the party returns from their reconnoiter, Crase Hanes is finished with the ritual; He is now imbued with the ability to temporarily control fresh corpses to fight for his cause. The party then sets out to retrace its steps to the Mausoleum, then continues onto the Old Church.

The old church is near-indescribably old, reduced to mere ruins. To make a story brief, the party finds an underground level to the church which leads to a more secluded area. Battling through skeletons which seem to spontaneously raise from the dead, the party finds various components with mixed clues suggesting a way to time travel into the past. Beholding a vision of the Abbot, long ago, locking up a magically sealed door with a special golden key, and finding notes and journals about the destruction of a great and powerful weapon, the party manages to combine the components to leap back into time. Violently, they take the key, and the weapon - a scythe.

Returning to the present (Back to the Future!) they carefully make their way back home to rest, recover, and share their finding with Patrick. While working their way home, Cid, the Thief who took the scythe from the Old Church, slowly gets influenced by the Scythe until finally he snaps and attacks Alexander. Patrick stops the outbreak before it gets out of control - beyond what it already has. Father Pavel steps up to action here, rebuking Patrick with his use of force (he almost managed to kill Cid) and advocating destruction of the weapon. An exchange is had, and it is figured that while the artifact has a corrupting affect, it is also a very powerful weapon. A bit of research revealed that the weapon once belonged to a great warrior, a champion of the people. Perhaps the weapon itself was corrupted by an outside force... The party uses holy water on the weapon, which hisses and boils to little other noticeable effect. After this, William Badass decides to take the weapon as the burden, and finds he can readily stave off the corrupting affects of the weapon-artifact.

The party then decides to rest for the night, and call it a session. However, on an end note, William Badass is visited by haunting visions and dreams in his fitful sleep:

"In the vision, you feel and *know* you are in a time and age far gone. Despite the vividness of your dream, you are not in control of yourself. It seems as if only your sight is present, as you flow through the breeze with thoughtless ease. You are being shown something. It is dark. Abysmally dark. And raining. You can barely make out your surroundings; a small island with looming monoliths. Nearby you can make out several figures. They are huddled over something. As you are pressed in closer you can see the figures, cloaked and hooded, collectively lowering a body into the earth. The body bears an iron crown on top of its head, and is otherwise richly dressed in vibrant clothing, despite the horrid conditions. Upon the face is a metallic mask, bearing a grotesque face. Nothing is visible of the features, except for the eyes, which open in slumberous awareness. He tries to move, but finds himself bound. He tries to say something, but finds his mouth gagged. Eyes now wide with panic, darting to and fro, he screams in desperation as the figures finish lowering him into his grave, and seal him to his fate."

Unearthing

Since I managed to snag all the DMs as players for my game, Ian was kind enough to step out and run a game for the poor lost souls I had cast out. In his place stepped up Adam, who I had originally invited but was initially out of commission for various reasons. Adam managed to create Father Pavel, a Cleric who's heart and mind sought transcendence, but hands and eyes remain firmly within the earthly realm.

Like the rest of the party, Father Pavel was apart of the Two-Brothers-Adventuring-Troop. Sometime in the past, he made the decision to stay behind and place his help where he saw it was needed most; a small budding community. It was here, after an indeterminate amount of time, that a messenger, sent from Jeremiah and Patrick, managed to find him and deliver the message for help. Using his knowledge and wit, Father Pavel, like the party before him, managed to gain access to the portal to Sigil, and then find his way onto Jeremiah's plane. Greeted by the same servant, and discovering the same horrid horrid horrid truth about not having the proper means of communication, Father Pavel is shown to Jeremiah, caught up on the situation at hand, then shown proper quarters.

Next morning, he runs into the rest of the party, on the way to question the Gardener.

The party reaches the Kitchen, the way to the inner cloister of the Gardens, and find it locked. Apparently the only one with the key is a maid, who is off cleaning a guest room - a guest by the name of Keisinger. At this news, Patrick is enraged. It is found out that Patrick is actually an outlaw to this area; framed for the murder of his wife. Keisinger is the man responsible for this. This is actually Patrick's backstory for how he became apart of the Two-Brother's-Adventuring-Troop. Jeremiah is promptly confronted with this information, and is found to have no knowledge of Keisinger, except that he may have been a temporary guest of Bethany's. (Keisinger, the party is told by Patrick, dabbles in magic.)

The party continues to Keisinger's room, and discover an interplanar portal to Oreinos, a dreamscape realm. (They promptly report this to Jeremiah.) The sky is dark and morose, constantly bleeding red. As one looks up or down - or what seems up or down - the sky transitions into a whiter color until eventually you're left staring into a bright, illuminating, sun-like phenomenon. It's almost like looking at galaxy from far away. Despite these bright points in the sky and under-sky, lighting appears to be dim. Ruins, rock formations, and architectural fragments tumbled through the ether as the players step out onto an outcropping. Where they stand has stone-tiling, but all that they see seems to be in a state of decay. They traverse through this realm over several rock formations littered with the remnants of architecture, battling an elusive creature they have never seen before, a creature with the ability to meld and move through the terrain. Escaping over a bridge which forms out of the ether, the group captures a fist-sized Golden Dragon's Head, then dive through another portal that manifested in a well.

After traveling through the portal, the players find themselves back in the closet, with the Maid's body. She is dead, key clenched in her hands, and bleeding upwards towards the ceiling for no explainable reason. They take the key, head down to the Gardens through the kitchen, and question the Gardener. The Gardener has an important bit of information; He's seen Lizbeth! It was just the other day that he was walking towards the estate, when he saw her on the hillside, watching him. The party has the Gardener lead him to the place where he saw Lizbeth, and the inspect the area, then move on to family Mausoleum.

While approaching the family Mausoleum, they run into unexpected company. As the party heads up to the main gate which allows entrance to the Mausoleum grounds, the are caught unaware by Lizbeth, who taunts Father Pavel, the first of the party leading them up to the gate. "You're more of a meal, than a man!" she says, then chortles as she runs off at a fast pace around the Mausoleum. Father Pavel recognizes her new form; a wight, and also takes the bait. In a flurry of righteous wrath, he kicks through the gate and gives chase. The rest follow suit. They lose her, and are ambushed by two "Howlers." After the combat, they inspect inside the Mausoleum. Despite years of layered dust, there had been activity in the area recently. They discover the two primary sarcophagi of the Mausoleum (progenitors of the family line in this area.) They are defaced, and one is shattered. The other contains another Scroll of Power. The party also inspects the open wing of the Mausoleum, and discovered two open graves; Lizbeth's and her mothers. Both graves are empty. While the Mother's grave looks carefully opened, Lizbeth's looks violently rended open - from the inside. Through careful inspection and time, the party deduces that Lizbeth was actually buried alive, and tried to claw her way out. Ultimately, she was successful, but only after she had died and transformed into a wight was she able to escape.

It is at this point that the party hears another howl, with sounds from the roof. William "Badass" takes the lead to leave the Mausoleum, and upon exiting is pounced on by another Howler - except for this particular one is large sized. Toledo Hanes launches a volley of arrows at the beast and does damage, and in retaliation the beast lunges at him (reminiscent of the first encounter with a howler) and severely wounds him. The beast is eventually slain, but not before dealing out its fair share of damage.

The party makes it's way back to Jeremiah's estate, arriving near midnight. They inform Patrick and Jeremiah of their findings. In turn, they are told a little about the past of this area, more specifically, an old church and nearby catacombs, as well as a small island with some Standing Stones. They are also told a bit about Jeremiah's father, who apparently took up an interest in the occult.

It was then recommended to call it a night for DnD, and everyone decided to end this session early.

Emulation

I have decided to try my hand again at attempting to run another campaign. This one is intended to be short, but we'll see how things pan out. While this is my third major creation (though hardly a creation, hence the title,) it is my second major endeavor as a DM. So far only one session has passed, and it was a strong session. All things considered, it seems as if it will continue to go strong.

Character creation was an eclectic affair. Base classes were taken from The Black Company Campaign Setting handbook. However, because The Black Company utilized a different magic system, which was considered a bit cumbersome given time and resources available, the decision was made beforehand that spellcasting would be handled the old, familiar, 3.5 edition way. That said, any spellcasting class (Cleric, Druid, Wizard, Sorcerer) would be selected from the 3.5 Player's Handbook from the original Greyhawk setting. A dice-pool system was used for generating stats, and in addition to selecting the classes from The Black Company book, players were also expected to choose a Background. More on those later, perhaps.

Other than that, players were given two more conditions with which they were to make their characters. Their characters were to have known each other well. They have been an adventuring party for at least a couple years now, and furthermore they are something like the "last generation" of a general association of adventurers. This "association" was originally started by two brothers who took on the world by storm, and gained followers and friends. Even after the two brothers left, or retired (no one is really sure which,) the group persisted, and has been around since, changing in its composition of fellowship. The current PC party represents the current state of this fellowship. The second condition was that the party was required to know and remember the names of two former fellowship-members: Patrick and Jeremiah. Both are almost like living relics, as well as being known as stand-up guys

All this said, here's the party, and what they managed to produce:

Ross - "William Badass" - Dwarf Zealot geared towards taking copious amounts of damage.
JT - "Sadamamuel" - Human Noble who is knowledgeable in all bits of esoteric knowledge.
Ian - "Mad Jack" - Human Berserker that is not afraid to get his hands dirty.
Tyler - "Alexander Sebastian VonLichtenstein" - A literal and figurative Jack-of-all-Trades with an Aristocratic background.
Garrett - "Toledo Hanes" - One of two brothers; a veteran Ranger utilizing ranged attacks to fell foes.
Markham - "Cras Hanes" - The second of the two brothers who also uses ranged attacks, but, as a Scout, depends more on guile.

The beginning of the game starts off with the players coming across a cliche Den of Evil populated by Goblins, which they handedly slay. Once the cave is cleared out, and they beginning exploring and looting the corpses for treasure, they are approached by an inter-planar messenger who arrives via portal. The messenger brings a letter for the party regarding their friend Jeremiah; a frantic letter that makes little sense in its babble and has only one thing clear, he's in need of help back on his estate.

The messenger leaves through a portal, which the players manage to figure out and mimic - though they end up in Sigil, not their friend's estate as hoped. In Sigil, they manage to find a planeswalker who is able to figure out where the party has to go, and how to get there. They are informed, by the planeswalker, that where they are going isn't like other places.

The party travels through the portal, and finds themselves in a tomb, which ends up being a burial mound. When they find their way out, they are greeted by a servant of Jeremiah's. A problem is immediately apparent - they do not speak the same language. Thankfully, both sides find common ground in the understanding of the word "Jeremiah," and, after a brief respite, the servant escorts them towards Jeremiah's estate.

They arrive at the estate late at night. The previous servant takes his leave, and when the party knocks on the door they are greeted by another servant who shows them the way to Jeremiah's room. This is where the party first gets a taste of what is wrong. They encounter a ghost, in the form of a man who's flesh had been flayed off. He has chains and hooks hanging from him, and lunges at the party, only to disappear the instant before contact. This rattles the party, who quickly make it to Jeremiah's bedroom. Jeremiah is bedridden, sick and feeble from a terminal illness. They are barely able to greet eachother when a scream and a howl is heard from down the hallway. The party dashes to the rescue, finding a woman slain by some terrible beast, which attacks them. The beast was not like anything they have seen before. It ran on all fours, but could stand on its hind legs like a man. The claws of the beast were almost as long as a man's arm, and its own arms are longer still. The beast itself was the color of a cold gray, like death, with a dark mane that ran down its back. Hideously rows of sharp teeth filled its maw, and two horns projected rearward. With its tremendous jumping capability, it slashed at Garrett's character in retaliation for critically wounding arrow, almost killing Garrett's character in one blow. The rest of the party was quick to gang up on it, and it was Ian's character which put it down. Before the players could examine the body closely, it faded into thin air...

The players tend to their fallen comrade, and ask questions of Jeremiah. Jeremiah, after having a fit from the scare, is too weakened to make any proper response, mumbling something about a family curse. The party is forced out of Jeremiah's chambers by his personal nurse, and they rest after being shown their quarters.

The next day, the party is greeted in the morning, one by one, by Patrick, the other former NPC party member. He informs them all of a meeting that will take place shortly after breakfast. At this meeting, some things are made more clear. Jeremiah's estate is in dire straits; all of Jeremiah's family members have either died, or gone missing over the last several years. With their disappearance, rumors run rampant about strange sightings and happenings. With the death of Jeremiah's father while Jeremiah was off serving in the war, management of the estate has gone down hill, with most of the staff leaving and looting the estate as they went. Now only a portion, those who are most loyal to the family, remain. With these strange sightings and happening occurring more frequently, Jeremiah himself almost seems half convinced of a family curse. Jeremiah ends his part in the dialogue suggesting that the party, when fully recovered, question a gardener who claims he's seen something...

From there, Patrick takes over the dialogue, discussing things of the more arcane nature. He presents a wooden box with a small crystal in it. It looks something like a rough jade, or emerald, and fits into the palm of a man's hand. There is a hole near the top of the crystal, where Patrick ran a small rope through so it can be wore around the neck. No one quite new what it was, Patrick included, other than it was a stone that contained some sort of power. Aside the box was a scroll. This scroll contains "blueprints" for a ritual, judged to be potentially beneficial to whomever it was performed on. Ross volunteered to have this ritual performed on him, and gained an interesting ability which allowed him to see things other could not. It was further discovered that the stone could be used as a sort of beacon to help find these things that only Ross's character could see. After that, the party retires to full rest up from all the ability damage they had taken from the ghost just the day before.

During this period of rest, William Badass experimented more with his ability, discovering more how it worked and seeing some disturbing sights. Alexander Sebastian VonLichtenstein (Alex, I'll use for short from now on,) procured some high-proof alcohol to make Molotov cocktails from, and while doing so had another slight encounter with the Ghost. This time, it did not take the form of a skinned man, but rather a man in a suit, with bright red hair. He was reading a book, after which he placed it down and disappeared. The book remained, and ended up being the remaining bits of the Journal of Aaron - Jeremiah's missing brother. The journal was mostly gibberish, cursing his twin-sister's name, then mentioning taking a trip to a far away land...

When the party was fully rested, they ventured forth to try to find this gardener they were supposed to question. On their way there, they came across servants all in a fluster and cleaning. Apparently Lizbeth's room had been ransacked, with items strewn about and destroyed; claw marks along the walls and floors. Lizbeth, it turns out, was the youngest of Jeremiah's siblings. William Badass takes a closer look at the room with his new sight ability, and discovers a portrait of Lizbeth with her dogs. When he looks at this painting with his ability, the dogs transform into beasts, the same type which almost slain Toledo Hanes (Garrett's character.) As for Lizbeth herself, she transforms into something bestial, near-demonic, and seemingly filled with hate and rage. Alex finds a journal, though he can't understand it. The party decides to backtrack with this new information, and as they exit the room, a beast crashes through the window and slays one of the maids. It stands up to a fight for a bit, but then retreats, as if called. The archers in the fight slay it from afar, before it can get too out of range.

The session ends with finding Patrick again, and translating Lizbeth's journal. It ends up being mostly poetry, but also idle self-discussion about her own wasting disease and going out to the mausoleum, where she was to be buried, as if to conquer her fear. The party, plus Patrick, decide to question the Gardener together.

Session two awaits...

...It lives...!

And so the time has come and gone, and a new age becomes anew.

Garrett has begun a game, and handed the reins over to me for the time being while he is over in Chinoise-country.

I plan on following through with the campaign until the end of this chapter proper, with the main objectives in mind of bringing the story of the three Hags to a conclusion. After that, if time allows, we'll all be able to test our mettle by running our own weekly mini-games of justice.

The players are many, and the campaign itself is quite interesting, as always. Joining us is my brother Tyler, and Stan, Todd, Markham, Adam, Ian and Jason. Stacy left for New York. The world, in brief, has various realms ruled in different ways and differing levels of technology, but all having the theme of a pre-renaissance medieval Europe level of culture with an ever-permeating One-God-to-Rule-Them-All church and religion.

As said before, the story thusfar has dealt with three Hags running amok. The party and it's individual members seek to thwart them for many reasons. Ian plays a driving role, having a Church Inquisitor as a character. Other members have personal motives. After spending a very long time helping an isolated logging community deal with the threat of a sudden attack of Werewolves (and other wolf-like creatures), the party finally managed to storm the Hag's stronghold and defeat her - acquiring one of the fabled moonstones.

Now the party hunts after the second Hag near a Coastal village, where Lizardfolk and the like are terrorizing the local population. The local church leader seems to be corrupted, and there is also an issue with rebelling kobolds from the nearby mine (a situation which will be explained later.) They are now holed up in one of the old Pagan temples, which is set off-limits by the said corrupted person.

Where I have come in as DM, the party had discovered a hidden underground passage to this temple as a means to get inside. Garrett had begun the beginning part of the dungeon, and it was up to me to continue on and finish it. The cave turned out to be a lair of Skum and an Aboleth, which the party managed to handedly clear out and slay.

Now they are at a large, forboding doorway...

Next Campaign.

The chances of me starting up another campaign before the end of the semester is not likely.

However, I may run a campaign over the summer. We'll see how my classe and stuff go.

Session Nine...?

Session Nine may or may not take place this Saturday.

Reasons mainly being: at this point in time when I will arrive is slightly a mystery. Of course I'm going to try to make it back Saturday, but it will probably be sometime between 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM. Big time gap difference.

After this problem, we some other issues... Will the Cisler Center be open for the use of Peacock Cove? And how the hell do we keep track of everyone and in good communication (because this Blog only does so well)? I don't expect everyone to stare at this blog.

With all that said... I submit the following plan to you guys: Assume the game will start around 5:00 PM. Or rather, try to meet at my place at around that time. From there, we will figure out where we'll play the game (and, yes, my place is an option.)

As always, I'm open to suggestions. Which reminds me, if Saturday is too much of a rush, or something, I'm perfectly willing to host a game on Sunday as well, and if people want it I may host two games this weekend.

If there is any change in plans, I'll be sure to post it on here.

Session Eight.

The Location of Session Eight will be at 317 Sheridan Drive.

You guys will be starting right after you finishing off the Pikemen and Archers, backed up by the Orc Cleric.

The Blog will be updated later; I'm currently getting ready to head out, so I can set up the encounter.