Thursday 22 August 2013

What the hell is that?. 1.Skellington.


Despite looking like re-animated skeletons, Skellingtons are in fact their own species. Usually clad in whatever they've found lying around, their one unifying feature is their large, skeletal head with two tiny eyes buried deep within the eye socket cavities.
Skellingtons are not very bright (it's thought that their brains are tiny)and their instinct is to attack (often head first) if suprised or encounted.
No one is quite sure where they come from, but they usually show up in dungeons and graveyards, anywhere where rats are in plentiful supply. Signs of Skellington habitation is smalls piles of rat bones laying around. They're also fond of Silver, however they don't spend it on anything but they do like to eat it. Skellington feces is something to behold. They can obey simpler commands and are often used by those not wanting to spend the money on getting in intelligent guards.

AC: 6
HD: 1d8
Move: 90'
Attack: 1 (weapon) + Special
Dmg: Weapon (1d8 special)
Save as: Normal Man.

If Skellingtons are suprised, their first instinct is to charge head first at their attacker with their thick, boney heads.

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Silver!

Tonight's second session was great.
Without the character gen we were able to dive straight in with things.
A Character "Caerphilly the Swashbuckler" received a fatal wound, failed two saving throws, so the other PCs carried him back up through the dungeon (they hadn't gotten that far in) and back to the Inn to see if there was a doctor in the village to help in. There was, but sadly it was too late and the character died.

The new character "Joe" is great, he seems to rush in without thinking. I hope he doesn't die though there's a high chance he will.

The rest of the group are also brilliant, with a bit more play time their characters are starting to come out. Grumlore the Barbarian is quiet yet slightly grumpy, Scape Goot the Wizard is getting more drinky and Elise the Thief really loves her silver and, as it turns out, is rather handy with a whip.
They seemed to enjoy rampaging round the rooms I've put together.
I had set up a room of jars, each containing a random nasty/pleasant suprise. As the first jar that was opened ( I say opened, Grumlore smashed the jar onto the ground) seemed to be full of silver, Joe decided this is what all the jars contained and with a shout of 'Silver!' he took his club and smashed a load of jars in one fell swoop. Chaos, as it does, ensued.

Things I've learnt.

Seeing the players actually going through the environment you're creating is the most fun thing to watch.

Unpredictability in players is good, do not be afraid of it.

Draw and create more things to give to the players, they seemed to like it.

Learn to listen to everyone talking.

If I stop worrying about what is happening, I can make stuff up on the spot and let the players run loose.

I must remember to write down stuff I've made up on the spot and weave it back into the game.


Trust in the basic framework.

Because the world I'm playing in is being made up as I go, it seems the best way to get information about it is to listen to the players. Tonight I discovered that Magic Users have Masters and that the main city (Crow) has a library (actually, I learnt this from an NPC but still…I hadn't thought about it before).

Just because a magical item is placed, don't assume the players will use it.

Don't make little happy noises when players head towards a room  that you really like. It sort of gives things away…
-------------------------

We're not gaming for a little bit, due to holidays and the like, which means I can crack on with world building and thinking up more campaign ideas. Essential, this is all just means I get to make things up and do some drawing, which is part of the whole fun of this.

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Lets meet the Gods! Brabb.


Brabb, The God of Alcohol.
Symbol: Empty Glass or Bottle
Patron saint of Inn Keepers.

Whilst there are a million and one small gods related to Beer, Cider, Wine, Hops, Grapes, etc… Brabb is closely related to alcohol in general. He is often represented as a red faced, large bellied, slightly disheveled character; something his followers have taken to heart. This makes them easy to recognise in Inns, Hostelries or gutters.
'Getting Brabbed' has fallen into common parlance, along with other such phrases such as 'I was out chasing Brabb last night', 'Brabb helped me home last night' and the less pleasant 'she was Blessed by Brabb' often used by un-gallant swines when describing drunken conquests.

Feast of Brabb
On the first day of this festival, Inns open their doors at midday and let people drink for free. Vast amounts of alcohol is consumed and the day usually ends in chaos. At midnight, till midnight the following day, not a drop of alcohol is allowed to be consumed or sold. Many Inn Keepers take this day off.

Followers of Brabb.
People tend to end up following Brabb by accident, but there are a few who do follow his teachings (The Book of Brabb is largely an incoherent ramble of stream of conscious mumblings that has not yet been properly deciphered) and choose to worship him by drinking large amounts of alcohol and falling over, safe in the knowledge that Brabb will keep them safe. Magic-Users who have Brabb as there Patron actually get better at spells the drunker they are.








--------

As I said in my previous post, my Spell Caster seems to be a big fan of the alcohol and I thought this might be an entertaining source of his power. It's also given me my first Deity, which is handy.



Thursday 8 August 2013

Show Your Working 01

I really like the idea of a blog being a place you can 'show your working' as it were.
So, in that spirit, here is a vague list of nebulous words that I came up when trying to think about the world I want to create in my campaign. After that, various images I've found from t'internet.

Bleak moors
Strange villagers
Great big forests
Customs and rituals
Cults
Demons and demonworshippers
Pagan gods
Witchcraft
Madness
Bodyshock horror
Spirits, ghosts
Lurking monsters
Endless beaches
Grey, rainy
Abandoned places
Old monuments
Fog
Mist
Ladies with scythes
Creepy Nuns
Mummers

If I'm honest, it's not the most original of lists, but there we go.









Apologies to any of the artists involved in making these. If you see them and they are yours, I'm happy to take them down and/or credit you.
I have lots more pics, so will probably do another post like this at some point.

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Cellar Exploration

Last was the first RPG night for about ten or fifteen years. Overall I think it went pretty well.
We didn't get very far into the adventure, and probably spent about half an hour or so rolling up characters, but once we started it was enjoyable.

Things Of Note
I think my spell-caster may become a functioning alcoholic. He became very interested in the old bottles I had placed in one part of the cellar they were exploring and threw a few into his backpack, along with two bottles he had already purchased. He kept swigging from the bottle, so I'm going to keep an eye on it. If he has too much it might start effecting rolls. How many swigs in a bottle of wine anyway?

Things which I had just written in quickly suddenly became really important to the players, even though they were just throw away to me. I had forgotten that. I suppose I was so focused on what was happening in the dungeon, the back story and what's going to appear in the rooms I wasn't expecting to be asked by the PCs what the walls felt like, was it cold, etc.... I had to make that stuff up on the fly.

I need to watch what I'm doing and not get excited when the PCs are going in the direction I want them to, and not get all Railroady when they don't. It's entirely down to them what to do and I need to act non-plussed about whatever they want to do.


The next session is planned for two weeks time, which is great because I can now tinker with parts of the dungeon and flesh it out a little more. I can also start to think about expanding the world they're playing in, so if they do make it out, they will have something to do.