Letters From the Front

[Dad_Scaper]

So, what's going on in your RPG?

Inspired by @Tornado , I'll be sharing stories from my D&D campaign here. He said he was interested! I swear!

But I also encourage all of you to share your current campaign's derring do as well.

[Scaperedude]

My current 5e D&D campaign..... (I'm the dungeon master)

In the highly mystical, oriental campaign of Shin-Kaza (My own homebrew.....) the party has just emerged from the forsaken monastery high in the Choko mountains. There they were able to recover a number of ancient scrolls continuing music of an ancient and powerful nature. In the process of recovering these scrolls, one party member was permanently turned into a Carrion Crawler, and another was slain fighting a Blue Slaad. They now need to travel back through the underground mountain pass, and bring these scrolls to the greatest storyteller in the land. In trade for this music, they will receive one of the fabled Nine Mirrors. (They have five already.....) These mirrors are needed to stop a massive apocalypse that has been prophesied.

After that, they will travel into the spirit lands (An actual location on the map! It is a massive bamboo marshland!), where the lines between reality and the spirit realm are blurred. They are searching for a very powerful demon by the name of Fragalax. This demon has another mirror which is missing a shard. (This shard was recovered earlier by the party in the Tomb of the Scorpion King in the northern Wasakabi deserts.....)

Throughout all of this, a powerful group of psionics from the Far Kingdoms are attempting to recover the mirrors for themselves. They believe they have been chosen to save the world, and no puny group of adventures will get in their way. (This group is secretly led by a powerful demon, though this is a closely guarded secret.)

In summary, lots of ninjas, lots of spirits, and a good time.

[Tornado]

Originally Posted by Scaperedude

My current 5e D&D campaign..... (I'm the dungeon master)

In the highly mystical, oriental campaign of Shin-Kaza (My own homebrew.....) the party has just emerged from the forsaken monastery high in the Choko mountains. There they were able to recover a number of ancient scrolls continuing music of an ancient and powerful nature. In the process of recovering these scrolls, one party member was permanently turned into a Carrion Crawler, and another was slain fighting a Blue Slaad. They now need to travel back through the underground mountain pass, and bring these scrolls to the greatest storyteller in the land. In trade for this music, they will receive one of the fabled Nine Mirrors. (They have five already.....) These mirrors are needed to stop a massive apocalypse that has been prophesied.

After that, they will travel into the spirit lands (An actual location on the map! It is a massive bamboo marshland!), where the lines between reality and the spirit realm are blurred. They are searching for a very powerful demon by the name of Fragalax. This demon has another mirror which is missing a shard. (This shard was recovered earlier by the party in the Tomb of the Scorpion King in the northern Wasakabi deserts.....)

Throughout all of this, a powerful group of psionics from the Far Kingdoms are attempting to recover the mirrors for themselves. They believe they have been chosen to save the world, and no puny group of adventures will get in their way. (This group is secretly led by a powerful demon, though this is a closely guarded secret.)

In summary, lots of ninjas, lots of spirits, and a good time.

Very cool. I love that a PC is now a Carrion Crawler.

Tell me more about the mirrors. How big are they? Appearance? Any powers by themselves?

We had a few campaigns that required acquiring skulls of power and before that, unicorn horns. Great far reaching campaign concept.

Love the rival group of psis angle. Good stuff.

[Scaperedude]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Very cool. I love that a PC is now a Carrion Crawler.

Tell me more about the mirrors. How big are they? Appearance? Any powers by themselves?

We had a few campaigns that required acquiring skulls of power and before that, unicorn horns. Great far reaching campaign concept.

Love the rival group of psis angle. Good stuff.

So part of the feel of the campaign is simply "mysterious magic" with spirits and all sorts of stuff. These mirrors are of a decent size (About 3' by 4'), so it's not a cake walk traveling with them. They don't have any specific powers besides having the ability to essentially return the approaching apocalypse to the heavens. They tend to attract spirits and sometimes have weird quirks. (Causes a fire to grow, strange swirls in the water, causes plants near it to grow like crazy.) They are not so much like items, but more like giant keys.

Agreed. I like this type of campaign because it sets a clear powerful story, yet it allows the party some free time to explore and go where they want.

This psi group secretly controls a number of jungle kingdoms far to the south, and in a session a few weeks ago the party had to sneak through this city full of spies and ninjas. (The had to cross through the city because a huge wall blocked the opening of the pass, and the city was the only way through.) This group are also experts at training and using Wyverns!!

The world has an oriental feel, but in the far north-west there is a vast desert full of pyramids and it has a very Egyptian feel. (That's where the scorpion empire was found before it's destruction!)

[Dad_Scaper]

What level is the party, Dude? And who are its surviving members?

[Dad_Scaper]

Pasting in my posts from the other thread, in which I was also describing a D&D 5E campaign:

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

I play a weekly D&D game, which isn't exactly a board game, but I'll mention it here anyway. My character is a sorcerer, a "wild mage" whose magic is barely under control. Sometimes when he does stuff he sets off something he didn't intend, and it might be good (turn invisible), there's a good chance it'll just be weird (turn blue), and there's a moderate chance it'll be bad (a fireball detonates, centered on you). The fireball, of course, is extremely unlikely, but last night I triggered it.

My party is only level 4, and we'd already been fighting for a while, so between our existing injuries and a few failed saves, all of us but one were knocked unconscious. And the big bad boss guy was just outside of the blast zone. Also my zombie minion survived. So we scrambled to throw around heals while the zombie minion grappled the boss. Somehow everyone is now barely conscious, dragging each other away from the battle, while the big bad end guy (hopefully) gets distracted by his big evil-magic tree, which is, on account of the fireball, totally engulfed.

Wish us luck for next week. I really like this character, I hope I didn't kill him. Or anyone else in the party.

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Wild mage is a subclass of sorcerer. Wizards, intelligence-based casters, learn their spells from books and study. Sorcerers, which are (theoretically, and probably actually) rarer, have innate magical powers, and are charisma-based. They don't develop the magical brute force that wizards do.

Sorcerers have two existing subclasses, though reportedly others are on their way: "draconic origins," meaning they have natural magical ability from dragon in their bloodline, and "wild mage," meaning they have some story-based reason for naturally-occurring raw magical power that they have not earned with study or, yet, practice. Wild mages get some extra powers *but* they also, from time to time, trigger a roll on a table that will provide some unexpected side-effect of an attempt to use magic.

Del, my sorcerer, is a half-elf wild mage, and the rest of our party is also a combination of handsome, lightly armored fellows: a ranger, a bard, and a monk. So we are going tank, and heavy-armor, free. A tanky big bag of hit points would have helped when I blew up the fireball last week, but luckily the bard survived, and he resuscitated the ranger, and the two of them had (barely) enough healing to get us all off the ground and mobile.

Tonight is our next chapter, which I will keep to myself. Unless there is any interest, in which case I will move the discussion to another thread. Thanks for your interest, Tornado!

Before tonight, I will add a word about the heroics of my zombie minion last week: First, know that there is utterly nothing special about him, stat-wise. I have a magic item that lets me check once a day to see if I can animate some dead thing, and this day I got lucky so I got to animate a zombie. Second, he was only intended to do stuff like open doors in case they were trapped. Third, in this combat, he managed to successfully grapple a *pair* of very dangerous bad guys, to keep them from getting away and to (somehow) soak their attacks while we could do the real damage.

He rolled very high on various saves and, when necessary, on the d20 to keep from dying, like zombies do. Sadly, after a couple of rounds of grappling the big bad end guy, he finally missed one of those zombie-death saves, and he perished from the face of the earth. He will be remembered fondly as the MVP of the fight, assuming we survive.

[Tornado]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Pasting in my posts from the other thread, in which I was also describing a D&D 5E campaign:

Before tonight, I will add a word about the heroics of my zombie minion last week: First, know that there is utterly nothing special about him, stat-wise. I have a magic item that lets me check once a day to see if I can animate some dead thing, and this day I got lucky so I got to animate a zombie. Second, he was only intended to do stuff like open doors in case they were trapped. Third, in this combat, he managed to successfully grapple a *pair* of very dangerous bad guys, to keep them from getting away and to (somehow) soak their attacks while we could do the real damage.

He rolled very high on various saves and, when necessary, on the d20 to keep from dying, like zombies do. Sadly, after a couple of rounds of grappling the big bad end guy, he finally missed one of those zombie-death saves, and he perished from the face of the earth. He will be remembered fondly as the MVP of the fight, assuming we survive.

The zombie is part of being a sorceror correct? My friend is playing one on EverWinter so I am getting an understanding of them.
That is a pretty awesome and resourceful escape from peril.


In my description of Wild Mage, I state that their power usually leads to the demise of their friends. Here is the chart for Wild Magic from a mercenary ship to ship battle we ran at GC.

Spoiler Alert!

HP = Hit Points
DL = Defense Level (Armor Class)
AB = Attack Bonus

Roll Wild Effect

1-6 Target's left leg is now a wooden peg from the knee down. -50 on Fall rolls.
7-8 The deck opens up & swallows the caster to the neck. Reappear on solid deck in 1 round.
9-11 A rolling ball appears on deck. Whoever grabs it may give out 3 Hero Points.
12 A silver tree sprouts from the ground, drops a leaf then burns to ashes. Leaf: Transforms PC into Racoon Suit Mario(DL 80) No other weapons or equipment. Flight, lasts 2 rounds.
13 A potion lies before target on the ground. Unknown effect. GM's choice.
14-15 A rat crawls up target's back and bites their left ear for a 5 HP(diseased). 8 HPs/round
16-17 Target's backpack explodes, all onboard 20 HPs. Save Vs magic , ½ damage[80]
18 A warrior’s sword slashes through a hole in space hitting target for 5d10 damage.
19-21 All gold on target's ship turns to acid. 1HP/ 100 gold
22-26 Sword of the Darkstar appears in the middle of the deck.
27-31 Caster's max Hit Points increases by 20.
32-34 Time warp. Target takes two more turns.
35 A rune covered white longbow appears mid deck of caster. +50AB
36 Erie music begins to play and a cloud of smoke surrounds the caster. +20 DL 2 rounds
37 Rogue wave. All most roll % vs. 75 or fall. Fall Chart: 10', Hard ground.
38 Fate sees caster as a promising investment &awards you 3 Hero points but reminds you of his existence by making you forget the attempted spell, so that you won’t bother him again. or #22
39 Lightning strikes randomly. All roll %. All rolls under 30 are struck for 20 HPs.
40 Maggots infest target's brain. Insanity: Fear of drowning.
41 Caster becomes afraid of party members. 2 rounds.
42 The deck beneath target's feet opens up and you fall 50 feet down a hole [roll on fall chart, Hard ground] and then reappear on a solid deck.
43 Oops, levitation on caster, 2 Rounds. You also cannot control it. “The sky is the limit”
44 Smile sucker! The corners of your mouth get stuck and you look like the Joker now.
45 All of target's belongings except magic are lost, the items just disappear into thin air.
46-50 Target may catch all arrows fired at them for the rest of game and throw them back, %+50
51-53 Caster grows vampire like fangs. 15 damage on a bite, which heals for 30 HPs. d100+50
54 Target quickly rises and falls. Roll on Fall Chart: 30' Hard ground.
55 Healing showers. All target's enemy PCs heal 3d10+10 Hit Points.
56-58 Healing showers. Target and all of target's friendly PCs heal 3d10 Hit Points.
59-61 The two PCs with the highest base Hit Points from each ship, swap locations.
62 Caster vomits uncontrollably a strange green foul smelling liquid for 1 round, 10 damage
63 A fireball is directed at your intended target, if self, then fireball hits you. [Dam 25]
64 Somehow you didn’t quite do it right, spell is not the desired one, GM’s choice or #11
65 Target is dressed in the finest silk garments(fancy pants) but armor is gone. DL 10
66 Instant death for caster, maybe. Avoid on 66+. Good time to use a Hero point.
67 Spell Strength tripled or Roll twice on this chart, picking two new targets.
68 Target is poisoned for 1d10 rounds. 13 damage per round until cured.
69-71 Target finds a dagger in their boot. Auto-strike when thrown, 10 damage
72-74 Target has superhuman strength for the game. +12 damage
75-77 Rangers switch locations if both still exist, otherwise caster may switch with any other PC.
78-80 All Thieves become Kleptomaniacs. Must steal soon or suffer nervous breakdown.
81-83 Target grows roots and cannot move for 1d10 rounds, unless someone cuts off your feet.
84-86 A Blue Battle-Axe appears on target's deck. +20 critical bonus(Warriors only), easily disarmed.
87 You realized what’s bugging this spell and it’s never unstable anymore. or #69
88-90 Target receives a natural DL of 60 since your skin is turned into bronze scales.
91 The intended spell functions, but effects caster as well as target. or #51
92 Target goes berserk for a moment. Roll to attack all engaged.
93 Electrical balls of power erupt from target's face; strike all on their ship, 1d10x3HPs each
94 Target's eye pops out and hangs swinging by its nerve threads.
95 The next weapon that hits target will simply slide through, no damage.
96+ HPs healed to full. Roll again. Must pick a new target.

[Tornado]

Awesome. I think you will appreciate chronicling your adventures.

We base experience on participation, so each game counts towards leveling. You need one game to got to level 2, two more to got to level 3, three for 4, ect.
You can earn a bonus game by writing up the adventure. I have one character that I have his entire campaign written down and I just wish we would have started earlier because we had some great adventures back in the day.

We are gaming the next two weekends so I will add my tales. GM is running an adventure based on the Romans wiping out the druids.

[quozl]

I just wrapped up our old school D&D campaign that started a year and a half ago. They delved into the mysterious Dwimmermount, slayed the monsters, found the treasure, and made the big bad swallow some "evil jelly" with a natural 20 and a ring of telekinesis.

My daughter is planning on running the next campaign with a system she's designed herself.

[Tornado]

Originally Posted by quozl

I just wrapped up our old school D&D campaign that started a year and a half ago. They delved into the mysterious Dwimmermount, slayed the monsters, found the treasure, and made the big bad swallow some "evil jelly" with a natural 20 and a ring of telekinesis.

My daughter is planning on running the next campaign with a system she's designed herself.

So very cool. Tell me more about your daughter's system.

You two do anymore work on buildings for scape?

[quozl]

Originally Posted by Tornado

So very cool. Tell me more about your daughter's system.

You two do anymore work on buildings for scape?

She's still working on her RPG system. I'll let you know more when I do.

As for buildings, I'll have to post an update in that thread.

[Dad_Scaper]

That's so cool! How big is your group, Q? Just the two of you? I keep thinking she's young, but she's not so young anymore.