All posts by Darren

Thinking Aloud: D&D Campaigns

D&D, RPG

A while back I shared my campaign pitch document that I’ll be possibly sharing with the group if after trying the taster dungeon they would like to play some more (assuming also that they would like me as DM).

Naturally the creative process doesn’t just stop. Ideas come and go. So that they don’t get lost I could write them down in a notebook or I could torture you with them by sharing them on here. Obviously I’m going to do the later.

Army of Darkness (Big Dungeon)

I need to work out who the big Evil is that is coming back. Which means hitting the books and researching gods, demigods for The Forgotten Realms and finding a suitable one. Or if none of them grab me creating my own.

But I have come up with three possible locations for the dungeon.

  • The legendary subterranean dwarven city Gauntlgrym
  • Dread Ring fortress of undeath
  • Thornhold and the caverns of Clan Stoneshaft

If I went with Dread Ring I’d also get a villain the wizard Valindra Shadowmantle.

I’m pretty sure that the dungeon will be 3 – 5 levels deep. Plus any keeps and holds on the surface. I kind of like the idea of using the tomb that the party found and cleared out in the taster as a secret entrance to the dungeon.

In the wake of Pytheas (Islands/Ships)

I know how I’d start this one and it wouldn’t be in a tavern. The plan is to have the adventurers meeting up on a small jetty in Saltmarsh (location on the coast to be decided) waiting for a small boat to ferry them to a to be determined island and it’s annual infamous festival.

The small boat was the only one they could get, passage on all the larger boats was taken up. It’s a very popular festival. People come from far and distance lands to witness it at least once in their life time.

Found the following map online that will act as the world map for the campaign.

Some inspiration The Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts, Pytheas.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Sandbox)

Need to decide which town to base the adventurers in for this. Candidates are Phandalin (Lost Mines of Phandelver), Hommlet (The Village of Hommlet), Orlane (Against the Cult of the Reptile God), Keep on the Borderlands, Fairhill (The Crucible of Freya), and Winterhaven (The Keep on the Shadowfell).

Well I hope that was boring for you. At least you can tell me below in the comments “have you thought of…?”

All good things part 2

D&D, RPG

Here it is out of order, the first half of the D&D post from the other day.

From the way the dramatic retelling of events ended, it would be safe to assume that Dram left the party of adventurers.

Which mirrors the decision that I’ve come to, and that is I’m leaving our D&D group.

It wasn’t an easy decision. But after sleeping on it I know it’s the right decision.

So why or how did I come to this decision?

A couple weeks back the person playing Sarmyar left due to a change in life events. Which is fair enough. Life changes, stuff happens. It meant our group went from 6 in the party to 5 (not including the DM).

Last session I turn up to our scheduled session and there at the table was a new player. It was obvious that those there already knew all about this. It was a bit of a shock. And I thought a bit rude. I don’t think the player of Nick was comfortable with it either when he arrived. And also obvious that he knew nothing of it either.

It also puts you in an awkward situation. That isn’t fair.

Which brings me on to group dynamics before returning to this initial point.

Our play group is clearly split into two. One group plays a second D&D game on an alternate night and other boardgames/videogames together. Which is fine, not a problem. While the rest don’t. But it’s starting to seem cliquey.

The ones that knew about the new player were the ones in the group that plays together outside our session. In fact the new player was the girlfriend of one of them.

I thought I was being unreasonable thinking before a new person joined the group having it discussed and being asked how I felt. So in the middle of the night I checked with a group of DM’s on a discord server I belong to. It turns out it’s not unreasonable to be notified before hand at the least.

I know and accept that as a part of the hobby people leave and join a group through out a campaign especially if it’s one that has been running for a long time. It’s inevitable. But especially when some-one new is joining for whatever reason it should be discussed before hand.

It felt like game/group decisions were being made by a handful and not the whole.

At the end of the session one of the group then proceeded to congratulate me on participating more this session. I was so glad to have his approval, and said so sarcastically. But the only players he seems to rate on their playing seem to be ones not in the other gaming group. Because the other one he commented on was the only other none member of that group. No other players were commented on, despite one of his gaming group this week participating less than the rest of us.

I wouldn’t mind such comments if I felt they were justified, or he was some amazing role player. But like the majority of us he’s new to RPG’s and boy does he meta game. This session was super meta gaming. And by that I mean his character was doing stuff that was based on information it would not know. For me that kind of ruins a session a bit.

I’ll come back to this participating thing. Sometimes people have off weeks, or they don’t feel that session has the opportunities for their character. And if you feel that the person is not participating you chat to them away from the group, check that they are ok. There may be stuff going on in their life you have no idea about. They may as I said have felt the sessions are not giving their character the chance to shine.

I think this public praise thing at the end may be intended as being positive. But it’s not coming across as that especially with the “you played well but…” feel to it.

I feel better having said this. It’s a bit more in-depth than the bullet points I gave our DM when I broke the news to him.

Naturally there are two sides to everything, and my interpretation of events will differ from others involved. I try and be as factual as possible and remove the emotional side. But sometimes that’s harder to do at times. This being one of them. I also try and not make it personal and that is not always successful either. And as they say the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I am happy how I wrote him out of the adventure. We haven’t seen the last of Dram. I’m sure we will be hearing about his escapades on the blog from time to time.

Some inspirational viewing for D&D

D&D, RPG

The last few days the sea based setting I came up with as an option for players to consider exploring has been rattling around in my head. Inspiration for this setting has always been a trading in the Mediterranean kind of thing based around Greek mythology. In particular the film I’ve watched many times over the decades Jason and the Argonauts. And my little knowledge of Odysseus and his tale of trying to get home after the Fall of Troy, The Odyssey.

So I thought I’d rewatch that classic. While looking to see if it was included on Netflix and Amazon Prime I stumbled across Hawk the Slayer and Krull. Both movies I had fond memories of from my youth.

In a previous post I did a brain dump of cyberpunk films and tv to get in the mood for the FFG Android Shadow of the Beanstalk source book.

So taking a prompt from that post, my Amazon browsing, Appendix D of the DM Guide and Appendix E of the Players Guide and the lists of literature to use as inspiration for playing D&D from both sides of the DM screen. I thought I’d do a brain dump of films and tv to inspire players and DM’s alike for D&D.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and there are some very big obvious omissions. Those being The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit trilogy (which should only ever have been a single movie, two at most), the Harry Potter series and spin offs. I thought they were a given and didn’t need saying.

For Jim Henson’s The Storyteller I’m including the original series and the Greek Myths one. Likewise with the 80’s Clash of the Titans I’m going to lump in with it the remake and the the remakes sequel Wrath of the Titans.

Again The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (my favourite of the Sinbad movies) also covers the other Sinbad releases.

Yes I know The Neverending Story had sequels too. But they are best forgotten and avoided. Watch them if you must.

Finally I nearly forgot to recommend this next one. That would have been a true crime.

So that’s a long list, some easier to watch than others. Whether that’s because they are hard to find or just haven’t aged well. What would you add to the list?

Monthly Meet up April 2019

Fenland Gamers, game night

Another month, another second Wednesday, another monthly meet up. This time for the month of April. Funny that. It also happened to fall on my brothers birthday, Happy Birthday little bro. Enjoy your last year of being in your forties.

Our first game of the evening was a learning game of the hidden role game Hail Hydra!

I still don’t think this game has been officially released in the UK, for whatever reason. Which is a shame I think it would sell well. I got my copy when it came out in the US last year. And it’s been sitting in the pile of shame ever since. Getting it to the table isn’t helped by the fact its minimum player count is 5.

While waiting for the others I set the game up based on the first time play rule sheet they include. Which is one of the things I like about the game. This is a read along, rules light version of the game that works really well. I liked how it taught the basic rules and flow of the game. And sets up using the full rules nicely. That step between the two rule sets is not big. With only a couple of small differences to learn.

Hail Hydra! is a fun game. Particularly a fun hidden role game.

I can see Gavin and John’s point about if you are consistently voted out of a mission of the game not being much fun. Although you are able to thin out your unwanted cards. I suppose the difference between this and games like The Resistance is the duration of a mission is longer in Hail Hydra! Not by much. But I think it felt longer for those sitting out. Plus those shield agents should of done a better job of not looking shifty.

The one time use character powers were an interesting addition to the full game. Although I think only two of us used our abilities.

Yeah this will hit the table again.

Our second and final game of the evening was Wingspan.

What can I keep saying about the game? Nine plays since getting it is massive really. I know John has played it more because he gets to play at home too. But even then compared to some online we have barely played the game.

This was Gavin’s first play of the game and despite initial reservations about the game, he actually enjoyed himself. Plus scored a very respectable 72 points.

Jonathan continues his nit picking over the fine details, like he doesn’t like the little plastic storage containers you get and has replaced them with plastic card containers. But he’s not the only one that doesn’t get on with them. They are a bit like marmite. I personally love them. Jonathan is currently looking at ways to track whether you have activated the pink ability of a card between goes. He does have a point in a five player game with a lot of those out it can be hard to remember who has activated what. There is a suspicion that a player unintentionally (I’m giving the player the benefit of the doubt considering who it was, and I don’t think it was me) did one twice between turns. I have a solution for him.

I will close the post with the almost cliche about great company and great hosts. It may sound that way. But it’s true. The monthly meet up folks are always great to see, play with and catch up with. The staff at The Luxe are always welcoming and helpful.

All good things

D&D, game night, RPG

Jumping straight into the action this time, the first part will follow in a separate post.

The rag tag band of misfits were still reeling from the shock of Sarmyars’ disappearance as they ate breakfast.

They broke camp and after a very brief discussion headed off in the general direction of where they believe the gnolls to be.

It wasn’t long before they reached the Neverwinter river again. Once again Dram Misty Stepped across to the opposite side of the river. He wanted to be in a prime spot to watch the hilarity that was bound to happen as the others tried crossing.

It was kind of disappointing, if Ace hadn’t been caught by Grull there would have definitely had been a belly laugh or two from Ace stumbling into the river.

Once everyone was across Ace and Grull spotted Sarmyar in the tree line. Grull grabbed her. Then she wasn’t Sarmyar. It was very confusing. The interrogation by those two wasn’t very good. Dram decided to help out by using shocking grasp on the stranger. He placed a hand on the stranger mumbled the words of the cantrip and it just sparked and nothing happened.

The next thing Dram knew he was up in the air and floating over the middle of the river. There was only one thing to do Misty Step to safety in the trees. Dram disappeared and reappeared in the trees hidden from the others. He had been taken by surprise. Yes that was it. It’s the only explanation he had for how the stranger had managed to levitate him over the river. He pondered what to cast next in retaliation. This was a magic users battle for top dog spot.

While that was going on Grull asked the group to vote on if the stranger could join them. Nick tried to change the vote to one about leaving Dram behind. So from his hiding spot Dram fires a ray of frost at Nick’s butt. It hit freezing Nick’s butt.

After all the excitement and magic pissing match the group head off once again in the direction of the gnolls.

Eventually after working their way through trees and undergrowth they came across a gnoll guard. Dram and the newest member of the group Darcy fired off magic missiles timed to hit as Ace was about to strike the gnoll with his axes. The gnoll slumped to the ground moments after the magic missiles hit.

The group then came across three more gnolls in a clearing that looked like the remains of an old abandoned temple. One of the gnolls was standing on top of an altar with a bow.

Darcy tried putting the other two gnolls asleep with a sleep spell. Succeeding with one of them. The party attacked the other two standing gnolls.

In the confusion of battle Dram fired off magic missiles at the gnolls. One such volley killed the gnoll on the alter.

While the the battle raged on, the alter flared up and where a dead gnoll once was stood a reborn gnoll. But this was no ordinary gnoll, it was a lot bigger. It leaped of the alter and joined in the heat of the battle.

Blows were traded, magic cast and eventually the gnolls were dispatched. When the large gnoll died it burst into flames burning those around it, leaving just a pile of ashes.

While the others examined the alter, Dram looted what he assumed had been the head gnoll. His rummaging through the remains and possessions of the corpse turned up a couple of sapphires. Result.

Dram then called Grull over to see if any of the weapons and armour were any use to Grull. It turned out some of it was.

After the others did the repulsive job of cutting off evidence that the gnolls had been killed for the reward. The group headed into the trees to set up camp for the night.

As dawn approached Dram was was sitting on a stump wrapped in his fur blanket, cuddling his glass staff, lost in thought.

“I bet Sarmyar is having a boring time without me.” With that thought lingering in his head Dram mumbled some words and disappeared.

War of the Spark Spoilers I like Part 1

magic, MtG

Yet another MtG post. I suppose it makes a change from the other posts.

As I pointed out yesterday there is a new set arriving at the start of May called War of the Spark.

For over a week now we have been getting daily spoilers via various approved MtG content creators (I’ll never be that for a number of reasons). Each day is meant to be spoilers revealing a bit more of the “epic” story the set will be telling.

For me that story side is less important, I’m more interested in the cards and mechanics the set will have. When I see these new cards my first reaction is “will this fit into one of my Commander decks?” It’s my main way to evaluate the cards. Although it may then change to “oh that will be good in my Simic or Golgari Standard deck”. It would have to be an amazing card to inspire me to want to build a new standard deck around it. Although sometimes a card (legendary creature) does inspire a Commander deck.

War of the Spark is bringing us 37 new Planeswalker cards. Depending on whether the Planeswalker is a Uncommon/Rare/Mythic depends on the number of abilities we get. The mythic looks just like a Planeswalker we usually get plus one other thing that I will come to in a minute that is common to them all. Uncommon Planeswalkers have just a negative ability. The rare ones have a plus and minus ability.

With this set Planeswalkers are also like enchantments. Yep you read that right. Each Planeswalker in this set has an on going ability/effect on top of their abilities.

The mechanics in this set are proliferate, amass and on a single Planeswalker affinity. Plus there is a new creature type Army. You want more details google them, or look at the cards below. They are explained on one or two of them.

I’m excited for the two main mechanics because they will give me new cards for my Commander decks. I haven’t started on upgrading the Atraxa pre-con (well apart from putting in a doubling season). So more proliferate cards is going to be really useful. It’s why a card like Evolution Sage excites me. It’s a landfall effect basically in all but name. Play a land and proliferate. That might give some insane combos.

I also really like the new Liliana for my Scarab God zombie deck. Can’t see myself ever using her for anything but her plus ability to chuck out zombie tokens. I also like the Eternal Skylord. The amass 2 is nice. A zombie army token is still a zombie on the board. But giving all my zombie tokens flying! That’s sick. That deck can have a lot of tokens out.

The thing about the proliferate mechanic is, I can see a new version of my Simic deck that uses it. Biogenic Ooze loves it. But so do a few other cards in the deck. Simic Ascendancy could make its way back in.

So these next three could see themselves in the Atraxa deck and also this new Simic deck.

Massacre Girl has everyone getting their nickers in a twist with excitement since being revealed. And I can see why. I like the cards a lot also. My Golgari Standard deck would be a nice home for it. Tomik I’d find a home for in my death and taxes Commander deck. Merfolk Skydiver I think is a great card for my Simic deck and also the Atraxa.

Grateful Apparition you will guess with proliferate on it becomes a card of interest for Atraxa. But I can see it also being a card in that white aggro deck. Banehound what a great one drop for my Golgari deck. Even for a Orzhov aggro deck I’ve been mulling over. Deathsprout removal and ramp for Golgari in one card. I’ll definitely be trying this out.

Ok the new Vivien isn’t as good as the the one currently in Standard. But her static ability of giving creatures flash is nice. Also the plus one is ok. But I could see all three cards going into my big green stompy deck. But Vivian’s Arkbow is definitely one for my Simic deck as well.

Ok that’s it for this post, keep an eye out for part 2. And yes that’s a threat.

Why do you hate them so?

magic, MtG, rant

Start of May sees the next set of MtG released called War of the Spark. Which means the last weekend of April is Prerelease weekend.

That last weekend of April is a busy weekend. We already know it’s Prerelease but in London MtG players are fighting for over priced accommodation with participants in the London Marathon, so they can attend the London MagicFest (more on that in a mo).

Plus two other collectible card games (Pokemon being one) also have releases/events planned that weekend for stores also.

So what is usually a busy weekend for your FLGS on the MtG front, may just not be as busy as usual. Having a Prerelease clash with the MagicFest means the competitive players with dreams of becoming pro will be in London. Plus those that like to go to the big events. So attendance at the Prerelease could be down for the stores.

But WotC heard the complaints of the LGS and the UK stores can now sell the whole product range a week early to compensate them in some way. So Prerelease weekend players can pick up not only booster boxes, but bundles, deck builder kits, (if they are doing one) and Planeswalker decks and whatever else. But the more cynical out there might think this was not done to benefit the LGS in the UK, but to allow Channel Fireball and the other retailers at the London MagicFest to sell everything to those attending the event. Everyone at the MagicFest is basically lost business for the LGS. You can be sure those attending will be buying their War of the Spark product at the MagicFest instead of their LGS.

The LGS hate from WotC doesn’t stop there. In a shake up of the rewards program I can’t see it being anything but negative. But I’m open to be convinced otherwise.

At the moment Standard Showdown on Saturday at my FLGS sees 6 or 7 Showdown packs up for grabs. We get 8-10 players each week. Hey it’s a small store in the middle of nowhere, so that’s pretty good. But it means currently you stand a good chance of getting s Showdown pack. Under the new scheme, Standard Showdown is dead. The promos for FNM are dead. The FLGS will get a weekly allocation of these new promo packs to use as the prize support. Based on current attendances and the new stats that WotC are using, we the players lose out. The reality is the prize support has been drastically cut back. It means the “not standard Showdown” event that my FLGS would run on a Saturday would have less prizes, and a smaller chance to get a prize. I’d assume also that it’s the same for FNM.

What I think this means is that less prize support, and a decreased chance to get a prize will drive down attendance. Who wants to see the same top players week in, week out taking the spoils? Currently at least you stand a chance of getting something extra as a prize. Under the new system that’s gone.

If I was a conspiracy theory fan I’d be suspicious that WotC are trying to drive everyone to Arena. They are definitely trying to make paper MtG more like Arena. They have already tried best of one as a store format with some lucky LGS lab rats. The recent Mythic Invitational was basically a best of one format. No side boards players took two Standard decks and played those. Even WotC have admitted just about it wasn’t a great success as a format. The upcoming London MagicFest will see a new mulligan being tested called the London Mulligan. There is only one reason they want to try this, it’s probably easier to implement in Arena, and more Arena like. They are errata-ing physical cards so they can implement them easier in Arena.

There are other things WotC have done in the past few months that could be interrupted as attacks on the LGS, especially in the US. Such as selling direct via Amazon, no MSRP, special premium edition booster boxes only available direct from WotC/Hasbro and Channel Fireball at MagicFests.

I don’t know how I’m going to finish this rant. It started off with little intention going in the direction it did. It seems to me that the LGS is under attack from a company that should be supporting it more. The changes are presented as being positive and helping to grow the player base. But on closer examination they seem more like a company cutting back and trying to transition into a new future where they don’t have to worry about secondary markets, card quality, poor selling sets, etc.

Token Spam Monday

Commander, Game day, magic, MtG

I was able to get along to a Commander Monday at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole. One of the benefits of Easter holidays and working in education.

I took along 3 decks with me today. 3 decks that I hadn’t played for a long while.

In the first game I played my mono white angel deck that has Lyra Dawnbringer as it’s Commander.

I was mana screwed with the deck. Naturally with a lack of lands or ramp I was behind the curve of the others. Eventually I was able to get Reya Dawnbringer out, but she was bounced back to my hand before I could use her ability.

Eventually I did get Reya out, which allowed me to pull back Emeria Shepherd from my graveyard. I then cleverly played one of my elusive lands to trigger Emeria’s ability to put another angel on the battlefield.

But getting this combo off was the highlight of the game for me. It was also one of the last things I got to do before meeting my demise.

Game 2 saw my Trostani token spam deck hit the table.

This deck went silly at one point with soldier tokens. Seedborn Muse allowed me to fire off the Rhys the Redeemed 6 CMC ability during the other players turns.

When you are basically doubling everything. It soon gets silly. By the time I was board wiped I had 108 tokens out. Sadly for the guy that did the board wipe he drew a card for each creature killed. Basically milling himself.

So yeah I didn’t win after that. But I did something pretty awesome and cool.

The third and final game was with my elf deck that got show down by a bloody angel that switched off activated abilities on creatures. So all of a sudden after that was played no tapping for mana, to add life, or buff up a creature. It was kinda funny really. I play the same angel in my angel deck, and had done so in the earlier game. Sadly it’s a great card against my elves.

So not a win in sight, but I had a blast. Did some cool stuff. Great company. What more could you want?

My prep for the taster D&D session

D&D, RPG, session planning

I think it’s obvious by now I’m all in on sharing knowledge or my ramblings that pass as knowledge. Particularly when it comes to my journey to become a DM/GM.

Long time sufferers of this blog know that plans are afoot for me to run a D&D session for noobs and folks that want to try a role playing game. I had some friends that wanted to try it, I wanted to try being a DM. A match made in heaven!

In previous posts I’ve talked about the dungeon I’ll be using for this taster session. Plus there have been one or two posts mentioning the minis and 3D models I’ve got in for it as well. Which should be a massive clue that I’ll be using miniatures and battle maps!

I’ve even jumped the gun and produced a campaign pitch document. Yeah I know very presumptuous of me.

Now it’s time to finally share with the world my notes for this first session. I finished them this morning and just had to share them with the world.

I have the DM screen, however you will notice in the prep notes I have produced a cheat sheet to compliment it, and hopefully be quicker than referring to the rule book. I’ve also pre-rolled initiative for the creatures to speed up combat.

Hopefully others will find these notes useful.

D&D Noob Oneshot

Naturally once the taster has been run, I’ll write up a post mortem. But first the continued slightly less complicated than Brexit negotiations for a date to play.

The loosing streak continues

Game day, magic, MtG

Technically I had two decks in yesterday’s Standard Showdown.

John’s daughter took part and played with my pirate deck that I had put together for her. I was playing with the mono blue mill deck this week.

As fate would have it my first round match was against Sophie and my pirate deck. I took the first game milling Sophie out. But that was because the cards hadn’t been kind to her, and I was given time to get pieces into play. Game 2 Sophie took, and game three was a total wipe out. In game 3 Sophie had a fast start, getting the cheap creatures out from turn one and hitting hard.

Round 2 was against John and his merfolk deck was too fast for my mill. It would also help if I hit the mill cards. The plan failed spectacularly in this game.

Round 3 was the battle for last place and the Standard Showdown pack between Michael and myself. Luckily for Michael his deck was too fast for mine. And I once again got my butt handed to me.

The one thing I took home from this Standard Showdown for my mono blue mill deck is that it’s too slow! Especially for our meta. Going to have to think about how to speed it up or frustrate long enough to win.

Naturally the guaranteed Showdown pack took the sting of last place away.

Casual Games

Michael: Loss 1-2

Kai-Far: Win 1-0

Standard Showdown Stats

Standard Showdown Participants: 8

Rounds: 3

Round 1: Sophie Loss 1-2

Round 2: John Loss 0-2

Round 3: Michael Loss 0-2

Record: 0-3

Final Position: Last

Prizes: 1 participation pack, a Standard Showdown pack – pulled a breeding pool shock land, real happy with that.

I think my pirate deck and Sophie came 6th.