tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50934739162150182082024-03-20T04:39:47.736-07:00A Pack of GnollsNew-School Rules, Old-School StyleSullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-70897404449938275552015-05-17T19:44:00.003-07:002015-05-17T19:45:37.520-07:00Back in the Saddle! <div class="MsoNormal">
This Pack of Gnolls has finally begun a new Dungeons and
Dragons game! I was gifted a Fifth Edition Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual
for Christmas this past year by my father-in-law, and promptly picked up a
Dungeon Master’s Guide soon after. I was impressed with what I read, to be
sure, and was quite eager to get a game started with my kids. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Unfortunately, that proved difficult. At the time I was
working at the Iowa Fertilizer Plant in Southeast Iowa, some 200 hundred miles
from home. The money was good, a lot of overtime, but it was damn hard being
away from my family. A month ago, there was a massive lay-off at the plant
(even though construction wasn’t even close to complete) which sent some 1500
construction workers packing. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Fortunately, it didn’t take long for my union hall to find
me new employment close to home, and an actual 40-hour work week has given me
time for an actual life. It wasn’t long before a good friend asked if I’d be
interested in some D&D; he and his buddies hadn’t played in several years.
I was eager to give 5<sup>th</sup> Edition a spin, so characters were made and
a game begun! <o:p></o:p></div>
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We have four players; a Halfling thief, a Drow ranger, a
Dwarf paladin, and a Tiefling druid. The setting is about as straightforward as
it gets for D&D. A big bad red dragon has taken over the peak of a mountain
and has started demanding tribute from the city at the base of the mountain. Of
course, a long time ago, the mountain was home to a Dwarven kingdom. Now, those
ancient halls are filling with monsters answering the dragon’s call for minions
and treasure. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We’ve had two sessions so far. With the first we only got as
far as a roadway encounter with some goblins as the team made their way to the
mountain. With the second they found their way into the mountain, did battle
with a couple of bears and a group of orcs. Both sessions resulted in enough
experience points for all the characters to level up at the end of each. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I certainly made the critical mistake of really only skimming
through the rules before getting started with the game. I’ve read through so
many different editions of D&D, including retro-clones, that a lot of the
rulesets tend to run together. So the first couple of sessions certainly
suffered from a lot of looking-up the rules timeouts, but we are starting to
get the hang of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I know I didn’t expect the characters to level up quite so
quickly, although I did certainly throw some challenging encounters their way,
so they earned it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So far, the only complaint I really have about 5E is that
the monsters seem to have just too damn many hit points. For the time being, I
feel like I should trust the playtesters before changing very much, and see how
it plays out as we progress. I imagine that the rate of progression for the PCs
will slow after another session or two, especially as they get deeper into the
mountain and the challenges become more cerebral and less combat-oriented. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is very good to be rolling the dice again, and having a
creative outlet. Hopefully, I will be able to start up a game for my kids as
well, but that depends on their behavior around the house to get that up and
running. I do have some good ideas written up for them, if they can get their
acts together! <o:p></o:p></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com112tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-63315241756610758672013-11-28T11:57:00.004-08:002013-11-28T11:57:50.829-08:00Thanks<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I have hardly even thought about D&D or any other types of RPGs in months. It's pretty much been all Magic: the Gathering here, which has done an excellent job of sating my fantasy gaming needs of late. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Now, on this National Day of Mourning, I'm enjoying the rare day off work and randomly just popped onto my old blog here to see what was going on, and after clicking on a few other links in the OSR-osphere, found myself sucked into post after post at the <a href="http://roll1d12.blogspot.com/">Dungeon Dozen</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Every single post there just oozes so much possibility. The randomness, the hilarity, the devious plots and the gory endings. Of course I couldn't help but wonder just what a campaign would look like, determined by these random charts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Seems fun. Not sure if it'll happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Anyway, thanks for the inspiration, Dungeon Dozen!</span></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-28693783502756973482013-03-24T14:09:00.001-07:002013-03-24T14:09:08.044-07:00Castle Ravenloft Adventures and Conversion Thoughts<br />
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Let’s take a look at the adventures that come with the
Castle Ravenloft game, and see what we can pull from them for this mash-up. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 1: Escape the Tomb <o:p></o:p></div>
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The basic premise is that a single character, having been
plucked off the street by a vampire, finds him/herself in an underground crypt.
They somehow know that it is daylight, and have until nightfall to escape, lest
Strahd awaken and come for them! <o:p></o:p></div>
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This I can work with, and it presents a pretty good way to
give a character just enough experience points to go from zero to first level.
Will probably have to take a little extra time sculpting this adventure to make
sure it’s not too deadly for 0-levels… but maybe it should be. Of course,
Strahd will be changed to one of the Innistrad vampires. Assume as much moving
forward with the rest of the adventures. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 2: Find the Icon of Ravenloft<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here, the idea is that somewhere under Strahd’s castle, lies
a chapel which is untouched by the evil darkness of the place. Inside is an
artifact called the Icon of Ravenloft, which a local priest believes can be
used to defend the town and possibly destroy the vampire lord. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This kind of thing I would prefer to run later on, perhaps
at level 3 or 4. The Icon of Ravenloft I would simply change to the Witchbane
Orb. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 3: Klak’s Infernal Artifact<o:p></o:p></div>
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This adventure features a kobold sorcerer, Klak, who has
conjured up some infernal magic into an infernal artifact. All manner of
chaotic magic has been swirling around Barovia, which has prompted the town elders
to ask our heroes to investigate. Klak has a mad-scientist laboratory and
everything! <o:p></o:p></div>
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There are a couple of interesting special rules to this
adventure. First, when the heroes use XP to cancel out an Encounter Card, the
active hero takes 1HP damage. Also, when certain dungeon tiles are drawn (the
ones with white arrows), the active hero gets a random power card from among
those they didn’t start with. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Not sure how exactly to manifest these things within my
system. Gonna leave this one on simmer for a bit. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 4: Daylight Assault<o:p></o:p></div>
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This one’s pretty basic. The heroes decide to sneak into
Strahd’s castle during the day, while he’s sleeping, and steal a bunch of his
stuff. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. But it can pretty much be run
straight, just have to have a decent way to track the time. The board game uses
a “time track” which progresses when certain board tiles are placed. Not sure
if that’s ideal for this or not. Probably not, but maybe.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 5: The Final Transformation<o:p></o:p></div>
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Okay, now this one is a bit more interesting. A
villager/friend/lover/family member of someone has been bitten by Strahd and is
being turned into a vampire. The only way to save him is to venture into the
dungeon with him in tow, find a Dark Fountain, and let him drink from it.
Unfortunately, he starts acting crazy when monsters are around. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This one is a bit more difficult, just because of the flavor
in the Innistrad “Planeswalker’s Guide” articles of how vampirism works there. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, it would be way more fun if it was one of the player
characters. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 6: Destroy the Dracolich<o:p></o:p></div>
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There’s a big nasty Dracolich rampaging across the
countryside, destroying everything in its path. It is apparently Strahd’s new
pet. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I would change this to fit with the flavor of Stensia.
Specifically, instead of a Dracolich, it would be the Scourge of Geier Reach. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So that should be fun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, that adventure is not going to be in the dungeon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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However, I do like the part about the phylactery in this
adventure, as it fits perfectly with the Dracolich concept. Probably have to do
something similar with the Scourge. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 7: Impossible<o:p></o:p></div>
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This one is nuts. Individual heroes, for some magical
reason, assaulting the dungeon alone, and must defeat three out of six possible
major villains (not including Strahd). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps this is a good time to examine the more unique
villains from the game. There are six. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Howling Hag: the Morkrut Banshee is a card from the set
that jumps out to me immediately for the Howling Hag. Unfortunately, it’s
effect in Magic doesn’t translate all that well to tabletop D&D, so we’ll
have to come up with something else. Fortunately, we have Monster Manuals. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The Young Vampire: Didn’t we already save him in adventure
5?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Werewolf: Werewolves were a major part of the Innistrad
block, bringing with them a new mechanic (flip cards), so this fits right in.
Picking the right one is going to be the biggest issue, I think. It’ll probably
be someone the PC’s know and love and would never suspect of being a werewolf. The
only other problem I can think of is that the vampires and werewolves of
Innistrad don’t exactly get along very well (though I’m sure there are
outliers). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Klak, Kobold Sorcerer: uhh, pretty sure we took care of the
little bastard earlier, too. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Zombie Dragon: Yes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Flesh Golem (uhh, can we just call him Frankenstein?): Extra
yes. <o:p></o:p></div>
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And as for using this as an adventure in the game… probably
not. It’s a suicide mission. In fact, it’s kind of written that way in the
guidebook. When one of the heroes die, you just pick up with the next one who
shows up. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 8: Horror of the Howling Hag<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is one of the more interesting adventures in the
booklet, mostly because of the way it’s set up. You prearrange the board in a
5x5 tile square, with a Hero starting on each of the four corners, and the
center tile, an Arcane Circle, revealed in the center. The heroes must make
their way to the arcane circle in the center to disrupt the hag’s magic ritual.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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I think this adventure can probably be run almost straight
out of the book, with appropriate modifications for M74 rules, of course. I
would add some build-up to the whole thing, of course, but overall it’s fun
adventure. Really, the only problem is that it involves multiple characters who
are isolated, and the nature of the board means the players would have easy
access to information the characters wouldn’t have. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 9: Gauntlet of Terror<o:p></o:p></div>
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This adventure is quite literally a “hold the gates” type of
scenario. The heroes are supposed to prevent 5 monsters from leaving the
dungeon and heading for town, and “win” once they have killed 20 such monsters.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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This one would probably be quite good every once in a while
as something simple to run that doesn’t require much in the way of set-up or
even organization. This one also has the added bonus of being easily adjustable
to any number of locations, the most important part is keeping the monsters
from getting past the heroes. Pretty straightforward. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 10: Blood and Fog<o:p></o:p></div>
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For this adventure, the situation is one where the heroes
become trapped in the dungeon and must find an alternative exit (which is the
Secret Stairway tile, hidden some ways down the stack). <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is really the kind of thing that could be sprung on a
hero or heroes during any adventure, and really may be better that way. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventure 11: Rampaging Golem<o:p></o:p></div>
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Frankenstein’s monster is on the loose! This one is fun
because instead of actually fighting the rampaging Golem, the heroes can attempt
to find certain items and attempt to calm the monster. Of course, they could
just fight the monster. Granted, some of the items enrage the golem, while
others calm him down, and there’s no rhyme or reason to which ones do what. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Definitely going to be included as a possible adventure,
except in Innistrad these monsters are apparently called “Skaabs”. Or
something. (Probably because the previous block, Scars of Mirrodin, featured
Golems extensively, and there would be too much overlap in potentially broken
mechanics). <o:p></o:p></div>
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Adventures 12 & 13: The Hunt for Strahd<o:p></o:p></div>
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I do like that there are two parts to this adventure, and
that the heroes have to defeat Strahd not once but twice to be ultimately
victorious. Defeating him at the end of Adventure 12 just causes him to turn to
a mist, and lead in to Adventure 13. There are numerous items to collect to
help defeat Strahd, and his “bodyguard” needs to be defeated first, which is
one of the minor villains already encountered in the previous adventures. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, obviously, Strahd is the wrong villain for our world,
but this could just as easily be Olivia Voldaren or Edgar Markov instead. As
for the items to be collected, I would prefer to have them all being collected
over time in several different adventures, as opposed to all at once. So
really, this adventure is kind of a little outline for the overall storyline.
That I can work with. <o:p></o:p></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-69290323005394825992013-03-22T10:20:00.002-07:002013-03-22T10:20:41.425-07:00The Nature of Magic on Innistrad<br />
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Innistrad, being part of the Magic: the Gathering multiverse, is inundated with magic. In MtG, there is no difference between arcane and divine magics like we are accustomed to in D&D. Instead, magic is flavored by its mana source, of which there are five options: white, blue, black, red and green, the mana of which is garnered from lands like plains, islands, swamps, mountains and forests, respectively. Priests of Avacyn, on Innistrad, would naturally believe their healing and protective magic is granted to them by the angel Avacyn herself. Rather, they just simply do not fully understand the source of the magic. </div>
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This line of thought naturally will cause a change in the way I described magic in my last post, but this is more a thought experiment to see what I can conjure up for this game. </div>
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So, by eliminating the clerical options, and instead expanding with the five different colors of Magic, we are offering the players significantly more choices with their character progression. We'll retain the "have to have used it to acquire it when you level" rule. What this means is that any magical item found in the game will have to have a color identity of some sort. </div>
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I would also propose that when a wizard gains a level, they have to physically make a connection with the land that is the source of their particular color of magic. They cannot cast their spell on their own until they do this! Mana flows from the land, and they must be bonded with it to use it. </div>
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This is the kind of thing that will require a ritual of some sort, of course, each of which would be different depending on the type of mana. </div>
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So, the basics of each of the five types of magic. </div>
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White magic comes from the plains, and is often protective or healing in nature. White magic all about justice and law. D&D's clerics would use white magic. </div>
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Blue magic comes from islands and the sea. It often works on the mind, with illusions and deception. D&D's illusionists would use blue magic. </div>
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Black magic, from swamplands, is as bad as it sounds. It is the magic of death, decay, selfishness and raw power. Black magic is the province of necromancers. </div>
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Red magic, of the mountains and highlands, is chaotic and full of unfettered emotions. It is often manifest in flames. </div>
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Green magic, from the forests and woods, is the magic of nature. The druids of D&D would use green magic. </div>
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Choosing a color of magic at one level does not preclude a mage from choosing a different color at another level (as long as they have experience using magic of the particular color). It does, however, mean they will have to forge another bond with a different type of land. Gaining a level in a second color will not be difficult. However, the third, fourth, and fifth will be. There is a chance the land will reject a mage, and the ritual fail. </div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-89783791916291632112013-03-21T21:12:00.000-07:002013-03-21T21:12:01.905-07:00Microlite74/D&D Adventure System Mashup: Innistrad<br />
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Okay, we got a lot going on here, and a lot of it is subject to change as I move forward with tweaking and gameplay, but here are the basics we'll be working with for the M74/D&D Adventure System Mashup set in the Magic: the Gathering plane of Innistrad. *Really, really need a better name for this project!*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We are using the basic Microlite74 rules for this
game, with some tweaks to fit the setting. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Players start as 0-level townsfolk in the province
of Stensia, on the plane of Innistrad, under the rule of bloodthirsty vampire
families. The game is set on the Magic: the Gathering plane of Innistrad. The
characters all begin as townsfolk in the dark province of Stensia, a province
ruled by vampires.<br />
<br />
</span><a href="http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/167" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/stf/167</span></a><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br /><br /><br />
The Voldaren Estate, home to Olivia Voldaren, is the primary location for
adventure in this game. The haunted dungeons beneath the estate are in a
magical state of flux, and only vampires and their servants can navigate them
without getting lost or trapped inside. There are two other major vampire
strongholds in Stensia: Markov Manor and Castle Falkenrath. Adventures can
certainly take place in these locations as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sCsDczczIIBcAwbs0sr0LP601tD_fOuEI0M9_Okqmg20ZHH97x8fDdoe4rpAy_M9RUFnkBdCgaJUpUfbEkesMpcPdr97VEpqgPJjP7bo4OfSzQOvsfvmeO2yconUFewONA7lkyqWA4sj/s1600/olivia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-sCsDczczIIBcAwbs0sr0LP601tD_fOuEI0M9_Okqmg20ZHH97x8fDdoe4rpAy_M9RUFnkBdCgaJUpUfbEkesMpcPdr97VEpqgPJjP7bo4OfSzQOvsfvmeO2yconUFewONA7lkyqWA4sj/s320/olivia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Player
Characters<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">0-Level characters require 10 experience points
(experience points, or XP, are explained below) to advance to 1st level,
whereupon they gain a class. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">0-Level Characters begin the game with the four
basic attributes, determined by rolling 3d6 and arranged to taste. The four
basic stats are Strength, Dexterity, Charisma, and Mind. Each stat has an
ability modifier equal to the score, minus ten and divided by 2, rounded down.
For example, a score of 15 would have an ability modifier of 2 (15 minus 10 is
5, which divided by 2 is 2.5, rounded down is 2). The roll bonus for each
attribute is used for skill rolls of different sorts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are two other basic stats every character has.
These are Armor Class and Hit Points. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Armor Class is a measure of how difficult it is to
hit a character. Armor Class is equal to 10 plus the Dexterity Modifier plus
the Armor Bonus. If a character wants to hit a monster, they must roll a number
on a D20 that is greater than their foe’s Armor Class. That particular roll can
be modified by a character’s ability modifier, explained above, for different
stats depending on the action undertaken. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hit Points are a measure of how much “damage” a
character can take before they are knocked out. A character has hit points
equal to their Strength attribute. We prefer to think of it more as how many “near
misses” you get before a brutal, mighty (or lucky) blow knocks you out. After
all, you only get so many close calls. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What class a character becomes depends on the
actions they take. There are four different basic classes from which characters can acquire skills. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Warrior. To become a warrior, a character must bash
monsters! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rogue. To become a rogue, a character must be sneaky
and demonstrate fine motor skills. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cleric. To become a cleric, a character must find an
item that allows them to channel their faith, typically a holy symbol of some
sort, and successfully use it in the name of their god. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wizard. To become a wizard, a character must find an
item that allows them to cast spells, be it a spellbook, a magic wand, ring, or
staff, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are further variants on the basic classes that
can be acquired as the game progresses. Specialty wizards, paladins, rangers,
bards, etc are all options if the player wishes to pursue them. For the most
part, it simply requires walking the walk. If a warrior or cleric, for example,
decides their fate is to be a paladin, it is up to them to become a paladin, to
acquire the armor and weapons and pronounce their faith. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">These variants are limited only by the player’s
imagination. Special abilities of classes can be discussed with the DM and
should be based on D&D sourcebook material. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most of the action will take place in the dungeons
below the vampire strongholds of Stensia. The tile-placing dungeon-building
method from the D&D Adventure System is ideal for this, as it allows the DM
to focus on creatures and goals, rather than endlessly drawing out maps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Each newly placed tile will present a potential
problem for the adventurers. There is a chance of monsters rushing them from
the darkness, traps being set off, and a variety of other environmental hazards
to navigate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsdD4SPAih3UHXVW4yTRv4D9OLN5nFjgBuxRDpSnkgQKBkcQoG1E0ARSWtCYOLhGA6sG_ceO8YXwRLvVdZR9xK69Zn7wrxqP8Cg2quHUocgkGaFSTgoyUUQ3aXoLkvNrf9Vr_PcZ0Fqrh/s1600/vampire+trep+blade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizsdD4SPAih3UHXVW4yTRv4D9OLN5nFjgBuxRDpSnkgQKBkcQoG1E0ARSWtCYOLhGA6sG_ceO8YXwRLvVdZR9xK69Zn7wrxqP8Cg2quHUocgkGaFSTgoyUUQ3aXoLkvNrf9Vr_PcZ0Fqrh/s320/vampire+trep+blade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Leveling
Up and Experience Points<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We will use the standard M74 rules for leveling,
with a few tweaks of course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All characters begin as Level 0 townsfolk.
Experience Points are gained for defeating monsters, completing quests, and
spending gold. Typically, a monster will be worth a number of experience points
equal to its Hit Dice. A character earns experience points from spending gold
in town to help others in some manner, with no other gain for themselves. A
character earns 1 experience point for every 100 gold spent in this manner.
This can be anything from simply being a very generous tipper at the pub, to
throwing a party for the whole town. A character shouldn’t be offered true
quests until 3<sup>rd</sup> or 4<sup>th</sup> level, which is about when people
will start to see them as heroes, based on their deeds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Level. XP
required<br />
1. 10<br />
2. 30<br />
3. 60<br />
4. 100<br />
5. 150<br />
6. 210<br />
7. 280<br />
8. 360<br />
9. 450<br />
10. 550<br />
<br />
When gaining a level, a character may choose to gain a level from any class in
which they have experience. That is to say, if a character has physically
fought with weapons, disarmed traps, cast spells in some manner and used a holy
relic of some sort in a display of faith, they are free to choose any of the
four basic classes to level-up as. They are free to choose a different class at
each level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The physically-focused classes, Warriors and Rogues,
earn Feats when they gain a level. Spellcasting classes, Clerics and Wizards,
earn Spells upon gaining a level. Characters also get more hit points when when
they go up a level. Finally, PCs have the relevant ability score of their class
(for this particular level) raised by one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hit Points gained per level<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Warrior: 1d8 plus Strength modifier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cleric: 1d6 plus Charisma modifier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rogue: 1d6 plus Dexterity modifier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wizard: 1d4 plus Mind modifier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because leveling is based on actions taken during
the course of the game, players have a good bit of freedom to build their
characters, albeit slowly. If all a player wants to do is bash monster heads,
they can go right for it, taking warrior every level and kicking a lot of butt.
If a player wants a more well-rounded character, they can take warrior at 1<sup>st</sup>
level, gaining a warrior feat, 1d8 plus Strength modifier hit points, and
getting a plus 1 to their Strength score, then at 2<sup>nd</sup> level, after
having acquired a couple magic spell scrolls in a dungeon, take a level of
Wizard. They’ll then gain 1d4 plus Mind modifier hit points, learn one of the
spells they were exposed to, and get a plus 1 to their Mind score. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Basically, no character is locked in to their first
chosen class. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Warrior Feats<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Combat Training: plus 1 to hit, plus 1 to damage
with melee weapons<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Archery: plus 1 to hit, plus 1 to damage with bows
and crossbows<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thrown Weapons: plus 1 to hit, plus 1 to damage with
thrown weapons (daggers, axes, hammers)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Cleave: when an opponent is knocked out, get an
extra attack against another nearby foe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Push: on a successful hit, push an opponent away
from you one square. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Weapon Specialization: plus 3 to hit, plus 3 to
damage with one unique weapon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rogue Feats<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Quick Feet: you don’t provoke opportunity attacks
for movement when adjacent to enemies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sneak Attack: if you can sneak up on your target
unnoticed, double damage on a successful attack. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Move Silently: plus 2 to any attempt at moving
silently. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pick Locks: plus 2 to any attempt to pick a lock
with appropriate tools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Disarm Traps: plus 2 to any attempt to disarm a
trap. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reflexes: plus 2 to Armor Class while wearing light
armor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spellcasting<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Magic is difficult to learn and even more so to
control. However, there are magical items scattered throughout the world from
which those aspiring to wizardry or the priesthood can learn from. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Wizards can learn magic from a variety of different
sources: magical wands, staffs, rods, and rings, for example, or from casting
spells inscribed on scrolls. When a wizard gains a level, he or she can gain
the ability to cast any single spell that they have cast over the course of
gaining experience for that level. It is up to the player to keep track of
these spells. So, if character has used a scroll to cast a Fireball, a wand to
cast a Lightning Bolt, and a ring to cast Feather Fall over the course of
gaining their most recent level, they can choose one of those spells to
permanently remember and cast at will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Priestly magic works differently. The character must
have a holy symbol of their deity. At any time, they can beseech their god
through a prayer, be it to put a blessing on something, or repel undead, to
heal wounds or purify something. The DM must roll for the success or failure of
this prayer in secret! The character will not know immediately if their deity
has granted their request (however, it depends on what exactly the request is). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Also of note, is the current state of priestly magic on Innistrad. The only "deity" the humans of Innistrad worship is the archangel Avacyn. However, she has disappeared of late, and priestly magic has grown weak. Her disappearance is a mystery, although the recent rise in the frequency and ferocity of monster attacks that has coincided with her vanishing is not lost on the people of Innistrad, and many wonder what they have done wrong to cause their angelic leader to abandon them. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Adventuring<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most adventures will take place in the tombs,
crypts, and dungeons below the vampire strongholds of Stensia. Time permitting,
the DM can prepare other sites for adventure, but the tile-placing method of
the D&D Adventure System is ideal for quick dungeon delves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Every time a tile is placed, there is a roll on a
chart to see what happens. Often there will be a monster coming out of the
darkness, other times a different event will occur. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Event Die<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The DM shall have a D12, set to 1, at the beginning
of the dungeon adventure. At the end of each round, one PC must roll their own D12
and roll higher than the current number on the DM's event die. After each
round, the DM ticks the event die up one. If a PC rolls below the current
number on the event die, an additional random encounter occurs (these are
significant and more dangerous than what happens with each placing of a tile).
Certain actions in game can cause the event die to tick up further. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Also, the
DM can rule that a player must roll a smaller size die if they have been
particularly foolhardy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Combat<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Combat is fairly straightforward. Characters get one
attack type action per turn. To do this, they declare who or what they want to
attack (or some other action they wish to take), and roll a 20-sided die. The
higher the roll, the better. If making an attack, they must roll higher than
their opponent’s Armor Class. On a successful hit, roll for damage, according
to the weapon being used, and subtract that amount from the hit points of who
or whatever was hit. If a PC has zero hit points, they fall unconscious. An
unconscious character loses 1 Hit Point per round until their wounds are bound.
If they reach a negative number of Hit Points equal to their Strength, they
will die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Monsters simply die when they get to zero hit
points, although PCs may declare their desire to subdue monsters instead of
killing them. This must be done ahead of time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are squares on the board. Each one is about
five feet across. You can only make a melee attack against something in a
square next to you. You can only make ranged attacks against something that is
more than one square away from you, that you can also see. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Opportunity Attacks occur when you are adjacent to
an opponent, and then attempt to move away from them. Basically, they get a
free shot at you when you try to get away. If they hit, you take damage and
fail to get away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Saving
Throws<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, something dangerous happens, and there’s
a chance you can dodge disaster. In these circumstances, the DM will often call
for a “Saving Throw” to see if you dodge the fireball, or resist the mind
control spell, or what-have-you. Saving Throws are simple: roll a D20, add the
relevant ability modifier (the DM will tell you which to use), and hope you
score a 20 or higher in total to make your save. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-31635094138065415552013-03-19T18:28:00.000-07:002013-03-19T18:28:28.062-07:00Back in the Game!<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'High Tower Text', serif;">Hey, it’s
only been about six months since last I posted anything here. After spending
all of my available nerd energy playing Magic: the Gathering over most of that
time, I’ve gotten the itch to run some D&D again, but it has to be in a way
that works for our very large and busy family. Magic: the Gathering has been
perfect for us, as it satisfies the fantasy cravings while being quick to just pick
up and play when I have even a little bit of time with one of the kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'High Tower Text', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_SWrzTJdp-_E1UtJdw_7J7Jj_c8OYQOPK1vmNr-EQqeF2RLKCEY9TAGZ6467DOJnsIeDrf8dGcYFsiRWnd7G0ECIMF2P7bToat51xNRsGvTpxWNmr24brDIP5DWFQ_cH4PHnmvjl2-aE/s1600/combat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_SWrzTJdp-_E1UtJdw_7J7Jj_c8OYQOPK1vmNr-EQqeF2RLKCEY9TAGZ6467DOJnsIeDrf8dGcYFsiRWnd7G0ECIMF2P7bToat51xNRsGvTpxWNmr24brDIP5DWFQ_cH4PHnmvjl2-aE/s400/combat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";">D&D,
on the other hand, required me to spend a good deal of time during the week
preparing for the weekend session. These sessions often devolved into contests
amongst the children of “who can be the silliest and garner the most attention
at the table” to the endless frustration of myself and my father-in-law. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";">So,
something different is in order. We need something that I can just pick up and
run when I have a spare hour or two with a couple of the kids, because that
seems to be about all I ever get. Basically, it’ll be a blend of the D&D
Adventure System Games (Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, Legend of Drizz’t)
and <a href="http://www.retroroleplaying.com/content/microlite74">Microlite74</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";">The
system will build on what I started with Hyrulian Adventures (see my last
half-dozen or so posts). Hyrulian Adventures, by the way, went well, but our
increasingly busy family schedule kept us from having a free Sunday afternoon
for a while, and then it became harder and harder for me to get refocused on it
enough to start it up again… along with the aforementioned behavioral issues
with the children at the gaming table. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";">I’m
currently working on putting it all together. The basic idea is that I’ll be
able to use the tile based dungeon-building mechanics from the D&D
Adventure System for a good number of quick, short adventures when I don’t have
something bigger ready to go. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJW4t_U_3EOe0VwW-pHgWvqcwMR2v-X-sQAucPwFmBLmy5N7pOFcq-CuF7xSBOUso_JaqiVSJr79OwMcaHWzVVWWubeEQwdR26xhJTP5Nrj0SCVF7tDYbZBGLyTE3YdHtEy7Dab4NdWn9P/s1600/sorinmarkov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJW4t_U_3EOe0VwW-pHgWvqcwMR2v-X-sQAucPwFmBLmy5N7pOFcq-CuF7xSBOUso_JaqiVSJr79OwMcaHWzVVWWubeEQwdR26xhJTP5Nrj0SCVF7tDYbZBGLyTE3YdHtEy7Dab4NdWn9P/s320/sorinmarkov.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";">The
setting is going to be something the children are already quite familiar with:
<a href="http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg%2Fdaily%2Fstf%2F157">the plane of Innistrad</a>, from the recent Magic: the Gathering set. Particularly,
the province of Stensia, which is ruled over by powerful vampire clans. This,
of course, works pretty well with a lot of what already comes in Castle
Ravenloft. It also provides a decent amount of pre-built setting that the
children know well; well enough they will be excited when they find certain
artifacts they recognize from the cards they play with, or likewise meet
certain characters, many of which I will be sure to weave into the story. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5rIfLfN6RY1_j4LVAlcAi4spzScmMD4jyx7nmOYlHJejjdq4PlyfKbuooo9wRPUPHXnow57dhsddZAIKNbytZMLvb0DtoSI9pmrKiMdnt9P6g2dDC2RxcVhHXi4vndnZSuir7XKwxjO5g/s1600/chosen+of+markov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5rIfLfN6RY1_j4LVAlcAi4spzScmMD4jyx7nmOYlHJejjdq4PlyfKbuooo9wRPUPHXnow57dhsddZAIKNbytZMLvb0DtoSI9pmrKiMdnt9P6g2dDC2RxcVhHXi4vndnZSuir7XKwxjO5g/s320/chosen+of+markov.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "High Tower Text","serif";">All in all, I think it's a good start. I've got a good bit written up to get it all started, and I'll have it posted up here in the next couple of days. It's been a while since I've even cracked open the old D&D tomes, and it feels good perusing these old books for inspiration once again. </span></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-49191774325232758882012-09-18T19:52:00.000-07:002012-09-18T20:32:57.314-07:00Hyrulian Adventures: Alignment in Legend of Zelda<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQgthQT4C7F5MMMDy4p00yo3ZxngECP9a1y28cRmOhE_uYPGrLSWtHYYUaOZ8_9qwuRfvarTU4xr7iM9aHr6LaXtCbA9qWGuWdsMdvl_hNk9I0OwqeOrj2q1hBE93kfhH1kxVc_j2EnmE/s1600/triforce.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMQgthQT4C7F5MMMDy4p00yo3ZxngECP9a1y28cRmOhE_uYPGrLSWtHYYUaOZ8_9qwuRfvarTU4xr7iM9aHr6LaXtCbA9qWGuWdsMdvl_hNk9I0OwqeOrj2q1hBE93kfhH1kxVc_j2EnmE/s320/triforce.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Alignment in the Legend of Zelda games is an interesting
beast. There is clearly an old school D&D, Law vs Chaos thing going on,
right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Kinda. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sorta.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But there’s more to it than that. When we look at the
mythology of the world, it centers around the power of the Triforce, of which
there are three (four?*) parts: Wisdom, Power, and Courage. Each of these parts
is personified in Zelda, Ganon, and Link, respectively. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">*That fourth part would be the upside-down triangle there in
the middle. The Triforce of Shadow? Not going there in this post, but it’s
worth mentioning. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, we have alignment working along these three axes. We
have a Triforce of Courage that needs reassembling, and then someone to wield
it. Who should that be? <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Obviously, the person who has been the most Courageous! This
will mean a great deal more bookkeeping for myself, as I will need to keep
track of the PCs actions every game and make judgment calls (quite frankly,
more than I’m really comfortable doing, but I think it will be worth it in the
end) on whether their actions have been Wise, Courageous, or Power-hungry. In
the end, only one of them can raise the Triforce of Courage and fight Ganon. Of
course, I’m not going to tell them I’m keeping track of this kind of thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Side-note: what happens if someone who is not pure of heart
or truly courageous enough to wield it gets his or her hands on the Triforce of
Courage? Something exciting I’m sure… Because I'm not going to just come out and tell them who is supposed to wield the Triforce of Courage! </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Right now, I have it set up with a kind-of points system. Basically, each character will get a point in the appropriate column whenever they do something in-game that is especially Wise, Courageous, or Power-Hungry. I wish there was a good way to make Wisdom, Power, and Courage each PC's stats, but I'm not sure how to make it work. They feel more like personality attributes than physical statistics to me, which is why I'm keeping them separate. I do have plans to use these scores in a couple of different ways down the line, which I'll explain when we get there (eventually). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
But also, what happens to the character who has been the most Wise?<br />
<br />
Or the most Power-hungry?<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Any ideas? Sound off in the comments below! </span></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-35788956951765095952012-09-17T14:09:00.003-07:002012-09-17T14:11:53.965-07:00Hyrulian Adventures: Session 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikl4UIfI3YrbtOijsD7TdL_iCeSCyL2oal1NDXq_uvs6vrUlbD4iNbphjzmSYEAoumCECvT_wM3K24OdhEqDZ366Nb61sCZUSu5ZgMxl-y_hsGhdIYTIUW2Z9UvaICf6BwllIBzdbyuOz/s1600/bokoblins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikl4UIfI3YrbtOijsD7TdL_iCeSCyL2oal1NDXq_uvs6vrUlbD4iNbphjzmSYEAoumCECvT_wM3K24OdhEqDZ366Nb61sCZUSu5ZgMxl-y_hsGhdIYTIUW2Z9UvaICf6BwllIBzdbyuOz/s320/bokoblins.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
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I was a little stressed out leading up to getting started
yesterday; I haven’t run a D&D game in several months, and running a game for the
kids can always be a challenge. On top of that, I didn't have as much prepared as I would have liked, and knew I would be winging some of the session. We started with character generation. We had
five characters fully done up within an hour and a half. Microlite characters
are pretty straightforward, of course, and most of the time was taken up buying
supplies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I explained it in an earlier post, but I’ll recap here. PCs
start basically as level-0 townsfolk with three stats: Strength, Dexterity, and
Mind. Stats are calculated using 12d6, dropping the three lowest rolls, and
assembling three scores with what remains and assigning as the player sees fit.
Ability modifiers are calculated by taking the score, minus ten, and divided by
2, rounded down. They all get 12 HP plus a Strength bonus. They all rolled on
my Character (Family) Background Generator, which gave us the children of a
barber, a forester, a farmer, an arrowsmith, and explorers. There are no
levels. Character improvement happens through acquiring items in-game, training
with NPCs, and success with certain tasks in the field. I’m still ironing out
some of the details, but I have plenty of time and some good ideas, I think. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Regardless, things got off to a start with some combat. I’ve
learned that with the kids, they need some action to start things off. So I
<a href="http://packofgnolls.blogspot.com/2012/09/hyrulian-adventures-begin.html">explained the situation</a>, plopped down a battle map, and we got to rolling dice.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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They nearly died. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It was fantastic. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So, having successfully fended off the bokoblin attack and
defended their fellow villagers and the refugees, they set off to help the town
by acquiring more weapons and armor. They upgraded their “weapons” (really just
hunting tools) by having the town blacksmith do a little work on some of the
swords that were dropped by the bokoblins from the attack in town. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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They have a general map of the area (which belongs to the
daughter of the explorers), and they were faced with a few options. First, Lon
Lon Ranch is some five or six miles from Kakariko Village, and there was some
concern if the ranch would be okay. Also, Ordon Village, some twenty miles to
the south, could also be in need of assistance. Finally, there was an area on
the map clearly marked “Ruins” to the Northwest (the remains of the original
Hyrule Castle, perhaps…?). They eventually settled on heading to the Ranch. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A random encounter happened first. Currently, as it is
always dark and Hyrule is crawling with monsters, I’m rolling for every mile
travelled. I roll 2d6, and if either face pops up a 1, bam, random encounter.
Snake Eyes would be the discovery of something fairly major. <o:p></o:p></div>
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They came across a ruined tower, though it still had a
second floor at least. It also had a pair of bokoblins guarding the entrance.
An ambush took the guards out and they set up to move in. My father-in-law
directed their movements, and they made quick progress with good cover, and the
encounter with another four or five bokoblins inside didn’t last very long. <o:p></o:p></div>
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They did, however, fail to investigate upstairs. Not sure
why, as bokoblins were coming at them from upstairs, but I wasn’t about to
remind them. The tower’s not going anywhere, and whatever was up there will
still be there, right? Maybe? Who knows. <o:p></o:p></div>
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They made it the rest of the way to Lon Lon Ranch, where
they met Malon and her father Talon. Malon is the twelve year old girl who
really runs the Ranch, and Talon does what he can to help out. When they come
up, she is armed with a shortbow and certainly not thrilled to have strangers,
but is willing to let them stay the night in the barn if they help out
repairing the ranch. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Oh, and there’s a cave nearby where all these monsters seem
to keep coming from, and little Malon just hasn’t been able to get over there
and clear it out. Could you guys investigate? <o:p></o:p></div>
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In they went. Numerous encounters with Deku Baba plants
later (the little bastards kept popping back up out of the ground after they
killed them, wonder why...) and they were face to face with some robed evil dudes
creating bokoblins in some kind of foul ritual involving rupees. The robed guys
went down fairly quickly, but not before one of them toasted our heroes pretty
good with a fireball attack of some sort. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course, the two youngest adventurers took the bait of the
evil-looking daggers dropped by the robed fellows. And as they were trying to
leave the dungeon, fighting their way through the Deku Baba plants that had
grown back, one of the plants grabbed the boy as he tried to stab it with said
evil dagger and chewed him up good. The rest of the group took the plants out
and hauled the boy out, but he would need a few days to recover, and that only
with the aid of some famous Lon-Lon Milk. Needless to say, they’re not really
sure what to do with those daggers now…</div>
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And that’s where we left things. The plan is for some of the
adventurers to borrow horses from Lon-Lon Ranch, leaving the injured boy there
for a few days while they head back to Kakariko to deliver some of the weapons
they’ve acquired, and then head back to Lon-Lon and then down to Ordon Village.
We’ll see how things go, of course. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Overall, a good first session for the campaign, I think. If
there’s anything that’s going to kill the kids, though, it’s greed. They all
suffer from “Gimme Gimme” syndrome; they all want the shiniest new thing to
show up, and it’s always a competition amongst all of them to see who can get
it. They were going after fallen rupees in the middle of combat. Seriously. It
nearly killed a couple of them on a couple of occasions. Once that nonsense
started, any thoughts of taking it easy on them vanished. Not that I was
fudging any die rolls (everything gets rolled right out in front of God and
everyone), but I certainly wasn’t going to bring my B-game as far as tactics
with the monsters was concerned. After all, they had been warned before the game started that their characters were fragile and could easily be killed if they weren't careful...<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
The kids had a good time, though. There was certainly
some frustrations from every seat at the table at some point, be it from a
string of poor die rolls or lamenting bad decisions, but all their characters
(barely) survived to see another session, so we’ll continue on!<o:p></o:p></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-29429434190535190792012-09-16T20:13:00.001-07:002012-09-16T21:17:47.715-07:00Hyrulian Adventures Begin<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hyrule has known peace for a thousand years at least, under the
strong but caring leadership of the Royal Family. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All that changed last Thursday morning, when the earthquakes
began. While rare, earthquakes are perfectly natural events, and certainly no
cause for alarm. Until they continued. For three days. Much of Kakariko lay in
ruins, only the sturdiest buildings surviving. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The next day, a boy, carrying a shield and a sword and wearing a
green tunic, rode into town, and sought out the elder Sahasrahla. Within a
couple hours, he was gone again. Apparently, he was the “Hero of Legend”, but
you had never heard of this legend before. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then the monsters came. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And then the darkness followed. The sun has not been seen in
days. You can hear the howling of the monsters in the wilds. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few hours ago, refugees arrived from Hyrule Castle Town.
Hundreds of people, many of them injured, all of them terrified of what they
had seen at the castle. Monsters had descended upon the town, undead rising up
from the cobblestones, and the castle torn up from the very ground itself, and
by some magic remains suspended there, transformed into a twisted, evil,
Forbidden Fortress. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The refugees and other survivors have been gathered in the
village temple. There are a few soldiers with them, and their primary concern
is building up defenses for the village and its people. No one knows what has happened
to the Royal Family. None of the survivors knows anything about the “Hero of
Legend”. The Elder Sahasrahla pulls the five of you aside. He fears the worst;
the Hero has fallen, and the Triforce of Courage is shattered and scattered
across Hyrule. This evil, these monsters, can only come from someone wielding
the Triforce of Power, and if what the refugees say is true, there is a good
chance that someone has taken captive Princess Zelda, the bearer of the
Triforce of Wisdom. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Triforce of Courage must be recovered, reassembled, and
wielded by someone pure of heart if there is any hope at all of returning the
light to Hyrule! </span><span style="font-family: MagicMedieval;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But first, Kakariko Village must be defended from attack...</span></span></div>
Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-48632291040408443602012-09-10T16:30:00.000-07:002012-09-10T16:30:35.945-07:00Out of Hibernation and In Search of the Unknown!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;"><div>
Out of Hibernation and Into the Unknown!</div>
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<div>
It's been a good bit of time since we last checked in! This is due in part to a general lack of D&D-type gaming over the last few months, as our gaming focus has been primarily on Magic: the Gathering of late. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
However, the little gnolls have begun a journey In Search of the Unknown! A family friend, Jans, wanted to run a regular game of D&D for his ten-year-old (I think) daughter, which now includes my four minions and another of her friends. They are using the D&D Next playtest rules (the most recent one) for this adventure, and I'll probably have some thoughts on the playtest rules in a future post. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My father-in-law and I stayed to watch events unfold and help keep the kids kind of on-track. The characters include a trio of elves (rogue, wizard, cleric), a pair of dwarves (cleric and fighter), and a human sorcerer. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
They made it to the Keep, and the silliness ensued in short order. The boys decided their dwarves would go over to the tavern, and the girls (the elves), whose characters were apparently abolitionists, promptly followed them, smacked them, and tried to take their ale away. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Calmer heads prevailed, as Jans made it clear the local townsfolk were aghast at their behavior. I think sometimes my kids just have to cause drama with each other, as they all like to boss each other around. They also all like being the center of attention, and the younger ones especially will say and do silly things for that express purpose. </div>
<div>
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<div>
Regardless, they did eventually make it to the dungeon. They didn't have too many problems with the monsters they encountered, and were doing fairly well at examining their surroundings and treading carefully...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Until they got to the room with all the various pools of liquid. By the time we called it a day, the dwarf fighter was fast asleep and unable to be awaken, the dwarf cleric was covered in neon green goo and completely intoxicated with the elf wizard and human sorcerer, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">the elf rogue was glowing blue and had a hand badly burned by acid, and the elf cleric was glowing orange, I believe. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">It may be a bit late to tell them how to use a ten-foot-pole...</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Regardless, they all had a lot of fun, so I think this may be a once-a-month type of thing. It did light a bit of a fire under my butt to run some D&D again, though! If I work at it, we should be able to start Hyrulian Adventures in the next couple of weeks (possibly this weekend if I really bust my ass!). Hopefully I'll have some more material ready for that shortly. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">It's good to be back :)</span></div>
</span>Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-34215822626944123462012-05-04T21:28:00.000-07:002012-05-04T21:29:08.769-07:00Of Miracles and SoulbondsSo we had our little miracle of life occur on Tuesday, May 1st, at 6:46 pm Central time. Avery Timothy Linn Sullivan entered the world via c-section delivery, due to suspected (though non-existent) placental abruption. At 33 weeks gestation, he weighed five pounds, six ounces and was eighteen inches long. As I type this, he is still in the NICU, but doing better every day.<br />
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<a href="http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/a916ceb3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/a916ceb3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Being that early, his lungs weren't quite as developed as they ought to be, so his oxygen and CO2 levels were a bit off, and he still needs to get the hang of sucking milk, but he's making progress.<br />
<br />
This is my second child, my wife's fifth, and the sixth child in our household. Hers, mine, and now ours. Three boys and three girls, so we're a regular geeky Brady Bunch. Both of my offspring have had to spend some time after birth in the NICU; this trip is significantly less stressful than the first. When my daughter was born two and a half years ago, her biological mother (not my beautiful amazing wife) was, unbeknownst to me, a junkie, and she was born addicted to heroin (the junkie tested positive for heroin, amphetamines, and PCP, the baby tested positive for heroin). Needless to say, I have full custody of the child. But that time in the NICU was awful, because we didn't know what was going on (the addict wasn't exactly forthcoming about her drug use), and as it was slowly figured out... well, it's a pretty awful feeling, seeing your baby go through that. All in all, it was a sixth-month process to ween her off of a regular oral liquid morphine dosage.<br />
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So, I guess if my first kid pulled through after dealing with that big mess of terrible, this kid has it easy! By the way, my daughter is doing great now. There are some concerns that she may fall somewhere on the mild end of the autistic spectrum, but she's incredibly bright and clever and I'm sure she's going to do just fine.<br />
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We haven't played D&D in months at this point. Once things normalize, and Mama and Avery come home from the hospital, we'll be in a better spot to continue the campaign. The kids and I have continued to play plenty of Magic: the Gathering, and if any of you keep current on Magic trends, you'll have noticed the title of this article is a bit trendy.<br />
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"Miracle" and "Soulbond" are the names of two new mechanics introduced in the most recent Magic expansion set, Avacyn Restored. I just thought it was quite appropriate that this new set would be released this week, just a few days after I've experienced a miracle and soulbonding of my own!<br />
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Avacyn Restored also marks the first time I attended an in-store pre-release event, on Saturday, April 28th. It was $25, and you got six packs from the new set to open up and use to build a "sealed deck" for the little tournament they had going on there. There were maybe twenty people playing at the shop I went to (the Fantasy Shop in Florissant, MO), and I brought my oldest daughter, Alex. She's 11, and was by far the youngest person there, but she had a blast and was making everyone laugh because she's damn witty. She likes Magic but hasn't gotten terribly into it (although she is more excited about it now, after having such a good time at the pre-release).<br />
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Personal side-note about Alex: She's the oldest, and she's been through a lot. She was old enough to really remember (and still has a lot of pain from) her mom and dad getting divorced, and the roller-coaster of moves and everything else that happened before I came along. While my wife's three younger kids took to me pretty quickly, she has been reluctant to really be able to trust that I'm actually going to stick around and be a real dad. Taking her (and only her) to this Magic event (that all the other kids would have loved to go to) really meant a lot to her and was an awesome little bonding experience, even though we didn't spend a lot of time together while there. Just the fact that I took her, and she was able to have fun and be herself and talk to all kinds of different people, meant the world to her.<br />
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Anyways, I really like "Limited" Magic. There's a lot to be said about a player's skill when they have to make the best of what they wind up with in the packs they open. Randomization is the great equalizer.<br />
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It's kinda like rolling your stats 3d6 in order, when you think about it. You gotta take what you get, and make the best character (deck) you can with what you've been given. Sometimes it makes a lot more sense to run a fighter (aggro deck) instead of a wizard (control deck) purely because of the roll of the dice (draw of the cards), even if you prefer one over the other.<br />
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In fact, I liked the idea of the "sealed deck" format so much I decided we'd explore it even further in-house here. Alex and I both kept our cards from the pre-release separate, and today, upon full release, I purchased 18 fresh booster packs, six each for Kanaan, Chloe, and Aiden to crack open and start building their deck for a little league play. Each of us will play each other twice (to start, we may keep it going for a while after we finish the first set of matches) (and I have a full schedule written up, due to OCD). Every time a player earns two match wins, they get a fresh booster pack to open and add to their collection to draw on for their sealed deck. I'm also going to make it interesting, by allowing the kids to "trade out" cards from their sealed pools to the general collection at a rate of two-to-one; for example, they can trade in two of their uncommons for a single uncommon from the household's general collection (Whenever we decide to end the league, all the cards they've opened up will wind up in the "general collection" anyway... Magic cards are pretty strictly supervised in this house, purely because of the terrifying amount of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards I find laying around the house all the time; I would have a come-apart if I found Magic cards under the sofa). Also, whenever they've earned a fresh booster pack, they can instead choose five commons and two uncommon cards from the general collection (so they have control, but get half the amount of cards and no rares, like they would from a booster pack). And finally, they can select a booster pack from any set currently on sale at the Florissant Fantasy Shop (which is pretty much limited to Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored, and the 2012 Core Set).<br />
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So, all in all, it should be interesting. I'm really hoping I can help them build up some deck-building skills with this little league exercise, and also introduce them to the concept of the "metagame". I know "metagaming" is a bad word in D&D-speak, but in competitive Magic, it refers to the local "scene", i.e., what types of decks are likely to show up at any given constructed tournament, which ones are strongest, and, most importantly, how to build your deck to compete against those other ones. Often, it's as simple as knowing to sideboard certain cards against certain styles of deck. In this case, they'll get a taste of it because they'll be able to see every match (if they want to), so they'll be able to see each other's strategies as the season progresses and potentially make changes as they see fit (and have access to the cards they need!).<br />
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This has been a fairly lengthy post. If you made it this far, thanks! I'm not sure how much time I'll have moving forward to post D&D material, but as soon as we get a session in, you'll get a play-report. If anyone is interested in how our little in-house Limited Magic league progresses, leave a comment and I'll start posting about it as it happens!Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-30771257578415260272012-04-03T16:48:00.000-07:002012-04-03T16:48:14.074-07:00Still Alive!Whew, it's been a minute since last I had anything of value to say here, and that doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon. My wife is quite pregnant and high-risk and has been in the hospital for the past two weeks. The baby's not due until early June, and we don't anticipate her being able to come home until little Avery arrives. This means I've jumped headfirst into the role of SuperDad for the five kids at home, getting them ready for school in the morning, getting the two-year-old to her babysitter each day; off to work and then back home, pick up the two-year-old, make sure kids are getting their homework done, cook dinner, shuttle one or several of them to whatever activity might be scheduled for that night, do laundry, clean the house, take care of yard work, pay bills, get the kids ready for the next day... and try to find some time in there to actually go visit my lovely wife in the hospital.<br />
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Needless to say, there hasn't been much time for gaming lately. I've been scratching my fantasy-gaming itch with some Magic: the Gathering (I try to sneak at least one game in per night with one of the kids before bedtime).<br />
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Hopefully, we'll get to play some D&D with the kids on Easter. That's gonna require me to get ready, but I bet I can wing it. We'll see. We've got a ton of board games and card games and such to fall back on if I'm not prepared by Sunday. I've got a lot of work to do around here and my brain is not currently functioning well on D&D levels due to everything else that has to run through it, so it's kind of a crap-shoot.<br />
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And that's all the news that's fit for digital ink!Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-18386052121198723422012-03-07T18:07:00.000-08:002012-03-07T18:07:04.692-08:00I'm Tumbling NowIn an effort to keep A Pack of Gnolls focused on D&D and other RPGs, and not sully its good reputation with all that CCG silliness, I've started a little blog over on Tumblr that will be specifically about Magic: the Gathering.<br />
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You can follow me there at <a href="http://sullymtg.tumblr.com/">Mana Burns</a>.<br />
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I'm regularly getting distracted by deck-building, but I am also still working on Hyrulian Adventures, more Microlite material, and more stuff from my kids' game to post as well.Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-9715431597348341922012-03-04T12:46:00.000-08:002012-03-04T12:46:26.258-08:00Sentimental SundayI was in a fairly nostalgic mood this morning, and started flipping through my recently acquired Palladium Games Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition. I picked it up for super cheap, along with Ninjas and Superspies, at the Fantasy Shop's Used Gaming Auction in January. <br />
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Looking through it, I am confronted with the same thoughts I have every time I look through a Megaversal book: how the crap did we ever figure this out, or run it, or have any fun with it? Maybe these books only make sense when you're in middle school and high school. I have so many issues with lots of the system, from skills to combat, SDC vs Hit Points, that I don't even know where to begin. <br />
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I do remember having some completely ridiculous fun with the system though. Perhaps it had more to do with the company I was keeping than the game, though. We always went completely over the top with our Supers games. <br />
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I used to have a nice little collection of Palladium stuff: Palladium Fantasy, Systems Failure, Nightbane, and a couple other Heroes/Rifts items. I put them in the Fantasy Shop's Used Gaming Auction a couple years ago and only got ten lousy bucks for all of it; I didn't think I'd ever use any of it. I'm still pretty sure I won't ever use it, but a Microlite-type Heroes game could be pretty fun, especially with my goofball kids. <br />
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So I'll have to ponder some kind of conversion. Yeah, I think I've got a bad case of gamer ADD at the moment, but that's par for the course. Hey, at least I'm never bored! Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-63699878907491131842012-03-03T10:11:00.001-08:002012-03-03T10:21:37.660-08:00My Gateway to D&D: Magic the GatheringI've been working overtime through most of this week, including today, and along with a hectic schedule for the gnollpack, I haven't been able to make much progress on much of anything gaming related, but I have had some thoughts brewing. And hey, look at that, I didn't post for a week and just jumped up to over 100 followers here! Thanks people! <br />
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To make up for lack of posting this week, here's a fairly rambling and long-winded one about Magic: the Gathering and D&D, with a little personal introspection to boot. <br />
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I have been playing a little Magic: the Gathering every night lately, a couple games before bedtime with one of the minions. I find myself going further down the Magic rabbit hole these days. Don't worry, A Pack of Gnolls isn't going to morph into a Magic blog; I won't bore you with decklists or strategies or synergies here. <br />
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However, Magic served as my gateway to fantasy gaming. Sure, I'd been playing Star Wars D6 and Palladium's Heroes Unlimited and Robotech with my buddies, but when Padre showed us Magic, my imagination really came alive. The old Dragonquest RPG was introduced to our little group soon after, and we were all hooked. <br />
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I find Magic to be a loving homage to D&D. It is clearly drawing a lot of inspiration from its D&D roots, even to this day. There are dwarves and orcs, goblins and paladins, rogues and knights, devils, demons, skeletons, zombies, necromancers, fireballs, druids... The list goes on. If it appeared in D&D, more than likely it shows up in Magic, too. I've written about this before, but the current expansion, Innistrad, is quite clearly an homage to Ravenloft; its full of vampires and werewolves and zombies and ghosts, and is all about humanity on the brink of destruction at the hands of merciless undead and demonic overlords. And it's a lot of fun to play. A lot of the cards are awesome plays on horror tropes; one of my favorites, purely for its creepiness factor, is Village Cannibals. <br />
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Magic was my gateway to fantasy gaming, so it will always have a place in my heart. I didn't play it for a long time; my original collection contains cards from 1994-1998. I only recently started picking up Magic cards again, when my in-laws gave the minions each a starter deck from the recent New Phyrexia and Innistrad sets. That's a good twelve years! The more I've played with the kids, the more I've gotten into it, and I started picking up boosters, deck-builder kits (220 or so cards for $20!), and Fat Packs. Now we've got a halfway decent collection going. Each of the kids has their own deck, and there are a few others I've put together that they all play with. What's really important is that we're all spending good quality time together. The kids are all pretty sharp and have challenged me on several occasions with their decks. <br />
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I'm not a great Magic player; I'm about as good at Magic as I am at video games. I can do pretty well, but not great. I'm never going to be a pro Magic player; I'm not going to shell out ten or twenty bucks for a single card to perfect a deck. I love opening booster packs, and I'm really liking booster draft-type games. <br />
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What's really ironic is that the things that I love about Magic are basically the same things that drove me away from 4E D&D. Character Generation for 4E is incredibly similar to building a Magic deck. You choose your role and power source, you find synergies within the various available options, and you put it all together in one package. I got sick of all that with 4E, but I'll happily spend hours doing the exact same thing for Magic, looking over the cards in our collection, finding synergies and combos and marveling at the art. <br />
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It's weird, I know. There's just something viscerally satisfying about handling the cards. The same activity in 4E is a major chore on the computer screen with the Character Builder, and even more so with a hand-written sheet with the books open! <br />
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Anyways, I know a lot of grognards out there can't stand Wizards of the Coast for what they've done with the modern incarnations of the D&D brand, and with the way they've treated their D&D customers through the years. I find myself in a funny position here. I thoroughly enjoy Magic, and I thoroughly enjoy old-school D&D. So I'm a bit of a contradiction in terms here, as far as my gaming is concerned. <br />
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Actually, now that I think about it, that's how I've been my whole life. I was a gifted athlete who played at the top local levels in my chosen sports, but eschewed jock culture for sci-fi and fantasy geekiness. I was a liberal working-class kid who went to high school with a bunch of upper-class conservatives. Now I'm a union construction worker, and the people I work with all have hobbies that primarily include either firearms or automobiles, while I'm playing D&D and Magic with my kids. <br />
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Yeah, I never made much sense to me either. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-24586014515427112682012-02-26T20:32:00.000-08:002012-02-26T20:32:27.559-08:00Kids' Campaign: Good ole-fashioned Dungeon CrawlToday in my kids' campaign, they explored the caverns below the goblin caves. At the direction of Larry the Dwarf Cleric, they stayed to the right as they explored, coming across numerous forking passages. <br />
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First up, a bunch of piercers fell off the ceiling, attacking them. Most of my attack rolls missed; I was rolling d20s out on the table for each player. The wizard, my 10-year-old son, insisted on rolling a d20 for himself, without realizing I was rolling attacks for the monsters. <br />
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He rolled a natural 20. We spent the next five minutes as we both rolled low, him trying to knock the piercer off, and the piercer failing utterly to chew through the wizard's robes. He finally knocked it off with his staff and they avoided the rest of the piercers on the ceiling, and went into the next room, where they barely managed to avoid being caught in the filament-traps of a group of three cave fishers! This combat went quickly, although it seems the only time I roll criticals for monsters is when the wizard gets too close to combat and a monster snaps at him! <br />
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They defeated the cave fishers and continued on, keeping ever to the right. The next foe they encountered was a big nasty roper. The roper snagged three of the heroes off the start with its tentacles, and started pulling them in, but they managed to make excellent attack rolls to slice through the tentacles and break free. They had to gang up on it, and nearly lost Snagger the Dwarf, but defeated the monstrosity and found the gems and platinum pieces in the roper's belly. <br />
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They continued on around the map, and came to a maze-like series of passages. It wasn't long before they were attacked from two sides by some big subterranean lizards! And then a few rounds into the fight, two more joined the fray, led by their minotaur master! The fight was looking kind of grim when the minotaur showed up; the wizard dropped (lizard got a crit for 12), and Farmer George wasn't far behind. The minotaur circled around and charged the halfling thief, but rolled a two; I ruled the thief tumbled between the minotaur's legs and popped up behind it, granting her a backstab attack for extra damage. The two elves hit, with the first hit being a "ghetto crit" for maximum damage and the second elf scoring a natural 20! The 6+3 HD minotaur went down quick, and its pet lizards weren't far behind. <br />
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After taking a few minutes to heal up, they continued on their path, ever to the right passageway, circling around the map. In the next chamber they encountered an Auromvorax! Since the book states that dwarves despise them, I gave each dwarf a roll to recognize the beast. Snagger made his roll, and knew that the monster literally eats gold for dinner. They started throwing gold pieces at it, enough to distract it for long enough to get by. <br />
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This is when they started discovering the remains of a group of adventurers who hadn't survived the dungeon. They recovered a spellbook with high-level spells and a tube of scrolls containing several sheets worth of bad poetry. <br />
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Having gone most of the way around the dungeon, they headed back up to the goblin lair and made camp for the night to rest up. Nothing attacked them in the night (the goblins had left, most being cowardly and having no desire to be around when the group opened the passageway down into the deadly caves). <br />
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Further exploration the next morning revealed a hidden, ancient dwarven crypt. The dwarf cleric opened the passageway and down they went, finding a 1000-year-old internment containing several generations worth of urns and an altar, with a blessed dwarven warhammer floating above it. After saying a prayer to Moradin, the dwarf cleric took the warhammer. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-77779531997649777272012-02-25T20:52:00.000-08:002012-02-25T20:52:17.213-08:00Saturday Night Magic in Florissant, MOI've never really been one to do a lot of gaming at gaming stores. I played the Neverwinter season of D&D encounters at the St. Charles Fantasy Shop, but that's the extent of it. Since I've gotten back into Magic: The Gathering, I started looking at going to a Friday Night Magic event at the same shop, but it's a bit of a drive and the atmosphere at those events can be pretty hyper-competitive. <br />
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However, about a week ago, I was getting some Magic cards at my much more local Florissant Fantasy Shop, and the clerk asked if I'd be interested in playing Magic there on Saturday nights. I was a little apprehensive, but the Florissant shop is a lot more laid-back, so I decided tonight to give it a shot. It was the first night they've organized it, and the turn-out was slim, about seven people altogether, but it was definitely pretty chill. More of a meet-n-greet, let's hang out and play a few games of Magic type of night. <br />
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I brought my ten-year old son along. He did pretty darn well, and the other guys there were awesome about playing with him. He pulled off a very surprise victory in a rather ridiculous, drag-out game at the end of the night. <br />
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So, if you're in the Florissant, Missouri area and like Magic, and are interested in a laid-back environment to meet some gamers and throw some cards around, I highly recommend Saturday night Magic at the Florissant Fantasy Shop. It's on North Lindergh, about a mile north of I-270, next to the Schnucks. We're in the back from six til ten! Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-20346422407297148392012-02-24T07:34:00.003-08:002012-02-24T08:06:09.274-08:00Hyrulian Adventures: Some MonstersHyrulian Monsters and other DM notes<br />
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Hyrule is not normally filled with monsters. The demons currently plaguing the countryside are not of this world. They are sorcerous creations sent to wreak havok and plunge Hyrule into chaos. The foul ritual that creates them uses some of Hyrule's essence, be it gems from the earth, other pieces of nature (Deku sticks and nuts, for example), or the strength of its peoples. Because they are not natural, when monsters are destroyed, they disappear, sometimes leaving behind rupees, a heart, or some other item. Rupees can be collected and spent later by PCs. Hearts, when found, must be used then to recover 1d4 hit points. If a PC grabs a heart while they have maximum hit points, they gain nothing. <br />
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And some monsters: <br />
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Bokoblins are vile little humanoid creatures, about four feet tall, with a toothy maw and green or blue skin. They typically carry crude spears or swords (1d8 damage) and are rarely encountered alone, typically marauding in a band of 3d4 of the creatures, with one Leader. They have a love of bloodshed and causing mayhem. Their weapons are shoddily made, and automatically break on a natural attack roll of 5 or less. Unarmed bokoblins attack with their clawed hands for 1d6 damage. <br />
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Bokoblin: HD 1d8, AC 12, +1 attack, 1d8 (armed) or 1d6 (claws) damage, save 18 <br />
2 in 6 chance of dropping either heart (1-3) or single rupee (4-6)<br />
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Bokoblin Leader: HD 1d8+2, AC 13, +1 attack, 1d8+1 damage (armed) or 1d6+1 (claws), save 17. Leaders carry better weapons (usually longsword, which only break on an attack roll of 1) and a wooden shield. Always drop either heart or a 5-rupee piece. <br />
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<a href="http://s1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/?action=view¤t=Moblin.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/Moblin.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a><br />
Moblins are big and mean. Eight feet tall with a pig-like face and furry red skin, these are elite soldiers. They are usually armed with a large morningstar (1d10 damage, STR 15 to wield) and armored (Banded mail, though it is too large for a PC to wear). <br />
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Moblin: HD 3d8, AC 16, +3 attack, 1d10 damage, save 15. They always drop 2d6 5-rupee pieces and a single heart. <br />
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Keese are dark winged rodents that are often found in dungeons. They have a wingspan of 1 foot and are more nuisance than threat. There is a fiery version as well. <br />
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Keese: HD 1d4, AC 18, +4 attack, 1 damage, Save 20. 1 in 6 chance of dropping either single rupee or heart. <br />
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Flaming Keese: HD 1d4, AC 18, +4 attack, 1 fire damage and victim must make Reflex save or take 1 additional fire damage next round; Save 20. 1 in 6 chance of dropping a single rupee or heart. <br />
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<a href="http://s1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/?action=view¤t=55d98094.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/55d98094.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a><br />
Deku Baba is a monstrous plant. It has a large, bulbous head that opens to reveal rows of sharp teeth. It is rooted in place by a five foot long stalk, but can attack anything that gets close enough. <br />
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Deku Baba HD 2d8, AC 15, +3 attack, 1d6 damage, victim must make reflex save or be grabbed in Deku Baba's mouth. Deku Baba does 1d6 more damage each round until victim makes fortitude save to break out. Save 17. The Deku Baba's weak spot is its stalk, which has an AC of 18, but a blow with a bladed weapon automatically severs it from the ground, destroying it. Deku Baba grow back in 10 minutes unless root is dug out and burned. Always drops either Deku Stick or Deku Nuts. The root, when burned, leaves behind a single 10 rupee piece. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-30297222043196608212012-02-23T07:08:00.001-08:002012-02-23T10:29:13.778-08:00Hyrulian Adventures: Character GenerationCharacter Generation<br />
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These rules are based on Microlite and as such are Open Game Content. <br />
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PCs are human and hail from either Kakariko Village or Hyrule Castle Town. <br />
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Roll 3d6 in order to determine your PC's Strength, Dexterity, and Mind ability scores. You may switch one score with another. Ability modifiers are as follows: Score minus 10, divided by 2, round down. <br />
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There are no classes, nor do PCs gain levels. PCs can use any weapon and wear any armor, as long as they meet the minimum Strength requirement. <br />
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A PC's starting Hit Points equal their Strength score plus 1d8. <br />
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Armor Class equals 10 + Dexterity modifier + Armor Bonus. <br />
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There are three different attacks a PC can make: Melee, Ranged, and Magical. Add Strength modifier to Melee Attacks, Dexterity modifier to Ranged Attacks, and Mind modifier to Magical Attacks. PCs do not start with any Magical Attack they can perform, but there are items they can find in-game which will allow them to. <br />
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There are three saving throws: Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower. PCs begin with a +4 modifier to each saving throw, plus ability score modifiers: Strength modifier to Fortitude, Dexterity modifier to Reflex, and Mind modifier to Willpower. When a saving throw is called for, a PC must roll a d20 and add their appropriate saving throw bonus. A total of 20 or more means they saved. <br />
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Players start with 3d6 times 3 rupees, and a backpack and small money bag. <br />
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PCs can carry a number of items up to their Strength score, including weapons and armor. <br />
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Now, obviously, because they have no levels or bonuses from their classes, these starting characters are not quite as strong as standard Microlite characters. That is the idea; they are basically 0-level mooks to start. If they survive their first foray into the monster-infested wilderness, it won't be long before they find items to grow stronger and more powerful. Dungeons are filled with these types of treasures; they also abound in secret, hidden places in the wilderness, and can be bestowed on a PC by an NPC. <br />
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The PCs begin knowing very little about the world. They know the area they are from, and the locations of other human settlements and the major landmarks of Hyrule (Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, etc). They know that beastly monsters have been seen in the wilderness, that Hyrule Castle Town is overrun with monsters, and that Hyrule Castle itself has been transformed into an evil fortress. They know the world has gone dark. Visibility outside is approximately 50 feet. <br />
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The few soldiers that escaped with the refugees from Hyrule Castle Town are tasked with the defense of Kakariko. They have begun the process of forging weapons and armor and training able-bodied men and women to defend the town. <br />
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At the beginning of the game, heavy weapons and armor are not yet available for sale in Kakariko Village, and won't be until the town is armed for defense to the liking of the soldiers. This process will take one month, unless the PCs help by taking weapons from monsters and donating them to the town. For every five weapons the PCs donate, the town becomes one day closer to being properly armed. <br />
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The following items for adventuring can be found at the General Store:<br />
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Lantern (holds 1 pint of oil, visibility 20 ft): 10 rupees<br />
Oil: 5 rupees per pint (pint lasts 4 hours)<br />
Torch (burns 1 hour, visibility 20 ft): 1 rupee<br />
Waterskin: 3 rupees<br />
Rope 50 ft: 5 rupees<br />
Grappling Hook: 10 rupees<br />
Ten-foot pole: 1 rupee<br />
Backpack: 5 rupees<br />
Small Money bag (holds 50 individual rupees): 5 rupees<br />
Flint and Steel: 5 rupees<br />
Tent: 5 rupees<br />
(Bug-Catching) Net: 5 rupees (use DEX bonus to catch something in the Net)<br />
Bottle: 10 rupees<br />
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Armor:<br />
Leather AC +2 10 rupees<br />
Studded Leather AC +3 30 rupees<br />
Wooden Shield AC +1 (Min STR 13) 10 rupees<br />
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Weapons:<br />
Hand axe 1d6 10 rupees<br />
Hunting knife 1d4 5 rupees<br />
Staff 1d4 5 rupees<br />
Bow and arrows 1d6 (Min STR 13) 20 rupees<br />
Sling 1d4 (Monster must make a saving throw or be dazed for a round if attack scores a Critical hit)Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-19689991868435756202012-02-23T04:16:00.000-08:002012-02-23T04:49:50.139-08:00Hyrule HistoriaIt is apparently Zelda week here at the Pack of Gnolls. This post outlines a bit more of my design philosophy for Hyrulian Adventures. Later today I will post the promised Character Generation guidelines. <br />
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The Legend of Zelda video game series has continued on for more than 25 years. Personally, I've played most of the games, but have only actually conquered two: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. When you get down to it, I'm just not all that great at video games. <br />
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One thing about the Legend of Zelda series that I personally find simultaneously interesting and inane, is the long-term debate over the Zelda Timeline(s). If you thought D&D edition wars were bad, check out the debates that rage every time a new Zelda game is released and throws the various timeline theories into chaos with new information. <br />
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In December 2011, Nintendo released a book called the Hyrule Historia, which purports to be an "official" timeline of the video game series. It was only published in Japanese, so I'm relying on this Zelda wiki article<br />
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<a href="http://www.zeldawiki.org/Timeline">http://www.zeldawiki.org/Timeline</a><br />
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to get the gist of it all. While there are a couple of inconsistencies, overall it makes sense, I suppose. As the publisher's "official" word on the subject, I guess we have to accept it, but I personally think it's a load of bull. Nintendo has consistently pursued gameplay first in game development, and handled storyline after the fact. Certainly, some titles reference events in other games, and some are obviously direct sequels to what came before. There was never a grand design for a timeline for the games. I wouldn't be surprised when the debate is renewed again after the next game is published, and numerous details throw the entire thing once again into question (unless of course they include, in the instruction manual, exactly when amongst all titles and branching timelines this next game falls). <br />
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Personally, I prefer to think of the games as "but one of the legends of which people speak", as stated at the beginning of The Wind Waker. This is my design philosophy as I develop my Microlite-based Legend of Zelda RPG. <br />
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Each individual Zelda game is but a different version of the Triforce story: evil Ganon seeks the power of the Triforce, and the Hero, Link, must undertake an adventure to defeat Ganon and save Hyrule. In this table-top game, the Hero of Legend is defeated and it is up to the people of Hyrule (the PCs) to stop Ganon. <br />
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I will be drawing inspiration from many of the different video game titles as I develop my Hyrule for my players to explore. This rendition does not fall into any place within the canonical timelines. It is Hyrule, it is plagued by evil, and it must be saved. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-9405559639584101122012-02-22T10:24:00.001-08:002012-02-22T10:24:57.498-08:00Hyrulian Adventures: Basic PremiseHyrule has known an age of peace and prosperity. All this changes quickly, however. First came three days of earthquakes, which have altered the landscape dramatically. Next came sightings of monsters in the wilderness. People began talking of ancient legends, and then a young man in green appeared, the Hero of Legend. He spent a few hours in Kakariko Village and then disappeared into the wilderness. <br />
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Three days later, the land of Hyrule was plunged into an unnatural darkness. The sun is yet to rise. Refugees from Hyrule Castle Town have arrived in Kakariko Village, telling stories of demons stalking the streets and the overnight change of the Castle itself into a terrifying fortress, and no one knows what is become of the Royal Family. <br />
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The village sage fears the worst: Ganondorf has returned, seeking the ancient power of the Triforce, and the Hero of Legend has fallen. Legend says that if the Hero falls, the Triforce of Courage will be broken into nine pieces and scattered across the land. These pieces must be recovered before Ganon finds them! Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-12038886860066928312012-02-22T04:10:00.001-08:002012-02-22T04:10:54.616-08:00Hyrulian Adventures: Initial ThoughtsTranslating the Legend of Zelda video games to a tabletop D&D RPG has, thus far, been an interesting thought experiment. There are numerous conventions within the video game series that strain credulity within a D&D context. Here are a couple examples I am contending with as I build "my" Hyrule. <br />
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Artificial barriers in the maps. In the NES Legend of Zelda, bushes and rocks were often used to block Link's progress or separate parts of the map. Obviously, these types of barriers make little sense in D&D, as clever players can easily get around them. These include the common convention, ever since Link to the Past, of requiring certain items to open up new parts of the map, such as the mallet or the power bracelet. <br />
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Bottles. Why are there only three or four bottles Link can use to carry things in, but endless supplies of ceramic jars to break? Why can't Link just buy a simple glass bottle in a store? <br />
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Obviously, these things serve a certain purpose within the video games that are probably unnecessary in a table-top game. The trick is identifying which tropes exist purely as a limiting factor in-game, and twist them in such a way that they still serve a purpose in the table-top world and are fun and rewarding for the players to find. <br />
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One of the coolest things about the original NES Legend of Zelda was that a clever player could get all the way to the final battle with Ganon without ever getting a sword. You weren't funnelled along from Dungeon A to B to C. You could go take on several different dungeons, right from the beginning, if you could find them. Very little was blocked off, in the sense that it required an item key of some sort to access. That alone speaks volumes about how much the original game relied on player exploration, skill and ingenuity. I don't want to force my players along a certain, predetermined path to get to the end. I want to give them a world to explore, secrets to uncover, problems to solve, and great rewards for doing so. <br />
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Tomorrow: Character Generation<br />
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Friday: Monster theory and samplesSullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-7398300983905615812012-02-21T08:41:00.000-08:002012-02-21T08:41:15.803-08:00Zeldaspiration: Hyrulian AdventuresThe Legend of Zelda video games have always served as great inspiration for me, and my wheels have really been turning lately. I've always wanted to be able to run adventures in Hyrule as a table-top RPG, but I always run into the same problem when I start working on it: the story is always focused on a single character. While this would be okay for one-on-one gaming, it's not really what I'm after. <br />
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Instead, I want to capture the essence of what makes the gameplay fun and interesting and apply it to Microlite-type D&D. <br />
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Puzzles, riddles, secrets: this is a huge part of what makes Zelda games fun, but obviously this aspect will be confined to adventure/dungeon/world design. I want to make this as old-school as possible. Characters won't be making any "search checks".<br />
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No levels. All growth in character power is by way of earned items. This is something I love about the games. It doesn't matter how many monsters you kill or rupees you collect, you've still got to earn the Master Sword by solving the riddles to find it. <br />
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Sandbox. The first two Zelda titles on the NES featured big, wide-open sandboxes to explore. There were hidden secrets everywhere, it seemed. Some places were much more dangerous than others, and it was easy to get in over your head. <br />
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I will basically be developing a sandbox setting and a set of Microlite-based rules to go hand-in-hand, specifically for running Hyrule-esque adventures with my kids. They are all in love with the Legend of Zelda video games, and table-top adventuring in this style with all of them should be tons of fun. <br />
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This won't mean the end of our Night Below Underdark adventures on Sunday, however! That game will continue on Sundays. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-73483131352234447152012-02-21T05:38:00.000-08:002012-02-21T05:38:10.119-08:00Zeldaspiration: Old School Zelda<a href="http://s1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/?action=view¤t=78ce75bd.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af137/EstimatedProphet33/78ce75bd.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a><br />
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Very interesting article <a href="http://m.kotaku.com/5885595/zelda-just-keeps-getting-worse-but-it-isnt-beyond-saving">here</a> about the Legend of Zelda series' evolution through the years.<br />
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What is really fascinating is how closely the Legend of Zelda's evolution as a video game mirrors the evolution of D&D, from the little brown books to 4E and Essentials. <br />
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I actually had a whole post written up analyzing this, but I realized it was probably going to wind up baiting edition warriors and Zelda fanatics, and the last thing I want to deal with here is any kind of flame war. I had a lot of thoughts on it all, but I don't want to come off as demeaning any of the many editions of D&D; I own books from every edition and I find them all useful in running my Microlite games. <br />
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Anyway, if you're interested, it's a fascinating read and I think offers some good advice for D&D game masters, especially those familiar with The Legend of Zelda. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5093473916215018208.post-25142115346380272922012-02-20T04:56:00.001-08:002012-02-20T04:56:56.815-08:00Sunday Game DayWe were short a player, so instead of playing D&D yesterday, we played a bunch of different games with my father-in-law. <br />
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We played:<br />
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Magic: the Gathering. My nine-year-old son is getting better and better at this one. He's getting pretty good at finding synergies between cards and using them in-game, though I'd like to see him be more aggressive. He tends to build up a lot of creatures before launching any attacks. So far it's worked, but I'll have an answer for it soon. <br />
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Munchkin. My gnome bard won it what turned out to be a nailbiter. I only won by calling in my doppleganger reinforcement. <br />
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Poo, which is a very silly game about monkeys flinging their poo at each other. I got covered in poo very quickly and was out first. <br />
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Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is a deck-building game. The primary goal of the game is to collect the most "Honor", which is earned by defeating monsters and collecting certain cards. <br />
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Quarriors is similar to deck-building games, but your "deck" is comprised of different dice that you then have to roll. <br />
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Thunderstone is yet another deck-building game, with a very D&D type of theme to it. You can either buy stuff in town, weapons, characters, items, spells, or you can go fight one of three monsters waiting in the local dungeon. <br />
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These deck-building games are pretty interesting. I wasn't too keen on them at first, but they've definitely grown on me the more I've played them. My oldest son has grokked them pretty well and tends to win. They don't require the massive time investment of Magic: the Gathering and deliver a fun competitive experience. I probably won't pick any up, as my father-in-law has an extensive library and we typically only play them when we go over there. We have been playing a lot of Magic at home, though, and I'm very much enjoying getting back into that whole thing. Sullyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08775443433933924102noreply@blogger.com1