Monthly Archives: October 2020
Fantasy Maxims
Sometimes as a GM, you just need a new maxim to put on a tomb wall, or inscribe into a book, or have a wise old turtle say while puffing on a pipe.
So, here are some options.
“It takes more than a hoard of gold to make you a dragon.”
“Counting a man’s tears doesn’t teach you the depth of his grief.”
“A man who freezes do death does not care how soon Spring is.”
“A tunnel is just a hole that kept going.”
“Butterflies don’t help caterpillars.”
“Don’t make deals with talking skulls.”
“The differences between heroes and corpses is more skill than luck.”
“Don’t light a candle if you don’t want to see what’s in the dark.”
“No one buries something without good cause to take on the labor.”
“Blame the parent for a child’s behavior, but blame the adult for their own actions.”
“An axe that chops wood is a tool. An axe that chops flesh is a weapon. The axe doesn’t care.”
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Role Relics, Pt. 2
Role relics are magic items designed to encourage specific roles or playstyles (perhaps given to children who enter a fantasy world on a roller coaster and each are given a single relic to help them out). I did two already in Part One.
Since these are designed to be character-defining relics that stand outside normal rules, I’ve written only sketches of how they work, so they are compatible with most d20-evolved RPGs. A GM who wants to fill out details like item level and school of magic are free to do so, but the core idea here is to offer legendary items that make it easier for a character to fulfill one classic heroic role.
Cloak of Stealth
Once activated (which can be done as part of any other action taken on the wearer’s turn), as long as the character wearing the cloak takes no actions other than movement, they can make a Stealth check against all senses and detection abilities of any creature. For these Stealth checks, the wearer rolls twice and takes the best result. Each activation lasts no more than one minute, and the cloak then cannot be used again for ten minutes.
Energy Bow
The energy bow automatically creates magic arrows when used for attacks, and does not require any ammunition. These arrows are Force effects, and do untyped pure magic damage. They ignore false images of a target, and any magic or technological effect that creates a flat chance of missing even if a an attack roll is successful.
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Really Wild West “Doomstone” Campaign — After-Action Report (Game Session 5, Pt. 2)
Here’s part Two of the Session Five notes for my Really Wild West: Doomstone campaign, adapted from notes taken by my wife Lj (who is playing the fenrin operative bounty hunter named “Sawyer”).
You can find Session One here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Two here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Three here.
Session Four here.
Session Five here: Part One.
If you don’t recognize a reference, it may (or may not) be in a previous session, or at the updated campaign notes page.
Session Five (Part Two)
Still Day 13
The characters see that the heaviest traffic out of the Big Cavern is through the left-hand tunnel, which was clearly made by the Embanking Machine. This also shows signs of the svirfneblin-drawn sled they saw bring green ore out of the mine when observing the camp outside. This is the route the take.
- There is a breach in the tunnel that clips some underground complex that was already there. (The players later learn this is the Svirfneblin Vault)
- The end of that tunnel opens up beyond the breach
- The centaur paladin, in the lead (with her darkvision) is attacked by monsters disguised as rocks at the entrance. They’re grick!
FIGHT!!!
- The grick don’t seem to take electrical damage, fire damage either
- The human soldier criminal grabs the Warhammer the Chimera Kid was using and uses that on the grick – bounces off. The magic fusion that was on the warhammer has already been moved to the mechanic robotisit’s drone’s bite attack (her drone looks like a mechanical dog).
- The grick don’t do a lot of damage, but anyone near them has to make a Reflex save or take some damage from their flailing tentacles, on top of their bites or acid spit. And the grick are reducing every attack that hits them by 10 points of damage, so seem nearly invulnerable.
- There are two Sverfneblin here. They speak some kind of old German. It takes Culture checks for people who know German to understand them.
- The centaur paladin and fenrin operative work to asks the Svirfneblin to call off the beasts – the svirfneblin explain they do not control the gricks
- The human soldier criminal called out the name Drungeldan Smyreonot – the name of one of the ‘neblins we talked to after death
- Bullets don’t work against the gricks either
- The half-orc technomancer cartographer makes a Mysticism check, and says it takes magic damage to hurt the grick. He then casts overcharge weapon on the paladin centaur’s lance.
- The lance kills one. The human soldier has an automatic pistol with a magic rune on it, and he easily kills the other one.
AFTERMATH:
- The centaur paladin casts a spell that allows her to speak to the Svirfneblin
- They need to get to their Headman
- He is being held hostage in the back
- We will have to bypass the serpentfolk and some pact guardians
- The Pact Guardians are varied – some mechanical, some monsters. They protect the svirfneblin, but also obey the pact, and thus don’t currently attack the serpent people who took over the pact by stealing blood of pact scion – Dwargus. Thus as long as Dwargus does not elave the area, the serpent people can come and go in the Svirfneblin Vault. (PCs realize this is why the manticore kept killing off Dwargus’s cattle–so he couln’t retire and leave).
- Only the authority of the pact scion can get us to bypass the pact guardians
- The PCs try the writ given to them by Dwargus allowing them to investigate the area on the door in this room, which is a Pact Guardian itself.
- It works!
- There are serpentfolk on the other side of the door!!
FIGHT!
- There is a gorgeous small green snake, a serpentfolk with a gun and serrated jawbone of an ass sword, and a human carpetbagger with a staff and wearing a beautiful green operacloak
- The two ‘neblin cast spells to aid the PCs
- When the pretty cobra dies, it turns into a pool and evaporates
- The soulstaff dissolves
LOOT: Sharpened jawbone of an ass that is bane vs humanoids (5,000- 10,000-year-old artifact); Who’s Who in Montana 1890; guardian greatcloak (Goes to the technomancer cartographer, and changes from venomous green to midnight blue with silver nautical symbols, route lines, and compass roses when he puts it on).)
Guardian Greatcloak (magic item, level 5): If you take an action that provokes an attack of opportunity, you may expend a Resolve Point without taking an action and not provoke the attack of opportunity
LOOT: One shotgun
PCs move through the rest of the Vault to get to the headman, using the Writ from Dwargus to bypass traps and guardians of the Pact. Final room. Locked and trapped door. The mechanic roboticist bypasses it, and recognizes the handiwork/design skills of Professor Barkane Adrameliche, whose handiwork was also found in the Martian Embanking machine.
- The Svirfneblin Headman is inside
- He asks if he can close the vault, using their authority with the Writ from Dwargus – PCs all say yes
- The Headman explains Professor Barkane Adrameliche IS the Venom King (“Toxin Krieger”to the Sverneblin)
- The Professor found the idea of a “Venom King” while studying Martian Black Gas, and began to hear whispers. As he experimented with and perfected ways to use the Black gas, the whispers grew louder and louder, and eventually the Professor became the Venom King as much as he is Barkane Adrameliche.
- The Professor/Venom King is a Darkling — a human who has embraced the darkness so totally he is a native outsider, and on his way to becoming a demigod. He is one of six “Dread Fates,” six unspeakable ways to die.
- The Professor had six Lts.
- Dathaca (who was the Chimera Kid)
- Gaotma – (the only one with a Doomstone)
- Athath-ka
- Venomancer (the spellcasters the PCs *just* killed)
- Female serpentfolk in the other tunnel. Called “Her” in fearful tones by other serpent people.
- One Unknown
- The Professor and his six lts are the only ones who will ascend, becoming demigods
- None of the other six Dread Fates currently has a physical body. The Professor is trying to bring about one of them, his closest ally, the Dread Fate of Torture (who has a drop of blood as his icon, like the blood cultists encountered earlier on Neblin Ridge).
- The Professor is currently in Montana.
- Sverfhaim is a Hollow World– a place that is as much a concept and planar pocket as it is a material place. So is the Serpent People home. Also, the serpentfolk seek another “Hollow World“
- Headman offers PC hospitality for the night
- Sends his folk to watch the upper caverns
- PCs need to get into the serpentfolk city, set up a mystical “door” (a device the Neblin headman can create), go through it, close the door
- Then the serpent city will cease to have access to our world and we would be on Neblin Ridge
End of session. XPs: 2650
LEVEL UP to 6th!!
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Really Wild West “Doomstone” Campaign — After-Action Report (Game Session 5, Pt. 1)
It looks like there is enough interest in session notes from my Really Wild West: Doomstone campaign for those to become a regular feature. So here’s a write-up adapted from notes taken by my wife Lj (who is playing the fenrin operative bounty hunter named “Sawyer”) as a quick report for Session Five!
You can find Session One here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Two here: Part One, Part Two.
Session Three here.
Session Four here.
If you don’t recognize a reference, it may (or may not) be in a previous session, or at the updated campaign notes page.
Session Five
Day 13
The fenrin operative bounty hunter takes the mask of inconsequence once used by the Chimera Kid. This magic item allows you to make Stealth checks, opposed by observer’s Perception or Sense Motive (whichever is greater) to appear to be no different form the majority of people around you. It only works when you are not in combat, and does not work against anyone directly interacting with you or who is in combat.
So equipped, she heads into the mine to do Stealth recon. She overhears a conversation between two guards – they know there was a ight outside, and if anyone comes up they don’t recognize the guards will will shoot first, ask questions later. They are awaiting the return of “the Professor,” who the guards obviously fear. The Professor specifically warned them not to use the “embanking machine,” which is taken by the group to be a Martian embanking machine from the War of the Worlds.
The players decide to make a blitz attack, since these guards and part of an operation that has used slave svirfneblin labor, and mercilessly killed and hid the bodies of a dozen or more of those.
- The centaur paladin charges in to begin the fracas, impaling an enemy operative (one of two) with a critical hit on a lance change before he has a chance to do anything. (“Yep, that’s a crit. What IS the crit effect on your lance?” “He dies?”)
- There is a spell-casting serpentfolk in here. It casts a defensive spell, then alternates between supercharge weapon and firing snakes as arrows from a 3-limbed bow.
- The surviving operative sniper trick attacks the centaur, and gets his own critical hit on her before she rides him down.
- The human soldier criminal PC exhcages fire with numerous gunslingers, and two axe-lords (people with magic rune brands in their hands allowing them to make special throw-and-return and multiple-target ace attacks, an old Nordic tradition). He gets shot with a snake arrow, but doesn’t go down
- One crook, “Mr. Green Jacket” gets away out the front of the mine and since he agreed to flee “into the desert” and not come back, and the PCs took a lot of damage, they opt not to chase him down.
AFTERMATH
- There is a Martian Embanking Machine here, which has been used to dig dozens of tunnels. It looks like a 20-ft. wide mechanical centipede, and has been converted to be steered by human controls. The human mechanic roboticist disables it by taking out aprt of thsoe adapted controls and in doing so finds a gear with a patent he reognizes–it was created by the infamous Professor Barkane Adrameliche, a citizen of the Ottoman Empire who helped create the first automatons. It is suspected he might have known Gaotma, the Manticore.
- This room also has a series of Martian atomic batteries, which have been salvaged from other Embanking machines. These are not as powerful as a Tripod Generator (like the one serpentfolk tried to steal in Session One), but these three have been hooked to a capacitor designed to concentrate their power, though it takes several days to power up to a generator’s power level.
- The capacitor is hooked to an array that clearly once had a spherical device hooked up inside it. This is right next to an empty storage area which the fenrin can tell 9with Scent) used to have Martian Black gas cannisters. Also, the iron box with the Doomstone taken from the manticore gets hot near the area.
- The PCs conclude the Venom King is using the Martian Batteries to infuse Green Iron (taken from this mine) with the toxic properties of the Black Gas, the most virulent poison now known on Earth. This creates the “Doomstones,” such as the one they recovered, but can only make one every week or two. If the Venom King had a Tripod Generator, he could make a Doomstone every few hours.
LOOT from thsi fight: High-quality handaxes x4; Allin needle guns x2 (one for Liam); Ajax revolvers (x5); three-limbed serpent person bow (no arrows), bag with 8 snake eggs; golden bullet (magical) – put it in any projectile weapon and it has a one-shot built-in supercharge weapon (given to the fenrin operative bounty hunter); gallon of butane
Cast grave words on the bodies the Serpentfolk just hisses words at the PCs. The All of the rest of them talk about weird smells and weird dreams
There are two paths deeper into the mine. The PCs go left.
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Tales of the Intrepideurs’ Guild, Pt 3 (Game Session 0)
This weekend, we actually had “Session 0” of my Fantasy AGE game, where players made characters, including asking about the world, talking about relationships to one another, and so on.
Despite all the work I had done on the Intrepideur’s Guild itself, I had not yet spent any effort on the region the PCs will be starting in. As with the guild and the entire campaign concept I didn’t need much–just a frame upon which I could hang a paper-thin narrative for the adventures. But players generally have more fun when there at least a few concepts and place names for them to build their own stories and ideas off of.
So, I took 5 minutes to create the loosest of frameworks for a town. But I wanted the players to be more invested in it than if it was just a long list of imaginary words and sounds with dashs and hyphens thrown in for fantasy flavor. So, instead of naming everything myself, I creates a Mad-LIbs-stype series of options, and asked each player to fill in two of them.
Here’s the framework I used.
Welcome to the major trade town of [Adjective][Word Associated with Elves], located on the shores of the [Word associated with seas or oceans] and bordered by the [Word associated with rock or stone] Mountains with the [Terrain feature] Woods, and an important part of the [commodity] Route.
It is a [form of government], ruled over by the [Any fantasy species] King, [Impressive or noble adjective][word GM picks based on the king’s species].
Then after each player gave me a word I tweaked a tiny bit (I originally had swimmingly forest, which I disliked, so I jogged it slightly to Forrest Swim, which I think is a great town name and immediately makes me begin to wonder how it got that name.
Welcome to the major trade town of Forrest Swim, located on the shores of the Sextant Sea and bordered by the Igneous Mountains within the Outcropped Woods, and an important part of the Silk Route.
It is a Dictatorship, ruled over by the Unicorn King, Gloryhoof.
Then we got to making characters. Everyone choose to roll for ability socres, rather than use point-buy, just to get a feel for how Fantasy AGE feels when done that way. We restricted ourselves to the Basic Rulebook, and had characters done with plenty of time left for a quick adventure.
I used a single house rule, allowing characters to pick a specialization at 1st level.
The players all worked together, comparing ability scores and social status results, talking about what they’d like to see the party be able to do, and so on.
In the end, our heroes came out thusly–
Drahul (orc warrior, two-weapon fighter with battleaxe and longsword)
Folas (elf mage, arcana of healing and heroics)
Hannah (human rogue with assassin specialization, sister to)
James (human warrior, two-handed spear fighter)
Winter (elf mage, arcana of lightning and power)
The game notes, adapted from those taken by my wife Lj, are short but to-the-point.
Session 01:
We’re all tin-level Intrepideurs. We’ve all been on our initial quests with overseers and passed our evaluations. We’re ready for the bigtime.
Only Hannah and James know each other. The Guild recommends this group of 5 band together, at least initially, as an Intrepideur’s party.
We take our First quest: Escort quest (pays 50s per member of the group) – A request to the Guild from King Gloryhoof, himself
- Five orphan children, arrived by ship. Need to be taken to a holy site of their order up in the Igneous Mountains. Their escorts were killed by Pirates, who were paid by a cult known as The Fists who want to kill the children. The pirates were driven off before they could harm the children.
- Four days to the end destination, then four days back. Have a cart for the children, and the Guild provides food and basic supplies.
Day 01
Ambushed by 5 members of the Fists on the road. GM says this fight LOOKs too tough for us and it may be a TPK, but since part of this is playtesting and getting used to the game, we all agree to play it out.
- Everyone knocked out at least once, and in the end everyone but Hannah and James are killed.
- Except the GM retcons having a near TPK in the first session, as a blessing from King Gloryhoof for those carrying out his errands keeps the “killed” PCs from quite dying.
- We get the kids to the mountain and back
Day 09
- We get 50sp each + another 60sp from selling the gear we took off the Fists. Several characters take light chain recovered from the Fists. Including Winter, a spellcaster.
GM says to level up to 2nd level, and everyone gets one common temporary magic items to represent adventures between now and the next game.
So, that’s it. I ran the game… and nearly killed all the PCs with a fight WAY too tough for them. And that’s okay, we all got to use the death and dying rules, which often don’t get played with much, and learned I was right–that fight was WAY too tough!
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Role Relics, Pt. 1
I’ve just been thinking about what magic items designed to encourage specific roles or playstyles (perhaps given to children who enter a fantasy world on a roller coaster and each are given a single relic to help them out) might look like.
Two came to mind immediately. I’m vague on details like cost and such, because these are designed to be character-defining relics that stand outside normal rules. And these should work for most d20-evolved RPGs.
Shield of Tanking
While you have this shield equipped, any foe that can see you and has line of effect to you, but has not attacked you in this combat or forced you to make a saving throw, takes a -2 penalty to attacks and against anyone else and the save DC of effects against others is reduced by 2. The first time a foe attacks you, if they do damage, you take half damage. If a foe’s first attack against you also attacks other targets or forces them to make saving throws, the foe does not take the shield of tanking’s penalties against those targets.
Staff of Acrobatics
Any round in which you make no attack rolls and do not force anyone to make a saving throw, you roll twice and take the better result on all Strength- and Dexterity-based skills based on movement or maneuvering (such as Acrobatics, Athletics, Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Swim, and so on), and gain a +4 bonus to your AC and all saving throws. If you fail such a check, and it was to get you to some location you could have arrived at through flight, the check is treated as a success, but your turn ends.
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Tales of the Intrepideurs’ Guild, Pt 2
So as I noted a little over a week ago, I am starting a Fantasy AGE campaign, specifically designed to help me have a place to try things out as the Fantasy AGE developer for Green Ronin Publishing. This will be the “Tales of the Intrepideur’s Guild,” and have as a framing device that the PCs are entry-level professional adventurers belonging to the aforementioned guild, and doing jobs it sanctions.
I explained a bit about why such a guild would exist in the imaginary game world of Fage I am creating for this campaign. Now I want to delve a bit into the guild itself.
For this article, we’ll discuss the guild’s place in the world of Fage.
The Intrepideur’s Guild is one of the major “Slate League” freelance unions (an unofficial designation that comes from only the most successful such groups able to afford slate tile roofs for all their guildhalls). It among the oldest still-active freelancer unions, third only to the Ratcatcher Society and the Right and Honorable Order of Dragonslayers, both of which are a good deal smaller and not considered Slate League institutions (though the Dragonslayers were, at one time). It is also among the most trusted (along with the Lady’s Sewing Circle and Heroic Alliance) most widespread (challenged in that regard only by the Council of Warlocks and Alchemists’ Consociation), and most successful (consistently placing in the top three best mission-clearance rates, often with the Court of Justiciars and Council of Warlocks, though it worth noting the Lady’s Sewing Circle refuses to discuss their clearance rate, or who their clients are).
Nearly every major city has a Intrepideur’s Guildhall, along with many towns, trading posts, and crossroads. Outside of emergency or disaster relief, only members of the guild in good standing can stay at a Guildhall, and they can do so extremely cheaply—though anyone staying for more than a few weeks without taking on some missions (officially called “Quests”) will get relocated to another Guildhall if members who are on quests need the room.
Because the guild will only accept and sanction quests from individuals or groups that agree to a set or rules regarding the treatment of its members, most city-states and townships have formal treaties with it. These treaties ensure that the guild will have a guildhall at a set rate or tax, that income from performing quests is not taxed, and that guild members are treated fairly and legally always have the right to demand to see an Intrepideur’s Guild representative before being taken to trial or having any criminal punishment carried out.
In many ways, the Intrepideur’s Guild is a government itself, run by a Guildroyal (currently Guildmistress Akachi), overseen by a Council of Senior Hallkeepers, and able to negotiate with the most powerful city-states on near-equal footing. Of course the Intrepideur’s Guild lacks a standing army, and city-states can gather in alliances… but since the guild also shows no sign of wanting to impose its will on anything beyond how its own people are treated, most governments consider the benefit of access to its quest-boards more than worth the cost of agreeing to its terms.
After all, sometimes you need a high-level Intrepideur.
So, how does the guild decide what Quests to take? How do you join? What’s in it for the Intrepideurs?
Well get to that stuff in time!
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Owen K.C. Stephens 