Deepingdale's adventuring logs 3

Campaign logs written by Steve, Deepingdale's player.

Company Members
Slippy, 3rd Lvl Ratman - Founding Member
Venser, 3rd Lvl Human Thief
Cagliostro, 2nd Lvl Human Necromancer
Hjalhir, 3rd Lvl Human Wizard
Deepingdale, 1st Lvl Dwarrow Fighter
Bozan, 1st Lvl Human Cleric of Demogorgon

Session 3 (24/08/11)
Bedridden for two weeks, recovering in Micmar from my serious wounds from the Snake poisoning and Wight energy drain attack.  After recovering fully and avoiding constitution damage, I purchased some exotic equipment (Flaming oil and tonic) and a new set of Full Plate Armour (no thanks to the lack of generosity from my tight arsed family), traded in old suit of chainmail.  Hopefully, the investment will avoid my future demise!

On the way to the dungeon, visited Sage in Micmar (Mol), to identify the Magic Long Sword.  The Sage provided extensive background to the blades history, identifying it as the Azure Serpent Blade, one of Seven blades created by the High Priests of Garm to defeat the Reptile Sect 500 years ago.  The blade has an Azure Glow and Reptile Script which is an exert from a poem describing “A watery dark, underground”.  Afterwards we experimented with the water breathing ability, clearly it only works when holding the hilt and for one person.  1 sword down, 7 more blades to collect!  The others are Yellow, Red, Black, Green, Blue and Purple.

Whilst on our way to the dungeon, in Harln forest we encountered two humans, clearly some sort of travelling tradesmen or merchants, with a small cart.  They had been ambushed by a large gang of Fey Goblins.  One man was already dead, filled with arrows and the other, a rather heavy set chap, was tied up and hung from a tree.  A ill conceived plan eventually led to us releasing the fat chap and receiving a small reward.  However Bozan the Grumpy Cleric died of wounds from the Fey Goblin attack and the party was saved by Cagliostro’s animate dead spell (and my Azure Serpent Sword).  Slippy almost bled to death, we were lucky to kill so many.  The rest of the goblins disappeared, literally.  With reduced numbers, we decided to return to Dregg to await our missing companions.

On our return to Dregg, the Party decided to formally come together as a company.  A constitution is yet to be formed; although some lose agreements were discussed around sharing loot and distributing magic treasure based on the items ability and the needs and skills of party members and establishing a war chest to cover usable items like flaming oil and tonic/healing potions.

Encounters:
Fey Goblins x 12 in Harln’s Magic Forest attacking traders’ wagon

Treasure:
Small gold reward from Traders
Goblin Horn (Fey Magic)

Deepingdale's adventuring logs 2

Campaign logs written by Steve, Deepingdale's player.

Company Members
Slippy, 3rd Lvl Ratman - Founding Member
Venser, 3rd Lvl Human Thief
Cagliostro, 2nd Lvl Human Necromancer
Hjalhir, 3rd Lvl Human Wizard
Blade, 1st Lvl Human Cleric of Hegg, God of Blades
Deepingdale, 1st Lvl Dwarrow Fighter

Session 2 (10/08/11)
We returned back to the dungeon, minus Stig (where is he!) after a short stay in Dregg, there followed a wild day of combat and although we managed to find the long lost legendary magic sword, the cost of this adventure was perhaps nearly too high for me.  Clearly my new companions are either more experienced and able or just lucky, as I nearly succumbed to wounds of which, one was almost fatal, a touch from an undead warrior seemed to drain the very life blood from my body.   Due to quick thinking and action, I was saved by the Necromancer who cast a return from deaths door spell, I am in his debt and grateful to both he and the Cleric of Hegg for saving and healing me.

The Wizard also needs mentioning, as he enabled our save withdrawal as he fired a lighting bolt from his wand and fried the last two Wights who were pursuing us.

Where is Stig, perhaps his presence would have resulted in a better experience.  I now know why Uncle Nori insisted on him joining me.  I must write to Nori and let him know of his disappearance, it is most inconvenient, Nori will not be happy.

Encounters:
Large 5' Poisonous Snakes (Nearly died from snake bite and energy drain from Wight)
Wights x 4 (Saved by the Necromancers return from deaths door spell.)

Treasure:
Found the Azure Serpent Long Sword (+1 of Water Breathing)

Deepingdale's adventuring logs 1

Campaign logs written by Steve, Deepingdale's player.

Company Members
Slippy, 3rd Lvl Ratman - Founding Member
Venser, 3rd Lvl Human Thief
Cagliostro, 2nd Lvl Human Necromancer
Hjalhir, 3rd Lvl Human Wizard
Blade, 1st Lvl Human Cleric of Hegg, God of Blades
Deepingdale, 1st Lvl Dwarrow Fighter
Stignarr, 1st Lvl Human Fighter

Location: Dungeon “Nolly’s Kingdom” (Near Sunken City of Garm) in the centre of the Magical Forest of Harln

Session 1 (27/07/11)
After meeting an adventuring party in the local Ale House in Dregg, I have decided to take my manservant, Stig along with me to help do some salvaging in a nearby dungeon, in the middle of the magical forest of Harln.  A magical sword has been mentioned along with other opportunities for loot.  It will be good to get underground and away from the prying eyes of these town folks.  Not sure what to make of this rabble yet, I wonder whether I can trust them, but one thing is for certain, it does looks like they need the strong arm and intelligence of a Dwarrow.

After a heavy day of combat, where I hope I was able to show my worth to my new companions, we returned back to Dregg with a few hundred gold pieces and some precious metals to cash in, not a bad start.

Encounters:
Friendly Forest Gnomes
Black rabid flying babies with yellow eyes x 6
Shadow x 1
Wights x 2

Treasure:
110gp Gold Goblet and Bowls

Deepingdale's adventuring logs

Some time ago I posted a couple of session reports from the very beginning of my Labyrinth Lord campaign. I enjoyed writing the reports, but to be honest, when I sat down to write something game-related, session reports were at the bottom of the pile of things to do, so I didn't keep it up.

Recently a wave of new players have joined our group, taking us from a meagre and somewhat tenuous count of 3 or 4 to a mighty sum of 8 or more! One of these new players, Steve, has been writing some excellent campaign logs from the point of view of his character, Deepingdale, 1st level Dwarrow.

So I thought it'd be nice to share these logs here, for anyone who enjoys reading such things. I don't know how many session passed between the last log I wrote in January, and Steve's first log, but I'd guess maybe in the region of 8 to 10.

I'll post the session reports as individual posts, beginning with a catch-up batch for the last 7 sessions, and hopefully to be continued in the future as Steve (or otehrs) write more...

Mapping idea: dungeon quarters

I just had an interesting idea for how to manage the map & key for an evolving dungeon. The assumption is that each time a bunch of adventurers go in there and cause trouble, a substantial number of facts about the dungeon (e.g. what monsters live where, what treasures exist, and so on) will be altered. Traditionally I've had two separate things: 1. the dungeon map with numbered rooms, 2. the dungeon key, describing what's in each of the numbered rooms.

I've found that two problems arise with this system of separate map and key. Firstly, the simple issue of having to flick back and forth between various sheets of notes, and of having to correlate the map to the descriptions. Not a huge deal, but there might be an easier way. Secondly, the problem of what to do when things change in the dungeon -- treasures are looted, monsters killed, etc.

So the idea I had, which should help with both these issues, is the following: make a dungeon map as usual, but without numbering the rooms. Then scan the map and divide it into four quarters. Zoom each of these quarters up so that it fills a whole page, print these. So you'll end up with one large scale map (at a normal scale of 10' per quarter inch, or whatever), which is the one you can stick to the back of your DM's screen for an overview of the level as a whole, and four zoomed in quarter maps.

The descriptions of what's in the dungeon should be written straight onto the maps of the dungeon quarters, in pencil so it can be modified as the place is demolished by zealous adventurers.

Here's an example dungeon quarter map I scanned in and quickly stocked to see how it works out. I wrote the key on this one digitally, for the sake of speed, in 12pt text (I think it's reasonable to be able to write legibly at that kind of size by hand). Of course it depends how much detail you want from your dungeon notes, but I find that for a self-written dungeon most of the work is done in the imagination, and I could totally run this example dungeon quarter purely from the minimal notes it contains. Note that there's also loads of blank space on that quarter, for more detailed descriptions if needed.

I reckon this'd be a really nice way to work with dungeons, would enable quick & easy restocking / modifications to the dungeon in response to PC actions, and would encourage an anti-perfectionist attitude where the dungeon is a living play-aid, rather than a publishable document. I'm definitely gonna try this out for my next dungeon!

(Another way, of course, might be to just map in the first place at a greatly zoomed-in scale. I guess I'll try both methods and see which works out best for me.)

The vivimancer is finished!

After many months of gradual work, I'm finally happy with the spell list for the vivimancer -- my new nature-warping magic-user class. Here's the final spell list (including over 50 new spells), and a couple more spells for your perusal. I'm going to keep the rest of the spells under wraps until Theorems & Thaumaturgy is finished, to maintain some element of surprise ;)

1st level

1. Detect poison
2. Edibility (reversible)
3. Entangle (D)
4. Jump (MU)
5. Natural weaponry
6. Read magic
7. Reptilian metabolism
8. Skin transformation
9. Sleep (MU)
10. Speak with animals (D)
11. Spider climb (MU)
12. Spore cloud
13. Summon familiar (MU)
14. Vitality surge
15. Yeast growth

2nd level

1. Accelerated immune system
2. Accelerated metabolism
3. Divide body
4. Drone
5. Fungal growth
6. Infravision (MU)
7. Life energy protection
8. Polyvorousness
9. Staunch blood flow
10. Symbiotic familiar
11. Venom
12. Water breathing (MU)
13. Warp wood (D)
14. Web (MU)

3rd level

1. Accelerated healing
2. Cannibalize
3. Feign death (MU)
4. Fly (MU)
5. Hibernate
6. Hold animal (D)
7. Insect swarm (D)
8. Natural weaponry, improved
9. Neutralize poison (D)
10. Plant growth (D)
11. Repel vermin (D)
12. Spore blast

4th level

1. Hive mind
2. Hive sight
3. Hold vegetation and fungus (D)
4. Immunity to disease
5. Plant metabolism
6. Plant symbiosis
7. Polymorph others (MU)
8. Polymorph self (MU)
9. Speak with plants (D)
10. Swarm transformation

5th level

1. Animal growth (D)
2. Anti-plant shell (D)
3. Devolution
4. Divide mind
5. Immunity to poison
6. Insect plague (D)
7. Regeneration
8. Transfer pregnancy
9. Wall of thorns (D)

6th level

1. Anti-animal shell (D)
2. Charm plants (MU)
3. Impregnate
4. Life cycle
5. Reincarnate (MU)
6. Repel wood (D)
7. Transformative pupation
8. Virus

7th level

1. Egg of life
2. Meld
3. Mutate
4. Parasitic implantation
5. Regeneration, greater
6. Replicate lifeform
7. Vats of creation

8th level

1. Clone (MU)
2. Explosive growth
3. Mass devolution
4. Regenerative pupation
5. Shape change (MU)
6. Survival of the fittest
7. Xenogamy

9th level

1. Artificial intelligence
2. Creeping doom (D)
3. Extraordinary regeneration
4. Extinction
5. Genesis
6. Mass mutation
7. Temporal stasis (MU)

The rest of this post is designated Open Gaming Content according to the Open Gaming License.

Cannibalize
Level: 3
Duration: Instant
Range: Touch

This gruesome spell enables a vivimancer to magically consume the living tissue of other creatures and transmute its energy to regenerate damage to his own body. The caster's touch inflicts 2d6 points of damage, which manifests as a visible reduction in the volume of the victim's body – chunks of flesh or limbs may be ripped off, the target may become emaciated, and so on. The caster instantly regenerates an equal number of hit points to the damage taken by the target.

A successful attack roll is required, unless the victim is willing or helpless. The damage inflicted by this spell can generally only be healed by magical means.

Plant Symbiosis
Level: 4
Duration: 1 day per level
Range: Touch

The caster is able to meld his physical body with nearby plants. While in this symbiotic state, the caster can survive without food or water, being nourished purely by the root systems of the host plants. At the caster's option he may meld his body completely so that it disappears inside the plants, may leave sensory organs exposed so that he can still see or hear while in symbiosis, or may choose to leave larger portions of his body outside of the host.

This spell may be used to target a single intelligent plant-based creature, providing it is of at least twice the caster's volume. The creature is allowed a saving throw versus polymorph to resist the symbiosis, but if it fails it is affected by a charm (in the same way as charm person) while the caster remains in symbiosis.

The caster can choose to end the symbiosis at any time during the spell's duration.

Hex mapping

I usually just draw maps freehand, but somehow, as I sat down today to do a bit of mapping, the urge for hexes came upon me! A quick google search for hex paper later, I was disappointed to find that what I had in mind wasn't quite as easy as it at first seemed -- I couldn't find A4 size hex-gridded paper with a per-hex number anywhere!

On the way I did find some very useful websites, which I shall share for others on a similar mission:

• Some very nice pre-made PDFs of hexes and others, including grids with small hexes overlaid with larger ones: http://mojobob.com/roleplay/props/mapping.html
• An online gridded paper generator! Very cool, but unfortunately doesn't do numbered grids: http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
• An inkscape extension for generating hex grids: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~perni/iboardgameexts/

I ended up using the latter, which is an extremely and easy to use flexible tool allowing you to generate hex grids exactly to your own specification. I'd really recommend it. One tip, for anyone who does use it: the default grids it generates include a dot in the middle of each hex (apparently some games require this). For D&D mapping this was unnecessary, but it took me a while to work out how to remove it (there's no option for that in the tool's dialogue box). The secret is that the tool actually generates four layers, one of which is the dots. So you can just delete that layer.

Here's the PDF of my hex paper anyway, so you can see what I ended up with.

Addendum: I just started filling in those hexes, probably for the first time in 20 years -- what a joy!