This may seem like a no brainer..."Played games, of course." Still, I thought it would be fun to post of the new moments created with whatever we picked up, the new moments to come (if any of us didn't have a chance to actually roll dice yesterday), etc.
My group cancelled (hubby GMs Friday/Saturday and was ill). We had picked up We Be Goblins, along with a couple of other things, earlier in the day from a newly discovered game store. Our eldest daughter's best friend came over for an overnight, and we decided we'd give it a run since our regular game wasn't going to happen. We had 5 people at the table; myself as GM, my husband, 14 year old, 12 year old, and 11 (almost 12) year old.
The kids rolled really well during the dares. Chuffy, played by the 14 year old, managed to become sickened from eating the slugs despite his goblin trait. Reta, played by my husband, rode Squealy Nord with ease. Mugmurch, played by the 12 year old, managed to hide in the swamp and not get clubbed, although that was a close call - she and Chuffy's player were bickering over Chuffy's spider and whether it was as scary as Lotslegs (in goblin voice, no less). I gave her a freebie warning asking if Mugmurch had come out of hiding to look at Chuffy's spider 'cause she'll get whomped if she did. It was decided the bickering took place AFTER the dare, which she won with ease. Poog, played by the "almost 12" year old, decided to go through the Rusty Earbiter. That was the closest anyone came to failing. Prior to the third failure, she rolled a 20, so I ruled on the third failure that she had so impressed the goblins watching only half of them left on the final failure. She succeeded on the next roll.
They slaughtered Lotslegs, after squealing as she dropped out of the trees on top of Chuffy and webbed Mugmurch. Chuffy ate his way out from under Lotslets' body with a little help from Reta's dogslicer. Since the spider didn't have the chance to retreat, I dropped heavy hints about how many years Lotslegs had been terrorizing this portion of the swamp. What do my goblins decide to do..."Burns it so no Lotslegs babies can eats goblin babies!" Mugmurch decides it's the perfect time to try out one the Desnan candles. She holds tight as the fireworks go off...1 round..."It's getting kinda hot"...2 rounds..."It's getting hot"...3 rounds..."It's getting really hot"...She tosses it to Chuffy who juggles it from hand to hand, and it fires straight into the treetops. Needless to say, the webbing, and much of the surrounding moss, goes up in a kaleidoscope of colors after they loot the joint.
At the shipwreck, Reta was absolutely determined to find the dogs she could hear. She was none to pleased to know she had to go through the horse first. She volunteered Chuffy and Mugmurch to go in and take care of it. Some bickering went back and forth, at which point, Stomp charged the fence. They all squealed and proceeded to take the horse down...Vorka did not wake.
Everyone decided the wasp nest trap was bad mojo. "Don't touch!" "Ok." All but Poog make their perception checks. I ask for climbing order. Who do they send first?...Poog. Who triggers the vines?...Poog. Who is bringing up the rear and must make the reflex save to catch it?...Chuffy, and he promptly fails the save. I describe it thus: "Everyone realizes the mud ball is not a good thing to mess with. As you all look around, Poog carefully climbs the gangplank, followed by Reta, then Mugmurch, then Chuffy. Everyone except Poog notice the vines and such are somehow linked to the mudball and avoids them. About that time, the mudball begins falling. Chuffy reaches to catch it, since it's coming right toward him. He misses, and it bursts open at his feet. The sound of angry buzzing fills the air." My husband promptly provides the buzzing effect.
As they make the upper deck, Reta eats some of the algae. Everyone at the table is grossed out. The dogs are taken out fairly quickly. Mugmurch uses a bomb with a "Boomie now!" Reta takes great delight in slicing and dicing for later. Vorka wakes.
They don't get a whole lot of time to see the galley. Cuddles charges them as soon as they open the door. Reta screams, then charges. The others back her up, and Cuddles goes down. Reta is dicing Cuddles up for later and they are congratulating themselves when Vorka throws open the door in the back. Reta shrieks, and everyone kinda backs up. Vorka cackles. And the fight is on.
Vorka runs up the wall and lights the Desnan candle in her possession. She points it at Reta, and it goes spinning out to the deck. Reta squeals, grins, then drinks the elixir of fire breath. Mugmurch lights the skyrocket, and begins to vibrate as it builds up steam. Poog lets loose with a fire bolt and hits. Lord Longtung wraps Reta up nice and tight. In the next round, Vorka fires another candle at Chuffy and hits. Reta breathes fire down Longtung's tongue; he manages to make the save anyway. Mugmurch's skyrocket goes off, missing Vorka and hitting the wall instead. I make everyone roll saves for whatever fireworks they have in their possession. Another Desnan candle goes off all at once while a paper candle went off dazzling Reta and Vorka. Chuffy manages to get in a sneak attack. Vorka scuttles outside, with Reta and Mugmurch in hot pursuit. She heals herself. Reta drinks a potion of spider climb and grins evilly. Insults and threats fly back and forth. Mugmurch and Chuffy move to the mast and begin to climb. Poog pulls the ladder patch off the robe of useful items, promptly putting a hole in the ceiling leading to the chimney. Vorka heals herself again; Mugmurch throws a tanglefoot bag at Vorka, hitting her. Chuffy makes no progress, and Reta scurries up the wall after Vorka. Poog begins to climb the ladder. Longtung misses Poog, instead grabbing the ladder and pulling. At this point, Vorka is stuck to the chimney pipe, Reta is on her way up the side of the bridge, Chuffy and Mugmurch are on the mast, and Poog is trapped on the ladder with Longtung holding it nearly upright. In the final round of combat, Vorka fails her strength check to break out of the goop. Reta hits Vorka with her dogslicer. Mugmurch "Boomies" Vorka, killing her. *at this point, my 14 year old says "Goblin throws a bomb, roll a d6" and the table erupts in laughter* Chuffy climbs down. Longtung lets go of the ladder and flees. Poog rides the ladder down..through the rotting roof to the deck, sending wood flying.
They find the chest. Chuffy fails to open it at first, leaving the impatient Reta to try to smash it. Chuffy eventually gnaws until a tooth breaks off, and that opens the chest. They return triumphant to the Licktoads village.
Everyone remained in character, complete with voices, goblin grammar, and mannerisms. Pretty impressive given the adolescent ages at the table.
Almost every problem had a firework solution, including the climactic battle in which many of the most powerful fireworks were accidentally set off.
Best line of the night: From my 14 year old son when Mugmurch threw a bomb at Vorka..."Goblin throws a bomb, roll a d6."
Husband and player of Reta during that session, here.
In case anyone is wondering what a goblin voice sounds like, think of a cross between Gollum from Lord of the Rings (the Peter Jackson movies), and Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.
And, just a general observation here, for some odd reason teens and pre-teens seem to be a natural fit for playing goblins. Go figure. ;)
My FreeRPG Day was somewhat cluttered with both high school graduation parties to visit (my oldest daughter has several friends graduating this year - she's next year) and then early Father's Day festivities since wife and family went out of town early this morning (maybe that's a gift all to itself?) but I stopped at FLGS and picked up We Be Goblins and the Dragon Age quick start book as well as a new set of dice.
By the way, wanted to get people's thoughts on something, my FLGS has a "points program" where everytime you purchase something you get X number of "points" that you can use later to spend on things. So they're sort of a virtual currency. The store was charging points for the Free RPG products. The We Be Goblins was 30 points and the Dragon Age book was 20 points. Not that I care terribly, but that's kind of like charging real money for the "free" stuff since it takes away from my points available. Anyone else see stuff like that and do you feel that sort of takes the "free" out of Free RPG Day?
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I drove from Garibaldi to Portland to hit some game stores trying to get the Goblins Module.
Did not get it. Got a 40K RPG booklet and the bonus bestiary....oh and a $190 speeding ticket. :o(
Still it was nice to see some of the true game stores around. I live in Alaska and we have two comic stores who happen to carry some game items and a RC store that happens to carry some game items.
Sean
In case anyone is wondering what a goblin voice sounds like, think of a cross between Gollum from Lord of the Rings (the Peter Jackson movies), and Stitch from Lilo & Stitch.
Damn, you stole my secret! ;p
Unfortunately, I was unable to participate this year. I just moved here in November, and according to the store locator, there wasn't a participating location within 200 miles. Wish I could've gone back down to Texas for the weekend. I was GM for last year's adventure at Lone Star Comics in Arlington. Wound up with a group of players entirely new to RPGs, except for my friend who came along. They had a blast and all signed up for a weekly game at the store. Don't know if that ever took off though.
My FLGS is a good half hour away in another city. That said, this was my game day, so I told all of my players the two locations of the local game stores that were participating (there were two in Santa Clara reasonably close by) and promised bonus XP if someone could snag me a copy of We Be Goblins.
The bigger game store was completely out of everything by the time everyone swung by. The smaller one, however, had copies, so one of the players who went there brought me my goblins.
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I ran my Curse of the Crimson Throne game. It was great fun. The party made it to the final encounter of Scarwall when we eneded. Can't wait to run the final fight next session.
My FLGS didn't participate for the 4th year now and I couldn't get to the closest shop (70 miles away) since I was running.
One of these days...
Not that I care terribly, but that's kind of like charging real money for the "free" stuff since it takes away from my points available. Anyone else see stuff like that and do you feel that sort of takes the "free" out of Free RPG Day?
Yeah, that's completely bogus.
Do they really give stuff away?
They sure do. One of the conditions of taking part in Free RPG Day is that they have to give away at least one item to you for free just for asking. It's up to them what they give away, though. They may well reserve the premium items for those who take part in their event. The idea, after all, is to have a great time. It's not just to show up and demand free stuff.
Do I really have to give product away?
In a word, yes. The hope of Free RPG Day is that we can draw more people into the hobby. This means more people in your store, more people buying your products, and more people playing the amazing games that we all love.
So, the rule is this: if someone comes into your store on Free RPG Day and asks for something, you have to give them at least one item from the kit (until you run out, of course).
What you give them is up to you.
We encourage you to keep the premium prizes and most valued content for those who take part in your event. The point, after all, is for you and your customers to have a great time.
There's some really cool stuff in the kit. Can't I just sell it?
No. The publishers have donated these products for Free RPG Day. You can't sell them or release them prior to the event. Nor can you require a purchase from a customer to get an item. The only exception is for people running games in your store. Obviously, your GMs need to have read the modules they're going to run.
Sad that your store can't obey the spirit and rules.
Yeah, that's completely bogus.
That's how I felt.
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I brought a few dozen Pathfinder books, plus the four novels, to my LGS and put them on display, surrounded them with Pathfinder maps and let people sit and peruse a large variety of Pathfinder product, and answered their questions about Paizo and gaming.
And I ran We Be Goblins for half-a-dozen goblin wannabes including two Players who had never played before and were wondering if they should start their gaming careers with Pathfinder or that game (I forget what it's called) that WotC produces.
We Be Goblins was FUN!
SPOILER WARNING:
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All the wannabe goblinses wanted to take ALL the dares and we had fun with that.
And LotsLegsEatsGoblinBabiesMany was pretty scary. He ambushed the wannabe goblins from the trees while they were scrounging through the dozens of bodies. But despite the initial fear, he turned out just to be a big ugly spider:
Who knew spider legs tasted gooood?!
The 6 wannabe goblinses had fun with all the fireworks.
And when they came to the shipwreck one noticed the Wasp Nest and avoided it while fighting the horse. They made so much goblin racket that the two dogs heard and came out to kill the goblinses. That turned out to be a fun fight.
I was worried the Druid (Vroik_?) and LongTongue would be too easy for my six wannabe goblins but once LongueTongue started grappling goblinses with his tongue (acidic tongue for MY game), they started dropping like, well, like goblins. It's a good thing two of the wannabe goblinses were Clerics. I was worried it was gonna be a TPK.
But the wannabe goblinses emerged victorious despite three of them going below 0HP at one point in the last fight (one of whom went down twice).
Then they chose to kill the wasps anyway.
Then they went home and, after encouragement from a Heavenly voice that sounded oddly like my own DM voice, attacked Chief Gutwad and Slorp(?) to take over the Brinestump Clan and play with all the fireworks!
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By the way, wanted to get people's thoughts on something, my FLGS has a "points program" where everytime you purchase something you get X number of "points" that you can use later to spend on things. So they're sort of a virtual currency. The store was charging points for the Free RPG products. The We Be Goblins was 30 points and the Dragon Age book was 20 points. Not that I care terribly, but that's kind of like charging real money for the "free" stuff since it takes away from my points available. Anyone else see stuff like that and do you feel that sort of takes the "free" out of Free RPG Day?
Thats pretty lame, though the store I go to does similar stuff. I think this year it was:
You get one for coming in.You get one for playing in a roleplaying game event (PF and 4th ed were being run).
You get one for every 5 cans of food you bring in to donate to the food drive (not exactly free, but its for a good cause, and he does this kind of thing alot, so not many people mind).
You get one for every $15 in rpg material you spend for the day (lamesauce).
I played in We Be Goblins. The GM ran 2 sessions of it, so we had a total o 11 players for the day (for PFS), including 3 new faces. Hopefully theyll come back.
I had lots of fun, and played as 'Mrs Gojangles the Flamey' one of the extra goblins made by a member of the boards, in case there was more than 4 players. Abberant Sorcerer, very fun. I ran around using Spark on lots of stuff, including the map given to us by the chief, lol.
Im planning on running it for those of our group who didnt get to play in it already.
You get one for coming in.
At least they did this.
There's nothing wrong with giving out ADDITIONAL items for the reasons you detailed - after all, the event is a sales incentive.
But refusing to give a visitor even one item without some kind of compensation? Totally against the rules of the program.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I played in We Be Goblins, which was my first-ever experience playing a one-shot module (PF or otherwise) at an event like this. It was pretty great. I even got my non-gamer wife to come with me, and she actually had fun! Ah, the power of goblins...
Oh, and getting to apply that chronicle sheet to a then-unplayed PFS character was pretty sweet.
My game store had a gaming event in conjunction with Free RPG day.
Everyone of course if you showed up got to take a couple free RPG modules. (I took the Savage Worlds one and some fantasy game module I can't now think the name of. I passed on "We Be Goblins" because I don't like Golarion goblins. )
If you paid 5 bucks you got to sit at the game tables and join various game demos and get free delicious samples of Thai food (plus 50% off at the adjoining Thai restaurant... it's cool when the comic shop owner is married to a Thai chef) and win free swag. I ran last year's Free RPG, Master of the Fallen Fortress (which unfortunately started late due to various issues not in my control). I also got to play a demo of DCAU -- I got to be Wonder Woman, is was great fun. ^_^ Other games demoed include Savage Worlds, D&D 4th, Battletech, Red Dragon Inn 3, and other stuff I'm probably forgetting.
Continuing my tradition of posting my Free RPG day activities.
Illusive Comics & Games in San Jose was participating for the first time this year, but their newsletter implied that you had to participate in some RPG sessions they were running that day to claim the freebies. A quick phone call confirmed that yes, you had to play in a 1-2 hour demo in order to qualify...the first 80 participants in the demo games would get something. Games scheduled to be offered included WOTC D&D, Pathfinder, White Wolf, Serenity and Bushido(!). As much as I would like to get a game in, I didn't have that time to commit so I decided to skip their location.The plan was to get to Game Kastle at 10am when it opened and 11am when Gator Games opened. No plan of mine for a Saturday morning ever survives first contact with breakfast so I strolled into Game Kastle after 11am.
Although they had a table laid out last year with the product by the time I got there nothing was visible. The early birds had...
A small note: Illusive may have had that as the announced policy, but they relaxed it at the door. One of my players, who I asked to pick up We Be Goblins for me, got it from them with no trouble after explaining that she was on her way to another game and didn't have time to play. They also asked her how she'd found out about their shop, and she mentioned that a friend had sent her the address.
Game Kastle, OTOH, was out of everything by the time she and the rest of my players hit it.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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My FLGS (Foam Brain Games in Troy, NY) had a pretty good supply of Free RPG Day stuff and they allowed us to take 1 item per person, meaning that I got an item for myself, my wife, and my daughter (yes, they allowed me to count my 4-year-old for my item count!). I ended up getting We Be Goblins, the Black Crusade book, and the fast play rules for a new system called 'Arcanis' that looked really cool. I wanted to get the World of Darkness module too, but I had hit my limit and I had plenty of WoD stuff already anyway.
The biggest problem, though, was that the employee of the place did not even so much as look at me while I was there. I had to be informed of the rules by another patron while the employee was caught up in some kind of CCG conversation with another customer. I hung around for maybe 10-15 minutes, at no point being acknowledged by staff, and finally found out (from the same customer who told me about the Free RPG Day "rules") that there was a scheduled event running the We Be Goblins module, but it was not until later and I was not going to be able to stick around that long.
Now, mind you, this place is not especially big. There's maybe 3 rooms in total, the largest of which is barely the size of my bedroom. Nor was there a vast sea of customers. Including my wife, my daughter, and myself, there were 7 people in the store, not counting the employee. At the very least, he could've said "Hi" or "Welcome" or something. I was not really impressed.
Some one ran the zombie game at my FLGS. I hit a guy with an LCD monitor, mostly on accident. Another guy got run over by a gurney. Also on accident.
Everyone got at least 3 things if they wanted them. And I got gypped out of the one dice tower. Should've got there earlier.
(SPOILERS FOR WE BE GOBLINS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)
Free RPG Day at Game Theory in Raleigh, NC was a blast. I abstained from grabbing swag beyond my copy of We Be Goblins, but everything looked good - WotC's Shadowfell book had some neat stat blocks in it, and the Goodman Games DCCRPG preview sounded like a lot of fun judging by the tables that were playing.
The GMs who ran We Be Goblins played a preview session a day prior to the event courtesy of Venture Captain Steve Miller, and that session yielded much humor. I had great fun playing the part of Poog the cleric. Chief Gutwad even honored me by spitting on my lucky toad! The preview game ended in blood - I think we all, in typical goblin fashion, realized that there was a greater glory to be had by letting our comrades fall and taking the credit for the fireworks haul. In the end, Reta and Chuffy were felled by Cuddles, and my channeling of negative energy finished them off. (I eulogized Reta thusly: "You will be missed, Bigbad. Rest your head in peace now upon your huge pillow.") Unfortunately, Cuddles also finished me off. Vorka survived, but didn't manage to stop Mogmurch from pilfering her stash of fireworks, which he promptly ran back to the village and took for himself.
My Saturday group was a bit more cooperative. I had three veteran gamers at my table with whom I regularly play (Chuffy, Reta, and Gerg the barbarian, a fan-created pre-gen) plus a 1E/2E grognard and his 8-year-old son (Poog and another fan pre-gen, Nert the bard). I had NEVER had a player that young before, so I was a bit nervous about it, but he did a fantastic job of roleplaying and keeping focused considering his age. (He also won a dice tower in the raffle, which helped cut down on the inevitable rolling of dice off the table and onto the floor.) They did an awesome job of coordinating tactics, using Stealth rolls and the ladder from the robe of useful things to board the ship before Stomp noticed them. Chuffy stuck to the shadows outside the boat and took out the horse nearly single-handedly (without the bane weapon to boot, which no one won during the goblin games).
They made quick work of the dogs, and careful applications of the fireworks by Nert helped keep Cuddles blinded for a few rounds, allowing Reta and Poog to dispose of the dog. Meanwhile, Gerg and Chuffy engaged Vorka on the bottom deck, and though she did some considerable damage with produce flame and summon swarm, they still managed to defeat her. Upon discovering the cache of fireworks, guarded by the giant frog, they tried to advance - but the frog lashed out with his tongue, eating Reta's lucky toad. Chuffy baited the frog with his stuffed raven, readying an attack action to sever the tongue, which was successful. Reta quickly cut open the giant frog and retrieved her lucky toad - thankfully safe, despite the indignity of being swallowed whole. The Licktoads returned to the village triumphant, and everyone received a promotion from Chief Gutwad.
Thanks to Paizo and Richard Pett for a great adventure - I know that our grognard and his son stayed around for a while, and even bought some books and miniatures so they could keep playing at home. So, in the sense that new people got to experience next-generation gaming, the event was a complete success. (I only wish that the Beginner's Box were already out, because that would have been the perfect product to steer them toward to get them started!)