Sunday's game: through the Hell Gate

So, this past Sunday my group went after the umbral that got away in the hopes of retrieving the artifact. The tracks left by it eventually led to rubble blocked door, which they cleared away to find it was a gate with a special lock on it. They had to place four gems into four slots on the door, and then imbue the mechanism with some energy (arcane, divine, or primal). They accomplished both tasks admirably and Jinx provided the energy which drained her of a healing surge.

As the doors swung open a burst of white light and astral fire erupted from the doorway, catching everyone in it's path and leaving several pools of radiant fire still burning. Several shadow forms sped past the group and through the aperture, whispering words of thanks to the group for opening the door. Suddenly, six legion helguards, four bearded devils, and a pain devil captain emerged, eying the group warily. Initiative was rolled and Jinx was first, using words of friendship and her natural diplomatic skills she avoided a fight. Apparently the devils were here to deal with some demonic influence in this realm. The captain and Jinx reached an agreement, the devils could pass unmolested as long as they left the Starfel alone, and the pc's were allowed to enter the gate to retrieve their item. The captain even sent a bearded devil as guide, and Thornfel escorted the group of devils up to the surface. Zeeblun noticed something odd during the exchange, but apparently felt it was unimportant as it was not mentioned.

The group moved on through the gate, following their guide eventually coming to a large ruined hall. Abruptly, shadows swirled about the group and five umbral coalesced from the dark recesses. The devil walked away, explaining that his services were at an end. Combat commenced, with the umbral getting struck down only to return as a different being. Spined umbral who shot razor pieces of shadow at their enemies, hulking umbral who smashed whatever was in it's way, and the mastermind who could move opponents and allies alike as it attacked. The group played it safe, only attacking one or two at a time so they only had to deal with two or three transformed umbral. Once the fight was over, the group located the artifact and began their trek back to the surface.

So ended another session, I wonder what the devils are up to and how it will affect the world? Perhaps we will find out in two weeks, it should be a blast! Take care, and remember you can leave comments now, it is not limited to members.

More GGO picnic

A couple posts ago I wrote about the GGO picnic, mainly talking about some anti 4E talk and it's inherent absurdity. Today I will tell you the good things that happened. There was food and conversation, I had my copies of star frontiers which had people reminiscing. Children were off playing with boffer (foam) swords and adults were playing various board and card games. Personally, it takes me some time to warm up to the idea of playing a game at these events.

Once I was in the mood I played in a game of swords and wizardry, a fun little retro clone that hews close to od&d. Real close, as the thief I was playing had only two hit points and I died after getting hit by a ghoul. Thankfully there was a potion of raise dead nearby so I was able to play some more. Soon after I began setting up my impromptu star frontiers game, starting out with a few players it grew to six. I ran the one page adventure from the book, where the pc's are sent to find a crashed ship, recover the homing beacon, and rescue any survivors. I stuck to my KIS rule (keep it simple) and everyone had a good time without getting bogged down by learning all of the rules. I explained the basics, anything extra we dealt with as needed, and everyone got their moment in the spotlight.

Well there you go, another annual GGO picnic has come and gone. I will be back later this week, take care everyone. Also, I opened the comments so anyone can leave one, not just members.

How it is going to be.

Well, for the next month or so. You see, I love Con on the Cob, and there are a lot of amazing people who are guests or help run different parts of the con and I feel like talking to some of them about what they do. I am going to have at least one regular post a week, and one or more posts about the con until October twelfth. I am looking forward to it, and I hope you all are too. Look for a new post in the next day or two. Take care guys!!

The Lowdown on Con on the Cob

So here I am with some more information about Con on the Cob, the most most you will have at a convention! Let us start off with one the guests, Rev. Ivan Stang from the church of the sub genius. A recent addition to the lineup, he will speak to the righteous slack in all of us, check his site http://subgenius.com .

Dementia, it is not just for that weird guy down the street anymore. It is a reference to music played by the ineffable Dr. Demento on his radio show! Con on the Cob has that in spades, with big names like Worm Quartet, Positive Attitude,Luke Ski and more. In addition to dementia there is the amazing they have Destiny Beard, an amazing lyrical soprano.

You like art? Well will be some awesome artists coming starting with the visually eloquent Larry Elmore and always artful Arnie Swekel. The effervescent Heather Kreiter will be running this mad show of talent and have some of her work there. Atomic Tony and the colossal Kay Steele will make an impression with their dynamic styling. An adroit Ed Beard Jr. and Jeff "Uncanny" Carlisle round out the incredible ensemble of listed artists, but there will be even more eye candy for your optic nerves.

Games? There will plenty, with Silvervine Games and Michael Varhola being the special gaming guests. Sean Patrick Fannon returns once more to thrill us savage worlds/Shaintar fans with more exciting games to galvanize your heroic nature. Trust me, if you want an awe inspiring, at the very least a lot of fun then Sean's your man. Jamie Chambers, the convivial creator of the cortex system will be there as well, giving free hugs to the needy (or not). There also be many games of 4E D&D Living Forgotten Realms ran throughout the event.

Great Sagan's ghost, and there is even more stuff!! Go check it out at cononthecob.com . Take care folks!!

Getting this off my chest!

This past Saturday was the annual gamers guild of Ohio picnic, a day of hanging out with like minded folk, eating talking, and playing games. It was a lot of fun, except when the subject of fourth edition D&D came up. If your argument as to why you do not like something is vague, as in "It's stupid.", then you have really lost me. If you give me reasons like you want more options or rules for different things, I can accept that. When I said "As long as people have fun." the response was "That doesn't matter.". Really!! Not much of an argument, it just tells me you are very close minded, which sucks because I do not want the mainstream populace to think that we as a group are that way. Unfortunately, there are quite a few as evidenced by the anti d20 and now the anti 4E sentiment.

Now, I love games, and can play whatever version of D&D you wanna play. Basic was a fun and somewhat simplified version of advanced, which had all kinds of things you could do. Second edition I never played, but I have picked up some stuff from that era, it looks like there were a ton of options. Third was when I got back into D&D and role-playing in general, they seemed to have worked the game to be a little simpler but have all kinds of options.

Then fourth edition came to pass and I dipped my toe in, going to that first game day and checking it out. It was not love at first site, but it had a certain charm so I bought the Player's Handbook, the next step was trying the Living Forgotten Realms games, and man I was hooked! It had a simplicity while retaining certain degree of options, though I will admit that in the beginning they were limited.

Here is what seems to be the ultimate blasphemy for the haters, with the essentials line, it seems closer to that basic D&D from so long ago. Combat is clearly defined, and can be as technical as necessary, with vague rules for social or non combat situations. It is not exactly the same, that is what the retro clones are for, but there are similarities. If this is horrible of me to think, maybe you should take a step back, we want people to be open minded in regards to our hobby, let us be open minded with each other.

On that note, I bid you all good night, and take care.

Con on the Cob!!!

Oh my word, Con on the Cob is almost here!!! October 13-16 the amazing extravagasm known as Con on the Cob invades Akron, Ohio. Started by Andy Hopp, this convention began as a place for artists to learn their craft through seminars given by Andy and others like him. It expanded to the wonderful game/art/music fest that it is today by hard work and fan interest. The site is here http://cononthecob.com/ for those curious and adventuresome enough to give it a look. Details to follow later!

Star Frontiers, Anyone?

Well here we are, another weekend here and I have been going through my rpg collection, checking out my Star Frontiers stuff. Awhile ago, I discovered a site or web ring that was devoted to this sci-fi rpg. Recently I stumbled across the revival of said game at http://www.starfrontiersman.com/ where they have "digitally remastered" all of the old rulebooks and modules. In addition to this they put out a pdf magazine called The Star Frontiersman, which contains a wealth of info for the game and is up to issue sixteen. All of this is free to download and utterly wonderful, the only downside is now I have find people to play.

My first experience with SF was in middle school, a friend of mine brought his copy in and ran the the adventure that came with it. I had a blast and soon had a copy of my own. This find, coupled with my recent sci-fi rpg cravings, has really piqued my interest. So I invite you all to check out their site or pull out your old SF books and reminisce, and if their is anyone in the Columbus, Ohio area interested in playing (or running) a game of SF, feel free to let me know. Thanks and take care!!