A Game of Thrones, Yearning for Birthright

About a week ago, my wife and I power watched season one of A Game of Thrones on Blue Ray. My animosity towards George R.R. Martin aside, I enjoyed the season and found it refreshingly tighter then the books.

However, this is not a review. AGoT has been reviewed to death. Watching the series made me yearn to once again play Birthright.

For those not familiar, Birthright was a setting published by TSR in 1995. In the setting, characters were rulers of domains (this was possible even at 1st level!). There was much political backstabbing (at least in my campaigns) and of course war always loomed.

I really got into Birthright at the time. It is the only setting published by TSR that I ever used in my campaigns and I used it for several years. One of the attractions for me was that the characters each had a bloodline that was derived from a dead god. There was a war of the gods many years ago in which all the old gods perished and new gods rose in their place. However, not all of the old gods power was transferred to the new. A fraction of it (a lot in godhood terms) was transferred to their followers. Some followers had only trace bloodlines, while others had great bloodlines. It was possible to increase ones bloodline by killing another blooded character, giving the game a very Highlander appeal.

The game was originally designed for 2nd edition AD&D, and this was the system I usually ran it with; however, I once played a GURPS (3rd ed.) version of the game, and a dedicated online fan base put out a 3rd edition D&D version that I used for a year or so as well.

I have, to the best of my knowledge, every expansion ever published for the setting. I haven't had an urge to play it in years. For the past ten years, my game of choice has been Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and when I do play D&D, it is an old-school version. I've played with both the BECMI Cyclopedia rules and Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

But damn! Watching Game sure makes me want to pull the Birthright material out of storage and maybe convert it to Basic Fantasy Roleplay, or for kicks, use it with 2nd ed. AD&D (although my 2nd edition games were mostly 1st edition games with a few good ideas from 2nd ed. thrown in for flavor).

Review: The Phoenix Barony

I was turned onto David Bezio's The Phoenix Barony by James Smith of The Underdark Gazette fame. He pimped it for the November 28th 2010 edition.

I would like to say whole-heartedly, Thank You Mr. Smith for tipping me off to this and thank you Mr. Bezio for writing it. tPB is exactly what I have been looking for. I wrote previously that my Darkling Ways campaign had come to an abrupt end. Much of the reason for that was, as much as I enjoy the concept of creating my own game world, the actual work involved requires much more effort then I am willing to put forward.

What I needed was a bare-bones world to place my adventures in. I wanted something generic. Now there are many "generic" worlds out there, but most of the more popular ones such as The Known World (or Mystara, if you must, but ONLY if you must), Greyhawk, Blackmoor etc.; however, a well known generic world comes pre-packaged with player expectations formed from years of supplements, be those professional or amateur.

I wanted, needed, a setting that was generic, but with no pre-expectations. Again, I could have gone to any number of sources available on the web, and many of them are well done. The problem with most is I have found very few that are well done for me personally.

The Phoenix Barony is a short work, about 30 some pages. The artwork is tasteful and suited to the subject at hand. I found few typos, if any. There are bits of flavor fiction through-out that are well done and add atmosphere.

I own the PDF of The Phoenix Barony which I picked up from Lulu here. There is also a paperback edition available here, that after having read and mucked around in tPB with my players a bit, I am keen on buying it for myself as a Christmas gift.

From the publishers blurb:

The Phoenix Barony™ is a high fantasy adventure setting for the Labyrinth Lord™ RPG or any Basic/Expert Fantasy Role Playing Game. It is a concise lighthearted setting covering an area 100 x 100 miles. In this book you will find details on the world the Phoenix Barony is set in, descriptions of all the major locations in the Barony, history, Religion, organizations, and NPCs that make the setting unique. If that isn’t enough you will also find the details of a smaller adventure area within the Phoenix Barony, hints of further adventures that take place there, and a complete 1st level adventure to get you started.(OSRIC friendly)

That is an apt description of what you get "out-of-the-box". It feels like a "high fantasy adventure setting" very akin to what a generic 0ld-school D&D campaign typically feels like. If you're looking for dark and moody with low-magic, look elsewhere. In the author's own words:

"(The Phoenix Barony's)...only real "unique" quality is that it doesn't try to be. This setting is hopelessly traditional vanilla flavored high fantasy...Still, it is my hope in sharing that it is just thing that some people have been searching for.

Mr. Bezio explains in his introduction that this has been a labor of love for him for 26 years. "I began role playing in 1981 with a basic version of the world's most popular role playing game. Through several years and several editions the setting you hold in your hands gradually developed". I assume from that statement that his world was used with Basic D&D, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, possibly first and second edition (hence the "OSIRIC friendly" comment from the blurb), as well as possibly 3rd edition. Reading through it, it seems obvious that this is a setting that grew organically. What makes it work for me, where other borrowed home-brew worlds have not, is he has kept it generic for 26 years. I'm sure there are details not included in his document that make his own personal Phoenix Barony unique then say mine, but he has made, I suspect, some wise editorial decisions in not including too many of those.

The Phoenix Barony is written with the intent of using Labyrinth Lord™ RPG. Mr. Bezio also states "or any Basic/Expert Fantasy Role playing game". I don't know if he ever intended Tunnels & Trolls™ to be included in that list, but I took him at his word and T&T 5th edition is my rules set of choice for my personal tPB game. My group and I are two sessions in and it is working wonderfully. I see this as more proof that Mr. Bezio has done a wonderful job of keeping his setting uniquely generic.

As promised in the blurb, you the reader are given details of an area 100 x 100 miles. These details are just enough to give you what you need, without overburdening you with superfluous details. A history is given that sets up the major bad-guy, Geltrod the Vermin Lord, and gives enough detail on the political situation to spark a DM's imagination. The same level of detail is given to religion, organizations and non-player characters. There are side-bars throughout that give more information for many of these topics. Mr. Bezio does all of this with a mere 20 pages.

From there the focus is narrowed to an immediate adventure area. In this section are three population areas along with three different wooded areas, lakes and rivers, roads and mountains. All of these are staples of such classic campaign kick-off modules such as Keep on the Borderlands. There is also a section titled "Places of Interest" which describe possible adventuring locals (some of which Mr. Bezio promises to publish adventures for).

The Village of Humble is given a thorough treatment as a default town to base adventures around or in (again a future adventure Vermin of Humble is promised). This section is well done. There is a map that is more then sufficient and all the shops that an adventure will need in his early career are included, along with the NPC's which run them.

Lastly, included is a short adventure meant as an introduction to the realm called The Lost Daughter. I am currently in the midst of running this for my players and will give more details on it at a later date. I will mention that The Lost Daughter is available separate as a free PDF, and it is generic enough to slide into just about any campaign.

All of what I have stated is praise, so I feel I must point out some faults. One glaring thing missing to me is a table of contents. That is forgivable, but it would have made page flipping easier; however, in all fairness, this is a short document. I will survive without a table of contents. I have read complaints in other reviews of some of the names being too generic or cheesy. I disagree, but there is an easy fix: change them if you don't like them. My main complaint, is hopefully not a complaint at all. Mr Bezio speaks of four adventures that will give more detail to the immediate adventure area. These are: Vermin of Humble, The Legend of Jub-Jub Lake, Dragon Head Peak and The Lost Keep. Of these, as of my writing this, only The Legend of Jub-Jub Lake is thus far available. It is my highest hope that Mr. Bezio will provide the other three adventures as promised and soon. I personally would love to see Vermin of Humble ASAP!

In summary, David Bezio has done a wonderful job of presenting a campaign world that is generic, yet doesn't feel generic. There is just enough meat on these bones to allow a DM such as myself to jump right in.

Another Dead Campaign, but Gaming, Finally!

Due to a very much too long lapse in playing, my groups Darkling Ways campaign has come to an abrupt end. I promised myself I wasn't going to let this happen; however, my lifestyle, which includes too much travel at times, is not conducive for a long term campaign. In the future, I am aiming lower. I would be happy with a campaign more in the 12 to 15 session range. As that is about the number of times I get to game in a 52 week calendar year.

The campaign was not a dud. It was entertaining. I was happy with the rules system we as a group settled upon, Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game. BFRPG is a good mix of Old-School with a dash of d20 thrown in. This works well for me, as I do prefer an old-school style of play; however, I appreciate things such as ascending AC for what they are: "easier".

I attempted to leave my game world setting generic and develop it as I went along. This worked to a degree. I think I would have done better starting with a "pre-packaged" generic world, such as The Known World, or Greyhawk; however, both of those with later supplemental material became loaded down with pre-expectations. Without having a bare-bones setting to work off of, I found myself floundering, as I am not good at maps and the big details. I do great with the small details, meaning, I can create an NPC on the spot complete with name, personality and quirks, but ask me "what's on the other side of those hills?", and I'm stumped.

A new campaign has risen from the old. Not from the ashes. I started over. We are two sessions in. This time out of the gate, I decided to use Tunnels & Trolls 5th Edition. My choice of T&T comes not from a lack of love for BFRPG, I like the later, and will most likely keep it as my go to system for D&D. T&T is fun.

I've used it little over the years. It is one of those games that sit upon my shelf and gets talked about, but very little play-time. I had been thumbing through my T&T 5 box set in between bouts of "Dungeon Master Block", by which I mean I was trying to think of a way to re-energize my excitement level for my Darkling Ways game and failing. I simply fell out of love with the old campaign and started jonesing to run some Tunnels & Trolls.

My choice of 5th vs 7/7.5 is simple. I own 5th and do not own any edition after that. AND, I'm happy with 5th, warts, bumps, silly-spell names and all. I added a couple of later edition house rules to my 5th edition and presto! Game on!

As for world settings, I was going to start a new campaign in my Darkling Ways world, but T&T just didn't feel right. Not wanting to repeat my previous mistake, I did some research and came across The Phoenix Barony. Thus far, I am more then happy with tPB, and will talk more at length about it in the future. I will say this now, it is an excellent bare-bones setting, with no pre-expectations from myself or my players. I kinda wish I had started my BFRPG in tPB.

We are two sessions into the new game, which is shaping up to be a "mega"-dungeon delving campaign. I put the "mega" in parenthesis, as it is not an unending dungeon. Thus far I have 5 levels planned with a possible 6. When it is explored, the campaign is over.

As always, I enter with high hopes, but this time with limitations.

Still no Session 9 in Sight...

I was out of town this week and will be next week as well. Alas, still no session 9 anytime soon.

Still no Session 9

We got together this past week, but had one no show. I wasn't feeling it with only two players so we broke out a board game instead. It may be two or three weeks before we can try again.

Session 8 -- Brief Recap

Two weeks ago, we managed to game, and we are gaming this evening as well. There were only three of us. The session was a bit subdued, it takes time to get back into the dynamic. This is a busy time for all of us, so following is a brief recap.

We picked up at the entrance of the Labyrinth. Nancy, Hargreave, Malic and Osamu pressed forward. There were two brief encounters with fire beetles. An encounter with a grand total of three minotaur nearly did the whole party in. I did not have copies of Osamu nor Malic's stats, I gave the the benefit of the doubt, but most likely, they should be dead. They spent two days healing before pressing onward. Eventually, they mapped out the labyrinth to their satisfaction and found more loot.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, the henchmen had two sets of visitors. First there was a traveling elf with a human porter. The elf has heard rumor that an elf named Malic is nearby. He wishes to find him. The elf and human are staying with the henchmen in hopes of Malic's return. The next day, the henchmen were visited by a mixed bag group consisting of: former members of the Fortunate Fools, former members of the Blade of the Spear and a large band of bugbears, along with a half-ogre. They took them captive, made them carry as much loot as they could and took them to their leader: The Silver Mane, former leader of the Fortunate Fools. His advisor is his cousin, Joss the Yellow-Mane.

I apologize for the lack of detail.

Campaign Journal: Retainer Dogs Session 4

Play date: June 1, 2010

This is the last one of these I am writing. From now on, they will be written by my players.

Adventurer Roster

Aethyl the Prestidigitator (human Magic-user 1/Played by Christina.) Curious about everything and always ready for an experiment involving magic, I present for the last time, the poor doomed Aethyl.

Hargreaves the Veteran (Halfling Fighter 1/Player Bryan) a warrior who grew up the son of a Pie Baker in the City-State of Mebulon. He recently left the Half-man ghettos of that city and now seeks his fortune.

Malic the Veteran Prestidigitator (Elf F/M 1/Player-Roy) a sometimes foolishly brave soul that is perhaps a touch megalomaniac. He is curious to the edge of recklessness.

Osamu the Acolyte (Human Cleric 1/Player - Joe) A traveling Inquisitor-Knight of the Immortal Solomon. Osamu headed the call to travel this land and face the foes of Solomon.

Pre-Game Business Session 4:

Olef is guarding the Fortunate Fools Base Camp

Items in their possession at session start, but not sold:

Sword and 2 daggers (one of the daggers has a hollow pommel and contains a map to a hidden cave) from Tybrin

Brief Synopsis

(In game start time Day 6, 0600)

This was an entertaining session. One thing I can not convey with these synopsis are all the in game jokes we have, mostly to poor Roy’s expense. This is a great group of people to geek with. I find myself trying to fit all of the jokes and anecdotes into these session reports, but they are lost on the general reader and the end result is an overly long synopsis. So, instead, I will stick to high lighting that which I feel is important for my players to remember. The session went well. We had a bit of role-playing in the start at Pendleton, some head scratching experimentation which entertained me, first with a seemingly magical mace and then with a mysterious door. There was plenty of action too. First with a regenerating hobgoblin that ended in a clear victory for the players; however, they acquired an interesting morning star that seems to have hexed Malic the Elf with some sort of curse. They had another encounter at the Apes Caves that included a sleeping carnivorous ape, hundreds of normal bats, a giant bat that thought Hargreave looked like a tasty kobold, and a pack of twelve blind cave locusts. The cave locusts almost wiped out the entire party. In the end, none survived unscathed, Malic and Osamu both came VERY close to death, and poor Aethyl was doomed with her meager 4 hit points.

Expanded Synopsis:

The Return of the Foolishly Brave Elf to Pendleton

An exhausted babbling Malic arrives in Pendleton. He wakes Osamu the Cleric and tells him his wild tale of maps leading to hidden caves, wagon riding kobolds, creepy doors in root cellars and lusty, angry, she apes.

Osamu calms him and rouses Hargreave the Halfing from his drunken sleep and Aethyl the mage as well. The four of them go outside the inn to the wagon. Osamu sees to Gia and Heidi getting some breakfast for them at the inn. Aethyl goes back to her room to memorize her spell for the day.

Gia pulls Osamu to the side and appeals to him as a man of faith to secure her families fortune hidden in her farm house. She states that their life savings is kept in a clay jar, stuffed inside a sack of wheat. The jar, the four family horses and their two wagons are all she has. The farm itself has a lien on it, and with her husband dead, she has no claim to the farm itself. Only the wagons and the horses.

The Platinum Flute

While this is going on, Hargreave haggles with the inn keeper’s son for a fair price on the four casks of dwarven ale recovered by Malic. A price of 228 gp’s, plus a pence for the King and a pound for the Pauper is agreed upon. The inn keeper tips him to the fact that the local loan agent is a collector of fine things, and may have some interest in the Halfling pottery jars.

Hargreave pays a visit to the Loan Agent. The Loan Agent’s shelves are lined with curiosities, many obviously valuable, all of fine and/or unique make. The Loan Agent inspects the pottery. He is impressed, and tells Hargreave that a few weeks back, two Halflings from Elmshire had been in his store. They were in need of a loan and as collateral offered a platinum flute.

The flute was produced and shown to Hargreave. It was obviously of Halfling make. It was kept in a hand carved onyx box, lined with deep purple velvet. There were intricate runes inscribed upon the flute that Hargreave could not identify as any halfing clan markings known to him. The runes seemed to swim like ants when Hargreave concentrated upon them too much.

The Loan Agent then told Hargreave that the Halflings had offered to deliver to him a shipment of fine pottery. With the banditry as of late, by the now captured Tybrin the Vicious, he assumed they were raided and doomed along with his dreams of pottery. While the flute is beautiful to behold, and obviously of value, his interest is not in instruments, but he is interested in pottery.

The Loan Agent offered a trade. The flute for the pottery. Hargreave, believing this to be the flute that the Halflings Brigid and Gerri were looking for accepted. With Brigid dead, and having not spoken to Gerri for several days now, Hargreave pocketed the flute and has thus far said nothing to Gerri, or anyone else, about the flute.

The Not so Fortunate Fools

After a long discussion that devolved into an argument over either investigating the cave marked upon Tybrin’s map or going to find the Fortunate Fools at Zebulon Whately’s Dungeon; they finally decided upon taking the wagon with them and would stop by the camp to check on Olef the Red and the Fortunate Fools’ camp before continuing on to investigate the cave on Tybrin’s map.

When they arrived at the camp, they found Olef sharpening his ax; however, the camp was emptied. Olef explained that early that morning, Ven of the Silver-Mane (cousin to Joss the Yellow-Mane) and Gwen Truegard, Zebulon Whatley‘s senior apprentice and the newest member of the Fortunate Fools, had entered the camp in a nervous rush. They babbled about everyone else being dead, claiming “something” had killed the others. They paid money to Olef, 20 gp’s each, five times less then the group were initially offered. They then packed up camp and set out upon the south road towards Elmshire and far off Acteron. Our heroes were retainers no more.

Mr. Red Fang and the Bleeding Morningstar

Following the path marked upon the map, the group encountered another two horse wagon, very similar to their own. It held a kobold passenger and was driven by a creature that appeared to be a hobgoblin. Seeing them, it became enraged and charged their wagon with his. Aethyl cast her sleep spell. She centered it upon the hobgoblin creature; however, it had no effect upon it. She did enchant the two horses into a slumber. When the horses fell, one broke a front leg, and the wagon rolled to the passenger side, demolishing the front wheel on that side and damaging the rear wheel on the same side. The kobold tumbled out of the wagon, ensorcelled with the mage’s sleep spell.

Seemingly berserk, the hobgoblin creature screamed “Mr. Red Fang Kill!” raised a bloody morning star above his head and charged. The characters noticed that the morning star seemed to continually drip blood, as if bleeding. A short battle ensued.

The adventurers watched in curious amazement as the numerous blows they inflicted upon this Mr. Red Fang, healed only moments after the wounds were received. It did not end well for Mr. Red Fang, but before dying, he brought his bloody morning star down upon the face of Olef the Red, crushing the dwarf’s skull in a bloody pulp.

Getting in some good hits with missile attacks against Mr. Red Fang’s berserker strategy, he fell rather quickly. The adventurers assumed it was the morning star giving him the regeneration capabilities. They removed the weapon from him after he fell. He still retained his regenerative ability. They searched him for medallions and rings, finding none, and noting he was still regenerating, they removed his head. The regeneration stopped.

Curious. Malic held the morning star. He instantly heard a whisper in his voice begging for blood, and warning him that “the others will want me, you must guard me”. He began grumbling, “it’s Mine! You can’t have it!” and giving his fellows the evil eye. Osamu struck him with the flat of his blade. The others followed suit, rendering him unconscious.

They wrapped the morning star in his cloak, instantly soaking it with blood, bound him and tossed him in the wagon with Olef’s corpse. Noting the late hour, they decided to make for the abandoned Bandit Camp that Malic had pointed out to them upon Tybrin’s map.

A Stinky House and a Mysterious Door

Their investigation of the house revealed the mess that Malic had described to them from his earlier investigation. It was wrecked by the kobolds, who had obviously used the hearth as a privy instead of the detached outhouse. It was obvious that the hearth was the recipient of their daily constitutions, and that general relief was had wherever they might have been standing. Osamu recovered the families fortune described to him by Gia.

Finding the house distasteful, and perhaps diseased, they decided to sleep in the barn and leave the door in the root cellar for further exploration in the morning.

The door turned into a mystery. Try as they might, they could not find a way to open it. A plan was devised in which they would offer Olef’s body as sacrifice in order to see if the door would open. Their reasoning being that Heidi had told them that the bandits would drag bodies to the root cellar. They found several drag marks, and what could be blood stains on the earth floor, but there were no bodies found. Their theory is that something from the other side of the door takes the bodies, perhaps only during hours of darkness. A cloth sack of copper coins was found in the root cellar as well. It is a common practice to lay copper coins over the eyes of the dead to pay the taker of the underworld. They also remembered stories of a place called “the Darkling Ways”, a sort of never ending dungeon that grows and opens to the upper world through several doorways. These doorways are sometimes fixed, and sometimes chaotic in stasis.

An unwilling Malic was locked in the cellar to see if the door would open. He broke out, and was enraged. This joke repeated itself three times before Aethyl called for a stop to the non sense. They decided to spend the daylight hours investigating the cave, and would return to the house at night fall.

A Sleeping Ape, Bats, a bigger bat, cave locusts and another dead companion

At the Ape Cave, they discovered that the wreckage of the cargo Malic described to them had been hauled away. It looked as if it were dragged into a nearby bog. Careful investigation inside found a sleeping ape. A stealthy Hargreave dispensed the lone ape.

The party crept further into the cavern depths with Malic taking the lead with his dark vision. The squeaking of many bats could be heard, and the deeper they went, the stronger the scent of the guano became.

They found a room of sorts, its floor littered with carcasses and debris. Some of the carcasses were obviously humanoid, perhaps kobold. Suddenly, Malic was attacked by several giant, albino, blind locusts with large “feeler” antenna. They shrieked loudly, deafening him then four of them leapt at him, striking him repeatedly. The shrieking disturbed hundreds of bats which swarmed the characters, confusing all but Hargreave.

A giant bat attacked Hargreave. Perhaps because he was the smallest in the party. A confused battle against swarming bats and shrieking locusts left everyone injured and Aethyl dead. Using fire to drive the bats away and burning oil to defeat the locusts. The party searched the debris in the room. They discovered some loose coin, six silver arrow heads (fletched to broken arrows), a battered but usable quiver, and three intact arrows amongst many broken ones. A single arrow had a complex rune inscribed upon its broad head.

They carried the dead Aethyl out of the cave and stopped at the entrance to decide their next move.

Campaign Journal: Retainer Dogs Session 3

The Roster (Player Name - Character Status - Character Name (Race/Class/Level)

Joe - Primary: Osamu (Human Cleric 1) INJURED SESSION 3

Joe - Back-up: Gerrie (Halfling Fighter 1)

Bryan - Primary: Hargreaves (Halfling Fighter 1)

Bryan - Back-up: Edwin (Human Magic-user 1)

Roy - Primary: Malic (Elf F/M 1)

Roy - Back-up: Milhous (Human Thief 1)

Christina - DEAD: Brigid (Halfling Thief 1) DEAD SESSION 3

Christina - Primary: Aethyl (human Magic-user 1)

Notes From Session 3

Osamu is injured

Brigid is dead

Primary and Alternates are in Pendleton, Session 3 End Time/Session 4 Start Time: DAY 6 (5 AM).

Olef is guarding the Fortunate Fools Base Camp

Christina needs a Back-Up Character.

Items Sold in Pendelton:

2 axes from the dwarves SOLD S3

3 spears and 2 swords from the bandits SOLD S3

2 swords, 2 daggers, 2 shields from dead men at Farmer Jon’s House.

SOLD S3 TOTAL: 40.5 gps/xp.

TOTAL EXPERIENCE FOR SESSION 3: Primary = 457 XP EACH; Back Ups = 81 XP Each.

UNSOLD ITEMS (NO EXPERIENCE - YET):

Sword and 2 daggers (one of the daggers has a hollow pommel and contains a map) from Tybrin

(3) crates each holding (4) Halfling crafted pottery jars, finely decorated.

(4) barrels of good quality ale.

Synopsis

Day 5 (2 AM): Session Start time

Brigid and Osamu left Olef at the camp. They spied the flames and smoke in the distance from Malic and Hargreave burning down Farmer Jon’s House. On the way there, they ran into the skeletons that Osamu had Turned earlier in the evening. A battle was fought, Osamu was gravely injured and Brigid fell dead from the blow of a skeleton’s club. Osamu Turned them once more, then not thinking it wise to continue on the journey alone, and being closer to camp then Farmer Jon’s House, he carried Brigid’s body back to the Fortunate Fool’s Camp.

Meanwhile, back at Farmer Jon’s burning house, Malic and Hargreave encountered Jon Jr. as a leper zombie, again , from the evening’s earlier encounter. They quickly dispatched it with a lucky sword swing from Hargreave. When it became obvious that no one from camp was going to show, Malic and Hargreave traveled back to camp to find that Osamu and Olef had built a perimeter of torches to ward off surprise encounters. They came upon Osamu preparing Brigid for the journey to the Underdark. They arrived back in camp around 5 AM. The party chose to sleep and set up a watch schedule, split between Olef on first watch and Malic on second.

Late in the morning, the PC’s spied riders upon the road. Malic stopped them to talk, but they made it obvious they did not wish to speak. A debate of either going to Zebulon’s Dungeons to find the Fortunate Fools or going to Pendelton was settled. The group decided to head to Pendelton. Around 11 AM, Aethyl arrived from Pendelton with a message from Zebulon for her and Malic that he wished for his apprentices to work for the Fortunate Fools and for neither of them to stay in Pendleton.

A four hour journey by horse back to Pendelton put the characters in the town around 3 PM. Osamu went to the Wise Woman’s house and had his wounds tended to. Mayor Tomm was run into. He told them that one rider like they described had entered town, but not two. Malic once again tried to engage a rider in conversation, again he was rudely told to bugger off. The rider rode out of town heading south.

The group decided to spend the night in Penelton. While selling the weapons they had collected from killing bandits and raiding dwarf bodies, Malic discovered a map hidden inside the pommel of one of Tybrin’s daggers. He set out on his own with one of the horses to follow the map. He set out around 6 PM.

Needing to cross the river, Malic left his horse and forded the river on a skiff. On the other side, he spied a Kobold hiding under an overhang near the river. He avoided him and continued on his way. He passed up a seemingly abandoned farm house as well.

Coming upon a cave, Malic saw two kobolds on a wagon dump a load of goods (presumed to be stolen bandit goods). He hid as the Kobolds passed him by. After their departure, he witnessed four carnivorous apes come out of the cave and start angrily destroying the goods dumped in front of their cave. Malic took a shot an one of the Apes. In a bizarre turn of events, including lots of lucky die rolls and a amorous she ape, he manages to kill three of the four Apes. He then decides it best to head back to Pendelton.

Not encumbered by a wagon, and taking a different route (the route shown on his map); Malic managed to get to the Bandit Hideout before the two kobolds returned with the wagon. He killed the two kobolds and discovered a young girl hiding in the hay loft and her bound, trussed and barely able to move mother inside the house. Discovering from the girl, Heidi, that the bandits were dragging bodies into the root cellar. He investigates. He finds a cellar full of half rotten vegetables, a sack full of something and a door that does not look like it belongs. Casting his Read Magic (NOTE, DM mistake here, he did not have that spell memorized for the day). He reads the runes around the door, “Know that he who enters here, enters the Dark Ways”. He leaves the root cellar. In the barn, he finds the remainder of the bandits stolen goods and gets to work loading them into the wagon.

One hour into this, the two kobolds return from the Apes Cave with their empty wagon. Malic kills them both, then, wagon loaded up, journeyed south to a bridge he’d seen in earlier travels. Collecting his horse from earlier, he heads back to Pendleton. He has Heidi and her mother traveling with him.

Day 6 (5 AM): Session End time

Malic rides into town with the wagon, three horses, cargo, Heidi and her mother, Gia.

Campaign Journal: Retainer Dogs Session 2, Attack of the Living Dead!

Pre-Game Business

Recommend everyone download a copy of Basic Fantasy RPG

Done in Spades. They beat me to the punch and showed me up by having 2 printed copies on hand. Most seem pleased with my last minute switch from Rules Compendium/ Labyrinth Lord to Basic Fantasy RPG.

Convert characters from LL to BFRPG.

I hoped for this to go faster then expected, I planned for 15 minutes, it took about 45. I don’t think this is representative of the system, but just player “crunchiness”.

Added Character Background Elements:

One or more of the Halflings are on a quest to recover a family heirloom (a magical platinum flute) for a clan of Halflings from a larger city.

Done. Joe and Christina’s Halflings. Joe’s is his Back-up (Gerrie), Christina’s is her Primary (Brigid).

The Magic-users are apprentices of Zebulon Whately, sent to seek experience towards gaining Journeyman. Gwen Whately, a more experienced apprentice of Zebulon, left a few days ahead of them and has managed to join on with the Fortunate Fools, who particularly needed a mage.

Done. Roy’s Elf (Primary, No name listed on my roster) and Christina’s mage (back-up, Aethyl)

The Roster (Player Name - Character Status - Character Name (Race/Class/Level)

Joe - Primary: Osamu (Human Cleric 1)

Joe - Back-up: Gerrie (Halfling Fighter 1)

Bryan - Primary: Hargreaves (Halfling Fighter 1)

Bryan - Back-up: Edwin (Human Magic-user 1)

Roy - Primary: No name on roster (Elf F/M 1)

Roy - Back-up: Nothing listed on roster

Christina - Primary: Brigid (Halfling Thief 1)

Christina - Back-up: Aethyl (human Magic-user 1)

What I Expected to happen and What Did Happen (Edited for Player Perusal)

The group (Primary and Back-ups), while traveling to Pendleton, stumble upon a gang of bandits with an Ogre in their employ. The PC’s have the advantage of surprise and their actions lead to the capture of the Bandit Leader (Tybrin the Vicious). His capture will ingratiate them to the village of Pendleton and give them allies, a dwarf named Olef Red Beard, and the caravan leader (Jan the Turban Merchant). It will also cause some animosity with a fellow adventuring group, The Blades of the Spears, who were hired by the City-State of Mebulon to capture Tybrin, and give them a potential enemy in Joss the Yellow-Mane, who will show his ass as a coward from encounter one. The Ogre, will do his best to escape, he is all ready grievously injured by Olef. Tybrin is all ready unconscious from his wounds. Two dead dwarfs that were traveling with Olef Red-Beard and the merchants are found at the scene. They died in combat with Tybrin and the Ogre.

Things occurred as expected; however, I thought they would have realized that a group of Bandits who have been raiding caravans for the past several weeks (told to them by Jan the Turban-Merchant) MUST have a hide-out here about, probably stashed full of loot (AHEM!).

Aethyl cast her Sleep spell to enchant two of the bandits into a slumber, her radius also caught Jan the Turban-Merchant. Shots were fired at the Ogre as he flew away. Hargreave counted coup on the sleeping bandits, but Olef, before passing out spoke to Brigid saying “Tybrin, bandit, reward, if alive”, thus saving him from the same fate as the bandits.

Now some criticism, first to myself as DM and next to the players. Planning on the ogre escaping and Tybrin surviving was a mistake. I’m going for a sandbox approach, but then I place two occurrences that MUST happen for the plot to move forward. That was stupid, and I had to rescue my plot-hook in order for it to happen. Not to mention, the ogre escaping, obviously set up by the DM, makes players feel cheated as if their actions don’t matter. That is “plot” driven adventure writing, not character driven. Plot driven stories are not sandbox, for sandbox to succeed, plot must be directed by the players. My only job as DM is to provide interesting encounters (not always planned) and interesting NPC’s and locals.

As to criticism of the players, well kids, interrogation often leads to discovery, which in turn leads to more loot, which in turn (in the little game called Dungeons & Dragons) leads to more experience points. I provide the doorway (often hidden), but you must check for traps and enter. I’m just saying…

In the village of Pendleton, they will meet the Fortunate Fools and the Blades of the Spears. The Blades of the Spears took the job of tracking down Tybrin (which they have done nothing to accomplish), and the characters captured him by accident. There will be mixed impressions of the FF as they will fire the tBotS, and hire half the characters in their stead (they only need four), but it will be obvious from the beginning that they will be playing second fiddle to the FF as their retainers.

Occurred as Planned.

Joss the Yellow Mane will arrive late that evening with the body of Magon in tow. He will be seeking recognition for this feat. The PC’s have the opportunity to expose him as a fraud. Unfortunately, they will discover (either then or ahead of time, depending upon what transpires between them and the FF that Joss is the cousin of a member of the FF). In any case, they will most likely make an enemy of Joss.

Occurred as planned. They HATE Joss the Yellow-Mane.

The Primary characters were hired by the Fortunate Fools, the back-ups were hired by Tomm the Mayor of Pendleton to guard Tybin until authorities from Mebulon arrive to take him into custody. They will receive their reward when the authorities arrive.

Tomm ordered four villages to take poor Olef to the village Wise Woman for care.

Jan The Turban-Merchant told them he is traveling to Mebulon to report their success to the proper authorities and if possible, he will travel back with the authorities to ensure that they get their just rewards. He expects to return later in the summer, about three or four weeks from now.

They set out from Pendleton to make camp with the FF, with Joss hired on as the “Retainer Boss”. The next morning, the FF take their leave of them and set out for Zebulon’s Dungeon. After three days of foraging, with a couple planned “flavor” encounters and Random Encounters a possibility, on the evening of the full moon, they are attacked by a pack of zombies and skeletons. The zombies are composed of a local family they met two days prior (Jon the Farmer, his wife and three kids--twin girls and a younger boy). From there, they may go to Farmer Jon’s farmstead, discover two dead humans in the farm house itself (both armed with swords, shields and leather armor) and battle two child sized “slimy” creatures (which they had discovered the footprints of) and find a trail leading away from the farm to somewhere…

More or less. They humiliated Joss, and Hargreave insinuated that Yellow-Mane should sleep lightly. Joss got the message, and took off on his horse towards Pendleton, and was further victimized by Hargreave placing thorns under his saddle, causing his horse to run wild. Roy’s elf disliked Joss so much, that he set up his own camp (at a good tactical position) to avoid him. While at his private camp, the elf encountered Farmer Jon and had a nice conversation with him.

Olef made an appearance, still not at 100% from his battle with the ogre and pledged his undying loyalty to them.

I rolled for random encounters, but none came up on the dice. For my own amusement, I had decided to let the RE’s be completely random, they would only occur if rolled and I would roll on the RE tables from the Random Encounter Table letting the dice fall where they may. If a dragon came up, so be it. Life isn’t always fair. Alas, the dice did not permit any extra fun.

The planned encounter with the Zombies and Skeletons (in which the players discovered that I don’t always follow what is printed in the rule book about “known” monsters--these were 28 Days Later style zombies--fast, flesh eating and viscous), almost saw the end of Osamu the Cleric. Osamu turned the skeletons and two of the zombies before falling. He was reduced to 0 hit points, and would have become zombie chow and dead without heavy magics not available to them, if Brigid had not acted quickly and killed the zombie trying to munch the unconscious cleric. Olef poured a healing potion down Osamu’s throat and rescued him.

Thus we have a House-Rule: 0 hit points is not dead yet. I will allow one round +/- Constitution bonus (in rounds) to receive care. Care being “I spend a round binding his wounds.” However, if it is obvious that the character would not survive with only minimal care (no magic used, grievous wounds, etc.) so be it.

Also, a bit more criticism to the DM: RESIST THE URGE TO RESCUE THE CHARACTERS. It cheapens accomplishment.

The elf and Hargreave followed the undead horde’s trail from the base camp heading North West back to Farmer Jon’s homestead. There the elf discovered signs of something being locked within the farm house. The root cellar door was broken down from within as was the exterior door of the house itself. Inside were the corpses of two dead humans dressed in leather armor and bearing swords and shields, that had become zombie chow, along with the families dogs just outside of the farm.

The elf carefully investigated the root cellar, saw that there were two slimy, child sized “somethings” in there, that took no interest in following him. He and Hargreave burned the house to the ground.

Afterwards, they discovered another trail of slimy footprints and several “creatures” that leads away from the farmstead and NOT towards the camp. It heads North East.

End Session 2

Notes:

No characters are injured at this time. Osamu was, but Olef’s healing potion, brought him to full.

Only Hargreave and the elf are at the farm. Everyone else is back at base camp.

Ending time was Day Five around 2AM.

Treasure experience points do not yet reflect “items recovered”, be they magical or

otherwise.

Experience points for mundane items are rewarded when they are sold (one point per gold piece obtained from the sale--not the book value). Magical items do not grant Experience points, unless they are sold, and only then on 10% of the total cost to make said item, not on how much it was sold for.

I am not the kind of DM that says “you found a Sword +3”, and items do not typically glow blue or any such nonsense as that. Items must be tested and analyzed for powers to be discovered. I DO grant experience points for successfully analyzing an item. Also, very few magical items are found locked in a treasure chest. In my games, if an NPC or monster has a magical item, he is probably using it, most likely against you.

I decided to go with Group experience versus taking the time to dole out individual experience.

Primary and Back-up experience points: My original intention was to award each player X amount of xp, and let you dole it out amongst your Primary and Back-ups as you see fit. I didn’t do that for this adventure, as there was a clear breaking line as to when the Back-ups gaining experience ended and the Primary’s continued (in this case, when the Primaries left Pendleton and the Back-ups stayed). That is the model I will continue to follow, when it is appropriate. When not (either the Primaries are played the whole session and the Back-ups are not, or vice versa), I will revert to my initial intention and let you divvy it up as you see fit.

Treasure experience is gained at 1 xp for each gp obtained, divided by the current number of characters (PC + NPC, if appropriate). I do this on a group basis instead of an individual basis, because in my experience if I do not, it turns into a game of constantly passing notes to the DM to play a game of “screw your neighbor” (ask Joe about Derrick).

See also, note above about mundane and magical treasures.

I DO offer individual experience for a short (two paragraph) character story--one time only per character, thus far only Joe and Bryan have done this--AND for a concise, Journal done in character per session. Both rewards are at 1/20 of current xp needed for the next level (right now, that equals 100 xp).

Monster Experience points are gained at Monster XP Value divided by the number of characters (PC and NPC) involved in its defeat. NOTE: total character number is counted regardless of that PC/NPC surviving the encounter. Thus no, you can’t kill the red shirts or your fellow player characters to drive up the experience point total. None of you know him, but I knew a fellow named Carl that was fond of this tactic. Thus, I am shooting down “Carlism” from the get-go.

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Not to flog a dead horse, but being active instead of reactive will in most cases lead you to more “loot” which in turn leads to more experience points. Case in point: if there is a group of bandits raiding caravans, they probably have a hide out. But your DM being reactive to your character’s actions, probably hasn’t let said hide-out remain static. So the opportunity may be gone. I planned on doling out enough experience points so most characters will advance once every three sessions. You all didn’t hit that goal this time, you‘re about 250 xp short of that. You might want to seek out opportunity in the future to step it up a notch. Take off your WFRP hats and put on your D&D hats. I will now step down from my soap-box.

Without further ado, Experience point totals (for anyone checking my math, I round fractions up):

Treasure and Experience Point Awards Session 2

Primary Grand Total = 449 XP EA..; Back up Grand Total = 273 XP. EA.

Treasure XP Total: Primary = 21 XP EA.; Back-ups = 14 XP EA.

Looting Tybrin the Vicious (57/8 (P+B-U)= 8 xp each)

300 sp, (30 xp)

27 gp (27 xp)

Looting the Bandits and Dwarfs on the Road (46/8 (P+B-U) = 6 xp each)

35 sp (3.5 xp)

25 ep (12.5 xp)

30 gp (30 xp)

Looting the Bodies in Farmer Jon’s House (28/4 (P)= 7xp each)

30 sp (3 xp)

25 gp (25)

Monsters XP Total: Primary = 228 ea.; Back-up = 46 xp ea.

The Caravan Encounter: 365 xp/8 (Primary + Backups) = 46 xp. Ea.

5 Bandits (125 xp)

1 Ogre 240 xp (yes he got away, but I felt guilt over that, so Happy Birthday!)

Night of the Living Dead: 625 xp/4 (Primaries only) = 157 xp ea (I didn’t count Olef in the total, because do to DM ineptitude, he didn’t do much)

5 Zombies 550 xp

3 Skeletons 75 xp

The Farmstead: 50 xp + 50 xp (bonus for defeating smartly) 100 xp/4 (P only) = 25 xp ea

2 “Slimy things”

Other Rewards (Rewarded @ 1/20 of 2000 xp)

Good RP Bonus = 100 xp ea.

Good Use of Class skills = 100 xp ea

Items Recovered, but not sold:

Sword and 2 daggers from Tybrin

2 axes from the dwarves

3 spears and 2 swords from the bandits

2 swords, 2 daggers, 2 shields from dead men at Farmer Jon’s House.