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In week one, the player characters began the Whispering Cairn. There were 5 character fatalities during the afternoon, and a valuable lesson learned about the need to purchase light crossbows...
AS
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... and to select Sleep spells rather than magic missiles at 1st level...
All 5 character fatalities courtesy of a multitude of player mistakes, a few well placed sleep spells, and a 1st level, axe wielding, CE Halfling Ranger. Quite a memorable afternoon on the whole...
*Almost chokes to death on the leg bone from the leg of the Most Useless Critterbeastie in D&D*
Player stupidity I find most likely contributes to at least 70%, probably 80 to 85%, of character deaths in any tabletop role-playing game.
Funny part is, I had sent an e-mail to the player group a few days prior to that first session of Allen's AoW campaign specifically advising them to make sure they had light crossbows or better ranged weaponry on every character.
Fortunately - well, for the campaign's kill count at least - I wasn't in attendance for that session of the campaign. I've since sent out a second e-mail advising VERY basic player tactics ... such as not standing there and letting the bad guys smoke your characters as soon as initiative permits ...
All 5 character fatalities courtesy of a multitude of player mistakes, a few well placed sleep spells, and a 1st level, axe wielding, CE Halfling Ranger. Quite a memorable afternoon on the whole...
Of course, it also seems that the Small size category PC's are slowly accumulating a reputation with an unconventional character build. Allen's above Hobbit Ranger is one example, my Hobbit Druid who ate the hearts of those he slew is another... was an interesting way to contract lycanthropy btw ...
(lol) no disrespect to the players. You just laid it all down so matter-of-factly. "Meh--5 guys dead. Shoulda had crossbows or something. Whatever."
It just reads funnier than all getout.
Yes, tis sad but true... my players, with the notable exception of Turin the Mad naturally, proudly boast the name of the RED FOLDER Gaming Society. The red folder being where the blank character sheets are kept ready for use when their current characters get smoked repeatedly... they need but merely reach for a new one and start rolling stats...
Yes, tis sad but true... my players, with the notable exception of Turin the Mad naturally, proudly boast the name of the RED FOLDER Gaming Society. The red folder being where the blank character sheets are kept ready for use when their current characters get smoked repeatedly... they need but merely reach for a new one and start rolling stats...(lol) no disrespect to the players. You just laid it all down so matter-of-factly. "Meh--5 guys dead. Shoulda had crossbows or something. Whatever."
It just reads funnier than all getout.
I do not know how proud they are about thier nom de guerre, but yes many of the crew are at least honorary members of the RFGS. When funds permit, I will be distributing quite a few red folders out, complete with thier individual names and/or nicknames. I believe Sir Al of N will be supplying the necessary (and rather large) stash of character sheets to stock those folders in light of the apparent fatality rate the group is looking at incurring with thier stubborn refusal to think about WTF they're faced with.
Tis a quaint and chilly Friday evening here in beautiful northern Virginia. The fall colors are approaching their glorious full array.
Tomorrow the Whispering Cairn resumes, and it may see my death-prone players tangling with Balabar Smenks' thugs in the Feral Dog Tavern. The encounter is a CR 6, designed for 4 characters who are presumably 2nd level when they arrive. I'd like to personally thank Eric Mona for creating such a wonderfully harsh encounter that has massive player character death written all over it. I'll be gleefully slaughtering PC's all afternoon. Wahoooooo.
Tis a quaint and chilly Friday evening here in beautiful northern Virginia. The fall colors are approaching their glorious full array.
Tomorrow the Whispering Cairn resumes, and it may see my death-prone players tangling with Balabar Smenks' thugs in the Feral Dog Tavern. The encounter is a CR 6, designed for 4 characters who are presumably 2nd level when they arrive. I'd like to personally thank Eric Mona for creating such a wonderfully harsh encounter that has massive player character death written all over it. I'll be gleefully slaughtering PC's all afternoon. Wahoooooo.
Post the results man ! I need to see if I have to exercise my proper bragging rights or not ...
Post the results man ! I need to see if I have to exercise my proper bragging rights or not ...
Patience...
It was another exciting afternoon in the Whispering Cairn, in the 2nd session of an Age of Worms campaign here in the D.C. suburbs. I am convinced that the cool fall weather has an effect on my enthusiasm for GM'ing... and so do my players...The 5 characters present(including a dwarf cleric played by my lifelong friend Turin the mad) had little trouble in the whispering Cairn itself, getting past the stone face and reaching the ghost of Alhaster Land. Their problem came when they went in search of the bones of his family members. Upon arrival back in Diamond lake, the EL 6 encounter at the Feral Dog, (thank you Eric Mona), proved a rather joyful episode... for me naturally...
Upon arrival inside the tavern the characters were greeted by one of the members of Smenk's gang. I took the liberty of having the PC's have a run-in with several of Smenk's thugs when they first entered the Whispering Cairn in a previous game session, and they were spotted immediately by one of those thugs when they entered the tavern today, whom they in turn did not recognize. Said villain invited them over to the bar to buy the entire house a round of drinks, which they stupidly agreed to do without hesitation. The three characters went to the bar while the other two characters waited outside the doors for unknown reasons. None of the three characters initially asked to make spot checks to recognize anyone besides the gang's leader, even though they knew they were going in to tangle with Smenk's entire gang. A sleep spell fired off by the 2nd level wizard gang member dropped one of the PC's for a nap, and after initiative rolls were subsequently made, the higher initiative rolling wizard then proceeded to put a second character at the bar to sleep. The gang's leader then moved and scored a critical hit on the 3rd and only alert character at the bar (a wizard herself), and put her at about -20 HP, courtesy of a great sword to the head. Beautiful.
One of the remaining two characters fled. The brigands then Coup de' Gras'd the other two sleeping characters to bring the afternoon to a glorious conclusion. Turin's cleric managed to subsequently finesse the identity of who has Alastor's relatives and where he can be found from the gang's leader, which was where we halted the afternoon.
That brings the total number of PC deaths to EIGHT in only 2 game sessions. And they're not even done with the whispering Cairn yet! Furthermore, with the wonderful encounters awaiting in Chapter 2's "The Three Faces of Evil", I suspect the body count will only keep on rolling.
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Post the results man ! I need to see if I have to exercise my proper bragging rights or not ...
Patience...
It was another exciting afternoon in the Whispering Cairn, in the 2nd session of an Age of Worms campaign here in the D.C. suburbs. I am convinced that the cool fall weather has an effect on my enthusiasm for GM'ing... and so do my players...The 5 characters present(including a dwarf cleric played by my lifelong friend Turin the mad) had little trouble in the whispering Cairn itself, getting past the stone face and reaching the ghost of Alhaster Land. Their problem came when they went in search of the bones of his family members. Upon arrival back in Diamond lake, the EL 6 encounter at the Feral Dog, (thank you Eric Mona), proved a rather joyful episode... for me naturally...
Upon arrival inside the tavern the characters were greeted by one of the members of Smenk's gang. I took the liberty of having the PC's have a run-in with several of Smenk's thugs when they first entered the Whispering Cairn in a previous game session, and they were spotted immediately by one of those thugs when they entered the tavern today, whom they in turn did not recognize. Said villain invited them over to the bar to buy the entire house a round of drinks, which they stupidly agreed to do without hesitation. The three characters went to the bar while the other two characters waited outside the doors for unknown reasons. None of the three characters initially asked to make spot checks to recognize anyone besides the gang's leader, even though they knew they were going in to tangle with Smenk's entire gang. A sleep spell fired off by the 2nd level wizard gang member dropped one of the PC's for a nap, and after initiative rolls were subsequently made, the higher initiative rolling wizard then proceeded to put a second character at the bar to sleep. The gang's leader then moved and scored a critical hit on the 3rd and only alert character...
Please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem to take a rather morbid glee in killing your players characters off as often as possible. If you gaming group is fairly new to the game, they may not be thinking of doing some of the things that might save their lives. Perhaps you should go easy on them a bit to give them a chance to learn how to play more cautiously. It isn't hard for a DM to kill the players whenever he wants. If it were a game of winning and losing, the DM would always win. The job of a DM is to make sure his players are having fun, not to gleefully murder them every chance you get. If you players have already lost 8 characters and you are barely halfway through the first adventure, perhaps you should pull up off the accelerator a bit and give them a chance to play a character for more than one session before killing them.
I am a DM myself, and I have no problem killing my players when the situation warrants, but I don't try to kill them every chance I get. I have 3 players who are playing in their first or second campaign and are very new to the game. Often times, the decisions they make that seem foolish on the surface are really just inexperience with how the game works. I don't know if that applys to your group, but maybe you should take it into account?
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I hear what you're saying. Do understand, I do everything according to the rules. I don't vary from the standard book rules, and my players know that if they play intelligently and according to the rules, there's basically nothing stopping them from winning. I can only waste them if they make mistakes or if the luck of the dice simply isn't with them.
No encounter I give the players (be it published material or home brewed) is patently unfair, and is usually no more than 4 CR's or EL's above the average party member's level/CR (and frequently less). That being said, I do enjoy wasting player characters. I make no bones about it, and my players know it. Being a killer GM is definitely walking a fine line. I have to make the game as entertaining as any GM, (and often times moreso). If the game's not fun, or is just me wasting characters, no one will play. That's one type of "fun" I get out of the game. There are many other aspects I like about the game also.
I have both relatively new players to the game, and players who have played for 20+ years under multiple prior GM's, but they all seem to enjoy playing in the game. If you can present a lighthearted "adversarial GM" approach, I find that many players like "beating, or 1-Up'ing" me. My laughing when their characters die sometimes even inspires them to try harder and think more intelligently in the game. I get very few complaints from most of my players. They like wasting my favorite villains, and they often talk smack while their doing it, and often make references to old villains they've crushed a long time before.
Allen didn't *quite* relate all the details of the final, fateful encounter, although he nonetheless got the gist across.
As I'd posted late last night about this encounter (tacking on another rant on the big bad rant thread), those 3 characters died due to player stupidity. I'd even advised them to check for familiar faces through the windows first.
Nope, they stroll in, order drinks ... then look around and get bushwacked. 2 full rounds and 3 dead characters later, the fourth is skittering off while the player is BWMC'ing about how "unfair" it was. He's not new to gaming, he's new to having to think at the @#!! game table and he's been having to think since I ran most of the RHoD prior to this ... in which he died four or five times, mainly due to being either stupid or so stubborn the end result was a shallow grave.
I'm not so sure I can keep myself alive on a diet of bluster and shallow graves for long in the AoW if they keep playing this way...
I'm not so sure I can keep myself alive on a diet of bluster and shallow graves for long in the AoW if they keep playing this way...
but please do try old friend, do try...
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Have you ever played Cyberpunk? You'd dig it the most.
Yes, I've played CyberHack. All the killing with none of the fun ... if I want to get smeared all over a wall over and over, I'd much rather play Call of Cthulhu, Paranoia (before all the edition spews that have come and gone) or GURPS. At least in the first and last I have a chance to not get smeared, albiet a small one, and in Paranoia I get to play the same character six times before I have to roll up a new puke.
Although I just saw a few hours ago at the FLGS what appeared to be a software package similar to the GCA (for GURPS) for the Cyberpunk game. The lattermost software has made running my GURPS campaign a MUCH less stressful undertaking. Although I do admit, you better have a good bit of cash on hand to expend on reprinting character sheets - mainly for all the ink a printer sucks down printing char sheets over and over.
but please do try old friend, do try...
I'm not so sure I can keep myself alive on a diet of bluster and shallow graves for long in the AoW if they keep playing this way...
The intent is to permit as many other meat shields to belly up to the table as you can stomach, let them die by way of stupidity, loot the bodies and keep on racking up the xp. I suppose I'll have to go Lenny wrangling if they keep losing brain cells between each session like this ...
This coming saturday, Age of Worms resumes. I'm hoping to see as many as 8 players belly up to the table. Yeah, I'd say the Red Folder's gonna get some use this coming saturday. It gives me warm fuzzies just thinking about it...
In reference to your prior post Turin, perhaps in the future, a bried Call of Cthulu game might be in order. I'll talk to you about it sometime...
And good of you to drop in again, Heathansson. Glad you find the thread amusing. I ought to try to type up my 2001 and/or 2002 Return to the Tomb of Horrors campaigns for 3.0 edition, sometime. In both of those wonderful campaigns, neither group of players got past the first Tomb, and there was a combined total of over THIRTY character deaths. Classic.
Before you meander into a retelling of such tales of carnage-through-stupidity from the revised ToH (sans all the kewl stuff at the back end) for the failed amoeba brain transplants we tend to be stuck " roleplaying " with, you still have a WDM (Walking Death Machine) recollection to hammer together first.
Call of Cthulhu, I am afraid, has a LOT of people - players that is - becoming a QMF (Quivering Mound of Flesh) before the mention of such a game is more than a few minutes' old. I've had seasoned gamers abjectly refuse to play. So, I trot out a "modern GURPS" game ... and have something eat thier legs off ...
And while it is a VERY buggy POS software, Bethesda's CoC game for the PC does nicely capture the flavor of Innsmouth. Too bad I can't get past the messy death on the first significant night of playing the @#!! game ...
The Dwarf Cleric readies the Wheelbarrel of Carcass Portage.
" Trust me, the rest of you are going to need it. "
Amazing, I didn't have to cart one carcass back to town for yet another "bring this idjit back to life plz".
I'll see if Allen relates any of this or not ...
Yes, yes... This last Saturday was a disappointing day in the Age of Worms. The players completed the Whispering Cairn and sent Filch packing like a first rate tourist. Not a single player character death. Truly a low point in my career. I would like to take this opportunity to personally appologize to each of you, who have come to depend on this vicarious sadism that I have attempted to provide these last two game sessions. I have failed in my responsibility to create a harsh environment where characters die screaming, and I will do my utmost to correct my faults and shortcomings. Next game, I'll be wiping them out in droves!!!
The encounter with Filch looked very promising. Even with 6 Player Characters, I think I had a good shot at wiping them out, when my friendly neighborhood spoiler, Turin the Mad, had to save the day by turning the 3 troglodyte zombies, and the bugbear zombie and Filch just couldn't quite close the deal without them. Truly a sad day in the annuals of GM'ing.
Yes, yes... This last Saturday was a disappointing day in the Age of Worms. The players completed the Whispering Cairn and sent Filch packing like a first rate tourist. Not a single player character death. Truly a low point in my career. I would like to take this opportunity to personally appologize to each of you, who have come to depend on this vicarious sadism that I have attempted to provide these last two game sessions. I have failed in my responsibility to create a harsh environment where characters die screaming, and I will do my utmost to correct my faults and shortcomings. Next game, I'll be wiping them out in droves!!!
The encounter with Filch looked very promising. Even with 6 Player Characters, I think I had a good shot at wiping them out, when my friendly neighborhood spoiler, Turin the Mad, had to save the day by turning the 3 troglodyte zombies, and the bugbear zombie and Filch just couldn't quite close the deal without them. Truly a sad day in the annuals of GM'ing.
Well, as I have advised the players by way of group e-mail that a few valuable pointers were demonstrated this past session, I fully intend to not have the Dwarf with No Name step into the role of Meat Shield for the next session or two. I suspect that the PC death rate will resume its normal levels for the/those sessions should the pointers so poignantly demonstrated in the past session utterly fail to take hold in thier minds.
i do not apologize for turning the 3 trog zombies one whit. Those 3 plus the necromancer and his bugbear zombie minion were formidable enough. Now, if I can find a non-epic non-PrC method of acquiring additional domains ...
500 gp says Allen gets at least 2 more deaths from player stupidity before the end of November.
1000 gold pieces says I get 2+ character deaths during the next game session on the 4th, old friend:)
KC's Ninja hasn't bought the farm since Week 1. He's definitely due for another Dirt Nap, ASAP.
Heheh ... if he keeps trying to pocket everything that even smells of value, he's going to wake up with a morning star migraine ... please, by all means, resume administering deaths when they get stupid ...
Yesterday the Age of Worms resumed as the player characters began the 'Three Faces of Evil.' It was a BEAUTIFUL day, as count 'em FIVE (5) PC's died horribly, bringing the AoW grand total up to THIRTEEN. And they haven't finished the 2nd chapter:) It was wonderful to get the campaign back on the right foot after last game's disappointing performance where not a single PC died horribly.
The delightful action began as the players BS'd their way into the Dourstone mines. One of the less cognitively blessed players decided that his ninja character was going to go alone, ahead of the group down the elevator. He did so. He discovered the two tiefling guards (1st level Fighters) down at the bottom. Rather than hide and investigate, he decided to initiate hostilities. He managed to drop one of them but the other put him (a 3rd level character) down to -3 HP, courtesy of an axe to the head. The tiefling then tied him up, stabelized his wounds, and had the skeletons take the ninja into the temple of Hextor for interrogation, and he was thereafter "Dispatched" by one of Balabar Smenks' thugs who was laying low with the Hextor cultists after the brawl at the Feral Dog.
** Note: the established AoW script changed slightly in the Whispering Cairn. Although Balabar Smenk's gang won the fight against the PC's in the Feral Dog tavern in Chapter 1 (the WC), during the fight a town guardsman was killed and the Feral Dog was burned to the ground by one of Smenk's brigands. As a result, Smenk's gang members were hiding out from the law amongst the various cult groups in the Dourstone mines.**
Upon the PC's arrival at the bottom of the elevator shaft the 5 player characters deliberated briefly before fatefully deciding to enter the Vecna cultist's area, rather than one of the others. They had little trouble with the Kenkus and the Dire Weasels. The problem came when they entered the greater sanctum and tangled with the Faceless One and company (An EL7 encounter for 5 3rd level PC's). The Faceless One was waiting for them under the effects of invisibility. The PC's stupidly conglomerated into a very close group and were all in the blast radius of a fireball spell, and only 1 PC saved, costing the rest 24 HP each (except Turin the Mad, who regretably decided to cast protection from fire before entering the sanctum... bastard you)...
The ensuing mop up commenced immediately. Two of Balabar Smenk's thugs (2nd level Fighters whom I swapped out for the Faceless One's two 2nd level Wizard assistants) who were laying low with the Vecna cultists entered the fray and started slaughtering already crispy characters. First the Aasimar Sorcerer who was already at -7 HP was successfully stabbed and the villain then cleaved through into the hapless PC Hexblade. The next round the PC Fighter who had only 1 HP remaining courtesy of a post-fireball Magic Missile was dropped by the same Brigand to -11 courtesy of a longsword to the head. The PC wizard managed to successfully web the FAceless One and the 2 2nd level fighters, but a successful Reflex Save and Concentration check by the Faceless One allowed him to fire off a 2nd Fireball spell and the PC wizard turned into a charred cinder:) On the ensuing round, the two remaining PC's pounded the FAceless One to the best of their ability, dropping him to Zero HP. The PC Hexblade, who had only 3 HP remaining was dropped to -7 with a longsword to the head. Turin the Mad decided to retreat to heal up, and the two 2nd level Fighters opted to leave, allowing Turin to gather the loot and leave, the sole survivor of the entire group--but not before coup' de gras'ing the Hexblade who was at -7 HP:)
All in all, a very good week in the Age of Worms.
Well, all due gloating aside Allen, should the fighters have failed to abscond with the Faceless One's unconscious form, you can be assured that the Dwarf with No Name would have caved in his empty head with a still-enchanted morning star.
And yes, I fully intend to keep the lion's share of the schwag. The rest of them got themselves kilt, and I barely survived - if they'd used a few more neurons, there would have been far fewer deaths. Of course, swapping out two FIGHTERS for two wizards was certainly ... messy ...
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Great news folks! Two, or possibly Three new players are requesting to join my humble gaming group for the current Age of Worms campaign. Naturally, I'll be asking each player for his/her characters' height, so that I can make sure the coffins for each character are the correct size...
Great news folks! Two, or possibly Three new players are requesting to join my humble gaming group for the current Age of Worms campaign.
I almost feel like clapping my hands together in delight, whilst giving a gleeful (yet slightly girlish) "Horaay!" upon reading this news.
Indeed, such ferocious veracity of eviscerating and re-educating adventurers truly verifies the value of venturing, henceforth I hopefully and honestly hope to peruse the recounting of rendered characters in all their glory (especially because it appeals to my slightly-sadistic sensibility, whilst allowing me to remain a “nice” GM to my own players… for now).
Great news folks! Two, or possibly Three new players are requesting to join my humble gaming group for the current Age of Worms campaign.I almost feel like clapping my hands together in delight, whilst giving a gleeful (yet slightly girlish) "Horaay!" upon reading this news.
Indeed, such ferocious veracity of eviscerating and re-educating adventurers truly verifies the value of venturing, henceforth I hopefully and honestly hope to peruse the recounting of rendered characters in all their glory (especially because it appeals to my slightly-sadistic sensibility, whilst allowing me to remain a “nice” GM to my own players… for now).
Doth I sense the recent viewing of the opening sequence of V for Vendetta in thine post ? Then indeed I suspect that further reports of carnage shall ensue henceforth ... although it may be that I have to start a seperate journal after Sat 11/18/06's session from my character's PoV in order to convey this kind of thing properly ... the unspoken rules of acceptability for campaign journals is at the moment a might vague to me still ...
Howdy Folks, today in the Age of Worms was a bit more complicated than the norm. There were 4 additional players joining for today. Sadly, all eight players took on the Hextor cult in the Three Faces of Evil, and there was only TWO player character fatalities today. I'm not pulling my quota, I know, and I promise I'll redouble my efforts, lest you all vote to sack me in favor of a more sadistic bastard who can get the job done right.
Today the eight characters had an easy time in the opening encounter(s), and notwithstanding the additional help from various tiefling guards, they defeated the opening areas in the Hextor areas like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Then the PC's got into the hallway near the entrance to the Arena. The PC's were desirous to enter the single door that would have let them come in the back route and surprise my villains, which was not to my advantage, so naturally I baited them into the arena, and about half the group went in. I pelted them with a few arrows, and they retreated into the hallway and closed & barred the door. The boar and several tiefling minions harried them out in the hallway, and I wanted to have the main group of cultists in the arena join in the ensuing massacre.
I had the villains all hop down from the balcony into the arena and try to break down the door and massacre the PC's with a frontal assault. I had two surviving members of Balabar Smenk's gang also present to make the encounter more challenging for the extra characters present (and about 5 surviving tiefling guards). The problem for me came when it took me THREE rounds to get the stupid doors open, and that gave the PC's the necessary time to dispatch the opposition in the hallway (including the boar). Otherwise, a likely TPK.
Once the doors were finally opened, the PC massacre was furthered hampered by a well placed Web Spell. Once that was dealt with, the encounter turned into a nasty hack-fest in the hallway, and the players were continually targeting the Theldrick's Summoned Fiendish Ape. It became much better when the party wizard decided to attempt to Lightning Bolt Theldrick. The player failed to consider that there were 4 player characters in a direct line in between her and Theldrick, and I DELIGHTEDLY had her fry them all:):):) I laughed evily as they cried mightly. The PC fighter who was presently at -7 HP turned into a charcoal brickette and died instantly.
About that time, the two Hextor clerics were dead, and Theldrick was about out of useful spells, so he waded into melee with the PC's along with Smenk's gang members. The combat was fierce, as the gang leader nearly killed two PC's. Sadly, the PC's eventually managed to drop Theldrick and force a surrender by the remaining members of Smenk's gang, but not before the gang leader decapitated the party Ninja with a beautiful greatsword attack, in response to the Ninja's blown tumble check which provoked an attack of opportunity.
All together, we're up to 15 PC deaths in only five game sessions, I need to redouble my efforts, and I pledge my utmost effort to do so, lest I fail in my responsibilities to all of you fellow GM's who share my sadistic tendencies:) Next game session, the PC's will finish the TFoE against the Erythnul cults, and hopefully, the Ebon Aspect will do many of them in.
I've just read the pages of Chapter 3 in the Age of Worms, the Encounter at Blackwall Keep, for the third time. I am detecting an ALARMING lack of potentially Lethal encounters contained herein. Chalk it up to the author no doubt. I've avoided the temptation to introduce some "home-brewed-horrors" but I think that unless I want nameless mook lizardmen to overbear the characters, a return-from-memory-lane from an old villain from "campaigns past" (all 8 levels of him) is in order. Can't let that death toll dip too low now can we...
I've also noticed a disturbing trend in many players I've come across since 3.0 came out. The game is now more of a "players-centered game" than before. Back in the "good old days" it was a miracle to get from 1st to 18th level without dying. Now I've got players who b!~~! and moan if they come close to dying. What players need is a lesson in humility. They need to understand how D&D was "back in the day" when you died all the time, and you were so excited to be playing, you just rolled up the next character and dived back in. What do we have now? A bunch of soft, feel-good wimpy players who want to have Self-Discovery sessions during D&D games where they "really get in touch with their character" and all that such drivel. I'm going to have to give them (to borrow the term from the movie What About Bob) a little "DEATH THERAPY."
Preach on brother! Preach on!
I see a t-shirt design:
"Allen Stewart wasted my character...Again."
Excellent, I'll cut you in on the proceeds, Heathansson.
Naturally, I've got to give one T-shirt for free to my star player: He has had a total of 6 characters killed in the first four game sessions alone!!!
Aah, another session of the Age of Worms has come to pass, the Ebon Triad had the smack laid most satisfactorily upon it, the inevitable griping of Allen shall no doubt ensue as to the "wuss" nature of the undecorated door wing of the dungeon in question. Alas, we are also well aware that the truly heinous potential deaths await us in the next 5 levels of advancement. (We shall for now omit of course the pemultimately messy demise which awaits us in the 10 or so levels of advancement which follow the first 10.) We shall soon enough winnow the wheat from the chaff amidst a firestorm of blades and spells and fangs most cruel. The Dwarf with No Name held up his end of the bargain, complete with once again employing the Wheelbarrel of Carcass Portage (for the purpose, naturally, of removing my fellow adventurer's mortal remains once again to the nearest temple able to restore the messily deceased into the mortal realm). And the hexblade has yet to learn the bitter lesson of carrying around a carved skull - it is a tragic attractor of wandering damage it seems ... tsk tsk.
Yes, forgive the belated entry, but I've moved to a new living domicile and just got my DSL up and running today. Of course that merely means that the next entry comes in but 5 more days.
In the last game session in the Red Folder Gaming Society's forray into the Three Faces of Evil, it saw all eight of my players lay the smack-down on the Erythnul cultists (the last of 3 groups to be encountered). Due to having eight players present, I decided that the Erythnul cultists would go for safety in numbers, and band together.
Before the players got to them, they had to tackle the U-shaped cavern (areas 14-17), and while they were climbing down the cavern wall ladder and the party's True Necromancer was successfully critted and killed by a Grimlock archer:):):D, Ahhhhh, the one highlight of the afternoon to satisfy our collective bloodlust. I have a great appreciation for confirmed critical hits when using arrows. That x3 multiplier is wonderful for perforating internal organs of characters and sending them to a well-deserved dirt nap.
Sadly, the cultists of Erythnul were subsequently slaughtered en mass while valiantly defending their homes, during the shameful invasion of the warmongering player characters.
In the subsequent fight to conclude the adventure with the Ebon Aspect, I had a special-ed moment when I forgot to upgrade the Ebon Aspect to adequately tangle with 8 player characters, instead of only 4 that it was scripted for. And even then, it still almost killed two characters.
Having read the Encounter at Blackwall Keep, I'm sadly predicting a low fatality rate yet again this coming game session and probably in the following one as well, but FEAR NOT, my fellow killer GM's, payback's coming. What Blackwall Keep fails to deliver in scripted text will be well redressed in the Hall of Harsh Reflections.
So as of this past (5th) game session, the death toll stands at 16 characters. With any luck, we'll have some very lucky lizard folk warriors and some unhappy characters with various weapons embedded in their heads...
See you this weekend, friends.
I've just read some of the other Age of Worms Campaign Journals, which I had not done before.
Many of you GM's have obviously got a very large amount of spare time to chronicle the most mundane traits of your players' characters, and the minute details your campaigns.
I, on the other hand, usually don't even know the names of my players characters before I WASTE THEIR ASSES. You fellow GM's should give it a try some time:)
I've just read the pages of Chapter 3 in the Age of Worms, the Encounter at Blackwall Keep, for the third time. I am detecting an ALARMING lack of potentially Lethal encounters contained herein. Chalk it up to the author no doubt.
I significantly ramped up the initial encounter for this module, filling it with blackscale lizardfolk, poison dusks, and dragonkin. If you're interested in the stats and notes on this encounter, email me at khays3 at hotmail and I'll send them to you. I believe I was one of the very few DMs to score a kill on this first battle. :)
Has any player avoided a character death in the whole AP so far?
Turin the Mad is the only player of the original five who started who has not died yet. Fear not, his number's gonna come up before long...
There were four new players that joined two sessions ago. Two of them have already died.
Thanks for the offer Wampuscat, I'll see if I can't drop you a line in the near future.
Yet another session of the Age of Worms happened this past Saturday (the 7th session). The players began the Encounter at Blackwall Keep. Turin the Mad was ill and was not in attendance. The players did amazingly well (I am sorry to say) and nearly completed the entire adventure in all of one week. They've only got the final encounter back at Blackwall Keep; and then they're onto a little special thread I've inserted to help give them a few extra needed XP's so that they can (reach 7th level) have a decent shot in the Hall of Harsh Reflections. Fortunately for the players, the DMG stipulates that they are to be awarded XP's for an encounter, even if they die. Which is exactly what most of them will likely do during the next game session.
There was ONE character FATALITY during the session. The party's Binder character met with several tridents to the head, courtesy of the Lizard Folk sub chief (my sincere thanks--WampusCat), and was perforated to death:) I was thoroughly stumped however, when the Lizard Folk Chieftain blew his save on a Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and was hacked, stabbed, and beaten to death while laughing, by my highly jubilent players. That brings our total of PC Kills to 17 in 7 game sessions. I'm going to predict at least 3 or 4 more PC demises during the next game session. We'll see if I make good on it...
See you in two weeks.
It's 5 hours and 28 minutes to 12:00, Happy New Year to all you fellow peeps, sick freaks, and killer GM's:)
AS