RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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So there we were, gathered around the table for Chapter XI of the Savage Tide AP. It was yesterday afternoon. About halfway through, we felt pressure in our ears as the air pressure increased sharply. The power went out. About 30 seconds later, we heard that sound you hear about in all the accounts, that "freight train" sound that means you are about to be hit by a tornado.
Too shocked to take cover, we looked out the bay window and watched pieces of houses flying by in the front yard. Finally, we came to our senses and moved to the rear of the house to take some kind of cover. As we made our way to the windowless hallway, we noticed trees in our neighbor's yard snap in two... one of them a small dogwood, but the other a large, old-growth pine.
The whole thing was over in about three minutes. We went outside to survey the damage. At our neighbor's house on the left, all the aerial lines were ripped away. The shed out back was ripped in half. But it wasn't until we walked over to our neighbor's house on the right that we realized just how serious this had been. Half of his house was destroyed, crushed beneath a fallen pine tree.
We didn't see any immediate damage to our house, so we gave it a thorough walkaround. We weren't even missing a shingle from the roof. My wife's car, my truck, and three vehicles belonging to my players were parked in the front yard: not a scratch on any of them, even though fallen limbs were piled all around them. We had stuff on our back porch that wasn't so much as blown out of position. Aside from the loss of power (current estimates say it'll be out until late Wednesday night), the worst that happened was we had trash in the yard.
So we finished the game by candlelight. It was
As we drove out through the neighborhood this morning, past multitudes of downed trees and power lines, the destruction was awe-inspiring. Whole stands of pines so large you couldn't wrap your arms around them were shorn off about 30 feet from the ground, as if some colossal scythe had swept through them. Smaller trees with spreading roots were blown over. About half the houses in the neighborhood had trees through them. Some houses' roofs were torn off. We saw one house that was completely flattened, as if a giant had squashed it with his foot. The destruction would have been far worse if most of the houses in the neighborhood hadn't been 1-story brick.
I believe God spared our house yesterday (it certainly wasn't because of any saintliness on my part). It was like there was some kind of force field around us.
And that's the story of how we played Pathfinder in the middle of a raging tornado.
We had a lot in central Mississippi recently. Where might you be at?
Dayum.
Yeah; I think we got the same system a few days earlier; dumped a bucket of marbles on my roof, but nothing heinous.
Yikes!
Also glad you all are okay.
Great write up Charlie. It is a game we will talk about for years to come. One part u left out was the fact that just up the street is Hobbit Hobbies; which has been my hobby shop since 1984. We still dont know how big a hit it took, but hopefully its just a glancing blow and I can pick up April's releases on Friday.
Great write up Charlie. It is a game we will talk about for years to come. One part u left out was the fact that just up the street is Hobbit Hobbies; which has been my hobby shop since 1984. We still dont know how big a hit it took, but hopefully its just a glancing blow and I can pick up April's releases on Friday.
I used to go to the hobbit too when I lived down there and whenever i visit.
as soon as you find out please post. and Ed McKays if you happen to be on bragg blvd. Thanks.
I'm in Raleigh and we lucked out, too. Tornado touched down on New Bern Avenue less than a quarter mile from my house in East Raleigh, then skipped west toward Buffaloe Road. The damage was bad all around us, but our neighborhood was spared.
We also had a game scheduled Saturday night; all the players were late due to traffic problems - stoplights were out all over town, and trees and power lines were also blocking thoroughfares - but I had enough time to finish up Foxglove Manor and hit the townhouse in Magnimar before we called it a night. We played with candles and camping lanterns.
Fayetteville, NC.
Raleigh, NC for me.
4 trees through the house of one of my gaming group members. Another had power out for a day and still no internet access, and the neighborhood looks like a bomb went off. Another player had a fence hit their parked car.
I didn't have much of any damage in my neighborhood a few miles from there, but I had the "luck" of being on the highway during the worst of the storm. Could barely see the road, and tornado warnings in effect had me scanning the sky for funnel clouds. Got off the road ok, but there were some downed trees and power lines in the middle of Raleigh when I was still driving.
Ugg.
Glad to hear everyone was alright. It reminds me of my first game of Pathfinder (running RotR) when the house 3 down from me had a natural gas explosion during the goblin invasion of the town.
Wow, that's awesome. Glad you're safe!
Wow, that is a pretty epic story. Glad everybody is safe. Could this be a sign that God does approve of gaming?? I think so :-)