A Brave New World.

As part of my immersion back into the Olde School I have decided to do some world building for a sandbox campaign. I am using the Swords and Sorcery rules because I think that they are simple yet elegant. I am, however, changing a few things to give this world some new and different twists.
First off, I have planned to allow a few new races, Halflings for one. I know, I know...but I like Halflings. More will be mapped out when I get through the standard races. I am also changing some of the classes and which races can play them. Humans can be anything from the original book, except clerics. There are no standard type clerics in my world. Sure, there are religions and priests, but priests have to learn magic like anyone else.
Other classes I am useing are some of the ones from the Swords and Wizardry Companion site. These classes include Bard, Assassin, Druid and Ranger.
Humans can be Fighting men, Rangers, Thieves, Assassins, Bards, and Magic Users. Magic users will all be specialists. These being Abjurer, Conjurer, Diviner, Enchanter, Evoker, Illusionist, Necromancer and Transmuter. The idea here is that the erstwhile MU Chooses a school of magic and then two prohibited schools and may use any other school to augment his books. The pay off is that they get an extra spell of their school per spell level. I plan also to add to this a class called witch, which I will design myself. My concept is someone with subtler magic who can also employ the healing kinds of spells that would ordinarily be the realm of the cleric.
Humans may be any kind of Magic User, but not a Druid.
Elves in my game are going to be a tribal forest people and not really suited to the intellectual discipline of magic. They may be Fighting men, Thieves, Assassins, Druids, Bards or Rangers. They may only wear armour made of things found in the forest...therefore, leather and padded, natural scale and perhaps a new kind...carved and laminated wood. They are prohibited from using any iron weapons or items because Iron, as we all know, is harmful to Elves.
Dwarfs are more refined than their regular cousins and may be Fighting men, Bards, Transmuters, Enchanters or Evokers.
Halflings may be Rangers (called "Sheriff"), Druids, Fighting Men, or Bards.
This is it for now. There are other details I might include, but I will not because my games groups probably reads this blog. Sorry boys.

Farewell to Arms!

In our last installment, we found our heroes in the city of Nulb. An assassin had tried to kill Murfles mother, Mother Squrig (or something thereabouts...probably a name dreamed up by the great wizard Zygag!) The party is escorted to the place where the culprit is being held...pending execution of course, and it is none other than our old buddy...Berol. They question us about whether or not he worked for us and we had to convice some really cranky people that, in fact, he never worked for us, but for the owners of the trading post in Hommlet. These men are obviously traitors, not traders. We find out that simultaneously Otis and Elmo's parents have also been killed, along with other movers and shakers that oppose the temple.
We inform them that it is our intent to re-enter the temple and get to the bottom of this thing. Literally. We don't even make it inside when we are attacked in the forecourt by a group of something like 25 men at arms. Soren, the Burninator, takes care of this with a fireball and leaves one guy alive for questioning. He doesn't know anything, so we kill him.
Most of what we fought inside the second level of the dungeon were Bugbears. These we, or shall I say the Paladin and Ranger, mowed through with little trouble...they were rolling hot all night. I tried out the wand of wonder and ended up growing a lot of grass on things. But I did slow one bugbear leader so he could then, be mowed down by the Ranger.
At one point the DM became rather dejected and exclaimed "He's dead, like every other thing in your path"
One interesting room we came to was a room with a minotaur. I, of course, ended up growing grass on him. Nice.
In the end, we faced off with some guys I believe included the master of the temple of water. We fought the lightweights and I cast a sleep spell...or what I like to call "create abattoir" and we were victorious. Now the treasure...and I promise no spoilers. We found a bit, not as much as I thought, but it was OK. I think that this dungeon is surprisingly generous. Perhaps too much so. One item we found was cursed. The Ranger could not remove his hand from it and it caused him to seek out the deepest body of water available and attempt to live there, for the rest of his life. I put a hold spell on him and we did the only thing we thought to do. We cut off his hand. Not willing to leave our ranger short handed...heh...we used a restoration scroll on it and he had a new one...very nice. We then returned to Nulb...a great place to rest.

My New Blog

I have started another blog, one that concerns all thing apocalyptic. If that is something to your taste, you can find the new blog at http://poorsportsman.blogspot.com/. It is called The Poor Sportsman of the Apocalypse. I will blog, primarily, about Old School Post Apoc. games such as Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha and Mutant Future. I also want to blog there concerning everything from post apoc world design to building your own road warrioresque street machines for miniatures gaming to 2012...yeah, just wait for that rant!

More later

The ghouls were all aGhast!

This weeks adventure starts in Nulb. The guy who plays the Paladin was very ill and could not make it, so the story is that Otto, overcome with grief and guilt over the wanton murder of the Kobold child, stayed behind to entreat his god for forgiveness. As you also may or may not know gentle reader, if you have been reading these accounts at all, my character was killed last time out. So, it fell to me to create a new target for the likes of our DM and the legacy of Mr. Gary Gygax. Enter Soren, the wizard. The clever adventurers noticed right away that I did not fit in with the other patrons, offering their custom to the tavern. There Soren sat, imbibing mead and smoking a cigar...waiting for adventure to arrive. They came over to the table and Soren introduced himself. They told him of the Temple and their adventures and he agreed to go with them (of course, if he had not, this would be short blog, indeed.) Byrne had to return to Hommlet on some urgent business so Elmo decided to go along for fortune and glory. We also met an old elf woman (named "Merfles"...Mr. Gygax, you mock us with your name choices...even from beyond the grave!) who was directed to go along with us, directed by her mother (who must have been very old indeed.)
We circumnavigated the Temple and found nothing amiss, so it was our intention to descend into the dungeons of the temple and finish what we had started. Almost immediately, we were confronted by two ogres. We got the upper hand and attacked. Soren cast a ray of enfeeblement on one of the ogres and in a short amount of time both had been sent to the great ogrey beyond. Their abode, a seemingly dead ended room, held a secret stone door at one end. This we opened. GNOLLS AND BUGBEARS, were the reward for our perusal. I asked the party to step aside and shot a fireball (ahhhh, fireball...when you have to kill every motherf#%er in the room. Right now!) into the room full of Gnolls and Bugbears and it was not long before we were searching their charred remains. However, it was not over for as we did this, more gnolls attacked. These we slew and were on our marry way. Soren, a wizard not known for his combat abilities, even slew one with his staff.
A little while later, we found some ghouls, six of them in the middle of a ghoulish meal. During the melee, more than half the party were paralysed and the rest of us (the Cleric and the Wizard) were left to deal with them as best we could...but our paralyzed compartiots were blocking the door way. We applied some magic ointment which enlivened our frozen friends and finished slaying the beasts. In the next room, more ghouls! These I killed with the judicious application of a burning hands spell. Fire cleanses.
It was at this point that the Cleric's player switched dice, as his turnings had taken a horrible turn with low rolls.
I also asked our friend "Merfls" to check a sack for traps...yeah...I am beginning to be a bit paranoid of a dungeon that has not given us a single inch.
We explored for a bit, and discovered two ghasts in the next room. It was at this point that the pizza guy arrived, very late, and we took a break for that staff of life that no Gamer of any note can do without, Pizza.
When we returned to our ghasts, Brother Pitor prepared to turn them. A 5th level Cleric needs a natural 20 to turn ghasts...he rolled a natural 20. Much celebrating was had while the hungry undead things fled from our presence. We searched the room and found some gold, and ironically a scroll of protection from the undead. I made a note of this irony just as we were attacked by more ghasts. We fought them and slew one, the other was routed. I believe I heard him exclaim "Yipes!" as he went. A little bit later we searched a room with a fireplace. Inside the fireplace was a giant snake (are we back to giant animals again, Mr. Gygax!?) The Paranoid Ranger slew the monster in one attack. It was impressive to watch. We then searched the room...completely. I had been wondering why the Ranger was so fastidious in his insistence that we search each and every room. I then heard him say something about a courslet of Elven Chain maille that he had heard was down here. Aha, quoth I...I understand now. It is this very obsession that had us all but tearing up bits of rugs for the rest of the night. We poked through old piles of bones, through foetid ghoul beds. We searched everywhere but to no avail.
We did, however, find some prisoners whom we freed, gave food and water and whatever clothes we could spare and escorted to the egress. When we returned, we entered a large room full of columns. Just as the penultimate party member crossed the threshold a portcullis dropped in front of our humble Soren, trapping him outside the room. It was then that they heard it, the song of the harpies. The cleric failed his save and began to walk toward the pillars, an action that I surmised would be deleterious to his health. I put up a wall of fire in front of him, knowing that even in a charmed state he would do no harm to himself. The harpies then began to swoop down for their attacks. In the middle of battle, the harpies were joined by some...Ghouls, who were bent upon our destruction. I put up another wall of fire, to block the ghouls and forced them to take the long way round should they still desire to sup on the flesh of my party mates. I then used my back up, the Wand of Wonder. Celebrated as it is, this time it merely caused the growth of grass over a 60 foot square area.
Merfles and Elmo were paralysed. The ranger and the cleric were charmed by the siren song of the harpies...and the only person who could attack was outside the room...starring through bars. So, what could I do? I used my fire want another time and caused a pyrotechnic show which blinded all in the room. I have to admit that I had underestimated the effects, much to my sorrow. However, the sirens were stunned and ceased their song. This gave the cleric enough time to cast silence so their singing would not return. The rest of the party came to and began attacking our enemies and soon all were gone. The problem remained that Soren was on the outside looking in being barred by a portcullis that not even the whole party could lift. The looked for a secret door, and found one. They then opened it, and in so doing activated the release that raised the restraining gate.
We searched the room and the Ranger found his hearts desire...a suit of elven chain. He began to put this one. Merfles said "Hold on a minute...I think I should have this" Harsh words were exchanged. The cleric and I tried to calm the mood by suggesting a compromise. The ranger should be allowed to wear it until we get back, then discussion over the ownership of the mail could be accomplished when cooler heads prevailed. All agreed to this.
Armed with new found confidence, provided by a sick armour class, the Ranger strutted ahead into the dungeon. we discovered more Ghouls, many more of them. Soren said "Step back, I shall fry them!" the ranger said no and attacked. More paralysation more magic ointment later...the ghouls were killed and we began to explore their warrens. We found some prison cells with a prisoner therein, a gnome fighter named Wanalon (Mr. Gygax...what names you come up with) we outfitted him as we could and went further. Later on we found his gear in a secret room and he, reunited with it prepared for adventure. We finished up looking in formerly unseen places and decided that a trip back to town for some healing and to recover our paladin were in order. So, this we did.
You, oh reader, will notice the rather spartan description here...this is by design as I do not wish to reveal any real spoilers. I know, I know, there are some spoilers...but it is my hope that they have not been many. Please return often, as we hope to prepare more stories for you amusement and wonder.

I put the NO in iNOvation!

I just now heard that they are releasing a THIRD edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Now, just to give the uninitiated an idea, there were almost 18 years between edition one and two, and edition two came out last year. LAST YEAR. The NEW and IMPROVED EDITION is even better. It is appearently so complicated that you NEED to have action cards, special dice, special charcactor cards, party sheets and somekind of interlocking tracking thingie that makes sure to reward you for role playing your character. Dont believe me...take a look at this
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/media/front-page-player/player.html
look at the vid for the new WHFRP...

I am too disgusted to think about it right now.

Earth to Earth...

OK, there IS more. Last night's entry was a bit brief, but it was three in the morning and I needed sleep. I just put something up because I know how ProfessorDnD gets when he does'nt have something to read.
So, no shit, there we were...The Fanatical Paladin, the Dynamic Ranger (and by dynamic, I really mean paranoid), the Cleric of questionable morals (and sometime kobold gourmond) and the Dwarven...erm..."Engineer". We were wending our way through the earth level of the Temple of Elemental Evil, there are many twists and turns there. We had been through the building on the surface and found most thing destroyed. We discovered a colour scheme of Green, Brown, White and Red. I surmised that these stood for Evil Elements (!) Water (brackish), Earth, Air and Fire...respectively. We ended up down on the first level under, and noticed that all of the imaginary people we were killing wore brown robes with a black trangle thereon. This merely reinforced my theory that the colours went with the elements as the triangle is the Alchemical symbol for earth...Medieval studies Degree kids. Soon, we found that there was planty to kill. We fought much the ususal suspects as before, Gnolls, Bugbears and human cultists. However, there were many more of them. Thorrin, the Dwarf finally got a magic item, a ring of shooting stars, and I was planning the manifold pain that I would bring down on cultists with this item. You see, last night, I was rolling for shit. Fumbles abounded. I got sick and tired of giving my foes an attack of opportunity whilst I picked up my errant weapon so my new strategy was to attack hand to hand. The first time was against a gnoll. I dropped my axe. The snarling gnoll thought he had me, but I lept on him and grappled him to the ground and began smashing his tender head against the flagstones. He pitifully tried to defend himself, but to no avail. His brains ended up painting the floor in a masterpiece of graymatter and granite. The second time was against a human cultist. I could think of nothing else to do but to feign picking up my weapon and then head butting him as hard as I could...in the nuts. Much to my surprise, I killed him. Imagine, going to hell and having the demonic elemental (or whatever these guys believe) ask you how you met your end. Imagine saying "I was headbutted in the junk by a short guy". It makes me giggle a little even now.
This, however, is not how I met my end. As I said before, it was a glyph of warding. I know, I know...I didnt check. Also, remember that not in thirty years of D and D goodness have I ever played a thief. Now I know why. I havent the mind of a thief. Besides, I would never have been able to detect a magical trap, I was not a wizard (which we had, and 8th level one). It came out later that the Paladin has the ability to, 50% of the time, dispell magic. Of course, he forgot about this. The Paladin, determined to give me a Christian Burial (!) proceeded to strap my carcass to his back and carry me around. I then began, by mercy of the DM, to play the NPC wizard. This I could do. Like the time we ran across a guard post with 28 people in it. The paladin was set to charge in and put that den of evil to death, and I said wait. I opened the door and threw a fire ball in, then I closed the door and stepped back. Yeah, Fireball, when you need to kill every single motherf#$er in the room, right now.
However, to be fair and to indulge the Professor, the other players played very well...much better than yours truely...a ghost.
The Cleric is a powerhouse. Healing and fighting. For a new guy, he can really play, he just needs to know what all his spells do. I admire him for taking on a spell casting character right out of the gate. I think I am going to make him some spell flashcards or something.
The Paladin, a bit of a fanatic. We have to reign him in sometimes, positing that it is better to sometimes fight evil when we have a good chance of living through it...so we can fight evil again. He is, however, a killing machine and much needed in this adventure.
The Ranger is a quisineart on two legs. He has a bow, but has found that wielding his magic swords is more effective. Seriously, the guy is a walking slaughterhouse. He also keeps rolling well.
I also have props for all my geeky homies in the role playing department. Our group is a mixed bag of seasoned role players and newbies. These guys first cut their teeth on Call of Cthulhu...and from that experience I figured that AD&D would be more their bag. I could not have been more correct. They have really taken to it.
We also get to smoke a lot of cigars and pipe tobacco and drink some rather excellent Single Malts and special Rums. Very nice.
After all these years of Playing RPGs, I can say the last few years or so, have not been as fun as I remember it being as a kid. However, I can say, without equivocation, that I now remember now as an adult, what I loved about this hobby as a kid.
Part of that probably has to do with going back to the old school roots. Playing games that had fewer rules and much more fun. Games from an age when gameing was about having a good time with your friends, and not creating byzantine characters, full of rules, stated out to their every ability...just to show everybody else at the table what a bad ass you think you are.
I am only sorry that it took this long to discover it.

Squirrel Buggery Salad Surprise

We were in the thick of it again in the Temple of Elemental Evil, tonight. We discovered some stairs down to what we assumed was the level that dealt with the Element of Earth. We found an augury room with bone dice that gave us Magic 8 Ball type answers. We killed some gnolls, a whole mess of gnolls, an ogre, some bugbears and finally some humans. The highlight of the evening is when I made a rookie mistake and the one time I did not check for traps was the one time that I ran into a door with a Glyph of warding on it. I, of course, did not make my saveing throw. Being two levels lower than everybody else has its drawbacks...I was killed, for good. I ended up taking the role of the NPC, Burne.
I have no idea what kind of charactor to roll up next. Gonna have to think about that one for a while.
In other news, I seem to have picked up two more followers for this blog...a good thing, but the pressure is one to write something worth reading. I am sure that my friends will forgive my worst efforts, but well....more later...it's 3am and I need some sleep.