-Never ever sleep indoors when traveling- Cat complained-. Creepy killer dolls, crazy dead priests… I’d rather risk being eaten by wolves. Words of wisdom, indeed.
I expected her to tell me I was creepy again, but that didn't happen. We were both already half asleep. You are creepy. Happy now? And you smell good. Very good...
This scene with the prisoners set the mood for all the story. From this point on, it was not just an adventure about some evil witches trying to conquer the world: it became a story about the suffering of the Irriseni people and finding how to help them. Suddenly, my players were not into freeing Baba Yaga. What kind of monster could support this regime? Frreing the Little Mother would end all hope of changing things. They realized they had to find another way of saving Krynn. I was never so proud of them.
Ugh! I can't believe I have kissed her. SPIDERS. WHY SPIDERS?!?
And this is the moment when Blond goes out of the story to never come back. When I created the character I intended to use him to give my players alternative ways of ending the adventure via a sidequest with the solamnic knights. Blond himself was one of a few solamnic knights kidnapped by the winter witches to obtain information about the enemies they would have to fight with in the upcoming invasion. Once the witches had enough information the knights were executed. All but Blond. Nazhena thought it would be funny to brainwash him and use him against his old friends. Of course, all kind or rumors spread. Some people said he was Nazhena's secret son; another ones believed he was some kind of magic construct, or even a disguised demon! I roleplayed Blond as a quiet NPC who could slip bits of information to the PCs and help them in little ways (I didn't want him to overshadow the PCs in any way) and... the character was a complete failure. Lesson learned: Quiet characters don't work with my players. Fortunately, they quickly developed bonds with Argentea, who then became the focus of the solamnic sidequest. As for Nadya: Indi's player told us he was going to miss some sessions because of real life matters, so I took Nadya and made her an archer Skirmisher Ranger. I intended to use her as an NPC, but I never had to. The first day Indi couldn't play we welcomed a new player. I didn't want to delay the session making a character for a player who maybe didn't come back, so I let him chose between Argentea and Nadya as his PC. He chose Nadya. When the session was over, I told him that we could meet another day so he could roll his character. He didn't want to. He had become infatuated with Nadya's background and he wanted to keep roleplaying her. And that way Nadya Petska became one of the most memorable PCs in the adventure.
Be careful, Cal! This is an excerpt from "The Red Sign" (Vampire and Mage crossover) about "The King in Yellow": Spoiler:
The play within began somewhat innocuouly, featuring the story of the court of a kingdom in a mythical realm. In the midst of a complex narrative of court intrigue, the courtiers await the coming of a messenger, the Man in the Pallid Mask, who either brings redemption or damnatiopn for all.
(...) The play is so complex that the reader may sympathize with only one of the characters... but he sympathizes so thoroughly that the events of the play seem real. The reader is completely consumed by the story, believing that she is he chosen character. (...) Once the reader has been consumed by the book's delusion, the book's appearance changes. He may even lose the book and find some other to take its place: a dictionary, perhaps, or a manual on transmission repair. (...) Eventually, his former identity becomes a lie, and he becomes the character in the play, not in reality, but in his own thought and deed. (...) At some point, the reader or actor experiencing the play believes he is seeing the Pallid Mask, who then passes judgment on the play's new main character. According to legend, the outcome ir redemption or damnation. The judged reader/actor/character then disappears without a trace. The book disappears along with him, until is somehow found again. I used that book in a chronicle... set in Canada... and the book disappeared after doing its thing. Be careful...
Why are you revealing our intimacies? *Blushes*
About the last chapter, I'd like to make some clarification about the mark of Baba Yaga. (Dalindra will probably explain it better than me) Not much more to explain. It was just like that. The fact that all the other players were like "I don't want it, it will surely screw us up" made the decission easier. I mean, I was also sure that the damned mark would really end screwing my character up too, but they left me no choice!!! Fear is the little death, Kileanna. However, I think I have GMed too many horror games; you see, my players are becoming too cautious. I think they were expecting the mark would blow them up in pieces or so for the entire AP! Also, about the Geas. Dalindra hated it. I HATED IT with passion. Such a lazy tool! That surely made Dalindra's job as a GM harder, but the resulting story was so good and interesting. It was harder, yes, but also funnier. I love when my players surprise me. I don't like railroads when I play, but I HATE them when I GM.
-Focus! Don't lose your nerves now! I've never got used to it. You see, you are fighting for your life and the witch... just... ROFLs... I know, I know: it's just magic. JUST MAGIC. Spellcasters are weird.
You, creepy troll-elf! I am going to have nightmares!
...And here we have Lady Argentea. With Talda'syn out and Indi warning me that he would have to miss some sessions for real life issues, I decided to let my players to recruit some NPCs to complete the party; Lady Argentea had the honor of being the first one. My rules with these cohorts were these: they can help in combat and, if one player wants to, he can control one of them. Out of combat, I'll roleplay them. I gave Lady Argentea a sword and board build so she could help the party but not steal the spotlight from them. However, I was convinced that she was going to be very short-lived as my players would surely hate her. I portrayed Lady Argentea as a bossy, stubborn woman with some snobbish moments. And my party loved her. All of them! WTF? And there came a moment where I thought she was getting too relevant for a NPC, so I kicked her from the group in order to do a personal quest. My players went all "When does she come back?", "I miss Argentea" and so on. At the end she had to come back. Even though they recruited a fair amount of cohorts, whenever we lacked a 4th player (too often) it was always Lady Argentea who was selected. I guess I should be proud, but I am still WTF?
And here is where we lost Talda'syn's player. He wanted so badly to be the hero that he "taunted" the skeletons (it was a good idea, btw) and then he run towards the inexplored. In fact, he run towards Izoze. I let him autopass a Perception check and I also assumed that Izoze botched hers (I didn't want a TPK so early). However, his only plan was "to run very fast". I told him that the skeletons had his same speed, but he didn't try anything different. He just kept running. It was something like this: Talda'syn uses his two move actions running. The skeletons too; they cannot attack him (difficult terrain, so no charging). Talda'syn suffers damage from the ice aura (they were frost skeletons). Then Talda'syn runs again in straight line. Rinse and repeat. The freezing aura finally knocked him. When the rest of the party killed Rokhar, the skeletons were freed from Rokhar's orders and attacked them, but it was too late. Talda'syn was dead. I didn't want the player to sit out the rest of the session, so I let him use Blond (I told him to play Blond as a typical knight; in a few chapters you'll understand). He wasn't happy, but at least he could keep playing. An then all went south. At first, he demanded a free resurrection. A free True Resurrection, because he was level 1 and he didn't want the -2 to Con. Then he demanded that I let him play with his twin brother "who was just wandering the zone, looking for him". Of course, I said no. And then he started ranting about how the rest of the party had killed him with their incompetence. Seriously, bro... I managed to calm him down and told him that he could make a character that was not identical and that he could join the party the next session, when they went back to town. In the meantime (because I was not going to stop the game just so he could make a new character) I offered him to play with Blond or Lady Argentea (in my story she was a capable sword and board fighter), the two only NPC with a full sheet that I had at the moment. His answer was... ehm... something like this: Talda'syn: "I don't want to play a retarded fighter. Or a woman; I want to kill my enemies, not cuddle them to death". At first we all laughed. Then we realized he was serious. We managed to avoid a heavy discussion, but we were very pissed off. He tried to make amends, but he only made it worse; I won't repeat his exact words, but we all realized that he was a misogynist and that he had been picking on Kileanna not because her character was marked with bad omens; it was because the player was a woman. Once the session ended he went away and never returned. We didn't miss him.
I think that it locks you into choosing Blight Hex or Slumber Hex as your level 1 Hex. If it weas not so, you would have an archetype that gives you an extra hex and an increased DC in some spells in exchange for nothing.
Who. Is. That. Blonde. Guy? No, don't bother searching for him in the book. He is entirely homebrewed. Previously I had stated that I had to cut some encounters, so I had to develope some new ones. However, this encounter didn't go according to planned. I had planned an encounter where it was pretty obvious that Blonde Guy was a reluctant warrior, obeying the bandits like he was mind-controlled. The party defeated the bandits before Blondie could make his first move. Sigh. I had to improvise and Blondie ended with a child-like personality. This character's backstory would be discovered as they continued the adventure. My aim here was to let them know about what a lovely person Nazhena was and start seeding alternate ways to end the adventure. Have I said I hate railroads?
In my group we don't disallow multiclassing, but if a character decides to, he has to have an in-game explanation and he has to roleplay it. No one can be an analphabet feral barbarian and then gain a wizard level just because. How did he managed to gain that level? Who taught him magic? How can he read his own spellbook? If he can answer that questions and he comes with a plausible backstory then he is welcomed to multiclass. Of course, some multiclassings such as Fighter/Swashbuckler do not need explanations at all. They are close enough concepts.
Seriously... Who thought that an ambushing Tatzlwyrm was a good idea? At level 1? And attacking the least armored character? There was nothing that my players could do save for praying for a low damage roll. It could have easily ended with a dead character before they even realized they were under attack. Even with a maxed-out Perception it was near impossible to spot. Not cool. Well, enough ranting. For those of you that know Reign of Winter the next parts are going to be strange. Two-three months before starting this AP I had to improvise a short story, and you know what? Yes, I GMed the High Sentinel Lodge part. Two of my players (Kileanna and Cat) had already played that part with other characters, so I changed some things. This time there was snow, some encounters were out, some were changed, some new ones were in... I was not very satisfied with the result (I thought it was not different enough), but my players didn't notice it. Fun fact: Cat was originally Ten-Penny Tacey in that short story, but one of my players had just fell in love with the character and asked me to play her in RoW. I accepted with the condition that he expanded her background and made the character his. He did really great! I also started to change some things in the adventure. I was not happy with this AP being such a railroad, so I started changing things so the characters had real choices. No spoilers by the moment, but the sixth book was entirely homebrewed!
Talda'syn was the apprentice of the Kagonesti Lorekeeper, the elf responsible from keeping the lore and memory of the race. Kagonesti elves don't have written language, so the Lorekeeper role is a very important one. When Sylvyana enslaved the kagonesti elves and turned them into ravenous cannibals, Talda'syn was one of the affected; he did very nasty things while corrupted, killing and feasting on his master the worst one. When they were purified, Talda'syn couldn't cope with what he did and he flew, trying to find redemption. He didn't understand the role he had to play as Lorekeeper, either, so this was going to be a self-discovery travel for him. When I created this background for the character, I thought it would fit well with the other characters. You see, Kileanna was sort of a pariah among kagonesti. Cat was also a pariah by association and although she had not been corrupted by Sylvyana she had been fooled to help one of her followers. And Indi... well, he was the only not-kagonesti in the party and also a Neutral follower of an Evil goddess. And the elves are very strict with that things. All in all, they were a party of pariahs trying to find themselves while saving the world. It should have worked, right? But Talda'syn's player was only interested in antagonizing the other players (players, not characters). Ugh. He also believed his character was inmortal because "he is one of the protagonists and they will always win". When I told him that in my stories you have to earn the victory and that characters could in fact die he didn't believe me. Sadly he learned it the hard way. Even though I always try to help my players, Reign of Winter is the story with the highest PC death score I've ever GMed.
Talda'syn's player was.. problematic to say the least. He left us really soon and never came back. I'll explain Talda'syn's backstory when we reach that part. After all, he was not interested in creating a background for his character and I had to made it for him, so I know it quite well.
Hey, that's a me! Cool!
I approve it.
And I am blue.
Long time since my last post! Of course we wanted Harrigan alive! We had found some of our friends in Harrigan's... ehm... prisons and what we saw there made us thirsty for vengeance. And we hadn't even seen the worst of it! We wanted to punish that little mudfish, of course, but we didn't want to become him! It was a difficult conundrum, but I think I had a cool, albeit very cruel, idea. Just wait for it, you'll love it!
Pigs. And diamonds. Spoiler: Snatch. Seriously guys, that was the spanish title: Snatch: pigs and diamonds. What the hell did the translators smoke?!?
COW!! Errr... Happy birthday, Vid. I suppose I can't deny that I am spanish...
I just started working on a quick adventure I want to run my friends through in an RPG called Demon Hunters: A Comedy of Terrors. I have so far written the following background for the BBEGs. Does it seem comedically terrifying enough? I love it! It looks like a Buffy chapter!
Texas has Walker Texas Tanger, aka Chuck Norris. Can you keep it from being wherever it wants to be? An officer kicked in the door to the room and freed the man... ...And here he is!
*Comes running before it's too late* Happy birthday, Tacticslion! Still on time! YES!!!
My handler and his girlfriend draw many ideas from the shows they watch. I must be ready. Plus, it's better than the "TV Comercials" one; I hate how it keeps interrupting another shows!
I am afraid I am a natural-born wanderer. Since I've discovered my planeshifting abilities I can't stay in the same place for too long. Plus, in less than a week I have scheduled a planeshift to that strange world (Dirt? Ground? I am terribad with names) with "televisions" for the premiere of Game of Thrones.
*Looks to her rum* *Looks to the striped dragon* *Keeps drinking*
How do you feel about this option? I am a wizard, not AM BARBARIAN! What about this? My handler and his girlfriend made me wear it for a long time. They said it was better than Mage Armor, although I didn't notice any difference.
I have to say, it looks like you might be able to do justice to the topless Thorin from earlier. Maybe you can at least try it out. Just, see how it feels. Comfortable. Not very different from some of the costumes I've had to wear. It's what happens when you are a wizard who qualifies for Power Attack...
My
Mental domination is for weaklings. Mind-blowing revelations and nonsense chit-chat? That's the stuff Madness is made of! By the way, Madness can be a medicine for the modern world. You take it in moderation, it’s beneficial.
Ahhh...I remember those old 3.0 days when I could spontaneously cast a spell not in my spellbook. Good times. Elisa, don't waste your time with that. Your handler won't let you be succesful. Just live the life.
Amusing. Another character that seems to know we are all fantasy characters in a sort of cosmic tragedy. And she is able to tell who is a NPC and who is a PC! You have my attention.
Intim... what? I don't have any of that! I am a very healthy person!
And I love myself!
Both of you are kickass! By the way, I LOVE the picture!!!
Loving it!!
I've been waiting for this day for a long time! I'll beat your ass so bad you'll be the only demon in Abyss in a wheelchair!
*Brings plenty of rum to the party*
Do you think your filthy magic can save you? I have better Will than most wizards! Now, behave yourself before I have to discipline you. You are not better than that scum you call "brother"!!
*Severely stares at Lady Audrey* *Starts drawing her sword and shield*
Well, since Vidmaster7 doesn't want it, maybe Dalindra would be interested in signing up? I don't think I have any alias that could do justice to it. But keep trying!
Yes, I am determined to try and recruit all of Kileanna's aliases. Is that so wrong? That's what I was posting! You are a God-tier ninja!!!
I had a year of Latin and I don't remember much, either.
Lucky you. And your roommate. Well, we have a TV waiting for us since the last year, but we don't have the courage to bring it home. It could alter our... routines.
Are you the one?
Are you the one?
Are you the one?
Tomorrow comes, tomorrow goes
Maybe it's all just for the best
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