The party has enjoyed the hospitality of the Vorpaltusk, but as the Avatar departs, so must they. There was sos debate as to their first action, but it is finally agreed that they should hunt down Silverfin One-eye, and end him once and for all. The Avatar tells them to seek out allies.
He travel north thorough the kingdom, searching for the river Silverfin has made his residence. They encounter a travelling merchant, who tells them that a massive army of barbarians have been seen moving north, wearing the mark of the black skull. The party realizes that Icurnas is gathering more armies to them. They hear that the army is heading to the Old Forest, and they chase them to learn what they are up against.
When they arrive at the Old Forest, they find several acres cut and burned down. Elenya Lindale and Thourin Stonefist lament at the loss of nature. Sibyll Demier, Silvertooth Dreadwind, and Kirin Drakos notice a solitary man sitting at the center of the desolation. Sibyll asks for the spell of walking unseen from Thourin, and then moves to approach him. The man appears human, is incredibly fit, and even as he sits on a stump she could tell he was about seven feet tall. He had long, unkept brown hair and a big beard to match. He would poor clothing, all in earth tones. When she sees him, he is crying, and wear his tears fall, grass regrows in seconds. Even though she was concealed by a spell, he notices her, and gently greets her, in her own tongue. She is pleased to be met without scorn due to her race, and ends the spell upon her. The others see her chatting with the man, and come to greet him.
A place for all to read about the adventures led by one game-master. They call him GM Jaken. It's about roleplaying, gaming, and all things nerd.
Updates after each session.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
I have a long time love-hate relationship with World of Warcraft, as do a lot of people. However, like most people, when I new expansion comes out, I'm all in. This expansion was the first to not even slightly intrigue me with its content, however.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Preparing a First Session
So, AGON sort of fell through. I would love to pick that up, especially since I dropped some money (not a lot, granted, by money still). My room mate and I have been watching a lot of television and movies that have been stirring a desire to fill a void I have in my creative need to roleplay. I won't go in to detail, because my players read this, and I want to shock and awe them.
The beginning of a new game is to decide what world you want to live in. Every world has multiple avenues to explore, high fantasy has Dungeons & Dragons, DragonQuest, Pathfinder, etc. A modern telling has even more. So, for this idea, I wanted to explore a survival suspense game in a modern, here-and-now, setting.
So, to skip ahead, I've decided to use World of Darkness. Now, I've been talking about WoD for a while now, so it comes as no surprise. However, I feel that what I want to do is lacking within the World of Darkness storyteller system. I explored several different options, but without the ability to commit to a concept I didn't want to shell out money for a book I may not use. Additionally, every other system I observed would have given away exactly what I have planned, which won't be a huge surprise or be very original or deep, but I still want it to be a surprise.
The beginning of a new game is to decide what world you want to live in. Every world has multiple avenues to explore, high fantasy has Dungeons & Dragons, DragonQuest, Pathfinder, etc. A modern telling has even more. So, for this idea, I wanted to explore a survival suspense game in a modern, here-and-now, setting.
So, to skip ahead, I've decided to use World of Darkness. Now, I've been talking about WoD for a while now, so it comes as no surprise. However, I feel that what I want to do is lacking within the World of Darkness storyteller system. I explored several different options, but without the ability to commit to a concept I didn't want to shell out money for a book I may not use. Additionally, every other system I observed would have given away exactly what I have planned, which won't be a huge surprise or be very original or deep, but I still want it to be a surprise.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
DragonQuest - Session 8
Now learned, the party prepares to make the trip to the southern continent. The trip is three weeks of sailing, so Thourin Stonefist used his wealth to hire a ship cook, a green dragonkin chef. They stock up on food and begin their journey.
The voyage passes by uneventful, and arrive at the port city of Venture Bay, a city of dwarves and half-orcs. They set their ship up in a drydock for six months and purchase a wagon with a pair of oxen to drive it. Once set, they head south, through the Ruined Plains, the land of dwarves and half-orcs, among other creatures.
After a few weeks, they arrive at the grand dwarven fortress city, Anvil Hold, home of a great dwarven hero. They stay there a night before heading to their next destination, the Old Forest.
The voyage passes by uneventful, and arrive at the port city of Venture Bay, a city of dwarves and half-orcs. They set their ship up in a drydock for six months and purchase a wagon with a pair of oxen to drive it. Once set, they head south, through the Ruined Plains, the land of dwarves and half-orcs, among other creatures.
After a few weeks, they arrive at the grand dwarven fortress city, Anvil Hold, home of a great dwarven hero. They stay there a night before heading to their next destination, the Old Forest.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Borderlands 2
I meant to post yesterday, but have been feeling under the weather. Now that that's out of the way, Borderlands 2.
I'm sure many people were excited by the release of this game on Tuesday, but I myself was a bit on the fence. If my room mate hadn't of bought it, I wouldn't have been able to play it. THere was some reason lodged in the back of my mind that made me stop playing the first Borderlands, but I couldn't remember it. I beat the game by myself, and I had thought the reason was that I had to make a new character every time someone new wanted to play co-op with me.
I'm sure many people were excited by the release of this game on Tuesday, but I myself was a bit on the fence. If my room mate hadn't of bought it, I wouldn't have been able to play it. THere was some reason lodged in the back of my mind that made me stop playing the first Borderlands, but I couldn't remember it. I beat the game by myself, and I had thought the reason was that I had to make a new character every time someone new wanted to play co-op with me.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
DragonQuest - Session 7
This week's game was another training session, however because the party was going to spend the next four and a half months training and not every character needed that much time, we were able to run a series of side adventures.
Of all the party, V2Z4 did not need to train, at all. He considered simply going dormant until the party was done, but he finally decided to get a job. For a month, he worked as security for a pair of transport vessels, and even ran in to a group of hostile naga and had to defend the ship. When he was done, everyone was still training, so he decided to explore the island the port city was on. He hired a guide, but on the second day, the guide was mauled by bears.
He went to a local tavern to learn if there were any mines in the nearby isles, hoping to use the time to mine out some precious stones and make some coin. Todd, the barkeep, told him of a mine dug out by mountain dwarves, a week west of their island. He also tells him they abandoned it a year ago. Some say because it ran dry, others say because they found something that made them want to leave.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Making Likable NPCs
Non-Player Characters, or NPCs, have been commonly identified as nothing more then annoyances, information carriers, and/or quest givers. Players often don't even bother learning their names. Some game masters try to make "living" NPCs, but more often then not players will get what they need, and then never care again. Making non-player characters likable is not an exact science, but it is something I have achieved in the past. Here are some nuggets that might help you create some yourself.
First-of-all, if an NPC is going to be likable, they probably need to provide something to the party that the players don't already have. Don't try and make the local general store owner likable if he is only there to sell the party rations, its not worth the time or effort. If its just an NPC that a player bumps in to and tries to ask for directions, do the conversation and move on. Depending on what role in the lives of the player characters the NPC fills, he will have a different set of guidelines if you want to players to like, connect, care about, and appreciate your NPC.
First-of-all, if an NPC is going to be likable, they probably need to provide something to the party that the players don't already have. Don't try and make the local general store owner likable if he is only there to sell the party rations, its not worth the time or effort. If its just an NPC that a player bumps in to and tries to ask for directions, do the conversation and move on. Depending on what role in the lives of the player characters the NPC fills, he will have a different set of guidelines if you want to players to like, connect, care about, and appreciate your NPC.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Revisiting the World of Darkness
Writing that spotlight and watching the shows that I'm currently watching got me thinking about World of Darkness. I started flipping through my old crap for the system. My mind was racing with ideas for a campaign. Something I thought World of Darkness was meant to portray was a sense of fear (for mortals) and helplessness, something I thought would be perfect for this campaign idea.
I found a conversation I had with another GM online that I had saved. I remember why I saved a part a of it, but I don't know why I saved the whole thing. I won't quote it, but basically we were arguing about game-mastering. I was telling him that the players having fun was the goal of a GM, and he was saying that having fun was not part of his job, but instead to provide people with things to do, whether they were what they remotely wanted to do or not. I told him that a take it or leave it philosophy was the wrong approach. It ended with both of us telling each other to quit complaining, and nothing was setting.
I found a conversation I had with another GM online that I had saved. I remember why I saved a part a of it, but I don't know why I saved the whole thing. I won't quote it, but basically we were arguing about game-mastering. I was telling him that the players having fun was the goal of a GM, and he was saying that having fun was not part of his job, but instead to provide people with things to do, whether they were what they remotely wanted to do or not. I told him that a take it or leave it philosophy was the wrong approach. It ended with both of us telling each other to quit complaining, and nothing was setting.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
DragonQuest - Session 6
Having suffered some bad wounds from their fight with the lycans, the party decides to take a day to heal up and rest. Thourin Stonefist using his earth magic to patch up the worst of the wounds. Bayson Mogul, having enormous debt from having to feed his elephant while on the sea, finds a large boat among the lycan camp, and uses it to set sail homeward, saying his good-byes to his comrades, with a hope of one day returning. In the morning, the remaining party members set out to find the boar-man's daughter and be done with this quest.
They find the isle described by the lycan and Silvertooth Dreadwind circles it, looking for a sign of the lizardmen band. He sees what appears to be a now abandoned landing sight, and anchors a mile away. The party walk along the coastline until they find the remains of the abandoned camp. Thourin uses his magic to speak with the trees, and they lead them to the lizardmen.
They are led through a marsh until a clearing, where they see small fires and hear drums and chanting. By now, it is dark. All but Kirin Drakos (that's his last name), as he is completely worthless in the art of stealth, decide to try and sneak up and get a better look. Thourin casts a spell to make himself unseen. The clearing is surrounded by dense brush, and they force their way to the edge.
They find the isle described by the lycan and Silvertooth Dreadwind circles it, looking for a sign of the lizardmen band. He sees what appears to be a now abandoned landing sight, and anchors a mile away. The party walk along the coastline until they find the remains of the abandoned camp. Thourin uses his magic to speak with the trees, and they lead them to the lizardmen.
They are led through a marsh until a clearing, where they see small fires and hear drums and chanting. By now, it is dark. All but Kirin Drakos (that's his last name), as he is completely worthless in the art of stealth, decide to try and sneak up and get a better look. Thourin casts a spell to make himself unseen. The clearing is surrounded by dense brush, and they force their way to the edge.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
System Spotlight: World of Darkness (Hunter: The Vigil)
I'll start this off with some clarification. The World of Darkness I'm spotlighting is "New World of Darkness." It appears only LARPers play Old World of Darkness, and I've never met a LARPer I like.
World of Darkness is a fairly solid system. The beauty of dice pool is that no matter how powerful you get, you can still fail. The chances are very slim, however. I was first exposed to World of Darkness, or nWoD, by a friend that had joined an online roleplaying community. I joined as well, and the system actually preformed well without a table. I can see why it makes for a good LARPing system, but again that is not for me.
Obviously, I couldn't stay online forever, so I bought the core book and contemplated starting my own game. The thing about nWoD is that there are so many choices. The premise of nWoD is that the world of monsters and nightmares exists in the shadows of our own world. Iconic monsters, such as vampires, werewolves, frankensteins, and ghosts exist, and some lesser known monsters such as the changelings are also around. I explored how each was portrayed, and by whom (as in, I observed which players preferred which style of play), and I eventually decided that I really couldn't get behind any particular group, except one.
World of Darkness is a fairly solid system. The beauty of dice pool is that no matter how powerful you get, you can still fail. The chances are very slim, however. I was first exposed to World of Darkness, or nWoD, by a friend that had joined an online roleplaying community. I joined as well, and the system actually preformed well without a table. I can see why it makes for a good LARPing system, but again that is not for me.
Obviously, I couldn't stay online forever, so I bought the core book and contemplated starting my own game. The thing about nWoD is that there are so many choices. The premise of nWoD is that the world of monsters and nightmares exists in the shadows of our own world. Iconic monsters, such as vampires, werewolves, frankensteins, and ghosts exist, and some lesser known monsters such as the changelings are also around. I explored how each was portrayed, and by whom (as in, I observed which players preferred which style of play), and I eventually decided that I really couldn't get behind any particular group, except one.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
DragonQuest - Session 5
So, this session was rather uneventful. Often, in DragonQuest, there ends up being an entire session dedicated to training, and that's really what happened. It becomes a bunch of math and figuring out how long they will spend training. Fortunately, we gamed for quite a bit, so we were able to do some interesting stuff at the end.
The party arrives at Port Cynda. They seek out various trainers, and spend three months honing their skills. During this time, many of them run clean out of money, after paying for training and everyday life in a city. So, in order to try and increase their earnings, they found a local card table and had a night of gambling.
The party arrives at Port Cynda. They seek out various trainers, and spend three months honing their skills. During this time, many of them run clean out of money, after paying for training and everyday life in a city. So, in order to try and increase their earnings, they found a local card table and had a night of gambling.
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