Just finished this campaign, after 73 sessions (+/- a couple since I didn't count in the start). First time since Age of Worms we've managed to finish a campaign. A rather anticlimatic endboss, but it was still epic as the group was well prepared and managed to roll 5 natural 20s in the first two rounds.

Had some attrition on the way. Lost 3 characters to death on the way, and 2 players dropped out before the end.

But the characters that fought to the end were:

Karsk, a half-orc Barbarian
Doc, a goblin alchemist
Du Der, an elven ranger
Bac, a gnome fighter

Haven't worked out their future yet, as that will be decided next week as we decide what to play next. But in the end a great time was had by all.

Interest check

Would people be interested in cycling up the starship engines and readying their characters for either 4-03 Battle for the Beacon or 3-15 The Preluria Connection?

I want to get into Society play, so I would be up for anything that a 1st level character could play.

Name of PC: Mangor
Class/Level: Warpriest of Ragathiel 18
Adventure: Broken Promises
Catalyst: Breath Weapon and evil dice gods
Story: Running back to the keep in time to see the lesser manifistation coming out of the sky, an epic battle was fought around the keep.

With everyone hurt, they were in bad shape when the dragon let loose a blast of elemental energy. Sadly, a critical failed save later Mangor found himself bleeding out on the ground.

The party alchimist had a hard choice, get the fighter standing next to him back in the fight and let him bleed for one more round or doom the fighter to go down next round while only healing the fallen cleric a little.

He chose wrong, for when it came down to death save, he rolled a 1. His last hero point already spent.

They fought the Vrock with the cultist standing around watching scared. The moment the Vrock fell and two of them were dead and the rest looked like they would fall over, they started charging. The rest of the group didn't feel like waiting around or wasting time to get out of there. The healer was down and they were out of potions.

That assault was brutal. Had my group's first deaths. Both the wizard and the rogue died as the rest of the group fled. They managed to kill the Vrock before fleeing, so another assault should go easier.

The group's biggest problem right now is that the rogue had the portal key back home and they couldn't get to the body without risking more death. Now they have to plan a new assault before they get reinforcements or can use the key.

Brought it to my last session, and no one of the PCs rolled a 20 for the first time ever :P

I rolled one, but a low level minion monster so didn't draw. Hopefully will get a chance tomorrow.

I haven't looked at it too closely, but I want to use it mostly for the PCs to feel powerful, so hopefully they'll roll better this weekend.

Thanks. It seems to have been updated to me buying it yesterday. So now everything seems good to go :)

Hi.

I have tried to send several e-mail about this over the last three weeks, but haven't heard back, so hopefully posting here will yield better result.

I have some items from my subscriptions that seems to have disappeared. When I visit the product page it says "You Purchased this Item" at the top. When I press the link to view order, I arrive at a order number with no items or order number. The same is true for the Character Sheet Pack, Combat Pad, Condition Cards and GM Screen.

While the order do have a total price, I cannot see that I have been charged and there is no price for shipping.

Let me preface by saying that I'm not 100% sure my math is right. A lot of this were done when I was tired and in an attempt to learn the rules. But here's how I added for 5 players:

Encounter 1: Elite Fire Mephit

Encounter A1: Add one Weak Goblin Dog (though a trapped door might work better)

Encounter A3: Added a Viper. As I looked over the monster list I got a mental image of tYoletcha picking up and tossing the viper at one of the weaker looking characters (spellcasters).

Encounter A4: One Centipede Swarm should equal 2 Spider Swarms for 4 characters. Unsure about this one, and think a possible Hazard might be better to add.

Encounter A10: Another one where I'm unsure. Another Imp will be overkill to keep it at the same difficulty (though not having played it might work out fine). But adding a Lemure or a Weak Lemure (or another level -1 creature) should be right. I hadn't looked at that closely at Hazards when I did this, and might look at a Hazard here instead.

Encounter A12: Just make the Grauladon Elite.

Encounter A13: Added a Bloodseeker. Just another creature that sees something it can actually sting.

Encounter A14: Made the Warg Elite.

Encounter A17: Add a Giant Rat.

Encounter A19: Elite Giant Bat.

Encounter A21: Add a Skeleton Guard.

Encounter A22: Need to add a level -1 (creature -1 and not 'character level -1') creature. I must have been tired because my notes says "Animated Broom?"

That was as far as I came. I never got any further as we won't play for a while yet.

I only started with the first two parts. We probably won't play it for a few weeks or months yet and didn't want to get too far ahead. Mostly did it to learn the rules. I can try to clean up my notes and get them posted.

It is indeed for 4 players. I have 5 players so what I did was go through each room to see how much XP I needed to add based on the rules (table 10-1) for bigger parties. Some places I added Elite to the enemy and sometimes just had to add some small monster or just up their number. The hardest part was solo monsters, as with 1 extra player Elite seemed like overkill based on the guidelines, so a there's quite a few vipers and rat pets.

I've never tried Roll20, but have had an unused account for a long time. Maybe this is the time to learn the system and start using it.

I got my book yesterday. I was sure it would come later as the estimates said 6-36 business days. Turned out to be closer to 6 luckily.

Only negative I have to say so far is that the book was so big it did nothing good for my tendonitis :P

I think most of their stuff eventually end up at YouTube, though twitch subscribers get it first.

I wonder if it is a new season of Starter Kit. I know they have done a handful of systems before. Each season is new players with various degree of experience and a new system. They have done Numenara, Phoenix: Dawn Command and Seventh Sea previously. At least those are the three I have seen.

I don't mind the secret checks. Sometimes I've used them myself, but as I don't use GM screen, it's hard to get away with. Mostly it is stealth or perception of the enemy, and not my player's rolls.

The biggest problem with me rolling for my players, would be that I'm notorious for rolling bad. I imagine if I told my players I would roll for them, they'd refuse, not on account of secret roll and trust. More like they would trust me to roll real low.

Thanks to this thread I just fell in love with this comic and I can't afford that right now :P

Bought the first trade on comixology and now I want to buy the physical copy as well.

Just started Abaddon's Gate, the third in the Expanse series. Liked the first two a lot so hopefully this will be as good (or better).

That means a good long session with the belt - and Grinder doesn't care where the strap lands, whole skin or fresh scars, it's all the same to him - and then a night or two down the hole, where there's no light and no warmth and nothing for company except for the big hairy Muddy York rats who'll come and nibble at whatever's left of you, if you manage to fall asleep.

--Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

Just finished Ghost Brigade by John Scalzi. Going to start Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton.

I ran Age of Worm to the end years ago (though I skipped a few encounters towards the end). It left me burned out on GM'ing for a few months, and burnt out on D&D for a couple of years.

Tried to run Kingmaker a couple of years ago, but only got to the 4th adventure.

Next month I will start a Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. This time we've planned a small break between each book so that I can recharge my batteries (and get to play one or two sessions of something completely different). So I'm hopeful I'll make it through this one.

Will probably finish Ready Player One on the trip home from work today.

I loved the dice system in 3rd edition. Our group just didn't like all the fiddly bits. Took forever to set up and remember how many bits and bobbles and whatnots each character had and how far along various tracks everything was. I would love to try again, but my group is hesitant. When we went over to pathfinder afterwards I wanted to find a way to work in some of the dice :p

If it's just dice and less fiddly bits I'm sold. But not until the actual game is out. Don't think I'd be willing to dish out for the beta.

She had a smudge of ink on her chin and on the fingers of her right hand, and she wore a name tag that had the store logo at the top and HI, MY NAME IS SHEILA below it.

-Dead Beat, Dresden Files Book 7 by Jim Butcher (e-book)

I'll probably wait for the dvd, but I'm excited to see Norwegian actors in an international movie :)

As for the Thing. I like the movie, but the beginning is horrible for me as a Norwegian. First time I watched it, they spoiled the whole movie by having them explaining everything in badly accented Norwegian :p

I started GM'ing two years before I ever got to play and about a year before I learnt the rules (the rules back then being Alternity).

I lived in a small town, and while I had heard of this thing called roleplaying I didn't have anyone to show me the ropes. So I got a few friends together and we make believed as good as we could :p

In the beginning I made my own adventures based on the computer games I had played growing up. It just recently as work and responsibilities keeps me busy that I've started relying on pre made adventures and adventure paths.

We were young when we started playing, so my players didn't mind that we didn't know the rules or the plot was thin.

I wish I could have afforded more adventures when I was younger. They are a great crutch when you are new. Give you finished encounters, and a background and plot to build upon.

Looks good. My players just faced down Vordakai last session, wish I had thought of something like this. The fight was pretty one sided in my players favor.

Name: King Alexander von Richthoven
Race: Human
Class: Sorcerer 6
Adventure: RRR
Location: Lair of the Beast
Catalyst: Charged by angry owlbear

Details: The sorcerer won intiative, moving forward and critting with a scorching ray. The angry owlbear was next, charging the young king. He critted, leaving the sorcerer at 1 hp. The healing he received before he could get away was not enough to save him in the end. He was later reincarnated as a half-elf.

Name: General Samir Duran
Race: Half-Orc
Classes/levels: Barbarian 5/Ranger 1
Adventure: Rivers Run Red
Location: Hodag's Lair
Catalyst: The Hodag
The Gory Details: (optional) The cleric was stuck in the sorcerer's own web due to the hodag's toss ability. It rolled very well on its attacks, even had a crit, downing the unlucky barbarian. Moments later it was killed in retribution by King Richthofen's scorching ray (he critted... one round too late.)

I've been following it since they announced it and I'm super excited for it. I hope it'll be another great sandbox games :)

I'm definitively getting this in trade. It's hard getting single issues to the middle of nowhere of Norway sadly :(

I've heard great things, and I'm a big fan of John Rogers (one of the creators of Leverage) and think he can write a plucky group of adventurers well :)

Running by play by post. The group has just faced down Tsuto, who has surrendered to them. They are currently arguing whether to kill him or arrest him. Most are leaning against murder, but as some has pointed out, at this point it would no longer be in self defense.

I like it. Completed it on easy this weekend and wondering if I should trade it in used or play again on a higher difficulty. The jumping and running reminded me a lot of Unchartered 2, which is a good thing :)

I'm waiting to buy this until after Christmas, just in case anyone decides to give it as a gift :p

I can't afford it before that in any case.

I'm currently running Rise of the Runelords converted to 4th edition on Google Wave. I'm also running Curse on the Crimson Throne using the Pathfinder rules on wave as well.

Some of my players want me to run Kingmaker using the Pathfinder rules (face to face).

I never completed the first game due to Red Ring of Death killing my save game, didn't want to start over. But the second one was pretty good. I think the controls could have been tighter, but I had just finished Uncharted 2 and Batman Arkahm Asylum when I started it, so could just be that they were different.

So my most important hard disk just went kablooey. It had my entire rpg collection of both bought pdfs and adventure notes and campaign ideas dating back almost 10 years (some of this have backups somewhere. I moved four months ago, but I'm sure I put it somewhere clever I will never remember. Some of it I can download again from DrivethruRPG or here on paizo.com). Also affected were my savegames for Dragon Age and my Nethack highscores.

Now I have to decide between a new hard disk or beer since I can only afford one of the luxuries! :p

Oblivion is a great game. Just don't do as a friend of mine did. He wanted to open a lock, so he did open lock spell so many times that he went up a few levels. The game decide how tough the opposition should be based on your level. So when he went into his first oblivion gate he was slaughtered.

Oblivion is in fact the only Elder Scrolls game I've "completed". Daggerfall was one of my first game on my first computer (first one I paid for myself and didn't belong to my dad). Love all the Elder Scrolls games.

Have to go back and try Arena some day. But right now I need to play the heck of Super Mario Galaxy 2 until tomorrow when Star Craft 2 comes out :D

I am running it on Google Wave, and they are currently fighting the goblin pyros. So lots more to do :)

Just started up a play by (google)wave, running this campaign in 4th edition (I know sacrilegious). Here's the characters in any case.

Adran: Elven Rogue. Haven't gotten much more background yet.

Tarocchi The Mystic: Varisian Sorcerer. A fortune teller, using a harrow deck as his implement.

Mikal: A half-elven swordmage. Grew up as an orphan in Riddleport, having come to Sandpoint as a mercenary for hire.

Cornelius: Human bard. A noble son from Magnimar. Come to Sandpoint to get some contacts in the glassworks, want to escape his father and his wishes for his son.

Thagnar Stonewall: Dwarven fighter. Has come from the mountains to explore the world and hopefully get rich.

Whenever I roll for stat it seems I always get a 3 or a 4 to one stat. I don't really mind, it's fun to play a character that's incredibly bad at one single thing as long as it's not everything he's bad at.

I have a character that always rolls bad for saving throws versus werewolves. And my players have never been able to get a cure for him in time. He's been a werewolf, werebear, weregoat and at one time a werebaboon :)

Lately I've fallen in love with FATE, as used in Spirit of the Century, Dresden Files RPG, Diaspora and Starblazer adventures. I like the use of Aspects. I've never seen so much roleplaying in my group as with this system.

I used to play, and if I ever get around to fix internet for my desktop again I'll probably play again.

I usually play Pyro and Medic, with the occational Scout. I've never liked to snipe in any shooter. My fighting style is more in your face, up close and personal.

I'm not that impressed with this one. It is a beautiful game, no doubt about that, but I feel they have spent too much time with the graphics and not enough with the combat system. I think it's rather boring, and so far (12 hours in) I haven't had any serious problems (haven't needed to spend a single phoenix down, and died only once). It seems that the challenge isn't to survive, but to get a good rating.

The voice acting is for the most part the average fare for these kind of games, at times it I find it really bad however. Especially whoever is voicing Vanille. I feel like she changes dialect each time she speaks.

Not too happy about the railroading. I always expect some railroading in a JRPG, but this seems to take it to the extreme. Or I may just have been spoiled by Dragon Age and the Mass Effect games.

Despite all this, the story seems exciting and I still want to keep playing it so it must do something right. It won't be my favorite FF game (which is FFVI by the way). Unlike the rest here I really liked FFXII too (for the most part, the dungeons near the end became a bit tedious).

In our group there's almost always a rogue in the party. I have one player who leans towards the Sorcerer. One likes to play fighter types. And myself enjoy playing bards or barbarians. Half of my characters are probably one of those two.

In the Mark of Death triology they say that the elementals are angry about the process. And should you survive an airship crash you may suddenly have a brand new problem to think about.

I would like to mention a game that seems to have been overlooked so far in this thread. Batman Arkham Asylum, one of my favorite games from last year.

And if you like war games and multiplayer I would suggest getting Modern Warfare 2 or Bad Company 2 (haven't tried this yet, but my old boss at the game store couldn't stop bragging about it yesterday).

Already? Last I heard the eta on this game was maybe next year.

Oh man, I think Civilization may be the game series I've spent the most hours playing in my life so I'm excited. I don't really need a new Civ game and I still want the new one yesterday :p

I would love to see Shadowrun or Deadlands. Both were some of the first RPG settings I encountered and I would love to see them on the big screen. If done right, I think both could be frickin cool. And if they made a Deadlands movie it would need to star Bruce Campbell :)

When: January 7th
What: D&D 4th edition
For How long: No idea, a month or maybe two.
Dry spell length: Before this, about a year.
By Choice? Y (Had to finish my campaign first, now I get time off)