Random Ramblings and Game Night

So I get up this morning not feeling so swell, read a few blogs and choke down a slice and then two peices of toast.  Dog is wild, jumping around grabbing everything including my damn socks.  I'm thinking, man dog, not the socks.  Feed the dog, kiss the wife and head out the door with slightly moist socks.  It's only Monday and I am already snarling at the week.  It could be worse and it does.

Tonight is gaming night, but the last one with our crew of four.  Rusty need to bow out for a while.  Maybe something can be worked out, but he's got his got stuff to do right now and gaming is way low on that priority list.  Has to be.  Real life, annoying as it is, stands in the front of the line and gaming has to be patient. 

Rob, Dwayne and I will continue on with another campaign although I am not sure when or which one.  I think its my turn to GM, but who knows.  Out of all of us I GM the least.  Rusty just started us into the Splinters of Faith adventure series.  Rolondo will need to retire before he's realized.  Then this got me to thinking about old characters and some recent blogs I've read about not bothering to name a character because they will be rolling up a new one.  In a later blog I plan on going over some of my old characters that I remember.  Should be a cool walk down memory lane.  I am not one who retells character stories over and over again so taking a look back should be fun.

Lunchtime  is over.  Time to return to work and get some stuff done.  There is gamng tonight.  Which is good.  I go home to a good wife.  Which is the best.  And my socks are now dry.  Which is a bonus.

Sleestak Sunday...and You Thought I Forgot.

 

 

Enik demonstrates the Watusi for Marshall.

Marshall was not amused.

Locations: Crossroads

I went down to the crossroads

fell down on my knees

I went down to the crossroads

fell down on my knees

Asked the Lord above  "Have mercy now

save poor Bobby if you please ."

                                                       -  Crossroad Blues by Robert Johnson

I've always found the folklore surrounding crossroads fascinating.  Some say it's a symbol of a choice between good and evil, others describe it as the intersection of the physical and spiritual.  And of course one of my favorites is a story where the man went to the crossroads to sell his soul so he could learn how to play guitar.  In mythology you have the Greek goddess Hecate ruling over the crossroads.  And its no coincidence that she was also the goddess of the night.  All that's great and good, but how can we make this simple location something a little more interesting besides a choice in which direction to go?

One of the old customs was to execute and/or bury criminals and suicides at the crossroads.  This was done so that when the restless spirits that were not permitted to be buried in consecrated ground would not know which way to go to get back to town, thus eliminating that chance of revenge.  Teutonic knights constructed altars and performed human sacrifices at the crossroads.  There is also a good chance that gallows would be constructed there to execute the criminals. 

Some cultures believe if you want to acquire a certain skill one needs to visit the crossroads a number of times at certain times then you will meet the devil/spirit and he will give you a skill.  In game there might be some evil spirit living there to make deal with those who show they are serious.  The spirit will not just grant skills to someone who would waste the skill, when the spirit claim the soul they want a greater soul.  Someone who will become more than the skill he was given therefore there is a profit for the spirit.

This is just a small taste of what a simple location can become, a rich environment for your game.  Here is an impromptu random encounter table.  No details are given for creatures or people.  Just a little atmosphere text that can be crunched up by the GM if he or she so chooses.

Random Encounters at the Crossroads

1. Three bodies hang from a large barren tree just beyond the crossroads.  The temperature drops and it begins to rain.  When the players near the tree lightning flashes and the tree is gone as the thunder rumbles above.
2. A man sits on a rock just off the crossroad chewing on a piece of grass.  He nods and smiles.  Sun beats down and he sips from a clay jar at his side.  "Time for drinking. "  He says not looking at the players.  He's watches the road, "It'll be coming soon enough.  No time for drinking then. "  If asked he will chuckle.  "If you stick around, you'll find out. "  If the players take a sip from his jar they must make a save vs. poison.  On a failed save the player will see steam rising from one of the roads and flames will flare out from the ground.
3. A tree trunk is decorated as a crude altar.  The one side is covered with candles, wax coats most of the bark.  A couple of baskets to the side are stained with blood and covered with flies.  Twenty-two shriveled hearts with two more on the way.  If the players wait around long enough they will meet Walter, a large, but simple man.  He's got a man thrown over his shoulder, arms and legs tied.  A large skinning knife in his hand.  "I got one left after this one and I won't be a bother to anyone.  I got to do this before the night comes in. "  Walter won't explain.  His home is nearby, which is no mare than a lean to.  He's got a woman unconscious tied to the tree.  All around Walter's home ropes lay at the base of trees where he kept the others.
4. Two poles are pounded into the ground in the center of the crossroads.  A string of skulls hangs off of one pole, while another string lies on the ground.  If the players come through at night they will see one of the skulls as a dim green glow coming from inside.  The first player who touches it will hear a voice in his head.  The green glow will vanish to the other players.  "What do you want? "  The spirit will know where to find it or learn it.  If the player rejects the question the spirit will leave.  If the player makes a deal with the spirit is will bind with the player's.  
5. A woman runs across the road screaming about demons and love.  Her eyes are wide and wild.  If the players stop her they will see her ears have been cauterized shut.  The longer the players restrain her the more hysterical she will become.  From the distance the players hear  the sound of a  sustained musical note.  Animals run in panic from the music.  Images of lost love ones, friends and enemies start appearing.  Some look like they remembered them, some look torn and tortured.
6. The fog lies low and thick.  The ground wet and slow.  The players smell sulfur in the breeze.  An empty gallows sits off a ways, looking too new, too well built for a place like this.  A place of neither here nor there.  Up ahead smoke drifts into the air and smell of sulfur grows stronger. 
7. A man dressed in fine dark leathers paces the crossroads, he hums as he walks.  When he sees the players approach he shakes his head.  "It ain't time.  I'll see you when you're ready.  I'll be here. "  A horse charges out of no where, the man bounds into the saddle and rides off.  
8. A large old oak tree stands guard at the crossroads.  Something moves in the breeze that's nailed to the trunk.  Skin.  Someone's skin hangs by a nail.  No one and nothing else around.  

Additional Note: Paul over at Quickly, Quietly, Carefully has added another bit of legend to the crossroads.

I'm Not Feeling Too Serious...Shocking

Too much serious crap going on in blog land and I refuse to be apart of it.

     "That my friends is one big ass gelatinous cube, Murry the Elf looked down into the pit where Bill the Uncomely had just taken a header.  Bill kicked his little feet, but his efforts only managed to sink him deeper.  "I got dibs on his Ring of Protection."
     "Lot a good its doing Bill," Ebert the Obvious chimed in.  He grimaced as he watched Bill being slowly digested.
      Terry the Paniced ran around the edge of the pit with his arms over his head.  "OMG, somebody do something."  His voice echoed through the dungeon corridors, hallways, passageways and other synonyms.  "We've got to do something!"  He stopped for a moment and glanced into the pit.  "OMG!"
     Choke the Codpiece shook his head.  "Shut the little fucker up before he attracts every hairy brown eye in the place."  Choke hefted his obscenely large crossbow.  "I got this."  He took aim into the pit, but the angle cause the bolt to fall out of the crossbow and land on top of the cube.  "Son of a...that was a magical bolt"
     "Somebody cast a spell!" Terry screeched.
     Murry smacked Terry as he ran by, "Shuddup will ya.  You're the freaking mage.  You cast a spell."
     Terry whirled on Murry with a +2 stern finger at the ready.  "If you hadn't forgotten the 10' pole we wouldn't be in this mess."
     Murry puffed out his elven chest, "You wanna piece of me?"
     "I think they're going to fight."  Ebert said picking a piece of old bread from his teeth.
     Choke pulled out his gargantuan axe, "Why don't you girls fight later.  Let's get this sorry bastard out of the pit before he gets vomited out.  Even a gelatinous cube has got to have standards."

And that's all I have.  I have to go to work.  Weekend it almost here so have fun or I shall chop you to pieces! 

Villains, S&W Style, Part 5

Wow, yesterday was sick as hell.  Not that you guys need to know that, but was working on some write ups for the blog.  I enjoy doing the Villains, S&W style and thought of a few stand by baddies I like to have.  I am sure we all have our favorites that get introduced into different games.  One of mine is Opulus.  A cranky old priest with ideas of his own.

Opulus
S: 9, D: 9, C: 11, I: 12, W: 15, Ch: 14
7th level Cleric 
Opulus is an elder priest in the temple of Delaquain.  He does little in the way of direct service to the people, but is a high ranking adviser the directs temple policy.  In his eyes the temple has moved away from its initial mission which is to serve the Gynorian people, but with being accepted into the whole, respectability, and more say on what goes on the temple has moved towards a tolerance toward all races and cultures.  Opulus believes this is a waste of resources.

He believes the temples exists to use and expand its resources for its own people.  The other races and cultures have their own gods and temples let them suckle them to oblivion.  When Opulus has been present at public temples he has been known to casts geas on those he believes are taking advantage of the temple.  Often the geas he sends them on cause the person's death because the quest is beyond the person's capabilities.  Opulus believes the only reason they failed is they did not have enough faith.  The temple of Delaquain has kept this fact hidden for years and Opulus has been admonished because of it.  Yet he cannot be remove from his position because it is a lifetime commitment. 


The temple is fractured.  Opulus has a small, but zealous group that believes the temple should return to serving their own.  While the main body of the temple wishes to integrate itself further into the culture.  The popularity of Delaquain has never been so high.  Opulus continues to use his influence within the temple to bring the the fall of those who do not believe in what he believes.  He would rather see the walls burn than have them desecrated by outsiders.

Manly Dungeon Tiles

Dwayne over at The Gamers Closet just finished his second set of dungeon tiles.  Now these are not those sissy print on cardstock or cardboard flip maps.  No, no.  These tiles where made with POWER tools.  Real wood.  Real primer and paint.  These are man tiles.  You could use a wall section to knock out that annoying player in the group.  I think Dwayne even spilled real blood on some of them.  Go check them out. 

The blood, it's everywhere!

Cthulhu Dice

I'd almost forgotten my little score over my vacation.  Being a sucker for weird dice I saw Cthulhu Dice (which is a misrepresentation since there is only one die...should be Cthulhu Die, but I guess that would be confusing to because the game isn't about killing Cthulhu its about keeping your sanity or losing your sanity, making others lose their sanity while the dark water rises in the night and the city not seen in ten thousand years glimmers in the blood moon of the thirteen month as the reality catches on fire and peels away in black curling strips).  I failed my roll.  I have to go now.

Here is the die with all its glorious tentacles, elder sign and Cthulhu.  The green things are Sanity Tokens.

If that comes up everyone goes insane!

Sammy is looking very Cthulhu.  He wants to go as Cthulhu for Halloween.

Group Dynamics

Yesterday Christian had a lousy time during his game session.  Christian and two other gamers in the group were not happy with the way the GM was running things.  Christian tried to solve the problem via email, but nothing changed.  So he voiced his displeasure at the game table...

I don't know how close of a relationship he and his DM had, but in the blog Christian said he considers the GM a friend.  Of course there are friends that hang with and there are friends that you share your life with.  His blog made me consider the dynamics in our group.  It will be the National Enquirer Edition of our group.

Our main group consists of 4 guys.  Dwayne (Gamer's Closet) I've been friends with for 33 years no.  Oh my god, I shouldn't have done the math.  Rob (Bat in the Attic) I've been friends with for 25 years.  And Rusty (formerly of the Rusty Battle Axe) is the newb of the group and I can safely say I've been friends with him for 2 years now.  I give you this background to give a bit of perspective of the longevity of our group.

Rob is our main GM and so he gets most of our abuse.  Because we've gamed for so long together I have no problem telling Rob or Dwayne what I am not liking.  The one example I can give is last campaign Rob ran a handful of canned modules and they got boring.  I told Rob I didn't like them and the fact that we sorta knew them by heart didn't help.  You just don't run White Plume Mountain will old gamers without changing it around.  And here's a very good thing about Rob, he take criticism very well.  He doesn't take it too personal and he'll often ask for suggestions. 

If Dwayne has done something I'm not too fond of I will let him know.  Again, he is good at taking suggestions.  There may be times when arguments occur and they do between Rob and Dwayne, but no matter what, on Monday night we will be sitting around the computer playing a game together.  We've gotten to a point in our lives that we realize how important it is to dedicate a small time of each week to one another.  It is so easy to let gaming slide and before you know a couple of years have past.  I don't schedule anything on Monday nights because to me it belongs to my gaming group. 

The interesting thing is Rusty being our new guy to the group, it feels like he's been there all along.  I don't think he got through the first night before we started making fun of him.  And he got in a few good shots himself.  But I also feel if I didn't like something Rusty was doing I would have no problem telling him.

All this is good and great, but what happens if you run into a situation like Christian where the GM wants to run the game his way despite the players not liking it.  In my group we know each others style and can pretty much guess what to expect.  In his situation if Rob was running a campaign I didn't like I would sit it out.  And I've done that.  Nothing against Rob or the GM, just not my style. 

And the entire group knows they can be honest with me.  I have no problem changing things up if the majority of them are not having fun.  I see it as a challenge not an insult.  I've read this blog through and not sure if I made my point or not.  I guess the important thing it to work it out (no shit, eh?), make the game important because it is. We have our differences and at times when we are not nice, but Monday Nights are sacred.  All disputes are put aside so we can roll some dice. 

Sleestak Sunday

Enik and the Sleestak wearing the necklace confer with the great spirits on how much money they will need for Origins gaming convention in a couple weeks.  Enik asks, "What if that dude from the Game Science Dice is there?"  Ancestor replies, "You will have to buy a set.  Just don't put them into your pocket they are very pointy."  Enik asks, "What if they have..."  Ancestor interrupts, "Enik, you have been in that pylon too long.  Go to the convention and have fun and stop being a fricking cupcake will ya."

I Think this Should be the Theme Song for the OSR

"I could really give a shit, I'm going out with style."  Amen

Origins : Should I Stay or Should I Go

Rob (Bat in the Attic) and I are seriously considering heading to Origins this year.  It's coming up quick at the end of the month and we'd go for Saturday the 25th.  Admission fee is only $5.  Ton of exhibitors which I am sure will make my side total for the year skyrocket.

It's about a 4 hour drive one way which is not too bad.  We'd probably try and find a place within an hour of the convention center and hit it early in the morning and then head home that evening. 

I've never been to one of the big conventions.  Just local ones.  Some of those are pretty hit or miss.  No one shows up to play or the GM does not show (not just talking about you Jason :P).  Origins is one of the biggies and I think would be great to go.  I'll have to plan better next year, try to sign up for some of the games and get more involved. 

As of now though, still not sure if I'll go.  Have to coordinate things with Rob and make sure my credit card isn't on the verge of melting.

Good Mojo Headed Toward Mr. Conley's Way

The North Texas Convention is in full swing and I am stuck in NW PA with Rob.  But his Majestic Wilderlands has been nominated for the 3 Castles Award.  I told Rob I would send him some good mojo today and I will keep my promise.  Here are some random pictures of what I found when I googled good mojo.  Good luck Rob, I hope you bring home a cool ass trophy.

That's about all the good mojo I have for the day.

A Great Book for Gaming

I was at a Borders I now need to drive over an hour to get to and despite the drive I really like it.  I found this book in the journal section and thought it was absolutely perfect for gaming.  My initial thought is to use it for our Monday Night games for my character and journal the entire campaign.  I am also planning on buying a couple more for other things that I haven't even thought of yet.  Anyway here are a few pictures of the book with a little help from Sleestak Sammy.

It's a black hardcover.  I like it.  Those are Sammy's feet.

Sammy tried to help out but got tangled in the thing that I don't know what it is called that keeps the book shut.

And the cool thing is it is all graph paper baby.  So I can use it for notes, sketches and dungeon layouts.  Now in my mind this will be cool as hell, but in reality it might just turn out to be a huge dinosaur sized turd.  But I really dig the graph paper pages.

Final shot.  Just thought this would make a great book during gaming sessions as a player and a thinking journal for a GM.

May Sales Report for Knowledge Illuminates

May has come and gone quickly and this will probably be my last sales report for Knowledge Illuminates, but I will be updating the its page on the header above.  When Starter Adventures comes out I'll do another monthly sales report.  One of the things I did this month was to sign up for Your Games Now, another PDF store run by Joseph Browning of Expeditious Retreat Press and the blog Sorcery & Super Science!  Trying to branch out into other stores and looking for some others. 

Well the numbers for May are tiny.  Sold 4 total and 2 out of the 3 One-Page Dungeon Contest winners have gotten their prizes.  That brings up these totals.

Total Sold: 69
Comp Copies: 12

Total Gross: $266.00
Total Net: $172.90

I hope to add Starter Adventures to next months totals.  So back to work I go.  Have a good one.